Making SMEs Run Smoothly: René Lacerte’s Cashview (Part 4)

SM: What are the values you espouse at Cashview?

RL: I want people to be passionate about what they do and how they do it. I want people to be dedicated in helping each other as well as the customers. Everyone should be committed to customers, fellow employees and the success of the company. I expect people to be proactive in communication both with customers and with employees. Finally, I hope employees are eager to try new things. The key things I take away are that we try to hire people who are passionate, dedicated, committed, proactive and eager. I try to make those values span multiple things people do rather than just a single aspect of their business.

SM: You are focusing on the entire culture.

RL: Exactly. That is one of the things I have brought with me from PayCycle is that I wanted to have the values so they can apply everywhere. The example I give on committed is: committed says of our company, to our customers and to each other, that we are serious about our obligation. This is much different than saying “we want you to know we take care of each other as employees”.

SM: What are some of the other lessons?

RL: The next thing I would say is that you must have a great product and build it with great passion. Somebody has to have the passion, which is why it is our first value. We must have the passion about what we build, and extend that passion and vision into reality. You have to have a great team to extend that passion into reality.

SM: In your kind of business, is there a type of person you encounter who seems to be drawn to this business?

RL: The business of SaaS or as a financial service operator?

SM: How would you define it? What do you feel makes you a different kind of business?

RL: I would say there are people who love making things more efficient. What I have done at PayCycle and what we are doing here is taking processes which are complex and burdensome for businesses, small businesses in particular, and turning them into something which is more efficient. There are people who are proficient in that, and I think the software as a service platform is unique in the ability to deliver efficiently from where we were 10 years ago in desktop software.

The learning is so fast. You are constantly learning from your customers. You don’t have to wait. There is a certain personality, and it has to be people who love change. That is why eagerness is one of our values. You have to be passionate about what you do because you have to pull complex processes together and always be learning and growing. It is just a very fast learning cycle right now. My personal opinion, and I am not the only one, is that software as we know it is dead. Where we are going with software is a web based model. That just makes sense.

This segment is part 4 in the series : Making SMEs Run Smoothly: René Lacerte’s Cashview
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