Latent Space: The AI Engineer Podcast Anthropic, Glean & OpenRouter: How AI Moats Are Built with Deedy Das of Menlo Ventures
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Nov 14, 2025 
Deedy Das, a Partner at Menlo Ventures and former Glean operator, shares his insights on the fast-evolving world of AI infrastructure and investment strategies. He discusses Glean's impressive journey to a $7B valuation and examines the competitive landscape between Anthropic and OpenAI. Das reveals his investment thesis on innovative companies like OpenRouter and the strategic importance of products such as Claude Code, illustrating how AI is reshaping enterprise software and the future of engineering.
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Hard Work Built Glean's Durable Advantage
- Glean's success came from solving hard enterprise search problems long before LLMs made it popular.
- Deep engineering work created a durable advantage that's hard for newcomers to replicate.
Challenge API Restrictions Proactively
- Push back on SaaS tools that restrict API access because customers own their data and will be unhappy.
- Use multiple integrations to reduce single-source risk and keep optimism about resolving platform limits.
Models Can Build Search But May Not Prioritize It
- Anthropic and OpenAI can build enterprise search but it's not their highest-margin priority.
- Building deep enterprise integrations requires costly sales and engineering that labs may avoid long-term.