forward deployed engineer
also referred to as: forward deployed engineers
8 statements across 4 episodes · 4 bullish · 2 bearish · 3 people on the record · first statement Oct 22, 2025 by Jason Lemkin · across every show →
Everything said about forward deployed engineer, oldest first
Oct 22, 2025 negative
Cheap AI Tools Shift Massive Training Burdens Onto Software Buyers
“Be wary of super cheap apps. Be wary of super cheap. It's not that we're not getting there. It's not that everything isn't going to get better, but it's, you can't cut the corner on training. So if instead of 50 grand a year, you're buying a solution that's 50…”
Oct 22, 2025 bullish
Oct 22, 2025 neutral
Effective Enterprise AI Apps With FDEs Cost $30K to $100K Annually
“These apps that need to be trained with forward deployed engineers and work. I don't think very many of them are less than 30 or 50,000 dollars a year. And a lot of them actually try to kind of have a price point that's approaching a hundred K like 60 K a year…”
Apr 22, 2026 neutral
LaRoute: FDEs do not need engineering backgrounds if they know the product
“If you have people in your org who know the product, they can be an FBE. They do not need to be an engineer as long as they know the product and can get your customer deployed. I feel like we're also losing the plot. That the whole point of the FDE is to get y…”
Apr 22, 2026 positive
Lemkin: Startups must view FDEs as retention drivers, not cost centers
“View FDs as one of your most important assets to getting renewals, retention, NPS, word of mouth, virality. Don't look at FDs as a cost center. This was the mistake we made in customer success a generation ago. And this is why customer success was cut to zero …”
Jun 16, 2026 bullish
Lemkin: Tech Industry Needs 100x More Forward Deployed Engineers
“We're going to need, I think Aaron Levy said on a tweet today or the other day, we're going to need a hundred times more FDs than we thought, because there's going to be a hundred times more workflows out there and they all need humans to deploy them. They don…”
Jun 16, 2026 negative
Jun 18, 2026 positive
Persson: Outcome-Driven Demand Is Driving Forward Deployed Engineering
“I think we're seeing now the world moving very much towards, we're looking for specific business outcomes. And that's of course where the, this FD function comes in, right? They go in on like, Hey, we're going to help you accomplish this specific outcome versu…”