Ariel Cohen: How Navan Leveled Up with a Pivot to AI

Generative AI took the world by storm with the launch of ChatGPT, and set companies worldwide scrambling to catch up to the possibilities. Navan, the only integrated business travel and expense solution, knew it had to run hard towards AI. Navan co-founder and CEO Ariel Cohen sat down with host and Lightspeed Partner Michael Mignano to discuss the mechanics of shifting a big company on the fly, and how Navan managed to pull it off.

Episode Chapters

(00:00) Introduction to Ariel Cohen and Navan

(06:39) How Navan makes business travel less of a headache

(10:11) Navan leverages personalization to make bookings more efficient

(12:38) Leveling up on expense tracking through innovation

(17:34) How a company with a $500 million run rate ran hard towards AI

(23:29) UI’s post-AI future

(25:29) The mechanics of pivoting a 3,000 person team in a new direction

(29:09) Will AI be a platform shift?

(33:07) Navan uses AI to make expenses a breeze

(39:09) A look into the year ahead for Navan

(39:58) Is Navan hiring?

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