Insight certainty 4/5 debate potential 2/5

SMBs never ask for AI, they only ask to solve pain points

René Lacerte · Approaching Half a Million Customers: How to Win in SMB | BILL CEO and Founder René Lacerte · Oct 22, 2024 · at 53:50

René Lacerte, founder and CEO of BILL, explains SMB software demand dynamics and product positioning to SaaStr's Jason Lemkin.

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“Nobody has ever asked me for a cloud-based software or AI, or what they ask for is, can you get rid of this pain point? And the pain point is they don't like entering data. They don't like workflow. They want to move money fast. Like they asked for those pain points.”

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