We started Operative because
we lived the problem
Every company needs AI automation. Most can't afford the team to build it. We're changing that.
In 2021, we were running operations at a fast-growing fintech. Our customers were drowning in support tickets. Our team was burned out from manual data entry. We knew AI could help - everyone did.
So we did what companies do: we tried to build an AI team. We spent six months recruiting. We offered competitive salaries, equity, the whole package. We finally hired two ML engineers. They were smart, talented, and completely miserable.
Turns out, most AI engineers don't want to build customer support chatbots. They want to work on interesting research problems. Our chatbot was neither interesting nor, after a year of development, particularly good. We'd spent $400,000 and had nothing to show for it.
That's when we asked a different question: what if companies didn't need to build AI teams? What if they could just subscribe to AI agents the way they subscribe to software?
Operative is our answer to that question.
How we got here
The frustration that started it all
Maya and James were running ops at a Series C fintech. They spent 6 months and $400k trying to hire an AI team. The result? Two engineers who quit within a year, and a chatbot that still didn't work. There had to be a better way.
First customers, first lessons
We launched with a simple premise: what if companies could subscribe to AI agents like they subscribe to software? Our first 10 customers taught us everything about what actually matters - reliability over features, speed over perfection.
Finding our stride
Grew to 100 customers and 25 team members. Built our engineering operations playbook. Learned that the best AI agents aren't built by the smartest engineers - they're built by engineers who listen to customers obsessively.
Scaling what works
500+ customers, 47 engineers across three continents. We raised Series A but stayed focused on the same thing: helping mid-market companies get AI agents that actually work, without the enterprise sales process.
Where we are today
1,200+ AI agents deployed. 94% customer retention. Still founder-led, still obsessed with the same question: how do we make AI automation as easy as signing up for a SaaS tool?
What we believe
These aren't posters on a wall. They're the decisions we make every day.
Outcomes over activity
We don't celebrate shipping features. We celebrate when a customer tells us their agent saved them 20 hours last week. Everything else is noise.
Customers are colleagues
Our best ideas come from customers. We share roadmaps openly, take feedback seriously, and build relationships that last years, not quarters.
Speed is a feature
We believe the best way to learn is to ship. 48-hour delivery isn't a marketing gimmick - it's a forcing function that keeps us focused.
Craft matters
We hire engineers who take pride in their work. Clean code, thoughtful architecture, agents that work reliably at 3am when no one's watching.
Leadership team
We're a team of 50 across four offices, but these are the people who set the direction.
Maya Chen
Co-founder & CEO
Former Head of Ops at Ramp. Started her career at McKinsey, then spent 5 years in fintech ops. Believes the best technology should feel invisible.
James Park
Co-founder & CTO
Former Staff Engineer at Stripe. Built payment systems that processed billions. Now obsessed with making AI as reliable as payment rails.
Sarah Williams
VP Engineering
Led ML teams at Deliveroo and Monzo. Joined to build the engineering culture she wished existed earlier in her career.
Marcus Rodriguez
Head of Customer Engineering
Started as our first support hire, now leads a team of 20 engineers. Has personally built 200+ agents and knows every edge case.
Priya Sharma
Head of AI Research
PhD from Stanford in NLP. Former research scientist at Google Brain. Translates cutting-edge research into production-ready agents.
Alex Kim
VP Operations
Built ops at Flexport and Faire. Designs the systems that let us deliver in 48 hours without burning out the team.
Where we work
Distributed by design. We believe the best talent isn't always in one city, and our customers deserve coverage in their timezone.
San Francisco
USA
24 team members
HQ, Engineering
London
UK
12 team members
Engineering, Sales
Singapore
SG
8 team members
Engineering, APAC
New York
USA
6 team members
Sales, Operations
1,200+
Agents deployed
500+
Companies served
94%
Customer retention
50
Team members