How does an entrepreneur get his brainchild from nothing to be worth more than $US100 million? Would you believe getting fired after being too drunk at a work Christmas party helped?
Invoice2go, an invoicing app that recently attracted $US35 million in capital from Accel Partners and Ribbit Capital, began life as a desktop program 12 years ago.
Chris Strode found the need for a faster way to create invoices while working as a freelance software developer in 2002.
“I had to send an invoice and I thought, ‘I wonder if there’s something out there to help me do this?’” Chris tells Dynamic Business.
“I found there was nothing really out there that wasn’t a big and complex accounting application. I thought, ‘I don’t need all this accounting stuff, I just need to send an invoice and manage my cash-flow.’”
The desktop application began selling from the get-go, but the introduction of the Apple iPhone is what ultimately triggered Chis’ next moves.
Invoice2go
“When the mobile revolution started I was still running the desktop stage of the business as a one-man band,” Chris says.
“I had a friend show me the first iPhone in the first few days it was released. Shortly after, I changed to using a Mac and started writing the iPhone version. I remember thinking only a few businesses would use it on their phones, but I really wanted to give it a good go.”
Chris says the pressure of working a full-time job while trying to pursue entrepreneurial dreams began to take its toll. Working everyday with the knowledge he was not fulfilling his ultimate potential led to a crucial Christmas party, which saw him get “a tad too drunk” and eventually fired.
“I think a lot of people in the corporate world have found themselves in the same situation. They’ve lost the passion for what they’re doing but they can’t leave because the pay’s great,” Chris says.
“I guess I sort of did myself a favour by getting kicked out of that Christmas party and shown the door. It was a blessing in disguise. I’m sure there are a few blogs out there with people commenting on how lucky they were to get fired!”
Losing his job served as a wake up call of sorts, pushing Chris to tackle Invoice2go head-on and embark on a journey to have one of the world’s leading business apps. Invoice2go has been scaled to be the number one business app in over 50 countries worldwide, a factor that has been attracting investors.
Leading CV firms Accel Partners and Ribbit Capital have injected $35 million into the business, pushing the company’s value past $US100 million. While the substantial investment is no doubt the type of boost entrepreneurs dream of receiving, Chris says that biding one’s time is imperative for growth.
“We’ve been working hard on improving our product over the last 5 years. During that time, as we began leaning towards the market-leading position for invoicing, we had different companies from the U.S. coming to us and asking if they could invest. We kept pushing them away for a couple of years because we felt like we weren’t finished,” Chris says.
“Once we had everything the way we wanted, we focused on the offers. Once those offers get very big, well, you just can’t ignore it.”
Invoice2go’s journey may be at the 12-year mark, but it is the last few years that have seen the most growth. The company officially hired its first employee four years ago and the staff number has climbed to fifty in this short period of time. Chris says the recent investment will see the company’s head-count pass a hundred in the next year.
In terms of advice for fellow entrepreneurs, Chris keeps it straightforward.
“It’s important to never give up and to never sell out. Wait for that right opportunity when you can turn it into something big without having to hand over the reins. It takes a lot of patience,” Chris says.
“You have to be passionate. Ultimately, you’ve got to be doing it more for your passion than for money. You need to have the passion and you need to have that vision of where it is you want to end up. They’re the same things that everyone else says, but they’re all true.”
