Hello, and welcome to my first ever LinkedIn newsletter. LinkedIn newsletters…Who knew? I’m trying out this feature that I’m part of the pilot for, which I’ll be honest until a few days ago, I never knew I had. I want to see how it works, and use it as an excuse to talk about some of the things that I’m interested in, in particular customer experience, employee experience, and purpose, but also expect a smattering of marketing, social media, Fintech and Accounting Tech. Plus, positive people I think you should follow, books you should read, and the occasional mention of my super cute puppy.
So, let’s see what happens.
So first of all, I want to talk about technology and what I’m using to write this newsletter. I used my Google Pixel 6 for large sections as I was dictating with it using the recorder app, to be honest. So far, I am amazed at how accurate it is, it is really really really, really impressive text to speech. It almost made me wonder if I need to use a keyboard anymore, but of course, I did, there were some thought tangents that didn’t make the cut. Plus, how are you supposed to procrastinate over whether something’s right or not? Without a keyboard?
But if you are on the fence about Pixel 6, I would certainly recommend it. It’s a fantastic phone. Personally, I wouldn’t go for the Pixel 6 Pro unless you really, really need a telephoto lens. I also own a pretty decent micro four-thirds, Panasonic camera. So I don’t really feel the need for a telephoto lens.
So yeah, I’m just super impressed with the phone apart from the fingerprint reader, which is a little bit on the dodgy side. But as long as you record your thumbprint several times, it’s acceptable and it doesn’t get in the way of what I want to do.
The camera, the speed, and just the general experience of the phone are well thought out. One area, in particular, is the effort Google has gone to to get skin tones right. Nothing says good customer experience if your pictures actually look like you. This is something that smartphone users have been putting up with for years. So well done to Google for giving a Sh*t. But If you do go for it, make sure you get a case as it is slippy. Oh, and if you’re looking for a great deal, certainly look at Hot UK Deals for the latest deals for the phone.
Okay, what else has been going on recently?
Well, I was featured by LinkedIn News because Jack Dorsey said goodbye to Twitter. Personal goal achieved!! 🙂 (Featuring on LinkedIn news, not Jack leaving Twitter) However, he didn’t just do that. He also said, hello to Block, the new name for Square. He basically did a ‘Meta’, which in fairness was basically an Alphabet but with ‘purpose’. The purpose of trying to write the recent bad history of Facebook out of existence? Interesting…
We could go into whether his love of Bitcoin drove the name and structural change or whether his newfound time had something to do with it. That said, Square is a darling of the Fintech space and I don’t blame Jack for focusing on something that is less likely to get him in front of congress and make him a ton more money. However, I am more curious about whether he’s had a shave or not, because every time I see a picture of him, his beard is that much longer and greyer, it almost looks like a fizzy Oreo biscuit. Which coincidentally is also the name of my new puppy.
Speaking of our puppy, we’ve had Oreo for just over four weeks now, and here you can see both of them side by side. I’m not saying that my puppy looks like Jack Dorsey’s beard but you can kind of get my point. (Hopefully)
Back to people leaving their roles. Gary Turner left Xero and passed on the baton to a chap called Alex von Schirmeister. Gary’s legacy is intact but it will be interesting to see what comes next. Xero is a company that is still hungry for growth and not afraid of rocking the boat to do so. I’m still expecting an M&A in the payment space. Something I expected to see much sooner, though likely delayed by the pandemic. Perhaps, they have chosen to build something in partnership instead. They’re certainly not afraid to compete with their partner apps.
With the money involved in payments, this is no different. No doubt Alex will want to put his own stamp on Xero, but I hope that it doesn’t lose its mainly positive experience for customers, accounting partners, and employees. What about Gary? Well, I’ll always remember his speech about purpose. One of the reasons I decided to setup Culture Punks (More on that another time). However, according to LinkedIn, he is taking the whole of 2022 off and lets be honest, he probably deserves it.
At this stage I should probably mention Sage for a moment. The sleeping giant of the Accounting Tech world that’s been having a midlife crisis for quite a while finally seems to have woken up. The savvy purchase of Go Proposal and the positivity around their recent trade show certainly hint towards an awakening. That said, Accounting Web Expo won the day for branded sock swag according to the social media buzz at least. (You know who you are…)
Staying on the subject of Accounting Tech let’s not forget Crunch. Probably the one that has the ability to grow the most in the space and they are currently crowdfunding on Seedrs. Especially, since they are only currently in the UK and have offered Software and a Service for about 12 years. Yes, Software and a Service, which is, as of right now, is definitely a rarity, and even rarer to get right.
One of the reasons I particularly like Crunch is because they remind me of HubSpot (to a point), as they are incredibly good at offering software from free, but also back that up with support and services, that of course that you pay for. I’ve been lucky enough to have some great discussions with the team at Crunch recently, particularly with Darren Fell the founder and CEO. They are clearly passionate about Crunch and how it can help sole traders and small businesses, so perhaps it’s no surprise that they’ve smashed their funding target and into overfunding. There’s still a couple of days left at the time of writing.
Of course, make your own mind up, this isn’t financial advice, but I do think they could turn into a big player on the global stage, and it will be interesting to see how their future plans pan out. I personally love Crunch Coins, a way to thank investors but also support their customers. A great purpose, customer experience that’s constantly improving, and from what I’ve seen their employee experience is pretty good too.
Back to HubSpot. Part of me died inside when I saw there were rumours surfaced on Business Insider about HubSpot potentially being bought by Amazon. I just think HubSpot is so much stronger on its own. I mean, it’s worth $50 billion dollars or so, which makes it a significantly sized company in its own right, but nothing more than a rounding error for Amazon.
Chatting with Carlos Doughty, CEO and founder of Martech Alliance, “It’s an interesting play. The AWS fit with HubSpot makes a lot of sense. They are both targeting tech startups/scale-ups.” Other comments in one of my favourite communities on The Guild, Digital/Marketing Pioneers echoed that sentiment and also thought it is was intriguing, especially as HubSpot is mainly known for inbound B2B.
Of course, HubSpot is not as big as Salesforce, but, you know, its recurring revenue is strong. And its customer lifetime value is impressive. No surprise considering how it works with businesses to help them grow and they do practice what they preach. They know that getting in at the beginning of a company’s journey and offering something for free that’s usable and will make a difference is a good business strategy. Though I still feel that their professional plans are too steep a rise in price if you’re not able to take advantage of the start-up discounts.
Now on to people to follow. The most influential people in my LinkedIn network do not necessarily have the biggest following. Brad Ewin and his excellent copywriting advice and direct debt memes always make me smile. As does Katie Fox with her northern marketing wit/insights often makes me want pie and mash for breakfast (with extra gravy). Her recent post about Asda and giving to food banks really got me thinking.
As for books. It may no longer be new new, but if you’re planning to start your own thing in the new year or thinking seriously about it. BOSS IT by Carl Reader is a great buy or potentially a great present for that entrepreneur in your life.
That’s all for now, but if you liked my first LinkedIn Culture Punks newsletter, please, subscribe, drop a like or a comment and I’ll keep it going. In fact, I’ve got so many ideas for the next one that I might just do one anyway.
P.S. LinkedIn Newsletter thoughts so far. Spell check in Chrome doesn’t work, so if you spot any glaring mistakes, please do drop me a DM. TA 🙂
Bye for now.
Adam
Originally posted on LinkedIn.
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