Scaling Enterprise Software with AI: Holden Spaht with Anaplan CEO Charles Gottdiener and Coupa CEO Leagh Turner

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Feb 5, 2026

Leagh Turner, CEO of Coupa, leads spend-management with massive transactional data and AI agents. Charles Gottdiener, CEO of Anaplan, builds planning platforms with embedded AI and role-based agents. They discuss how AI boosts productivity and engineering, governance and data safety, pricing AI agents, proprietary data moats, and early-stage enterprise adoption driving real ROI.

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ANECDOTE

Companywide Sanctioned AI Experimentation

Charles Gottdiener describes issuing Google Agent Space to all employees to safely experiment with AI.
He recounts AI cutting release cycles and improving story quality to reduce rework in software development.

ANECDOTE

AI Drives Faster Support And Better Training

Leagh Turner shares Coupa's internal AI examples like root-cause support tooling and Pitch Monster for certifications.
He says these tools delivered ~53% faster issue resolution and improved certification rates by 53% among staff.

ADVICE

Reallocate Hiring Toward AI Priorities

Shift resources to AI while still growing headcount but at a slower rate to capture margin upside.
Reinvest productivity gains into growth and prioritize AI tooling over incremental hiring.

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In this episode of Thoma Bravo’s Behind the Deal, Managing Partner Holden Spaht sits down with Charles Gottdiener, CEO of Anaplan, and Leagh Turner, CEO of Coupa, to discuss how enterprise software leaders are turning AI innovation into real business impact.

Drawing on their experience as both builders and users of AI, they share how AI is driving productivity, reshaping operating models, and expanding operating leverage—while highlighting the importance of governance, disciplined pricing, and domain expertise as AI adoption accelerates.

For more information on Thoma Bravo's Behind the Deal, visit https://www.thomabravo.com/behindthedeal

Learn more about Thoma Bravo: https://www.thomabravo.com/

Learn more about Anaplan: https://www.anaplan.com/

Learn more about Coupa: https://www.coupa.com/

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Certain statements about Thoma Bravo made by portfolio company executives are intended to illustrate Thoma Bravo's business relationship with such persons rather than Thoma Bravo's capabilities or expertise with respect to investment advisory services. Portfolio company executives were not compensated in connection with their podcast participation, although they generally received compensation and investment opportunities in connection with their portfolio company roles and in certain cases are also owners of portfolio company securities and or investors in Thoma Bravo funds. Such compensation and investments subject podcast participants to potential conflicts of interest. In addition, this podcast includes forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions and involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially.