Name & title
Ryan Otto, MSCTA
Tax strategist, fractional CFO, and founder of Taxsmithing. Sixteen years in hotel finance and IT before that. Host of the Unfinished Empires podcast.
Based in
Allen, Texas — US Central time.
Records remote or in studio.
Pronunciation
RYE-an OTT-oh.
Taxsmithing is one word — TAX-smith-ing.
Three lengths,
copy-paste ready
Use whichever fits your run sheet. All three are approved and current as of August 2026.
Ryan Otto is an MSCTA and tax strategist who spent sixteen years running hotel finance and IT before building the practice and the software behind it.
Ryan Otto is an MSCTA and tax strategist with 25 years across accounting, IT, and tax. He spent sixteen years in hospitality — six as Director of IT at The Fess Parker, then finance leadership at the Hilton Anatole, The Madison in Washington DC, and Hilton Plano — before taking on a forty-year-old tax practice and founding Taxsmithing, which saved clients over $1M in 2024. From Allen, Texas, he now runs Accent Financial Services, The Taxsmiths, Dayspring Hospitality Solutions, and the AI studio Dayspring IdeaForge, and hosts the Unfinished Empires podcast.
Ryan Otto is an MSCTA — a Main Street Certified Tax Advisor — and a fractional CFO with 25 years across accounting, IT, and tax. He took an unusual route. After running his own manufacturing company as CFO and owner, he spent sixteen years in hospitality: Assistant Controller and IT at the Chateau Marmont, six years as Director of Information Technology at The Fess Parker in Santa Barbara, then finance leadership at the Hilton Anatole, The Madison in Washington DC, and Hilton Dallas/Plano. Running a property's systems and closing its books are two different careers; he has had both. In 2022 he became steward of a tax practice with forty years of history and founded Taxsmithing, his own tax-strategy method, which saved clients over $1,000,000 in 2024. From Allen, Texas, he now runs Accent Financial Services, The Taxsmiths (shipping Forge and the Taxsmithing apps), Dayspring Hospitality Solutions, and Dayspring IdeaForge, his AI creation company, which has built four platforms to date. He hosts Unfinished Empires, a long-form podcast about what building actually looks like before it's finished. His teaching register is plain, specific, and unusually willing to name what he hasn't figured out yet.
Ryan is not a CPA and not an EA, and some third-party directories list him incorrectly. The accurate credential is MSCTA. Please don't introduce him as a CPA — he'll correct it on air, which is a fine moment but an avoidable one.
Headshots & logos
Right-click to save, or use the download links. Free to use in connection with an appearance, an event, or coverage.
No prep required
- Putting your kids on the business payroll — legitimately
- What owners get wrong about tax before they ever reach strategy
- Running four companies with a small team
- AI inside a real tax and accounting practice — what shipped, what broke
- How a hotel or restaurant P&L actually behaves
- Tax debt: the emotional side, and the way out
- Fractional CFO work — when a business genuinely needs one
- Building software for an industry you already operate in — four platforms so far
- An IT background inside a tax practice — why the two halves finally converged
Better than
"tell us your story"
- "You're not a CPA. Why should anyone take your tax advice?"
- "What's the most expensive mistake you've made in your own books?"
- "Everyone says pay your kids. What's the part they leave out?"
- "What has AI actually replaced in your practice — and what did you have to roll back?"
- "You were a hotel IT director before you were a tax strategist. How does that happen?"
- "You spent six years running IT. What does that let you see that other tax people miss?"
- "You run four companies and build AI tools. Which one should you probably shut down?"
- "What haven't you figured out yet?"
He'd rather have a hard question than a flattering one, and he'll answer the first one straight.
Recording setup
- PlatformRiverside, Zoom, StreamYard
- AudioBroadcast mic, treated room
- Video1080p, studio lighting
- ConnectionHardwired
- Time zoneUS Central
Happy to record a local backup track and send it over. Just ask.
For your show notes
- Website
ryanwotto.com - LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/afsryan ↗ - Firm
accentfinance.net ↗ - Podcast
unfinishedempires.com ↗ - Free listener offer
The Taxsmith's Guide to Paying Your Kids - Second offer
The Taxsmithing App — free during open beta ($59/mo after launch)
Ready to book?
Send the date and the audience. I answer these personally.