How is AI Different Than Other Technology Waves? (With Bret Taylor and Clay Bavor) [ACQ2]
Bret Taylor and Clay Bavor argue AI makes intelligence plentiful the way electricity made energy plentiful, and that Sierra’s outcome-based pricing model fundamentally breaks the pre-sale/post-sale divide in enterprise software.
- Sierra agents resolve over 80% of incoming customer issues end-to-end; Taylor originally bet 50%, Bavor bet 80% and won handily.
- Sierra is paid on sales commission by at least one large furniture retailer, earning only when the agent successfully attaches a premium delivery upsell.
- ChatGPT reached 10% weekly global usage in ~25 months; the web took from 1991 to 2002 to reach the same threshold.
- Taylor’s framework: AI makes intelligence plentiful the way electricity and modern farming made energy and food plentiful — a civilizational shift, not just better software.
- Bavor and Taylor have an undisclosed bet on the year when over 50% of Sierra agent conversations will be agent-to-agent, not human-to-agent.
- Sierra targets go-live in 2–3 weeks for agile customers; outcome-based pricing means Sierra earns nothing until the agent is live and successful.
- Taylor argues the best-of-breed vs. best-of-platform pendulum always swings toward breed during technology disruption, then back to platform as the tech commoditizes — Sierra’s race is to become the incumbent before that happens.
- Software engineers are both the top candidates for AI-driven automation and the people building the technology doing the automating — an identity disruption Taylor calls personally uncomfortable and possibly unprecedented.
2025-08-18 · Watch on YouTube
