Interaction

2013 budget

Tue, 14 May 2013 23:55:00 GMT

Overall, this budget is quite neutral from a small business perspective. There have been no real incentives offered to fuel growth but at the same time, there have been no additional measures to slug small businesses with additional taxation measures.

Superannuation was another area which had the potential to be stung, but for the most part the changes in this sector have been pretty minor.

Here are a few items of note that we managed to pull out of the budget that may prove fruitful:

Venture Capital Funding

Small & medium businesses will have access to an additional $350 million through the introduction of Venture Australia to help grow new innovative Australian businesses with high-growth potential and to promote Australia as a location for venture investment.

Venture Australia will be a taxpayer-backed venture capital fund, tasked with stimulating innovation and entrepreneurial activity among new firms.

This program will operate through a new round of funding through the existing Innovation Investment Fund (IIF). From now, all profits returned to the Australian Government from the IIF will go to the Revolving Fund, for re-investment in equity funds to support innovative firms of the future.

More information here

Changing the Research & Development Tax Incentive Payments

We mentioned some changes in our last blog. There were some updates in the budget, so we've posted them below:

The Government's new research and development (R&D) tax incentive doubles the rate of assistance available to small and medium sized companies and improves cash-flow by providing a 45 per cent refundable tax offset.

The Government will further improve cash-flow for these companies by making the offset available in quarterly instalments from 1 January 2014, supporting further investment in R&D.

The overall scheme will not be altered in terms of the application process through AusIndustry, nor will the quarterly scheme be compulsory, but is designed specifically to encourage further R&D by improving cash flow to small and medium businesses.

More information here

Increase to Medicare Levy & Changes to Medical Expense Offset

From 1 July 2014, the Medicare levy will be increased by 0.50% to 2%, to help fund the Government's proposed National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), now renamed DisabilityCare Australia.

This will also mean the effective top marginal tax rate would become 47% from this date.

The Government is also to phase out the net medical expenses tax offset, with transitional arrangements for those currently claiming the offset.

The offset will continue to be available for taxpayers for out-of-pocket medical expenses relating to disability aids, attendant care or aged care until 1 July 2019.

From 1 July 2013, those taxpayers who claimed the offset in 2012-13 will continue to be eligible for 2013-14 if they have eligible out-of-pocket medical expenses above the relevant thresholds.

In addition, those who claim the offset in 2013-14 will be eligible to claim it in 2014-15. Should someone not claim the offset for any of these years, they will then no longer be able to claim in subsequent years.

Superannuation

The much threatened hits to superannuation in this budget luckily have not eventuated with only minor changes designed to impact high earners.

Some of the changes to superannuation include:

Limiting the amount of tax-exempt income in superannuation funds paying pensions to $100,000. Previously there had been no such cap.
Increasing the concessional contributions limit to $35,000 for individuals over 60 years of age during the 2013-14 year and over the age of 50 during the 2014-15 year.
Enabling the refund of excess concessional contributions from the 2013-14 financial year. On top of the $10,000 one-off refund measure available, excess concessional contributions will now be taxed at the person’s marginal tax rate instead of being hit at the top marginal rate (46.5% in 2013, 47% from 2014 onwards).

Gareth Bryant, Tax Specialist

Gareth is our resident tax guru. With a passion for structure, tax effective planning, superannuation and the uncanny ability to take the complexity out of tax and convert jargon into simple, easy to read advice you can make smarter long term decisions to protect your wealth and minimise your tax to be paid.

Focus : Tax + Superannuation

Supporting Innovation with R&D

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 14:00:00 GMT

The Research and Development scheme ("R+D") is administered by AusIndustry (a Federal Government body) who's objective is to support innovation amongst Australian businesses with the aim of building a more robust and diversified economy.

The basics

Businesses are given increased deductions for all eligible expenditure on innovation and depending on the size of their turnover, will receive either a refund of cash or a tax rebate.

Here are some basics FAQs around the R+D scheme:

All expenditure that is approved for the R+D scheme is to be capitalised in your financials (moved to the balance sheet) and is subsequently no longer a tax deduction on your tax return,
AusIndustry requires you to provide the above figures, with explanation on what the innovation was and walk through the stages and break downs of costs, they then determine the R+D applicable amount. You then receive an application number to put into your tax return and any amounts to be paid to your business, go through the ATO.
When you receive your R+D cash refund, it's to be recognised as income in the year which it is received, it's not a tax exempt payment. If you receive an offset, it's simply applied against your tax payable.

How we can help

The compliance team at Interactive (headed by Gareth Bryant) added R+D to their repertoire for the 2012 year, with a 100% success rate and we are planning for 2013 tax season now so as businesses can get their capital injection as early as possible, as soon as you're ready to file (can file starting July 1).

From personal experience, the preliminary work and breaking down projects is the time consuming bit and you can get started on 90% of that work Today and begin consulting with our expert team to make sure the numbers tie up and we will move to file the R+D application as early as possible.

Unlike other providers, we charge a fixed fee, not a % of your refund. We're not real estate agents, we are providing a service.

If you're keen to have our team execute the R+D process and help obtain a capital injection in early July, send us a quick email and or fill in a contact form we will be in touch!

R+D Update: Moving to quarterly assessment (January 2014)

In 2011, the government announced that for businesses with under $20m in turnover, the R+D refundable tax offset is moving to a quarterly reimbursement scheme to help businesses that rely on the offset to have a better working capital scenario.

Don't forget

Interactive Accounting is a Chartered Accounting Firm with a team of tax savvy experienced accountants that have a broad range of experience across many areas. We provide advice on start-up, growth, scaling and exiting for businesses and their supporting parties and shareholders.

With the ability to provide all these services online in a scalable and friendly manner, you get a truly Interactive experience!

if you have a question, don't be afraid to ask our team

FBT 2013

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 14:00:00 GMT

What is FBT?

Fringe Benefits Tax ("FBT") is the tax that applies on personal usage of your business goods for all Australian entities excluding sole traders and partnerships.

The most common forms of private usage are Motor Vehicles, Entertainment expenses (particularly where alcohol is involved) and non-deductible expense paid for by the company such as private health insurance.

How can you minimise your FBT

These FBT amounts can be nullified by "employee contributions" whereby the employee has the ability to "pay" the company and it be treated as income to reduce the tax to $0 if the contributions are made correctly.

FBT is due soon

The due date for FBT is fast at hand. With the final date for submission and payment being the 21st of May.

Need a hand?

FBT can be complex, but, we have a team that can get this sorted for you.

We have a powerhouse tax knowledge team at Interactive Accounting that have looked after every need from start up to listed entities amongst our leadership team. Interactive Accounting can help you ensure your business has all it's duck in a row when it comes to compliance, we can help you minimise your tax for future years for your company and provide packaging advice for your staff.

Want to Tweet us? That's OK. Can't leave the office? Skype's good, too.

Meet Charlotte, our newest accountant

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 13:00:00 GMT

Boosting our compliance team

Charlotte Dobbie has joined Gareth (aka "The Tax Man") in Interactive Accounting's compliance devision. Existing clients on monthly plans will get to know Charlotte as she delves into the nuts and bolts of their compliance issues.

Hooray!

Where it all began

Charlotte has her dad to thank for her love of numbers: "After helping out at my dad’s company doing basic journal entries, I was hooked on accounting", the business services graduate says.

Working directly with Gareth, Charlotte initially gained exposure to a variety of compliance issues including GST, FBT and income tax. Since then, she's expanded that knowledge across a vast range of entity types and sizes, and industries.

The first month...

We asked Charlotte to say some nice things about how her first month has played out.

"It has made me realise just how efficient and mutually rewarding the interaction between accountants and clients can be!

"It’s refreshing to find an accounting firm which meets and often exceeds the demand for comprehensive accounting solutions which suit the modern business owner. I've experienced a huge learning curve in all areas: new clients, new software and no more suits; I've even made the life-changing switch from PC to Mac!"

Getting into the swing of Xero and Online Accounting

Charlotte has also found Xero’s Practice Studio helps make numbers simple.

"Accounting software is not typically lauded as user friendly and difficulty usually arrises when multiple versions of the same file are sent between accountant and client," she says.

"Moving to a cloud-based solution eliminates so many problems - and as a bonus everything is very easy to navigate; it just makes sense."

The best bit so far?

Streamlining the accounting process regularly brings a smile to Charlotte's face.

"There's a real and immediate benefit in our clients' productivity," she says. "That is largely attributable to simplifying processes via technology."

Finish the sentence: Interactive Accounting is...

...leading Australia's cloud-accounting sector; it's hugely exciting and fun to be involved in something so cutting edge - and to do so with a great group of people is brilliant!

Charlotte Dobbie, accountant on the rise

"I get it done"

With a passion for learning, Charlotte has joined Interactive Accounting to handle compliance - every nut and bolt of it! Charlotte will be looking at every facet of your business to help you plan the next step. She gets things done. Whether its tax, Xero, planning and strategy - Charlotte has the answers to questions you hadn't even thought to ask.

Focus : Accounting and tax, Xero and support

Zendesk = "scalability"

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 13:00:00 GMT

Scalability = growing your start-up

Zendesk has grown from a seed of an idea, to a company helping more than 25,000 companies listen to their customers. The company has grown using the core principle all start-ups employ - it has evolved and shaped itself through user feedback. And, most importantly, it has done so through a series of iterations in order to scale itself.

What's even better is that you can harness Zendesk's hard work and do the same.

As I mentioned in a previous post - when you're starting a new venture, every cent saved now can equal a dollar earned later. Rushing ahead with great ideas - without customer validation - can be extremely costly.

See how Zendesk can help you listen, refine and earn:

(Duleppa Wijayawardhana, of Empire Avenue, shares his Zendesk love.)

Build on top of the hard work of others

It's not cheating. Learning from the mistakes and successes of others is like taking the car-pool lane; it gets you there faster.

Zendesk, Xero, Interactive Accounting - we've all been where you are now; we all started as an idea. And we, at Interactive Accounting, can help you get where you're going - faster.

We are experts in cloud accounting and we have a whole lot of love for the Australian start-up scene! Interactive Accounting can help you scale your business by making sure you have up-to-the-minute information on your finances, by being available when you need us - in a way that's convenient for you. Want to Tweet us? That's OK. Can't leave the office? Skype's good, too.

By knowing we have your back when it comes to your finances, you have more time to listen and respond to your customers. Simple.

Helping start-ups, dollar by dollar

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 13:00:00 GMT

Xero is helping entrepreneurial start-ups and co-working spaces save cash via a brilliant offer which recognises that, when you start a new venture, every cent saved can equal a dollar earned.

Passionate about fostering start-ups, Xero is offering its lean-yet-sophisticated cloud accounting software at a reduced/waived cost, to eligible users. Xero's software plugs directly into your Application Programming Interface (API) to help you look at your finances from a whole new angle.

(The companies from Inspire9, Melbourne, giving their two cents on Xero.)

Why Xero and start-ups go together

Failing to recognise the importance of financials is generating chatter in the Australian start-up community. Your balance sheet reflects your business acumen - if you can't keep a track of your financial situation, at a time where absolutely every dollar counts, you're less likely to be on top of other areas aspects of your business.

Using Xero makes it really easy to visualise and streamline your financials and to connect them to your back-end operations. Time is money and, thankfully, time-consuming and mundane data-entry is truly a thing of the past!

Tank Stream Labs

Nearly all the start-ups in Sydney's Tank Stream Labs entrepreneur and co-working space are using Xero. Interactive Accounting is helping answer Xero-related questions as they arise and we are sharing our experience to help the newbies hit the ground running. We're also keen to share our thoughts around other Xero add-ons to help start-ups tackle metrics and create Xero business suites.

Want to make managing your investments easy?

Then ask us! We're experts at this stuff - and we've been providing advice to start-ups for years. Even better, we've watched plenty of them secure funding, have helped them manage their cash, and graduate as successful companies!

And, if you are an investor looking for a single-system to manage your companies - and one firm to do it all - Interactive Accounting can help you, too. We know start-ups and we know accounting.

Moving downtown to TankStreamLabs

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 07:27:00 GMT

photo gallery

Shifting Interactive HQ

Over the past weekend we upped and moved our little growing business down to TankStream Labs on Bridge Street in the heart of Sydney's CBD.

Helping out Startnest

We did a special deal with Startnest in Crows Nest (new co-working space) to take all our furniture at a steal and we know they will make the most of it. If you're on the North Shore, looking to get your business started, check them out!

(bye bye furniture)

About Tankstream

A co working space with growth stage start up businesses, predmoinantly in the online space. Features like a meeting room, ping-pong table and their amazing location make it a no brainer for the team to move into Tankstream.

Why?

We want to ensure we practice what we preach and are not tied to a specific locational base. Our plan is to build "satellite" offices in co-working spaces in specific locations to be closer to our clients and closer to home for our team.

Additionally, we were sharing our HQ with Practice Ignition and both growing fast, we did not want to grow out of the space and be stuck with no room to move.

TankStream was the answer and has some great companies like GoCatch, Insvrance (Interactive Accounting client) and Airtasker in house. It is also the venue for some great events in the online space and is a hub for activity.

Where do I come to visit?

New Address

All of our email, phone numbers remain the same.

The new office location is:

Level 1, 17-19 Bridge Street, Sydney NSW 2000

The new postal is:

PO Box R1730, Royal Exchange NSW 1225

Contact

Xerocon (NZ) 2013 Recap

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 13:00:00 GMT

In February, I snuck across to #xerocon in New Zealand wearing my Practice Ignition hat as a sponsor of the big event, rather then as an accountant. It was a little different being on a stand, but, nonetheless, it was a great conference, with lots to be learned and exciting to see all the new features, releases heading our way in AU (plus a good chance to let ones hair down at the gala ball).

You can read the recap on Xero's blog here (add-on day and accountants day) and BoxFreeIT here. They will probably be much better written then what you receive below.

Huge congratulations to all the award winners at Xerocon NZ 2013. There's a full list here.

Add-On Partner of the Year

Unleashed continued their winning ways taking out the top gong and have followed that up with a stellar feature release Today. A huge congratulations to the team and we look forward to the next Unleashed night at our new HQ (see here for the last one).

Emerging Add-On Partner of the Year

I had a quick chat with the gentlemen from Quotient at #xerocon and they told me our blog was their first press literally the day after they launched. They are acquiring customers thick and fast globally, definitely ones to watch out for.

Takeaways

There are some great new features that have been added to the roadmap. Get the full story from Xero's blog

Xero's next conference is set for Sydney in August and I personally can't wait to have it in my home town.

We have a winner!

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:00:00 GMT

Drum Roll Please

We're happy to announce that we have drawn the winner of our "win a go pro" competition from the end of last year for referring new business to Interactive Accounting.

Matt Allen - Dev Logic

It's safe to say that Matt is one of our biggest advocates at Interactive Accounting. He's also a certified Xero Developer Partner and was the original coder for Practice Ignition.

Why Matt Refers?

Here's what Matt had to say about Interactive Accounting

"They are tops"

The team understand my business and speak my language and they are simply put, good people.

I recommend my mates and colleagues to them because they will take care of them and deal well with the technology space.

To the right is a photo of Matt with his new GoPro 2 and he's a happy chappy. We now await to see the new "helmet cam" app for his two sons or "lawnmower" cam on his home turf in Bowral.

Helping Interactive Grow...

We are always looking for awesome new clients, which, in turn, helps us grow and better service our existing clients as we can hire smarter people to look after you. So we emplore you to refer and help us grow faster and take better care of all our clients.

If you have a mate who needs a team of awesome accountants, or needs some systems work to streamline their processes. Send an introduction to your team member at Interactive and we will return the favour in kind.

GeoOp information evening - 4th December, 2012

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 13:00:00 GMT

photo gallery

What is a Geographical job management system do?

What does that mean exactly?

GeoOp is a Mobile Workforce Management App that increased productivity and profits all while decreasing miss communications and accountability. Incorporating everything from scheduling your team to photographic evidence of a completed job.

You can add parts and labour, and even collect a customer signature (if needed). GeoOp can even take the hassle out of Invoicing with the ability to push your parts and labour into a invoice prepopulated with the customers information, and even send this invoice to the customer.

All this information is stored securely in the cloud and you can access anywhere in the world, on any device. It goes without saying, it's great for people on the move.

Key industries using GeoOp:

GeoOp is perfect for any business managing teams of people on the road. Its simple and easy to use interface means any body (yes even the non tech savvy) can use it.

Some key industries are:

Tradies (Plumbers, Electricians etc),
Delivery Teams/Couriers,
IT Teams on the move,
Mobile Healthcare (Carers, Nurses, Doctors, Chiropractors etc), and
Any mobile industry

Can I connect the rest of my business to GeoOp?

Yes you can. Check out the growing GeoOp ecosystem.

GeoOp are working hard on integrations to make sure that you can run your services business online. With a "best of breed" approach, GeoOp is focusing on delivering in a niche market and therefore gets new features out with great speed and agility.

However, if you need a full range of connected software, you can integrate (Unleashed) for in depth inventory management and real time price lists and then measure the results with your accounting system (Xero). To take it one step further you can also connect your business GPS and tracking solutions with Trak, ERoad & Armada.

You can also connect your back-end

If you want to go even further, you can connect your back end payroll, payables and debtors solutions for your Services centric business.

How do I put my systems together?

Want a picture of what a fully connected business looks like?

See some examples of a fully connected suite here.

How do I get it to work for me?

Interactive Accounting has a team of highly skilled and trained tech’s and some pretty tech savvy accountants. We combine this team to work together and give you a complete end to end solution from start to finish.

When's Interactive Accounting's next event?

We're taking a break from events until next year, but, look out for events with other Xero Add-ons such as Deputy App. Stay tuned.

Stay up to date with Interactive Accounting

If you would like to stay informed of future events then please sign up to our newsletter below or follow us via one of our social pages.

{module_contentholder,name="[Widget] Newsletter"}

November Update: Xero ecosystem for the connected business

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 13:00:00 GMT

Just a quick update on changes in some of the Xero software add ons that we use with our client's at Interactive Accounting. Enjoy

Sales and Purchases Dashboards

Their were no official releases of new features for Xero in November, however, "Tokes", Xero's product Manager highlighted some future releases on how dashboards will become more prominent in Xero's application with the introduction of sales and purchases dashboards. See and read more here

Xero lists on the ASX, capital raise + half year results

You can now buy XRO share on the ASX. Read more here

Xero's half year results were released in November, showcasing a doubling of revenue and Australia's growth leading the way. Read more here

Xero has just raised another NZ$60m from US venture capital firms Valar Ventures and Matrix Capital provided by dilution from Xero's three largest shareholders: Rod Drury (CEO), Hamish Edwards (Co Founder) and Craig Winkler (Director). Read more here

A night to be Unleashed

We hosted an event with Unleashed on connecting your business inventory system to the rest of your cloud suite and dealing with stock management in perpetuity (real time).

GeoOp information night

The team from GeoOp will be hosting an event open to one and all at Interactive HQ on December the 4th. Feel free to sign up here.

Feature updates

A few key new features to make applying discount and removing tax on sale, to name a few and some small bugs were fixed in Vend's latest release.

Full Release Notes here

Vend has revamped their pricing model to a simpler model. New Price here

Consolidation, Benchmark and Variation reporting release

You can now consolidate up to 200 companies into one set of reports. What's impressive is that the chart of accounts does not need to be identical for the entities in question.

There have been some nice adjustments to benchmark reporting (PDFs) and variation metrics live in the app.

A Night to be Unleashed

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 13:00:00 GMT

photo gallery

Perpetual Inventory Management

What does that mean exactly?

Unleashed is design to allow for real time all the time stock, sales and production management. In short, you can keep your finger on the pulse of your stock and it's movements at all times in all locations, globally (if you wish).

So whether you're a salesman on the road, a CEO scoping new opportunities on board or managing the stock on the floor in the warehouse, you are all looking at the same up to date data.

Key industries using Unleashed:

There are many industries currently using Unleashed, but, the main ones are listed below:

Importers and exporters,
Wholesale and distributors,
Manufacturing,
Wineries and breweries,
Etailers (online retail),
Tradies, and
Food businesses

Could you use Unleashed in your business? Contact our team

Can I connect the rest of my business to Unleashed?

Yes you can. Check out the growing Unleashed ecosystem.

Unleashed are working hard on integrations to make sure that you can sell your product with ease online (Magento) or via retail channels (Vend), track your deliveries and fulfilment (GeoOp) and then measure the results with your accounting system (Xero) to create a best of breed solution for your stock based business.

You can also connect your back-end

If you want to go even further, you can connect your back end payroll, payables and debtors solutions for your Inventory centric business.

How do I put my systems together?

Want a picture of what a fully connected business looks like?

See some examples of a fully connected suite here.

Interactive Accounting can help connect your business

We have a team of technology experts and tech savvy accountants to help you map out your processes and setup your new software ecosystem. We can then provide training and support to make sure that your business is humming along.

Get in touch and find out how we can help connect your inventory business and "unleash" your business by reducing overheads and increasing connectivity. Click Here

When's Interactive Accounting's next event?

Come and learn about how you can streamline your job dispatch and workforce management remotely with GeoOp!

When?

Tuesday, 4th of December

Interested?

Stay up to date with Interactive Accounting

If you would like to stay informed of future events then please sign up to our newsletter below or follow us via one of our social pages.

{module_contentholder,name="[Widget] Newsletter"}

Xero goes mobile

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 13:00:00 GMT

Xero Touch Android Launches

You can now get Xero touch for Android via the Google Play market place.

See it in action below

Going mobile with Xero

Xero now has native applications on the two main operating systems for smart phones.

+

We thought we'd share with you just a few ideas and thoughts about how you could look at using your smartphone to run your business and save time with this cool infographic Xero released below:

Want to know more about going mobile with Xero?

Get in touch with our team by getting in contact

OR

if you want to read more on Xero, click here

October Update: Xero ecosystem for the connected business

Mon, 29 Oct 2012 13:00:00 GMT

Just a quick update on changes in some of the Xero software add ons that we use with our client's at Interactive Accounting. Enjoy

Online invoices

Earlier this month, Xero launched Online invoices. There was some backlash on the prompt for clients/customers on the Xero branding and the prompt to create an account to log in to view the history, this prompted a response from Rod Drury and a quick update to allow choice.

Since the release above, you now have the ability to be commented on and will add into the notes within Xero against the particular invoice.

Read the feature release on comments here

Payroll Updates (AU)

Filtering of employees has been enabled so you can view employees by any method with custom "tags". Additionally, you can now create employees without entering their full super details on day #1. (Be sure to get these details ASAP)

Unleashed connects price feeds from plumbing merchants

As a sign of things to come, Unleashed has started it's journey towards automatic price updates of inventory items with suppliers. The first cab off the rank a New Zealand plumbing supply company - NZPM Group and users can now have the following benefits:

Constant price updates
Actual pricing and margin quoted on jobs
Accurate forecasts and reporting

Connection to GeoOp

Connecting to GeoOp for job dispatch and workforce management now means that live prices and stock availability flows all the way through your organisation.

Capital raise

Unleashed have set about bolstering their ranks after raising an additional $2m in Venture Capital.

New website

The team capped off their HUGE month with the launch of their new site. Make sure you check it out here.

A night with Unleashed

Gareth Berry and the Unleashed Team will be coming to Interactive HQ in late November to host an event on managing inventory in your business. We will keep you posted once we confirm a final date.

New interface and updated support centre

A new interface is on the way to increase the ease of use of GeoOp for your business (they've added in a swag of new features too) and put Zendesk in place to bolster their support.

Full Release Notes here

GeoOp information night

The team from GeoOp will be hosting an event open to one and all at Interactive HQ on December the 4th. Feel free to sign up here.

New featues, bug fixes and new integrations

A few key new features to make customer search a lot easier and a swag of small bugs were fixed in Vend's latest release at the beginning of this month.

Full Release Notes here

Timely integration

Time and booking management has now come to Vend with their partnership with Timely. Our favourite plus is that you can build a website with calendar integration for appointments with Timely and collect payment with Vend. Now that's efficiency. Sit in on a webinar, or reach out to our team for more information.

Full Release Notes here

Founders Institute Mentor Session - "Revenues, Costs and Profits"

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 13:00:00 GMT

Earlier this month I was fortunate enough to sit on the mentor panel for Sydney's Founder Institute chapter. The Sydney chapter is part of the Silicone Valley-concept, now stretching across 38 cities, which aims to help launch early-stage startups onto the world stage.

What's your problem?

The Founder Institute chapter helps startups focus on their "pitch" - something all SMEs could use some practice in! The ability to explain the problem your business solves, your value proposition, your competition, your unique selling point and how you plan to execute your grand plan - in under 3-minutes, is essential in today's business environment.

Learning about "The Pitch"

It may sound a bit, shall we say, "wanky", but, ultimately perfecting your pitch forces you to critically evaluate each element of your business to proffer an explanation the entire market can understand.

As a panel member, I ranked the pitches of businesses I'd never heard of...there was definitely no sitting on the fence and no gently-gently approach to providing feedback! But let's face it, the blunt and honest truth is the only sort of feedback you want to hear when you're trying to change the world. And, after listening to them all, I can honestly say I think my pitch was the worst of the evening!

Focus session

Founder Institute attendees are lead by local chapter directors Ben Chong and Tom Frazier who invite mentors to speak on various topics. This session Andrew Rogers, co-founder of Anchor Systems, and myself got the call. We discussed issues relating to "revenues, costs and profits" with Andrew discussing his business' metrics, how Anchor Systems has managed to grow, the notion of "hoarding cash" and analysing business change-drivers.

Main lesson

A model is just an estimate.

If nothing else, that mantra was the event's take-home lesson.

Another was, if you think you've got it right; you're dead wrong. What is important is learning how to better analyse and improve forecasting as your business matures. But don't measure metrics at the expense of your business.

Strangely, I was asked to think away from numbers, so I focused on less number crunching, instead focusing on methods of measurement, the need to apply a lean methodology to number preparation and removing yourself from the business or "de-risking".

Who attends Founder Institute events?

Majority of participants are in the "idea phase", however, the institute is open to all early-stage online businesses.

When's the next intake?

Early 2013 - check their website for details.

Lessons learned

The Founder Institute is doing great work to educate future CEOs. I would have welcomed their advice when setting up any of the ventures I've had a hand in over the past three years: Financial Conversions, mypir, Practice Ignition and Interactive Accounting (note Financial Conversions is no longer in action).

Interactive Accounting + Startups

Start Up Beers (#startupbeers)

Interactive Accounting is a huge fan of startups and always encourage the entrepreneurial spirit! We run #startupbeers bi-monthly.

Our last event was at Manly's Berrins on Thursday 18 October, 2012. We managed to tie down Jaron Mitchell, founder of 4 Pines Beer Brewing Company, to tell the story behind its rapid ascension in the Australian craft beer market.