CFO THOUGHT LEADER

1107: When Finance Leads with a CEO Mindset | John Rettig, CFO, Bill


Listen Later

What sets John Rettig’s CFO journey apart from most is not just its length—spanning more than two decades—but its unusual symmetry. His CFO career roughly divides into two decade-long tenures: first helping scale a digital advertising firm from $15 million to $250 million in revenue, and now serving as CFO of Bill, where he’s helped lead the company from startup to public market success.

When Rettig joined Bill, the company had just $13 million in revenue and a modest employee base. What drew him in, he tells us, was the combination of people, culture, and a product that placed finance operations at the center of its design. It was the first time in his career that he’d worked this closely with a finance-focused technology platform.

At the time, Rettig anticipated a 10x growth opportunity—similar to his earlier experience. “It turns out, it’s 100x,” he tells us. Today, Bill has 2,500 employees, serves 500,000 customers, and supports a network of 7 million members. The company processes $300 billion in annual payment volume and has grown to $1.5 billion in revenue.

Much of that growth, Rettig explains, has come from addressing the operational challenges of small and midsize businesses. Early efforts to modernize paper-based processes helped shape the company’s current offerings, which span accounts payable, receivable, corporate cards, and cash flow management.

“We become the center of their financial operations,” Rettig says of the platform’s role. His focus remains on scaling Bill’s impact across the “Fortune 5 million.”

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

CFO THOUGHT LEADERBy The Future of Finance is Listening

  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5

4.5

122 ratings


More shows like CFO THOUGHT LEADER

View all
The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors by SaaStr

The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors

172 Listeners

The McKinsey Podcast by McKinsey & Company

The McKinsey Podcast

388 Listeners

PwC's accounting podcast by PwC

PwC's accounting podcast

180 Listeners

Coaching for Leaders by Dave Stachowiak

Coaching for Leaders

1,462 Listeners

a16z Podcast by Andreessen Horowitz

a16z Podcast

1,092 Listeners

HBR IdeaCast by Harvard Business Review

HBR IdeaCast

1,836 Listeners

TED Business by TED

TED Business

1,109 Listeners

Masters of Scale by WaitWhat

Masters of Scale

3,984 Listeners

Inside the Strategy Room by McKinsey & Company

Inside the Strategy Room

169 Listeners

Think Fast Talk Smart: Communication Techniques by Matt Abrahams, Think Fast Talk Smart

Think Fast Talk Smart: Communication Techniques

813 Listeners

CFO Weekly by Personiv

CFO Weekly

44 Listeners

Me, Myself, and AI by MIT Sloan Management Review

Me, Myself, and AI

105 Listeners

Coaching Real Leaders by Harvard Business Review / Muriel Wilkins

Coaching Real Leaders

668 Listeners

Planning Aces by Brett Knowles & Jack Sweeney

Planning Aces

1 Listeners

HBR On Strategy by Harvard Business Review

HBR On Strategy

78 Listeners

HBR On Leadership by Harvard Business Review

HBR On Leadership

159 Listeners