Inside René Lacerte’s Steady Approach to Building BILL Into a Fintech Leader

At the 2025 SuiteWorld conference in Las Vegas, René Lacerte spoke with the calm and focus of someone who has seen every stage of a company’s life. The founder and CEO of BILL had just announced a new step in his company’s long relationship with NetSuite, one that will bring BILL’s payments technology directly into the ERP software used by thousands of businesses. “I’ve learned to stay constructively dissatisfied,” he said, describing a mindset that keeps him searching for better ways to serve small and midsize companies.

A fourth-generation entrepreneur, Lacerte has spent nearly twenty years building BILL into a public fintech company that now moves about one percent of the U.S. GDP through its platform. His story is as much about leadership and authenticity as it is about technology.

Building BILL Through Partnership and Patience

Lacerte says the partnership between BILL and NetSuite has grown into something more dynamic over time. BILL has relied on NetSuite as its internal financial system for years, using it to help manage operations as the company expanded into a large public enterprise listed on the NYSE. “When you move one percent of the GDP, you need an ERP system that’s robust and has the controls a public company requires,” he said.

That shared history created trust between the two. It also set the stage for a new level of integration. The partnership now brings BILL’s payment capabilities into NetSuite Intelligent Payment Automation, a feature that lets U.S. customers send and reconcile payments directly within the NetSuite platform. “We want to meet businesses where they are,” Lacerte said. “Our goal is to make it simple for our partners to include our capabilities inside their own systems.”

The collaboration reflects Lacerte’s belief that growth happens through long relationships built on reliability and shared purpose. He says strong partnerships are the best way to remove barriers that slow down business. “When you take friction out of the process,” he said, “people get time back to focus on what matters most to them.” That belief in simplicity and trust carries through every part of his leadership, based in lessons that go back to his family’s own entrepreneurial history.

Fourth Generation Entrepreneur

Most kids don’t grow up surrounded by the rhythm of small business life, but Lacerte did. “The night I was born, my mom was sorting punch cards for the largest defense contractor in D.C.,” he said. 

Lacerte comes from a long line of small business owners, including his great-grandfather. His parents each ran multiple companies, and conversation at home often turned to customers, employees, and the constant effort it took to keep things running. “I saw what my parents and grandparents did,” he said. “They worked all the time. They cared about their employees, their customers, and their family. They never got a break.”

This uncommon personal history, closely tied to entrepreneurial life, strongly shapes how he runs his own company and how it serves hardworking founders. “Nobody really thinks about small businesses,” he said. “Their business life is hard. They care deeply, but it takes a toll.” Watching his family’s commitment to their work gave him an ongoing appreciation for those who put everything they have into their business dreams.

It’s a perspective that’s woven into the fabric of BILL. He wants to give founders the tools to eliminate friction and reclaim time for the things that make them happy. “I want to help them do a better job so they can actually get a break and go watch their kids play soccer,” he said. “If we can automate the pain of the back office, they can focus on the work that gives them energy.”

Story First Branding and Authentic Leadership

When it comes to Lacerte’s presence at BILL, there’s no separating his story from that of the company. “We’ve leveraged the entrepreneurial journey, the accountant focus, and when we go to accounting conferences, I am known,” he said. “The Lacerte name has been helping accountants since 1960.” He views that familiarity as an advantage. “It’s not a double edged sword. It’s helpful. I love accountants. That energy goes both ways. They like to talk to me, and that helps us build better products.”

Inside the company, Lacerte uses storytelling to keep employees connected. “Every company meeting, there’s always a story,” he said. “I pick a song at every meeting. There’s always a reason, and I explain it. I will answer any question.”

Authenticity plays a big part in establishing a healthy culture. “There’s no way to see me other than me,” he said. “Our employees see that, and I expect them to bring the same authenticity when they talk to each other.”

This is how any startup founder or business owner can win trust today. Customers buy from people they relate to. For Lacerte, authenticity isn’t a branding exercise. It’s how lasting relationships start, whether with accountants, employees, or the half million businesses that use BILL.

Emotional Core and Legacy

Lacerte ended the conversation with a story that still moves him. Four years ago, on Thanksgiving, his brother got a call from someone who had worked for their late father decades earlier. The man simply said he wanted to say thank you. “He told my brother that our dad was never happier than when he worked for him,” Lacerte said. “I still get choked up thinking about it.”

That message, he explained, captures what he wants employees to feel when they leave BILL at the end of the day. “I hope everybody who works here can say they were happy when they worked at BILL,” he said. “When you can activate that, people do more for the company and for your customers than you could ever ask for.”

What Lacerte has built at BILL reflects a long view of progress that is steady, deliberate, and built to endure.