Carson builds a finance function for 20x growth with Tabs
About Carson
Carson Living is the leading provider of 24/7 Live Remote Doorman service, integrated access control, and resident engagement software for multifamily properties. Carson's One-App Resident Experience™ makes entry effortless for residents, staff, guests, and package deliveries. Designed for buildings with or without full-time staff, Carson delivers cost savings, streamlined operations, and an elevated living experience.
Founded in 2017, Carson has opened more than 40 million doors, received 3.4 million deliveries, and greeted 1.6 million visitors, serving hundreds of property managers and owners across the United States and Europe.
The Challenge: Revenue Complexity Outgrew a Homegrown Billing System
When a growth equity firm acquired Carson, the company had no well established internal finance function. Financial operations were managed through a mix of outside consultants and offshore support, with no single owner responsible for building consistent processes. Joe Murray joined as Carson’s first post-acquisition hire and VP of Finance, tasked with rebuilding the function while the company continued operating.
Here’s what Joe had to solve:
- A broken integration that disrupted AR reporting and limited invoice-level traceability
- A significant share of revenue tied up in outstanding receivables
- Average DSO exceeding 120 days, despite payment terms being due upon receipt
With their previous solution, parent-child customer relationships were difficult to manage, while the integration frequently created so many problems in accounts receivable that it was difficult to maintain invoice-level detail.
“Our previous solution was not very easy and it was breaking a lot, especially with AR. It got to the point where the team was just looking at a number and making a journal entry of one number, and there was no detail. From an audit standpoint, it wasn’t a good integration.”
— Joe Murray, VP of Finance, Carson
Why Tabs: Building an AI-Native Finance Stack From the Ground Up
Joe evaluated Tabs alongside Maxio as a replacement. While the two vendors offered comparable pricing, Tabs stood apart because AI was embedded in the foundation of the platform. Joe wanted a partner whose roadmap was built around how finance teams would operate in the future, rather than a legacy system adding AI capabilities later.
“I didn’t want a company that had been around for 10 years and just bolted on AI use cases. I wanted someone who truly, from the ground up, is building with AI on the forefront. With the opportunity I had to rebuild the entire finance stack, that’s the reason I went with Tabs.”
— Joe Murray, VP of Finance, Carson
Tabs also gave Carson a simpler interface, responsive implementation support, and access to financial data through an open API. Those capabilities allowed Joe to make Tabs a core part of a broader, AI-forward finance stack that also includes Ramp, Claude, HubSpot, and custom internal tools.
Instead of adapting Carson’s processes to a rigid billing system, the finance team could use Tabs data to build workflows around the company’s specific operating model.
Open API and MCP Access
Tabs’ open API allows Carson to continuously pull billing and AR data into tools Joe has built using natural-language development. That data can be combined with information from Ramp and other systems to create dashboards, metrics, and tables tailored to Carson’s finance operation. Joe can build and interact with these workflows as a finance leader without relying on an engineering team.
A Live AR Management Dashboard
Joe used Tabs data to build a live AR tracker where the finance team can see outstanding invoices, aging buckets, ownership, and collection activity. Each record includes an audit log of prior outreach and links directly to the corresponding invoice in Tabs. When a payment is recorded in Tabs, the item automatically resolves in the dashboard.
Claude reviews the activity associated with each account and identifies the next follow-up action. The system can flag a promised check that has not arrived or an unresolved customer commitment, giving the team a clear daily workflow for collections.
Custom Dunning Connected to HubSpot
Carson uses custom dunning workflows in Tabs to manage collections across different stages of delinquency. During the first 30 days, customers receive a standard reminder cadence. After that administrative grace period, messages follow a custom process and copy Carson’s billing inbox, which automatically creates a HubSpot ticket for the finance team.
Forecasting and Revenue Visibility
Carson uses Tabs to monitor planned upsells, contractions, and churn. This is especially valuable because some customer discounts expire over time, creating future changes in contract value that finance needs to anticipate. Joe also reviews Tabs several times each day, either directly or through his custom dashboard, to maintain a current view of the business.
Tabs also helped Carson rebuild its ARR roll around active invoices that finance can inspect directly, creating a more stable basis for revenue reporting.
Hands-On Implementation and Support
The migration required Carson to clean up a complex operating environment while continuing to bill customers. Tabs’ implementation team worked with Joe in real time to resolve questions and convert messy legacy data into a more reliable system.
“The implementation went world class. Tabs was great.”
— Joe Murray, VP of Finance, Carson
That level of access was a meaningful improvement over the delayed, scheduled support Carson had experienced previously.
Life With Tabs: Unlocking Cash Today
- Reduced average DSO by over 33%
- Lowered outstanding AR by nearly 30%
- Created a finance infrastructure Joe believes can support 20x Carson’s current transaction volume
- Rebuilt ARR reporting around active, traceable invoices, correcting for voided invoices, credit memos, and churned customers.
Tabs helped Carson introduce greater rigor into AR management and establish clearer financial reporting. The finance team now works from live data rather than repeatedly downloading and updating spreadsheets. Team members can claim accounts, document outreach, and see when invoices are resolved, giving Joe visibility into the full collections process.
“I truly think that my team can handle 20x the volume because we’ve built the foundation with Tabs.”
— Joe Murray, VP of Finance, Carson
That operational discipline has translated into meaningful improvements in cash flow. Carson reduced outstanding AR by nearly 30%, with the team expecting further reduction as the remaining backlog is collected. Average DSO declined from more than 120 days to approximately 81 days, and Joe’s goal is to bring it closer to 60 days.
The new foundation also changes how Carson can approach growth. As Carson pursues the growth equity playbook finance can scale its processes without losing visibility or control over AR.
