Harness CEO on New $5.5B Valuation, AI Agents, Future of Engineering | Jyoti Bansal on Series E

Harness CEO Jyoti Bansal joins Macro Talk with Hope King to discuss raising $240M at a new $5.5 billion valuation and confirms his plans to take the company public. They dive deep into the reality of "Agentic AI" for large enterprises, moving beyond simple code generation to automating the entire software delivery "assembly line."

Jyoti provides a realistic look at the impact of AI on software engineering jobs, arguing that "massive backlogs" in enterprise IT are currently absorbing efficiency gains rather than causing mass layoffs. He also explains Harness’s strategy of sitting on top of foundation models, revealing why switching between LLMs like OpenAI’s GPT-4, Google Gemini, and Anthropic’s Claude has low switching costs for enterprises, and how they handle proprietary data privacy with zero-retention agreements.

Finally, Jyoti offers critical advice for young software engineers entering the market and gives a stark warning about the current AI hype cycle, predicting that the "bubble will burst" for 8 out of 10 new AI companies.


Key Topics Discussed:
-Harness's $5.5B valuation and IPO roadmap.
-Defining "Agentic AI" in the context of DevOps and software engineering.
-Real-world ROI examples from United Airlines and National Australia Bank.
-The "Infinite Backlog" theory vs. AI-driven tech layoffs.
-Enterprise liability when LLMs hallucinate.
-Why domain expertise is the new requirement for developers.

Chapters:
00:00 The $240M Raise & $5.5B Valuation
01:19 What Harness Actually Does (Automating the "Assembly Line")
02:52 IPO Plans Confirmed
04:12 Explaining Agentic AI in DevOps
10:04 Real-World Enterprise AI ROI vs Failing Pilots
15:07 The LLM Race: Switching Between OpenAI, Gemini, & Anthropic
19:18 Zero Data Retention & Protecting Proprietary Data
22:54 AI Risks, Non-Determinism, and Business Liability
24:52 Will AI Replace Engineers? The "Massive Backlog" Defense
28:16 Addressing Tech Layoffs & Labor Market Impact
34:27 Career Advice for Young Software Engineers Today
38:45 "The Bubble Will Burst": Jyoti’s Warning on the AI Hype Cycle

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