For Finout, AI is more of “an augmentation than a disruption”

“I'm very tech-savvy and love exploring new tools,” said Finout’s VP HR, Michal Ston. “AI has made my day-to-day work significantly more efficient and impactful”.

CTech’s "HR in the AI Era" series explores how the AI revolution is impacting the workforce across Israeli high-tech companies. In this series, we uncover the effects (both personal and professional) that this technology shift has had on Startup Nation.

Michal Ston

Currently, “while we haven't made significant changes in headcount due to AI adoption, we've observed a shift in role definitions,” Ston continued. “Looking ahead, AI will allow us to do more with fewer developers, which naturally means we can scale the product without growing the team at the same rate.”

You can read the entire interview below.

Company name: Finout
Your name and title: Michal Ston, VP HR
Names of founders and upper management: Roi Ravhon (Co-Founder & CEO), Asaf Liveanu (Co Founder & CPO) and Yizhar Gilboa (Co-Founder & CTO)
Year of founding: 2020
Investment stage: Round C
Total investment to date: $85M
Field of activity: FinOps
Number of employees: 99
Office location: Tel Aviv and New York
Number of open positions: 16

On a scale of 1-10, how much does the AI revolution disrupt your company operation in general, and the HR department specifically?

6

How so?

AI is not yet disrupting our operations at scale, but it is definitely influencing how we think about efficiency, especially in recruitment and analytics. In HR, AI helps us automate tasks like sourcing but human judgment still plays a central role in decision-making, especially in culture-fit assessments and internal development. We're seeing it more as an augmentation than a disruption at this stage.

What interesting AI tools do you and your staff use in employee management/recruitment?

We use PeopleGPT by Juice to source candidates, which has been a great addition to our sourcing process. We're also in the process of transitioning to a more AI-driven applicant tracking system to further streamline hiring. I'm very tech-savvy and love exploring new tools – AI has made my day-to-day work significantly more efficient and impactful.

In which roles or tasks within your company has AI already begun to replace human labor (if at all)?

While AI hasn’t outright replaced roles, it has significantly augmented our ability to work more efficiently – particularly in R&D. It automates many low-level, repetitive tasks like test writing and lint fixing, freeing up our developers to focus on higher-impact work. Looking ahead, AI will allow us to do more with fewer developers, which naturally means we can scale the product without growing the team at the same rate.

What are the two major challenges you are coping with these days?

Hiring velocity and talent availability: We’re in hyper-growth mode, and scaling our team quickly enough – especially in R&D/Product and Sales – is a major challenge. Finding the right talent globally, at the pace we need, while maintaining high quality is a constant balancing act.

Operational efficiency at scale: As we grow, we’re seeing increasing demands on our infrastructure and teams. We're working to strengthen enablement, onboarding, and cross-functional alignment (especially between Sales, Marketing, and SDR) to ensure teams are equipped to deliver results without burning out.

Have you experienced workforce-related challenges due to the war, and are you still feeling the impact of the security situation on your human resources?

As a relatively small team, we were not significantly impacted by the war in terms of our overall workforce or hiring plans. We did have employees called up for reserve duty, and we’re committed to supporting them and their families as much as needed. That said, our operations and growth trajectory remained stable throughout this period.

Have you made changes to your workforce following the increased use of AI tools, both in terms of headcount and internal shifts between departments?

While we haven't made significant changes in headcount due to AI adoption, we've observed a shift in role definitions. For instance, marketers are now expected to be more data-driven and proficient with AI-based tools. We're focusing on re-skilling internally to adapt to these evolving requirements.

How does the global market uncertainty affect your workforce, in terms of employee numbers or departmental reallocations? Are you scaling your workforce up or down in different regions around the world?

We're adopting a cautious growth strategy, with focused hiring in core functions like R&D and Product in Israel and GTM in the US. We're closely monitoring budgets and ROI, and reallocating resources toward departments with the highest business impact.

Do you estimate that in 2025–2026 you will increase or decrease the number of personnel? Explain why.

We plan to significantly increase our headcount. By the end of 2025, we expect to more than double the size of our team, and we plan to continue at a similar pace in 2026. Finout recently raised its Series C round, giving us the horsepower needed to accelerate business growth. This funding directly supports our global expansion plans and scaling our teams across all departments and locations.