Terminal Value

In this episode of Terminal Value, I'm joined by Shan Kulkarni, co-founder and CEO of Nullify — an AI-native product security company building AI agents for application security.We discuss why the old "shift left" promise often created more work for security teams, how Nullify uses agents, Vault, context, memory, and tooling to automate AppSec workflows end to end, and what changes when software starts getting measured like labor rather than seats.IN THIS EPISODE, WE COVER:- What application security is, and why legacy scanners create alert backlogs- How AI agents triage vulnerabilities, validate exploitability, open pull requests, follow up in Slack, and close the loop- Why Vault and customer-specific context are central to Nullify's product advantage- Where humans still matter: threat modeling, design reviews, architecture, and stakeholder translation- Why Nullify's ICP starts around companies with 50+ developers- Campaigns, campaign lookbacks, and merge-ready rate- Pricing AI agents against security headcount and operating expense- How security jobs may evolve as AI takes over more repetitive workflow execution- Why agentic systems create the next major security surfaceSubscribe for conversations on applied AI, vertical SaaS, and where value accrues in software businesses.#ApplicationSecurity #AppSec #Cybersecurity #AI #TerminalValue

In this episode of Terminal Value, Nik Singh sits down with Dhaval Shreyas, co-founder of Pie, to discuss how QA is evolving from manual scripts and brittle automated tests into product intelligence.As AI accelerates software development, engineering teams are shipping faster than traditional QA teams can keep up. Dhaval explains why the future of quality is not just “agents writing tests,” but systems that understand the product, the user experience, and the business context behind each flow.We cover how Pie discovers a product from a staging URL or app build, how it builds and maintains coverage, why product context matters more than scripts, and why QA may increasingly merge with product, engineering, and product management.We cover:Why QA is underinvested in and often becomes a bottleneckHow AI-driven development is increasing pressure on quality teamsWhy QA is moving from scripts to product understandingHow Pie discovers product flows and builds coverageWhy product context is hard for coding agents like Claude Code to replaceHow Pie compares to Selenium, QA Wolf, and agentic coding toolsThe role of PQEs and human-in-the-loop deploymentHow the QA role may evolve as software teams become more AI-nativeWhy product context could become valuable beyond QA, including documentation and supportTerminal Value explores where value accrues as AI, software, markets, and infrastructure change.Subscribe for more conversations with founders, operators, and investors building the next generation of software.Chapters00:00 Cold Open: QA Is Falling Behind00:55 Intro: Pie and the AI-Native QA Layer01:50 What QA Looks Like Today04:02 Why Traditional QA Breaks Down04:53 Agentic QA and Product Intelligence07:11 Pii’s Deployment Journey09:04 How Pie Builds Product Context10:56 Ingesting PRDs, Help Docs, and Test Cases12:52 Who Buys AI-Native QA?14:43 Human-in-the-Loop Deployment and PQEs15:58 Pricing the PQE Model16:36 Pie vs. Selenium, QA Wolf, and Testing Agents18:33 Why Claude Code Alone Is Not Enough19:49 How the QA Role Changes21:49 Will QA Merge Into Product and Engineering?22:48 Pie’s Bigger Vision Beyond QA25:37 Closing Takeaways#AI #Software #QualityAssurance #QA #ProductIntelligence #EnterpriseSoftware #DeveloperTools #AgenticAI #TerminalValue

Finance software is starting to deploy itself.In this episode of Terminal Value, Nik Singh sits down with Ahikam Kaufman, Co-Founder and CEO of SafeBooks, to discuss how AI agents are changing finance operations, revenue integrity, and the modern CFO stack.SafeBooks is building an agentic revenue integrity platform that connects systems like CPQ, CRM, contracts, billing, ERP, and revenue recognition — then gives finance teams a way to validate transactions, catch errors, automate workpapers, and ask questions across their financial data.We discuss why finance teams still spend so much time manually checking data, how AI can create a financial data graph across systems, why forward-deployed engineering may become less important over time, and why many finance AI workflows may not require frontier models.We also cover the future of accounting work, the difference between SafeBooks and legacy close-management platforms, and what happens when finance operations become real-time, agent-driven, and self-serve.Chapters:00:00 Cold open: AI agents for finance operations00:45 Introduction: SafeBooks and the revenue integrity problem01:44 What revenue integrity means in practice03:20 The finance stack behind revenue integrity04:31 What an agentic revenue integrity workflow does06:09 The financial data graph behind SafeBooks08:54 Deploying across CRM, billing, ERP, and accounting systems10:27 Are forward-deployed engineers going away?11:16 SafeBooks’ target customer and mid-market use case13:03 Pricing AI software with SaaS + usage models16:20 Why finance AI may not need frontier models18:39 SafeBooks vs. BlackLine, FloQast, and close-management tools21:09 Why deployment, context, and real-time controls matter23:40 How AI changes finance employment25:16 The future of automated finance operations27:51 Closing and final takeawaysSubscribe for more conversations on AI, software, markets, and where value accrues.

AI agents are starting to change how marketing teams turn digital traffic into revenue.In this episode of Terminal Value, Nik Singh sits down with AJ Goyal, co-founder and CEO of Fibr AI, to unpack why web conversion is still so manual — and how agentic AI could reshape the workflow between paid traffic, websites, experiments, and revenue.For years, marketing teams have gotten increasingly sophisticated at targeting ads, segmenting audiences, and optimizing acquisition. But once that traffic reaches the website, the experience often becomes static, generic, and dependent on analysts, agencies, marketing operations, and engineering tickets.Fibr sits in the middle of that workflow. The company helps teams take the intent already captured in ads, campaigns, and analytics and turn it into personalized web experiences that can be tested and improved continuously.We cover:* Why web conversion is still such a manual workflow* How marketers depend on analysts, agencies, marketing ops, and engineering* Why personalization often breaks down after the ad click* How Fibr uses AI agents to create and improve web experiences* Why reducing CAC is the wedge for enterprise buyers* How agentic software changes pricing, deployment, and GTM* Why incumbents may struggle when AI threatens their agency ecosystems* What happens when AI agents become users of the webChapters:00:00 – Hook00:30 – Introducing AJ Goyal and Fibr AI01:39 – How web conversion works today04:10 – The modern marketing and web stack06:49 – Where the workflow breaks down09:29 – What Fibr does11:39 – How Fibr changes the marketer’s workflow14:16 – The first wedge: reducing CAC15:00 – Customer example: 48% CAC reduction16:35 – Where humans stay in the loop18:12 – Why more data improves the agent loop19:09 – Fibr’s enterprise ICP21:12 – Go-to-market: events, conferences, and LinkedIn23:04 – Pricing agentic software25:12 – Enterprise pricing pushback27:20 – Proof-of-concept motion and ROI28:59 – Deployment and implementation29:47 – Competitive landscape: Optimizely, Adobe, and agencies31:38 – Incumbents, agency channels, and agentic conflict33:31 – Product utilization and always-on experimentation35:10 – Could agencies become a channel?36:17 – How AI changes marketing orgs and agencies38:59 – Will marketing teams get leaner?39:28 – The future of agentic web experiences41:29 – Final takeaways: workflow collapse, GTM conflict, and agents as usersSubscribe to Terminal Value for conversations with founders, operators, and investors on where value accrues across markets, software, AI, and infrastructure.#AI #MarketingAI #AgenticAI #EnterpriseSoftware #SaaS #ConversionOptimization #DigitalMarketing #TerminalValue

AI is changing FP&A from a tool-assisted workflow into something closer to an operating system for business planning.In this episode of Terminal Value, Nik Singh sits down with Austin Gardner-Smith, Founder & CEO of Drivepoint, to discuss why financial planning and forecasting are especially critical in consumer, retail, and CPG businesses.The conversation covers why forecasting can be “life or death” when inventory, cash flow, and margins are on the line; why vertical software may beat horizontal FP&A tools; how AI changes the value proposition of SaaS; and what happens to finance teams as software moves from organizing work to actually doing the work.Drivepoint is building agentic planning software for consumer and retail brands, helping teams connect data across Shopify, Amazon, retailers, ERP systems, inventory systems, and finance workflows.Chapters:00:00 — Why forecasting is life or death in retail and CPG00:50 — Welcome to Terminal Value01:00 — What Drivepoint is building01:20 — Why this is about more than FP&A software01:50 — What FP&A actually does inside the CFO office04:10 — The evolution of FP&A tools: Oracle, Anaplan, Adaptive, Workday, Pigment06:30 — What Drivepoint does differently07:50 — From financial models to proactive scenario planning09:50 — Why Drivepoint focuses on consumer and retail12:30 — Why inventory makes forecasting high stakes13:40 — How AI changes FP&A for business leaders15:40 — Trust, permissions, and governed access in AI finance tools16:30 — Why the UI layer is collapsing17:20 — Why data quality matters more in AI-native software19:30 — How software pricing may change in an AI world22:30 — Will Anthropic or OpenAI build this?25:10 — How AI changes finance team org design27:10 — Where Drivepoint goes next28:40 — Nik’s closing thoughts: context, vertical AI, and where software value accruesTopics covered:FP&A softwareVertical AIAgentic planningRetail and CPG forecastingInventory planningStrategic financeOffice of the CFOSaaS pricing modelsAI and finance jobsData quality and context layersDrivepointSubscribe to Terminal Value for deep dives on where value accrues across AI, software, and markets.#investing #retailtech #venturecapital

AI-native software is changing the economics of SaaS.For years, cloud cost management was mostly about visibility: dashboards, budgets, showback, chargeback, and rate optimization. But as AI usage, token costs, observability bills, and cloud consumption become material parts of software gross margin, the problem is moving closer to the code itself.In this episode of Terminal Value, I sit down with Mike Weider, Founder & CEO of Frugal, to discuss the shift from traditional FinOps to Application Cost Engineering.We cover why legacy cloud cost tools mostly helped companies measure spend, how Frugal maps cloud and AI costs back to the code driving them, why AI-native companies face a more urgent gross margin problem, and why cost optimization may become part of the developer workflow.Chapters:00:00 Cold open: AI’s gross margin problem00:25 Welcome to Terminal Value01:20 Why cloud cost management matters more because of AI01:50 Interview begins02:00 The first wave of cloud cost management04:20 Showback, chargeback, and the finance/engineering tension06:35 What Frugal is building07:00 Why cloud cost optimization is too reactive today09:35 Moving cost visibility into the developer workflow10:00 Mapping cloud, AI, and observability costs back to code12:10 How FinOps and engineering work together14:45 Building trust in cost-to-code automation17:45 Why Frugal uses a forward-deployed engineer model20:00 Why AI still needs the right context21:45 Frugal’s ICP and where customers get the most value23:25 Why AI-native companies have a gross margin problem24:35 Frontier models, cheaper models, and evals28:00 Pricing AI-native software31:20 How AI changes engineering teams32:35 Engineers as conductors of AI agents35:20 Where Frugal sits in the software stack37:20 Why FinOps dashboards still matter39:00 Competition from FinOps, observability, and coding agents41:05 The future of cost-aware code43:00 Key takeaways from the conversationTerminal Value explores where value accrues across markets, software, AI, and infrastructure through deep dives with founders, operators, and investors.Subscribe for more conversations on the businesses and markets shaping the next wave of enterprise software.#AI #Software #FinOps #CloudComputing #SaaS #EnterpriseSoftware #GrossMargins #TerminalValue