@Rod I am interested in your thoughts on process

1. Internal process - I am kicking off a piece of work on this at Snapper at the moment. Basically it wouldn't scale on the current processes. My guess is that you are not doing the classic corporate thing of getting BA's to design shedloads of process and then coding it up. How are you doing this in a more agile way?

2. External processes - are you effectively saying that what you have done with Xero is an underground re-design of small business processes. Mate - that is *much* bigger than making accountancy fun. You get that right and you've added percentage points to NZ's GDP based on making small business more effective.

Who's up for small business design / operation in a box ? NZ already has a reputation for being one of the easiest places in the world to do business. Automating key processes would make it even easier

So in these challenging times, what is the value of profile? Does it matter to have a profile when no-one is able to pay ?

I think it's just as important as ever to build and maintain it.

Some thoughts on what it can and can't do

It can

1. Get you closer to the front of the queue to get paid.
2. Help you get up the list when you are asking the bank for credit
3. Get you an audience with others with capital if you need it
4. Get your customers/advocates talking about you to others - no better marketing than that
5. Substantiate your brand through trust - people trust you enough to buy your product, effectively allowing for irrational or emotional purchase decisions.
6. Buy you a little time with creditors (although personal experience over the last month suggests this would be days not weeks)
7. Open up other opportunities for supplementary cashflow - industry commentary

It can't

1. Make your bank covenants
2. Pay your bills
3. Make other people pay yours
4. Feed your family (unless you use it to get free veges)

So what are the hot topics that you could build a profile off at the moment?