Value Added Resellers of SaaS

No doubt SaaS and its brethren has turned the world of IT and IT delivery upside down. As a result, traditional VARS (Value-Added ReSellers) have been pushed aside. Certainly at the lower-end of the market where all the exciting stuff is taking place. Simply put when software is delivered as a service there seems little need for a service to deliver software! 

However, there are organisations springing up now who do add value to SaaS and cloud applications. That is the new wave of integrators. Not to be confused with old school System Integrators (SI's), the likes of IFTTT, OneSaas, CloudWork and Bondable focus solely on building (and selling) plug-ins that automate transactions between SaaS applications. They do this by utilising the API each vendor provides to allow secure access to their service.

Integrations and a free public API have always been an essential ingredient in the SaaS go-to-market recipe. Now the sheer volume of services out there is creating a demand for these dedicated integration services. Making it even more important to provide an API with your SaaS product of course. 

But it's early days for these guys. I would suggest they're a bit ahead of the curve. Yes, the market is getting evermore savvy but for the players in this space and their backers it is a long game! But services that offer additional functionality to SaaS are ideally placed to become the trusted advisors to small business customers looking for simple, straightforward technology that does nothing more than help them run their business as efficiently as possible.

I expect to see the integration players start to leverage their position and the relationships they have with the vendors. If done right their domain could be a compelling one stop shop for SaaS customers. For vendors a new, reliable sales channel. For the integrators, extra revenue and greater customer interaction and satisfaction. Trust and added value are a heady mix! Step forward the Value Added Resellers of SaaS.

Software-as-a-Service Is All About Social Justice

Software-as-a-Service is the elegant answer to a relatively recent and quite profound question posed to civilisation. That being - how to provide equal access for all to the power of business software. 

Until the recent revolution in software design and provision, this technology was both prohibitively expensive and designed deliberately so that it was virtually impossible to use without access to expensive and time-intensive training.

By subverting the traditionally elitist world of software and business software in particular, SaaS and its brethren has truly struck a real blow for social justice!

Now anybody can easily access tools to enable them to truly participate in the capitalist society. Beautifully crafted applications, easily procured, for nominal commitments have levelled the playing field for small and micro businesses. People are empowered to follow their dreams and craft their preferred lifestyle while providing their fellow humans with the benefit of their expertise.

Likewise, those same people can create those very same SaaS solutions, while using said solutions to do so! You want philanthropy? I suggest there is little more satisfying than creating and providing technology to empower the average guy-in-the-street to reach his potential. 

So yes, SaaS is the democratisation of software. But more so, SaaS is real democracy in action! Well it's far more significant than just ticking a box every few years!

This is why I love SaaS! Pure and simple.

More SaaS Accounting in the UK (Part 1) - The Bananarama Principle

I guess I'm biased, but I really do see the UK's small biz SaaS accounting scene as a barometer of how software democratisation in general is gonna play out. It has all the crucial elements, including simplification, disruption, utter intuitiveness, innovation and creativity, heavy emphasis on customer experience, mobile platform strategy, product with personality and a sense of community amongst users...need I go on?

The sector and its key protagonists signpost the eventual commoditisation of small business services on the web. What's fascinating, is watching them get there!

To be more specific, watching them from early on, choosing different routes and then navigate those very different routes to get there. Using very different modes of transport, stopping at different destinations en route....finish with your own travel analogy! 

Some of the More Obvious Differences

• different funding models
• consequent different emphasis on cashflow
• and consequent different expansion strategies
• different marketing budgets and marketing strategies
• different sales strategies - including channels
• implementation of social media strategies at a time when social media has entered the fray and grown at much the same time.
• varying reliance on zero-touch/light-touch sales via website etc
• different eco-system strategy - use of API etc
• differences in support infra-structure
• different tactics for foreign markets (different importance placed)

Technology With Personality

One of the many particularly interesting aspects to an old SaaS biz geek like me, is how all the action and manoeuvrings in recent weeks highlights the very different ways that each of the leading protagonists goes about their business. This has been evident from the get-go of course.

Back in the day we had software. It was bland, bloated and a turn-off (I can vouch for that 100%) sold by software companies. Any pretence of product 'personality' was a contrivance of PR relating to the CEO's despite the product - enter Bill Gates, Larry Ellison & co. 

When I asked "Is Steve Jobs the Godfather of SaaS?", this was partly prompted by the phenomenon of a personality permeating the technology. Use Jobs and Apple's virtually instantly legendary products as an example and people get what you're talking about. 

Accounting software with personality??

As technology moves from software provision to service provision, personality enters the fray, even enabling this transition. Service is far more personalised than software of course and with the relentless, almost daily re-iteration of the tech that supports the service, integrated with meticulous use of social media, digital marketing, PR etc it is now possible for a brand to take on a far more nuanced and more solid, almost touch-it, identity. An identity that includes human-like flaws as well as a desire to delight users; and other contradictions, for example.

Once attuned to the brand and its product offering, it's possible to align that persona to how features are implemented and are likely to be implemented when new features and functionality hit, further down the track. 

The very different back-stories of the Founders affect the brand persona's at a profound level that includes implementation and deployment and not just the (more obvious) strategies and strategic decisions that each player makes. 

The consequence is that, for the first time, users buy into the brand persona of a service provider (of accounting software!!) which includes the personality traits of the Founders and 'significant others'! Including, how they:- 

• implement new features
• present new innovations and features 
• declare war on the traditional incumbent software companies
• present arguments for implementing strategies and tactics
• communicate with users and the outside world

To this old SaaS biz geek, the intricately entangled mix of psychology, marketing, culture, brand, funding model, cutting-edge technology, ethos and business plan is absolutely fascinating, but more importantly is absolutely business critical!

But, It's Just Accounting Software!

And as some march on, others (including cloud vendors that are hugely successful in their native markets) watch on in wonderment, wondering why their supposedly more rounded product just can't get a competitive footing!

Of course the point is, the product is just a part of the solution! Anyone can replicate the feature-set of old school software and deliver via the cloud, for example. Many can improve on the functionality. Users want not only elegant solutions, but an ethos they can buy into. They want to know who and what you are!

I call this the...

The Bananarama Principle

Chant:-

"It's not what you do but the way that you do it, 

(repeat loads)

And that's what gets results!"

(Yes I know that this was actually a collaboration between Bananarama & Fun Boy 3, but that's besides the point. To make a point, I call this the Bananarama Principle. It's a valid point!)

Next!

Acknowledging that this generation of fanatical users buy into how a particular vendor implements features, informs discussions around strategy, branding etc and can even help to predict vendor behaviour. It also helps vendors understand that strategy is about playing to one's own strengths rather than copying others. 

This will inform a closer look at all the fuss around Yodlee and bank feeds in Part 2, and why some SaaS co's might choose not to get involved (at this stage), while some non-SaaS co's choose to get involved! What are Crunch up to and are they are a viable alternative?

At the same time, a closer look at the FreeAgent growth and what it all means, for all. Their acquisition of a US co no-one's heard of! Yep FreeAgent is betting big. Why are Xero and FreeAgent looking at the USA and KashFlow apparently not. Are Clear Books wrong to sink their resources into payroll, CRM etc? What it all means in respect to the original SaaS Accounting in the UK post from the first week of 2012.

At A Click

We had a bar-be-que at mine today. Like many, I like to enjoy a social occasion in the garden or down the beach, whenever the (ever more accommodating) British weather and other considerations allow. And I gotta say, there is something rather special about the tang of good BBQ food. You can't beat it! Anyhoo, while doing 'the man of the house' thing, I got to thinking...

Now, back in the day, whether as a kid or as a young adult globe-trotter, I would happily build a small fire with an ad-hoc grill and cook some pretty basic sounding grub, that would taste fantastic. 

Whether on a sun-kissed beach, deep in the woods or a dank mountain-side, I and whoever I was with, would think nothing of putting in the effort for a cool social occasion, with great food. There was never any concern about the effort it took etc.

Today we threw some charcoal - 'optimised for the BBQ' - on a purpose made, 'optimum height' metal contraption. I then squirted some purpose made BBQ fluid over the charcoal and put a lighter to it. Shortly after we were serving up our first wave of food. Within a couple of hours we were clearing up just before the weather turned. Job done.

Now even that is too involved for some. Shell out a fair amount of money (compared with free) and you can buy what is really no more than a glorified gas cooker for the garden. Incredibly, the glorious tang of BBQ'd food is sacrificed in exchange for that convenience. Quicker, cleaner and that last crucial element sacrificed: people pay for that privilege. Some will even pay a premium for a hat-tip to good industrial design. Imagine that!

Will Sony Be The Next Kodak?

I just had to share this hilarious video with you. 'Sony Releases Stupid Piece of Shit' from The Onion, is over a couple of years old now and has had well over 5 million views so there's a good chance you've seen it already. But it's only a couple of minutes long, so watch it again; it's so worth it...and poignant!

Footnote to Fear and Paralysis

This makes a neat third and final(?) post in the series that has, up til now used the SageLive debacle as a vehicle to discuss the phenomena of large, well-resourced organisations being gripped by fear when challenged by upstart competition.

These posts have certainly got a bit of attention. Thanks to all who shown an interest and for your comments and thoughts via Twitter et al. 

Ben Kepes wrote a fine follow-up piece over on his Diversity blog (and syndicated to Cloud Ave and elsewhere). In it, Ben interweaves chunks of (part 2), 'Goodbye SageLive, Hello Same Old Sage', with his own experiences of other incumbents in similar circumstances. In short, he confirms seeing the  same phenomena of fear and 'paralysis', all too often.

And so to Sony

This week Sony announced massive losses, with consequent job losses totalling 10,000 globally! This news is of no great surprise to observers of course. Even Steve Jobs hinted at it, as described in his biography. And of course, Apple are always the yardstick for this kind of discussion.

You'll easily find well-researched, qualified analysis elsewhere. I'm gonna put a stake in the ground, right here, right now! It always comes back to organisational culture and the consequent strategy or lack of! 

The very best SaaS offerings have their own type of great organisational culture which includes an ethos where customer experience is paramount. This is a huge differentiator when the whole organisation is totally behind it. Lip service is not enough. It's a cultural thing! Got it?

But I digest (sic). Sony is one of the world's great companies. Their products in various forms have featured in all our lives in a variety of ways, for decades. Their problem is far from unique, but in sharp relief.

They are a massive organisation that grew quickly in very different times. Scroll forward to today and you have a fractious organisation with multiple silo'd 'departments' all pulling in very different directions.

Any strategy they might have appears to be no better than, do everything. The cliché, left hand not knowing what the right is doing, barely seems adequate to describe the extreme, cultural dysfunctionality that now exists: it is a natural consequence of such direction-less leadership.

It Wouldn't Happen at Apple

What has made Apple so different from nearly all other mega-companies (until now at least) is that it's strategy and structure has more resembled the nimble, world-class tech startup. Single-minded and totally focussed on a handful of connected offerings and doing those brilliantly. 

The benefits of an autocratic leadership style is that the whole organisation knows what the company mission is. Not only the employees, but every stakeholder knows and gets their strategy. Customers even buy into it. Try asking Sony employees what their mission is? Let alone (potential) customers!

The best a corporation (like Sony) can do under the circumstances, is a knee-jerk reaction. A tactic that never works because the results won't be good enough. This is ridiculous, given the enormous resources at their disposal, including talent, IP, patents...and cash. They could just buy their way out of trouble with the right strategy.

Instagram Acquisition as an Example

This model has been born out by the news, this week, of the Instagram acquisition by Facebook. Facebook's issue of course, is to not let their platform become so broad that everything they do is not good enough. Many analysts believe that buying Instagram is part of dealing with that issue, asides from other strategic motives.

Besides likely spawning a multitude of me-too photo apps (cos there aren't enough of those right?), what Instagram prove is that a small organisation totally dedicated to producing the very best solution possible, with a very narrow remit, is the way to do it!

Another Kodak  Moment?

In a Tweetchat, Jason Currill remarked, 'another Kodak moment looming me thinks'. This depends. If it means that Sony has a similar, fundamental strategic decisions to make then yes, it is. If it means, 'that's the end of Sony', it really doesn't have to be. 

This is the warning shot. Like all big threatened organisations, they've got enough in reserve to do something about it. They just need to be decisive and play to their strengths. If they do end up like Kodak, that will not only be sad, it would be a crime!

Final Thought

Last night I caught up with Alex King over a couple of beers for the first time in too long. Alex is the knowledgeable MD of The Financial Management Centre, probably the largest network of its kind in the UK. Alot has happened since I worked with him on the conception of The Online Bookkeeper, their online accounting property.

While shooting the breeze, on a broad range of branding, strategy, marketing and analysis subjects, he touched on the tendency of corporate Japan to defer important decisions by engaging in endless meetings. Once again the subject of fear raises its ugly head. All concerned are too worried about making the wrong decision. The consequences of failure are too monumental to be entertained. No-one is prepared to take the lead. The potential result, paralysis and even, god-forbid, a Kodak moment!

Goodbye SageLive, Hello Same Old Sage

So what was the last post all about? Why bring up an old subject like SageLive? I mean, that's old news right? Everyone knows that it was an almighty cock-up! But that's ancient history and anyhow, surely it's been superseded by the 'robust' SageOne hasn't it? So all is hunky-dory now, surely? Sage know what they're doing now; lesson learnt and all that? 

Or not! The SageLive saga is just a case in point.

With all the romantic reminiscing of the previous post (which proved quite popular with the readership;), it would be easy to miss the theme of over-reaction and obsessiveness by Sagees with a perceived competitor. 

On its own it may have meant very little. But it's a trait I saw repeated a-plenty, every time I encountered Sage employees. And not just I; others noticed it too!

Totally Out Of Perspective

To be clear. At that time (late 2008), KashFlow had circa 2000 users paying no more than £15.99 a month. Sage had hundreds of thousands of customers, equating to a much greater ARPU (average revenue per user). Competition was perceived, not real. The only threat was what they represented - in short (very short) the future!

Yet (among other things) commercial threats (perceived or real) are purely for the upper echelons of a multi-billion pound/multi-thousand employee organisation to be aware of and to deal with. Not the 'rank or file' to worry about. 

Yet the only significant senior management tale I have is from an ex-Sagee who I respect. When he called the appropriate Director to make him aware of the post exposing the serious security flaws in SageLive, he was on his way home on a Friday evening. His response amounted to - it can't be that important that it can't wait until Monday! The rest, as they say, is history!

Poking Fun at Elephants With Sharp Sticks

OK, some fun was had at Sage's expense. Though it's possible that it might have fed a pathological urge, the handful of well-aimed blows were purely to serve a purpose. A business purpose. 

Yes, we giggled like schoolgirls as me and Duane Jackson dodged patrol cars in 'riot-torn' Pitsea while setting light to a Sage software box and then videoed the proceedings. The whole office laughed riotously upon receiving notice from Trading Standards of a complaint by Sage against KashFlow.

I could go on, but you get the idea. The interweb has more if you're interested. Piggybacking other brands is a well known guerilla marketing strategy. All the more (cost) effective in the internet age. 

Despite naive and surprising protests from some quarters that such baiting doesn't work (try telling the likes of Richard Branson and Michelle Mone that) and is doomed to fail. It did and it wasn't. 

An Organisation Gripped By Fear and Paranoia 


Time and again, Sage employees at various events shared their fear and awe of KashFlow with me and others. A very reliable source even shared with me the tendency of Sage North America reps to bring the 'KashFlow latest' to meetings over a period exceeding 12 months!

Incredibly, all seemed convinced that KashFlow existed purely to annihilate Sage. Like a seventies era anarcho-terrorist cell. On more than one occasion I even pleaded that KashFlow staff did not spend every waking hour plotting the downfall of Sage; they did not spend their waking hours muttering their hate and loathing like possessed madmen, complete with wide-eyes and salivating like devil-dogs! But each time it just would not be believed! This paranoia had spread and had gripped the organisation. 

Why was an entire organisation of such magnitude allowed to be gripped by such terror? Why (and how) are thousands of employees of a multi-billion pound organisation all obsessed with one guy and his tiny company. I repeat, why? WTF??! This company claim to be the world's 3rd largest ERP vendor, amongst many other things. They have fingers in plenty of pies. Why oh why?

It Wouldn't Happen at a SaaS Company

Every single SaaS vendor with any measure of success cares little for what others are up to. Even the closest of competitors. This is a time of fundamental change in the delivery of IT services. The potential market is massive, whatever the niche. They just want to get their share and then some! There's no time to waste worrying about others.

There's plenty of land for everyone. Of course, common-sense means be aware of what the others are doing, but it doesn't distract from the total confidence that is all-pervasive in a real SaaS org. Their culture is more concerned by there only being 24 hours in the day!

I mean, can you imagine the entire workforce of Dropbox seeking counselling because Google announce GDrive? Or Zuckerberg going on a month long bender because of Google+? Does the latest play by Amazon leave Rackspace crying in their milk? I could give thousands of examples. The point is, those that are serious about what they do just double down and focus on the mission. They differentiate; pimp their USP; provide the best UX. 

Single-mindedness, focus and confidence in the mission - all traits common to successful SaaS vendors. A singular belief in what all involved are doing as a team - as a collective - is what drives those that thrive. Disrupting the old ways of doing things, yeah, but more so improving the customers lot and gaining commercial success as a by-product. 

Swansong?

When you're an incumbent, you're a sitting target. You've gotta expect others to take aim at you. Especially in tech. You don't take it personally. It's a compliment! At worst it's a wee kick up the butt. You deal with it by putting together a winning strategy that plays to the strengths of your organisation, (not somebody else's) and a single-minded dedication to what you believe in; to what you do well. Not blind panic and an all-pervasive nihilism.

Don't blatantly imitate others, without knowing why it works for them. If you did understand that, you'd know it won't work for you! The reason that SaaS accounting has room for FreeAgent, Xero and Clear Books and others is that each plays to their strengths and ploughs their own furrow.

If you're not sure how to achieve success when it seems like you have everything, bring in someone from outside the organisation to conduct an entirely objective, root-and-branch review of your organisation and its solutions. They will identify your strengths and weaknesses in the new SaaS landscape and from there, produce a compelling roadmap and a winning strategy! If there is someone at Sage with the clout to make an autonomous decision to drag them back from the brink, you can contact me via Twitter @SaaSitUK !

SageLive - My Part In It's Downfall

I want to tell you a story! This story is the first part of two posts put together to emphasise my contention that SaaS is a cultural thing as much as anything else and that's why therefore, large pre-SaaS organisations struggle with it (I've split it in two purely because it's too long as one post and it divides quite conveniently).

During a recent discussion on Twitter Adrian Pearson asked me whether I considered SageOne to be a SaaS solution. I replied: 
@topaccountants For me, No. It's an attempt at SaaS by a non-SaaS biz that don't get SaaS and it competes with some SaaS products 

What follows is some background as to why this is the case.

The Main Event

Late 2008, DuaneJackson, KashFlow CEO, asked me to accompany him to the BStartUp Expo at Kensington Olympia. Being my boss at the time, I curtsied reverently and off we went!

As is often the case, Sage were the major sponsor of the event. Hence the largest stand, dead centre and visible from all angles, with an army of staff. We got there latish and flew around quickly in anticipation of battling with the east London traffic on a Friday afternoon. 

We stopped by the Sage stand on the way out as it would have been rude not to. TBH it was all pretty uninteresting as we made small talk with a couple of the guys. Until that is, I spied a laptop ticking away at the end of one of the counters. For some unknown reason I remarked to Duane that it looked like a SaaS solution! 

To this day, I don't know what it was about the green and black screen that made me think that (what does a SaaS solution look like from about 15ft away?). As Duane rightly responded, Sage didn't have a cloud offering. As it happened, he was wrong (kind of) and uncannily, by chance, we happened to be chatting to the proud parents of (the soon to be) infamous SageLive. And I mean proud: they were positively bursting!

Situation Comedy

There then played out a classic, farcical, sitcom type scene whereby the guys could hardly contain themselves as Duane (by now, very interested) proceeded to rain down questions on them. All the answers had a common theme, such as:-

• "Yes, it is at least as good as KashFlow"
• "Yes, KashFlow are the main competitor"
• "Yes, it does this and that, just like KashFlow"
• "KashFlow are definitely the driver for developing this product"
• "Of course there are others, but KashFlow, KashFlow, KashFlow...."

Get the idea?

Here were representatives of a multi-billion pound organisation - one of the world's largest software companies and the UK's biggest - obsessed with a small start-up with about half a dozen staff and less than 2,000 customers, each paying £16 a month or less!!

After a couple more minutes of having his ego fed, Duane relented and showed them his business card! From here on in the whole scene just got really surreal. 

There was the delight as these guys realised they were not only meeting their hero but had a golden opportunity to talk to him as well as show off what they'd built. They just couldn't contain themselves. There was also the furtive glances of the Sagees as they whispered to each other (in effect) "That's KashFlow"!

If this all sounds like unlikely, over-dramatised, romanticised nonsense, good! It's meant to. Because that's what it was. That's what made the whole scene so surreal. To this day, one of the most surreal I've both witnessed and been part of.

The next few minutes was taken up with a brief dem and the general impression Duane had was that it seemed pretty good. Or that was at least the impression he gave, though he was only half taking it in! Likewise it looked OK to me (for what it's worth). 

Ultimately, just how 'good' it was or wasn't, was besides the point. Duane was formulating a plan! Anyhoo, we finished up pretty quickly, quite abruptly in fact. Handshakes, back-slapping, card-swapping etc and off we marched leaving behind a cast of Cheshire Cats! "Wow, that was...and he liked it", etc etc etc.

An Education 

So off we ran (pretty much), back to the car. Duane was excited to say the least. In hindsight, probably the most excited I've ever seen him! The next two hours we sat in that dreaded traffic-jam, trying to get back to the old KashFlow offices in Pitsea, Essex. And Duane didn't care one iota. He'd already got to work before we got to the car. Calling a small PR co and immediately on to pulling the strings.

The truth is we were really surprised to have stumbled across SageLive. There had been rumours of a Sage response to SaaS. Much debate about how and why Sage should and would react, or not. And the general consensus was that the sooner the elephant known as Sage, validated the market, the better for all those smaller SaaS vendors in their efforts to educate the marketplace! But until that day, there had been nothing. 

Then out-of-the-blue, an unpublicized, public outing. Why? I don't know what their thinking was. What were they thinking? I don't know that such an action had even been sanctioned. But, it was a downright stupid thing to do. Made all the worse,  because their perceived nemesis stumbled upon it and then had the savvy to know how to use it to a maximum effect. Made all the worse because they had a perceived nemesis! But more on this later.

This was pure gold of course to Duane and KashFlow and an education for me. Using mobile phone and 3G laptop, he did what the Sage PR and marketing machine had failed to do. Tell the world about it! Thus making sure that from then on in, every search and mention of SageLive came with 'added KashFlow'!!!! Here's the blog post that he wrote that very day.

This all took surprisingly little effort, but paid in spades. In both marketing and PR, but more importantly, trials and paying customers for KashFlow! As the news spread, all commentary noted Duane's part in unveiling the existence of SageLive. 

Sage's initial 'no comment' type attitude was incredible. Incredibly, having kicked-off on a Friday evening seemed to mean that Sage weren't even aware  of what was happening for two and a half days, at least! It was their product for Chrissakes! It was almost like they were embarrassed about it! By the time they started to deal with it, it was far, far, too late. 

To this day Google SageLive and find all the commentary of it's appearance,  existence and sudden demise in two short, but eventful months, from several high profile titles; all with a hat-tip to Duane Jackson/KashFlow, but nothing from Sage!! 

How it all played out is almost legend and you can find it all easily enough. If you interested to know more, this is the infamous KashFlow post about 8 weeks after the Bstartup show revealing the glaring security holes that signalled the demise of SageLive. Should you want to know more about what happened, ping away and I'll try to help. 

The point

Look, I got a real education being up close and personal, watching one guy and his bootstrapped startup pulling the strings of a multi-billion pound org: getting untold marketing mileage out of them and making sure any pathetic attempt they made to compete or even stomp on them just added fuel to the fire!

But, this is not some KashFlow 'love-fest' - in true BBC stylee, "other excellent SaaS accounting solutions do exist". Just trawl this blog to find plenty mentions of most of the other players! Or vendors can even tell us about yourselves in the comments below, if you like.

I had to mention what it was like from (my perspective) the KashFlow side of the fence whilst on the subject (I've been asked about this a few times), but the main reason for telling this story is to lay the foundations as to 'why and how Sage is fighting a losing battle in going toe-to-toe with the SaaS vendors in the UK' (part 2 of this post).

The fact that Sage made a complete pigs-ear of SageLive from a technical POV is symptomatic of the fact, not the reason why. My personal experience is a good example of what is probably true throughout the software industry. The follow-up to this post recalls other anecdotes from the intervening three years as well as diving into this debacle and gels nicely to prove the point. Meanwhile I'll let you digest this.


Footnote: The title to this post is a homage to the glorious Spike Milligan;  paraphrasing the title of one of his seven short autobiographies (Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall - on Amazon for less than £5!!) which are all truly hilarious genius and highly recommended.