Sarah Acton, BILL: Helping Founders Gain Control and Confidence Over Their Finances

“A suite of tools and products and services that really enable SMBs to get access to the types of financial automation that used to only be in the hands of big companies, but bringing those tools to SMBs in a way that's purpose built for them.”

For many founders, the hardest part of building a business is staying in control as things grow.

Revenue starts coming in, expenses increase, and suddenly, financial decisions carry more weight. Without clear visibility into cash flow, even strong businesses can feel unstable. It’s a challenge Sarah Acton understands firsthand, both from running her own business and now from working closely with thousands of small and mid-sized business owners at BILL.

In her role as Chief Customer Officer, Sarah sits at the intersection of product, customer experience, and real-world founder challenges. She sees where businesses get stuck, what they need to operate more efficiently, and how the right systems can shift founders from feeling overwhelmed to feeling in control.

In this episode, Sarah shares how financial automation is changing the way small businesses operate, why trust is one of the most valuable assets you can build, and how listening to customers can directly shape better products and stronger businesses.

If you’ve ever felt uncertain about your numbers, or avoided them altogether, this conversation offers a practical, grounded look at how to build confidence and clarity into your financial operations.

You can listen to the podcast here on Spotify and Apple Podcast.

Here are a few moments from the podcast:

Running her own business dropped her into the realities of entrepreneurship immediately:
“It is a great question. I will tell you that running my own business was a very humbling experience. You get thrown into the deep end on so many things that you don't know how to do, you don't have experience with.

And so one of the things I think for me that I'm most grateful for with that experience… is knowing that there are always people around me who I can ask questions of, who can have learned from their experience. And I learned that very much firsthand running my own business.”

That experience shaped how she now builds relationships with founders at scale:
“I believe that when you serve SMBs, really it all starts with understanding them and getting to know them and being able to make those relationships not feel distant, but actually feel very close…

And engage with customers in a way that feels like there is a partnership… it’s really about understanding what SMBs are going through. And sometimes that's about providing support or content or things that may be outside the lines a little bit… but that’s part of what we’re trying to do.”

Her approach to engaging founders starts with listening before anything else:
“One of the things that I spend a lot of time doing… is looking and listening and seeing what challenges they're facing, what information they're looking for…

And then we try and engage in ways that lead with value. So lead with, hey, here's an interesting fact… here's a trend we're seeing… to try and help SMBs because we know that they're time-starved, there's so much information coming at them… so trying to be a trusted source for the journey that they're on.”

She sees a clear pattern in what holds businesses back—and what moves them forward:
“Over 90% of small and mid-sized business owners believe that financial automation is a key to growth…

When you aren't automating, you are less efficient… you have less control… things are happening that you don't see, that you can't anticipate… and you're not able to really manage your most important asset, which is your cash flow.

And so I think we're hearing those challenges… but the good news is that the tools are there.”

And when it comes to building something that lasts, she comes back to trust:
“One of the currencies that every business has is trust. It is one of the most valuable currencies of any relationship…

And a leader I worked for once talked about trust as consistency over time… you don't earn trust with one moment… it is about repeatability and consistency…

Those moments of trust… that built—she was a customer for the whole time that I ran the business.”

You may also like:

• Emily Dempsey Builds Community and Financial Confidence
• How Adriana Semidey Built Budget Bee Financial to Give Creatives and Beauty Professionals Real Financial Confidence
• How to Build Wealth as an Entrepreneur: 7 Power Moves for Women Founders 

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Connect with Sarah:

• Website
• Linkedin
• Instagram

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Updated on: April 30, 2026

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