Growing YC Startups with Xero’s API: W18 Edition
YCombinators’s 26th Winter 2018 Demo Day has launched 141 new startups into the world. The startups were pitched to investors over two massive days.
Following up last years post on YC startups, lets look at which YC startups in the W18 batch could utilise Xero’s API.
The mix of startups in YC has definitely changed over the years, there are far fewer SaaS / b2b focused startups and far more biomedical, ai & robotics startups. So the list of applicable Xero integrations is becoming a much smaller subset of the overall YC startups.
Station — A web browser specifically for saas
Easily my favourite startup in this batch of YC companies. I spend my working life in the browser, using a myriad of saas based apps. But the browser wasn’t really built with Saas in mind, and when you intermingle Saas & internet browsing, it just gets worse. Now I can use Chrome to lurk hackers news and Station for #GSD, just how it was meant to be.
Regarding integration, well they’ve already started, and I’m sure they will do more. Station could also look at integration with XPM & XeroHQ to create a compelling offering for accountants and bookkeepers.
Universe — A mobile app for building mobile websites
Your typical website builder doesn’t seem like a great fit for a Xero integration. But I doubt it will be long before transactional features are added to the mix, such as eCommerce, ticket sales, event bookings, etc. Squarespace integrated their ecommerce tools to Xero, I can see Universe doing the same in time.
Qulture.Rocks — HR management for Latin America
A great match for Xero. Although we haven’t localised our product to LA, or launched payroll for LA countries, we usually see a wave of HR & Payroll related integrations long before we get to these features ourselves (Payroll that is, I do not foresee us providing HR features).
Aspire — Small business loans in Southeast Asia
Small business lending a is a feature we know well, with a range of small business lending alternatives to banks integrating into Xero. Currently most of those integrated with Xero are focused on Australia, New Zealand, UK & US. Xero’s current push into Singapore makes this a perfect match for integration, and an opportunity for first movers advantage.
CoinTracker — Cryptocurrency portfolio tracking
Using a spreadsheet to track your crypto portfolio just seems wrong. Thankfully CoinTracker provides an automated solution to tracking your portfolio and ensures you’re correctly recording gains & losses for tax purposes. Undoubtedly, crypto is not going to be the only asset investors are holding. So it makes sense to integrate crypto holdings into Xero, where investors are tracking the rest of their assets, and their accountant / bookkeeper can do their thing.
Trusu — US to HK ecommerce imports
Like what we’re seeing in Australia, with time & scale, this could be an opportunity to place PO’s directly with US companies via Xero.
Sourcify — Flexport for product sourcing
While the sourcing process is unlikely to touch Xero, Sourcify could remain in the transaction long term by developing software to make the PO, AR/AP & payment process super simple and directly integrated into Xero.
OpenSea — Platform for crypto assets & collectibles
Since collecting a trading crypto kitties seems to be all the rage, this seems like a winner. Of course, if you’re making a profit while buying & selling assets, you’ll want your accountant in the know. So an integration to Xero would help keep the IRS / ATO at bay.
Flint — Mobile payments in Mexico
While payments have been a huge source of integration for Xero, mobile payments haven’t been so popular. This would largely be due to the banked nature and wide accessibility of credit cards & tap n’ go in AU, NZ & UK. But in emerging markets I can see this being a massive boon for businesses.
Runa HR — Automated payroll for Latin America
Xero started in accounting and moved into Payroll. It sounds like Runa HR plans to go the other way. At present Xero isn’t localised for LA countries, so there’s little opportunity immediately. I guess the race is on with Runa.
CaptivateIQ — Sales commission calculations
Sales commissions have come up quite a few times while I’ve been at Xero. There’s no easy way to handle them in Xero, and they all seem to be quite different. Makes sense to have their own app, and raise an invoice in Xero at the end of the period to make sure everyone gets paid. Easy.
Bump — peer-to-peer streetwear marketplace
When the power sellers enter the market, they will demand integration with the tools they use to run their business. Xero is on that list.
YouTeam — “Rent” engineers from consulting firms
There are already a number of recruitment saas products that integrate with Xero, such a JobAdder. YouTeam seems to be an internal only version, used for managing contract engineers from a consulting firm. An integration to Xero would simplify their billing to both companies, getting everyones invoices paid faster. Wins all round.
Substack — subscriptions for content businesses
The first step of making a subscription business easy to implement, is taking payments from customers. Then comes accounting. Substack have the first part covered already, a few lines of code and the rest can be done in Xero.
LookAfterMyBills — bill management & discounts
Very similar to what ExpenseCheck provide for companies in Australia. If LookAfterMyBills decides to target the small business market, an integration with Xero would help them get the data they need.
Treasury Prime — API’s for banks
Modern banking? Bring it on. We’ve worked with plenty of banks, and if they could all get together and standardise their API’s, we’ll host the launch party #promise. Treasury Prime should think about the software their bank’s customers use, as bank feeds, lending, payments & FX are becoming products that need to be far more accessible than through a website & mobile app.
OurMenu — Online ordering for restaurants
Order from your table, with just your phone, no wait staff, no menu, no in-house tech. Very cool, and since OurMenu is ingesting the menu of the restaurant they could easily integrate directly to Xero. Most POS systems send a daily invoice to summarise the transactions made through the POS. The same could be done for OurMenu, piece of cake.
Of 141 start ups in the W18 batch, 17 made the list for Xero integration. Last year 22 made the same list, but I suspect I got pickier this year. As stated, it seems the categories of startups YC is accepting has broadened significant this year, so many of them (robotic, ai, AR/VR, medical) are unlikely to find an integration with b2b saas software.
