I sit down with Vas from Varick Agents to map out exactly how to break into AI forward deployed engineering — and how to grow into a sharper FDE — in thirty days. We start from a single premise: every company can now buy the same frontier intelligence, so the real advantage moves to deployment. Vas traces the role back to Palantir, explains the judgment that decides where AI belongs, and lays out the audit → evals → deployment loop that turns raw models into measurable business value. He then hands over a full 30-day plan to build, harden, measure, and defend a production-grade agent, so you can do the job before you hold the title. The whole conversation stays tactical and grounded, with clear examples I can apply today.

The FDE Blueprint: https://startup-ideas-pod.link/fde-starter

Timestamps

00:00 – Intro

02:03 – What is an FDE

04:09 – How Palantir Popularized FDEs

06:16 – Deciding Where Intelligence Belongs 

11:26 – What FDEs Earn

14:59 – Two Kinds of Judgment: Communication and Engineering

17:38 – How the Work Really Gets Done

20:40 – Audit, Evaluation, Deployment

22:56 – Which LLM to Choose

27:36 – Audit: Finding the Workflow Worth Rebuilding

31:47 – Evals: Turn non-determinism into evidence

32:57 – Deployment: Build on Existing Systems

38:59 – The 30-Day Plan Begins

49:13 – Final Thoughts

Key Points

• Intelligence is now commoditized, so the real edge lives in deployment — the job of the AI forward deployed engineer.
• Vas traces the FDE role to Palantir, where engineers embed on-site, learn workflows, and customize the ontology per client.
• The strongest FDEs blend deep technical skill with consulting-grade communication — the rare "art plus science" combination worth up to a million dollars a year.
• The FDE loop runs audit → evals → deployment, and each improved workflow makes the next one clearer.
• Vas condenses a year of learning into a 30-day plan: build an agent, harden it, make it measurable, then defend it like an FDE

The #1 tool to find startup ideas/trends - https://www.ideabrowser.com

LCA helps Fortune 500s and fast-growing startups build their future - from Warner Music to Fortnite to Dropbox. We turn 'what if' into reality with AI, apps, and next-gen products https://latecheckout.agency/

The Vibe Marketer - Resources for people into vibe marketing/marketing with AI: https://www.thevibemarketer.com/

FIND ME ON SOCIAL

X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregisenberg

Instagram: https://instagram.com/gregisenberg/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gisenberg/

FIND VAS ON SOCIAL

Varick Agents: https://www.varickagents.com/#hero-section

X/Twitter: https://x.com/vasuman

AI Forward Deployed Engineers: https://learn.varickagents.com/fde-in-30-days