Disruption is in the Minds of the Users
I’ve written before about two distinct approached to SaaS. SaaS/s – where the offering merely substitutes the incumbent offerings, and SaaS/v where the product adds a significant value into the mix. These two classifications, while admittedly fairly chunky, fall within the thrust of Clayton Christensen’s book “The Innovator’s Dilemma”, in which Christensen contends that there [...]
Xero Announces Second Funding Round
Xero has just announced its second funding round – they’re raising NZD23.2 million to enable a further scaling of their business internationally. This fundraising will be priced at $0.90 per share being a roughly 5% premium on the 5 day weighted avergae share price, but a 10% discount on that paid by the initial shareholders [...]
An Answer to the Burn Rate
It’s been exciting times in the last few days in Xero-land. First they announced their 31 March figures which showed a doubling of customers over the past three months. The very next day they announced that Telstra, the largest Australian telco, was including Xero in T Suite, it’s packaged suite of SaaS business products. That [...]
On Hockey Sticks and Sporting Teams
Xero today announced it’s interim 31 March year end results (and as an aside, the fact that they can announce on the same day as the end of the reporting period indicates the strength of the SaaS model – immediacy and accuracy). They’re understandably proud of their user metrics (graph reproduced below); There are a [...]
Finding a Babel Fish for Data
I guess the Babel Fish won’t mean much to the new generation of readers of this blog. In the 1981 series The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the Babel Fish was a creature that, when placed in ones ear, allows anyone to understand anything said, no matter the language being spoken – (see video at [...]
Fixed Assets an Important Piece of the Puzzle
According to some informed insiders, a fixed asset register is the second most requested features for one of the big three desktop accounting software companies, beaten only by advanced and highly flexible reporting . I’ve never really worked out why fixed assets aren’t covered by the incumbents, by my way of thinking it’s a legacy [...]
SaaS Model Proven? Time to Focus on Revenue?
We’ve seen some fantastic figures in the last month or so that would seem to announce once and for all the validation of the SaaS model and by extension Cloud Computing. To quickly recap; Xero achieved 33% increase in aid customer numbers in 50 days FreshBooks crossed the 700,000 user mark Mint adds 3000 users [...]
All’s Fair in Love and War – Ubikwiti Pushing Hard
I came across a press release (and oh how I love those) from SaaS business software platform Ubikwiti. In it they’re pushing hard to move users from Xero (or those considering using Xero) by saying; Why Pay $$s to Xero When You Can Have Ubikwiti for Zero $$s? From what I can see their offer [...]
33% Growth in 50 Days
I’ll post more about this later but I just wanted to share the just-announced fact that Xero has added 1000 customers in the past 50 days. Bear in mind that their previous base was 3000 customers. CEO Rod Drury said that; Xero attributes part of its acceleration this year to two main factors: • In [...]
More Integration from those Charming Canucks
I reviewed a little while ago IAC-EZ a start-up SaaS accounting offering that leverages the relatively huge and sophisticated FreshBooks customer base. Hot on the heels of that integration comes news that Clarity Accounting, another Canadian SaaS accounting company, has finished it’s integration with FreshBooks also To celebrate, those friendly FreshBooks people are offering Clarity [...]
It’s a Numbers Game – On SaaS Uptake
Xero posted recently detailing the result of a customers survey looking at what accounting solutions were used prior to the move to Xero. Now all companies are entitled to do a little bit of chest-beating (last week it was KashFlow’s turn). Looking beyond the spin however builds some insights for the individual company, and the [...]
A Tale of Two Strategies
KashFlow went public the other day proudly boasting that it had reached the 2500 paying customer mark. This figure puts them at roughly USD700k revenue and, according to founder Duane Jackson, they’re already at breakeven point and meeting the costs of their ten person organisation. The KashFlow strategy is very much one of local immersion, [...]
Providing for the Space Between – Lubricating Business
I’ve always been a little dubious about accountants as business advisers. Most accountants I’ve dealt with in the past have been very reactionary and much more interested in compliance than in being a true “embedded adviser” to the business. It was for this reason that I was initially sceptical about Xero’s strategy of using accountants [...]
The Beginning of the End for the Incumbents?
MYOB announced yesterday that the takeover attempt (more here) by Manhattan software has received over 50% acceptance thereby triggering the compulsory acquisition process. Readers will recall that MYOB is the dominant player in accounting software in Australasia as well as having made forays into other markets. MYOB also recently release an initial SaaS product (review [...]
Under Pressure
If only Freddie were still alive, he’d provide a shoulder to cry on for SaaS vendors. Yes, as the song says, it’s all about pressure; News today that Xero (review here) has reduced it’s UK subscription from GBP29 per month to GBP19 per month. Putting a brave face on the announcement (spin perhaps) Xero said [...]
