After reading the following extract on the winner of the 2012 Best StartupSmart Awards for a service company, list the factors that would be important for someone like the owners of Explore Engage in making a decision about which accounting firm to employ. Also list the services that a business such as Explore Engage is likely to require of its accountant.

The winner of the 2012 Best Services Start-up in the 2012 Best Startup    Smart Awards was Explore Engage. Profiled on the StartupSmart’s website (www.startupsmart.com.au), the company profile reads as follows:

Explore Engage specialises in augmented reality (AR) and interactive applications for mobile devices such as iPhones and tablets. It is also in the process of developing a pair of AR glasses. The company defines AR as real-time animation superimposed on each user’s real-time view of the world, usually imposed through a camera device.

AR solves marketing and utility problems by contextualising data or images for an informative or entertaining simulation, feedback, brand recall, in situ placement and a mixed reality. In doing so, it can assist in decision-making or simply create a ‘magical experience’.

Explore Engage is an international leader in AR, providing 3D experiences across advertising, marketing, gaming, retail and property. ‘We saw an opportunity in the Australian market as there was no one specialising in AR. Also, with the emergence of the smartphone, we now have the capabilities to do AR,’ Crane says. ‘There was a need for advertisers, general consumers, B2B and B2C companies to use augmented reality.’

The three founders funded the business by ‘chasing down clients’ and completing projects. They also received investment once it was established. O'Brien says the founders ‘invested heavily from our own funds, gained seed funds and won projects to drive significant growth over the last 12 months.’

While cashflow proved to be the most challenging part of starting the business, the best part of starting up is the ‘ability to say you have started your own business and that it is going well’.

Explore Engage is now looking to take its technology to the international stage. ‘We are developing a pair of AR glasses that will change the way people consume media globally and interact day to day,’ Crane says. ‘[Our goal is to] become one of the top three AR companies in the world.’