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cover of episode Customer Obsession & Agentic AI Power Ravenna’s Reinvention of Internal Ops

Customer Obsession & Agentic AI Power Ravenna’s Reinvention of Internal Ops

2025/5/1
logo of podcast Founded & Funded

Founded & Funded

AI Deep Dive Transcript
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Kevin Coleman
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Taylor Halliday
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Tim Porter
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Kevin Coleman: 我在亚马逊工作期间,深刻体会到现有内部工具的不足,这促使我思考如何构建新一代的企业服务管理平台。通过与众多客户沟通,我发现内部运营效率低下是普遍问题,而AI可以有效解决这个问题。在Ravenna,我们致力于构建一个以AI为原生架构的平台,它不仅提供智能的解决方案,更重要的是重新定义了整个工作流程。我们专注于解决客户的实际问题,并通过持续的迭代和改进,不断提升平台的性能和用户体验。 Taylor Halliday: 我之前在Zapier的工作经历让我意识到,许多公司都在使用各种工具和自动化手段来管理内部请求,但缺乏一个整合的平台。与Kevin的想法不谋而合,我们决定构建一个全新的平台,而不是仅仅在现有平台上添加AI层。通过与众多客户沟通,我们深刻理解了他们的需求和痛点,并以此为基础设计了Ravenna。我们选择Slack作为主要的交互界面,因为员工的日常工作主要在Slack上进行。Ravenna的AI功能可以自动处理重复性问题,并从Slack对话中学习,不断提升自身能力。 Tim Porter: 作为投资者,我们非常看好Ravenna团队,他们将雄心壮志与严谨的执行力相结合。Ravenna的AI原生架构、Slack深度集成以及简洁的用户体验,使其在企业服务管理市场中脱颖而出。他们注重客户反馈,并通过持续的迭代和改进,不断提升产品性能。Ravenna的透明化运营模式也值得称赞,这有助于他们与客户和投资者建立良好的合作关系。 Kevin Coleman: 在开发Ravenna之前,我们与30多位客户进行了深入沟通,了解他们的需求和痛点。这让我们对市场有了更清晰的认识,并增强了我们对产品的信心。我们选择了一个明确的市场,并专注于利用AI提供更好的用户体验。我们不回避竞争,而是选择正面迎战,因为我们相信Ravenna能够为客户带来真正的价值。 Taylor Halliday: 我们选择Slack作为Ravenna的主要交互界面,是因为员工的日常工作主要在Slack上进行。这使得Ravenna能够无缝融入员工的工作流程,提高工作效率。Ravenna的AI功能可以自动处理重复性问题,并从Slack对话中学习,不断提升自身能力。我们致力于构建一个能够自主学习和改进的系统,从而不断提升员工问题的解决效率。 Tim Porter: Ravenna体现了Madrona投资的几个重要主题:AI重塑企业应用、智能代理系统以及新型用户界面。Ravenna利用AI技术,不仅能够提供洞察力,还能自动化完成任务,这在企业服务管理领域具有巨大的潜力。Ravenna的Slack原生集成和简洁的用户体验,使其能够更好地融入员工的工作流程,提高工作效率。 Kevin Coleman: 我们意识到,在大型现有市场中,客户对产品功能和性能有既定的预期。因此,我们需要构建更多软件来满足这些预期。然而,这同时也意味着我们需要快速与市场接触,并根据实际情况不断调整产品策略。 Taylor Halliday: 我们始终坚持客户至上的原则,并通过持续的客户沟通来收集反馈,并以此来指导产品的开发和改进。即使在产品发布后,我们仍然会将每一次客户沟通视为一个发现机会,并从中学习和改进。 Tim Porter: ServiceNow收购Moveworks对Ravenna来说既是机遇也是挑战。Moveworks和Ravenna都致力于利用AI技术来改进企业服务管理,但Ravenna的策略与Moveworks不同,Ravenna致力于构建底层平台和AI智能层,这将为Ravenna带来长期的竞争优势。

Deep Dive

Shownotes Transcript

Most startups bolt AI onto old products.  ⁨@ravennahq⁩  reimagined the entire workflow. 

When we first met Kevin Coleman and Taylor Halliday, it was clear they weren’t just chasing the hype cycle. They were pairing AI-native architecture with deep founder-market fit, and rebuilding how internal ops work — from first principles.

Their new company, Ravenna, is going after a $160B+ market dominated by legacy players. But instead of being intimidated by incumbents, they got focused, making some smart moves that more early-stage teams should consider:

  1. Speak with 30+ customers before writing a line of code 2) Define a clear ICP and pain points 3) Build natively for Slack — where support actually happens 4) Prioritize automation, iteration, and real workflow transformation 5) Stayed radically transparent with investors and early customers

At Madrona, we love backing teams that combine ambition with discipline — and Kevin and Taylor are doing just that. In this episode of Founded & Funded, they sit down with Madrona Managing Director Tim Porter and talk through their journey, what they’d do differently the second time around, and how they’re building a durable, agentic platform for internal support.

If you're a founder building in AI, SaaS, or ops — this conversation is full of lessons worth hearing.

Transcript: https://bit.ly/4ju2Cml

Chapters:  (00:00) Introduction (00:23) Meet the Founders: Taylor Halliday and Kevin Coleman (02:05) The Birth of Ravenna: Identifying the Problem (03:05) The Concept of Enterprise Service Management (04:02) The Journey from Idea to Execution (04:31) Customer Insights and Market Fit (06:42) Building a Next-Generation Platform (10:43) Slack Integration and AI Automation (14:37) Partnering with Slack: A Strategic Move (17:13) Leveraging Slack for Knowledge Management (20:13) Balancing Focus and Vision (21:07) Discovering ITSM: A Hidden Market (21:40) Expanding Beyond IT: The Universal Help Desk (24:30) ServiceNow and the AI Revolution (27:03) Building a Transparent and Collaborative Culture (29:37) Recruiting Top AI Talent (31:59) Navigating Market Realities and Customer Focus (37:59) Advice for Aspiring Founders