AI for the Fortune 2000: How Tenex Builds an AI-Native SDLC

Tenex is an applied AI partner for Fortune 2000 companies, helping them move from using AI apps to becoming AI-native. The company's core belief is that AI provides raw intelligence, but the hardest problem is the "final mile" of diffusing it through the economy. Co-founder Alex Lieberman and Director of Engineering CJ Hess describe a business that has grown to 75 people in 18 months, with 90% of employees being engineers or AI strategists, and roughly half their customers now in the Fortune 2000.

The Output-Based Compensation Model

Tenex pays engineers based on story points rather than hours, a model CJ was drawn to after running his own engineering consulting firm. "I just felt my output getting better and faster and ultimately getting paid less," he says, because he was charging hourly. The thesis is that AI is a leveraged bet on a human's intellect and work ethic, creating wider variance in earning capacity. The highest-paid engineer at Tenex earns roughly four times what the lowest-paid engineer earns.