Rapid growth for accounting software business leads to a new face on the Executive Team
KashFlow, the award winning cloud-based accounting software company has appointed seasoned software CEO Raj Patel as Vice Chairman. Raj joins KashFlow in the new formal capacity following 5 years as CEO of a global business software company.
Bringing with him extensive global business knowledge and entrepreneurial expertise, Raj has been working with KashFlow for the past nine months in an advisory position, which will transfer to a more influential role in line with this appointment. His success in the accounting software industry lends itself to KashFlow’s development and supports Founder and CEO Duane Jackson’s work thus far to build an agile tech startup from the ground up.
Raj’s appointment has not gone unnoticed by industry commentators who have been quick to voice an opinion on this new role.
Leading industry analyst, Richard Holway commented:
“I’ve followed KashFlow for many years. They really have given Sage, and other established companies in the market, a run for their money. It’s difficult enough to grow a company from scratch to £1m, but even more difficult to make the transition from ‘startup run by the founder’ to the next stage. The appointment of highly experienced new executives to join Duane Jackson is extremely good news and bodes well for the future of KashFlow and its customers”
KashFlow’s Founder Duane Jackson has been working with The Prince’s Trust in recent months to drive entrepreneurship in young people, and is hoping that this additional support to the KashFlow Executive Team will allow him more time to dedicate to the technology side of the business.
Raj Patel is an entrepreneurial IT executive with more than 20 years international experience. He has a strong track record in leading companies through growth phases. Raj has a deep understanding of the software industry, distribution channels and technology shifts. He is passionate about entrepreneurship and innovation through technology.
His professional journey started at PC World in the pioneering days of the PC retail sector in the late eighties, followed by various ventures in the hardware industry in Asia and Europe. In 1996, Raj joined Dutch-based and listed Exact Software, a leading global business software company targeting small and medium sized companies. The last five of his fourteen years at Exact, Raj successfully headed up the company as CEO. In that period he was awarded CEO of the Year 2007 by Computable and Entrepreneur of the Year 2008 by the Big Improvement Day. Under his leadership, Exact was awarded Software Company of the year twice in consecutive years by Computable.
QUOTATIONS
Raj Patel commented:
“The traditional accounting software market is in the midst of a significant paradigm shift based on new technology, new business models and a new generation of users. Over the past few years, it’s become apparent that traditional vendors are struggling with the magnitude and speed of change, which allows smaller, more nimble and agile players to create disruption in what has been a very mature industry.”
Raj continued:
“With incumbent players struggling in a changing macro-economic environment where new businesses are formed every day, a huge growth opportunity emerges. Duane was one of the first IT entrepreneurs to envisage and capitalize on it. With its track record, innovative products, superior customer engagement and growth plans for the coming years I am convinced KashFlow will further its lead. I am excited to be able to play a role in this journey and look forward to working with our team, our customers and our partners in making what has already been great journey even greater.”
Duane Jackson, Founder and CEO commented:
“We’ve been working with Raj for much of 2012 and he has already had a significant impact on the business working part time and behind the scenes with the management team. I’m really excited to be bringing him on board full time.
Duane continued:
“We’ve rushed into senior appointments in the past so we wanted to take our time to make sure we got this one right, and we’re confident that Raj is the perfect addition to our team.”