Avalara Announces $10,000 Small Business Makeover Contest Winners

Avalara’s prize to three QuickBooks customers offers big marketing boost, celebrates small business success

Seattle, WA – October 31, 2016 – Avalara, Inc., a leading provider of cloud-based tax compliance automation for business, has announced the winners of its $10,000 Small Business Makeover Contest. Three businesses were recognized this month at Intuit’s QuickBooks Connect conference in San Jose, California, and each will receive a $10,000 small business marketing makeover, one free year of Avalara’s sales tax automation service, and a customer spotlight on Avalara.com - a high-traffic website with over a million visitors each month.

The Avalara $10,000 Small Business Makeover winners are:

• White Lightning Electric is a 3rd generation, family run business, offering all phases of electrical work for both commercial and residential applications. It’s dedicated to serving the residents and businesses in the Portland-Vancouver metro area. White Lightning Electric continues to grow in its community and invests in its employees by participating in journeyman continuing education courses.

• EEZZDriver (https://www.eezzdriver.com/) is an easy-to-use app for rideshare professionals, bringing all of their business finances together so they can earn more and work less. Following a very successful beta program, EEZZDriver is now launched and available via Apple Store and Google Play.

• Trash Amps (https://www.trashamps.com/) “upcycles” discarded objects – from soda cans to Altoids boxes - into unique portable speakers for your smartphone, electric guitar, and more! Along the way, they’re helping the planet and teaching kids how to build their own electronics. Trash Amps began with a passion for innovation, concern for the environment, and the need for a portable speaker.

These companies will be able to spend their $10,000 marketing makeover where it counts most for their business – a website redesign or refresh; a new lead generation strategy with fresh content to use in email marketing and social media, or help with executing on new marketing programs. Avalara’s winners will have the ability to create a customized makeover to suit the exact needs of their growing business.

Avalara’s $10,000 Small Business Makeover Contest is part of Avalara’s ongoing commitment to support small businesses in their quest for growth, profitability and greater efficiency.  Earlier this year, Avalara launched its small business community center, a one-stop online location where companies can look up sales tax rates, learn more about where sales tax must be collected and remitted, download white papers, register for free webinars, browse a directory of accounting firms, ‘test drive’ Avalara’s solutions TrustFile and AvaTax, and discover connector integrations with leading e-commerce, mobile commerce, accounting and invoicing applications. Avalara’s solutions for small business leverage the company’s Compliance Cloud^TM platform, which is updated continually, processes billions of transactions annually, delivers outstanding up-time and reliability, and is used by more than 20,000 customers globally.

About Avalara 
Avalara helps businesses of all sizes achieve compliance with transactional taxes, including VAT, sales and use, excise, communications, and other tax types. We deliver comprehensive, automated, cloud-based solutions that are fast, accurate, and easy to use.  Our Compliance Cloud™ platform helps customers manage complicated and burdensome tax compliance obligations imposed by state, local, and other taxing authorities throughout the world.

Avalara offers more than 500 hundred pre-built connectors into leading accounting, ERP, ecommerce and other business applications. Each year, the company processes billions of indirect tax transactions for customers and users, files hundreds of thousands of tax compliance documents and tax returns, and manages millions of exemption certificates and other compliance related documents.

A privately held company, Avalara’ s venture capital investors include Sageview Capital, Battery Ventures, Warburg Pincus, Technology Crossover Ventures, Arthur Ventures, and other institutional and individual investors. Avalara’s headquarters are in Seattle, WA and it has offices across the U.S. and in London and Brighton, UK; Brussels, Belgium; and Pune, India. More information at: www.avalara.com

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