As perhaps one of Australia’s fiercest Xero Limited (ASX: XRO) shareholders, when I — Owen here — of an emerging platform I get both nervous and excited…
Could it disrupt my beloved Xero?
After Xero, is the next best thing to try and invest in?
About Hnry
Hnry is a super-fast-growing and private (bugger!) Kiwi financial technology company that effectively claims to do basically everything a sole trader could dream of, in terms of its finance, cash flow and tax… for a 1% fee.
Take note: it’s Henry — just without the ‘e’.
In this filmed episode of The Australian Business Podcast, I sat down with Karan Anand, the Australia CEO of Hnry and Chief Strategy Officer of the overall business.
Obviously, I’m blessed with the opportunity to speak with hundreds, even thousands, of amazing people every year as part of my job as the founder of Rask and as a business coach. But every now and then someone comes along who is ultra-concise, seriously sharp, well-spoken and focused. Karan is one of these people.
In this episode, Karan and I go all over the place, talking about the story of Hrny back to the problems facing small and micro businesses today, and everything in between. Here’s something for dot-point lovers (like me):
- Does Hnry manage your finances and do your tax return for just 1%?
- Why most small businesses fail
- Karan’s background before Hnry
- The story behind Hnry and how it rose rapidly despite Xero, Quickbooks and others
- Does Hnry work for tax questions?
- Does Hnry work for companies?
- Why would someone choose Hnry over Xero, Thriday or MYOB?
So is it a threat to Xero or what?
Probably not. From where I sit, and reflecting on what I’ve said many times before on The Australian Business Podcast and shared with our 2,400+ free business course students, the reality is there are more than 2 million Australian businesses and 40% of them fail before their 5th birthday!
The top three reasons businesses fail include:
- Poor management and/or no planning (25%) — “how can plan when I’m so busy?!”
- Not enough market research, and appropriate sales and marketing (17%) — as an analyst with 10 years experience, I know this is painfully tough but it’s crucial for new and existing business owners)
- A failure to understand finance, including relying on someone else (e.g. an accountant or business coach), and funding (14%)
It’s #1, but especially #3, that technology like Xero, MYOB, Quickbooks by Intuit, Thriday, Hnry, etc. can at least partially solve.
As for the competition between them all, Hnry and Thriday are probably the best choice for anyone who is a sole trader only and intends to stay that way for the foreseeable future (learn how to decide on a sole trader ABN, trust and company structure). However, neither is perfect but both are great!
Xero is more expensive than Quickbooks and harder to use for Betty Basic businesses than Hnry and Thriday (because it’s designed for accountants to set it up first, not one-woman bands). But Xero is still super powerful and will scale if you plan to grow into a company or trust.
Why not test-drive them all?
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