“What’s driving all of this is the awareness from CEOs and executives that this is the time to invest in AI,” Jain said in an exclusive interview before the conference. “Everybody has been looking for a safe, secure, more appropriate version of ChatGPT for their employees. And we bring the capabilities that ChatGPT brings to consumers to business users, and in the context of their company.”

Jain founded Glean in 2019, and the company has made its name in enterprise search and AI applications. In June, Glean raised a $150 million Series F, sending its valuation to over $7 billion, a leap from the $4.6 billion valuation the company fetched in 2024. 

“The biggest challenge that customers face with AI is the fact that AI technologies are actually not built for their companies,” said Jain. “Most of the AI technologies are built … on the data on the internet, public data. And so when you bring those models … inside your company, and you try to actually make them do some work internally, they don’t really have any understanding of how your business works and your context.”

And in an AI landscape with lots of ARR numbers floating around, Jain is clear: This ARR number includes only subscription revenues from their software—no consulting or services revenue. Jain adds that Glean’s contracts range from one to three years, and that there’s “no sub-one-year contract in our model.”

Glean’s rise through the AI boom has been uniquely tied to the challenges that enterprises face when trying to apply AI. The much quoted MIT study from this summer—that 90% of generative AI pilots are failing—reflects the existential question for companies: Where does AI ROI actually come from?

“There are two narratives,” said Jain. “One narrative of AI is that nothing works, and then the other one is that it’s taking off. It’s getting more serious. Companies are able to actually do many, many, many useful things with AI. And we’re definitely generating success and excitement for customers.”