Sreenivas: AI startups relying permanently on FDEs become glorified consultancies
Ashwin Sreenivas · How Decagon Runs 90% of Its Agents on Open-Source Models · Jul 30, 2026 · at 22:54
Ashwin Sreenivas, co-founder of Decagon, warns AI founders against the permanent trap of using forward-deployed engineers instead of productizing workflows into scalable software.
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“Once you know what the workflow is, you should not be relying on forward deployed engineers anymore, because once you know what the workflow is, If you can productize it, you should productize it and then become, you know, typical company with these scaling properties of a tech company. And if you can't do that, then you're just building a glorified consulting truck.”
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