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Xero Raises Another $150M to Do Battle With Intuit in Online Accounting Software

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Re: Xero Raises Another $150M to Do Battle With Intuit in Online Accounting Software

#41

Post by MarkMc »

rileyjamesx wrote: post #40
MarkMc wrote: post #35

Their website doesn't seem to mention prices for accountants. If I was a bookkeeper wanting to manage the accounts of say 10 clients, how much would Xero charge me?

Accountants & Bookkeepers aren't charged, the model is to charge the end customer (business owner). The accountant or bookkeeper can choose to purchase Xero and then charge their client for it, or just absorb it into their existing pricing. Through the Xero partner program there are some perks, including software to manage their practice. http://www.xero.com/au/partners/

Hmm... so Xero will charge me the full end-user price for each business even if my clients have no interest in using Xero?

Re: Xero Raises Another $150M to Do Battle With Intuit in Online Accounting Software

#42

Post by jacques_chester »

icu wrote: post #38
flog wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Now in my early 30s, my approach to launching my start up is a lot different to what I was doing in my 20s. Rod has said to me previously that no entrepreneur should have money before they're 30... which has rung true with me. At least from a NZ perspective, we have to suffer for our art, it takes time to earn your stripes.

Okay well guess I feel I have to respond to the "from a NZ perspective, we have to suffer for our art". Yes, we do suffer as entrepreneurs in New Zealand (NZ). But I disagree, I think the suffering is self inflicted. An entrepreneur in NZ is up against structural problems and the cultural issues that make it unduly hard on us. Please permit me to explain. The structural problems: IMHO the biggest problem isn't distan…

A lot of this rhymes with the Australian situation.

Re: Xero Raises Another $150M to Do Battle With Intuit in Online Accounting Software

#43

Post by borplk »

rileyjamesx wrote: post #36
cies wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> B) API limits. i second that. i whish they would make a policy that everything that can be clicked can also be accomplished by using the API. we're currently working around quite a few things that the UI facilitates, but the API does not.

I handle developer relations at Xero. Happy to discuss your API limit needs when you've got the chance (email in profile). Secondly, it is our aim to have everything available via the API. We have been ramping up resources within the API team in order to keep pace with the rest of the product.

I was very disappointed when I realised Xero only handles up to 2 decimal points for numerical values.

I mean seriously, it's an accounting system!

Found a thread where people have been asking for it for more than a year and have been ignored by Xero

Re: Xero Raises Another $150M to Do Battle With Intuit in Online Accounting Software

#44

Post by ruckusing »

rrhyne wrote: post #14
ihsw wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone looking to get into developing around Quickbooks (Desktop & Online), this terrifies the hell out of me.

You should be afraid. Everyone uses it differently, there are lots of opaque quirks to development and Intuit does wild things like kill their support forums without leaving the old content up for posterity's sake. There are 2 or 3 different APIs, with verifying levels of support for various features. At times QB will push a release that breaks everything for all your clients and you're left to deal with it. Not a fu…

I wish I could +1 this a million times. I develop a Ruby gem for the QB API (Online & Desktop)[1] and I've come to realize their whole API is a mess. I've also worked with the Xero API and its much simpler but still lacks some key features like adding a discount to a line item on an invoice.

[1] https://github.com/ruckus/quickeebooks

Re: Xero Raises Another $150M to Do Battle With Intuit in Online Accounting Software

#45

Post by rileyjamesx »

MarkMc wrote: post #41
rileyjamesx wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Accountants & Bookkeepers aren't charged, the model is to charge the end customer (business owner). The accountant or bookkeeper can choose to purchase Xero and then charge their client for it, or just absorb it into their existing pricing. Through the Xero partner program there are some perks, including software to manage their practice. http://www.xero.com/au/partners/

Hmm... so Xero will charge me the full end-user price for each business even if my clients have no interest in using Xero?

No, only clients that want it. Accountants and bookkeepers can have clients on Xero as well as other platforms. There are incentives to have them all on Xero, but there are no requirements to be 100% Xero.

Re: Xero Raises Another $150M to Do Battle With Intuit in Online Accounting Software

#46

Post by rileyjamesx »

djt wrote: post #21

Xero was started by someone involved with MYOB. MYOB's software is a nightmare for SMB's, so they probably started there as small businesses are happy to put their finances in the cloud. Once they grow their businesses out I can imagine Xero will grow with those businesses (ie payroll). Xero seem to be embracing API hooks into other systems too, very smart play as they can potentially include things like payroll etc…

We realise we can't build it all. So the API enables Xero to stay flexible, if you really need additional features there will be suitable add-ons. We have Payroll in Australia.

Re: Xero Raises Another $150M to Do Battle With Intuit in Online Accounting Software

#47

Post by pm »

rileyjamesx wrote: post #37
pm wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Australia, there was a company called Paycycle which filled in the payroll gap, which Xero subsequently bought out and incorporated into their Payroll offering for Australian companies. My theory is that Xero purposely crippled parts of their software so as not to offend or discourage the developer ecosystem. However, they missed the target with things like payroll, which is such a gigantic PITA for everyone and E…

The developer eco-system is very important. The lack of payroll didn't eventuate out of a fear of offending the developer community tho. Xero started in NZ without payroll. It was only after expanding to Australia that there was enough demand for payroll. At some stage payroll will be available in all regions. I'm glad you have faith. Lots of features in the pipeline.

Indeed, I signed onto Xero when payroll didn't exist. Payroll is as hard, if not harder than doing payment gateways in different countries - everything's different for each country. But the first incarnation of (Australian) payroll left much to be desired - and I assume that's the payroll that everyone's currently stuck with - so I was elated to hear that you'd bought out Paycycle and were integrating it directly into Xero.

We're going to be integrating internally with Xero in the next couple of months, so hopefully the API call limit doesn't become a pain.

Otherwise, keep up the good work.

Re: Xero Raises Another $150M to Do Battle With Intuit in Online Accounting Software

#48

Post by pm »

jacques_chester wrote: post #42
icu wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Okay well guess I feel I have to respond to the "from a NZ perspective, we have to suffer for our art". Yes, we do suffer as entrepreneurs in New Zealand (NZ). But I disagree, I think the suffering is self inflicted. An entrepreneur in NZ is up against structural problems and the cultural issues that make it unduly hard on us. Please permit me to explain. The structural problems: IMHO the biggest problem isn't distan…

A lot of this rhymes with the Australian situation.

We have tall poppy syndrome, but there's also a great deal of Valley envy. There are as many naysayers telling us to keep our day jobs as there are sociopaths telling us to "fail fast and break things", the consequences be damned.

I think there's an appropriate middle ground, and we'll find our footing over the next 5 years or so.

Re: Xero Raises Another $150M to Do Battle With Intuit in Online Accounting Software

#49

Post by rrhyne »

ruckusing wrote: post #44
rrhyne wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should be afraid. Everyone uses it differently, there are lots of opaque quirks to development and Intuit does wild things like kill their support forums without leaving the old content up for posterity's sake. There are 2 or 3 different APIs, with verifying levels of support for various features. At times QB will push a release that breaks everything for all your clients and you're left to deal with it. Not a fu…

I wish I could +1 this a million times. I develop a Ruby gem for the QB API (Online & Desktop)[1] and I've come to realize their whole API is a mess. I've also worked with the Xero API and its much simpler but still lacks some key features like adding a discount to a line item on an invoice. [1] https://github.com/ruckus/quickeebooks

A brother in arms!

Re: Xero Raises Another $150M to Do Battle With Intuit in Online Accounting Software

#50

Post by MarkMc »

rileyjamesx wrote: post #45
MarkMc wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm... so Xero will charge me the full end-user price for each business even if my clients have no interest in using Xero?

No, only clients that want it. Accountants and bookkeepers can have clients on Xero as well as other platforms. There are incentives to have them all on Xero, but there are no requirements to be 100% Xero.

Sorry, I wasn't clear: Let's say that I want to manage my clients' accounts using Xero, but my clients have no interest in using Xero themselves. Does that mean I have to pay around £19 per month per client?
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