Earlier today I had a terrific conversation with Julie Le, CEO at Zoobug. Julie’s in the business of providing UV protective eyewear – sunglasses to you and me – for kids. I know nothing about this business but along the way I learned that quality lenses soothe your eyes. Did you know that? I’d pay a premium for that because some of our grandchildren have vision problems and wearing spectacles is generally considered uncool for kids. Unless they’re the Harry Potter style.
The crux of the conversation was about finding accountants prepared to help her. Julie thinks her accountant should be helping her manage her cashflow and discussing how to take the business forward. He doesn’t. Instead he told her to get a copy of QuickBooks, he tips up once a quarter, bashes out a set of books, does her VAT return and leaves, dropping an annual bill of £800 as he goes out the door.
What possible use is that to Julie other than fulfilling a legal requirement? And yes, I know, someone’s got to do it. But hell’s teeth, this is a start up. Startups need a lot of hand holding. The books are secondary. They can be done over the wire.
We bounced a few ideas around and in the process identified significant, immediate cashflow savings that allow her to do what she needs to reach her target audience at almost zero cost to the business. We also discussed how she could maximise the benefit of attending a particular trade show she has in mind and how Zoobug might leverage the attention it received as a result of the TimesOnline article I referenced in December.
Julie knows this business inside out. She used to be an NHS doctor specialising in treating children with eye defects. I also learned this is an incredibly geeky business. Apparently there’s a lot of science in this business. That in turn reminded me of English Cut. As regular readers might imagine, I’d like to see Julie check out the MySpace folk. They’re her real audience. Optician outlets are very important but that’s all they are. Distributors. Thinking more about her story, it also struck me that she could get a lot of mileage from the association between surfing and eyewear, maybe something for the YouTube generation?
That took an hour and yes, I gave such information away as I could.
I hope that Julie is now better equipped to figure out what her advisors should be doing. If we’ve achieved that, then she’s better positioned for success in a field where Julie is attempting to balance utility with fashion. Sounds good to me.
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