Prediction Open AI assessment confidence: 100% certainty 3/5 debate potential 1/5

Ariel Cohen plans to build Navan for another 20 years

Ariel Cohen · 20VC: From $6.2BN Market Cap to $2.8BN: What Is Not Translating About Navan's Public Story | Are Any Public Company CEOs Actually Happy? | Why Navan Built It's Own Customer Service AI and What it Could Mean For Customer Service AI with Ariel Cohen · Feb 7, 2026 · at 4:36

Ariel Cohen is the co-founder and CEO of Navan. Reflecting on reaching the 11-year mark with host Harry Stebbings, Cohen comments on his personal timeline for remaining with the company.

0:00 / 0:05exact quote · 5.1s
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“11 years in this journey, and probably at least for me, another 20, 20 years to go.”

quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →

More from Ariel Cohen

Prediction Didn’t hold up
Cohen: Nobody will use Concur, Amex GBT, or Salesforce by 2028
“In five years from now, nobody is using, going to use Conquer and Emacs. Nobody, by the way, nobody is going to use Salesforce.”
Ariel Cohen Feb 8, 2023 ▶ 24:12 Ariel Cohen: The Death of Salesforce; How OpenAI is Changing the Travel Industry | 20VC #975 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
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Cohen: SAP and Salesforce have not innovated in decades
“Salesforce and SAP, which are not innovating. I think the last time that SAP innovated something was in the nineties, and the last time that the, that Salesforce innovated was in the beginning of 2000.”
Ariel Cohen Feb 8, 2023 ▶ 5:50 Ariel Cohen: The Death of Salesforce; How OpenAI is Changing the Travel Industry | 20VC #975 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Disclosure
Cohen: Navan is seeking Slack alternatives due to declining product quality
“The team right now is looking for alternatives. Not because you know, we love Slack. But you can see that over time, the search works a little bit, you know, worse. The buttons are moving to the wrong places. I care a lot about product and design. And I think …”
Ariel Cohen Feb 8, 2023 ▶ 34:02 Ariel Cohen: The Death of Salesforce; How OpenAI is Changing the Travel Industry | 20VC #975 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Opinion
Ariel Cohen: SAP and Salesforce haven't innovated since the 90s and 2000s
“I think the last time that SAP innovated something was in the nineties, and the last time that, that Salesforce innovated was in the beginning of 2000.”
Ariel Cohen Jun 9, 2023 ▶ 16:57 20VC: What are the World's Tech Leaders Running From? Fear? Insecurity? Poverty? What Drives the Best with Orlando Bravo, Bill Ackman, Dara Khosrowshahi, Parker Conrad, Tobi Luttke, Brian Armstrong and more..
Prediction Open · timeframe Feb 2036
Cohen: Form-based software like Salesforce will be obsolete within 10 years
“I think I called out Salesforce back then, as I cannot imagine people using something like this in the next 10 years. I think AI accelerates this.”
Ariel Cohen Feb 7, 2026 ▶ 16:44 20VC: From $6.2BN Market Cap to $2.8BN: What Is Not Translating About Navan's Public Story | Are Any Public Company CEOs Actually Happy? | Why Navan Built It's Own Customer Service AI and What it Could Mean For Customer Service AI with Ariel Cohen
Opinion
Cohen: Sierra, OpenAI, and Anthropic Fail at Complex Vertical AI Needs
“There is nothing even remotely closed to what is needed when you go to a complex vertical out there. Okay. And it's definitely not in the kind of Sierra level, but even if you take it to the level of the APIs, If I'm kind of taking an anthropic and an open AI,…”
Ariel Cohen Feb 7, 2026 ▶ 21:00 20VC: From $6.2BN Market Cap to $2.8BN: What Is Not Translating About Navan's Public Story | Are Any Public Company CEOs Actually Happy? | Why Navan Built It's Own Customer Service AI and What it Could Mean For Customer Service AI with Ariel Cohen
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