Xero is relatively a new player in the accounting software business, and in less than a decade, it made headlines with its cloud-based accounting features. Hailing from Wellington, New Zealand, the company was started in 2006 by Rod Drury, who worked as a TradeMe board member. Xero has a fascinating history behind its uprise, and it is worth sharing with the world. Unfortunately, there aren’t any resources online which dive deep into the story behind Xero. However, we did our homework, and in this article, we’ll be sharing an insight into Xero and how it managed to overcome all the hurdles.

The history behind Xero

Xero started in a small apartment which was using a nearby cafe as its Wi-Fi provider. Initially, New Zealand was a guest to Silicon Valley folks, and not many people came out of New Zealand to build million-dollar businesses. Rod Drury, who was working as a director at TradeMe, had a vision for accounting, and he wanted to create something from scratch that will go on to change the lives of millions of people.

Craig Walker(the first employee of Xero) worked in Wellington as a contractor for businesses without technology officers. After destiny brought these individuals together in 2006, both Drury and Walker established their names in the business world. However, it was not enough.

On Drury’s 40th birthday party, he announced a recent project that fetched him a whopping $US45 million. While he was working with the lights, curtains, and drinks, he eventually met Walker, and thus both of these individuals started working on the idea of cloud-accounting called Accounting 2.0.

On May 1, 2006, Walker entered the apartment to listen to what Drury has to say. During the conversation, Drury shared his vision for Accounting 2.0 and how it will benefit the world with its cloud-based integration. The software was supposed to store data on the cloud, and instead of a regular installable program, users will be able to access it with their internet browser.

On the first day of Accounting 2.0, Drury shared the book “Accounting for Dummies” with his team, as many team members were new to the world of accounting. Drury had his office in an apartment building, and the apartment was named 404, which is the code for a page/website removed from the internet.

Drury, along with Walker and other 14 employees, cramped into a small apartment to work on this new project. All the flats were using a single bathroom, and often people went in and out during meetings and interviews.

While working on his idea for Accounting 2.0, Drury was still a part of other ventures, including working as a director for TradeMe and an evangelist for Quest Software. The same company bought his AfterMail business for $US45 million.

While working with TradeMe and Quest Software, Drury regularly checked the progress made by his 14 employees inside the 404 apartment.

After successfully creating the platform, there were several issues. One of them was the name of the company - Accounting 2.0. If you’ve heard about domains, you must know how expensive they are and why special characters like “dot” can cause several indexing issues. Both Drury and Walker came up with a solution, and it was simple as a “zero.” However, the domain was already in the hands of some super-rich organizations, and after brainstorming for hours, Accounting 2.0 was changed to Xero(zero with an X).

But Xero was not available to them because a Linkin Park fan used the domain to host his fan website. Now, it was up to Drury to get that domain name. After a long conversation with the avid fan, Drury offered him $10,000, but the fan declined the offer. As a last resort, Drury arranged business class tickets for the fan and had him fly from New York to New Zealand with $20,000 in his pockets. The Linkin park fan eventually gave the domain and got himself a few good memories of New Zealand.

In the same year, Accounting 2.0 was officially changed to Xero, and that’s how Xero was born out of a deal with a Linkin Park fan.

Final thoughts

The story behind Xero is so impressive that we could make an entertaining documentary out of it. Anyway, this is how Xero was born, and in the later years of its release, the company went into a full corporate mode and earned itself a place in the top accounting software in the world. It had influenced almost every small business, and SMEs liked the cloud-platform because of its easy-to-use features and affordability. If you plan to try a new accounting software, which can be used on any system regardless of its hardware or software, then Xero would be the best option for you in 2021.

References:

Business insider australia . 2017. THE UNTOLD STORY: How Xero took a band name and changed accounting for a million companies. [Online]. [10 March 2021]. Available from: https://www.businessinsider.com/the-untold-story-how-xero-took-a-band-name-and-changed-accounting-for-a-million-companies-2017-9?IR=T

Source :- The Untold Story Of Xero And How It Changed Accounting For Millions