Bookkeeping should not cost a fortune, or eat your nights.

The problem

Agents are stuck between bad options.

A bookkeeper runs about $400 a month on top of QuickBooks, and QuickBooks just raised its prices. So the books either rot until April, or they eat the nights and weekends that should go to clients. QuickBooks promises to help, but anyone who has used it knows the truth. It is another thing to dread, another login, another pile of uncategorized transactions waiting for you.

For years, the only cheaper answer was software that still made you do the work. A prettier dashboard you still had to open, review, and reconcile yourself. That is not help. That is homework.

The idea

Not another dashboard. A bookkeeper that does the work.

AI is finally good enough to actually do the books. Not just assist, not just suggest, but categorize, post, chase, and reconcile on its own. So Penni is not a tool you operate. It is a bookkeeper you hire, who happens to be AI.

And Penni comes to you, in the messaging app you already use. She watches your business accounts and cards, texts you what she found, and books it in QuickBooks when you say yes. No app to download, no portal to log into, no password to forget. The dread disappears because the dashboard disappears.

What we believe

The principles behind Penni.

Who is building it

A broker who lived the problem. A finance pro who knew the fix.

Zack Ciampa grew up in Revere, played hockey through college, and got his real estate license in 2019. Today he leads Ciampa Group in Greater Boston, working condo conversions, new construction, luxury resale and investment properties. He runs his business with an investor's mindset, which is exactly why his own books drove him crazy.

He did what agents are told to do and hired bookkeepers. They cost hundreds of dollars a month, went quiet when he needed an answer, and missed things he had to catch himself. Every month a report landed in his inbox that told him nothing he could use. Not what to set aside for taxes. Not which deals actually made money. Not where the cash was going. He was paying for bookkeeping and still doing all the worrying.

Connor Whittemore brings the other half: 14 years of accounting experience and an FP&A background, much of it spent inside QuickBooks, financial systems, and the busywork of keeping numbers clean. He knew what a real finance function gives a business owner, and knew an agent should not need a $400 bookkeeper to get it.

Penni is what they built together. The commission math and the split language come from Zack's real closing statements. The rigor comes from Connor's finance background. It is built in the open on real QuickBooks books, and customer stories will land here as agents come aboard.

Zack Ciampa

Co-founder, Penni · Leads Ciampa Group, Greater Boston

Pricing strategy, positioning and buyer psychology, with an investor's eye on every deal. He brings the agent's side of every feature, from the split math to the closing statement. The customer Penni was built for, first.

ciampagroup.com →

Connor Whittemore

Co-founder, Penni · Finance and FP&A background

Builds the engine that reads the bank, books to QuickBooks, and proves every entry with an id you can check. The rigor of a real finance function, delivered by text.