Sam Ross

I’m thrilled to share that @numeral has raised a $35M Series B, led by Mayfield, at a $350M valuation! Turns out, sales tax and VAT have gotten so complex that we need AI and millions of dollars in VC funding to make it simple again. This brings us to $57M in funding, including our $18 million Series A led by Benchmark Capital in March of this year. We are 1,057 days into building Numeral, and I’m humbled to say that we’ve processed over $5 billion in transaction volume, filed 150,000 sales tax returns for +2,000 paying customers, and achieved 3.5x year-over-year revenue growth. Numeral is the end-to-end platform for sales tax and VAT compliance. I couldn't be prouder of what we’ve accomplished… but there's still a lot left to build, many new customers to serve, and a heck of a lot more sales tax filings to, well, file. So what’s next? Global coverage: Growing internationally? Our in-house platform currently covers 60+ countries, and we are expanding to many more by the end of the year. Integrations: As you may have noticed, we’ve launched several new integrations over the last few months, including with Orb, Sequence, Tabs, and others. Some exciting integrations to come! Automation: Could Numeral be the most boring AI company? Our AI may not be the flashiest, but our automations mean you'll never have to log into a government portal or listen to hold music again. Our team: We are currently hiring for multiple roles across our organization. Ready to join us? Matt and I are incredibly grateful to our customers and team. Thank you for making this milestone possible. And a special thank you to our wonderful investors: @MayfieldFund, @SPangulur, @benchmark, @chetanp, @ycombinator, @gustaf, @uncorkcap, @susanwliu, @FundersClub, @mittal, @mantisVC, @AlexPallNY, @ShaanVP, @lennysan, @moizali, @mrsharma, @ringmybeller, @khency6, @asturnerr, @maariabajwa, and so many others.

Incredible. He just passed his income tax bill to the customer. Wish I'd thought of that. Instead I built Numeral to help businesses actually stay on top of their real tax obligations. Less creative, but fewer felonies.

There’s a tax deduction in the US tax code written for whaling captains. Let me explain. If you’re recognized by the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission as a whaling captain, you may be able to deduct up to $10,000 a year in reasonable and necessary whaling expenses as a charitable contribution. Not fishing. Not commercial boating. Whaling. It’s a rule built around how subsistence whaling actually works in Alaska Native communities. The whale isn’t sold. It’s shared across the community. The captain fronts a lot of the cost: fuel, equipment, supplies, crew provisions. So Congress treated those out-of-pocket costs like a charitable contribution to the community and capped it at $10,000. It’s one of the most specific deductions you’ll ever see. Meanwhile most people spend tax season arguing with their spreadsheet about mileage. If you’re a founder thinking “tax rules are mostly logical,” I have some bad news. The code has opinions about bowhead whales. We built Numeral so at least sales tax doesn’t become another category of surprise math on top of everything else.

This Reddit post is equal parts funny and painful. A candle company sold for 18 months without collecting sales tax. Then the state sent a letter. Now the owner owes the tax out of pocket. That’s the part people miss. If you were supposed to collect sales tax and didn’t, the state usually does not care that you forgot to charge the customer. They still want the money. By then, the orders are shipped, the revenue is booked, and you can’t go back to 4,000 customers asking for another 7.5% on a candle they bought 2 years ago. So it comes out of your margin instead. Not fraud or some insane loophole. A business grows, crosses a threshold in a state, keeps operating, and finds out through a notice. That gap is why we built Numeral.

I saw a guy at the coffee shop today staring blankly at a wall for 45 minutes. No laptop. No phone. Just raw-dogging reality. Naturally, I assumed he was an early-stage founder going through a massive pivot. I walked up, handed him my business card, and told him I'd love to participate in his seed round. Turns out he was just concussed from walking into the glass door. Still, I admire the resilience.

@theisaacmed Congrats - what an epic chapter!!

I am proud to announce that late last year, I sold Mini Katana to a new owner. I am really grateful for the whole team and everything that MK has given me. It was my first measurable success. I started it when I was 23 and had nothing to my name. Advertising bans didn’t stop us, tariffs didn’t stop us. Last year a potential acquirer approached us. They buy and run YouTube channels. My job was done: Scaling our YouTube presence to 30m subscribers across two channels. 1b views a month 8 figures in our first 2 years. Hiring some of the best people and having a culture I’m immensely proud of. I have a lot more free time. I will be shifting my full focus to my other ventures. (Picture of our first ever warehouse space outside of my apartment).

My 8-year-old nephew asked me for $50 to buy a new PlayStation game. I told him I don't do handouts, but I would be willing to lead his pre-Seed round. I printed out a standard Y-Combinator SAFE note. I told him I'd give him the $50, but in exchange, I get a 20% equity stake in his weekly chore allowance, a board seat on his treehouse committee, and 1x liquidation preferences on his Halloween candy. He started crying and called for his mom. I packed up my briefcase and left. If he can't handle basic due diligence, he's not ready for liquidity.

eBay is buying Depop from Etsy for $1.2B. And the reason is marketplace fit… From a distance, Etsy and eBay look similar. Two-sided marketplaces, long-tail inventory, millions of listings. But Depop is a different game. Fashion resale is won on boring, high-friction details. - Listing has to be fast. - Shipping and payouts can't feel like a project. - Trust has to be baked into the flow. - Discovery has to feel effortless. - And liquidity has to be strong enough that sellers keep showing up. That's closer to eBay's world than Etsy's. Etsy is built around unique and creative goods - different buyer intent, different seller motion. And Depop isn't being sold as a broken asset. About $1B in GMS in 2025. Seven million active buyers, almost all under 34. Three million active sellers. Good business. Wrong parent. eBay gets the demographic and the volume. Depop keeps the brand. eBay brings the machinery.

we're hosting a dinner: Las Vegas / ShopTalk, March 25th it's @numeral x @highbeamnyc DM me if you want a seat or know someone who should be there!

I have made a severe and continuous lapse in my judgment, and I don’t expect to be forgiven. I am truly sorry. I accidentally replied "sounds good!" to a cold email, and now they think we are best friends and are inviting me to their wedding. I will be taking time away to reflect on my actions.

People are about to file 2025 taxes. So the IRS is putting out more “no tax on tips” guidance. There’s an official list of nearly 70 tipped occupations. If you want the deduction, your job has to be on it. Then the tips have to be “qualified.” Which is IRS-speak for: the customer chose the amount. Automatic gratuity doesn’t count. So the “18% added for parties of 8” thing? You can pay it out to staff the exact same way, and it still doesn’t count here because it was automatic. It’s the same 18%. The IRS only cares who decided it. Most people will never notice. Operators will.

Rival CEO invited me over to show off his new ergonomic standing desks. He proudly told me they increased his engineering team's productivity by 14%. I nodded politely. I didn't have the heart to tell him about my setup. Last weekend, I completely removed the floor from our office. My developers are currently suspended in zero-gravity harnesses attached to the ceiling. If they want to type, they have to actively engage their core. His team is trying to optimize a B2B SaaS platform. My team is preparing for atmospheric reentry. Always be scaling your glutes.

Excited to share that @numeral has partnered with and integrated with @fulfilio, the ERP built for Shopify and DTC brands. Kudos to @sharoonthomas, @MattParkin20, and the entire Fulfil team for helping ship this so quickly. Thrilled to be working with such an amazing group.

I cannot wait until the White House changes hands and all of you ghouls switch back from "you're a traitor unless you bootlick so hard your tongue goes numb" to "the government asking any questions about my offshore fentanyl casino is vile tyranny and I will throw myself in the San Francisco Bay in protest", like werewolves at the last ray of the setting moon.

A recent study found toxic levels of arsenic in 28 popular candies. Scary headline. But I got distracted by something else. Twizzlers made the list. And here's the thing - Twizzlers aren't legally candy in some states. At least not for sales tax. About a dozen states define "candy" as something with sugar but no flour. Twizzlers have flour. So do Twix, Kit Kats, and Hershey's Cookies 'N' Creme. So in places like New Jersey / Indiana / Illinois, a flour candy can land in the “food” bucket instead of the “candy” bucket. Texas doesn’t play that game. Candy is candy. Flour or not, you charge tax. Same product. Different tax treatment. Depends entirely on which state your customer lives in. I think about stuff like this more than I should. If you're running an ecommerce brand selling anything edible, these classifications actually matter. And they change state by state. There's no national standard. Just 50 different sets of rules. Anyway. Maybe eat fewer Twizzlers. For the arsenic reason, not the tax reason.

My toddler asked me to read him a bedtime story. I told him I didn't have the bandwidth, but I could give him the executive summary. "The Very Hungry Caterpillar ate a lot of assets, scaled too quickly, suffered from bloating (technical debt), and then pivoted into a butterfly." He fell asleep in 2 minutes. That's the power of concise communication.

our newest integration just dropped: @numeral + @Acumatica

That “free lunch” in your job offer just got more expensive for your employer. As of January 1, 2026, a big chunk of on-premises employer meals (the classic company cafeteria / “eat here because work” lunch) went to 0% deductible. These were 50% deductible through 2025. Now the write-off is gone. A few narrow exceptions survive (fishing vessels, certain food-service setups, meals treated as taxable pay, meals sold to customers, etc). So for most companies doing “free lunch as a perk”? You gotta come up with a new, better perk. And while you’re reading this, off the coast of Alaska, someone’s eating one of the few meals the tax code still lets you write off.

@SpamRoss @cultured @whop We ❤️ Numeral

Incredible business run by one of the fastest teams. And they’re just getting started…. Congrats @cultured, @czoob3 and the whole @whop team 🔥

I caught up with an old college friend this weekend. He started talking about his kids, his new mortgage, his recent vacation to Italy. Complete fluff. Zero actionable takeaways. Low ROI conversation. After 20 minutes, I finally had to interrupt him. "Look, man," I said. "I value our historic synergy, but this conversation has severe scope creep. Can we get back to the core deliverables of this friendship?" He looked confused. I handed him a printed agenda and asked him what his KPIs were for Q2. He left the coffee shop without finishing his drink. If you don't control the narrative of your social life, you're just passenger revenue.