CEO Communication Audit - Rod Drury, Xero

CEO COMMUNICATIONS AUDIT
Rod Drury, Xero
DRAFT FOR DISCUSSION

2
This audit has been prepared for Rod Drury, CEO at Xero.
It is a broad review of CEO communications, with the aim of building front-
of-mind thought leadership.
This audit reviews:
Current
communications:
Where you’re
starting from today
(from page 4)
How the market
thinks about you
and your business
(from page 6)
The key
fundamentals of
thought leadership
(from page 10)
Your current
narrative as
communicated to
market
(from page 16)
Prioritisation of key
audiences, themes
and topics
(from page 19)
Coherence of
content style,
language and tone
(from page 25)
Summary and recommendations (from page 29)

Introduction and overview
CEO Communication Audit - Table of contents:
Communications requirements differ substantially by stage of the
organisation and individual profile. We review CEO communications
relative to current stage of the company and existing public profile.
1. Current communications – Where you’re starting from today.
• Quick CEO capability review across speaking, inbound (media), outbound
(publishing) and social channels
2. Current awareness and positioning - How the market thinks about you and
your business
• Benchmarking you vs. comparable organisations and leaders for current
awareness (and brand vs. CEO awareness)
3. Thought leadership fundamentals - Great CEO communicators are trusted,
interesting and visible
• Detailed review of five recent CEO communications for thought
leadership fundamentals (interest, trust and visibility)
4. CEO and company narrative - Identifying and strengthening your current
narrative
• Review of your current narrative as communicated to market
5. Stakeholder review and prioritisation - Identifying your key audience(s)
• Prioritisation of Xero’s different audience groups for CEO communications
6. Topic prioritisation - Identifying the most important themes and topics to
communicate to stakeholders
• Defining broad theme/topic prioritisation based on audience group
prioritisation
7. Content analysis and recommendations - Reviewing the coherence of
language, tone and style
• Recommendations as to the tone and style of thought leadership content
to achieve best results
3
Xero Rod Drury
Earlystage
Industryawareness
HighLow
Generalmarketawareness
HighLow
CEO –
High
industry
awareness
Company –
Moderate
general market
awareness
Current brand and CEO awareness:

4
1.  Current communications
Where you’re starting from today

CEO communications capability– Rod Drury
5
Speaking capability

Why it matters? Speaking is the bedrock of
all communications. Speaking capability is
the foundation on which all other channels
and mediums depend.

We start with a quick assessment of communications capability, across the four key communications
pillars for the modern CEO.
Rare Occasional Frequent
Frequency of speaking appearances:
Fundamentals:
Presents as enthusiastic and full
of energy:
Tells stories:
Is interesting (never boring):
Naturally uses facial expressions
and hands (isn’t stiff or wooden):
Uses a full range of emotions:
Controls the room / engages
the audience:
Uses humour appropriately:
Has vocal control and is
engaging to listen to:
Inbound (media) capability

Why it matters? Traditional PR skills still
matter. As the content creation and
consumption cycle accelerates, it’s critical
to deliver concise, clear, on-topic messages
for print, radio, TV and online publications.
Frequency of media appearances:
Fundamentals:
Has clear rationale for speaking
to the media:
Guides the journalist to what’s
really important:
Stays authentic, doesn’t change
speaking style for the medium:
Is visually engaging and
interesting to watch:
Is prepared. Knows the
questions that are likely to be
asked:
Comfortable and never
perturbed. Often having fun:
Maintains control and is not
reactive:
Outbound (publishing) capability
Why it matters? In today’s media
environment, every individual is a publisher.
Given the fractured media landscape, it’s
never been more important to build a
direct (owned) channel to communicate to
all key stakeholders.
Frequency of publishing:
Fundamentals:
Has built an engaged audience:
Publishes frequently to build
rapport:
Publishes proactively, not just
reactively:
Writes conversationally (doesn’t
use corporate jargon):
Uses descriptive, engaging
headlines:
Integrates multiple multimedia
(video, images):
Provokes discussion and
sharing:
Social (engagement) capability
Why it matters? Key stakeholders (including
customers, partners and employees)
increasingly expect to find the CEO on
social media. People increasingly look to
build trust in individuals before brands.
Frequency of social engagement:
Fundamentals:
Active on LinkedIn, Twitter and
Youtube:
Provokes discussion:
Demonstrates curiosity:
Incorporates personal passions.
Talks about more than just work:
Connects to corporate
resources where appropriate:
Stays positive (doesn’t engage
with trolls):
Shows emotion:

6
2. Current awareness and
positioning
How the market thinks about you and your business

Where is Rod Drury most commonly positioned at present?
7
On this slide, we’re looking to see how a broad
set of your stakeholders think about and position
Rod Drury.
On the left, we’ve visualised individuals who
feature alongside Rod in prominent press
articles. Larger bubbles represent more frequent
mentions alongside Rod.
The group is largely industry based, featuring
other accounting executives, Xero’s management
team and investors.
Source: Google News Archives, Top 50 results (see page 33)

Where is Xero most commonly positioned at present?
8
Source: Google News Archives, Top 50 results (see page 33)
On this slide, we’re looking to see how a broad
set of your stakeholders think about and position
Xero.
On the left, we’ve visualised organisations who
feature alongside Xero in prominent press
articles. Larger bubbles represent more frequent
mentions alongside Xero.
From a broad stakeholder perspective, the most
logical comparable organisations for Xero are
accounting software businesses.

(55%, 37%)
As a result, we’re benchmarking the following comparables
Stephen KellyTim Reed Brad D. SmithRod Drury
Relative CEO and brand awareness:
Internal
metrics
LTM
revenue:
$208 M
Valuation: $2.43 Bn
Employees: 1,600
External
metrics
Search
volume
(Brand)
77%
Search
volume
(CEO):
35%
Alexa rank: 2,269
Internal
metrics
LTM
revenue:
$178 M
Valuation: $2.17 Bn
Employees: 1,900
Internal
metrics
LTM
revenue:
$4.2 Bn
Valuation: $ 29.8 Bn
Employees: 8,800
Internal
metrics
LTM
revenue:
$1.76 Bn
Valuation: $7.06 B
Employees: 13,200
External
metrics
Search
volume
(Brand)
37%
Search
volume
(CEO):
55%
Alexa rank: 49,064
External
metrics
Search
volume
(Brand)
100%
Search
volume
(CEO):
90%
Alexa rank: 510
External
metrics
Search
volume
(Brand)
78%
Search
volume
(CEO):
100%
Alexa rank: 15,815
50% 75% 100%25%0%
0%
50%
100%
75%
25%
Brand presence
CEO presence
(78%, 100%)
(77%, 35%)
(100, 90%)
CEO centric
Risks around succession
and long-term awareness
Brand centric
Not humanised, risks
around trust,
•  This chart benchmarks relative awareness for both brand and
individual CEO
•  All numbers are Google search volumes for “Organisation” and
“CEO name”. 100% represents maximum search volume for any
term over last 12 months.
Source: Annual reports, Google Trends, Alexa
We’re benchmarking the following comparables:
9
Source: Google Trends worldwide search volume (LTM, shown on a relative basis)

10
3. Thought leadership fundamentals
Great CEO communicators are trusted, interesting and
visible

Great CEO communicators are trusted, interesting and visible
3. Visible
1. Interesting 2. Trusted
2. Trusted
Signals we look for:
•  Shows appropriate vulnerability
•  Individually relatable
•  Consistently communicates the
same narrative over time
•  Connected to society as a whole,
not just the business
•  Has a clear purpose
See page 14 for a relative assessment
1. Interesting
•  Human first
•  Talks with full range of emotions
•  Tells stories
•  Short messages, consistent long-
term narratives
•  Talks about the future
•  Appropriate mix of crazy and
inevitability
•  Avoids robo-speak / corporate
language
3. Visible
•  Is accessible across a range of platforms
•  Addresses multiple audiences
•  Has public views on corporate, industry and
societal issues
•  Regularly quoted by third parties
Interesting and visible is a trap that
many politicians and CEOs fall into
by being heavily reactive.
Whilst this positioning does lead to
airtime and profile, it leads to very
little influence and action because
there’s no underlying foundation of
trust.
Trusted and visible is a position
that’s hard to achieve without
substantial conferred status and
trust (i.e. the position of Governor
General).
Anyone with this positioning will
always achieve stronger
communications performance by
being more interesting.
It has never been more important to get the right balance of interest and trust.
Old media PR strategies often focused excessively on interest factors without a
foundation of trust. Social media has reshaped stakeholder expectations,
substantially increasing the importance of authenticity.
11

Content examples we’ve analysed in depth
12
As a basis for this audit we’ve picked five typical market facing communications featuring or authored
by Rod.
This analysis is our basis for understanding current CEO communications to stakeholders (including
story, narrative and style).
The content we’re using in this audit:
•  Redefining the art of
bookkeeping
•  21 October 2016
•  https://www.linkedin.com/
pulse/redefining-art-
bookkeeping-rod-drury?
trk=prof-post
•  Becoming a $1 billion
business
•  20 July 2016
•  https://www.xero.com/blog/
2016/07/becoming-1-
billion-business/
•  This is the secret to a
successful negotiation
•  14 May 2015
•  http://fortune.com/
2016/05/14/xero-
negotiations-skills-success/
•  The financial web,
continuous certification and
banking
•  25 August 2015
•  https://www.xero.com/blog/
2015/08/financial-web-
continuous-certification-
banking/
•  Respecting double entry
accounting
•  11 September 2016
•  https://www.linkedin.com/
pulse/respecting-double-
entry-accounting-rod-drury?
trk=prof-post

How Rod performs on the interest benchmark
Human first:
Talks with full range of
emotions:
Tells stories:
Short messages,
consistent long-term
narratives:
Appropriate mix of
crazy and inevitability:
Avoids robo-speak /
corporate language:
Communicates concisely, on consistent
topics. Evidence of long-term narrative.
Evidence of your personal values and
beliefs. Talking about your personal life,
sharing and celebrating special events.
Regular evidence of communication with
a full range of emotions.
Communicates through stories, not
messages.
Strategic content that is equal parts crazy
and inevitable. Takes strong opinions.
Talks in simple, conversational language.
Talks about the future
23 (82%)Total score:
(/28)
Talks strategically. Does not only
communicate on a reactive basis.
How each factor builds interest:
In a social media era, it’s expected that all opinions can be condensed to 140 characters.
The length of story is shorter than ever. But those messages must sit inside consistent long
term narratives – otherwise the messages will come off as shallow, short term and un-
coordinated.
As humans we’re built to be interested in humans first. Whatever your job, role or
company, humans are most interested in human stories. As a result, it’s important to
communicate as a human first. Before you’re a CEO, you have to show that you’re a real
person, just like your audience.
Humans respond to stories that engage them on an emotional level. Communicators that
highlight appropriate emotions will always outperform dry corporate communication.
Talking with a full range of emotions doesn’t mean consistently “happy”, “sad” or “angry”
– rather expressing emotions on the extreme end of the spectrum as appropriate.
People have always communicated through stories, rather than repeating messages or
sound bytes. Today’s stakeholders are suspicious of corporate messages that are
increasingly dry and fail to capture the imagination. Communicating through stories
ensures memorability and action.
The most interesting thought leadership content balances equal parts crazy and
inevitability. As a thought leader, you're speaking about ideas that are dramatically
different to current "best practice". This means that there's always a risk that you'll be
perceived as somewhat 'crazy’. You can mitigate this risk by positioning your ideas as the
inevitable future - whether the reader/listener accepts this or not.
All stakeholders have become increasingly suspicious of “corporate speak”. CEOs must
communicate in simple and conversational language that builds a human connection and
rapport with all their audience. Buzz words and corporate speak do nothing but drive
disengagement.
Today’s stakeholder is suspicious. To be a leader you must set direction for the future.
Thought leadership is about moving beyond the reactionary day-to-day… instead focusing
more on a long term agenda for the future. For the company, the industry and society as a
whole.
What we’re looking for:
Consistently Regularly Occasionally Rarely
4 3 1
Source: Benchmarked on basis of publically available articles and reports.
13
Very consistent messaging and narratives
on the future of the industry. A core
strength.
Variable across platforms. Personal
passions and interests come across
strongly on Twitter.
Rod is enthusiastic and excited when
interviewed (and generally on Twitter).
Emotions less evident in written posts.
Rod only occasionally communicates
through story – although it consistently
feels like stories are sitting beneath the
surface.
Very strong - The financial web is a
powerful example.
Rod consistently makes good language
choices. Simple, accessible and
appropriate for audience.
Regularly sets the agenda for the
industry – and supports this with
consistent messaging
Assessment:
4
4
3
4
2
2
2
4

How Rod performs on the trust benchmark
Shows appropriate
vulnerability:
Communication that shows appropriate
vulnerability (failures, mistakes and
shortcomings in the context of your
current success).
Individually relatable:
Connected to society
as a whole, not just the
business:
Has a clear purpose:
Consistently
communicates the
same narrative over
time:
Source: Benchmarked on basis of publically available articles and reports.
Consistent messaging, stories and
narratives over the medium to long term.
Does the audience feel like they know
you as a person? Do they understand
and empathise with your passions, wants
and flaws? Do you talk with your
audience or down to your audience?
Discussing issues bigger than the
business (whether industry, societal or
personal).
Strong and believable individual
purpose.
15 (63%)Total score:
(/24)
Content that shows you're vulnerable strengthens your credibility and signals that you’re
both genuine and honest. Both of these signals lead to trust. If you’re willing to share your
failures, mistakes and shortcomings, it makes it easier for any audience to connect with you
and trust what you’re saying.
Consistency is critical for building trust. In the same way that we don’t trust people that
we’ve just met, we don’t trust narratives that we’ve just heard. It takes time and repetition
to build trust. This is established through consistently communicating the same narrative
over an extended period of time. Whilst your messages and stories can change over time,
these should stay inside a consistent overarching roadmap to build trust (this is your
narrative).
Trust is built on a foundation of individual likeability. We like people who we can easily
relate to. Relatability can be easily measured by asking questions such as “Would you like
to have a beer with this person? Or “Would you invite this person round for dinner?”
Focusing on issues bigger than just the business helps stakeholder trust. It improves
relatability by demonstrating alignment of interests - you’re motivated by the greater good
(for employees, the industry, society). Talking about issues beyond the business makes it
much easier for stakeholders to find points of agreement and alignment with you as the
CEO.
Many stakeholders are sceptical of CEOs as being excessively profit motivated. Having a
clearly stated and believable purpose makes your motivation clear to all stakeholders. This
purpose needs to be simple and a “higher calling” to be believable. If this purpose isn’t
contextually coherent with the CEO and company’s actions, then it can appear duplicitous
and damage trust (rather than improve it).
How each factor builds trust:What we’re looking for:
Consistently Regularly Occasionally Rarely
4 3 1
14
Occasional - More opportunities to
discuss past failures and speed bumps in
the context of current success.
Rod frequently connects to his narrative.
The narrative is clear, compelling and a
real strength for Rod relative to
competitors.
Variable across platforms. Consistent
across Twitter and spoken word.
Generally less accessible in written copy.
Occasional mentions of country level
topics and themes. Rod’s content is
largely focused on product level themes.
Rod consistently connects to his purpose
of empowering small business.
Assessment
4
4
2
2
2
3

How Rod performs on the visibility benchmark
Is accessible across a
range of platforms:
Addresses multiple
audiences:
Has public views on
corporate, industry and
societal issues:
Regularly quoted by
third parties:
The focus to date appears to be largely
on the partner community. Easy
opportunities to extend this to adjacent
stakeholders.
Regularly quoted in tier one and industry
media.
Strong accessibility across the suite of
social platforms.
Apart from Twitter, typically more
focused on product level themes.
15 (58%)
Search volume:
(score /10) 3
Total score
(/26)
Rod has moderate visibility relative to
comparables (see page 9)
Presents your expertise across a broad range of issues. Shows custom understanding and
perspectives related to the issues of each stakeholder group.
Visibility is substantially driven by how others talk about you. We’re looking for evidence
that you’re regularly treated as an authority in your space.
In an increasingly fragmented media environment, consistent presence across multiple
channels increases visibility and provides proof of authenticity. Stakeholders expect a CEO
to communicate through a range of channels (not just press releases).
For both visibility and trust the CEO must engage the full spectrum of corporate, industry
and societal issues. Speaking across a broader range of issues increases the number of
opportunities for you to appear, and for your audience to see you.
Ultimately, the best predictor of future visibility is current visibility. The more visible you
currently are, the more opportunities for future visibility will present themselves.
How each factor builds visibility:Assessment:
Source: Benchmarked on basis of publically available articles and reports. Consistently Regularly Occasionally Rarely
4 3 2 1
15
Addressing a broad range of stakeholder
groups including customers, employees,
investors, NGOs and government.
Regular quotes by third parties show that
you’re providing interesting and relevant
commentary on topics that media and
influencers find interesting.
Authentic communication across multiple
channels of communication including
press, owned media, events/conferences
and social media.
Communicates on across a full range of
business, industry and societal issues.
In this case we’re measuring current
visibility relatively, through Google
Trends search results.
What we’re looking for:
4
2
4
2

16
4. CEO and company narrative
Identifying and strengthening your current narrative

What is a CEO narrative (and why does it matter)?
Difference
Purpose
FuturePast Narrative
What’s the difference between
messaging and narrative?
Messaging
•  Emphasises key messages that are
used repetitively through all
communications
•  Messages tend to be rote delivered
and have low ability to respond to
context
•  Can sound scripted
Narrative
•  Emphasises an underlying story that’s
used repetitively through all
communications
•  A narrative is flexible and adapts to
the context
•  Easily remembered
•  Sounds authentic
Your individual narrative should build on the strengths and
differentiators of the business. It must be intellectually
aligned but individually unique and meaningful.
17
Thought leadership and all CEO communication is grounded
on a strong narrative. A narrative combines your past, future,
difference and purpose into a short and compelling
framework to guide all your communication.

Identifying ways to strengthen CEO narrative
Past
Key narrative questions:
1.  Where has the company come from?
2.  What was the problem the company set
out to solve?
3.  How has your journey shaped you and the
company today?
Purpose
1.  Why is the CEO driven to make this
company succeed?
2.  What is the company’s purpose?
3.  What values differentiate the company and
its culture?
4.  What are your obsessions?
Difference
Key narrative questions
1.  How is Rod meaningfully different to other
CEOs in the competitive set?
2.  What do customers uniquely love about
the business?
3.  What opportunities are open to Rod and
Xero as a result of the positioning of
competitive set?
Future
1.  Where is the company going in the future?
2.  What’s the publically stated direction of
the company?
3.  What’s the world changing ambition or
goal of the company?
4.  How is the unique future that Xero is
creating meaningfully different from the
competitive set?
Key company and market commentary:
“We are a global accounting platform and are
committed to growth; and we have the cash and the
management to do it”
-The Australian, August 2015
“Connecting more than 50 million small businesses on
Facebook Messenger with accountants and bookkeepers
is a huge opportunity for our industry. We’re opening up
access to accounting software, solutions and advisors to
help millions of small businesses be more productive and
get the advice they need to grow and create jobs”
- Pymnts, Dec 2016
“No one else has put $300 million of capital to work for
the last nine years to build that global accounting
engine. I think our numbers, our continued growth, our
execution ability across multiple geographies means that
we will be one of, if not the winner, in the space over
time”
- Diginomica, Feb. 2016
“We made the decision to be really transparent about
our numbers, and it has been fascinating that the
incumbents, including MYOB, Sage, and Intuit
deliberately hide their numbers”
- ZDnet, August 2015
“As a global leader in cloud accounting with more than
862,000 subscribers, we are forging a path to 1 million
customers and $1 billion in revenue. Xero and its partner
ecosystem has evolved to a global community
supporting small businesses”
-bizEDGE NZ, November 2016
“As we move from the back office to build front office
applications, there is a massive opportunity for growth”
-Fortune, December 2015
“Now we’ve got that transactional data cleaned up on a
nice relational database — all nicely protected and
shared — we can now start applying some of the big
data and machine learning technologies to that massive
transactional data set”
-Diginomica, Feb. 2016
"We can see machine learning in our personal life and it
is our job as software developers to really get this
happening in our business lives as well. That's what our
entire team is focused on because we think it is really the
next wave and it's here now"
-NBR, September 2016
“It always upset me that big, financial software was so
hard to actually extract information from, we began to
see what was happening in the consumer web—that you
could start to build these really neat, engaging web
applications and not have to install software. Yet we
weren’t seeing that innovation happen in small business.
So to me, there was a very obvious opportunity”
-Forbes, May 2014
“I wasn’t ready to start Xero at that time and parked the
idea for a couple of years while I built and sold a
successful email archiving startup, giving me the funds to
do Xero properly. Running my own business and selling
it reinforced how much traditional accounting software
was so clunky. How could millions of small business
owners be so poorly served?”
-Xero, October 2016
“What we’ve been doing is taking boring accounting as
it’s been done before and putting it into a cloud
environment, which means you are getting the normal
cloud benefits of no backups, any time, any device, and
also the collaboration benefits. That’s just the inherent
advantage of moving accounting into a cloud-type
environment”
-XU Magazine, Jan 2015
“If you think what Facebook has done for people-to-
people communications, enabling people to
communicate globally, at Xero we are building a similar
network where the add-ons and the network of
bookkeepers and accountants all work together to help
businesses”
- The Australian, August 2015
“As we connect financial institutions… we believe there
will be a myriad of opportunities to help grow small
business including lending, insurance, factoring, currency
services and much more”
- Small Biz Trends, June 2016
“The vendor relationship is changing and it is no longer
about software. It is about how we drive leads to you.
We need to provide the playbooks and content which
will help drive business to you. We are the number one
lead source for customers and we are investing money in
billboards, content and features”
- Enterprise Times, Feb 2016
18
Rod’s has a strong and well balanced CEO narrative, that’s told
consistently. Regardless of your entry point, it’s easy to understand
why Xero exists and how the company will succeed.

19
5. Stakeholder review and
prioritisation
Identifying your key audience(s)

What are the key audience groups for all CEO communication?
The next page presents an audience prioritisation analysis for Rod Drury…
There’s six broad audience groups that CEOs must engage through communication. The relevance and
prioritisation of each audience group depends on both industry and company stage:
20
1. Customers
•  Targeting
potential
customers.
Where sales are
based on trust,
it makes sense
for the CEO to
leverage a
digital platform
to build
recognition in
advance of
physical sales
activity.
2. Partners
•  Engaging
potential and
current
partners. Given
partnerships are
built on trust, it
makes sense for
the CEO to
leverage a
digital platform
to reinforce
build
relationships/
dialogue and
reinforce
commitment to
key partners
3. Recruiting
•  Targeting
potential and
existing
employees.
Builds trust and
alignment.
•  Most relevant
where there is a
large recruiting
requirement
from a relatively
small or
unknown
organisation.
4. Investor
relations
•  Targets existing
and potential
investors. Most
relevant in
public markets
– however there
is relevance
ahead of
fundraising
events to build
awareness and
demonstrate
traction.
5. Regulators
•  Targets
regulators and
their
stakeholders.
•  Companies
facing specific
regulatory
challenges.
Whilst the end
target is
regulators, an
approach here
may focus on
the general
public or other
stakeholders.
6. Industry
influencers
•  Targeting
industry
analysts and
thought
leaders.
•  Designed to
translate to
recognition in
‘industry leader’
lists, speaking
at conferences
and front of
mind
recognition.

What are the key audience groups for Rod Drury and Xero?
Industry influencers/analysts Regulators/GovernmentInvestors Employees
Customers
None/Low Some influence Many/most read
Influence of influencers on customer behaviour?
0 5 10
Leading player Emerging player New entrant
Current industry positioning?
5 10 15
Current investors - Total score:
low
priority
0-5
moderate
priority
5-10
high
priority
10-20
highest
priority
20+
Low Medium High
Risk of medium term changes in industry based regulations or
requirements?
0 5 10
Insignificant/
Low
Moderate Substantial
Current impact of industry or company specific compliance/
regulation on profitability?
0 5 10
0-10 10-100 100+
Number of external investors?
0 5 10
Unlikely Possible Highly likely
Additional capital requirement over next 24 months?
0 5 10
Below
expectation
At expectation Above
expectation
0 5 10
Returns to current investors?
Customers maintain multiple
relationships with
competitive set
Strength of competition?
5 10
Recurring Project One-off
Nature of customer relationship?
5 10 10
Customers maintain only
one relationship with
competitive set
Next 12 months revenue growth goals?
Channel Physical sales Inside sales
Primary means of customer acquisition
5 10 10
B2C (Impulse) B2C (Complex/high value)B2B
Product complexity / trust required
0 5 10
Digital
10
0-10% 10-30% 30-100%
3 5 10
100%+
20
Size of organisation
Low Moderate High
Level of industry and organisational change
0
5 10
Extreme
20
0-30 30-100 100-500
0
2 5
500-1000
10
1000+
20
0-3% 3-10% 10-30%
Forecast employee growth over next 12 months?
0 3 10
Low Moderate High
0 5 10
Competitiveness in target talent markets?
30%+
20
Current customers Potential customers
Current Employees Potential employeesPotential investorsCurrent investors
Low Moderate High
0 3 5
Current customers
Potential
customers
Current employeesPotential employees
Current
investors
Potential
investors
Highestpriority
High
priority
Moderatepriority
Low
priority
Employees
Industry influencers
Investors
Regulators
21
Partners
Negligible Low
Risk of partner churn?
0 5
Typical time to close?
Non-exclusive Exclusive
Nature of partner relationship?
0 10
0-3 months 3-12 months 12 months+
3 5 10
Current partners Potential partners
0-20% 20-40% 40%+
Percentage of current revenue delivered through partners?
5 10 15
Moderate
10
Partners
Current
Partners
Potential
PartnersHighest
priority
High
priority
Moderate
priority
Low
priority
low
priority
moderate
priority
high
priority
highest
priority
0-5
5-10
10-20
20+
Current customers –
Total score:
low
priority
moderate
priority
high
priority
highest
priority
0-5
5-10
10-20
20+
Current customers –
Total score:
low
priority
moderate
priority
high
priority
highest
priority
0-5
5-10
10-20
20+
Potential partners –
Total score:
low
priority
moderate
priority
high
priority
highest
priority
0-5
5-10
10-20
20+
Current partners –
Total score:
Potential investors - Total score:
low
priority
0-5
moderate
priority
5-10
high
priority
10-20
highest
priority
20+
Current employees - Total score:
low
priority
0-5
moderate
priority
5-10
high
priority
10-20
highest
priority
20+
Potential employees - Total score:
low
priority
0-5
moderate
priority
5-10
high
priority
10-20
highest
priority
20+
Industry influencers - Total score:
low
priority
0-5
moderate
priority
5-10
high
priority
10-20
highest
priority
20+
Regulators - Total score:
low
priority
0-5
moderate
priority
5-10
high
priority
10-20
highest
priority
20+
B2C (Impulse) B2B
Product complexity / trust required
0 5 10
Liquidity of investment?
B2C (Complex/high value)

22
6. Theme/topic prioritisation
Identifying the most important themes and topics to
communicate to stakeholders

What are the themes that CEOs should communicate on?
Customer–
Current
Customer-Potential
Partner–
Current
Partner–
Potential
Employee–
Current
Employee-Potential
Investor–
Current
Investor-Potential
Regulators/
Government
Analyst/
Influencer
Priority for Rod
Drury
High Highest High High Highest High High High Moderate High
Proportional
allocation for
Rod Drury
10% 13% 10% 10% 13% 10% 10% 10% 6% 10%
1. Product/service level
• 1A. Customer problems and benefits
• 1B. Highlighting customer success / case
studies
• 1C. Key customer problems
• 1D. Product direction / launching new
product and services
• 1E. Differences vs. competition
• 1F. Differentiating beliefs
2. Company level
• 2A. Financial results
• 2B. Celebrating success
• 2C. Working at company
• 2D. Company culture
• 2E. Purpose and vision
3. Industry level
• 3A. Competitive landscape
• 3B. Industry level challenges and
opportunities
• 3C. Industry level regulation and policy
• 3D. Future of the industry
4. Society level
• 4A. Company benefits to society
• 4B. Economic trends
• 4C. Public policy discussions
• 4D. Personal views on societal issues
• 4E. National and global issues
Nearly all themes are relevant for multiple audience groups, for example:
We can make a broad proportional communications audience allocation:
Customer –
Current
Customer –
Potential
Partner - Current
Partner -
Potential
Employee -
Current
Employee -
Potential
Investor -
Current
Investor -
Potential
Regulators
Analyst/
influencer
1A. Customer problems and
benefits
Highest Moderate High Highest Highest Moderate Highest Moderate High Low
Audiences and topics come together for a weighted topic allocation on the following page…
Based on your audience prioritisation…
There’s four broad theme groups that CEOs are expected to communicate across:
23

Our recommended theme allocation for Rod Drury
Customer -
Current
Customer -
Potential
Partner - Current
Partner -
Potential
Employee -
Current
Employee -
Potential
Investor - Current
Investor -
Potential
Regulators
Analyst/
influencer
Weighted
proportional
topic allocation
Priority High Highest High High Highest High High High Moderate High
Recommended allocation for Rod 10% 13% 10% 10% 13% 10% 10% 10% 6% 10%
Product/service level 33%
Customer/partner problems and
benefits 4 4 4 4 3 2 2 2 1 3 5%
Highlighting customer/partner
success 4 4 4 4 3 1 2 2 1 4 5%
Key customer/partner problems 4 4 4 4 3 1 2 2 1 3 5%
Product direction / launching new
products and services 4 4 4 4 4 2 2 2 1 4 6%
Differences vs. competition 4 4 4 4 4 2 2 2 1 4 6%
Differentiating beliefs 4 4 4 4 4 3 2 2 1 4 6%
Company level 25%
Financial results 2 2 2 2 4 1 4 4 2 4 4%
Celebrating success 3 1 3 1 4 4 3 4 1 3 5%
Working at company 1 1 1 1 4 4 3 4 1 2 4%
Company culture 2 3 2 3 4 4 3 4 1 2 5%
Purpose and vision 3 4 3 4 4 4 4 4 2 4 6%
Industry level 22%
Competitive landscape 4 3 4 3 3 3 4 3 3 4 6%
Industry level challenges and
opportunities 2 3 2 3 3 3 4 3 3 4 5%
Industry level regulation and
policy 3 2 3 2 2 2 4 3 4 4 5%
Future of the industry 4 4 4 4 3 3 4 3 2 4 6%
Society level 20%
Company benefits to society 2 2 2 2 4 4 3 2 3 2 5%
Economic trends 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 4 2 4%
Public policy discussions 2 2 2 2 2 2 4 2 4 1 4%
Personal views on societal issues 2 2 2 2 3 4 2 1 2 1 4%
National and global issues 2 2 2 2 3 2 1 1 2 1 3%
24

25
7. Content style analysis and
recommendations
Reviewing the coherence of language, tone and style

Content style recommendations for Rod Drury
Idiocentric:Reader centric:
Practical:Theoretical:
Complex:Simple:
Balanced:Opinionated:
Primarily dedicated to discussing personal feelings and emotions.
Inside out, rather than outside in. Characterised by more frequent
use of “I”, “we”, “our”
Focused on what the reader can take from the content.
Outside in, rather than inside out. Characterised by more frequent
use of “you”, “your”
Arguments justified with theoretical rationale.
Concepts rather than examples.
Arguments justified with practical case studies and real examples.
Easy to scan. Many subheadings.
Easy to jump in and out of the article.
Flowing article that is interdependent. Will struggle to get value
without reading in depth. Will tend to be longer
May take multiple readings to get full value.
Strong opinions. Generally tells only one side of the story.
Clear view about what is right and wrong.
Sits on the fence.
Tells both sides of the story.
Like many founder/CEOs, Rod’s preference for
thinking and reasoning from first principles can
occasionally get in the way of the message.
As a result, there are opportunities to
incorporate more examples and stories to
support Rod’s messaging.
Content design
R
R
R
R
C
C
C
C
R
C Rod Drury– Current positioning
Rod Drury– Recommended positioning
26

Content style recommendations for Rod Drury
Corporate:Personal:
Formal:Conversational:
Written on a personal level.
Could be a conversation. Uses the simplest language choices to
convey meaning.
Uses deliberately sophisticated language.
Will not always use the simplest language choice.
Simple, descriptive language. Shorter sentences and paragraphs.
Speaks like an old friend, assumes trust and agreement.
Regular use of “you”, “your”.
Longer sentences and consistent paragraphs.
Theoretical, official and formal language.
Doesn’t assume agreement on any points.
Measured:Excited:
Disciplined:Playful:
Mature:Young:
Enthusiastic, eager.
Lots of energy. Speaks in an “off the cuff manner”.
Regular and measured language.
Thoughtful and planned language. Consistent. Restrained.
Regular jokes, may be self-depreciating.
Happy and friendly tone. Evident the author had fun writing the
post.
Controlled, consistent, habitual
Unlikely to be self-depreciating
Eager and enthusiastic language. Advanced, implies mastery
Self-aggrandising :Self-deprecating:
Regularly makes fun of self.
Does not present as being on a pedestal.
Only references to self are in a positive context.
Difficult for the reader to empathise with.
Rod’s language choices are generally well
balanced – with a preference to simple
conversational copy.
One red flag is Rod’s language and tone can vary
slightly from piece to piece. Combined with the
lack of story-based personal evidence, readers
may question whether written content is
authentically Rod.
Language
Tone
R
R
R
R
R
R
C
C
C
C
C
C
R
C Rod Drury– Current positioning
Rod Drury– Recommended positioning
27
Rod’s written content can appear muted
compared to his spoken word
communications and social media. Allowing
more personality and excitement to surface
will improve engagement, authenticity and
consistency.

28
Summary, recommendations and
next steps
Bringing it all together

Executive summary: Rod Drury and Xero
1. Rod is a strong communicator (but could benefit from more frequent
storytelling)
•  Drury’s authenticity, directness and strong opinions are a great platform for building interest and trust. Despite being a generally great communicator,
there are opportunities for Rod to include more story based content.
2. The narrative is a key strength for both Rod and Xero
•  Relative to competitors (and most other similar stage companies) the narrative is a competitive strength for Xero.
•  Rod’s has a strong and well balanced CEO narrative, that’s told consistently. Regardless of your entry point, it’s easy to understand why Xero exists
and how the company will succeed.
3. Most of Rod’s current communications target the partner community. There
are opportunities to make this content more accessible to other stakeholders
•  Similar to most growth-stage CEOs, there’s a reasonably large number of important stakeholder groups right now for Rod and Xero.
•  Most of Rod’s current content appears targeted at the partner community. Small changes to make this content more accessible would open this up to
a broader set of stakeholders.
4. More focus at the company and society level will improve reach and profile
•  Most of Rod’s current content is focused at the product level. Based on the suggested audience prioritisation, we’d recommend that CEO
communication from Rod should be allocated in the following themes/proportions: Product/service level 33%, Company level 25%, Industry level
22% and Society level 20%.
5. It’s important to allow more of Rod’s personality and excitement to surface in
his written content
•  Compared to his spoken word communications and social media, Rod’s written content can appear muted. Allowing more personality and excitement
to surface will improve engagement, authenticity and consistency.
29

Validation and leveraging this audit
4. Content plan
(themes and topics)
•  Building a detailed plan of
content themes and topics to
capture thought leadership
•  Includes a medium term
roadmap of content to be
delivered (when and to who)
1. Audience prioritisation
•  Reviewing which audience groups
are the most important, and how
they think about your business and
CEO today
•  Ensures clear prioritisation of the
right messages for each audience
and stakeholder group
2. Narrative and messaging
strategy
•  Building a strong narrative
framework (past, future, difference,
purpose) to anchor all
communications
•  A strong narrative aligns the way
that stakeholders think about the
business/CEO, and makes all
communication more effective
5. Distribution strategy
•  Plan for which channels /
mediums should be used for
which messages
•  Timing and frequency of
communications
•  Concrete return analytics and
measurement framework
•  Key actions for increasing
sharability of content
3. Content personality, voice
and style
•  Selecting the right style of content
that speak to customers in a way that
builds expertise and trust
•  Assess tone, complexity and voice to
ensure you’re building a long term,
trusted relationship
•  Includes a content design framework
and benchmark to guide all content
creation efforts
The TLP approach to thought leadership
strategy
•  We use analytics, client interviews and a detailed
workshop process to build a comprehensive thought
leadership strategy
•  Heavy focus on validation through customer and
stakeholder interviews
•  You receive a comprehensive 90 page report,
designed for turnkey implementation and impact
through our supported CEO blogging process
•  Results delivered within 14 days
Key components of any successful thought leadership strategy:
This audit is a starting point for CEO thought leadership. Validation and planning are critical for success
30
1. CEO
communications audit
2. Thought leadership
strategy
3. Supported CEO
blogging
‘Build a
comprehensive plan’
‘Identify the problems’ ‘Implement and
measure’

The roadmap from here
1. CEO communication
audit
(this document)
2. Thought leadership
strategy
3. Supported CEO
blogging
‘Build a comprehensive plan’
•  Get started with a comprehensive
review and plan for success.
•  Built on detailed stakeholder
interviews, internal workshops and
detailed analytics review.
•  Findings presented in 90 page
report with detailed analysis,
review and implementation
recommendations.
‘Implement and measure’
•  Put strategy into action with our
thought leadership content creation
service.
•  Turnkey content delivery – we turn a
one hour video interview into a
month of content (five video
supported articles), Saving you at
least 24 hours of writing time each
month.
•  Options to build the presence of
your CEO and other executives
within your business.
‘Identify the opportunities’
•  This audit presents an introduction
to CEO thought leadership strategy.
•  We’ve conducted a desktop review
of strengths, weaknesses and
potential positioning for thought
leadership.
•  Includes individual communications
performance and benchmarks
against a group key competitors.
31

32
Appendix

The press articles supporting this analysis
33
Ar#cle Title URL Individuals Organisa#ons
1 Xero completes two-year AWS migra6on project h:p://www.zdnet.com/ar6cle/xero-completes-two-year-aws-migra6on-project/ Duncan Ritchie
2 Xero hones in on regional NZ with new Hawke’s Bay office h:p://www.reseller.co.nz/ar6cle/610438/xero-returns-regional-roots-new-hawke-bay-office/ Craig Foss Wallace Development
3 Xero’s Faith Lands In Ar6ficial Intelligence h:p://www.pymnts.com/news/b2b-payments/2016/xero-ai-machine-learning-accountant-cloud-accoun6ng-sme-small-business/ Colin Timmis
4
How ar6ficial intelligence has morphed accountants into
business advisors
h:p://www.zdnet.com/ar6cle/how-ar6ficial-intelligence-has-morphed-accountants-into-business-advisors/
Ryan Tietjens The Commi:ee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA)
5 Xero CEO Rod Drury tells: we're just fast movers h:p://www.afr.com/brand/rear-window/xero-ceo-rod-drury-tells-were-just-fast-movers-20161103-gshb3h
6 Xero takes home NZ interna6onal business award h:ps://bizedge.co.nz/story/xero-takes-home-nz-interna6onal-business-award/ Ross Buckley KPMG
7
Xero boss Rod Drury denies execu6ve turnover anything out
of the ordinary
h:p://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/85910970/Xero-boss-Rod-Drury-denies-execu6ve-turnover-anything-out-of-the-ordinary
Russ Fujioka, Andy Lark, Keri Gohman, Douglas Jeffries, Victoria Crone, Chris Ridd, Angus Norton
8 High-Profile — But Secre6ve — Funding For B2B FinTechs
h:p://www.pymnts.com/news/b2b-payments/2016/b2b-venture-capital-fintech-startup-deloi:e-blockchain-santander-innoventures-tradeshil-
investment-round-funding/ Rahul Khanna, John Dahlsen, Mariano Belinky
Trifecta Capital, Deloi:e, Santander, Timelio, Thorney Investment Group, ANZ Bank, Tradeshil,
Santander InnoVentures, SETL, Metro Bank, Tjaara, Senjō Group
9 How the cloud will impact SMBs next year h:p://www.bizreport.com/2016/12/how-the-cloud-will-impact-smbs-next-year.html Tamara Sco:, Interna6onal Data Corpora6on (IDC), TechnologyAdvice
10
The CEO of a £1.4 billion solware giant says blockchain won't
succeed because the world is too 'tribal'
h:p://www.businessinsider.com.au/xero-ceo-rob-drury-on-blockchain-2016-10?r=USandIR=T
11
Xero boss Rod Drury hos6ng new conference for company
founders
h:p://www.stuff.co.nz/business/85740377/Xero-boss-Rod-Drury-hos6ng-new-conference-for-company-founders
Marie-Claire Andrews ShowGizmo
12
This Upstart Gives Intuit a Run for the Money in Cloud
Accoun6ng
h:p://www.stuff.co.nz/business/82669825/Live-chat-Xero-founder-and-NZ-tech-entrepreneur-Rod-Drury
Peter Thiel, Chris6ne Dover Intuit, Accel Partners, Matrix Capital, IDC
13
Xero CEO Rod Drury says machine learning and AI at heart of
its new products
h:ps://www.nbr.co.nz/ar6cle/xero-ceo-rod-drury-says-machine-learning-and-ai-heart-its-new-products-b-194144
14 Xero will have a million customers within a year - Rod Drury h:p://www.stuff.co.nz/business/82240741/Xero-will-have-a-million-customers-within-a-year-Rod-Drury Andy Lark, Chris Liddell , Alex Mercer, Bill Veghte MYOB
15
How one Australian startup made it by doing everything
backwards
h:p://mashable.com/2016/09/12/xero-rod-drury-funding/#K6J2o3qPuiqS
Claude Walker Accel, Motley Fool
16 Neulix is gevng Xero backing from Rod Drury
h:p://www.smh.com.au/business/cbd/neulix-is-gevng-xero-backing-from-rod-drury-20160129-gmhgn8.html
Tony Sage, John Kay, Harrison Young, David Mendelawitz,Peter Charlton
Neulix, Perth Glory, Cauldron Energy, London School of Economics, Cleveland Mining
Beijing Joseph and Co, Cape Lambert Resources
17
Global solware company Xero announces opening of office in
Napier next year
h:p://www.stuff.co.nz/business/86600915/Global-solware-company-Xero-announces-opening-of-office-in-Napier-next-year
Murielle Baker Wallace Development
18
Xero sets its sights on being a $1 billion earner, shows
'pathway to profitability' - Drury
h:p://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/79835657/Xero-sets-its-sights-on-being-a-1-billion-earner-shows-pathway-to-profitability-Drury
Chris Liddell
19
Startup War Story: Xero's Rod Drury's growing pains as a
publicly listed start-up
h:p://www.smh.com.au/business/startup-war-story-xeros-rod-drurys-growing-pains-as-a-publicly-listed-startup-20150824-gj64qj.html
Peter Karpas
20
NZ looking good in a crazy world aler Brexit, says Xero boss
Rod Drury
h:p://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/81658690/nz-looking-good-in-a-crazy-world-says-xero-boss-rod-drury
Glenn Gore Amazon, Orion Health, eRoad
21
Xero’s AGM pops few surprises but the US remains a slow
grind
h:p://diginomica.com/2016/07/21/xeros-agm-pops-few-surprises-but-the-us-remains-a-slow-grind/
Uber, Neulix, WhatsApp
22
Movers and shakers: Rod Drury, Simon Pomeroy and Frances
Valin6ne
h:p://www.cio.co.nz/ar6cle/601221/movers-shakers-rod-drury-simon-pomeroy-frances-valin6ne/ Simon Pomeroy, Frances Valin6ne ,Salmon Khan of the Khan Academy, Satya Ni:a , David Braben,Demis
Hassabis, Brendan Boughen, Grant Hopkins, David Flacks , Stuart McLean,Neil Reynard, Aaron Olphert,
Wells Fargo, Fulcrum,Westpac, Mooola, IBM, The Raspberry Pi, DeepMind, The Mind Lab, Tech Futures
Lab, NetApp New Zealand, Microsol, HP, Harmoney, eSpa6al, Kordia,
23 Xero provides big data tools for Kiwi small businesses
h:p://www.cio.co.nz/ar6cle/597949/xero-provides-big-data-tools-kiwi-small-businesses/
Anna Curzon
24 Xero CEO on moving to Cloud 2 and leaving Intuit behind h:p://diginomica.com/2016/02/12/xero-ceo-on-moving-to-cloud-2-and-leaving-intuit-behind/ Amazon, Google, Microsol
25 Xero founder Rod Drury cashes in $20m of Xero shares h:p://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/74448847/Xero-founder-Rod-Drury-cashes-in-20m-of-Xero-shares Craig Winkler, Sam Morgan, Blair Galpin
26 Xero to reach profitability in three years, First NZ Capital says
h:ps://www.nbr.co.nz/ar6cle/xero-reach-profitability-three-years-first-nz-capital-says-b-189002
James Schofield First NZ
27 Xero leans on Amazon for machine learning and to crack China
h:p://www.afr.com/technology/cloud-compu6ng/xero-leans-on-amazon-for-machine-learning-and-to-crack-china-20160219-gmz2x5
Clive Rabie , Tim Reed Amazon, Google, Microsol, Reckon, Atlassian, MYOB
28 Xero experiences glitch in move to new hos6ng provider
h:p://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/83431684/Xero-experiences-glitch-in-move-to-new-hos6ng-provider
Alex Mercer, Adam Ferguson MYOB
29 Xero promises 50 'world-class jobs' in Wellington
h:p://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/83826944/xero-promises-worldclass-jobs-with-no-compromises
30 Why Xero migrated to AWS - and what it cost h:p://www.crn.com.au/news/why-xero-migrated-to-aws---and-what-it-cost-440667 Russ Fujioka, Keri Gohman
31
Xero Helps Startups Use Financial Transparency To Raise
Capital
h:p://www.forbes.com/sites/jlim/2016/08/25/xero-helps-startups-use-financial-transparency-to-raise-capital/#20cff4da888a
Kenji Kuramoto Acuity, Buffer
32 Xero boss welcomes US 'refugees' h:p://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/ar6cle.cfm?c_id=1503462andobjec6d=11745904 Donald Trump
33 Xero has outgrown its own solware, Drury says h:ps://www.nbr.co.nz/opinion/xero-has-outgrown-its-own-solware-drury-says Netsuite
34
How Rod Drury Built Xero From A 'Small Set Of Rocks In The
South Pacific' Into A Global Player
h:p://www.forbes.com/sites/halgregersen/2014/05/28/how-rod-drury-built-xero-from-a-small-set-of-rocks-in-the-south-pacific-into-a-global-player/
#776bf1502f17 Hamish Edwards
35
How a global board allowed Xero to achieve rapid growth in
new markets
h:p://www.afr.com/brand/boss/rod-drurys-xero-board-right-people-right-6me-and-there-to-be-heeded-20160121-gmaz9h Bill Veghte, Craig Ellio:, Salesforce, Graham Smith, Craig Winkler, Chris Liddell, Sam Morgan, Lee Ha:on
Hewle:-Packard, SurveyMonkey, Apple, MYOB, Trade Me, NAB
36
Xero's Rod Drury cri6cises MYOB prospectus as war of words
escalates
h:p://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/xeros-rod-drury-cri6cises-myob-prospectus-as-war-of-words-
escalates-20150401-1mclw3.html MYOB
37 Xero loses key execu6ve as chief product officer returns to US
h:p://www.arnnet.com.au/ar6cle/597668/angus-norton-leaves-xero/
Angus Norton, Duncan Ritchie Microsol
38
Xero CEO Rod Dury says local investors don't understand tech
companies
h:p://www.smh.com.au/business/xero-ceo-rod-dury-says-local-investors-dont-understand-tech-companies-20150722-gihzlz.html
Uber, Spo6fy, Airbnb, Neulix, Tesla, Apple, Facebook
39 Xero's US IPO pushed back but Australia's Atlassian gives heart
h:p://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/75364993/Xeros-US-IPO-pushed-back-but-Australias-Atlassian-gives-heart
Reckon, Atlassian,
40 Xero CEO Rod Drury banks company's future on investments h:p://www.zdnet.com/ar6cle/xero-ceo-rod-drury-banks-companys-future-on-investments/ Chris Ridd Accel, KPMG, Google, Dropbox, Apple, Microsol, MYOB, BankLink , Sage,Intuit
41 Xero looks to next stage in cloud offering
h:p://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/technology/xero-looks-to-next-stage-in-cloud-offering/news-story/8ed66cca436a35e827c1e1beb8453449
Dropbox, NAB, OzForex, Adobe and Bigcommerce, MYOB, Intuit, Sage
42 UPDATED: Xero outage resolved h:ps://www.nbr.co.nz/ar6cle/xero-goes-down-worldwide-185280
43 Xero grows to $1 Billion revenue
h:ps://www.enterprise6mes.co.uk/2016/07/20/xero-grows-to-1-billion-revenue/
Chris Liddell
Commonwealth Bank, Barclays, HSBC, NAB, Crunchboards, iZe:le, Expensify, Receipt Bank, Vend, Shopify,
Paypal and Tsheets
44
Kiwi startup Xero went public without any sales -- here's how
it grew to be worth $2.5 billion
h:p://www.businessinsider.com.au/xero-ceo-rod-drury-profile-2015-3?r=USandIR=T
Accel Partners, Matrix Capital, Valar Ventures, Intuit Quickbooks
45 Selling Your Business? Why Earn-Outs Are A Mistake
h:p://www.forbes.com/sites/johnwarrillow/2016/08/10/rod-drury-why-earn-outs-are-a-mistake/#c99b23ff72c0
46 Xero rising at Xerocon London 2016 h:ps://www.enterprise6mes.co.uk/2016/02/10/xero-rising-at-xerocon-london-2016/ Gary Turner Sage,
47 Xero, Bo:omline Post Net Losses
h:p://www.pymnts.com/news/b2b-payments/2016/xero-bo:omline-technologies-quarterly-yearly-half-year-earnings-results-losses-profits-financial-
data/
48 Xero and Wells Fargo Unlock Financial Web for Business h:ps://smallbiztrends.com/2016/06/financial-web-xero-wells-fargo.html Wells Fargo and Company
49
Only one in nine invoices from small businesses being paid on
6me says Xero
h:p://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/78026874/Only-one-in-nine-invoices-from-small-businesses-being-paid-on-6me-says-Xero
Anna Curzon Fonterra
50 3 Ways to Help Your Startup Survive
h:ps://shil.newco.co/3-ways-to-help-your-startup-survive-1454e22ef6c4#.yma54blmo

About Thought Leadership Partners
34
At TLP, we’re a specialist agency that builds thought leadership content
for C-level executives.
Watch a short video introduction, or read on below:
https://youtu.be/hndoVYfuQdk
We do this through first person videos and blogs, directed at customers,
investors and employees.
CEOs that we talk to generally recognise the rationale for thought
leadership to:
•  Build personal and brand authenticity and trust
•  Engage key stakeholders in ongoing conversations
•  Shape the industry agenda
But at the same time, we hear from CEOs that they just don’t have the
time to sit down and write a blog post. The 4-5 hours it takes to publish
a high quality article is time that busy executives just don’t have.
We’ve listened to this and built a video interview led process. Instead of
writing, you sit down in front of a camera answering questions. We
transcribe that content and a journalist reshapes it into first person
content to be published (with video) under your name.
How our process works:
1.  We do extensive preparation, on the right topics and articles for you
to publish
2.  You’re interviewed on camera about these topics (your commitment
is a one hour interview once a month)
3.  Our journalists build five topic focused, transcription driven blog
posts out of the interview
4.  Because all content is built on your voice, there’s never ghost-writing
issues with depth and credibility
5.  You publish five, 500-700 word articles highlighting your expertise
with video highlights
6.  We deliver fortnightly analytics, optimising for engagement from the
right stakeholders
Over and above everything else, our clients love two things about what
we do:
•  How we genuinely understand the pressures and stakeholders of the
C-suite. We know that every hour has an opportunity cost. We’re
incredibly time efficient in producing authentic thought leadership
content that drives the success of your business.
•  We’re substantially more analytical and quantitative than any other
player in the Comms/ IR / Marketing space. We bring this focus to
strategy, campaign design and performance analysis.

+61 3 9111 5659 | www.thoughtleadershippartners.com | Level 17 / 31 Queen St, Melbourne

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