The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 15 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
Drury: Xero added more global small businesses than Intuit did last year
“We actually added more small business, small businesses globally to our brand, And Intuit added to their brand last year, and they spent 1.2 billion to do it”
Drury: Accounting is the only small business app with a built-in channel
“So what's interesting about accounting software in the small business space is it's the only application with an actual channel.”
Drury: Xero IPO'd first before raising from hedge funds and VCs
“We did our IPO first. Then we brought in the hedge funds, who, because of the compression in the US market with BC's doing most of the big deals, the private, the hedge fund guys, sorry, had to go out and find global deals. And then it's only really recently t…”
Drury: Xero raised $15M at a $55M valuation in day-one IPO
“So we raised fifteen million dollars at a fifty-five million dollar valuation, which some people thought, ah, was crazy, but, you know, now, even in this depressed, crazy market time, you know, in a short time, ah, our company's worth over two billion dollars.”
Drury: Xero's major global rivals Sage, MYOB, and Intuit lack founder leadership
“We compete with, you know, three, well, two, two mainly really large companies, but three companies around the world, Sage in the UK, NYB in this part of the world, and Intuit in the US, and none of those are founder-led companies, and there's very few founder…”
Drury: Xero serves 25% of all businesses in Australia and New Zealand
“We've you know, we've got 25% of all New Zealand businesses, 25% of all Australian businesses, and we're a leader there.”
Drury: Xero is a UK leader and beat Sage to cloud accounting
“We're a leader in the UK, and we've beaten Sage to the cloud”
Drury: Accounting is the killer app for small businesses
“Accounting is the killer app for small businesses. They all have bank accounts. The smart ones have business advisors, and they all have to have a relationship with the tax ban. So it's the functionality they all kind of need to have.”
Drury: Xero surpassed $200M ARR and 600,000 paying subscribers
“So in the last 12 months, we've processed over three hundred billion dollars of transactions, and already we have over 600,000 paying customers. We're just passing two hundred million annualized run rate.”
Drury: SaaS companies without scalable sales models always drift upmarket
“So you see companies that don't get their sales model targeted for scale always drifting up market.”
Drury: Internet companies can scale globally from their home country
“In the internet world, we're seeing companies build for scale from their own country and become truly global companies with truly global financing.”
Drury: Entrepreneurs should take several months off between founding companies
“What I've always done when I sold a business, and I've done, like, four now, As I just get so excited, I go and start the next one. In hindsight, what I should have done was actually take three or four months off between them.”
Drury: Entrepreneurial careers span decades, so don't rush your twenties
“The advice I would give is you don't need to do it all in your first few years. I think 20 is after building your base experience. Thirties, you start building your network, and maybe you'll start making some money.”
Drury: New Zealand VC deals were capped at $3M around 2006
“So New Zealand, back sort of 10 years ago, And before, there really wasn't a sophisticated, ah, venture capital market. So probably the largest deal done had been maybe two to three million, and there wasn't a lot followed on something like that.”