In the fast-moving world of VC-backed businesses, finance teams are tasked with getting more out of accounting software that hasn’t evolved to meet today’s requirements.
Legacy Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems have dominated the market for decades, but a new generation of AI-native platforms is emerging to address the frustrations that have plagued CFOs and finance teams.
Stephen Hedlund, Head of Finance at Rillet, joins the Beer with a CFO series to discuss Rillet’s mission to disrupt the ERP industry.
With investors like a16z, Iconiq, and Sequoia, Rillet is challenging the status quo. They are moving beyond legacy systems to create a future where finance leaders are empowered by AI, not bogged down by manual work.
“Ambitious companies don’t rise or fall by product alone. They win or lose by how they run finance and accounting.” – Stephen Hedlund
Problems with Legacy ERPs
Legacy ERP systems have become synonymous with complexity, frustration, and wasted resources. Many finance leaders have battle scars from implementations that promised efficiency but delivered headaches instead.
- Customer neglect: Systems built for shareholders, not users
- Technical debt: Decades of patches instead of innovation
- User experience failure: Forcing workarounds instead of enabling efficiency
Hedlund believes that these systems have stopped innovating for the customer, relying instead on expensive consultants and middleware patches.
As a result, accounting teams are forced to spend their time on CSV exports and data manipulation rather than strategic analysis.
“ I wish these systems had kept pace and taken care of customers and were built for the modern age, but they haven’t. Instead, you have systems that are patched together with very expensive consultants, with very expensive middleware and third party technology, and really like a dumb database, rather than elevate the office of the CFO and the accountant, and enable them to add value to the business.”
Redefining the General Ledger: The AI-Native ERP
For years, the “modern” ERP was simply a legacy system moved to the cloud. Rillet is taking a different approach by rethinking the General Ledger (GL) entirely.
Instead of bolting AI onto an old database, every layer of Rillet’s AI-native ERP focuses on how data enters and exits the system, from data ingestion to reporting.
By building native integrations with tools like Stripe, Rillet ensures that the data flowing in is clean, structured, and detailed.
Once the data is standardized, AI can perform complex tasks that previously took hours of manual labor.
Rillet’s approach to AI-native architecture includes:
Data Integration:
- Native integrations built directly into tech stack partners like Stripe
- Clean, structured data pipelines that AI can effectively utilize
- Comprehensive metadata and transaction details captured at the source
AI-Powered Capabilities:
- Natural language queries (ex. “Who are my best customers?”)
- Automated report building and flux analysis
- Intelligent accrual and journal entry booking
- Real-time insights without manual data manipulation
“We’ve rebuilt the GL from the ground up for the AI era… AI loves good clean structured data. When we bring the right data in the right way through clean pipes, that means now AI can be very useful for CFOs and controllers.”
The future belongs to these new systems that simplify processes and empower smarter, faster decision-making.
Not Just for Startups: Reshaping the Middle Market
There’s a common misconception that AI-native ERPs like Rillet only serve early-stage startups. The reality is quite different.
Rillet serves companies across the growth spectrum:
- Early-stage VC-backed companies
- Middle market growth companies
- Mature organizations doing $500M+ in revenue
- Companies on IPO trajectories
“We have folks doing $500 million in revenue on the platform…It’s not just folks doing 10, 20, 30 million…it’s really mature scaled folks on IPO tracks.”
Ambitious companies are making the switch, and turning to finance and accounting accelerators like Consero to handle the implementation and day-to-day operations to support rapid growth.
The Strategic Case for Outsourcing Finance Functions Early
In hypergrowth environments, every hour spent on blocking and tackling is an hour not spent on strategic initiatives that drive the business forward.
“Jeff Bezos is popular for saying, ‘Focus on what makes your beer taste better,’ and it’s absolutely true, especially with building a hypergrowth company.”
Why Outsource Finance in Early Stages:
- Speed to market: Consultants and specialized partners enable faster execution
- Strategic focus: Leadership can concentrate on core business growth instead of blocking and tackling
- Expertise access: Tap into specialized knowledge without full-time hires
- Scalability: Software and talent infrastructure that grows with the business
This is precisely what Consero delivers: cutting-edge technology, processes, and people that enable hypergrowth businesses to put finance and accounting on autopilot.
The Rillet-Consero Partnership
Rillet and Consero’s partnership represents the future of finance operations, combining purpose-built AI technology with expert service delivery and innovation.
“We’re very excited to be partnering with Consero. Not only some of the most forward thinking individuals and teams on AI, but quite literally some of the smartest folks in finance today.”
Delivered through Consero’s Fusion Lab, clients will benefit from:
- Rillet’s AI-native ERP as the financial system of record, implemented by Consero
- Consero’s Finance as a Service (FaaS) model for processes, people, and best practices
- Faster experimentation and innovation on AI use cases that directly serve CFOs and controllers
The result: a finance function that’s not just automated, but intelligently designed for scale, accuracy, and insight.
Future-proof Your Finance Operations
Companies can continue wrestling with legacy systems, expensive implementations, manual workarounds, and limitations that prevent their teams from adding strategic value.
Or, they can embrace the future that’s already here, with AI-native platforms that empower them to add strategic value to the business.
Don’t let outdated systems hold your business back. Request a consultation with Consero today to learn how modern Finance as a Service can transform your operations, free up your team to focus on growth, and provide the financial clarity you need to make confident decisions.
Talk to a Consero finance expert about what a modern, AI-enabled F&A function looks like for your business. We’ll map it out together — it’s 30 minutes, zero pressure.
No sales pitch. Just a roadmap tailored to you.
