Guy Podjarny: Remaking Software Development for the AI Era with Tessl

Guy Podjarny has spent his career on the frontlines of the biggest shifts in software development — from application security to DevOps to the rise of AI-native development with Tessl. Born and raised in Israel, Podjarny taught himself to code as a teenager and sharpened his skills in the cyber units of the Israeli army. After joining the software industry, he followed a series of acquisitions that took him from Tel Aviv to Ottawa to London. Along the way, he discovered he wasn’t happy in safe, comfortable roles at big companies.

Instead, he took repeated leaps into the unknown. First with Blaze, a startup focused on speeding up the delivery of websites, which was acquired by Akamai. Then with Snyk, a developer-first security company that grew into a global platform with more than 1,200 employees and hundreds of millions in annual revenue. Tessl is his boldest bet yet. As AI transforms software development, this bet looks to be paying off.

How Guy Podjarny sees Tessl as part of AI software development

As CEO of London-based Tessl, Podjarny is building what he believes will be a foundational layer for the era of AI-created software: A new way of developing, maintaining, and evolving software systems in partnership with autonomous agents. In his view, software code itself is becoming disposable. What matters is the human-created intent and guardrails that guide coding agents.

In this Q&A, part of our series of conversations with European and Israeli startup founders, Podjarny reflects on the ground-shifting pace of AI change, his obsession with startups, and why speed and adaptability have become essential skills for entrepreneurs.

When did you realize that AI was going to transform software development? Did that directly lead to creating Tessl?

Guy Podjarny: It was in 2023, when I was thinking about how Snyk should adapt to securing software in the AI era. I came to the conclusion that AI agents weren’t just going to code, they were going to transform the entire software development lifecycle. The central job of software engineering will shift from writing code to creating and managing the intent and constraints that guide these agents, making sure the software AI creates does what it was meant to do. Two years ago, saying that “code will become disposable” sounded crazy. Today it’s almost self-evident.

This meant a big transformation in my own profession, and I wanted to be a part of building what comes next. Tessl lets teams collaborate on the context and intentions they provide to agents, onboard them into their development process, and continuously train them to work effectively in the development environment.

But honestly, in 2023, I had zero intent of founding a company. I would have said, “There's no way in hell I’m doing that again,” right up until the moment I did.

Why the resistance to building what became Tessl?

GP: Startups are a wild and taxing journey. I was in a great place — financially independent, advising, angel investing, collaborating with super interesting people. But I had to accept something about myself: I'm addicted to building.

For me, it's always been about the happiness I get from having an impact and the satisfaction that comes out of struggle. There's also a bit of proving to myself that I can do it. My wife figured out that I was starting another company months before I did.

What’s been the hardest this time? Has AI changed what building a company looks like?

GP: I’m more experienced now, but the rules have changed. This isn’t the first time software engineering has shifted, but it's never happened at the scale and speed of today. The pace of AI means the ground constantly shifts beneath you. You build something useful for today, knowing it may be irrelevant tomorrow. And you do it over and over again.

This puts extreme pressure on adaptability. You have to build, learn from it, throw away what you've built, take the learning onward, and build the next thing. Sometimes you even need to throw away the learnings, because the reality has changed. In this environment, moving fast is survival.

What are the advantages to operating Tessl in London?

GP: The biggest is talent. It’s easier to become a magnet here than in the Valley because the market is less crowded. I've never built such a high caliber team so quickly. People in London also tend to be more loyal and have longer tenures.

London is now one of the world’s top AI hubs and the startup ecosystem has matured dramatically. When I started Snyk, I used to joke that I’d negotiate employee options in Tel Aviv and cash in London. Now people here understand the upside.

Any disadvantages?

GP: More late-night calls and travel to the U.S. And a slower adoption of AI tools than in the Valley. To build AI tools, you need to use them. On average, people here have had less exposure. It’s a short-lived problem. But for now, it’s real.

Looking ahead five years, what does success look like for Tessl and how it sits within AI software development?

GP: AI code generation agents are both amazingly powerful and frustratingly unreliable. We want to help development teams fix the many problems that will arise. Ultimately, we want to be at the center of this new ecosystem for AI software development.

Guy Podjarny is the founder and CEO of Tessl, a London-based company pioneering AI-native, spec-centric software development. GV was a seed investor in Tessl in 2024, and GV Managing Partner Tom Hulme serves on the board. Prior to Tessl, Podjarny founded Snyk. GV also invested in Snyk’s 2018 Series A. Podjarny’s first startup, Blaze.io was acquired by Akamai Technologies, where Guy served as CTO following the acquisition. Born and raised in Israel, he is an angel investor in over 100 startups.