How to Fix a Broken Spend Culture: The Future of AP Automation - Howard Katzenberg | EP.066

Tech for Finance

What does it mean to have a "good spend culture"? Howard Katzenberg, founder and CEO of Glean AI, breaks it down. We explore building financial visibility, tightening spend control, and empowering employees to make better spending decisions. Howard shares insights from his experience as both a CFO and entrepreneur on understanding unit economics, marketing to different buyer personas, and negotiating win-wins with vendors. He also advocates for finance leaders getting their hands dirty—attending planning meetings, analyzing conversion funnels, and understanding the drivers behind costs. We also explore generative AI, easy onboarding, and why you should see spend forensics as strategic rather than just tactical. ------SHOW NOTES------- - Connect with Howard on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/howardkatzenberg/ - Check out Glean AI - https://www.glean.ai/ ------CHAPTERS------ (00:00:00) - Introducing Howard from Glean AI (00:03:37) - Advice to CFOs on understanding business operations (00:07:00) - Analyzing marketing and sales funnel performance (00:10:26) - Defining and improving company spend culture (00:14:23) - Automating accounts payable for better visibility (00:19:52) - Using AI to benchmark supplier pricing (00:24:37) - Onboarding customers to Glean's platform (00:27:48) - Integrating Glean with existing finance systems (00:31:42) - Competing with Bill.com in AP automation (00:35:44) - Leveraging AI technology at Glean For more goodies, head over to www.techforfinance.com