Dheeraj Pandey, CEO and co-founder of DevRev, can also be the previous CEO and founding father of Nutanix and a present board member of Adobe. Together with co-founder Manoj Agarwal, Pandey launched DevRev to remodel how builders (Dev) join with revenue-generating clients (Rev).
DevRev’s mission is to embed customer-centricity into the core of product growth, turning it right into a cultural basis quite than a departmental focus. By leveraging knowledge, AI, and design, the platform empowers builders to immediately impression enterprise outcomes, streamline workflows, and speed up innovation. Backed by one of many largest seed fundings in Silicon Valley historical past, DevRev is redefining customer-focused product growth with its Product-Led Development (PLG) mannequin.
What impressed you to discovered DevRev after your profitable tenure with Nutanix, and the way did your expertise there form the imaginative and prescient for DevRev?
Whereas constructing Nutanix throughout the period of Enterprise SaaS 1.0, I realized that enterprise software program typically turns right into a maze of fragmented instruments, every tackling only a piece of a broader drawback. Many merchandise available in the market are actually simply options packaged as full options. This expertise fueled my need to construct a platform that would actually unify and simplify complicated workflows, serving to companies give attention to what actually issues: their clients. DevRev was born from this concept of doing fewer issues however doing them higher—integrating features seamlessly to construct extra customer-centric firms.”
DevRev is described as being constructed “from a clean web page within the AI period.” Are you able to elaborate on what this implies, and why it was essential to begin recent quite than construct on current SaaS methods?
Beginning DevRev from scratch in right now’s AI-driven world allowed us to create a basically totally different product with out legacy constraints. AI is present process what I prefer to name a ‘Goldilocks second’—a steadiness the place expertise, demand, and instruments like neural networks are good for transformation. Constructing from a clean web page meant we may leverage these advances to rethink what SaaS may very well be and place clients and merchandise on the heart quite than adapting previous methods to new calls for.
You might have emphasised making a customer-centric platform at DevRev. How do you make sure that AI-driven processes nonetheless preserve human wants on the forefront of operations?
Our method is to make AI an enabler, not a alternative. We prioritize interactions that align with actual buyer wants by integrating human insights into the guts of DevRev’s AI and data graph—a strong, unified system that ties collectively product, buyer, and operational knowledge to supply wealthy context for AI interactions. This implies the AI can assist groups by managing updates and simplifying processes, permitting firms to give attention to actual buyer wants. The result’s a platform that enhances human interactions by being collaborative and contextual, serving to firms stay empathetic and responsive.
What had been the largest challenges you confronted throughout the early days of DevRev, particularly when it comes to integrating AI and creating the data graph that powers the platform?
One main problem was avoiding the pitfalls of conventional project-centric methods. We wished DevRev to be customer- and product-centric, which required a complete data graph from the beginning. Constructing this was complicated, nevertheless it was important to breaking down silos and integrating every thing from buyer suggestions to engineering workflows into one seamless interface.
DevRev is positioned as an AI-native platform. How do you see AI evolving inside the enterprise SaaS area, and what function does DevRev play in that transformation?
AI is the driving pressure behind what we see as SaaS 2.0—shifting from static software program to an adaptive, agent-driven expertise. On this new mannequin, AI is not only a software however a foundational layer that learns and evolves alongside the enterprise. DevRev leverages agentic AI to create a seamless, steady studying setting, permitting firms to shift their focus from operational mechanics to deep buyer engagement. Simply because the cloud redefined infrastructure, AI is reshaping SaaS, enabling platforms like DevRev to drive richer, extra responsive interactions throughout the complete enterprise.
How does DevRev’s data graph differentiate it from conventional SaaS options? What worth does it convey to companies utilizing your platform?
DevRev’s data graph is constructed to unify product and buyer knowledge, making a dynamic, built-in view throughout departments. In contrast to conventional CRMs, which frequently emphasize gross sales transactions, our data graph captures the complete journey of a product and the client’s interplay with it. This implies companies can higher predict wants, resolve points sooner, and finally create a product that’s constantly aligned with buyer calls for.
The brand new options in AgentOS, reminiscent of no-code customized AI brokers and conversational search, intention to simplify work. May you share particular examples of how these options have remodeled operations to your shoppers?
With AgentOS, firms are discovering they’ll streamline processes that when required a number of instruments. As an illustration, no-code brokers permit assist groups to shortly construct workflows that reply to distinctive buyer wants with out heavy IT involvement. One shopper used conversational search to scale back their response time by 30%, empowering assist groups to focus extra on buyer satisfaction than backend coordination.
With main backers like Mayfield and Khosla Ventures, what was your method to securing funding for DevRev, and the way did you pitch the worth of your AI-native platform to buyers?
The pitch centered on a recent method to SaaS that will be purpose-built for the AI period. Buyers acknowledged that the timing was proper—AI, cloud, and buyer expectations have all advanced. They noticed DevRev as a platform that would combine these components right into a unified answer, making enterprise software program each extra clever and extra customer-centric.
DevRev is already seeing substantial time-saving impacts (e.g., lowering incident response instances by 30%). What different areas of enterprise SaaS do you imagine can profit most from AI-driven effectivity?
AI could make an impression throughout features, particularly in areas that contain high-volume buyer interactions, complicated engineering processes, and frequent updates. DevRev is actively growing options that transcend simply time financial savings—serving to firms minimize down on operational prices whereas attaining a extra agile, customer-driven method.
As DevRev continues to develop, how do you keep the steadiness between fast scaling and staying true to your mission of constructing customer-centric firms?
Staying customer-centric means constantly evolving with our shoppers and their wants. We’re centered on scalable, high-impact options quite than overwhelming customers with choices. Our group is dedicated to balancing development with the precept of ‘much less is best,’ guaranteeing that each characteristic we roll out enhances the client journey and aligns with DevRev’s core mission.
Thanks for the good interview, readers who want to be taught extra ought to go to DevRev.
