I was surprised to find in my mail today a letter from Bill.com. Printed in bold letters on the outside was PAYMENT ENCLOSED. Inside the envelope was a distribution check from a private company that I’m invested in. On the remittance advice, Get paid 2x faster!. Followed by Receive you next payment in your bank account electronically. Track your payments every step along the way. Join millions using Bill.com to pay and get paid online. Go to bill.com/epay and enter the code below to get started: [8 letter code in box].
So I did exactly that. I was prompted to sign up with my name, company, email, address, accounting software, tax ID, bank info, and relationship to the company that sent me the payment. In less than a minute, I now have an account on bill.com. Future payments from that private company will go directly into my bank account. If I had a real business, I can see which of my customers and vendors are already using Bill.com. I can then create an invoice or make a payment. I can import my customer list and then invite them to use Bill.com. There is also a link to Refer a Friend that takes me to a page offering a $100 visa gift card for any friend who subscribes. Pretty darn cool.
For $49/month, Bill.com will integrate with my QuickBooks Pro accounting software (why Intuit did not invent this I don’t know, but I recall reading that the founders came from there). As a prior small business owner who did all of the accounting work, the ability to get have invoices go out electronically and paid 2x as fast for $49/month is a no-brainer.
The network effect I just took a part in, imho, is huge. The money Bill.com spent to acquire me was a big fat zero. Let me say that again, CAC = ZERO. And the tools on Bill.com for me to invite others that I do business with into their ecosystem also look to have a CAC of zero.
I don’t currently have a position in BILL but it has been on watch list. Suffice to say that the letter I received today has pushed me over the edge.
–John