Save content
Have you found this content useful? Use the button above to save it to your profile.
XU

Young accountant starts Xero users' magazine

by
30th Jan 2015
Save content
Have you found this content useful? Use the button above to save it to your profile.

A new, independent print publication for Xero users in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and the USA has recently been launched by a 22-year-old accountant and his half-brother. 

XU Magazine was cooked up by the two millenials, and following a successful crowdfunding campaign has just published its second edition. 

One of the brainchildren is AAT qualified David Hassall. He has owned his own accounting firm, Leicester based DH Business Support, for five years, and switched from Sage to Xero in 2012, becoming a gold partner.

Hassall is also co-founder of another operation, Tyreforce. Along with his firm, the company and now, a new publishing venture, the 22-year-old has his hands full. But he's not without help; his half-brother Wesley Cornell, with a business background, is the other half the force behind the idea and editor-in-chief of the magazine.

XU is currently a quarterly print edition. However there are plans to publish it monthly and it will also release a version for the Apple and Android stores. It has 'ambassadors' in all of its four regions, including UK based Jonathan Gaunt, and covers issues ranging from Xero add-ons, to reviews, Xero users' thoughts and experiences and its latest features. 

The idea raised $30,000 in 2013 after Cornell and Hassall came up with an idea for the users on the back of a beermat and decided to crowdfund using platform Indigogo.

The pair had no experience in crowdfunding, but said they "learned quickly" and in 21 days it had reached around $5,000 over its target amount.

A print product for cloud software may seem unusual, but as Cornell explained, it was what he found Xero users wanted after doing some market research. He added that having an independent voice, or someone not affiliated with Xero, but using and writing about it, was important to them.

And as the pair were not "shy of a challenge", they decided to shoot for Xero's full user base rather than distributing the magazine to the UK. 

Those interested can subscribe to the magazine for $47 (£31) for a years' subscription, which is currently four issues.

Tags:

Replies (0)

Please login or register to join the discussion.

There are currently no replies, be the first to post a reply.