We sit down with Brian Beaupre (CFO, Teikametrics) to discuss how the CFO role has changed, where AI is making a real difference in finance today, and what needs to be in place before you let it near your numbers. That includes a validation layer between AI and the underlying systems, so everyone knows where a number comes from, who owns it, and how it’s calculated.

The conversation also gets into judgment. AI can take over much of the grunt work that used to teach finance people how the business runs, which raises the question of how to build that understanding on purpose, from learning the product to seeing the business through other leaders’ eyes.

Drawing on 20-plus years as a SaaS operator, Brian also shares his advice for finance leaders and individual contributors on the path to the CFO seat.

Moderator: Katherine Zhang (CEO, OPEXEngine by Bain & Company)

Guest speaker: Brian Beaupre (CFO, Teikametrics)

Last week, we hosted a panel discussion on scaling software businesses in the AI era, bringing together perspectives from investors, advisors, and operators: Hank Chen, Partner at Bain & Company; Isabela "Bela" Peralta, Principal at Insight Partners; Kunal Agarwal, CFO of Gorgias; and Katherine Zhang, CEO of OPEXEngine by Bain & Company.

The conversation centered on a fundamental question: Is AI changing what it means to be a "great" software business?

We explored how investors are rethinking moats and revenue durability, how AI is changing the economics of growth and gross margins, where companies are finding real operating leverage, and which metrics leaders should be watching as agentic products become more prevalent.

A few themes stood out: traditional measures like retention still matter, but leaders need to look more closely at the quality and durability of revenue; AI can expand addressable markets; and capturing AI’s full potential often requires rethinking workflows and organizational structures, rather than simply adding AI to existing ways of working.

If you missed the live event or would like to revisit the conversation, you can watch the full panel recording, listen to this podcast episode, or read the full transcript on our website.

Data quality has always mattered in SaaS, but in 2026, the stakes are higher, the margin for error is smaller, and the questions boards and investors are asking have fundamentally shifted.

In this episode of SaaS Conversations, Katherine Zhang sits down with Dan Palay, CEO of KPI Sense, to explore how SaaS data and metrics are being interpreted differently as companies navigate an AI-driven landscape and increasing scrutiny at moments of diligence and fundraising.

This is not a conversation about dashboards or data tooling. It is a conversation about what it means to know your business, why a single source of truth requires multiple systems, how the wrong metrics or inconsistent definitions quietly erode board confidence, and why AI is introducing a new class of cost and measurement risk that most leadership teams are not yet tracking correctly.

Dan draws on patterns he sees repeatedly across growth-stage SaaS companies, explaining why metrics that look clean on the surface often hide segment-level risk, why AI spend is behaving more like a variable professional services cost than a traditional SaaS fixed cost, and what strong financial leadership looks like when it matters most.

For leaders who want to go deeper, Dan and the KPI Sense team work directly with growth-stage SaaS companies on financial analytics, metric dashboards, and data normalization. You can reach Dan at dan@kpisense.com or visit kpisense.com.