R.I.P. Botkeeper

It’s never easy discussing the demise of someone else’s dream, which is what often happens when you see once hopeful technology companies like Botkeeper end their time.

But when you have been overseeing business technology as long as I have (and really, any notable length of time), you see your share of once-bright stars go out, leaving observers to wonder and theorize, customers and investors in varying degrees of frustration, and founders to ponder what’s next. In Botkeeper’s case, I got to watch it all at various distances, and I wanted to share my thoughts and perspective on the company I knew from their very beginning over a decade ago.

Let me preface here by saying this is not a hatchet job or an “I told you so” or even an “I saw this coming” diatribe. That angle serves no one but the writer, and this writing is meant to be more of a tribute…an in memoriam, if you will, and yes, maybe a bit of perspective on it all.

Certainly, when it comes to technology companies, given my vantage point and those in a more observational, journalistic seat, we tend to see things a bit broader and wider than others. We often get introductions sooner than the market will or are invited behind the scenes, conduct “off-record” meetings and conversations, and just have a different lens than others in the market will.

All of that aside, I was honored to speak with, and eventually meet, Botkeeper founder Enrico Palmero back in 2015. I was also, admittedly, a bit confused as to their approach. It was not clear at the time whether they were a pure technology play, looking to automate accounting tasks with these things called “bots” or whether they were an outsourcing entity with their own proprietary technology to do the accounting work that bogged down most of a firm’s time.

I then also wondered, are they here to compete with accountants or partner with them? With the rise of similar entities at the time, including Pilot, Bench, and even inDinero, the first echoes hit the accounting world about a new breed of businesses that were ostensibly built to “take accounting work away from accountants” and even compete directly with them.

But something about Botkeeper was different, and at the time I didn’t know quite what it was. Surely enough, and in short order, they were present at major accounting industry events and, in later years, even hosted their own.

Top accounting firms also partnered with them, utilizing their platform and services to build out their own CAS businesses. And well-known, even respected, “influencers” preached their gospel as a true gift and valued partner to the future of accounting, which was less about tasks and transactional work and more about “delivering value” through detailed, advisory-driven services.

As far as the market knew, Botkeeper did all of this through pure technology. I would go so far as to say Botkeeper’s rise was behind much of the AI innovation we’re now seeing and put a spotlight on CAS as a true value driver for all accounting firms to consider.

Again, this is about perspective, and I was not privy to everything going on inside someone else’s business the entire time. But I do know the power of market perception over reality, and it is a powerful force that often cannot be overcome.

So, when it finally came out that even a portion of the work being done was not entirely via automation but outsourced to humans offshore, the ripple effect from that, I fear, was the beginning of the end for Botkeeper. Couple that with the rise of more pure AI plays securing millions in funding to, essentially, do all that Botkeeper, the platform, did and more; it did not seem to be able to pivot or shake off any of what surrounded them.

Take what lessons you will from the life they lived; I’m not trying to impart any directly. Just know that innovation will always breed more and better.

Keeping pace is more than most can endure and, in some cases, the best businesses can do. And for the fractional few that are able to not only rise to the top but also remain there, they will always have more vying to be there as well. And, in the end, that’s not such a bad thing.

I wish Enrico and all the Botkeeper staff well and have much hope for their futures. And to the firms that used and trusted them, some even from their earliest days, don’t lose faith in innovation. Let it teach you not just caution but that some risks are still worth taking and that you do have a voice in its future too.