Xro - xero

[maddog]

Turmeric - the advantage that the Xero product now has over most competitors (including Wave) are incremental. Wave, Intuit, Reckon have plenty of money and their products are very good. And most customers are very small - most don't need the extra features and don't want to pay more for them.

Where Xero has an edge in New Zealand is in the ecosystem it provides - with the various add-ons and services particularly for accountants (reporting, workpapers etc). Xero will however, find that edge very difficult to replicate in other markets, other than perhaps Australia.

[lastmoa]

Lets not confuse apps with SAAS subscription models. Most of the time free apps are free for a reason.
Whilst I do see Xero does have some headway, it is using it's 'first-user' advantage to the max. Drury has been aware the incumbents will step into this space, and thus he has been adding functionality (and customer requested features) to the Xero global offering. Whilst I do see consolidation (or even some downward pressure (to mid-$6's) on SP, I still see them gaining traction in USA/UK to achieve their realistic 1mill goal. Just may take a few years to achieve. and as long as cash burn v revenue stays manageable.
Sure Wave will be taken up by some SMB's that like the word free, but then how much resources can be applied to the key areas of security, backups, support, notwithstanding added functionality like bank feeds, inventory, payroll, which all expect.

[maddog]

Drury and his Pr team have been masterful in creating the perception of first mover advantage. They were in NZ but not anywhere else - Saasu was first in Australia, Quickbooks Online in the States and Kashflow and FreeAgent in the UK. Xero has done well in NZ and Australia but are well behind the ball in other markets.

By the way, Wave is a very well funded and professional set up - just with a different and very competitive business mdel. And they have bank feeds and a separate paid payroll function https://www.waveapps.com/payroll/.

[Toasty]

I think that marketing initially to the Accountants was a smart move as enlisting them as enthusiastic promoters of the software enabled them to build the cost of the subscription into the bundled services that they provide. The clients hear about the great new accounting software Xero and suddenly it is available to them at a minimal or seemingly no cost through their accountant. I work for an accountancy that is almost solely Xero although we can handle any software and clients are literally demanding that we move them across to Xero.

My experience is NZ only but I am assuming from some of the reviews I have read by UK, Aus and US based practices that the approach has merit there as well.

[Everwood]

Another revenue stream for Xero is now coming from WorkflowMax which they acquired last year http://blog.xero.com/2013/02/workflo...ro/#more-34681 They now have 3000 Subscriptions and the midrange monthly subscription price is $99 http://www.workflowmax.com/pricing.aspx

They also have 680 using WFM Practice Manager, but from my understanding, if accounting partner has signed up 20 Xero clients the Practice Manager is free of charge. Not too sure how many are paying customers.

[Toasty]

Xero continues its relentless upward march. Not huge but just continuous. I read that they have over 1000 accountants on the books in the UK now so it will be interesting to see the effect on the customer numbers as these practices transition across.

Just went to XeroCon last week (I wish they would call it something else) and it was full of wildly enthusiastic accountants and bookkeepers. Remarkable depth of talent.... Especially when they got dressed up...

[Everwood]

Xero is approaching its 52 week high of $7.75

[Everwood]

Xero continues its relentless upward march. Not huge but just continuous. I read that they have over 1000 accountants on the books in the UK now so it will be interesting to see the effect on the customer numbers as these practices transition across.

I was reading their blog today and it said "In around a month from now we’ll pass the milestone of having 1,000 UK accountants and bookkeepers as members of our Partner community." http://blog.xero.com/2013/02/xero-uk...ce-of-cupcake/

[Toasty]

I was reading their blog today and it said "In around a month from now we’ll pass the milestone of having 1,000 UK accountants and bookkeepers as members of our Partner community." http://blog.xero.com/2013/02/xero-uk...ce-of-cupcake/

Thats the one. Lots of other good numbers in there as well.

[Toasty]

I always cringe when I hear staff numbers expanding but I guess its impossible without them.