70% of enterprise AI projects never reach production. The solution: Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs).
In this episode, Vikram Vaidyanathan and Rocketlane CEO, Srikrishnan Ganesan unpack the rise of the FDE model, from Palantir’s origins to how AI companies use it today to bridge the gap between prototypes and production.
They discuss why traditional SaaS orgs break in AI, the governance needed to scale FDE teams, and why India is emerging as the global engine room for AI deployment.
A crisp breakdown of the role shaping the future of enterprise AI.
Chapters
00:01:29 - Introduction to the Z47 podcast
00:04:16 - The 70% problem: Why enterprise AI fails to scale
00:05:25 - The origin story: Inside Palantir, where it all began
00:12:43 - Evolving from deployment to GTM engine
00:14:23 - The Vision Selling era: from POCs to production ROI
00:17:09 - What does a great FDE motion look like?
00:18:59 - Building with FDE DNA: How Rocketlane practices what it preaches
00:24:06 - Product, success, or stand-alone: Where should FDEs sit?
00:26:22 - Scaling the FDE model: from speed to structured governance
00:33:38 - Pairing on-site FDEs with India’s 24×7 talent engine
00:34:21 - AI adoption as India’s next big export
00:37:49 - FDEs: The human bridge between AI promise and delivery