Award winning entrepreneur Ray Rogers talks about starting and growing a successful company. ‘Too many business owners are great at their business but still fail because they don’t know how to keep their books organised.’
Surf Accounts is a cloud-based accounts and CRM system aimed at small and medium-sized businesses. You can access and update your accounts anytime, anywhere and on any device and working with your accountant becomes a seamless and real-time event.
Achievements
There are some standout achievements for us to date. Surf Accounts was named Bank of Ireland Startup of the Year 2016. We have also won the ALPHA competition for Startups two years in a row, representing Ireland at the Collision Conference in Las Vegas and New Orleans.
And we have been awarded “ICAEW Accredited Software” status, one of only seven online financial products to have been accredited by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
Low moments
There have been low moments. We once made a start on the product and realised after months of work that the look and feel would not fly so we went back to the drawing board, a large amount of cost and time we could have done without.
How do I cope with setbacks?
Dig deep and get things back on track. The creation of product, project or business will be bedevilled by delays, so expect them, try to anticipate as many as you can, and then you are only dealing with left-field stuff. Generally, left field stuff can be sorted.
“I am not a risk taker. Where something does have risk associated with it, I prefer it to be a risk that is within my control. ”
If I were to start again?
I’d get a great team from the outset and then get investment early into the project. We had to do it all on our own but sometimes
