Dream Teams: SYZYGY’s Tyler Burr and Chris Walters Succeed Without Making Anybody Miserable

United by a shared vision of full-service, future-facing accounting, friends and business partners, Tyler Burr and Chris Walters, co-founded SYZYGY in 2020, as COO and CFO respectively. 

The accounting firm combines Tyler’s background in operations with Chris' production-specific accounting experience, providing adland and production companies with accounts services, job costing, cashflow management and CFO-level consulting, all with an ‘outsourced accounting advantage’.

The pair first met when Tyler interviewed at a firm they previously worked at together. “My first impression was, ‘Wow, she is smart, and I'm not sure we can work together because she's a lot smarter than me’,” says Chris about her future SYZYGY co-founder. “I was correct about the ‘smarter than me’, but not that we couldn't work together.”

On the other side of things, Tyler’s attention was first caught by Chris’ even temperament and thoughtfulness, as well as her ability to make decisions. “I hadn't met somebody running a company with that temperament, so I was like, ‘Oh, I wonder how that’ll turn out!’ Well, here’s the answer.”

The duo worked closely from the start and with Chris teaching Tyler about accounting, they were soon attached at the hip.

“My first memory of our professional interaction was that I was doing this project that Chris was signing off on,” shares Tyler. “I walked into her office with a giant eight-page workflow chart to talk her through it, and she looked at me like I was an insane person. But, after I talked her through it, I think I sold her on it.”

“I think I blocked the chart from my memory,” jokes Chris, “but Tyler is also one of the most organised people I've worked with and asks a lot of questions. I always appreciated her thoughtful and intelligent questions, and her listening to the answers and learning. She introduced me to tools that made my life better. So, there was a lot of mutual learning, which was very helpful for us.”

While they clicked professionally, they both agree that they’re very different people “in most ways”. But despite their contrasting communication styles, and other differences, they share fundamental values and a similar approach to problem solving.

“We're both very open to diverse points of view and learning from that,” says Chris. “Not to prove ourselves wrong, but to figure out what other possibilities are available. We appreciate how different we are and how much we can rely on each other for things we don't do well on our own.”

One of their shared core tenets – which would then lay the foundations for SYZYGY – is caring for others. “We'll sacrifice a lot to care for the people we work with,” says Tyler. “When the world was in a very uncertain and scary place during covid, having that value system was something that we both had no choice but to cling to, and I think that shared value was, in many ways, what directly catalysed us founding the company.”

Chris describes this philosophy as ‘wanting to have lives that are well lived’ – an often-repeated phrase heard at SYZYGY HQ. “Focusing on that, not only for ourselves, is very fundamental to how we work together,” she says. “We want to have enough. We don't need to have ‘the most’.”

With Tyler’s operations background, and Chris’ accounting experience, it was natural for the pair to adopt COO and CFO roles respectively after founding the company. And together, they’ve grown as business leaders over the last four years.

Recognising each of their strengths and challenge areas, the pair has historically balanced responsibilities according to their skill sets, ensuring that communication remains productive when making collaborative decisions. However, as the company has grown, they find themselves working less in tandem, and delegating more responsibilities to others outside of the duo. 

“We've had to constantly shift and reevaluate what we are willing to let go of and trust other people to do,” says Tyler. “That has been the journey for the two of us as partners and for each of us individually. It’s the question, ‘How much are we letting go, and how much are we holding on to?’”.

And sometimes, what needs to be let go of… is a client. Deciding this, explains Tyler, often comes down to how the client makes them or their staff feel, as well as SYZYGY’s ability to deliver good work. “When we started the company, we had this naivete that we were a good fit for every company. Over time, we've started to get really, really specific and confident about who we're good for and who we're not good for. Understanding the idea that you can be great, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re great for every company, requires letting go of some ego.”

“Really proud” of their ability, willingness and manner in which they do this, Chris adds that it’s about finding the right solutions to fit a particular client's needs. “We really want to take care of not only ourselves and our staff, but we also want to take care of our clients, and if taking care of our clients means they go elsewhere, then so be it.” 

This caring approach has resulted in some of their proudest moments – including the annual company retreats which “validate what a great team we have,” says Chris.

“Our growth feels ephemeral when we're all working remotely, but having everybody in one space together really hits you in the face,” explains Tyler. “Everything that we've done to get to the place where we can do something like an annual retreat, to see everybody bonding and getting along, is validation that there's a shared vision amongst us and the rest of the staff for what this company looks like – even though Chris and I aren't the ones hiring everybody anymore.” 

“We've had tremendous growth, but we've stuck to what we said we wanted to do and build,” says Chris. “So at the core, I'm really proud that we're doing what we said we wanted to do.”

Tyler adds, “We had a hypothesis that we wanted to test: is it possible to build a successful business where you're not making anybody abjectly miserable in the process? We've found that, yes, it is possible, but it's going to require making long-sighted decisions, and it's going to require you to endure a lot of discomfort. 

“But, the fortunate thing is that learning to do both benefits us as human beings. So, even though it's not always comfortable, it always feels like we can stand behind our choices.”

During times of discomfort, business partnerships can come under strain – especially when starting your own company, which Tyler says requires “almost unlimited” energy, dedication and responsibility.

“It's almost like a marriage. Ideally, you want to ensure that only one of you has a bad day at any given time. Still, there will inevitably be moments when both of you have a bad day, or where a particularly good day for one of you is costly for the other person. That has been where we have to negotiate. It comes down to where we have individual sensitivities about our sense of responsibility, how much we put in, and how much we get back.”

She continues, “When friction arises, we often have to remind ourselves that we're in this together for a reason. One of the things that makes this partnership so productive is the deep love we share. At times, we both need to let go of the feeling of being overwhelmed to better balance the weight we carry.” The pair also knows when to bring in a third party – a coach or otherwise – to help them come to a particularly difficult decision.

Even through stressful times, one of Tyler’s focuses is to promote a positive work-life balance for the company – something that Chris had rarely experienced at previous roles. “So, for me, really embracing that and taking it from theory to practice is something I've had to learn,” she says, “and Tyler’s been an excellent teacher.”

A teacher, a friend, a business partner – the pair’s relationship has shifted over time, building various avenues of support for each other. At this point, says Tyler, they’re more like family than anything else.

If one of them needs support, or just needs to gossip or vent to someone, they can confide in each other as “work besties as much as business partners”. And they make time outside of work to have “date nights” to simply enjoy being together. “We think of this as a marriage in many ways because we feel very committed to each other, regardless of how anyone's feeling on any particular day,” says Chris.

“I learned many years ago as a younger person that the best marriages are about supporting each other in being the best person they can be. So, whether professionally or personally, Tyler and I try to help each other to be the best person we want to be.”

One of the major lessons Chris has learned from her business partner is to lead with empathy – ‘expanding her empathy about 10 times’ since working together. “There's a big distinction to be made between empathy and sympathy, and I'm very clear on that. It’s such an important quality to have when you’re dealing with people and circumstances outside of your control. I'm not run by my feelings, but I'm certainly more aware of how I and others are feeling.”

Whereas, what Chris has taught Tyler is patience. Always an eager person, Tyler has had a habit of getting worked up over problems before they arrive – sometimes creating new unforeseen problems in the process. “I'm always on my go-go juice, moving very, very fast,” she says. “That’s where our balance comes into play. Chris is thoughtful about when it's time to lean in and move fast, and when it's time to slow our roll, be considered, and not make impulsive decisions.”

It’s this dynamic and openness to learning new skills and ideas that has kept SYZYGY adaptable and progressing since its inception, amidst the post-pandemic landscape. Four years on, and the co-founders look forward to the company’s future, not just as business partners and friends, but as family.