Puzzle is an accounting software designed for fast-growing start-ups. Their key insight is that putting a financial data platform and general ledger together is a powerful combination. It brings new capabilities to founders and finance teams, complete with all the built-in collaboration, design, automation, and AI you expect from modern financial software. One CFO described Puzzle as "the missing piece of a modern finance stack.”

And by collaborating with the BILL developer team, they’re taking the next step in completing that stack. 

Integrating with BILL is magic

Because Puzzle understands the power of different elements working together, it should come as no surprise that they’re big on integrations.

“We want to own the general ledger, but we also want to highlight our partners,” explains Sasha Orloff, Co-founder and CEO at Puzzle. “We think that innovation has been held back in the marketplace because of the nature of how incumbents have built their platforms and don't highlight the amazing work all around the accounting and finance industry.” 

To set themselves apart, Puzzle’s application programming interface (API) is designed to facilitate partnerships, enabling anything from embedded accounting apps to deep integrations for better accuracy and understanding of businesses.

They recently expanded their integration capabilities by partnering with BILL. “It's not a secret that BILL is the largest in the space,” says Orloff, so the integration was a logical next step. 

They achieved this milestone by leveraging BILL's V3 API and meeting directly with the BILL developer team. BILL and Puzzle collaborated to understand API usage best practices and provide users with secure access to their data. “It only took two days to get everything up and running,” says Orloff, “and we sent it out to our customers, immediately saving them hours every month closing the books and gave them the benefit of both cash and accrual books — making founders and bookkeepers very, very happy.” 

A better customer experience

This integration allows Puzzle users with a BILL account to seamlessly sync their data between platforms using Puzzle's developed sync mechanism. The process involves mapping BILL's AP and AR history with the chart of account details to ensure up-to-date information in Puzzle’s accounts.

“So here’s an example of how this becomes magical: let's just say there's an Apple transaction,” Orloff explains. “And if you didn’t have a receipt, you could auto-assign and you could say something like, ‘This is a computer for a new engineer.’ You don’t need to know anything about accounting—you just describe it in human words.” 

The process doesn’t stop there: Puzzle software then automatically categorizes the transaction, but it can also notice if it’s over budget. This flags the purchase, and automatically brings it to the fixed asset register. From there, users can generate the schedule in Puzzle with just a click, which automatically depreciates it. 

Users are already impressed with the results. “We rolled it out to people and they shared, ‘That’s easy,’” Orloff says. 

Orloff describes the process as a big improvement. “Before they were downloading and uploading, and now it just works,” he says. “We read your API. We built an event-driven general ledger. Unlike other options, there is no data quarantine. Ours triggers based on the data, and then moves in the general ledger, and then you review it for accuracy—which removes a couple of steps in the process. So that makes people quite excited.”

Their current implementation allows Puzzle users that already have a BILL account to sign up for Puzzle's BILL AP and AR sync by collecting a user-generated API token. From there, Puzzle has an out-of-the-box sync they created that maps over BILL’s chart of accounts, AP, and AR history on a regular cadence to hydrate the user's Puzzle account.

The result? An integration that’s greater than the sum of its parts. 

BILL adds extra benefits

Puzzle's strategic approach to marketing focuses on businesses that experience accrual accounting pain, such as venture-backed C-corporations. However, Puzzle's versatile system caters to various business types, offering automation and real-time financial insights to the small businesses attracted to its user-friendly interface and efficiency.

Puzzle also works with bookkeeping firms, recognizing the potential for improved client experiences and increased margins. Their ultimate goal is to reduce the cost of accounting and bookkeeping for all businesses, allowing bookkeepers to focus more on advisory roles. In this pursuit, Puzzle sees opportunities to streamline workflows and enhance accuracy, benefiting both businesses and bookkeepers.

Throughout this strategy, the integration with BILL plays a crucial role. Puzzle leverages BILL's capabilities to automate data syncing and streamline accounting processes for their users. By collaborating with the BILL developer team, Puzzle enhances its value proposition, offering users seamless integration with a market-leading AP/AR solution. 

“We think that there's an opportunity to remove some of the redundancy in the workflows so we can make things more accurate with less effort,” explains Orloff. 

“We like deep product partnership integrations where we're bringing something big and different to the market.” —Sasha Orloff, Cofounder & CEO at Puzzle