Interview: Gabi Steele featured on The Growth-Minded CFO
On March 3, 2025, Preql Co-Founder and CEO Gabi Steele joined The Growth-Minded CFO podcast to unpack one of the most important and misunderstood topics in finance today: how to prepare for AI.
In a wide-ranging conversation with hosts Lauren Pearl and Alex Louisy, Gabi makes a compelling case for what she calls “earning the right to use AI.” The first step? Getting your data house in order.
Now available to stream, this 25-minute episode offers a practical roadmap for CFOs navigating the pressure to “do something with AI,” all the while making sure they don’t skip the foundational steps that make AI actually useful.
What You’ll Learn from This Episode
Focus on the data that matters: Not all data deserves your attention. Gabi encourages CFOs to ask: What do we care about? And just as importantly, what don’t we?
Automate the right work: Manual reporting, reconciliation, and validation take up valuable team capacity. Gabi advocates for targeted automation to reclaim time for higher-value thinking.
Build multidisciplinary teams: Today’s finance teams should include more than finance expertise. Data infrastructure and analytics capabilities are just as important—and often overlooked.
Tell strategic stories with data: Finance is no longer just about accuracy; it’s about influence. Gabi explains how the most effective CFOs are using data to shape decisions and narratives, not just close the books.
The CFO’s Role in an AI-Powered Future
With 75% of CFOs expected to lead or co-lead their company’s data strategy, the opportunity — and the pressure — is enormous. Gabi’s message is clear: CFOs don’t need to become AI experts overnight, but they do need to become stewards of clean, structured data.
