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The VP Brand Engagement Rob Maurin of Wave Apps discusses the ins and outs of small business challenges with accounting and the solutions offered with the right software.  Great interview on Episode 042 of Owning Your Own!

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• Introductions and Updates
  
• Internet Interview – VP of Brand Engagement Rob Maurin of Wave Apps
  
• Outro Song (Andrew) –  Crying Flute by 813 Beats
  
  
  

Send questions, comments, suggestions or love to podcast@owningyourown.com

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• Global information fact nerd.  (1:04)
  
• Episode dedicated to Jackie Robinson. (1:16)
  
• Wave Apps pulls information from financial institutions and allows management of them. (4:20)
  
• The Wave Apps team had a Google Alert with their name and they reached out to us originally. (4:45)
  
• Wave Apps is based in Toronto and Rob spoke with us on a Friday at 5pm. (5:20)
  
• Rob has been with Wave Apps since its inception in 2009 with the launch in 2010. (5:50)
  
• Accounting software?  (6:10)
  
• Small business owners are underserved by the general business public and Rob saw the platform as a great opportunity. (7:30)
  
• The target of Wave Apps is the small business owner.  Although it can be used for large businesses, the “what we build next” is geared towards the small business owner of 9 employees or less. (8:05)
  
• The internet has level the playing field to some degree for small business owners. (10:15)
  
• Small business owners are often multiple people in the company.  The owner is the accountant as well. They need tools to assist with the process.  (12:10)
  
• Difference between business and personal finance gets very blurry.  Ideally you would have two separate accounts but small businesses owners likely use the same card for both. (13:00)
  
• Andrew Begin was the person that introduced Andrew Germer to the application. (14:00)
  
• Receipt scanning tool. (16:10)
  
• IRS or in Canada CRA. (17:20)
  
• Addressing security concerns about the product.  Rob wore the hat of Privacy Officer. (21:00)
  
• They contracted a bank data aggregator Yodlee which does nothing but handle bank transactions securely.  (23:10)
  
• Mobile transactions and security advances. (25:40)
  
• The SEO title tag for the homepage is “Small Business Software”; they have other products but accounting is the main focus. (28:01)
  
• The history of the name Wave Apps. (32:00)
  
• Rob elaborates on using Google AdWords.  (36:10)
  
• Targeted 70K keywords at once time.  (40:00)
  
• Investment building and the story behind how they got funding. (32:10)
  
• 95% of businesses are small businesses.  80% have no employees…solo entrepreneurs. (47:10)
  
• How they obtained investment is showing that this large market was under-served. (48:10)
  
• Notes on who their demographics are. USA number 1. (41:10)
  
• Pain associated with traditional accounting has not changed.  This pain is addressed with Wave Apps. (52:15)
  
• The bigger vision is not being limited to just accounting. (53:30)
  
• This software helps customers free up time to do the thing they are good at. (54:00)
  
• Free with no committment. (56:20)
  
• Using Google Alerts to find people who “hate accounting” is a great tactic Rob mentioned. (58:01)
  
• Coolest beat with a flute. (1:02:00)