Our profile has been raised significantly over the past 6 months. There’s a number of reasons for this.
Firstly the whole of “software as a service” as had a lift thanks to being endorsed by Barack Obama’s CIO and because it’s being widely acknowledged that SaaS will benefit (and be beneficial) in an economic downturn. Oh, and Salesforce.com breaking the $1bn barrier helped too!
KashFlow specifically has benefited hugely from beating all of the desktop-based accounting software providers on their own turf and from the publicity handed to us on a plate by Sage due to them reporting us to Trading Standards.
All of this has been reflected in our web traffic, in sign ups to our free trial and in our bottom line. But there is a down side to all of this publicity.
I’ve realised that when you become well known, you become a target yourself. Especially if you put yourself as an individual out there in the firing line instead of just a name and logo. Already this month there have been 3 attacks on us/me that would never have happened if we’d stayed a small and relatively unknown company.
1 – Dragging up the Past
I posted a couple of weeks ago about the help I received from the Princes Trust when starting KashFlow. I alluded to having been in trouble with the police in my youth. Within a couple of days this appeared in The Times. It was followed very quickly by a comment to my Princes Trust blog post referencing The Times and insinuating I shouldn’t be trusted with thousands of businesses data. The IP address of the person posting the comment was an exact match for the IP address of someone on UKBF who works at Sage. They also used the same first name. Not conclusive evidence as its a dynamic address from a big ISP, but quite a coincidence.
My chairman responded over the weekend. The general consensus is that it all goes in our favour. My KPIs for this month agree.
2 – Role Reversal
Before I launched KashFlow, there was another company in the UK also providing web-based accounting software. Hardly anyone outside of the industry has heard of them as they’ve not done particularly well at marketing themselves. Nor do they have a great hamburger.
They tried to rectify this by contacting a journalist and suggesting we had certain technical issues with KashFlow. If it was true, it would have been a good great story for the journalist in question. Thankfully he got his own independent specialist to check us out which resulted in a clean bill of health for us and no publicity for the poor ol’ also-ran.
Even so, I certainly had a little taste of how Sage must have felt when I’ve climbed on their back waving my flag in the past!
3 – Stitched up on Twitter
Unless this is the first post you’ve read on this blog, then you’ll know I’m not one to keep my thoughts to myself. I’m often accused of “attacking competitors” when what the accuser actually means is “attacking Sage”. In my eyes, I’m just vigourously defending myself - but I concede that I can be rather enthusiastic about my defence.
Although I guess there’s something hostile about building a bonfire from our our old-fashioned disc-based competitors’ software.
If you follow me on Twitter then you’ll also have seen me be complimentary about my competitors and even recommend them on occasion. More than most of them would dare do for me. So I guess I’d say I’m just quite vocal and outspoken rather than specifically aggressive.
One of the people that regularly tells me to leave Sage competitors alone and stick to the knitting is Dennis Howlett. I’d have thought that the number of blog posts he’s made that mention KashFlow or our API users over recent months would show I’m perfectly capable of running and growing a company whilst ‘enthusiastically defending myself’. But he decided I wasn’t listening closely enough and decided to teach me a lesson by attempting a complete hatchet job on me. The detailed how it unfolded here on UKBF.
So a busy month defending myself! Something I wouldn’t have had to do if I’d kept my mouth shut and head down. But how boring wold that be? Our turnover, user numbers and profile would certainly be lower if I were more conservative.
For me personally, I’m pleased about The Times article. My past has always been in the public domain if you searched hard enough. It didn’t help that I discussed it in detail when I met Bill Gates last year which resulted in a less than flattering headline and even worse photo in my local paper. I was always worried that my background might come back to bite me on the behind one day. So I’m pleased it’s now all out there and I can stop worrying about it and move on.
If anyone ever tells you that software or accounting are boring, suggest they spend a week in my office.
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This entry was posted on Monday, March 16th, 2009 at 11:51 am and is filed under Small Business, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Happily read through the whole post sort of nodding away, as you do, when you’re familiar with events and just reading..
Got to the last line – love it. Maybe you could spin a new advertising campaign off the back off this..
Are your accounts boring..? ;)
Seriously though – it’s kinda how the world turns – and I suspect there is more than a little hint of the green eyed monster in there somewhere.
A wise man once told me that if people start trying to smear you, ruin your reputation and generally stamp all over you in the PR arena – keep doing whatever you are doing, ‘cos you’ve got them scared..
As a happy customer of kashflow, all i am interested in is if it works and if it makes my life easier.
It does.
I’m just glad you got to the last line. It’s probably the longest, ramblingest (hmm) most self-indulgent blog entry I’ve made to date.
The way I understand things are that you can’t keep all the people happy all the time. Duane, you are often ‘outspoken’ (if that’s the correct term for someone who speaks his mind), but to have a view on something, means you stand by what you think.
Everyone has a view, most of which will mean that there is an opposing view. The difference is that they keep them to themselves which means there’s no chance of getting your point across or changing people’s minds and making things happen.
My personal take is that it’s fine to have a view, fine to make a stand, just as long as you are prepared to change your view if a convincing argument or opposing view gives you reason to change and learn.
However to talk openly about your view, means that you have leave yourself open to hearing the opposing views of others. Not a bad thing if it means that you get your project discussed in the public realm! Keep up the blogging/commenting Duane, most of what you say I agree with, and that which I don’t agree with I know I have the opportunity to have my own say.
Oh, and whilst I’m at it – who doesn’t have a past? The best way to learn is through experience. Did you know that Abraham Lincoln was an uneducated pauper before he went on to become the ‘founding father’ to the US? Bet he made plenty of mistakes along the way, didn’t seem to hinder him, just gave him the viewpoints of people that had come from the same background.
Glass, greenhouse and stones come to mind…
I have to say that having you added to twitter and getting an ‘insider’ viewpoint from yourself has kept my interest in your product and business. If the viewpoint wasnt as lively and competitive/strong minded etc then I wouldnt have stuck around.
There is nothing wrong, in my opinion, in causing a stir. As long as you can take the kickback thats bound to happen at some point. Seems to me like you took it and did exactly the right thing – which is address it, and move on.
Duane
As someone who has been on the receiving end of some criticism of late I’ve got to tell you – don’t let the bastards get you down. The fact that you’re worth criticising indicates that you’re doing something right…
@duane – I’m sorry you feel as though I’ve done a ‘hatchet job’ on you. As I’ve said elsewhere: I am a HUGE admirer of the way KashFlow is trying to change the game – don’t stop dong that (not that you will…) – but: and I have to come back to this: bashing competition doesn’t work. It distracts from the things that do matter to the industry and to your business.
Trust me when I say that non-one in the industry thinks that continual baiting is a good idea. Check responses at my blog.
Playing David and Goliath is fine one time around and you are right to do so but continuing to to do so makes people wary. Plus ‘trying your case’ in the public domain is not a great strategy. Regulatory authorities will decide whether KashFlow is out of order. If you win – gr8, if you don’t – then take it on the chin.
Step alongside the independent opinion formers…see what they have to say….learn that you are not going to be right all the time and benefit accordingly.
The saas/on-demand industry has much to gain by playing to its strengths and for your company to continue announcing partnerships that surprise and delight potential customers. In that regard KashFlow is doing better than most – keep it going dude…