Tropic

Fresh off of the CFO Leadership Council FATE conference in NYC and here's the scoop... I had the opportunity to partner with Tropic COO and Co-founder Justin Etkin as we discussed the Procurement Renaissance. As I spoke to the audience and interacted with many Finance leaders over several days, here's what stood out: 1. At least 2/3rds said that they had some direct ownership or accountability for procurement 2. At least 50% of them didn't seem too excited about that fact (and maybe the other 50% were just being polite 😀 ) 3. Nearly all agreed that the "old way" of overbuilt workflows and complex PO processes is broken (so much upfront effort, so little downstream return) 4. Generic pricing web searches/AI searches or supposed "free" procurement benchmarks are of questionable value (to put it mildly) 5. Unanimously, people affirmed that how their business is deploying capital (and improving the visibility into that) represents one of the most strategic areas of focus for their business in 2026 I posed a question to the audience and it seemed they were deeply reflecting on it. What I asked them was, "Does your procurement process take more than it gives?" Meaning, do you ask more of those requesting to purchase something than you give them in return? At Tropic, we seek to give more than we request via our Insights informed by real first-hand experiences with suppliers. We couple that with live human advisors with are experts in the domain. The combination is a powerful flywheel of insights- delivered at your fingertips in the platform. There is a better way. It does require investment but it's well worth it. As suppliers continue to evolve their pricing, AI offerings infiltrate the supplier packaging lineup and tools increasingly overlap in functionality, the SaaS sprawl is more prevalent than ever. If your procurement process is taking more than it's giving, it's time to embrace the new way. Waiting another month, another quarter or putting it off for some uncertain future date when the time or funding is there? That day will never come and you'll look back and the problem will have compounded on itself. Let's dive into the Procurement Renaissance together!

It's only FATE that Tropic is here...😉🌴 We're having a ton of fun at the Finance and Accounting Technology Expo alongside other great tech companies in New York City. If you're here today, stop by our booth and say hello to the team! 👋 Shoutout to the CFO Leadership Council for hosting FATE and putting on a great event for the community.

During Tech Sourcing 2025 last week, Michael Shields spoke on stage about how supplier intelligence is yesterday's advantage and today's requirement. Software spend is a top 2-3 line item. If you're not utilizing reliable price benchmarks and negotiation intel to optimize your SaaS contracts + make smarter purchase decisions, you're leaving (potentially) hundreds of thousands of dollars on the table. 💰 Check out some of the latest sentiment (via G2 reviews) from other teams tapping into this critical part of their procurement process to save $$$ 👇

We’ve partnered with Tipalti to connect our $15B+ in proprietary supplier intelligence with their global payments platform! Now when you optimize a software contract using Tropic’s supplier intelligence, that smart decision flows automatically into Tipalti for payment execution. 💰 From Karl McGregor, Financial Systems Manager at HUMAN: “Using Tropic alongside Tipalti has streamlined our procure-to-pay process from end-to-end...gives us the speed, oversight, and confidence we need in every purchase.” No manual anything, no data entry, no jumping around different tools, no wondering if your savings are actually getting realized. What this means for your team: ✅ End-to-end visibility from request to final payment ✅ Automated workflows instead of manual handoffs ✅ $15B+ in spend intelligence informing each payment decision ✅ Accurate global payment execution ✅ Enhanced financial and compliance controls across the entire process This is what best-of-breed is supposed to look like: Maximum cost savings through smarter negotiations AND maximum time savings through seamless automation. Tipalti + Tropic makes that possible.

Excited to have been a part of this in depth look at AI in Finance. I commend the comprehensive take CJ Gustafson applied to this report. It's full of insights and perspectives worth reading. I highly recommend taking a look and reposting it to others in your network that might benefit.

Thanks to all these procurement leaders for joining us for dinner + conversation this week! 🍽️🌴 It's hard to beat an IRL meetup over great food and a great event that was Tech Sourcing 2025 in a beautiful city like Chicago. Dinner on us again, next time. 😉

Ask yourself: If you are headed to the airport, or to your parents’ house, or downtown for an event…places you’ve been many times… places you know how to get to. Do you still put it in your GPS system? I know I do. 
It’s not because I’m lazy. It’s because the optimized route cannot only change day to day, it can change by the minute. Things like construction or auto accidents play a big role. I can be driving down the road and it will say ,”faster route available.” So I take it. Procurement’s version of GPS is supplier intelligence. Real time guidance that streamlines the process for both the buyers and sellers. It was fun to talk about this on stage. But not just any stage… the grand ballroom at then end of Navy Pier in Chicago. What a cool experience. Special thanks to Sophie and Claire for the invitation!

𝗗𝗼𝗰𝘂𝗦𝗶𝗴𝗻: -𝟰𝟴.𝟴% 𝘁𝗼 +𝟲𝟮%. 𝗙𝗶𝗴𝗺𝗮: 𝟬%. 𝗛𝘂𝗯𝗦𝗽𝗼𝘁 & 𝗔𝘁𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗮𝗻: 𝗱𝗼𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗲-𝗱𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘀. Our analysis found some wild price swings across suppliers. Some of you are paying 10 to 20 to 60% more than others. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 👇 1️⃣ High variability = high opportunity. Vendors like DocuSign, HubSpot, and Atlassian offer meaningful wiggle room if you know the right levers, so prioritize those contracts and negotiate. 2️⃣ Skip the fixed plays. Figma and LinkedIn? Zero-to-low variability means your time’s better spent elsewhere. 3️⃣ Negotiate the FULL deal, not just sticker price. Payment terms, downgrade rights, ramp periods - they all shape true cost. Not every contract deserves equal effort. Use this kind of data to focus your team’s time where it can make greater savings impact. Unpack price variability for some of the top suppliers with Tropic CFO Russell Lester in our latest blog (in comments) 👇