Last week, I saw that Roblox, a global online game platform, has been forced to delay its public market debut due to scrutiny from the SEC. My daughter is an avid Roblox player, so I was immediately intrigued.

Roblox’s valuation has grown over seven-fold in the months since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, as video games continue to rise in popularity. However, according to an SEC memo, the commission has reservations over the way in which Roblox recognizes revenue from the sale of its currency, Robux, on the platform.

The struggles Roblox is facing are similar to the challenges of B2B companies we serve. In fact, simplifying revenue recognition for subscription businesses is one of the reasons we built the Ordway platform. 

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of honoring three finance leaders in DC Tech for their hard work and innovation. We piggybacked our awards with DCA Live’s Star CFO virtual gala hosted by Doug Anderson. Although we wish we could deliver these awards in person, we will be donating to the World Central Kitchen on behalf of each recipient to show our gratitude for all that they do to make their organizations better. 

Our team is on a mission to help companies compete on a global scale through the Ordway platform. Today, I’m proud to announce our release of multi-entity billing and revenue management which means businesses can expand internationally with ease.

As your business grows, the last thing you want to worry about is if your finance stack will scale with you. I commissioned our team to leapfrog the limitations of legacy software and find solutions to multi-entity support that historically were only available to the Enterprise. Historically, only costly and clunky legacy ERP software could support multi-entity companies with their billing and accounting needs. This translated into manual workarounds and spreadsheets and hundreds of thousands spent on software fees and professional services, placing a drag on even the most nimble companies.

Today, companies can run their business units independently and still unify billing, revenue schedules, and reporting within one system on the Ordway billing and revenue automation platform.

We are thrilled to announce our next-generation billing and revenue automation platform has successfully completed an audit established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) to certify its SOC 2 compliance. This audit means we have the controls necessary to deliver enterprise-quality software for our global customers. Our clients can rest knowing their order-to-revenue workflow is underpinned by the highest quality standards. 

Finding it hard to accomplish the ‘W’ in your company’s WFH protocols? We feel your pain. If you’re struggling to get down to business during these uncertain times, put one of these productivity hacks to work. 

When we launched our billing and revenue automation platform to the world 18 months ago, I set high expectations for the founding team. Transforming the way sales and finance teams work together to modernize their business models is no small undertaking.

With customers around the world in industries including software development, healthcare, logistics, performance management, manufacturing, and finance, we’ve witnessed transformation first hand. Building on this foundation, today I’m excited to announce we’ve raised a $10M Series A led by CRV and joined by Clocktower Ventures, Lerer Hippeau, and Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund.

This year’s Business of Software conference featured an experimental Unconference session where attendees could choose topics to discuss and debate.

I led a discussion about moving beyond simple subscriptions. It definitely struck a nerve with the attendees and the conversations that ensued centered around a few emerging themes facing all businesses.

The technology stack you choose not only supports growth, it shapes it.

Software is such a integral part of the modern work environment that it impacts all areas of your business, from how you do things, to who you hire.

TLDR Version:

• Companies are at risk if they don’t adapt to customer desire for flexibility
• Playing it safe on productivity software can inhibit growth
• Safety means paying for enterprise-software salespeople’s boats
• Smart companies are reevaluating legacy software
• Modern approaches lead to better outcomes.

Price simplicity was once considered paramount to a successful SaaS pricing strategy. The advice was formulaic—establish a value metric, assemble a “good, better, best” tiered plan structure, provide people monthly and annual billing options, and you were off to the races.

“The pain point that every single B2B company shares is pricing.” – https://frontapp.com/blog/2017/02/13/how-we-de-risked-our-saas-pricing-strategy/

Things have changed. Oversimplification of your pricing model may cause your company to leave money on the table. This is because fast-growing businesses, regardless of size, often find they must serve different user types, each with their own willingness to pay, in order to grow.

Ordway is on a mission to make billing and revenue automation a reality for growing businesses. The legacy SaaS billing products that were designed nearly a decade ago handle a few use cases well, but they are very rigid and companies quickly discovered that maintenance and customization come at the cost of lengthy projects that gobble up internal resources.