20VC: Open Models vs Frontier Models: Who Actually Wins? | The $100,000 Token Budget Every Engineer Will Need | Why Forward-Deployed Engineers Are the Future of Enterprise AI with Clay Bavor, Co-Founder of Sierra

Clay Bavor is the Co-Founder of Sierra, one of the world's fastest-growing enterprise AI companies. Sierra is valued at approximately $15.8 billion, has raised more than $1.5BN from leading investors including Sequoia, Benchmark, Greenoaks, GV and Tiger Global, and today serves more than 40% of the Fortune 50. The company recently surpassed $150 ARR, making it one of the fastest-growing enterprise software businesses in history.
AGENDA:
00:00 – Why Frontier AI Demand Will Be Unlimited
08:00 – Open Models vs Frontier Models: Who Actually Wins?
17:00 – China's AI Advantage & The Distillation Debate
20:30 – Inside Sierra: The AI Agents Running the Entire Company
24:00 – The $100,000 Token Budget Every Engineer Will Soon Need
29:00 – Building AI for 40% of the Fortune 50
37:00 – Why Forward-Deployed Engineers Are the Future of Enterprise AI
43:00 – Sierra's Unusual Board Meetings & Billion-Dollar Company Playbook
48:00 – The Four Values Behind a $16B Startup: Craftsmanship, Intensity & Family
56:00 – Clay Bavor's Hiring Philosophy, AI-First Teams & What's Coming Next