Siqi Chen is the founder and CEO of Runway, a next-gen FP&A -- financial planning and analysis platform.
After experiencing firsthand how broken decision-making was — especially during COVID revenue shocks — Siqi set out to build a tool that empowers operators to make sharper, faster calls. Instead of endless spreadsheets and fragile assumptions, Runway gives teams AI-powered decision support that feels less like Excel and more like an Iron Man suit for operators.
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Brought to you by Autoskills (https://autoskills.ai) – Helping teams go from AI-curious to AI-ready with tailored workshops and hands-on adoption.
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00:00 Introduction — Siqi's background and how Runway began
05:03 Ambient AI in practice — embedding intelligence subtly across workflows
09:36 Scaling AI judgment: how Runway spreads AI "taste" through hiring, culture, and team norms
13:15 From hackathons → hack sprints: why rapid iteration is key, and how to turn prototypes into production
17:10 Avoiding AI sprawl — letting teams experiment without getting lost in tools
19:24 Practical wins: how Runway transformed lead scoring, customer success, recruiting, and internal workflows with AI
25:40 How Siqi keeps headcount less than 100 using AI
33:15 How to empower non-technical teams to supercharge their workflows with AI
43:22 Tools Runway uses internally
47:40 Lessons learned from AI adoption sprints — what sticks vs. what fizzles
51:05 The future of AI in decision-making — where FP&A is headed
55:18 Lightning round + final thoughts
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Where to Find Siqi:
Where to find Haroon Choudery: