Hamish Edwards was running a successful family accountancy business when he approached his client Rod Drury with an idea: instead of producing two sets of books one for the client and the another for returns, why not create a single ledger in the cloud? That was 2004. Today, Xero is a $7bn cloud-based accounting software business that thrives on its reputation amongst the accounting community and small business owners. Listing on the NZX in 2007, Xero was a pioneer of 'Software-As-A-Service'.
Hamish will share stories of the early days that give insight into what shaped Xero and helped it grow. In this fireside chat we will look at the challenges for young companies, how to engage with a professional body like accountants and how to break into new markets like Australia and the UK.
This is part of an in-depth series of interviews with fascinating pioneers who illustrate how to 'Ride a Tech Wave'.
Each day through Techweek we will hear from a pioneer.
All of the 'Ride the Next Tech Wave' sessions will also be recorded multi-cam and live-streamed to social media.
You should be present for the whole duration of this event.
Thursday 23 May
2:15pm - 4:00pm
This event uses an external ticketing provider. You will be redirected to their ticketing system once you click to book.