On The Frontier

Cloudflare has retained exceptional talent, continued shipping products at a rapid scale even as they’ve grown to a $80B+ valuation, and are positioned as a leading developer platform for the agentic era with Workers. One of the key individuals who has guided this effort has been Dane Knecht, CTO at Cloudflare and the first PM hired when In this episode we dive into the following areas:* Lava Lamps!* Cloudflare’s Culture from Day 1* Enterprise & Individual Developer Focus* Deep Dive into the Workers Platform* Building Agents on Workers* Serverless vs Long Running Agents* Durable Objects (and how it was almost named Agents!)* Cloudflare Scheduling and Optimization Engine Under the Hood* Where Agent Development is HeadedWhere to Find Dane:* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dknecht/* Twitter: https://x.com/dok2001Where to Find Shomik:* Twitter: https://twitter.com/shomikghosh21* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shomik-ghosh-a5a71319/* Software Snack Bites Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shomik.substack.com

A huge challenge coming to the exponential growth of AI agents is security and auth. Enterprises will have challenges adopting agents in critical workflows without these. There’s a race to solve this problem and today we’ll hear from one of the largest identity security companies leading the charge.Arnab Bose is the Chief Product Officer of Okta Platform and previously was VP Product at Salesforce and Quip. In this episode we dive into the following areas:* Okta’s Role in Identity & Security Across Entire Enterprises* AI’s Impact on Internal Workflows* How Okta’s SSO Works Behind the Scenes* What will Identity Mean in the Age of Agents* How to Secure Agent to Agent Interactions & Model Context Protocol* Future of Shadow IT with Increased AI App Usage* Where Auth & Security for Agents is Going in the FutureWhere to Find Arnab:* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abosesf/* Twitter: https://x.com/ArBoseWhere to Find Shomik:* Twitter: https://twitter.com/shomikghosh21* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shomik-ghosh-a5a71319/* Software Snack Bites Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shomik.substack.com

Large tech companies have been rapidly embracing AI. Amazon in particular has been innovating rapidly with many recent announcements (Nova, Tranium 3, Bedrock Agents, & more), this episode dives into Amazon Q and Agentic AI at Amazon / AWS.Anoop Deoras is the Director of AWS Agentic AI and previously was a Principal Technologist at Netflix. In this episode we dive into the following areas:* The progression of AI over ~20 years* Building recommendation engines before Transformers* How AWS approached building Amazon Q* State of Coding Agents Today and Biggest Challenges around CodeGen* How AI Can Handle Large Scale Codebase Migrations* What Agents Change Compared to Current Codegen* Memory and Future Agentic ApplicationsWhere to Find Anoop:* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anoopdeoras/* Twitter: https://x.com/adeorasWhere to Find Shomik:* Twitter: https://twitter.com/shomikghosh21* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shomik-ghosh-a5a71319/* Software Snack Bites Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shomik.substack.com

For those who are interested in how AI is impacting workflows of teams across industries, this is the episode for you.Eoin Hinchy is the CEO & Founder of Tines, a workflow builder for security-minded teams. He was previously the Sr Director of Security for Docusign and practiced security engineering at many others startups and corporations previously. In this episode we dive into the following areas:* The Founding Story Behind Tines* The Evolution of SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation, & Remediation) over the past 10 years* How Tines Moved From Building for Security Teams to a Horizontal Worfklow Builder* How Tines Using AI to Enrich the Customer Experience* Customer Use Cases for AI* How Agents Will Impact Workflows in the Futuer* Why Attackers Don’t Need to Use AIWhere to Find Eoin:* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eoinhinchy/* Twitter: https://x.com/eoinhinchy* Website: https://www.tines.com/Where to Find Shomik:* Twitter: https://twitter.com/shomikghosh21* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shomik-ghosh-a5a71319/* Software Snack Bites Newsletter: https://www.shomik.substack.com* Software Snack Bites Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shomik.substack.com

For anyone who’s interested in a recurring podcast that covers the Enterprise news from the past few weeks, this is the episode for you. In this episode, Ron Miller (Editorial Director, Boldstart) & Shomik Ghosh (Partner, Boldstart) dive into key Enterprise Software news from the 2 weeks prior. This is the first such episode and we’d love to hear your thoughts! Please let us know if you’d like to hear this more by reaching out, commenting, tweeting, etc!* Nvidia Earnings* OpenAI GPT 4.5 release* Microsoft leasing vs building datacenters (along with a cancelled datacenter build)* Grok 3 release on largest GPU cluster* Claude 3.7 release with reasoning* Claude Code* Confluent Earnings* Stripe Annual Report on AI company revenue growth* Microsoft Deprecating Skype and Amazon Shutting Down Chime* Quantum Chips released by Google and Amazon This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shomik.substack.com

This episode is for whomever is interested in data workloads for AI particularly event streaming and how those will be used in AI model training and inference.Andrew Sellers is the Head of Technology Strategy at Confluent. He was previously CTO at QOMPLX and CTO of the US Air Force Academy. In this episode, we dive into technology in the government and what changes for event streaming in the context of AI models. We cover technical aspects of data streaming, customer use cases for AI & event streams, and differences between inference workloads and training workloads for data streams.Where to Find Andrew Sellers:* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewjsel/Where to Find Shomik:* Twitter: https://twitter.com/shomikghosh21* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shomik-ghosh-a5a71319/* Software Snack Bites Newsletter: https://www.shomik.substack.com* Software Snack Bites Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google.Covers:(01:52) - Background as CTO of US Air Force Academy(04:26) - How the Public Sector Optimizes Tech Decisions & Procurement(7:34) - Enterprise Data Strategies for AI(9:30) - Why Decoupling is More Important than Latency for Data Streaming Needs(12:30) - In-Stream Processing(17:10) - Bi-Directional Streaming(18:50) - AI Agents Impact on Streaming(21:10) - Inference Workflow Impact on Streaming(27:04) - Customer Use Cases(36:25) - Agent Use for Internal Product Workloads(38:12) - Real Time Data Attach Rates to Inference This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shomik.substack.com

This episode is for whomever is curious about diving deep into AI Security and how CISOs think about it within internal and external workflows. Ty Sbano is the CISO of Vercel, the leading web experience hosting and deployment platform. He was previously CISO at Sisense and previously Sr Director of Security at Lending Club, Target, and Capital One. I’m also joined by Emilio Escobar, CISO of Datadog as a co-host. In this episode, we dive into how AI changes security practices, how to manage AI security around external products and internal workflows, and whether AI leverages existing primitives or involves new paradigms. For any security practitioners and founders, this is the episode for you!Where to Find Ty Sbano:* Twitter: https://x.com/TySbano* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tysbano/Where to Find Emilio:* Twitter: https://twitter.com/eaescob* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilioesc/* Emilio’s Newsletter: Developer First SecurityWhere to Find Shomik:* Twitter: https://twitter.com/shomikghosh21* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shomik-ghosh-a5a71319/* Software Snack Bites Newsletter: https://www.shomik.substack.com* Software Snack Bites Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shomik.substack.com

This episode is a fit for anyone who’s interested in how to drive best of breed growth at companies like Spline AI, Canva, and many others.Caroline Mack is COO of Spline. Caroline previously was a Growth lead at Canva and worked in product & growth at companies like Tencent, DocuSign, Google, and TripAdvisor. In this episode, we cover tactical learnings about growth in the application layer and how AI is changing 3D design and driving value to users. We also cover product, growth, and pricing advice for all startups.Where to Find Caroline:* Twitter: https://x.com/Caroline_Huskey* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolinehuskey/Where to Find Shomik:* Twitter: https://twitter.com/shomikghosh21* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shomik-ghosh-a5a71319/* Software Snack Bites Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google.In this episode, we cover:(00:40) – Working at Startups Around the Globe(04:46) – Spline Overview(05:44) – Key Learnings from Canva(07:56) – How Canva Coupled Growth & Product Teams(09:02) – How Canva Utilizes Eng Support in All Functions(10:00) – Identifying Free Users With High Propensity to Convert to Paid(11:30) – Product Touch Points of Onboarding Customized to User Profiles(12:16) – Learnings Caroline Applies from Canva to Spline(14:10) – Affiliate Programs vs Allowing User Generated Content to Spread Freely(15:24) – Why Workflow Matters in AI(16:45) – Use Cases for 3D Design(19:15) – Spatial Environment Design Trends(21:28) – Positioning a Product to Benefit from AI Model Improvements(23:15) – Growth at Spline & Community Engagement(25:22) – Are AI Native Apps More Likely to Experience Spikey Usage(27:10) – How to Develop User Communities(28:48) – What Can Be Measured in Growth(30:30) – Growth vs Monetization Tradeoffs(32:45) – Pricing for AI Products(35:03) – A/B Testing Pricing Effectively(36:30) - 3D Design Future This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shomik.substack.com

For anyone who’s been curious about what AI Agents are, what they will do, and current deployed use cases at large enterprises, this is the podcast for you.Joao Moura is Founder & CEO of CrewAI, the leading multi-agent platform. He previously was Director of AI Engineering at Clearbit which was acquired by Hubspot. I’m also joined by my colleague Eliot Durbin at boldstart ventures. We are fortunate to partner with Joao as a founder in our portfolio! This episode dives deep into the multi-agent world talking about how agents work, the tech behind the scenes, unlocks that are coming to the ecosystem to push use cases forward, and what tangible ROI agents are delivering for enterprises today. We go deep into topics like memory & caching, robotic process automation, what foundation model leaps are enabling in the ecosystem, and how to complete complex tasks with multi-agents. Whether you’re technical or not, you’ll love this episode as everyone will be experiencing agents either first hand or behind the scenes. And I strongly believe if you learn how to use agents now, it’ll position you for success in the very near future.Where to Find Joao:* Twitter: https://x.com/joaomdmoura* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joaomdmoura/Where to Find Eliot:* Twitter: https://x.com/etdurbin* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eliotdurbin/Where to Find Shomik:* Twitter: https://twitter.com/shomikghosh21* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shomik-ghosh-a5a71319/* Software Snack Bites Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google.In this episode, we cover:(02:00) – CrewAI Announcements: $18M raised from boldstart, Insight, Early Grey Capital, Craft Ventures, Andrew Ng, Dharmesh Shah; IBM Partnership, Celonis Partnership, New CrewAI course with Andrew Ng at DeepLearning AI w/ PWC Production Use Case(05:11) – Origins of CrewAI & What the Platform Does(10:24) – Early Enterprise Use Cases for Agents(12:50) – How Does Agent Reasoning Work(16:13) – LLMs vs RAG(18:30) – How Many Crews are Running Daily(19:50) – Building OSS in AI and How That Maps to Stakeholders Within Enterprises(21:33) – “Last Mile” Problem for AI Adoption in Enterprises(24:08) – Actual Product Use Cases in Enterprises(33:44) – What Multi-Agent Means(37:34) – Why AI Changes Economics for App & Feature Creation(40:45) – RPA vs Agents(43:06) – Biggest Unlock for Agent Adoption So Far(45:24) – Chain of Reasoning Impact on AI(49:45) – Enterprise Ready AI(53:00) – Multi-Modal Impact on Agents(55:00) – AI Wave vs Internet Wave(57:11) – Future of Agent Adoption This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shomik.substack.com

For any founders or managers navigating go-to-market, strategy and org structure, this is the episode for you.Ryan Denehy is Founder & CEO of Electric AI, a leading SMB IT management platform. He previously founded two companies: Royalty Media (sold to USA Today) and Swarm (sold to Groupon). Ryan is never afraid to share detailed advice from his own journey and also from advising/investing in other founders. This episode is rich with insights on how to identify and execute pivots, matching product and go-to-market, and why company building relies on manual hard work at every stage. Ryan also shares lessons on hiring, layoffs, and changing company strategy even at scale. You can see why Ryan is one of my favorite people to talk with and connect founders to for advice from this episode!Where to Find Ryan:* Twitter: https://x.com/DenehyXXL* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryandenehy/Where to Find Shomik:* Twitter: https://twitter.com/shomikghosh21* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shomik-ghosh-a5a71319/* Software Snack Bites Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google.In this episode, we cover:(00:58) – Ryan’s Entrepreneurship Background(04:00) – Pivoting & Selling Royalty Media to USA Today(07:45) – Industry Dynamics Around AdTech(10:03) – Selling Swarm to Groupon and Experiencing Peak of Growth(13:46) – Starting Electric AI Targeting SMBs(18:02) – Matching Go-To-Market to SMB ACVs & Velocity(20:12) – Why You Can’t Rely on Customer Referrals and Need to Cold Email / Call(22:25) – Lessons Brought from First 2 Companies to Starting Electric AI(26:15) – Founder Awareness Knowing How to Hire to Augment Weaknesses(29:12) – Hiring Player Coaches Early(30:40) – Changing the Business Model and Leadership at ~$50M ARR(33:26) – How to Prepare For and Manage Large Team & Strategy Changes(35:47) – Diagnosing Changes to Make in the R&D Org(38:37) – Managing Culture Through Team & Strategy Changes(41:37) – Applying AI to IT Ticket Comprehension & Process Automation(43:11) – Internal Vendor Consolidation and Diagnosing Real AI Use Cases(44:36) – Shadow IT Data Access & Controls(47:00) – Wrap Up This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shomik.substack.com