Xro - xero

[Toasty]

Another shot across the bows from Drury. Man he takes no time at all to get on to this sort of thing. Kind of puts Goebbels to shame really!

I would rather have someone actively driving the opportunities than sitting back and waiting for the market to make up its mind. Sometimes you just have to tell the market what it wants.

[maddog]

Moosie's comment highlights that Drury is simultaneously Xero's greatest strength and its greatest weakness.

His drive and energy are amazing. His ability to raise funding and build a strong team are to be admired.

But the man is a very loose cannon who fires completely baseless barbs off at his competitors and is quite happen to bend the truth to suit his own purposes. Sadly, I think he has lost much of his hard-earned credibility with the arrogant way he now behaves.

[maddog]

Sparky - I already get the impression that the key commentators have very little time for Drury. I sense that Chris Keall, Tom Pullar-Strecker and Ben Kepes for example would be only too happy to bring Drury down to size. I don't think they are anti-Xero - just sick of Drury's spin doctoring and attacks on his competitors.

[maddog]

And more from Drury on the deal: http://blog.xero.com/2013/05/industry-consolidation/

[Schrodinger]

Drury is a master PR man. Watch his genius in action. If you understand how global companies work this centres around the 'Brand' and Drury knows this well.

We need more like him.

[Toasty]

Drury is a master PR man. Watch his genius in action. If you understand how global companies work this centres around the 'Brand' and Drury knows this well.

We need more like him.

I agree. Rod spent a lot of time in the US with Quest during the Aftermail acquisition. I think that NZers aren't really up with the way that the game is played on the wider global stage where presence plays a big part. We are uncomfortable with people putting themselves and their company/product out there like this and it attracts unfavourable comments. If you look at the way companies promote themselves in the US for instance it is a lot more "in your face". I sense that Rod is addressing a wider audience than just the limited NZ market.

[maddog]

Sorry Schrodinger, Drury is no master at PR. Certainly he has his fans. But he also has a lot of detractors.

It is entirely possible to succeed in business and be widely liked and respected at the same time. Drury fails in that regard.

We need more people with Drury's good points - his vision, energy and passion - but we don't need the bad that comes with him - the petty attacks and the deception.

[Schrodinger]

Good points Maddog.

However, this is not how the game is played on the global stage. Xero is a global company and needs to play by their rules. If they were a pure NZ play him being 'liked' is a very good thing. However lots of people will really like him if he creates a hugely profitable company and makes NZ prosper.

[bunter]

Why did Drury make an announcement about how unconcerned Xero is about 'industry consolidation'?
To discourage shareholders from selling?

There's no surer way of sounding worried than making such an announcement.
And if he's worried, maybe it's a good time to sell.

[CMo]

Rod made a few good points at his afternoon speech at EPIC yesterday. Firstly, Xero used to pay for ads in the Herald... about $10,000 for a page. Pretty expensive advertising to 'get exposure'. Rod has since become known for having an opinion on most topics. so when journos have a story (any story!!) where they need a quote, they call him up. He then gets his and xero's name in prime sections of the newspaper for free. Not rocket science, but smart.

Remember, this myob and banklink deal is not 'new' in the making... It's been talked about for a while. http://blog.xero.com/2011/08/changing-of-the-guard-2/

The question is is it now too late to fight back in the small business sector?