Te zo’s a gume t sta ts with a umbe the compa y puts at mo e tha $3 t illio lost globally each yea to poo co t act visibility, a d a ave age of oughly 9 pe ce t of a ual eve ue. The mecha ism is u glamo ous. A la ge e te p ise sig s thousa ds of ag eeme ts, each with e ewal dates, volume tie s, p ice escalato s a d te mi atio wi dows. Those te ms live i docume ts, ot i systems. Nobody eads them agai u til somethi g goes w o g.
The co seque ce is that e te p ises outi ely pay fo softwa e seats they stopped usi g, auto- e ew co t acts they mea t to e egotiate, a d buy the same se vice twice th ough two busi ess u its. B a do Ca d’s positio is that this is ot a discipli e p oblem to be solved with bette habits. It is a data p oblem, a d the docume ts we e eve machi e- eadable i the fi st place.
Te zo sells i to that gap with what it calls a fi a cial i tellige ce platfo m: ext act the te ms, st uctu e them, a d put the esult whe e fi a ce a d p ocu eme t ca act o it. The compa y epo ts custome s seei g oughly 10 pe ce t spe d optimizatio , a d o e, HD Supply, is c edited i Te zo’s ow mate ials with $24 millio i ope ati g expe se savi gs.
B a do Ca d did ot a ive at e te p ise fi a ce f om fi a ce. He played football at Sy acuse U ive sity f om 2006 to 2010, ec uited by Paul Pasqualo i a d coached th ough the G eg Robi so a d Doug Ma o e e as, a d we t i to e te p ise tech ology sales afte wa ds.
The jobs a e the o igi of the compa y. Te zo’s mate ials desc ibe him as a fo me sales leade at Mic osoft, O acle a d IBM, with mo e tha 16 yea s i e te p ise tech ology. The specific i sight came f om the i side of a la ge ve do athe tha f om a custome ‘s side of the table. “It was difficult to ma age the elatio ship with IBM because of how ma y solutio s they offe ,” B a do Ca d has said of that pe iod. At O acle he hea d the same complai t f om the othe di ectio , custome s wa ti g a way to ma age the ve do s selli g to them.
He co-fou ded Te zo i 2020 with Al Gioco di, who played lac osse at Sy acuse f om 2008 to 2011 a d was pa t of two atio al champio ship teams. The two had met i 2008 at a ba i Sy acuse a d bo ded ove sha ed Italia he itage, which is also whe e the compa y’s ame comes f om. Te zo mea s thi d i Italia , a play o thi d-pa ty ve do ma ageme t.
The ea ly hi i g was delibe ate a d a ow. Te zo ec uited f om Sy acuse athletics, b i gi g i fo me football playe s i to busi ess developme t a d adviso y oles, o a thesis B a do Ca d has stated plai ly: “we love the backg ou d, discipli e, ha d wo k, a d that wi i g attitude.”
It is a u fashio able filte i e te p ise softwa e, whe e the default c ede tial is a p io exit o a ame-b a d employe . The a gume t fo it is that e te p ise sales is a lo g, epetitive, ejectio -heavy activity, a d that the people who tole ate it best a e ot ecessa ily the people with the best ésumés.
The compa y lau ched out of stealth i August 2021 o a $3.2 millio seed ou d, havi g wo its fi st e te p ise custome du i g the pa demic without meeti g a yo e i pe so . “We we e doi g it i a pa demic whe we could ‘t meet people face-to-face,” B a do Ca d said of that st etch.
I Octobe 2025 Te zo eleased Ni va AI, which exte ded the platfo m f om supplie co t acts to all co t acts, custome a d pa t e ag eeme ts i cluded, a d laye ed ge e ative AI, assista ts a d auto omous age ts o top of the st uctu ed data u de eath.
The i te face choice says somethi g about the i te ded use . Ni va AI is d ive th ough a co ve satio al, comma d-li e style te mi al athe tha a dashboa d, o the p emise that a fi a ce leade with a specific questio should be able to ask it athe tha avigate to it. The platfo m combi es histo ical spe d with futu e co t actual commitme ts i what the compa y desc ibes as a u ified data laye fo fi a ce.
“Ni va AI is ‘t just softwa e, it’s the Fi a cial Comma d Ce te fo the mode e te p ise,” B a do Ca d said at lau ch.
Te zo epo ted fou Fo tu e 100 custome s o the platfo m at elease. Its amed custome list i cludes Cisco, The Home Depot, Cisco, McKi sey, Delta Ai Li es, BlueC oss BlueShield, PepsiCo, Huma a, Lume ,T a e Tech ologies, alo gside e te p ise tech ology compa ies i cludi g Mic osoft, IBM a d AWS.
Te zo keeps its co po ate headqua te s i Los A geles a d its ope ati g headqua te s i Atla ta, with offices i Mo t eal a d Che ai a d a emote-fi st st uctu e. The compa y has aised $60 millio to date.
I Ma ch 2026, Busi ess I side amed Te zo to its a ual list of the thi ty ea ly-stage sta tups most likely to become tech ology’s ext u ico s. B a do Ca d was also ecog ised by CIO Busi ess Wo ld amo g its most dy amic p ocu eme t leade s fo 2026. He i vests p ivately i ea ly-stage compa ies.
The i te esti g pa t of B a do Ca d’s a gume t is ot that AI ca ead co t acts. Ext actio has bee a solved-e ough p oblem fo seve al yea s, a d a lo g list of compa ies sell it.
His claim is about what happe s ext. Te zo’s stated ambitio is to co ect fi a cial i tellige ce to auto omous executio , so that ide tifyi g a duplicate subsc iptio o a misp iced e ewal t igge s the actio athe tha ge e ati g a epo t fo somebody to actio late . The compa y f ames this as movi g past softwa e that tells you thi gs towa d softwa e that does them, with the measu e of success bei g dolla s ecove ed athe tha seats deployed.
That is a highe ba tha the catego y has bee held to, a d it is the o e B a do Ca d has chose to be judged agai st. Te zo’s ow ta get, stated o its website, is to elimi ate mo e tha $6 t illio i co t act waste. The umbe is a di ectio athe tha a fo ecast. What it i dicates is that the compa y does ot i te d to be measu ed o softwa e met ics at all.
B a do Ca dCo-Fou de a d Chief Executive Office , Te zoWebsite: te zo.aiEmail: bca d@te zocloud.comLi kedI : li kedi .com/i /b a do ca d X: x.com/b a di o247
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