HTA Advisory has a broad spectrum of clients across many industries. Often, it’s only the business advisor who gets to hear about the exciting things our clients are doing. Our Client Conversation offers an opportunity for us to present our clients to our readership in a way that shares their passion for what they do.
This month we introduce you to Expense Check.
Today i had the oppotunity to chat to Nigel Fellowes-Freeman from Expense Check.
Nigel, as a fairly new client of HTA’s I thought this would be a perfect chance for us to learn a little more about you and how you came about starting this business.
I started my career as a physiotherapist back in the UK in 2003, but always had a desire to run my own gig. I was always questioning how things are done, why decisions were made and that has driven me to find better ways of doing things. I believe that is a fundamental concept of innovation – a drive to want to find a new, better way.
It was that concept that led me to start a number of start-ups, some successful, some not, which led me to ask the question of why do SMEs not always make the right buying decisions. Hence, Expense Check.
So what is Expense Check and the service you provide?
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| Above: Nigel Fellowes-Freeman |
Our vision is to help small businesses choose the right supplier for their expenses every time, automatically and with zero effort. Expense Check was born out of a need to give small business a revolutionary way to make decisions that they did not have the time, money or resources to do alone.
We created an app that has completely re-invented the way SMEs buy and manage their expenses by simplifying, automating and de-bullsh*ting the buying process.
Expense Check offers a simple, free, easy to use platform that reads a business’s actual bills, compares multiple suppliers against their own data, shows how they can save and completes the switch to the best value suppliers all in one place. We’ve taken the approach of building the ultimate platform for a business and their advisors to close the loop of their bottom line.
This sounds amazing, I’m sure this app would appeal to a few of our clients! With starting out this new business and being one of the first to come up with this concept, have you faced many obstacles to get where you are today?
When you are trying to innovate and do things that have not been done before there will always be problems, hurdles to jump and questions asked. If that isn’t the case then you are probably not truly innovating.
Getting started and leaving behind what you know is the first major hurdle to anybody starting a business, then being able to accept rejection and forget about non-believers and just let all these things drive you towards success. Expense Check very nearly didn’t get started and took me calling somebody from the Vic government every day for 3 months requesting them to release a grant cheque that had been written, but was sitting on a desk. I sent the guy that posted it a bottle of moet the very next day!
Geez, he’ll be wishing he sent it earlier!
In starting out this new business what have you seen to be the main areas to focus on in ensuring your business is profitable and sustainable?
I believe the first thing to really understand is letting the market tell you. You can think you know what people will want, but until you get something out there into the market and start listening you don’t really know – so here at Expense Check we do a lot of listening and speaking to our users. On top of this I think that systems and processes to drive this are very important. The ‘6 month extended sabbatical rule’ everything must work in the company if one person isn’t there for any length of time.
I also think people are the core to every business and so hiring is critical; always hire people that are far more talented in a specific area than you are and once hired that they increase the average value of the company not detract from it.
What would you say sets you apart from others?
Its pretty simple really; we actually give a buck. No, in all honesty we just really care. We really care that every SME makes the right decision every time. Thats our mission.
Imagine a world where you never have to care about making the wrong supplier decision again, because an intelligent robot tells you when to make the right decision, at the right time, without you having to lift a finger. That’s a pretty amazing world, and a place we would like to make happen.
Very powerful statement and so nice to hear of a company that truly cares.
To assist with your business growth, what project are you currently working on?
We are currently working really hard to increase the intelligence of our platform, for ‘Spence’ our robot to get even more intelligent and be able to learn about a business, how they make decisions, and be able to give contextual information to the business on things they care about at the right time. Think of a world where as a cafe owner, as you walk into your cafe in the morning ‘Spence’ knows what coffee you buy, knows you are low on stock and has seen there is discount being offered by a supplier today – so asks you if you want to buy some coffee at 40% off.
In the short time you’ve been working with HTA Advisory, how has your experience been so far?
We have only just started working with Troy and HTA, but my reasons for moving my accounting to HTA have been confirmed very early on. Proactive, responsive and a focus on value are three things that really matter to me and have already been delivered in spades. I am looking forward to continuing this journey with HTA!!
That’s great to hear Nigel, I know Troy is very supportive of you, your app and the milestones you’ve acheived so far.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
We are humbled by the growth we have had to date but are always looking for small businesses to try the platform and see if they can drive value from it. There is one major plus which is the platform being free! We make money by charging the retailers for the fortune of getting a new business as a customer, not the small business for getting the right information. So there is actually nothing to lose – only upside of making great decisions and saving money – currently an average of over $2,500; family trip to Bali or a little help towards a great Christmas party!!
Thank you again for a very informative and enlightening chat, it has truly opened our eyes up to the world of Expense Check.
If you would like to learn more about Expense Check your welcome to contact Nigel directly via email or can contact one of his friendly team members on 1300 133 303.
Should you wish to feature in one of our ‘client conversations‘ be sure to contact your advisor at HTA Advisory.
