Bernardo Tavares has one question for AI startups: when do your FDEs leave?
He was the founding CTDO of Kenvue, the $40B+ company behind Tylenol and Listerine.
When Kenvue split from J&J, he found it had outsourced so much software work that it no longer knew how to build.
Outsiders held what he calls “the soul of the business,” and IT had become a contract manager.
Now, when a startup sends forward-deployed engineers, his team spends its own time teaching them how the business runs.
If they never leave, Kenvue depends on outsiders again.
“If the forward deployed model has an end, I like it.
They should teach the companies how to fish for themselves, and go away.”
If you sell AI to enterprises, put two things in your proposal: what their team will run on its own, and the date your engineers step out.
In the episode, Bernardo also talks about whether the executive backing your pilot can actually buy, what makes him bet on an early-stage startup, and how he used VCs to find startups to buy from.
[YouTube] → [Spotify] → [Apple Podcast]
Also in this episode:
[46:38] How he used VCs to find startups to buy from
[47:44] What makes him bet on an early-stage startup
[58:28] Whether the executive backing your pilot can actually buy
