Emily Chang - eHub: Freshbooks

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May 15, 06
Freshbooks
Formerly known as 2ndSite. Online invoicing and billing service with free and affordable monthly rates. Now with more features. Originally added to eHub on Oct 17, 2005.

Link: Freshbooks

Also see: eHub Interviews Freshbooks (formerly 2ndSite)

eHub Interviews Freshbooks (formerly 2ndSite)

Thanks to Michael McDerment, CEO and founder of 2ndSite for this email interview posted November 14, 2005.

eHub: What is your web application/service about?

2ndSite: It’s about saving time, being more productive, and getting paid faster - stuff that is really important to small businesses including design firms, computer service firms, freelancers, consultants and other service-based companies.

2ndSite is five different applications, almost all of which feed into our online invoicing service. They include a timesheet for time tracking, support ticketing and work order management system, and a robust reporting tool. You can generate invoices based on the time you track in each of these features. You can also set up recurring billing and recurring invoicing. All things are all delivered through a simple interface and you can further “simply 2ndSite” so only the invoicing features are available to you if that is the only part of 2ndSite you are interested in.

Although 2ndSite was created for design firms, freelancers and home-based businesses, we now have some larger web hosts and ISPs as clients too.

eHub: Why did you start this project?

2ndSite: In 1999, I founded a design, development and Internet marketing firm called Anicon.ca. In 2000, I devised an online system where my clients could login, view and print their invoices. It was pretty basic, but I really wanted my clients to see the possibilities the web offered. I felt it was important given my relationship with them (i.e. web designer) to see that I was taking my own advice and using the web exhaustively.

At the same time Joe Sawada (PhD Computer Science) was doing contract work with me. Joe is the most efficient programmer I know. For him, writing software is like painting watercolours - it’s art. Together, we recognized that many of our clients could use an online invoicing solution - so we started to build.

eHub: How much time do you devote to its growth? Do you have a day job?

2ndSite: I have been full time with 2ndSite since January 2004 and we’re now at the point where we’re making money. That said, we are thinking about how to rapidly grow effectively. I have read that Basecamp’s Jason Fried is not interested in VC investment. We’re in the same boat as Jason, but we’re not quite as well known so we are trying to raise some growth capital to help get the word out. We are considering financing it ourselves, but we are also looking at Angel investment, so a good chunk of my time is being eaten up as we gather all the documents needed to describe your business to outside parties. It’s a good strategic exercise but it’s a real pain because I’d rather be focused on growing the business. Be that as it may, these are the issues in an entrepreneur’s life…

eHub: How large is your team and what are your backgrounds?

2ndSite: Our team now has six members. Here is how we break down:

Michael McDerment (founder): I have been an Internet consultant since 1999 with a specialty in Internet Marketing (search, email, conversion consulting, etc). Since 2001, I have lectured at Humber College here in Toronto. I also spend time at Anicon, the company 2ndSite emerged from, which has grown to count some of Canada’s largest private companies among its clients. Prior to this, I studied Business at Queen’s University - then the eighth ranked business school worldwide.

Joe Sawada (founder): Joe is a tenure-track professor at the University of Guelph in the Department of Computer and Information Science. In 2000, Joe received his Ph.D in Computer Science from the University of Victoria, specializing in the development of efficient algorithms. Following this he spent two years on a prestigious NSERC post-doc fellowship visiting Charles University (Czech Republic), the University of Sydney (Australia), and the University of Toronto (Canada).

Levi Cooperman (principal): Levi is a professional engineer with a B.Eng from the University of Victoria (1996). Levi has been a practicing engineer for nine years. For five years prior to joining 2ndSite, Levi managed projects at Apex Systems Integrators Inc., where his clients included Canadian Tire, Nestle, and Parmalat. Levi is a systems integration specialist and has led multi-platform integrations with technologies such as: Oracle, SAP, .NET, Windows CE and Pocket PC. Levi is an old friend of Joe’s with expertise that has helped us grow more effectively.

Jeff Sarmiento: Jeff was 2ndSite’s first hire beyond the three principles/founders. He had just completed Humber’s Web Design and Development Program - at the top of his class - when we scooped him up. Jeff is the guy who makes us look slick and is almost single-handedly responsible for the colour choice, icons and layouts that make 2ndSite appealing to the eye.

Kathy Donoghue: Kathy has been in IT for 7 years and earned her Master of Information Systems & Technology at City University in London. After consulting at GE Capital & PricewaterhouseCoopers for 6 years, managing eBusiness implementations for Toyota and the like, she took a detour and became a yoga instructor. One day we met and she liked a t-shirt I was wearing (it had the words “Insufficient Memory” on it - if you want one email me at 80percent@secondsite.biz). We struck up a conversation and I found she was looking to get back into IT. She now runs Anicon.ca and is 2ndSite’s key conversion aficionado.

Daniel Tsang: Daniel is the newest member of our team and he is just about to take over management of our support department. Hand-picked from a batch of really bright computer science grads from Canada’s leading universities, Daniel is a graduate of the University of Toronto. Daniel was the best of the bunch and we are really excited to have him with us.

eHub: What is your design philosophy?

2ndSite: Our philosophy is simple: Build something useful. Make it easy to use. Roll it out. Get some feedback and get it right.

The atmosphere and working relationships we have at 2ndSite are based on a lot of mutual respect. The only time things get heated is when we discuss interfaces. Joe, Levi and I sometimes have intense discussions about how to implement new ideas - it results in creative tension. From these discussions we get our best work.

So, in a nutshell, we operate like little guys - moving quickly with changes, listening to feedback and quickly rolling out the results. We are constantly building. However, we act like a big business when it comes to areas like security and privacy. I wrote and posted our commitment to 2ndSite users in April 2004. There are some Web 2.0 principles laid out within it - for example, who owns the data (the users), and flexibility of data (users can always get it out if they want to) which are now tenets of Web 2.0.

eHub: What technologies are you currently using?

2ndSite: L.A.M.P. (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP)

eHub: What are the most requested features from your users/community?

2ndSite: We have been live since May 2004. Our most requested features are the same features constantly being added to our service. Our users are asked for feedback every time they log out. We collect this feedback and based on their suggestions, roll out updated versions of the service. Although our users are a very happy bunch, we have released ten new versions in the last 17 months all driven by user feedback.

A final word on the issue of requested features: Something that no one requests, but that our users really LOVE - we answer the phone! No one expects that with a web service these days. We believe strongly in customer service. We are a web 2.0 company, but when people call (at least between 9:00-6:00pm EST) they get a person - or we call them back within 2 business hours - that’s our policy. We get good old fashioned word of mouth referrals from this. Customer support is part of the 2ndSite difference - it’s something we’ve built our business on and something that goes FAR beyond building a cool application or adding new features.

eHub: Does your user base reside in a primary geographic location or is it distributed?

2ndSite: We have about 30,000 users in over 91 countries. They break down like this:
USA - 63%
Canada - 11%
United Kingdom - 7.5%
Australia - 3.5%
India - 2%
86 countries make up the remaining 13% - including countries like the Maldives, Namibia, Qatar, Burundi and American Samoa

eHub: Where do you see the project heading in the next 6 months? The next 2 years?

2ndSite: In the next six months we’re going to make the user experience simpler. Even though all we hear about is how simple 2ndSite is to use we want to make it even simpler. We’re going to rework the subtle things you don’t think twice about and try to get them perfect. That’s really what Web 2.0 is all about in my opinion. 2ndSite does very little that is actually “new”; in much the same way Flickr does very little that is new - it’s just that 2ndSite and Flickr work in new and different ways that are based on what Tim O’Reilly refers to as the “practices and principles” of Web 2.0. For example, AJAX is not an answer. It’s just a tool developers can use to make a better user experience and reduce friction in their users’ experience. I have 101 ways I am going to improve 2ndSite’s usability, and none of the 101 ways include new features.

eHub: What is the greatest challenge to your success?

2ndSite: The greatest challenge to our success is building mindshare. Most people who settle on 2ndSite try (on average) six other products before they find 2ndSite. When they do find us, they are ecstatic. We get all kinds of feedback: “I wish I’d found you sooner”, “I finally stumbled across you”, “I can’t believe what I’ve been missing”, “You guys are the ninjas”, etc. We have been consciously flying under the radar for the past 18 months. Now with a relatively large user base, we’re ready to go and reach out to those people searching for something better. We want people to try us so they can see the benefits for themselves.

eHub: What is the one thing you need to get to the next phase of the project?

2ndSite: We’ve built a product that has over 500 active businesses who manage almost 30,000 relationships. So we’re tried tested and true. The next step is making ourselves more visible.

eHub: Do you have a business model? If so, what is it?

2ndSite: Definitely. We built a business called 2ndSite Inc. - it just happened to be a Web 2.0 service. Our model is: use our fully functional account to manage up to 10 clients and up to one staff for FREE. If you need more clients or have more staff, you can upgrade on demand. We also offer online document sharing (an online document library). If you use our document sharing service you get 2 MB for free and if you need more you can upgrade.

eHub: If you’re able to disclose this information, how much traffic or usage do you see on an average day?

2ndSite: Let’s just say our active users and their clients outpace our first time unique visitors by quite a margin. This speaks to the fact that we have a great product that is part of the everyday lives of our clients. But it also speaks to the fact that we need to step up our efforts in letting others know about 2ndSite.

eHub: What is the one thing you’re most proud of about the project?

2ndSite: For me it’s building a business. Within that context I get the most satisfaction from the product development...so in a word, you could say “building”.

eHub: How would you describe the shift that’s occurring with the web right now to future generations?

2ndSite: I would say we have finally figured out how to use the Internet. It’s taken about 10 years I guess - five since the bubble. I’d say we are now learning what it takes to make things work well online which goes back to O’Reilly’s “practices and principles”.

There is lots of buzz around Web 2.0. In my opinion Web 2.0 is all about practicing principles that reduce friction for the user to make the web easier to use and more helpful. There is no platform debate. Whether it’s a web-based solution like Salesforce.com or a thin client that accesses the web like iTunes - it’s all about making it easier for users to leverage the benefits of the web. The next round (i.e. web 3.0) will be tying it all together and making the Internet pervasive. In your car, your appliances, your bank account - accessible from everywhere. I’m already excited about that.

eHub: What site(s) do you visit everyday other than your own?

2ndSite: I constantly review our web analytics software (we use IndexTools.com) to study user behaviour in hopes of improving things.

eHub: How many hours of sleep do you get a night?

2ndSite: 6.5 hours.

Thanks to Michael McDerment, CEO and founder of 2ndSite for this email interview posted November 14, 2005.

Also see Michael McDerment’s whitepaper about Web 2.0.

Posted by Emily Chang in Business • Organizing and cataloging

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