Dheeraj Pandey, CEO and Co-founder of DevRev – Interview Collection

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Dheeraj Pandey, CEO and co-founder of DevRev, can 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 improvement, turning it right into a cultural basis fairly than a departmental focus. By leveraging knowledge, AI, and design, the platform empowers builders to straight 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 improvement with its Product-Led Progress (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 through the period of Enterprise SaaS 1.0, I discovered that enterprise software program usually 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 corporations.”

DevRev is described as being constructed “from a blank page in the AI era.” Are you able to elaborate on what this implies, and why it was vital to start out contemporary fairly than construct on current SaaS programs?

Beginning DevRev from scratch in as we speak’s AI-driven world allowed us to create a essentially totally different product with out legacy constraints. AI is present process what I prefer to name a ‘Goldilocks moment’—a stability the place expertise, demand, and instruments like neural networks are excellent for transformation. Constructing from a clean web page meant we might leverage these advances to rethink what SaaS could possibly be and place clients and merchandise on the heart fairly than adapting outdated programs to new calls for.

You’ve gotten 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 substitute. We prioritize interactions that align with actual buyer wants by integrating human insights into the guts of DevRev’s AI and information 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 corporations to give attention to actual buyer wants. The result’s a platform that enhances human interactions by being collaborative and contextual, serving to corporations stay empathetic and responsive.

What have been the largest challenges you confronted through the early days of DevRev, particularly when it comes to integrating AI and creating the information graph that powers the platform?

One main problem was avoiding the pitfalls of conventional project-centric programs. We needed DevRev to be customer- and product-centric, which required a complete information graph from the beginning. Constructing this was complicated, however it was important to breaking down silos and integrating the whole lot 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 position does DevRev play in that transformation?

AI is the driving drive behind what we see as SaaS 2.0—shifting from static software program to an adaptive, agent-driven expertise. On this new mannequin, AI isn’t just a instrument however a foundational layer that learns and evolves alongside the enterprise. DevRev leverages agentic AI to create a seamless, steady studying atmosphere, permitting corporations 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 information graph differentiate it from conventional SaaS options? What worth does it carry to companies utilizing your platform?

DevRev’s information graph is constructed to unify product and buyer knowledge, making a dynamic, built-in view throughout departments. Not like conventional CRMs, which frequently emphasize gross sales transactions, our information graph captures the complete journey of a product and the shopper’s interplay with it. This implies companies can higher predict wants, resolve points sooner, and in the end create a product that’s constantly aligned with buyer calls for.

The brand new options in AgentOS, similar to no-code customized AI brokers and conversational search, intention to simplify work. May you share particular examples of how these options have reworked operations to your purchasers?

With AgentOS, corporations are discovering they will streamline processes that after required a number of instruments. As an illustration, no-code brokers permit assist groups to rapidly construct workflows that reply to distinctive buyer wants with out heavy IT involvement. One consumer used conversational search to cut 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 contemporary method to SaaS that will be purpose-built for the AI period. Traders 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 resolution, 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 corporations lower down on operational prices whereas attaining a extra agile, customer-driven method.

As DevRev continues to develop, how do you keep the stability between fast scaling and staying true to your mission of constructing customer-centric corporations?

Staying customer-centric means constantly evolving with our purchasers and their wants. We’re centered on scalable, high-impact options fairly than overwhelming customers with choices. Our staff is dedicated to balancing progress with the precept of ‘less is better,’ guaranteeing that each function we roll out enhances the shopper journey and aligns with DevRev’s core mission.

Thanks for the nice interview, readers who want to study extra ought to go to DevRev.

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