Delta Defense scales seamlessly with Avalara and Zuora

Delta Defense is the service provider for the U.S. Concealed Carry Association (USCCA), offering education, training, and self-defense liability insurance for responsible gun owners. “We safeguard life, freedom, and finances for our members,” explains Jon Mayhak, Director of IT/Enterprise Applications.

For USCCA members, it’s about readiness: making informed decisions, training properly, and having robust legal and financial support after a self-defense incident. As Tim Abler, VP of Finance, notes, “We’re there to help members navigate the legal journey after a self-defense incident occurs.”

Delta Defense experienced rapid growth that has been both a triumph and a challenge. In 2013, the company had 20 staffers and fewer than 50,000 members. Today it has a subscriber base of 850,000. Such rapid expansion tested the company’s infrastructure. “We were using a homegrown system,” Jon admits. “It was collapsing in on itself. Back then, managing 50,000 memberships was already a stretch.”

As the company grew, it also expanded from selling magazine subscriptions to comprehensive memberships including insurance and digital content, which made its sales tax compliance process increasingly risky. “If you said we were compliant, that would be a stretch,” confides Tim, who arrived in 2019 and received an early wake-up call. “A month into the job, I was hit with a sales tax audit from Texas. We had to comb through records from the pre-Avalara era, and the system was a nightmare,” he recalls. Fortunately, Avalara had been implemented in 2013, and provided reliable reports that helped resolve the audit efficiently.

The complexity of Delta Defense’s product — a mix of non-taxable membership services, taxable print magazines, and variably taxed digital content — only compounded the challenge. “We couldn’t build a staff to track whether digital content is taxable in every county in Ohio versus cities in California,” Tim explains. “We looked to Avalara’s automation and expertise to make that manageable.”

As Delta Defense outgrew its homegrown system, the company explored options for scalable technologies. Initially, it tried building a custom solution, but it failed to deliver. “We spent a year working with another company, but the project collapsed,” says Jon. This misstep led the company to explore established software solutions, eventually landing on Avalara for sales tax compliance and Zuora for subscription management and billing.

The integration between Zuora and Avalara proved transformative. Together, the systems created efficiencies that neither could achieve alone. “Zuora’s data sync with Avalara was key,” Jon adds. “It ensured seamless tax calculations and reporting as we scaled, helping eliminate bottlenecks and manual errors.”

Alongside Salesforce and NetSuite, Zuora and Avalara formed the backbone of the Delta Defense operational infrastructure. Jon notes, “We’ve grown from 50,000 to 850,000 members without the system collapsing.” The tools also support the growing business-to-business segment, such as group memberships for organizations like church security teams. “Avalara’s ability to handle exemptions and high transaction volumes has been a game-changer,” says Tim.

The Delta Defense philosophy is clear: focus on core strengths and rely on trusted partners for specialized needs. “If you can buy it, buy it,” Jon emphasizes. “We look for companies like Avalara and Zuora that do one thing really well and keep getting better. That lets us focus on what makes us unique.”