Xero founder Rod Drury wants to focus on the 'fun stuff'

Friday, 7 September 2018

Xero boss Rod Drury on the big stage at Xerocon in 2016.

Family, ski trips and working on the 'fun stuff' are Xero founder Rod Drury's new priorities now he has stepped down from his role at the company, after 12 years.

The cloud accounting platform's conference Xerocon, with a cult-like following, had its largest turnout yet at its annual event in Brisbane this week.

More than 3500 bookkeepers and accountants gathered in a neon and disco-lit conference room featuring a basketball court, a pink swimming pool filled with blue plastic balls and rollerblading staff.

Drury stepped down from his role as chief executive earlier this year to take on a non-executive role and working on innovation and strategy. He cheered keynotes including new boss Steve Vamos from the sidelines, but was still the man everyone wanted to see.

Off-limits to the media, Drury said Xerocon was all fun with no responsibility.

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Rod Drury closed the two-day event, sharing a life update since stepping down as chief executive and his future plans.

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The accounting conference Xerocon has become popular for its over-the-top festival-like style.

Drury continues to be synonymous with Xero and the conference. He would continue to attend the annual event, he said.

Wrapping up the two-day event, Drury spoke about moving away from the day-to-day operational responsibilities to what he enjoyed most, building new products.

'My last real holiday was in 1991, windsurfing in Maui. My kids are now 10, 12 and 14 and what I've realised since taking a step back was, I flew every week or two for the past 15 years and while I like to think I was a good parent, I was never present,' Drury said.

'For the past 12 years there was no off switch.'

Entering new markets, growing its customer data insight and acquisitions are all on the cards for Xero, chief executive Steve Vamos says.

Drury has also spent the past six months snowboarding around the world, from Queenstown to Whistler.

'I'm spending time trying to become the world's oldest professional snowboarder.'

The cloud accountancy conference Xerocon, with a cult-like following, had its largest turnout yet, with more than 3500 bookkeepers and accountants in Brisbane.

In November, Drury sold almost $95 million worth of shares in Xero, saying the sale would provide an important foundation for his 'future plans to pursue a range of philanthropic and social endeavours,' but would not elaborate on these plans at Xerocon.

After having fast-tracked his business Drury said Xero needed Vamos' extensive experience at Apple, Microsoft and Nine MSN to grow internationally.

The company has 1.4 million subscribers globally.

Vamos said cracking English-speaking markets in Asia as well as Canada and South Africa were a focus for Xero. Australia and Britain are Xero's two biggest markets.

The tech company announced partnerships with banks (ASB in New Zealand) enabling businesses to manage cashflow directly through the bank and hinted at acquisitions in the near future, but would not provide any insight into areas it was looking to expand in particular.

Last month, Xero acquired Canadian software company Hubdoc, that has a platform that captures data from bills for $US70m (NZ$106m), making it the company's largest acquisition to date.

Hubdoc will be available to customers in New Zealand in January.

Xero also launched its Xero Learn platform announced at last year's conference, which partners with with Auckland University of Technology and handful of Australian universities embedding the Xero software in accounting curriculum.

Anuja Nadkarni attended Xerocon in Brisbane as a guest of Xero.