A few years back there was an interview with a bunch of young entrepreneurs, sharing secrets of success. One mentioned the importance of having a good bookkeeper. The host paused before exclaiming - 'nobody goes into business to be a bookkeeper'. For us, that was the exact reason to start a new business Rewind to 2013, and we had the opportunity to hang with tech startups in NY. At the time we were raising funds in Australia for an existing business we had built - a cloud accounting platform designed for commercial real estate. Two things rang true in those days - startups had an authentic, aligned, #getshitdone vibe. And pitching a niche cloud platform to investors in Australia was a tough gig. Around that time we came across a pitch deck for this business called Xero. They got it. The whole cloud thing. It triggered a question - what would it look like if we took what we knew, and helped other people navigate a world becoming increasingly digital? What would we want that business to be? The NY experience was pivotal in informing the feeling we wanted to create. Fun, relaxed, future forward. No job titles. A bunch of people being themselves while helping others with experiences gained from years at the coalface. From day 1 we were 100% cloud. Xero focused. With a global team of accountants. Human-centred. And we had no clients. Those early days consisted of doorknocking. Hustling hard. Failing harder. Learning. Picking ourselves up and going again. In our first year of business we picked up 78 clients. From a standing start we hit Gold Partner with Xero in 15 months. Some kind of record at the time. Within 18 months we were Finalists of the Telstra Business Awards. Won a few others. In 2015 were recognised as Bookkeeping Firm of the Year, 2016 Xero Australian Partner of the Year. Today we've grown to a team of 20 and are currently Xero Platinum Partners and in the top 2% in the world