Harrison Chase CEO and co-founder of LangChain

“The main way our business changes as the models get better, we basically have to erase big parts of our product. … Cursor said this really well as well. I think this is one of their actual operating principles as a company: erase the product or delete the product. … These models get better, and things that you had to do six months ago, you no longer have to do.”

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch · Startups & Venture · October 2026

Harry Stebbings asked how LangChain's business changes as the models improve in ways outsiders don't see. Chase says the right way to wrap a model changes every few months, so much of the framework has to be thrown away and rebuilt.

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch · 2026-10-17 Listen to the episode → More from Harrison Chase → More Startups & Venture quotes →

Transcript

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch Around 04:25 into the episode

Harrison Chase

…years ago to agents today, they've gotten a lot better. And the main thing that's happened is: one, the models have gotten better, and two, we've figured out how to build systems that basically harness these models better. And that second part, the harnessing of these models, is what we focus on.

Harry Stebbings

How does your business change in a way that people don't see as the models get better?

Harrison Chase

The main way our business changes as the model gets we basically have to erase big parts of our product. So, what I mean by that, and Cursor said this really well as well. I think this is one of their actual operating principles as a company: erase the product or delete the product, I think is what they called it. Where basically, like, these models get better, and things that you had to do six months ago, you no longer have to do. And so, this is very relevant in our open source. So, our open source is all about basically the harness and the framework for taking these models and helping them do things. And the right way to take these models and help them do things changes every month, three months, six months. Choose your time period, but it changes pretty rapidly.

Harry Stebbings

How do you build for such an uncertain future? Do you just have to get in bed with the labs to know the roadmap so you don't waste six months building something that then they erase?

Harrison Chase

There's no easy answer. On one hand, what are you going to do? Not build? Like, that's what I like to say to founders who ask this: like, what do I do? Like, stuff is changing. You know, the models are changing. If I build something now, it might not be relevant in six months. What's the…

Harry Stebbings

Why do we need neutral harnesses? We see, you know, Bunty, very brilliant agent builders from the models themselves. Why does your letter not just get eaten by them?

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