(or Why I Should Have Used Xero/Cashboard)
I recently discovered 1place, via Ben or David. It was cool, AJAXy, NZ-based, cheap ($10 a month) and almost exactly what my wife needed for her business. The owners were receptive to changes and there was a good probability that changes required for a quote-and-invoice services business, as opposed to a sell-products or bill-by-the-hour business would be implemented. They had screenshots of the changes and everything. A virtuous cycle of suggestions and responses ensued.
They even did GST returns and a cashbook.
I was suitably enthused so I set everything up, trained my wife, and started creating invoices. It worked well even without the changes. It was promising to simplify our accounting and invoicing significantly without any of the internationalisation issues from other products.
Then one day they disappeared. Completely and without warning. We hadn't paid any money yet, but this was clearly in violation of their agreements. SaaS also means that your data is no longer available, and notably there was no easy extraction/backup mechanism from 1place.
They were gone from the internet for about a month (I checked periodically, so give or take a few weeks). We'd only done two invoices and we'd saved the PDFs, so it was a lucky escape. It could have been a lot worse.
1place have now reappeared. They did not respond to my contact form email asking them where they'd been and why I should continue to use them. I was polite but I guess they don't want to answer. I've not bothered calling them, if I didn't have the invoices already I'd be annoying them daily though. Their blog is noticeably silent.
Looking at the companies office details it looks like the guy I was talking to, Bevan, is now no longer a shareholder. That event and the website shutdown would appear to be related, but the lack of consistency, communication, and disclosure mean that I cannot trust them with our data ever again. Nor should you, IMO, without at least a way to get your data out at regular intervals.
I have waited a long time before writing this entry as I really wanted to give this product and company the benefit of the doubt and a chance to succeed; it fills the gap below Xero and is completely NZ focussed, and they were reacting to my requests. But this is a betrayal of trust, and this is something that I will look closely at before using any similar SaaS product (hey: it's a service that's a product) again.
Hopefully they will respond to this public review and you, dear reader, can make up your own mind. If nothing else this is a lesson to be learnt by SaaS providers and users. It can happen with off-the-shelf products too, but at least there is a lower probability that you'll be prevented from accessing your data on your own terms.
Bruce's new list of SaaS requirements:
- Decent price
- Decent service
- Decent uptime
- Decent way of getting the hell out of dodge (added).
I am disappointed to be in the position of chopping at a NZ poppy.
8 comments:
I feel bad about this (in a sort of third person way) - I'll investigate further and try and find out more
I'm sad to hear this too.
When we looked at SaaS we realized quickly that SaaS models require significant funding. Not just for dev but for all the other things you need to build a complete business. You also need to fund the revenue ramp which is not just the delayed revenue from monthly fees, but having enough gas in the tank to educate the market and take the time to build trust, history and change behavior. That takes time so requires even more funding.
This is why we went down the funding path that we did. SaaS is a great space but it does require capital.
Happy to talk to any of the 1place people if they want to make contact.
Rod - Xero
When it comes to making decisions about your business it is important that you do some due diligence.
Shame really - it seemed like a good idea in principle.
I had a similar sinking feeling this afternoon when a client's website that I have hosted in the US went offline for no reason. Back now - but there is nothing quite like the thought you've been had to act as a wake up.
Rod, I'm not entirely convinced -all- SaaS models require significant funding.
What about starting small and lightweight, obviously with less features to start with, but growing with your userbase? Costs are low because you don't have the expectation of a thumping great number of users to start with. The biggest issue is funding for marketing, but I'm hoping word-of-mouth will offset some of that cost with my own attempt at SaaS.
There are plenty of examples of web applications out there (that come close to the definition of SaaS) which were started on a shoestring and grew from there.
With respect,
Jason
(domyinvoice.com)
Jason you are correct. PlanHQ is a good example of one that I'm doing that is on a relatively small spend.
But many high value spaces are about speed, especially when you want to make an impact against the incumbents.
And you need to look at what what happens if you make traction. As a small private company you may end up getting brought so you only grow so big.
If you want a grow really big - then in most cases you will require the resources to do it properly.
Nothing wrong with 1Place but I think it points to what I'm talking about so is an interesting indicator.
In my case, I'd be happy to grow to a size where the service pays for itself, and for a bit of time supporting and extending it.
But I don't necessarily disagree with your points.
Hi
I’m a Director and one of the Founders of 1place and have been reading the blogs on your experience with 1place.
You are right there was a parting of the ways of the shareholders and
for obvious reasons I can’t elaborate too much or explain my position.
However it did cause the website and the email system to go down for
the month which I want to unreservedly apologise for .
What I can say now is that we have new backers who are helping the company move forward and I will be elaborating on
these further on the website once these have been finalised
To address some of your legitimate concerns we will be adding to the
website very soon
1. Information up on who is behind the company.
2. Adding Functionality to enable you to export ALL your data to your computer or accountant whenever you require- (this will be
within the next month)
3. We have already changed our invoicing layout to better cater for service and product type of businesses based on user feedback
4. Further enhancements based on accountants input of what they
need for year end
I fully understand if you do not wish to use 1place again however I would appreciate any further feedback you have on how we can make 1place better for other users
Regards
Martin Bing
Thanks Martin, I've written a followup post here.
Best of luck to you, it sounds like you've had a difficult time.
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