Xero opened the show with two solid hours of announcements. Xero Force,
the Ultra plan, smart data capture, JAX and a big push on the rise of
the builder. Most of it is in beta and lands later in the year. So we
spent two days in the hall asking the people it lands on what they
actually made of it.
The centrepiece is our interview with Kate Haywood, MD of Xero UK. We
put it to her straight. The accounting and bookkeeping channel arguably
is not as important to Xero's revenue as it once was, so does there
need to be a bit more honesty about where accountants and bookkeepers
sit in the hierarchy? She did not dodge it. "They are fundamentally
important to us at Xero, and especially here in the UK."
We also pushed her on the ecosystem. When Xero ships data capture,
invoice chasing and reporting, it starts competing with the app partners
who built on top of it. Kate says Xero is an open ecosystem led by what
is right for the customer, and that if you try and build everything you
end up building nothing.
The vendors are less relaxed about it. Daniel Rock of SuiteFiles reckons
"there's a lot of app vendors that will feel very squeezed". David Tuck
of Mayday is delighted, because the Ultra plan points straight at his
market. Jordan Vickery of Vinyl says nobody is running scared, which was
disappointingly uncontroversial of him. Reuben from Briefcase wishes
more people were trying to do what they do.
The accountants are warier. Plenty of hope in the room, not much
validation yet. Stuart Hurst points out that JAX launched two years ago
and not a great deal has happened. Sharon, ten Xerocons in, says this
one felt different, because Xero has become a bigger and more corporate
establishment and it is "lacking a little bit of the human side". David
from Youtopia goes further. "I don't think people actually implement
anything from these shows."
Featuring David Tuck (MayDay), Daniel Rock (SuiteFiles), Vipul Sheth
(AdvanceTrack), Jordan Vickery (Vinyl), Reuben (Briefcase), Kate Haywood
(Xero UK), Jim, Ravi, Sharon, Stuart Hurst, Will, David (Youtopia) and
Sam.
Is Xero still building for accountants, or around them?
Chapters
00:00 Cold open
00:37 Live from day two. The party, the slide and the design lab
07:06 David Tuck, Mayday. The Ultra plan
08:32 Daniel Rock, SuiteFiles. Who gets squeezed
09:46 Vipul Sheth, AdvanceTrack. The proof is in the pudding
11:10 Jordan Vickery, Vinyl. Is anyone running scared?
12:22 Reuben, Briefcase. AI native, and welcoming the competition
13:28 Kate Haywood, MD of Xero UK. The full interview
47:11 Jim. Hope, but not much validation
48:35 Ravi. JAX, and small steps with AI
49:49 Sharon. Ten Xerocons, and a missing human side
51:24 Stuart Hurst. Best in years, but Dext and Chaser look nervous
52:47 Will. It all looks good. Now show us it working
54:07 David, Youtopia. Nobody implements anything
55:39 Sam. First Xerocon
56:55 Wrap up