Disqus - Latest Comments for maychu

Re: What to look for in an online accounting software?

maychu — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:44:20 -0000

Thank you for your vote of confidence!
--
May Chu,
Marketing Director,
Clarity Accounting.
Phone: (604) 566- 1242
Email: maychu@clarityaccounting.com
Web : www.clarityaccounting.com

Re: You know your software is good when…

maychu — Tue, 26 May 2009 01:37:56 -0000

That's nice to know, but it didn't really stop people from trying. Thank you for your comment, next time, at least I know to report these people :)

Re: Clarity Accounting on the Air

maychu — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 23:52:51 -0000

This is how it is like when a market is growing. There are supposed to be lots of players. When desktop accounting software first started, there were many players too. After more than a decade, it seemed like Quickbooks had emerged as the leader. Currently, everyone in the SaaS accounting / invoicing space seem to address a different niche. The market is really very small right now, even Quickbooks and Xero are only talking about thousands of users (maybe hundreds of thousands of users for Quickbooks) instead of millions. The features are also growing too. We started out using Quickbooks, but didn't like it very much. If prior to us making Clarity Accounting, Xero and Less Accounting had both multi-currency support and bank accounts, we might have used one of those services (that was back in 2006). Then we just ended up building an online accounting software with the features that we needed. We are very fortunate so many people like Clarity Accounting. I have great respect for Xero and Less Accounting, they have done a lot for the SaaS Accounting market. Once the SaaS accounting market gets big enough, we may start to see some strategic acquisition action going. Even Intuit tried to acquire Netledger, the predecessor of Netsuite in early 2000 before building Quickbooks Online...So, in summary, all of these companies can co-exist while the market grows, but I suspect a few big sharks may want to make a move to dominate / enter the market in the foreseeable future.

Re: We have no competitors

maychu — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 01:05:00 -0000

We are going to be beta testing this feature in about 2 to 4 weeks, would you like to participate in our beta program? If this feature is not up to your standards, then you can actually have a say on how we can improve things. You may run into a few bugs during this time...

Re: We have no competitors

maychu — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 17:32:08 -0000

Hi Steven,

Thank you for dropping by and giving Clarity Accounting a try. We agree that importing features are very important and we are approximately 2 to 4 weeks away from a bank statement import feature. The Quickbooks import is also in development. There is so much to do and so little time.

I do agree that design and graphics is very much based on personal taste. Since there really is more than enough business for all accounting software providers (there are more than 20 million small businesses around), it is up to the clients to see which one they prefer more. There are also many new accounting software providers entering the market all the time, each one thinking they can do a better job at certain aspects of business accounting than the other.

Perhaps in a few years we will see emerging leaders in this field. Currently, Quickbooks, Freshbooks, Xero all seem to be gaining great momentum and it is truly very nice to see. We have had a 70% increase in paying customers in last month alone. I can't wait to see what happens after we implement our import features.

Re: Making Mistakes

maychu — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:33:38 -0000

Hi Jijesh,

Thank you so much for commenting, I felt like I was repenting to the universe and someone answered! The problem started when I asked the client to switch to Firefox actually. He was really pissed off that I had made that suggestion. I guess it is hard to get people to switch if they are already used to something :(

Re: Setting up a Website: Important Things to Consider

maychu — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 14:42:52 -0000

Ah, yes, I had forgotten to include web analytics. Funny how I have omitted something so important as I am addicted to my own analytics, you can find out so much from analytics. I have even detected errors with our software and adjusted our marketing strategy based on user behaviour.

Re: Outright raises $2M for dead simple finance software

maychu — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 14:36:18 -0000

With free user accounts, it is relatively easy to reach 100 million in transaction. You never know if users are entering "actual" transactions or if they are just trying out the accounting software. For example, our demo account gets to 1 million every week. Of course, sometimes that would be in Indian Rupees :P

Re: Sneaky Social Media Tactics

maychu — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 16:57:01 -0000

Wow, his questionable tactics are paying off in press, even got covered by AccMan and TC! :P

Re: We have no competitors

maychu — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 19:10:22 -0000

Thank you for letting us know how we can improve our business accounting software. You are smart, you know exactly what you are talking about. Many business owners are happy with Clarity Accounting but will be even happier if we have check printing. In fact, we will be implementing check printing in the first half of 2009. You are just getting ahead of us that's all. Merchant's Mirror have check printing. Now, I know I am sending you to a peer / competitor, however, I really want to make sure you choose the best accounting software for your business needs. If you are interested, I can include you in our newsletter and you can be informed when our check printing feature has been implemented.
Please do not hesitate to contact us or reply to this comment if you have any further questions or comments. You can also email us directly at support@clarityaccounting.com

Re: FreshBooks Integration Complete

maychu — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:15:27 -0000

Clarity Accounting has a robust multi-currency support built in whereby the exchange rates are automatically updated on a daily basis. Currently FreshBook users have to create two FreshBooks accounts to handle two different currencies, our integration with FreshBooks allows you to import data from multiple FreshBooks accounts with different currencies. We are currently working on a Bank Statement upload. We are doing the upload instead of an automatic download because we have people who signed up from 80 different countries and it would be a nightmare to find out how to integrate with thousands of banks! Check printing is on the development agenda after bank statement upload :)
Thank you for taking the time to check out Clarity Accounting!

Re: We have no competitors

maychu — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:08:49 -0000

Hi CT,
They got an IPO for 15 million Kiwi dollars and spending a lot of cash every year to continuously improve their product and build good verticals in the market. Great strategy and I am curious to see how this will work out. I think they burned 6 million in the last 2 years or something. The good news -- they have millions left! As most of the online accounting software providers are in the growth stage, it may be a matter of time before they break even. I was simply wondering how long that would take. It is certainly not an attack on their business model, every time I visit them, they have changed something about their website. For example, you used to have to enter your credit card information when you wanted to do a free trial with them (maybe they were hoping that you would forget to cancel), but this method really turns people away from trying the software for free. So, they changed their sign up process to be more like Clarity Accounting, whereby you only need to enter your name, email and some optional fields to get going. I would assume that would have improved the number of sign ups dramatically. They also added a live demo (like we have at Clarity Accounting) and I hope that has been going well for them. In essence, they are really trying all sort of different ways of doing business that is fascinating and exciting to watch. I was simply curious to see when the shareholders will start to get a return on their investment based on their current business model...There are a few players in the market that have sought out funding, Netsuite & Xero through IPO, Outright through VC...etc and many more players in the market who did not seek IPO or VC funding like FreshBooks, Clarity Accounting, Kashflow... and it is interesting to see the direction each path will take for these companies.

Thanks for asking me to clarify my comment on Xero, it was getting late in the night after a long post I just got tired of elaborating :P

Re: We have no competitors

maychu — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 13:15:44 -0000

Hi Ben,
I guess I didn't get to try the updated version of your software because my free trial expired :P Are you the marketing genius behind Merchant's Mirror or is it your business partner?

Re: We have no competitors

maychu — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 19:16:55 -0000

Yay, new friend! I know Heather came to visit back in November last year and you guys have since launched your own accounting software. How exciting! How has that been going for you? I know as peers, we are always learning from each other and I am learning so much from everyone. I checked out your website where you have a comparison section. I do agree that pricing plans should be simple, and that service is extremely important. I like how you calculate income taxes! We spent more time on sales taxes than we did income taxes since Canada has a more complex sales taxes across the different provinces. They sure make things easier down in the US.

Re: We have no competitors

maychu — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 19:01:38 -0000

Where are you guys based Naveen? I went to your contact page and couldn't see a physical address...

Re: We have no competitors

maychu — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:53:04 -0000

There are tons of invoicing software out there and I am glad you found one that you like best. I know a lot of people love FreshBooks particularly for their friendly staff and exceptional customer service. In the end, software as a service will have to weight more heavily on the service end of the spectrum. Does invoicera have good service?

Re: Tax-deductible interest when borrowing to invest in your canadian corporation

maychu — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 16:58:39 -0000

Hi Mitch,
Looks like you are based in Sunny Florida, why the hell would you want to move to Canada? It is quite cold here...Not a place you would go to for the purpose getting some tax deductions...

Re: My Favourite Bookkeeping Tools

maychu — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 14:35:43 -0000

Ah, the lack of organization is often attributed to a way of being in general. I have two staplers within arms reach but my desk is not more organized than before. Perhaps we should simply accept the fact that we are messy and not get stressed out about that. After all, we are the ones who set the expectations...unless you have someone else setting expectations on how clean your desk is...

Re: The new coffee shop in town

maychu — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 20:35:30 -0000

Hi Alex,

Thank for the comments! I really appreciate it. You must know as well as I that getting blog readership can be challenging. I am just glad someone reads my blog posts. We know how it is to start a new business, we were there last year! If you have any questions while using Clarity Accounting, please do not hesitate to contact us. We usually respond pretty quickly.

Re: Urbantastic - Launch! (again :)

maychu — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:28:07 -0000

I guess most of the text is still coming to the website. It would be easier for your blog subscribers such as myself if you could include a link to your actual website in your blog for me to click on instead of opening another window to view your new site :)

Cute design!

Re: Some thoughts on marketing strategies for SaaS applications

maychu — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 01:48:37 -0000

Hi Jijesh,

Thank you for your comment. Just in the last few days I started thinking about offline marketing strategies. The 50 tips and tricks one might be good once we have more local users. Unfortunately, a lot of our users are from outside of our local area (many from entirely different regions). First, I must think about how to attract more local users. Any ideas on that front?

Had a chance to visit your blog, really enjoy your writing style and found the content to be very informative -- it was almost as if you were trained as a journalist :)

Re: Things I’ve learned in China so far

maychu — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 04:23:06 -0000

Try a Chinese reflexology foot massage while you are there. It is quite the experience and can improve your sleep if jet lagged. Also, haggle like crazy! They see you and they will jack up the price, cut it down to at least half or walk away. Also, get someone else to wash your hair at the hair salon, it should cost less than $10 USD and comes with a scalp and shoulder massage...the advantages of cheap labor...

Re: Transfers

maychu — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 15:13:12 -0000

If there is any thing else you would like to know about bookkeeping / accounting related things, send us an inquiry and we might just write up something for you :)

Re: My Favourite Bookkeeping Tools

maychu — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 17:28:06 -0000

I agree that it is best to be able to hire professionals to do the bookkeeping. Unfortunately, a large percent of small businesses are too small to hire a professional (which is when they really need a professional). We are thinking of partnering with professional bookkeeping organizations to provide the bookkeeping services should clients decide to seek professional help.

Re: Don’t be afraid to be Small

maychu — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 17:54:50 -0000

Thank you for your words of encouragement Ben. It means a lot to us :)