<p>Jake Stauch is the Co-founder and CEO of Serval. Serval automates IT with AI.</p><p><br></p><p>We talk taking on incumbents with an AI-native product, why IT departments haven’t had much automation historically, the 12+ month journey of landing their first customer, and how teams can increase talent density as they scale.</p><p><br></p><p>Try Numeral, the end-to-end platform for sales tax and compliance: [https://www.numeral.com⁠](https://www.numeral.xn--com-xw0a/)</p><p><br></p><p>Sign-up for Flex Elite with code TURNER, get $1,000: https://form.typeform.com/to/Rx9rTjFz</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>Timestamps:</p><p>(0:14) AI-native employee support</p><p>(5:15) How an early work trial almost ended the entire company</p><p>(9:05) Why IT hasn’t had much automation</p><p>(13:09) Vibe coding for IT professionals</p><p>(15:31) Competing against publicly traded incumbents</p><p>(23:32) Having less than three months of runway for seven years building his first hardware consumer health startup</p><p>(33:15) Lessons from five years at Verkada</p><p>(39:11) The single question that led birthed the idea for Serval</p><p>(44:19) Navigating 12+ months of zero revenue</p><p>(52:05) Knowing when not to pivot</p><p>(55:15) Finally landing the first three customers</p><p>(58:07) Getting pre-empted for a Series A</p><p>(1:01:04) Getting a Series B term sheet the next day</p><p>(1:05:54) How to structure design partnerships that convert</p><p>(1:08:48) Building a mirror instead of system of record</p><p>(1:13:49) Make the implementation part of the product</p><p>(1:15:24) How to increase talent density as you scale</p><p>(1:21:32) Why every new hire should help you recruit</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>Referenced</p><p>Try Serval: https://www.serval.com/</p><p>Careers at Serval: https://www.serval.com/careers</p><p>Episode with Filip @ Verkada: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXI3GdicIHw</p><p><br></p><p>Follow Jake</p><p>Twitter: https://x.com/jakeserval</p><p>LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakestauch</p><p><br></p><p>Follow Turner</p><p>Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak</p><p>LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovak</p><p><br></p><p>Subscribe to my newsletter to get every episode + the transcript in your inbox every week: https://www.thespl.it/</p>