329: Dheeraj Pandey, Nutanix Founder and DevRev CEO, shares how he raised $100M to improve the customer experience with AI

AI and the Future of Work: Artificial Intelligence in the Workplace, Business, Ethics, HR, and IT for AI Enthusiasts, Leaders and Academics

Dheeraj Pandey is a visionary entrepreneur and philanthropist best known for founding and leading Nutanix from its inception to becoming a publicly traded company valued at approximately $16.5 billion on NASDAQ. In 2020, he launched DevRev, an agentic AI company focused on unifying data to enhance customer experiences, securing over $100 million in funding from Khosla Ventures. Beyond his contributions to technology, Dheeraj co-founded Param Hansa with his wife, Swapna, to advance human life through science and technology. He holds a Computer Science and Engineering degree from IIT Kanpur and a master's in Computer Science from UT Austin.

In this conversation, we discuss:

• Why data is the backbone of AI and how DevRev is leveraging knowledge graphs to transform customer support and product management.
• The evolution of enterprise AI—why businesses must integrate AI with human workflows rather than replace them.
• The future of customer support—how DevRev combines real-time conversations with ticketing systems to improve response times and reduce inefficiencies.
• The ethical challenges of AI adoption—how bias, security, and machine reliability shape the future of AI-driven business operations.
• How DevRev raised over $100M, including an unconventional approach using blockchain and decentralized funding models.
• Dheeraj’s vision for AI’s next frontier—why the real challenge isn’t intelligence, but making AI work seamlessly with human decision-making.

Resources:

• Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work Newsletter: https://aiandwork.beehiiv.com/subscribe
• Connect with Dheeraj Pandey on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dpandey
• AI fun fact article: https://hackernoon.com/next-time-you-hear-someone-say-ai-will-replace-call-center-agents-run
• On The Path To 500M+ YouTube views: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/301-william-osman-on-the-path-to-500m-youtube-views/id1476885647?i=1000668882327