Why I Get It

I didn't start my career behind a desk.

I started with a tool belt, a lot to learn, and a crew counting on me to figure it out.

I spent years in the trades, electrical, painting, and drywall, before building my own painting and drywall company from the ground up. I managed crews, chased invoices, wrestled with job costing, and learned the hard way that being great at the work and being good at running the business are two completely different skills. I grew that company and eventually sold it. I thought I had it figured out.

Then I moved into multifamily. Revenue management across dozens of properties, optimizing occupancy, analyzing NOI, keeping assets competitive in markets that never stop moving. Different industry, same truth: the financial fundamentals are what separate businesses that thrive from ones that just survive.

That realization sent me back to school. I earned my Master's in Accountancy not because I wanted to become an accountant, but because I finally understood how much I didn't know, and how much it had cost me not to know it.

Here's what I took away from all of it.

The businesses that give a city its character, the neighborhood contractor, the family owned shop, the restaurant everyone has an opinion about, the independent studio, the small firm that has been around long enough to mean something, are almost never the ones with the most resources. They're the ones with the most heart. And too often, they struggle not because the work wasn't good enough, but because the financial foundation wasn't there to support them.

Seattle is full of businesses worth fighting for. Businesses that employ real people, serve real neighborhoods, and make this city feel like somewhere, not just anywhere. Too many of them are making important decisions without good financial information, underpricing their work, missing opportunities, and carrying stress that better bookkeeping and clearer strategy could have relieved.

I started Pantoro because those businesses deserve better. Not cookie cutter bookkeeping from someone who has never had to make payroll or figure out why the numbers don't add up at the end of the month. A real partner who understands what you're actually dealing with and can help you make smart decisions, not just keep your books in order.

It doesn't matter what kind of business you run. If you're trying to build something real, something that serves your customers and holds its place in this community, I want to help you do that well.

That's what this firm is for.

Let's talk.

Chris