I was fortunate to receive an invitation to Expensicon in Maui this year and was able to connect with David Barrett, Founder and CEO of Expensify, to ask some questions before the
Hawaii
event kicked off. Did I mention the event is in Maui? Here's what he shared with me:
IA: Expensicon starts tomorrow. Insightful Accountant will be on site and providing some coverage of the event for our audience. Can you tell our audience what Expension is?
DB: At its core, ExpensiCon is our way of saying thanks to our top customers and partners. It's an invite-only, all-expenses paid trip to Maui where we gather together to review how we got here, brainstorm on where we want to go -- and then enjoy the best that Maui has to offer (which as you can imagine, is pretty good).
IA: What are attendees going to experience during the event?
DB: ExpensiCon is unlike any other event we know, in that we're not trying to "sell" anybody -- everybody's already a partner or customer. Instead, we're providing direct access to a wide range of Expensify employees such that our customers and partners can get any possible question answered, directly from the most authoritative source. We have a collection of incredible speakers, including Rod Drury (CEO, Xero), Matt Rissell (CEO, T-Sheets), Deb Defer (Sr. Director, BDO), and many more, as well as a number of chances for attendees to network with other top Expensify customers and partners. And then we have more than ample time set aside for the pool, biking, golf, snorkeling -- truly, anything you want. Most conferences are 90% work, 10% play -- Expensicon is more like 50/50.
IA: Why is Expensify hosting this event?
DB: The main reason is to thank those who helped us get where we are now, which is the fastest growing expense tracking service in the world. This wouldn't have happened if we didn't have customers and partners who believed in us early, and stayed with us as we grew. It's been a long road with thankfully more ups than downs, and we only made it due to the support of those who believed in us.
IA: Will there be any big announcements?
DB: Yes! But the first to hear them will be those who attend; press releases will follow.
IA: We'll be covering those for our audience, so I'd encourage our audience members to stay engaged with us on social media. Expensify seems to be on a great growth trajectory. What has made the company successful and how do you maintain your success rate moving forward?
DB: I think the key to our success is -- and excuse the cliche -- a focus on the end user. That sounds obvious, but in our space we're truly the only ones that have maintained a laser focus on building the most automated possible experience for the end user, whether that user is the road warrior, the manager, or the accountant. Just SmartScan the receipt with our mobile app, and we literally take care of everything else -- we group it into the right reports automatically, submit it on the right frequency, analyze it for policy violations, export to QuickBooks or Xero, and reimburse the expense the very next day.
IA: Our audience is primarily QuickBooks ProAdvisors, Xero Advisors and other SMB Advisors. What do they need to know about Expensify? How can they work with Expensify to help their clients effectively manage their expenses?
DB: The main thing to know is Expensify is appropriate for every client, no matter how big or small. We have thousands of customers with only a handful of employees, and millions of individual users and sole proprietors. Whether your client is just looking to capture receipts, share those receipts online, or do full expense reporting -- Expensify can do it, quickly and accurately, at amazingly low cost with exceptional simplicity. There's a reason Intuit has named us as a Select Partner, because we are the most widely used receipt and expense management service used by QuickBooks customers.
To reap the full benefits of being an Expensify accountant partner, we suggest joining the ExpensifyApproved! Accountants program here: http://use.expensify.com/accountants. Once you sign up, you'll be part of a network of thousands of other ExpensifyApproved! acountants - the benefits of which include co-branded client-facing materials, a unique code to receive discounts for your clients, 1-on-1 personalized training with the Expensify team, and access to exclusive events like ExpensiCon. We invite every Silver level Approved! partner to ExpensiCon. Silver level means referring 100+ users to us (not clients but total users).
IA: What events will Expensify be exhibiting at this year so that our audience members can connect personally?
DB: We'll be pretty much everywhere:
- May 4-6, 2016 - ExpensiCon
- May 11-12, 2016 - Accountex London
- May 16 -19, 2016 - SuiteWorld
- May 22-26, 2016 - Scaling New Heights
- June 5-8, 2016 - AICPA Practioners Tech+
- June 15-17, 2016 - NJ CPA Convention
- August 15-17, 2016 - XeroCon US
- October 24-26, 2016 - QuickBooks Connect
- Nov. 15-18, 2016 - Accountex US (formerly SleeterCon)
- Dec. 5-8, 2016 - Digital CPA
IA: Insightful Accountant will be a many of those events in the future as well. We'd invite anyone attending to stop by and say hello to the team at Expensify and Insightful Accountant.