Who are we?
Cahoot Coworking is a new coworking space in the center of Barcelona. We offer our members fixed and flexible seats, private offices, 1 GBPS high speed internet, a kitchen, meeting rooms and networking events– to mention just a few things.
The challenge
With both local and international clients, we knew that we needed to process payments via credit cards, bank wires and PayPal — at least. Most of these transactions are recurring monthly as well.
Our alternatives involved spending time manually punching in customer data, and manually creating invoices every month, which we didn’t think was the best use of our time.
Obviously we wanted to automate as much as possible, to be able to spend our time on more important things such as our community, events and the space itself.
Why Holded?
Initially we signed up for a few different solutions. What we quickly found out is that most accounting softwares do not seamlessly integrate with the necessary accounting standards, Spanish ones in our case.
Although we found some workarounds, the results were never pretty, and there was no validation of our contact’s CIF code.
Holded will tell us if the CIF code is invalid, and do tax calculations.
When we use Holded, we know that all of our “tax stuff” is done according to EU and Spanish standards — so we can sleep well at night.
We also wanted a SaaS solution. In 2018, we really did not want to run a desktop software. A multi-user setup, where our accountant and other employees can access the data, was also necessary.
Another requirement for us was API and automation features (such as connection to Spanish banks for auto-import of transactions). Holded stood out of the crowd with its recurring billing and simple user interface.
Our workflow, and how Holded fits in
Most of our leads sign up via our website (running WordPress). Once the web form is filled out, the leads are then pushed into Holded CRM, and a notification email is sent out.
We use Slack to monitor everything. Anything from website down time, to ad spend and member feedback. So naturally, all new charges and data entries in Holded’s CRM are also posted to a Slack channel.
When a lead moves on to signing up for a paid membership plan, or is associated with an one-off payment (i.e. for daily hot-desk payments), another webform with billing data is filled out. This form connects to Stripe or Paypal via API to process the payment.
Depending on the purchase (membership plan vs. one-off payments), we can make a recurring or a single billing in Holded.
Once the billing is set up, it will process automagically every month. With many members, all re-billing at different times, it makes life a lot easier to have it running in the background.
It’s an effortless solution for us — and therefore for the client — as all clients can access current and previous invoices via a personalised Client Portal.
With so many subscription plans available, whether you’re a freelancer looking to send invoices and get paid, or a startup requiring a powerful, cloud based ERP to monitor and streamline your business, Holded has the tools you need.
A dedicated Success team also means that, whatever your plan, you have access to personalised support whenever you need- always useful when dealing with software!
Using Holded, combined with the modern facilities of a coworking space like Cahoot, is one of the best ways to work as a digital nomad, whatever the scope of your project. Check out our website to see our space, get some pro tips on maximising your business potential, and meet others just like you!
