Barrchives

This episode consists of the following chapters: 00:00 - Introduction to Jesse Zhang and Decagon02:33 - Why customer support emerged as a clear use case for AI05:00 - The importance of discovery and understanding customer value08:20 - The Decagon product architecture: core AI agent, routing, and human assistance11:01 - How enterprise logic is integrated into the AI agent15:45 - Shared frameworks across different customers and industries17:12 - How AI agents are changing organizational planning19:59 - Automatically identifying knowledge gaps to improve resolution rates22:57 - Handling routing across different modalities (text and voice)26:09 - The continued importance of humans in customer support30:17 - The evolving role of human agents: supervising, QA, and logic building36:57 - Value-based pricing tied to the work AI performs39:17 - How sophisticated buyers evaluate AI customer support solutionsSubscribe to the Barrchives newsletter: www.barrchives.comSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/37O8Pb0LgqpqTXo2GZiPXfApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/barrchives/id1774292613Twitter: https://x.com/barrnanasLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barryaron/

Regal co-founders Alex Levin and Rebecca Greene see a future where AI doesn't just assist human agents in contact centers - it replaces them entirely at the front lines. In this episode of Barrchives, we discussed how they're building voice AI technology, the unique challenges of working with audio models, and what the future of customer service looks like.

Most of what you hear about AI right now is in text, but Mikey Shulman (co-founder and CEO of Suno) would tell you that audio is a much more interesting medium to work with. How do you use AI to generate music? What makes audio data uniquely difficult to parse? And how do you build audio models that cater to unique, subjective human preferences on music? Suno is building a future where anyone can make great music. In this episode of Barrchives, I sat down with Mikey (who, like his co-founder, is a musician) to talk about how they do what they do, from why they chose a transformer-based architecture to how they test new models when outputs are so subjective.

AI and data teams in a sense, kind of, do the same thing: make decisions based on data. So how do you build AI that *helps* data teams do their best work? Hex was one of the first companies in their space to embrace language models and build code generation features into their data workspace. In this episode of Barrchives, I went deep with Hex’s co-founder and CEO, Barry McCardel, about Hex’s journey towards becoming an AI company.

Erik Bernhardsson, CEO of Modal and former leader at Spotify, joins the conversation to discuss his entrepreneurial journey and the challenges of building infrastructure for AI teams. He shares insights into enhancing developer experiences and the importance of user-centric design. Erik dives into the impact of generative AI on customer attraction and the complexities of managing resources like GPUs. The discussion also touches on the need for low-latency solutions in AI applications and how well-positioned companies can navigate market growth.

Building a company isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s messy, nonlinear, and full of surprises. Jennifer Smith, CEO of Scribe, knows this better than most. In a recent episode of Barrchives, she shared the hard-earned lessons that helped her navigate the twists and turns of finding product-market fit. From trusting her instincts when others doubted her to rethinking how humans and AI can work together, Jennifer’s journey offers powerful insights for anyone trying to build something transformative.

From his early work in physics and mathematical simulation to leading Vision Pro development at Apple, Amit Jain has consistently pushed the boundaries of how computers process and understand our world. Now as the founder and CEO of Luma AI, he's tackling an even bigger challenge: building what he calls a "universal imagination engine." In this episode of Barrchives, Amit shares his perspective on why unified AI models outperform specialized ones, how visual data transforms AI reasoning, and what it takes to build infrastructure capable of training on millions of videos. But underlying these technical insights is a broader vision about technology's role in human progress.

Naveen Rao, VP of AI at Databricks, has a rich background in AI hardware and software, having previously founded Nervana and MosaicML. He shares his journey from a childhood fascination with science fiction to innovating in AI. The conversation dives into the distinct playbooks required for deep tech versus SaaS, emphasizing a deeper understanding of problems. He discusses the shifting landscape of AI post-ChatGPT, the synergy between hardware and software, and the future of AI training and decision-making, advocating for breakthrough innovations to navigate evolving demands.

Tristan Handy’s move to develop dbt Labs meant stepping away from steady consulting revenue to build a product. With support from an open-source community and interest from enterprise clients, dbt quickly found a growing user base. By 2019, it had become a go-to tool for data professionals looking to streamline workflows and prepare data for AI. Today, dbt Labs serves over 50,000 teams globally, with dbt Cloud helping organizations tackle modern analytics and AI needs through data transformation, observability, and orchestration. In this episode of Barrchives, Tristan discusses how dbt is adapting to support the evolving demands of today’s data ecosystems. He shares insights on how data teams can move beyond manual, repetitive tasks to create environments where data becomes a valuable, collaborative asset. From AI’s potential as an analytical “thought partner” to the emerging standards reshaping data access, Tristan explores the shifts making data infrastructure more adaptable and effective.

Cristóbal Valenzuela, CEO and co-founder of Runway, is using AI to open up new pathways of expressing creativity. Cristóbal founded Runway with the idea that AI could expand the boundaries of what is possible in storytelling. This vision transformed the company from a model marketplace into a unique toolkit for artists, filmmakers, and creators that brings their visions to life.