What employee wants to put their expense

into a system after a business trip? Oh,

wait, hold on a second. That would be

nobody. Nobody loves doing this. Uh, but

there's a new software player in town.

It's called Non. They went public in

October of 2025. I caught up with the

co-founder and CEO, Ariel Cohen, on how

he's changing the business expense

travel game. Take a look.

For those not familiar with your story,

why why did you found this company? I

love traveling uh both for business and

for a personal and the reason is I like

this. I like to meet people. I like to

see cultures. I like to I think this is

how you understand life both in business

and in a personal and I was traveling a

lot in previous companies and the stuff

that you have is so bad. The service is

not good and in travel things happen.

You get stuck in the airport like you

show up in the hotel and the hotel is

not there. Where's the hotel?

>> I'm not kidding. I had this story in

Ukraine actually. I used to actually I

was the one of the first ones to create

an offshore operation in Odessa,

Ukraine. Like I'm talking about in 01.

I'm old. So like back then

>> you said that.

>> Yeah. Know I'm old. And and and you know

I I came to this hotel at like 11 p.m.

And there was some up with the uh

TN system. The credit card didn't work.

Uh they marked me as non-show and no

rooms are there and I'm trying to call

the travel agency. Nobody is picking it

up. It was actually in the winter, so

I'm like freezing. And they tell me,

"Okay, go down the street, the hotel."

So, I'm going between one hotel to the

other. Eventually found this hotel. I

took the presidential suite. It was

actually It cost Exactly. It cost my

employer a lot of money. But the thing

is all of these stories are so real and

both Elan my co-founder and I we thought

that like there has to be better

service, better way to book your trip.

Uh better way to actually think about

your loyalty and optimize it. Uh now we

are getting more into even destination.

What happens in the destination, the

restaurant, the events? I I have a you

know a free night I want to go to the I

don't know to a show or to the uh Knicks

game. So all of these things and when we

started Noan or back then it was

straight actions. It was not there. It

was like an hour or two to book. I need

to send an email. I need to beg. I need

to call some agent.

>> Yeah. I go to hotel. I I look I booked

the room. Here's my credit card. Like no

you didn't get the room Mr. Sazi. Like

it's

>> what did I It's exactly that. So we

thought it has to be different and we

are very passionate about it because we

like to be there in person. And so

that's what led to starting Nan. The

crazy story, both of us, we didn't know

anything about the travel industry. I

mean, like nothing.

>> She didn't work at Expedia.

>> It was crazy. It was like we met some

airlines at the beginning and hotel

chains and we told them we're going to

change the travel industry and then then

they ask us some simple question. I

remember the first question was are you

going to connect to us through a GDS

which is a very basic system in the in

the driver space and I was what's GDS

what the hell is that so we didn't know

anything but we didn't know one thing

and I think probably you see it as a

user that the user is the most important

thing the traveler is really the focus

where we need to focus and we need to

maniacally focus on the experience and

making sure that it's so so good that

then you can just focus on being there.

That's something that we knew from day.

>> How did you get up to speed so quick on

a topic and a subject that I mean you

just I mean you weren't involved in

before.

>> We made a lot of mistakes at the

beginning but we are learning fast. I

think really our culture is like we are

uh we are not shy of doing stuff of

getting to areas that we don't fully

understand uh going for it and then

fixing it and once we are fixing it it's

really really good. This is how we got

into fintech, right? We didn't know I

didn't know anything about credit cards

or how do you finance credit cards?

>> Yeah, cuz your business really touches

everything. Cards, travel.

>> It's it's a fairly complex business.

It's a two heavily regulated industries,

travel and fintech. Um it is very you

have to be global and to be global you

need to invest a lot of money. You need

to incorporate all over the world. You

need to get licensed. You need to do

deals with airlines, hotel, chains,

rail. You know people are traveling so

differently all over the world. So I'm

always telling this story like in India

people will use the bus for a business

trip. So you need to be to be connected

to the bus system. Uh rail all over the

world the lowcost carriers which in the

US you know it's less of a thing in

Europe it's the main way that you're

going to travel even for business. So

you need to be so informed and and you

need to get obsessed about like what the

travelers, what companies like Yahoo

wants. So it's obsession.

>> You um you're going up against some like

heavyweights. I mean I think about

Workday. I think about SAP which may own

five trillion companies. Whatever is

under their umbrella. I mean they're

giant companies.

>> What makes you tick um that that said,

you know what, I want to go up against

these very large companies that have

seemingly endless balance sheets. I

actually when I see a system or a

service that is not good, I get really

upset. It's not even in the like I get

really upset if and and and it makes me

so motivated to change it. So for me

it's actually not about competition. For

me it's about hey this doesn't make any

sense and it can be different and and

why won't we change it? So that's

something that motivates me a lot and

you mentioned these systems that are out

there today. I think that these systems

probably 30 40 years ago uh were good

and there was good intention there right

and people I don't believe that somebody

sat and wanted to create a really bad

system or really bad

>> system they wanted to create the system

that everybody hates at work but we do

hate this stuff

>> yeah but I think it was created in you

know with completely different

assumptions think about the 90s right in

the 90s everything was workflow and

everything was approval and I cannot

trust my employees and I need to put a

lot of process around it and that was

the 90s

But things have progressed but these

systems the design of the system the

business models by the way got stuck

there and this is actually how

disruption happens or somebody comes and

say hey this business model doesn't make

sense I'll give you an example the

business model of a travel agency uh is

that every time that you call every time

that you change something I'm going to

charge you right and I'm going to also

hide a lot of the fees right and I don't

like it I actually think that you can be

very transparent With Nan, we are

charging one time. You can call us as

many times as you want to. You can

actually chat with us as many times as

you want to. So, we are not trying to

kind of nickel and dime you. We are not

trying to hide anything. And I think

when you have a business model that is

hiding, somebody will disrupt you. When

you have a business model that you're

going to waste two hours of my time to

book a flight, somebody will disrupt

you. So, I think it was great in the

'9s. And by the way, in 10 years, if we

will not reinvent ourselves, somebody

will disrupt us. Right? That's why right

now with AI, it's a point that uh we

really need to make sure that we are

using AI to make the system to make the

experience even better. If we not do

that, somebody will disrupt us.

>> Before um we get into AI, when you were

10, did you want to be a founder? Did

you know you wanted to found a company?

>> Not really. So I actually think that

probably I was the opposite because my

father actually had a business and the

business went under. So I actually saw

the you know the others what not to do.

So actually I thought that I wanted a

stable job to be honest and and but I

think life eventually took me towards

this is my second startup and life took

me to kind of a different journey. Uh

but I actually saw also the bad aspects

of being a entrepreneur. Uh which was

also a good kind of training of when you

should be careful when you should go for

it. Uh so I know at at 10 I was actually

I probably wanted to be a lawyer or

something. I don't know but I think

>> what did you what what did you learn

like how is this how is this

>> company

>> different than the first company and

what have you

>> what have you had to I guess learn or

tweak about how you lead? I think that

the first company we were thinking more

of like almost engineering a startup

like we wanted to do it's the same

co-founder me and Elan

>> uh we wanted to do a startup and we

almost kind of walked it back okay how

will we raise money if that will be the

pitch uh everything made sense uh but we

didn't really think big enough we didn't

dream of changing something that is very

very meaningful we I think came we came

much more from the limitations

Um and and the dreams were different. I

think back then we were more of like

let's do an exit like from day one. So

we did an exit. I actually think what

you define at the beginning it's what

you get. So from day one we said no

we're going to build this thing to do a

fast exit. We sold it after 9 months.

And this one,

>> Elan and I talked a lot during the time

that we were kind of thinking about

building this company of it has to be

something that will change something

meaningful, something that people will

care about. This was really what drove

us from the beginning and we had so many

ideas and all of the ideas were through

this lens. Will will you care about it?

Will will I sit with you? Will you get

excited about it? We had some

infrastructure as ideas and we said no

no nobody would care about it but this

is touches people and we knew that we

wanted something that will touch a lot

of people. We knew that we wanted it to

be globally. So we kind of will will

have huge effect of everybody. Uh so the

parameters were completely different. It

was more of like how can we change

something and and that people will care

about and uh so you go and look for

really big markets and markets that you

can make a difference. It was really

different definition.

>> You just had a recently what a an

investor update. Why did you why was

that important to do?

>> I we went public as the world was really

changing while we were doing the road

show. Uh when we started, you know, you

do at the beginning you do non-deal road

shows. It's kind of to test kind of the

water and nobody talked with us about AI

at the like and this was like 3 months

before the IPO like the last week was

all about AI okay but you know in the

eye level so people still trying to

figure it out they don't fully kind of

understand it so I think we needed to um

re-educate the market and that's why we

did uh the the investors day of what

exactly is REI story because Navan and

it was really interesting we in 2016

okay introduced machine learning into

travel that's why you know when you're

using the system you book so fast that's

machine learning

>> it really is fast like I I like it works

really

>> and it works because of machine learning

it's not just AI what you see there it's

actually we figure you out we are we

know all of our inventory we have the

widest inventory in the market like we

are connected to everything. So it can

create a lot of mess and this mmatch

between you, your needs, your past, your

company, your policy.

>> So, you know, I'm a really good Yahoo

employee. I always look for the cheapest

options. And that's really true. It's

really true.

>> But that's kind of so now the system

will figure you out. So we introduced

machine learning into this very fast. We

then introduced a chatbot before Genai

based on IBM Watson uh years ago and the

chatbot will start to talk with you

about changing your flight with a

certain fairly low satisfaction level

because you know there is a difference

in the technology. So when Genai came

and I don't know if you used it or not

in our system there is this chatbot Ava

and it's completely geni

>> admittedly I've not used it. You will

probably when you'll get stuck sometimes

in an airport, you'll see how effective

she is uh to change your flight to book

you in a new hotel, book you in a new

flight. 55% of the support like when

people are stuck somewhere, 55% of this

is done by Eva and not by a live agent.

And even if Eva cannot figure it out,

she will kind of gracefully move it to

the agent and the agent will continue

the discussion from there. So it's

actually creating a really good service,

really high satisfaction, like human

level satisfaction.

So we were always kind of very deep with

AI, but that's not what we emphasized

during the road show. During the road

show, we were talking about our business

model, how we make money, how we grow,

how we sell.

>> Welcome to the public markets. Now you

have to switch and talk about AI.

>> Exly. Exactly. So we realized that we

actually have a really good story and

it's better that the market will

understand it. And you kind of see it

with our share price. You know, our

share price hit like a very low bottom

at eight bucks a share. Now it's kind of

hovering at 19.

>> I don't know why. I don't know why it's

still below

>> below because I'm I'm really I am surp

I've been surprised. The results have

been there and I see what you're doing

on AI and I see how clunky all the

competitor stuff is.

>> Yeah. I think it's time we're a new

company in the market. I think that as

we IPOed uh everybody that is kind of

software was marked as SAS. Our business

model by the way is not SAS. We are

charging a booking fee per

>> very important. I'm glad you brought

that up. Not a SAS company.

>> It's not a SAS company. It was never a

SAS company. But it was so interesting

because I think there was this moment in

time I think if you employ developers

and you can be

>> software as a service. If y'all didn't

know, we're just like speaking like

industry language like SAS and all these

stocks got hammered. service now and all

these companies just obliterated

>> and I was like so surprised because I

was we never had a SAS business model

but now you know you need to prove it

and I was saying it's usage based in a

way look how crazy it is we are getting

paid for an agent a live agent work they

book your trip right we are a travel

agency right and this is why it's an

extremely similar mo business model to

what you do with AI agents And in a way,

if you'll ever use AVA, you'll see that

there is a complete orchestration there

between AI agents that are booking your

flight, changing your flight, expensing

your stuff, doing stuff for you and

human agents and it's a complete

orchestration. So, we were actually very

aligned to this kind of new business

model. But I think as a software

company, Silicon Valley selling B2B, we

were founded 11 years ago. So, we have

to be sized.

>> Oh, I like I like So, I when I stay in a

hotel, I have to upload uh my receipt

into the system.

>> Prior software that we used, I had to go

line by line and input the price in the

room. And sometimes it just wouldn't add

up correctly. It was I was pulling my

hair out with yours. I just upload the

picture and I'm done.

>> You know, we released last week so you

you will use it soon. And you and you

actually expense agent that uh it's

actually two different agents. one is

really cutting edge. You can uh

basically take a video of the receipt

and describing

everything and we actually rework it and

basically submit the expense. So you can

say I stayed in this hotel for 3 days

and

it's actually launched already. Haven't

used I booked by my last trip I'm going

to in June. So I booked that like two

months ago. So yeah, you'll see it's

really cutting edge and this is like

like you can think about it as like from

an AI perspective it's like here it

needs to understand the video it needs

to do the expense it needs to do the

itemization that you are talking about.

So we are really taking it to the to the

edge to again to save you time we don't

want you to focus at all on the on the

tree planning on the expenses.

We want you Exactly.

>> Yeah. I'm like a freaking celebrity.

Like I got time for this Like I

mean let's just be honest.

>> But we think that every employee is a

celebrity. Really? Every employee should

be

>> Everybody's a celebrity

>> at Yahoo. And I appreciate that. Where

does AI go next for your platform?

>> In our platform, I think we going to see

more and more personalization. We've

three months ago released a new product.

It's called the Navan Edge. Noanage is

actually aimed less into the corporate

world but to business travelers that are

either their company is not managing

travel at all or they and it's a thing

in the industry uh go kind of rogue. So

when let's say that your company is

telling you to use some really old

system you don't like the service you

don't find the inventory that you want

to so some employees will actually

mainly sales people se level will go and

book outside. Noan Edge is actually

really targeting this audience.

>> I can't have that. You can't have like

no what is that?

>> But it's actually pretty cool. You go

there and it the first thing that it

does it figures out uh your wallet. So

uh all of your loyalty automatically. So

we know that you are United Global

Service Marriott Gold. uh we know your

numbers all of this automatically and we

know if you are sensitive or not to

disloyalty or to the bar in the hotel or

to the shades on the you know in the

room based on how you are talking with

us it's a genai platform so you

completely and it's based on our model

so you talk with us and we figure you

out and you are kind of creating a match

with everything that you need the right

flight the right seat the right time of

the day uh the right hotel the car that

will pick you up uh the restaurant like

you can book restaurants there and and

and so on. Um, and this is I think

really where we are going with AI

heavily personalizing your experience,

saving time to the point we are not

there yet, but to the point that you're

going to tell us, I want to go to

London. That's it. Figure it out. Today,

by the way,

>> how far away from that? Because that's

awesome.

>> Not that far. Not that far. Today, you

go to our system. Last week we had a

users conference here in in New York and

you could go to Navan Edge and say I

want to go to Navan's user conference

without giving the date without giving

anything and it will figure out and will

say you know the dates are this do you

want to fly a day before it will ask you

and get back a day after and by the it's

in the glass house and so they'll tell

across the street that you probably want

based on your loyalty is that and and

maybe in the evening before because you

free time. Uh there is the next game. So

we can actually do that for you. This is

where we are heading. The functionality

that I just described is already there.

>> Uh it will just get more and more and

more. Give me less information and I

will figure out everything uh for you.

>> Uh you were just mentioned the uh

software, the SAS companies. I mean all

these stocks have gotten hit as the

concerns about their business models.

Like what happens to these big

incumbents as AI gets stronger? I

actually think I'm on the optimistic

side of AI. I think that most businesses

will become bigger. Uh therefore, you

know, they will make more money. They'll

be more efficient. I actually think that

they will end up employing more people.

Maybe people will work less. So maybe

three days a week and not

>> You think we will get that three-day

work week?

>> I think we will. By the way, you know,

when we when I was growing up, people

worked, you know, six days a week. Look

at Elon. He's sleeping on the fl factory

floor still.

>> Yeah. But these are like you know in all

of the AI companies right now people

work six to seven days a week but I

think generally society will have

probably more free time and I think this

will create more travel it will create

more experiences it will actually create

more human almost the opposite I think

>> your company is a bet on the three-day

work week

>> my company is a bed that people will no

but will want to meet will want to get

to know each other will care about about

culture this is really what Novani is

all about.

>> Have you seen any uh this is a

challenging time like economically for

many people have you seen pullback in

travel at all?

>> No, it's quite the opposite actually.

It's a I think business travel

especially you know you ask about the

SAS company what will happen uh they

will need to meet more and figure out

what is their future right they will

need to sell more um if you think about

it I don't think companies will have

processes so you will need the

equivalent of a CRM process you will

need the equivalent of an HRIS process

like will agents needs to AI agents need

to be managed of course they do Okay,

there is regulation, there is cost,

there is location. It's kind of like

employees if you really think about it,

right? So these processes will obviously

will need to get adjusted and I think it

will have a certain opportunity for the

for Salesforce to reinvent itself or not

and if not somebody else will do it for

them. But the concept of like businesses

will have processes it will be there

when you'll have humans and and AI

agents working end to end. Uh a couple

uh around the horn to to wrap this one

up. Um going to any good trips recently?

>> I'm going to uh I'm actually going to uh

Tulum next week. We are doing my

management team uh we are al always

doing every six months and offsite in a

really cool place. Half is like we are

like figuring something out and half we

are having fun. It's always in fun

places. This one will be in Tulum.

>> Why why is it important to hold those

offsets? Uh I think you know there is

this management meetings or offsites

that are more like each manager is going

and updating I don't know the numbers or

whatever. I find it

>> they're on a whiteboard with a pen.

>> Yeah. I I I I like it like here is a

problem that we are facing or a

challenge or something every new thing

of Navan every innovation every

challenge that we had we figured it out

like we are in a swimming pool somewhere

like sitting and going very very heated

discussions. Uh and that's why the fun

is also important because after this

heated discussion you go you want to go

and have drinks you want to go to a

party and we are really good me and my

management team are really good on doing

that. So that's why it has to be in a

place like Tulum or in a we did one in

Wyoming in a in a ranch stuff like that

that really combines the two.

>> What how can someone successfully found

a business today? Um I think that there

is a trap right now because the barrier

to start something to code actually went

down dramatically. The barrier to market

something went down dramatically. But I

think the barrier of being an

entrepreneur did not go down. So, what

kind of worries me is that you'll see a

lot of people kind of trying it out but

not going for it with all of the ups and

down because it's so easy to do it right

now that I hope that people will use the

tools. It will become more efficient.

We'll see more innovation but we'll have

the what it takes to continue uh when it

doesn't work right when people are not

coming to your website. Um lastly, as a

founder of what of now two companies,

work life balance just been pushed

aside. Does that even exist in your

playbook? Um I think in the early years

you cannot have you you have to

sacrifice. You have to sacrifice. There

is no other way to do it. You're

sacrificing your life, your family. Uh

I'm divorced and I think it's related.

Um I think later you have to find the

balance because if not you will not be

able I've been doing a noan for 11 years

without some balance it's just not

doable. So early years you have to

sacrifice everything. There are also

times that you have to sacrifice

everything. You mentioned the road show.

>> It's a 24 by7 exercise. Absolutely.

>> But then you have to uh you know you

have to come down for a second because

if not it's not sustainable.

>> Well good to see you. Uh congrats on all

your success. look forward to continuing

to follow your journey and uh using your

platform here, Yahoo.

>> Yeah, it's exciting and it was really

exciting to talk with you. Thank you.

>> Good to see you. All right, that's it

for the latest episode of Power Players.

We'll talk to you soon.