Insight certainty 4/5 debate potential 3/5

Financial platforms only earn the right to monetize payments through software excellence

René Lacerte · Approaching Half a Million Customers: How to Win in SMB | BILL CEO and Founder René Lacerte · Oct 22, 2024 · at 27:25

BILL founder and CEO René Lacerte explains why BILL remains a software company even though transaction fees generate over 80% of its revenue.

0:00 / 0:16exact quote · 16.2s
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“We don't get to do your payments unless you love the software that you just talked about. Like we are a software government. We have to make a great experience. We have to make it so that when you're going between buildings, you can actually pay a bill if you need to on your phone, right? Like you have to be able to do that. And so I think software gives us the right to be able to do payments.”

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