SC
How Ramp solved the Fatal Flaw in AI Agent Strategy ft. Rahul Sengottuvelu
@ Sequoia Capital
05/12/25
Takeaways
RS
Rahul Sengottuvelu
05/12/25
@ Sequoia Capital
This talk is aimed at individuals with established distribution, specifically those who have users and mature software products that have been developed over time.
RS
Rahul Sengottuvelu
05/12/25
@ Sequoia Capital
A common frustration occurs when users ask AI assistants to perform tasks, like booking a flight, but the assistant fails to handle subsequent requests, resulting in a poor experience.
RS
Rahul Sengottuvelu
05/12/25
@ Sequoia Capital
Many AI agent assistants fail because they are built with incomplete features, leading to frustrating user experiences.
RS
Rahul Sengottuvelu
05/12/25
@ Sequoia Capital
As software applications grow, they become complex with numerous API endpoints, making it challenging to maintain feature parity with the existing frontend.
RS
Rahul Sengottuvelu
05/12/25
@ Sequoia Capital
When building AI tools, companies often find themselves on a long path to feature parity with their existing frontend, which can delay the implementation of essential features.
RS
Rahul Sengottuvelu
05/12/25
@ Sequoia Capital
The disconnect between a well-developed frontend experience and the slower development of AI tools leads to user confusion about which features are supported.
RS
Rahul Sengottuvelu
05/12/25
@ Sequoia Capital
AI agent teams often lag behind frontend teams, resulting in a struggle to keep up with new features and tools that enhance user experience. However, building an AI agent interface is straightforward if you leverage existing features rather than starting from scratch, allowing for broader access to tools and services.
RS
Rahul Sengottuvelu
05/12/25
@ Sequoia Capital
Instead of integrating every feature individually, focus on using your frontend capabilities to create a more efficient AI agent experience.
RS
Rahul Sengottuvelu
05/12/25
@ Sequoia Capital
Authentication is crucial for AI agents to access the same features and documents as users, which can complicate the development process.
RS
Rahul Sengottuvelu
05/12/25
@ Sequoia Capital
By building tools on your existing frontend, you can utilize the work of your design and product management teams instead of duplicating efforts.
RS
Rahul Sengottuvelu
05/12/25
@ Sequoia Capital
At Ramp, we developed a computer-use agent that operates in the background, allowing users to access niche features without seeing the complexity involved.
RS
Rahul Sengottuvelu
05/12/25
@ Sequoia Capital
Creating a feature-complete AI agent simplifies the user experience and reduces frustration by supporting all tools simultaneously rather than one at a time.
RS
Rahul Sengottuvelu
05/12/25
@ Sequoia Capital
When building your own AI tools, you can create a navigation tree and focus on unreliable parts, enhancing the overall reliability of the agent.