Interaction

Search blog

Entrepreneurs Meetup 3 - Online Metrics

Taking it to new heights with EM3. 


In case you missed our event last week, we had the honour of having some informative guest speakers; Zendesk, Uber, Gryphon Capital, SpreadCode, Atlassian, Recruitloop, Ninefold, Paycyle/Xero. We learned about innovative ways to measure your success online and to focus on the right metrics for your business, not, just the number of hits it may get.... and the importance of defining and tracking these within your business.


Congratulations goes to.....

JR from Atlassian for winning the best presentation award for EM3. Your wine is on it's way! 

The vote count & the feedback from the event are here, some great looking graphs!

 

Photos from the evening here


 



Wisdom

Check out the videos here

Our summary just won't do the presenters justice



Michael Folmer-Hansen, Zendesk

Zendesk provides help desk platform that is aimed at improving your customers experience and support level. Growing to 10,000 customers in a short space of time, they have arguably one of the best websites I’ve seen and incredible conversion rates. Michael spoke about product placement, standing out in the crowd and "keeping it military".


Allan Jansen, Uber

UberConsult Solutions started as a web development “shop” and has experienced rapid growth in the past 6 years resulting in joining the Fast 100 BRW ranks amongst other accolades. Uber is the Enterprise Agency and has successfully delivered major projects for clients including Canon, Australian Pharmaceutical Industries and DP World.


Peter Bush, Gryphon Capital

Peter brings to the table experience from tax, commerce and now a private bank/fund/venture capital firm. Peter's focus was on explaining what a potential investor looks at and the importance of understanding metrics in driving your business and looking to impress your current or potential investors.

Maxim Cherepovitsyn, SpreadCode

Max was one of our startup presenters. Spreadcode specialises in planning, plotting and building iPhone/iPad & Android Apps.


John Rotenstein, Atlassian

J R is a metrics whiz from the Australia startup, turned powerhouse, Atlassian. Having seen their office and dashboards first hand, they measure EVERYTHING and share the information openly in house... it’s no surprise they have some amazing results and a great success story to tell.


Michael Overell, Recruitloop

Michael is proof that innovation can exist and break out whilst working for a large corporation. An ex accountant and management consultant, he has co-founded a start up that does recruitment with a twist, in a service that Interactive Accounting will be using moving forward.


Dennis Graham, Ninefold

Dennis focused on the AIDA model, Awareness, Interest, Desire & Action. AIDA looks at the conversion funnel of interest to sale and what triggers there are in “web speak” to discover where you are able to tweak your message, content, ads to ensure that you land the business you seek.


Stuart McLeod, Paycycle/Xero

Brave enough to present without a slide deck, Stuart associated business metrics to real life desires, goals and aspirations. Paycycle was a lean Startup that went from inception to sale to a listed company inside of 2 years. Although only meeting quarterly on business progress and metrics, Stuart said their focus was on what the metrics actually meant and how they could use them to take advantage of future opportunities.


Interactive Accounting - New Services Announement (Setup, Bookkeeping and Investment)

Lastly, as an experiment in online metrics Interactive Accounting launched an update of it's current site to promote our new services (Setup, Bookkeeping and Investment) and it's online quoting system. Check out our website to see what's new. We've seen a boost to our site and new business inquiries since the launch, what can you do to tweak your online presence to drive new business?

 

 

Click here to view the awesome content from Entrepreneur Meetup 3



The next meetup and it's topic is TBA/TBC as we go back to the drawing board to listen to the feedback and improve yet again. If you're keen to suggest any ides, please join the conversation on twitter #iameetup3

 

Register your interest IA Meetup #4 here


The venue, time, theme and register of attendance will be put together shortly and will be available shortly. 

 

Feedback from the evening

Continue reading post →
Guy Pearson Thursday, October 27, 2011
Comments (0)
Trackbacks (0)
Permalink

Who won Xero's Partner of the Year? We did.

Xero held their Australian Annual Conference over this past weekend to celebrate the 2011 year, showcasing the new features being released, the roadmap (plans for future releases) & present awards to it's Australian Bookkeeping and Accounting partners.


New Features


The features that are coming out are going to include:


  • Over/Under Payments
  • Receipting
  • Better Report Formatting
  • Links to an online tax package
  • Launch of their new Mobile App (now in the apple store)
  • Payroll & HR moving within the core package
  • Xero Personal gaining bankfeeds
  • And many more...

The Awards


Given our competition in the Xero ecosystem, we were absolutely thrilled just to gain a mention as a nominee in one category. We ended up with nominations in 3 out of the 5 awards:


  • Best Website (important for an online business)
  • Fastest Growing Partner (Great for a startup business)
  • Partner of the Year (Accolade for the partner that "ticks all the boxes")

Unfortunately we didn't take out the website award, but, big congratulations to e360 (our web guys) that had 4 out of 6 nominations in the 6 websites listed and took out the award! Fastest growing partner went to a fantastic rural firm bringing online accounting to areas that need real time data and previously haven't had access to it!


However, we received the accolade of 2011 Xero Partner of the Year! Which, was completely unexpected (Guy had his heart set on the website award), so, up to the podium, no fore warning to make a brief speech. Shocked, Guy, was stuck for words. So, this is what he should have said:


GUY'S ACCEPTANCE SPEECH... in digital form


"A huge thank you to our clients, first and foremost, you are what has got me out of bed since I've started in this industry. Without you, Interactive Accounting wouldn't exist.


Secondly, to my mother, Sharon, you're a ROCKSTAR in my eyes, thank you for believing in me!


Thirdly, to the Interactive crew, you're only ever as good as the team around you, this award is for your hard work. Special mention to Lisa Callaghan, You are my little rock, thanks for keeping me in line and getting it done, so we can develop and grow as a firm.


Fourthly, to the Xero Partners, we are not changing how the game is played, we are, CHANGING THE GAME ITSELF. It's been great to have your competitors back you up and act as a community, it facilitates growth and change as we all move to achieve best practice.


Lastly, but, not least, a huge thank you to Xero. It's not just a platform for accounting, it's a platform for change to business and investment as we know it. It allows us to be Interactive with our clients and provide value. Thank you for making online accounting possible, I look forward to the future and together we can shake the foundations!


Interactive Accounting has only just begun, to add a little bit of mystery, watch closely, we have a long way to go, but, we are getting ready for lift off......"


The future of online accounting/business


It was a great day/night/weekend, there is not a lot of backslapping in this new movement of online accounting, it's 100% focus on the end benefits for clients, changing a time/cost approach to value for clients and actually providing value. As people are accepting the cloud and online accounting more and more, we are looking to define best practice. The weekend was a turning point, proof of concept and passion for a future.


With Xero's aim to be a multi national, multi billion dollar company, it is on track to revolutionise small/medium business globally. So, give your feedback, as it's the only way we all learn, develop and progress.


Conclusion 


The most exciting part of the evening was seeing Xero's newly acquired Australian Managing Director, Chris Ridd, rocking out at the front of a live band during the gala dinner and awards ceremony! Great version of Doobie Brothers - Long Train Runnin'.


Off to work on our roadmap. Have you got yours laid out?


 

2012 - With our head in the clouds and our feet on the ground, we will, shake the foundations of the industry. Like GIANTS!

Continue reading post →
Guy Pearson Monday, August 01, 2011
Comments (0)
Trackbacks (0)
Permalink

Entrepreneurs Meetup #2 - "Running your business in the cloud"

What a great turnout to our last meetup at Interactive HQ on the 8th of July! 


In case you missed our event last week, we had the honour of having some informative guest speakers; Virtue & Partners, Cloud Adapt, Gebomana, Connect2Field, Reward Super & Interactive Accounting. We were introduced to new online products, services and "cloud" experiences.


Tony from Virtue and Partners enlightened us with his financial advice on "structural change versus cyclical change". 


Johnnie from CloudAdapt spoke about inefficiencies - how to focus on removing cost and being efficient. This of course resonates with Interactive Accounting's theories of releasing bottlenecks. 


Michael from GeboMana discussed "Corporate Social Responsibility" and how every corporation can participate (Did you know with GeboMana, every t-shirt the sell sends a child to school for two months?)


Steve from Connect2Field added his two cents on how working in the cloud has helped his efficiency working with his customers, especially given their global expansion.


Wolf from Reward Super, introduced the RSDataWeb platform and explained how it's usage feels the void for the financial markets.


Lastly, we had our very own Guy Pearson talking on bottlenecks, what Interactive Accounting is doing to release them and gave a teaser on a few new products that are being released shortly. Stay Tuned.


Click here to view the awesome content from our Entrepreneur Meetups


The next meetup will be hosted on the 21st of October, with the twitter conversation here: #iameetup3



The venue, time, theme and register of attendance will be put together shortly and will be available on our new site (to be launched shortly). 

Continue reading post →
Guy Pearson Friday, July 15, 2011
Comments (0)
Trackbacks (0)
Permalink

Starting a new business


Starting a New Business…. So what do I need to consider?

Having just gone through the exercise, it has dawned that advising on this as an accountant really didn’t give me the best insight to the number of challenges faced by a new business owner/operator and the stress that goes along with the process.

Let’s run through some of the major pros and cons and the challenges you face and the rewards that hopefully will be there for you at the end of the line:


Write yourself a business plan you can build on:

Before you set out on the venture into the unknown of your own business, make sure you have one of these laid out and that you can adapt it to your business as it develops, as a stagnant plan will leave you behind the curve. Here are some key areas to focus on:

  • A budget and projection of the costs of setup and the first 12 months of operation. This needs to be done on a monthly basis, with a month by month comparison, if possible and the worst and best case scenarios factored in. (If you have Office 2007 or later, there is a great set of templates to use. If not then you can purchase one from here at a low cost)
  • Define your target market – define who you want your clients/customers to be and why you have chosen them.
  • SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) – look at the market you are entering and consider the current state of the market and what you can offer that stands you apart from the market. This allows you to determine how you should position yourself in a given market.
  • Exit strategy – this is perhaps the point most overlooked on the setup of a new business. You need to consider how long you want to be involved with this business? Do you want other owners involved? If an offer comes along, will your business be sale ready?
  • Key point of differentiation from the market – what is your businesses unique selling point? What makes your business different from your competitors and the market leader?

These are just some general points that are elaborated on in many business and strategy books available in the business section of your chosen bookstore.


Mentors

Probably the most overlooked, but most crucial step in starting a business is to have a great mentor. That second set of eyes to look at things from a 3rd party perspective and act as the potential client. Like with most scenarios two heads are better than one and this will stop the urge to stick you head in the sand and simply follow your own thoughts without using anyone as a sounding board.


So, how do you choose a Mentor?

Don’t assume that this person has to be a trusted advisor that you already have appointed. The best mentors usually come from someone who has no knowledge of your particular industry, but like you, is an entrepreneur that has developed a business model.

Where the opportunities were presented to IA, they were taken advantage of. It was/is a special privilege to have had the opportunity to meet with so many successful people, whom, had at one stage or another in their lives been in the same position. Now their industries and generation were all vastly different, but, they spoke from experience, not quoting a text book and experience should never, ever, be discounted. Some of the comments made were as follows:

  1. It’s not just about having a fantastic product; you need honesty, integrity and the courage to stand behind that product in the face of adversity. That is what will separate you from your competitors,
  2. The best way to grow a successful business is to be able to spend your time working on the business, not in the business.
  3. You need to ask, as a consumer, why would I choose your business to represent me? What can you bring to the table that others can’t?
Now all these comments are great. But, in essence they demonstrate that passion, a business like mind, a fabulous product and personal qualities are all great starting points. But each one alone is not enough to get you to the next level. That is achieved by finding a unique balance between them all.

This is easier said then done…… but there’s an old saying, if you find a job you love, you’ll never work a day in your life. I think a more apt comment, is that if you find a business you love, you will never grow weary or tired of it, you will always be looking to be the lead in the industry and your passion will infect those in your organisation and your customers. This in turn with a realistic and honest view of yourself and your businesses performance will enable you to make the right decision and not let things such as pride, get in the way.



So what do I need to do to register a business in Australia?

You need to ensure that you have filed the correct registrations:

Lasting idea……

Have a unique idea you are passionate about and always remember to keep that idea fluid and not stagnant. If you are unable to develop and reinvent yourself, then ultimately your time at the top is limited by the time it takes a competitor to supersede your business. Don’t get stuck analysing the past, you can’t change what has happened, try and keep it fresh and exciting, set goals, targets and always focus on the next step.

Continue reading post →
Guy Pearson Thursday, July 01, 2010
Comments (0)
Trackbacks (0)
Permalink

Recent Posts

Tags

Archive