What shifts when a CFO becomes CEO of an enterprise SaaS company focused on automation and AI?

On this episode of Electrifying Growth, Chris Sugden sits down with Kevin Herr, CEO of KnowledgeLake, following Edison Partners' recent $65 million investment. Kevin shares how his journey from founder to financial leader to chief executive is shaping the company's strategy as it scales. With a focus on value creation, Kevin discusses how KnowledgeLake is delivering measurable ROI through AI-powered document processing and what it takes to build durable growth from the inside out.

He also breaks down the leadership bets he's making, how the team is aligning around customer outcomes, and why a fast time to value remains core to the company's mission.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why pricing strategy needs to evolve past cost-plus

• How AI is unlocking new use cases for document automation

• What drives a 10x return on automation in enterprise environments

Jump into the conversation:

(00:00) Introduction

(02:20) From CFO and COO to CEO

(04:14) Lessons from starting a business with family

(05:23) Financial skills that strengthen a CEO's playbook

(06:38) Rethinking pricing to capture customer value

(09:28) KnowledgeLake's journey from services to software

(11:59) What smart document processing means

(14:07) How cloud and AI reshape automation

(17:43) Customer expectations for AI in enterprise deals

(20:38) Proving ROI with fast time to value

(27:06) Leading with urgency while scaling teams