Cloudmanic Labs

In a world where building the next social network or some random deal site is the hot thing to do, why on earth would a company choose to build an accounting system? Has accounting even changed in the last 100 years? Before I can explain how Skyclerk came to be, I should give some personal history.

I am a fourth-generation entrepreneur. As a kid, I watched my father keep his books by hand, using nothing more than pencil and paper. I watched him spend hours every day to keep track of the financials. He would wake up early, stay up late, or work all weekend long just to stay organized. By watching him, I personally witnessed how time consuming and labor intensive it is to run a small business.

Intuit to the rescue? I do not think so!

Finally, Quicken / QuickBooks was born. This seemed like such a game changer for my dad’s free time. But I’m afraid in terms of time, it never saved him much – it just created a brand new list of challenges: installing the software, keeping backups, figuring out all the advanced features, data entry, and so on. Life seemed easier but my father was still spending the same amount of time doing his books.

Now fast forward to 1998, when I started my first company. Just like my father, I had to keep books. I did what most business owners do: I purchased QuickBooks, installed it on my computer, and spent my nights doing bookkeeping. Every bookkeeping session just seemed more and more painful. The software was too complex, it never did what I wanted it to do, and input just took forever. I kept thinking the same thing over and over – there had to be a better way.

Taking Matters Into My Own Hands

In early 2004 I finally snapped. I had to build my own bookkeeping system. I had to speed up the process of accounting so I could focus on growing my company, not taking care of the books. Skyclerk was born from my frustration with the existing systems and my determination to find an alternative. From 2004 to 2010, Skyclerk was nothing more than an internal tool that I kept enhancing to make better and better.

It took a while to realize, but in late 2007 I finally concluded that if I hated other accounting systems, other people must too. Why not offer Skyclerk to other business owners? I have shaved hours and hours of bookkeeping time from my life. Time is too valuable. Why not share with the world?

Now people around the globe use Skyclerk. Accounting may never be “hot,” but Skyclerk is a valuable tool that saves people time so they can build their businesses, enjoy their families, or even browse their social networks.

The moral of my story, and Skyclerk’s story: Don’t just settle. There is always a better way.