Phi Austin

Jay Desai and Toyah Webster explain how vCFOs can help Kiwi businesses scale with confidence. From compliance and cashflow to strategic growth, virtual CFOs bring expertise and flexibility without the cost of a full-time resource: https://lnkd.in/g4_4iT_H

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The CFO role has changed more in the last 5 years than in the previous 50. Here's what we're seeing in the Australian market, and what it means for your career or your next finance hire. The evolution: Finance professionals are no longer just reporting what happened. They're predicting what will happen and influencing what should happen. For Finance Professionals: - Master data storytelling, not just data analysis - Develop commercial intuition alongside technical expertise - Learn to translate complex financial concepts into business language - Build relationships across all business functions For Hiring Managers: - Look for strategic thinking ability, not just technical competence - Prioritise communication skills equally with analytical skills - Seek candidates who understand your industry's specific challenges - Value business partnership experience over pure technical depth Market insight: The most successful finance leaders today spend 60% of their time on forward-looking activities and 40% on historical reporting. Just five years ago, this ratio was reversed. The opportunity: Finance professionals who can bridge the gap between numbers and strategy will command premium opportunities. Companies that hire for this hybrid skill set will make better decisions faster. Key question for your next finance hire: Can they explain complex financial concepts to your sales team in a way that helps them sell more effectively?

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Hot of the press: The Xero Small Business Insights for the June quarter have landed, and they reflects what I'm hearing from our small business customers like Sydney's Super Nash Brothers - the environment for small businesses remains challenging. Here are the key numbers you need to see: 📉 Sales growth is down to 3.0% year-on-year, a significant drop from 5.3% last quarter ↔️ A great divide is widening. Sectors with government ties (healthcare, public admin) are still growing strong. 🛍️ Discretionary spending is being hit hard. Hospitality and retail are feeling the most pressure Check out the latest XSBI report. Link in the comments 👇 #SmallBusinessAustralia #EconomicUpdate #Xero #XSBI

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What has typically worked well for Tanda is doing the opposite of what VC backed companies do. Over the past two years, we have been building out extensive HRIS functionality in our platform. Today our HR features are comprehensive - Tanda is by far the best all-in-one system available in Australia. Many other companies have done it in the other direction - they built basic HR functionality first, and attempted to add compliance features and payroll later. I’m going to upset a lot of people when I write this - but building HRIS features is quite a bit easier than the payroll compliance technology we have been working for a decade. Payroll, rostering and Award compliance are very hard. The VC play book is typically: 1. Solve easy problems first 2. Spend a boatload of $ on customer acquisition, sell below cost. 3. Put up prices to become profitable. The logic goes that you can put up prices and come back to the difficult problems later - big revenues are meant to fund acquisitions and expensive product managers. The problem with this strategy is that payroll compliance is THE core functionality you need. It is not an afterthought. You must do it first to build the best HRIS functionality. Solving the hardest problems first has created compounding benefits as we add more functionality. For example, Tanda's pay check functionality verifies that important payroll-related information is accurate and valid - throughout the entire system, not just during payroll. We check for payroll errors before the roster is even published. To make his happen, payroll compliance must be at the core of our product. Today, Tanda is able to offer comprehensive HRIS functionality as part of our all in one package for $12.80. To be clear: there is no compromise on quality at this price, Tanda’s engineering approach delivers the best payroll, WFM and HRIS functionality. When you buy Tanda, you just pay for the software. You’re not paying back investors or funding expensive acquisitions.

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AI is accelerating disruption. SaaS multiples have reset. Volatility is back. At Growth Summit Melbourne, I reflected on what this means for founders, and the difference between building Aconex 20 years ago and building Firmable today. The tools have changed. The fundamentals have not. In an AI world, the strongest sources of defensibility still hold: Network effects. Proprietary data. Deep workflow. Regulation and risk barriers. What I would worry about is relying purely on product features. In an AI world, functionality can be copied faster than ever. Build something customers need, create durable advantage, and dance to your own tune through the cycles. #growthsummitmelbourne #founders #startups #australianstartups

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Something interesting happens when you build a service with the client at its core. We’re fortunate to work with some of Australia’s best accounting and advisory firms. Many have even invited us behind the scenes as they redesign their service delivery. And there’s a common thread among top performers: they put clients at the centre. At first, that might seem counterintuitive. After all, shouldn't we be focusing on our own processes? What I’ve learned: when designing for client value first, firms often fall into structure. Suddenly, those things that used to slip, often critical to delivering client value, are must-dos. Things like: Agenda sent ahead of the quarterly meeting Consistent meeting flow that makes the numbers easy to digest Clear summary after the meeting with outcomes and next actions From this increased focus, a service structure emerges, driving greater predictability, dependability, and value for your clients. Next time we ask "how do we make this more efficient?”, perhaps a better question could be "What would add the most value to the client?"

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🎙️ Excited to share that I’ll be joining David Phua on a podcast to dive deep into the future of AI in immigration and education. At Aussizz Group , we’re leading the way with AuRA – the first-of-its-kind AI assistant designed specifically for our industry. Our teams now have access to an advanced tool that delivers fast, reliable, and accurate responses, backed with legislation references – anytime, anywhere. We’ll be exploring some big questions: What are the real use cases of AI in immigration and education? Will AI truly revolutionize the way we serve clients? And most importantly – can technology ever replace the human element in guidance, empathy, and decision-making? This is not just about efficiency – it’s about shaping the future of professional services where innovation and human expertise work hand in hand. Stay tuned for the episode – I promise it’ll be a thought-provoking discussion. 🚀 #AI #Immigration #Education #Innovation #AussizzGroup #AuRA

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"Three years from now, success means significantly improving the revenue per FTE ratio. That's the single biggest metric that makes a real difference to both the people and the business." Fred Laury is Chief Information Officer at Xero — arguably the hottest (and hardest role) to hire for in enterprise right now. The job encompasses far more than most people realize, and very few understand it as well as Fred does. He's responsible for technology strategy across 4,500 employees, and he's navigated the AI transformation better than almost anyone. And he sat down with Lanai for our latest Open Garage session (check out link to the full episode in the comments) Why you need to hear this: • Fred's figured out the metric that actually matters for AI success (it's not adoption or usage—it's revenue per employee) He also gets into: • How his team tested 12 AI tools in four weeks while maintaining governance: "We allowed them to experiment, use their own budget, then put the two winners through the process" • Why asking 4,500 people to stop working for half a day was his smartest move: "People need time and space to try" • His approach to decision-making: using data and intuition together, not one or the other • And how he's funding new tools: "Through efficiency savings that we've banked through AI, I can pay for that tool" Plus there's this insight that *everyone needs.* "The more you use it, the more useful it gets. It's a flywheel—hardest to start, but once you're on it, the efficiency gains compound." This is enterprise AI done right. Check out our full conversation below.

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Some of our customers got paid $100 USD to take a meeting with a US competitor last week 🫢 Fair enough - we'd probably take that deal too. But when they jumped on the call, they quickly realised the competitor had no Xero integration. 80%+ of tech companies under 400 employees in ANZ run on Xero. They came back and told us about it (with some amusement). It was a bit of a wake up call for us If well-funded competitors are starting to target our customers, we need to make sure our go-to-market is sharp enough to meet that head on - knowing our ICP better, tightening our positioning, and making it obvious why we're the right fit before someone else gets the meeting.

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From scaling global platforms to solving local challenges, New Zealand's SaaS startups are worth keeping an eye on. So who are the companies redefining software, innovation and growth in 2025? Here they are 🇳🇿 🔗 Article link in the comments. Xero, Auror, Tradify, Gentrack Ltd (Global), Xplor Technologies 👏 #NewZealand #SaaS #Startups #TechGrowth

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