{"id":32077,"date":"2023-10-20T14:26:58","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:26:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/xero-sets-its-sights-on-world-domination-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T14:26:58","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:26:58","slug":"xero-sets-its-sights-on-world-domination-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/xero-sets-its-sights-on-world-domination-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Xero sets its sights on world domination – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The next level of automation, fuelled by the amount of data available in the cloud today, will be one of the most profound technological changes the world has seen, according to Xero founder and chief executive officer Rod Drury.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe first stage was getting all of the data. It\u2019s nuts but we processed over $300 billion worth of transactions last year. In New Zealand, where a quarter of all businesses are on Xero, we saw $60 billion of (New Zealand\u2019s) $210 billion GDP,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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Using data<\/b><\/h2>\n

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While companies now have access to ordered data in the cloud, using things like Xero, they still aren\u2019t using it to its full potential. Rather they\u2019re providing much the same functionality that was available pre-cloud, but with a better experience. Speaking to StartupSmart<\/em> at the Melbourne launch of Innovation Bay<\/a> on Tuesday night, Drury says it\u2019s in developing that next stage where there\u2019s an opportunity for entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThrough your mobile you\u2019ll have this viewer into the servers which are working while you\u2019re sleeping,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really excites me because it\u2019s a fundamental change. Now we\u2019ve got the data we can do really start to do what machines do well and get rid of anything manual.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll be very much insight driven \u2013 what do I need to do next? I\u2019m working for you. And computers aren\u2019t just tools, they\u2019ll be a critical part of your business that drives value.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Drury\u2019s view is that in five years people won\u2019t \u201cdo accounting\u201d. They\u2019ll just open up whatever device they wish to access their data on and the work will be done.<\/p>\n

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Absolute globalisation<\/b><\/h2>\n

In broader trends Drury says more and more industries will be impacted by \u201cabsolute globalisation\u201d. This means truly global companies disrupting industries around the world.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s super important for people not in the US, where it isn\u2019t as clear. We\u2019ve seen how Uber has transformed the taxi industry everywhere. Hong Kong, Wellington, Sydney, Melbourne,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone in New Zealand has US Netflix. So we\u2019ve completely bypassed Sky. So that\u2019s Global TV.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we\u2019re seeing this globalisation of platforms, which is awesome. That\u2019s really exciting for anyone that\u2019s outside the mainstream. Australia and New Zealand are as far as you can get from the rest of the world and we don\u2019t have large domestic markets.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it doesn\u2019t require a whole lot of capital, you can throw things on AWS or Google servers and suddenly your shopfront is open to the world. You have to be thinking global.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Xero\u2019s expansion<\/b><\/h2>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

That\u2019s exactly what Xero is doing. Australia is the company\u2019s biggest market, but earlier this year it raised $140 million to fund its US and UK expansion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Not all went to plan, the American accounting industry was more conservative than expected and reluctant to move to the cloud. So Drury says the Xero needed to shift its business model slightly.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe added a direct business. We\u2019re still building this direct model to get small businesses on board, and then connect them with our accountants,\u201d Drury says.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo the US will take a while, but it\u2019s good that it will take a while because it gives us plenty of time to build our brand. We\u2019ve got the capital to play that out, but we also have these other exciting markets that are giving us great growth as well.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we\u2019re feeling very diversified, and really confident.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe US is important. Getting it right, we have to do that to do a US IPO. But we\u2019re building a great business there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Raising your <\/i>first round of capital<\/i><\/a>? Starting a <\/i>crowdfunding campaign<\/i><\/a>? Want to grow your business <\/i>with Instagram?<\/i><\/a> <\/i>StartupSmart School can help.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The next level of automation, fuelled by the amount of data available in the cloud today, will be one of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62595,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32077"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}