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Can an AI Startup Beat ServiceNow? · No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups

No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups

Taking on ServiceNow: Coding Agents the Rest of Us with Serval Co-Founder and CEO Jake Stauch

What happens when you put code-generation agents in the hands of enterprise IT teams? With Serval, you get a system where it's easy for everyone to be a builder. Sarah Guo and Elad Gil sit down with Serval co-founder and CEO Jake Stauch to analyze his company’s direct challenge to ServiceNow as the enterprise automation and service management system of…

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Notes

  1. Why Do IT Teams Hate ServiceNow? at 1:18

    Jake Stauch says IT teams often name ServiceNow as both a top cost and the tool they hate most. Full answer

  2. How Can IT Teams Safely Let Coding Agents Build Automations? at 3:42

    Jake Stauch says IT teams can let coding agents build automations when the work goes through approval, a staging cycle, and an audit trail. Full answer

  3. What Is Serval's ProServal Team? at 6:47

    Jake Stauch says ProServal is Serval's team of automation engineers who stay with a customer after the first deployment, because the list of work to automate… Full answer

  4. Can an AI Startup Beat ServiceNow? at 7:58

    Jake Stauch says a startup can take on ServiceNow if it aims at the large enterprise from the first day, and if AI lets people build automations in code. Full answer

  5. Why Does Serval Price on Workflows Instead of Tokens? at 21:54

    Jake Stauch says Serval tries to price on workflows run, because that reflects actual work better than tokens, which track verbosity and inefficiency. Full answer

  6. Should Companies Build Their Own Enterprise Systems? at 23:45

    Jake Stauch says companies should not build their own main enterprise systems unless the needs are very bespoke and unique. Full answer

  7. How Fast Is Serval Hiring? at 33:11

    Jake Stauch says Serval is 200 people, up from 20 in January, and hiring will get even faster. Full answer

  8. Why Does Serval Have No Product Team? at 35:42

    Jake Stauch says Serval has no product function. Engineers talk with customers every day, so product development sits with the engineering team. Full answer

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