KashFlow has grown from a one-person start-up to becoming the market leaders for web-based accounting software in the UK.  But their growth would have been impossible without access to talent overseas. Quickstart Global offered them a low-cost, risk-free way for to expand the venture and they haven’t looked back since, with over 10,000 customers and a team of 21 staff.

Duane Jackson founded KashFlow after running a previous business and realising there was a gap in the market for better accounting software for small businesses. He used his IT skills and knowledge to develop a product which was easy for people to use, even for those with no real IT or accounting knowledge.

He soon realised that it was going to be impossible to grow the business quickly if they were dependent on hiring expensive UK developers. Duane told us: “I had heard horror stories of outsourcing and knew it was not suitable for start-ups and SME’s. I was clear that I wanted our developers to be working for KashFlow full-time. When I heard about the Quickstart Global model after a fleeting discussion in a pub with one of their existing clients I was very excited and thought it could be a way forward.”

Through Quickstart Global’s In-House Anywhere service KashFlow now has three team members employed in Pune, India, and Duane plans to double the size of the team later this year. He continues: “Initially the decision was led by economics; I simply couldn’t afford to grow the business using UK developers. I’ve since realised that the quality of their work is of a higher standard and levels of productivity are also extremely high. The quality has not suffered as I thought it might and has actually increased which was a real surprise.”

His lead developer in the UK enjoys working with the team in India and doesn’t think their day to day working would be any better if they were all based in the UK. He speaks to them daily via Skype and knows from visiting them that they are well placed to develop code in an office environment where there are no distractions from other parts of the KashFlow business. This is key for a company which is constantly using customer feedback to improve their product. Duane and his team were given advice by Quickstart Global on how to make the developers feel part of the team, and how to overcome any cultural differences; meaning the team became productive very quickly.

Hiring developers abroad has enabled Duane to grow the UK operation to 18 staff and says that if they can grow the business more quickly by having a team in India it will enable them to create more jobs in the UK. Duane concludes “If I started up another tech business I would do the same again and always employ developers in India; it couldn’t have worked out better for me and the company. We are now the market leaders for web-based accounting software in the UK.”