Date: 13.10.2025 (2025-10-13)
Alvaro Aubele (13.10.2025) • Intro via Hannes • In CH atm - where? • https://www.linkedin.com/in/alvaroaubele/ • Past: Anheuser Busch: FP&A Manager • Global Manager, Strategy & Finance at AB InBev • Since April -> subsidiary of the brewery -> digitisation of Sales Force, Logistics etc. - especially for emerging markets -> spin off • Bees: 30 people in CH; 1k developers in BRA • HQ in NY (100 people); also in Hong Kong • Subsidiary of InBev
Intro: • Working on an automation platform - similar to Zapier, n8n, UIPath, make.com • Disclaimer: early, discovery phase -> some questions, please be honest
Context: • Team size and which roles? • • Which tools are they using? • Zapier -> personally •
His Experience & Current Practices • Day-to-day reality: What are the most admin-heavy processes in his finance role (invoices, reconciliations, reporting, payroll, compliance, audits)? • They do automation on the side • They are a Windows Company - people hate CoPilot; PowerAutomate - its not really UX friendly - a lot of things are blocked by IT team due to authorisation • They try to bypass IT department • He does not know how much it is used among developers in Brasil - he thinks it is the same • Role: Fintech global manager for strategy & finance • He is part of commercial team: longterm plans, • Product team: • There he sees a lot of opportunities • Payments: based 95% on trust -> 100% of accuracy is important -> Bees sells products to a kiosk -> different payment platforms • The risk is that people do not understand technical solutions • Different ERPs • Reconciliation: • ERP integrations are expensive -> is it too high to generate ROI • 3 to 4 months for developer • Depends on the needs of the partners -> they work with CSV • Invoice -> PO -> Contract etc. • This process is their strengths • That’s on of their USPs • Improve: • Wrong format of data -> dumb things can be improved • Their pain: • Noisy data • Analysis of data lakes • Everyone has different ERPs and different process • What is the difference to Power Automate • he thinks business people in large companies will not do it due to approvals • Is he automating today? If yes, which tools (Excel macros, Zapier, RPA, ERP features)? • If yes: who does it? Which tools? What works? What does not work? • • If no, why not (cost, complexity, lack of time, no clear ROI)? • • More processes to automate: • • Other automations from other people / departments: • • Legacy systems: does he deal with them (accounting tools, banking interfaces, HRIS, ERP)? How painful are integrations? • • Successes & frustrations: if he had a “magic wand,” what would he automate first? • • Ask if he can introduce you to 3 peers in similar roles (finance leads in other startups). • Other: •
Sebastián Torres Linke () • Why did they stop it? • What Sales process did they test?
Notes: • Workflow: • He wanted to learn programming • Solve his own problems from certif.ai • Check out Stagehand • He built a process tracking tool - then also the CoPilot • Limitation: context management problems for long processes (20+ nodes) • Existing compression techniques are not ideal • Focussed on node based workflows - then he did not have motivation anymore - he does not have Bock darauf • Only talked to a few people • There are quite a few solutions • AI labs are going into it midterm • OpenSource is nice -> companies do not want to be locked in - especially when there is a young company • Check out Pipedream https://pipedream.com/ • Lindy.ai is using them • People who have to deal with external software systems • Check out ComputerUse • some people use it on their own laptop • Customer support -> agent takes over laptop of customer • A lot of automations touch internal tools • Let agents “dogfood” their own tools • He built a MCP server for his workflow tool and tested the MCP server • And he asked the LLM what tools he needs and test the tools • Gave code tool the access to the tools of the Copilot • Idea: build a dev tool that people can build workflows in Cursor etc. • Shadow DOM is a problem • His current idea: Legal direction • He would focus on Gesetze