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Starting a business can be daunting. It takes a person more courageous than most to undergo the financial, personal and emotional risk that comes with setting up your own start up. Over 530,000 start ups have been set up in the U.K. already this year, on pace to smash last year’s record. Some, unfortunately, will fail and some will succeed. Setting yourself up for success is critical to surviving as a start up. A fairly basic idea, of course, but not one often executed well.

Often, new businesses will forgo start up bookkeeping software in favour of spreadsheets, such as Excel. The thinking here is logical. Why would I pay for start up bookkeeping software when I can get by without it? Bookkeeping software for start ups, or any business, is much more than a glorified spreadsheet. It really earns its salt showing entrepreneurs how their business is performing.

All the late nights, early mornings and missed family time put in to your start up can be made more efficient with the right information. View your accounts not just as something that legally has to be done, but as the goldmine of what you need to know to succeed.

Reports from your start up bookkeeping software package might show you that certain products are selling faster than others at certain times of the year. Information like this can allow you to make better sales decisions to better follow your business plan and protect your all important cash flow. Sure, spreadsheets may be able to do some of this. How much time are you willing to spend creating all of your reports in Excel when you can get them at the click of a button?

There are many functions which spreadsheets won’t perform that your start up bookkeeping software will. So don’t risk your livelihood not having what it needs to succeed. Plenty of entrepreneurs are absolute experts in their own fields, with the products they sell or the services they provide. Many are not so confident when it comes to the business side of the operation or the bookkeeping. Make life easy on yourself and set your business up for success with a dedicated start up bookkeeping software package.

Related: Sole Trader Accounting Software

Marc O'Dwyer

After completing a Graduate program in Marketing, Marc’s impressive sales career began at Allied Irish Banks, Pitney Bowes and Panasonic where he received numerous Irish and European sales performance awards and consistently exceeded targets and expectations. In 1992, Marc’s entrepreneurial spirit led him to set up his own business, Irish International Sales (IIS). Initially, this company was a reseller for Take 5 Accounts and Payroll software. Within four years, IIS became the largest reseller of Take 5 in Ireland, acquiring four other Take 5 resellers. He also found time to set up two mobile phone shops under the Cellular World brand and a web design company offering website design services for small businesses. In 2001, he bought the majority share in a small Irish software business, Big Red Book. At that time, the company was losing money. The company became profitable within two months, and Marc then acquired a payroll company to compliment Big Red Books Accounting products. In 2003, IIS were appointed as Channel Partners with SAP for their new SME product, SAP Business One. Marc sold his Take 5 business and concentrated on developing this new market for SAP As a result, by 2007, IIS was recognised as the largest Channel Partner for SAP in EMEA (Europe Middle East and Africa). In 2008, the IIS Sales Manager bought the Company from Marc in an MBO. He launched Big red cloud in June 2012, the online version of big red book, to date the company successfully converts 59% of trials into sales and the number of customers is growing rapidly. Marc continues to run both Big Red Book and Big Red Cloud which now support 75,000 businesses. He is a very keen sportsman, having played rugby for 20 years, represented Leinster at under 16 and under 20 levels, and league squash with Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club for 10 years. Marc has competed in 11 Marathons, including the London and Boston Marathons, and has completed several Triathlons and Half Ironman races. He has also completed six Ironman Races in Austria(x2), Frankfurt (Germany), Nice (France) , Mallorca (Spain) and Copenhagen (Denmark)