{"podcast":{"title":"In Depth","slug":"in-depth-1318680","podcast_index_feed_id":1318680,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/FRCH6787238462","website_url":"https://firstround.com/","image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/9426cbf8-25fe-11ec-a0b4-fb6861cc1eaf/image/f27cea2953ad25c68029f33bc99ba58b.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"First Round","episode_count":178,"summary":"Welcome to In Depth, a podcast from The First Round Review that’s dedicated to surfacing the tactical advice founders and startup leaders need to grow their teams, their companies and themselves. Hosted by Brett Berson, a partner at First Round, In Depth will cover a lot of ground and a wide range of topics, from hiring executives and becoming a better manager, to the importance of storytelling inside of your organization. But every interview will hit the level of tactical depth where the very best advice is found. We hope you’ll join us. Subscribe to “In Depth” now and learn more at firstround.com","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/in-depth-1318680"},"episode":{"title":"Go hard early: How lessons from Verkada shaped Serval's AI agents for IT teams | Jake Stauch (Founder and CEO)","slug":"go-hard-early-how-lessons-from-verkada-shaped-serval-s-ai-agents-for-it-teams-jake-stauch-founder-and-ceo","published_at":"2025-10-23T11:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/in-depth-1318680/go-hard-early-how-lessons-from-verkada-shaped-serval-s-ai-agents-for-it-teams-jake-stauch-founder-and-ceo","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/in-depth-1318680","url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/FRCH9214523310.mp3?updated=1761203462","audio_url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/FRCH9214523310.mp3?updated=1761203462","summary":"Jake is the founder and CEO of Serval, an AI-driven IT automation and service management platform that just raised $47M in Series A funding this week. Before founding Serval, Jake spent over five years at Verkada, where he led multiple products from 0-1 and helped scale the company across hardware and software. His years at Verkada taught him that winning in enterprise means delivering consumer-quality experiences to business buyers — a lesson that shapes how Serval turns complex IT automation into something that feels magical. In this episode, Jake and Brett dive into the lessons from Verkada that inspired Serval's founding, what it takes to disrupt entrenched enterprise categories, and practical tips for getting deeply embedded with customers and hiring high-quality candidates. In today’s episode, we discuss: Why building “in existing categories” can be more powerful than creating new ones The lessons from Verkada that shaped Serval's platform strategy The customer interview question that unlocked the IT buyer’s hidden pain points How Serval's automation builder uses AI to generate code-based workflows Redefining engineering and PM roles with forward-deployed engineers Keeping the hiring bar high in an AI-native startup Why there’s a “land grab” moment right now in enterprise AI And much more... Where to find Jake: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakestauch/ Twitter/X: https://x.com/jakeserval Where to find Brett: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-berson-9986094/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/brettberson Where to find First Round Capital: Website: https://firstround.com/ First Round Review: https://review.firstround.com/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/firstround YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstRoundCapital This podcast on all platforms: https:…","meta_description":"Jake is the founder and CEO of Serval, an AI-driven IT automation and service management platform that just raised $47M in Series A funding this week. Bef…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":4981,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/in-depth-1318680/episodes/go-hard-early-how-lessons-from-verkada-shaped-serval-s-ai-agents-for-it-teams-jake-stauch-founder-and-ceo/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/in-depth-1318680/go-hard-early-how-lessons-from-verkada-shaped-serval-s-ai-agents-for-it-teams-jake-stauch-founder-and-ceo.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}