Observe's $50M Raise with Jeremy Burton CEO and Founder Jon Watte
Nov 7, 2023
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Jeremy Burton, CEO, and Jon Watte, Founder of Observe, Inc., talk about the critical role of AI in data management. They discuss their experience in enterprise software, product development, and creating technology that matters. Topics include analytics, real-time systems, $50M raise, future plans, and challenges of implementing AI features.
Observed approaches observability as a data problem, utilizing a graph structure to quickly troubleshoot modern distributed applications and potentially save users money.
Observed is developing unique AI capabilities like chatbots and natural language assistance to enhance productivity and provide an intuitive interface for interacting with the system, while also planning to expand their sales force and invest in AI features for scalability and better collaboration.
Deep dives
Overview of the podcast episode
In this episode of the AI Chat podcast, the host, Jayden Schafer, interviews Jeremy Burton, the CEO of a company called Observed. Observed is an observability platform that recently raised $50 million in debt and is launching new generative AI features. Jeremy discusses his transition from working in major software companies like Oracle and EMC to leading Observed. He highlights the importance of building something himself and being responsible for its success. John Watt, the co-founder of Observed, shares his diverse career background, including work with metaverses like Roblox and machine learning at IMVU. He explains how his experiences led to the development of the AI advancements in observability. Both Jeremy and John discuss the unique capabilities of Observed's AI features, such as assistive technologies and language assistance. They also talk about the challenges of implementing AI and their plans for the future, including expanding the sales force, investing in AI features, and addressing scalability issues.
The importance of curation and navigation for troubleshooting
Jeremy emphasizes that Observed approaches observability as a data problem. By curating and relating data in a graph structure, the platform allows for quick and efficient troubleshooting of unknown and changing problems in modern distributed applications. The goal is to enable users to navigate between related data points and find the root cause of issues. This approach differentiates Observed from others in the space, who typically rely on iterative searches. Furthermore, Jeremy highlights the economic advantage of Observed's architecture and its potential to save users money.
Building tools and leveraging AI for enhanced productivity
John discusses the unique AI capabilities that Observed is developing, including chatbots, natural language assistance, and AI-powered query language. These features aim to improve productivity by assisting users in tasks such as debugging, regular expression generation, and complex query formulation. The goal is to provide a more intuitive and efficient interface for interacting with the system, allowing both novice and seasoned users to benefit. John also mentions plans to train models specific to system behaviors and incidents, which will further enhance the platform's assistance capabilities.
Future focus and investments
Jeremy explains that Observed plans to invest in expanding their sales force to target larger enterprises. While they aim for product-led growth, an enterprise sales team is essential to reach a wider customer base. Additionally, the company will invest in AI features that offer productivity gains and scale solutions to handle large volumes of data. Jeremy also discusses the potential impact of AI, expecting it to reshape organizations and enable better collaboration through streamlined incident management and shared knowledge. Finally, Jeremy addresses the hype around AI, cautioning against shooting for moon shots too soon and highlighting the importance of focusing on tangible benefits for users.
In this episode, I talk with Jeremy Burton, CEO, and Jon Watte, Founder of Observe, Inc., about the critical role of AI in data management. Jeremy and Jon discuss how their extensive experience in enterprise software, product development, and creating technology that matters to people has led to innovative solutions in the field of data management, with a focus on analytics, real-time systems, and more. Join us as we explore the future of data management with AI at its core.
