“Leaders remind you that the fears are real, you need to acknowledge them. They remind you that the hopes are real, and you need to work your butt off to go get it.”
Rene LacerteAfter receiving an M.S. in industrial engineering from Stanford in 1989, René Lacerte has not stepped out of the Fintech industry. One of his first positions was VP of Operations/Development at his parents’ company. The company had been using data processing and tech-oriented payroll services since the early ’90s. By 1994, Lacerte was a Senior Product Manager at Intuit where he strengthened his experience and understanding of technological payments. In 1999 he co-founded Paycyle, an online payroll service that was acquired by Intuit Inc. in 2009 for approximately $170 million. Finally, after leaving PayCycle, Lacerte launched Bill.com where he currently is CEO. Bill.com moves over $60 Billion annually and is used by 4 of the nation’s top 10 largest banks and roughly 60% of the top 100 U.S. accounting firms. In 2020, Bill.com was worth $7.75 Billion.
Bill.com has an innovative target market whereas its competitors focus on Fortune 1000 companies. Lacerte is determined to reach small and medium-sized businesses and give them a platform that manages all of their receivables and payables from end-to-end. By using AI and data analysis, the platform understands if a document is an invoice, the vendor’s name, and address, the due date, and more, which is something that isn’t commonly available for smaller businesses. The platform allows business owners to have clarity on their payables and receivables and gives them a one-stop-shop for all of the company’s payments.