When a Career Gamble Pays Off

First, let me introduce myself. I’m Kendall Almaguer – head of operations across Cavalry and Taxonics. I consider myself something of the glue person, keeping things together as we speed into the future of real estate tax technology and service. Today, I am here to continue our run of blog posts that have nothing to do with taxes.With that out of the way, I want to tell you about my career, how I ended up in my role here, and why it pays to zig when you think you should zag.

By the time I met Ross, Cavalry and Taxonics co-founder, I had already realized I was ready to leave my job and try something new. I spent the last decade within law firms of all sizes working my way up through the ranks. Before learning about Cavalry and Taxonics, I assumed my career was in a leadership position within the legal industry – the zag. All it took was one conversation about this startup he and his team were building and I was hooked – enter the zig.

In my experience, you don’t often meet successful leaders and entrepreneurs like Ross and Heidi Gilbert (Cavalry and Taxonics’ other co-founder) who are both genuine and transparent. The more I dug into the team, I found that there was an intentional culture designed to be inclusive of all voices, give back to team members, and encourage collaboration and innovation.

In my previous roles, I’ve implemented and changed policies, overhauled a handbook or two, created efficiencies, and troubleshot the myriad issues that large law firms face, but I had not yet built a company from the ground up. The opportunity to do that was just too good to pass up.

Now, it’s been several months since my first day as Head of Operations and I know I made the right choice. The sincerity and transparency were not a facade to get me in the door or just attract customers – it’s found in every team member, every policy, and every goal of the company. And the best part? We are just getting started.