6 ms·

Pilot is not replacing Xero or QuickBooks (in fact, we do all our work in QuickBooks -- and we're definitely aware of Xero.) Pilot is a better bookkeeper, and

by wdaher 9y ago

Pilot is not replacing Xero or QuickBooks (in fact, we do all our work in QuickBooks -- and we're definitely aware of Xero.) Pilot is a better bookkeeper, and the reason we can be a better bookkeeper is that, even with a tool like QBO or Xero, there's still a bunch of incredibly manual work that happens ON TOP of those platforms, and a lot of that work is very well-suited to being done in software. Do Xero and QBO get better and smarter with time? Sure, yes, of course they do. But the problem is: no one software company (i.e. a company with the ability to develop software) owns the problem end-to-end, so it's never going to be seamless. (It's not obviously Xero's problem if the Xero/Gusto sync isn't very good, and it's also not obviously Gusto's problem either. Net result: the bookkeeper does a bunch of work by hand to fix it all up themselves--work that's super-manual and tedious.) That's where we come in; we're the bookkeeper, but we also have the ability to write software when it's appropriate for solving the problem.

UncleEntity 9y ago
> That's where we come in; we're the bookkeeper, but we also have the ability to write software when it's appropriate for solving the problem. How is that a great leap forwards over double-entry accounting (which, by all accounts, was an actual great leap forward)?
Lazare 9y ago
> Pilot is a better bookkeeper, and the reason we can be a better bookkeeper is that, even with a tool like QBO or Xero, there's still a bunch of incredibly manual work that happens ON TOP of those platforms, and a lot of that work is very well-suited to being done in software. Xero is a platform with an extensive API, partner program, app marketplace, etc., and a large ecosystem of partners, including bookkeepers, that offer what sounds to me like exact thing. If you want a better bookkeeper that uses automation to provide a slick experience on top of a modern software platform...I have no reason to think Pilot can't do a great job of that, but that's totally the value prop of the Xero partner program too...right? If the sync isn't very good and your doing some manual work categorising stuff, why not...write some tools to automate the categorising, and then feed it back into their API? I'm sure I'm just being obtuse, but every explanation of what Pilot is doing just sounds very "standard". Are you trying to do this cheaper, or better, or...? > That's where we come in; we're the bookkeeper, but we also have the ability to write software when it's appropriate for solving the problem. Okay, right, but...Xero has a pretty great API. I've written software that solves problems by working with the Xero API; I didn't need to write my own bookkeeping software to do it. Xero is outright targeting "bookkeepers that can write software" for their partner programs and developer APIs, no? (Sorry, if I seem like a Xero fanboy, but I do like them, and their offices are right down the road, so I suppose I might feel some local pride.)

by wdaher 9y ago

UncleEntity 9y ago

> That's where we come in; we're the bookkeeper, but we also have the ability to write software when it's appropriate for solving the problem. How is that a great leap forwards over double-entry accounting (which, by all accounts, was an actual great leap forward)?

Lazare 9y ago

> Pilot is a better bookkeeper, and the reason we can be a better bookkeeper is that, even with a tool like QBO or Xero, there's still a bunch of incredibly manual work that happens ON TOP of those platforms, and a lot of that work is very well-suited to being done in software. Xero is a platform with an extensive API, partner program, app marketplace, etc., and a large ecosystem of partners, including bookkeepers, that offer what sounds to me like exact thing. If you want a better bookkeeper that uses automation to provide a slick experience on top of a modern software platform...I have no reason to think Pilot can't do a great job of that, but that's totally the value prop of the Xero partner program too...right? If the sync isn't very good and your doing some manual work categorising stuff, why not...write some tools to automate the categorising, and then feed it back into their API? I'm sure I'm just being obtuse, but every explanation of what Pilot is doing just sounds very "standard". Are you trying to do this cheaper, or better, or...? > That's where we come in; we're the bookkeeper, but we also have the ability to write software when it's appropriate for solving the problem. Okay, right, but...Xero has a pretty great API. I've written software that solves problems by working with the Xero API; I didn't need to write my own bookkeeping software to do it. Xero is outright targeting "bookkeepers that can write software" for their partner programs and developer APIs, no? (Sorry, if I seem like a Xero fanboy, but I do like them, and their offices are right down the road, so I suppose I might feel some local pride.)