Welcome to the Mclowd Community Newsletter
The three takeaways from the presentations were: there’s growing awareness and take-up of fintech alternatives, in Australia and abroad; customers will be more trusting when fees are kept very low, or eradicated altogether; and the power of social media via the creation of online communities of devout users can be a very real driver of new business.
-New giants Afterpay and Revolut are redefining trust for the fintech generation, AFR Nov 6th
Introduction
Two of the world’s five largest companies (Google and Facebook) charge nothing for access to their core product, and yet are valued in the hundreds of billions of dollars.
They are able to do so because they grew up in the 21st century, when the marginal cost of granting access to those products collapsed to zero.
As the above quote illustrates, what is happening now is that echoes of those deflationary forces are being felt across the fintech space, and the rules of engagement are being rewritten by market entrants who understand the future far better than the incumbents they are rapidly displacing (neobank Revolut is adding 8,000 customers per day in Europe, without spending anything on advertising).
Of course none of this comes as any surprise to the stakeholders of the Mclowd Community, because six years ago we described that future – as it applies to the SMSF sector – with chilling accuracy.
Accounting Software Update
This week we held our monthly Team Meeting in Melbourne.
In attendance (and online) were individual Trustees and high-volume users from east to west, with whom we are working on a daily basis to refine the core software.
Their input is already showing up in upgrades to the Reports Pack (version 1.1 went live on Monday, and this functionality will shortly be available via Firm-level settings).
By their actions they are validating Mclowd in the same way that 20,000 Australians have already registered with Revolut, even before they launch locally (let alone do any marketing).
Artificial Intelligence @ Mclowd
As we ramp up our AI capabilities I can see that it will become like electricity, powering almost everything we do (from transactional automation to technical support).
And all with hardly a line of code being written.
But compared to incumbents (who somehow manage to deploy AI while actually increasing prices), our electricity is coming from renewable sources at Zero Marginal Cost, and as a consequence will only reinforce the deflationary power of the Mclowd model.
Conclusion
Mclowd is not adding 8,000 members per day.
However like Revolut the current level of growth is being driven not by million-dollar marketing budgets (which everyone now understands must ultimately be paid for by customers), but by the power of the Community.
And as we are all about to find out, it is that governance structure (not the underlying technology) that will ultimately define longevity and dominance.
Regards
Ashley Porter
Managing Director
Mclowd Pty Ltd