

The FDE Playbook for AI Startups with Bob McGrew
165 snips Sep 8, 2025
Bob McGrew, a pivotal force behind ChatGPT and GPT-4, shares insights from his impressive journey at PayPal, Palantir, and OpenAI. He highlights the significance of the Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) model in startup success and how it fosters a culture of learning and adaptation. McGrew explains how 'doing things that don't scale' can empower early-stage companies. He also discusses the rapid evolution of AI, the importance of aligning product capabilities with customer needs, and the unique challenges AI startups face in the enterprise landscape.
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FDEs Bridge Product-To-Customer Gaps
- A Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) embeds at the customer site to fill the gap between product and need.
- The FDE builds custom outcomes the product alone can't deliver yet.
Demo-Led Discovery With Spies
- Palantir began by showing demos to intelligence customers and iterating from their feedback.
- Founders recorded requested changes and used them to discover real customer needs.
Gravel Road To Paved Platform
- FDEs create a 'gravel road' prototype at each site while product teams generalize successful patterns.
- Product then paves the road into reusable platform features for many customers.