How Block is becoming the most AI-native enterprise in the world | Dhanji R. Prasanna

Overview

This episode features Dhanji R. Prasanna, CTO of Block, discussing how the company has become one of the most AI-native enterprises in the world. Topics include the transformative impact of AI tools like their open-source agent Goose, the organizational changes that amplified productivity, and lessons learned from both successful and failed product development.

Notable Quotes

- Whenever I hear a stat like this, I think an important element is this is the worst it will ever be. This is now the baseline. — Lenny Rachitsky, on the potential of AI productivity gains.

- A lot of engineers think that code quality is important to building a successful product. The two have nothing to do with each other. — Dhanji R. Prasanna, on the overemphasis on code quality in product success.

- If you're not waking up in the morning feeling energized about what you're going to do that day in your professional life, then change something. — Dhanji R. Prasanna, on finding purpose and fulfillment in work.

🚀 Transforming into an AI-Native Organization

- Dhanji R. Prasanna shared how his AI manifesto to Jack Dorsey catalyzed Block's shift to becoming an AI-native company.

- The transformation included moving from a General Manager (GM) structure to a functional organizational structure, where engineers and designers report to centralized leadership. This change enabled deeper technological focus and collaboration across teams.

- Block redefined itself as a technology company rather than a financial services company, reigniting its innovation culture through initiatives like company-wide hack weeks and special projects.

🤖 Goose: Block’s Open-Source AI Agent

- Goose is an open-source AI agent developed by Block that automates tasks and integrates with enterprise tools using the Model Context Protocol (MCP).

- Goose has saved employees 8–10 hours per week on average and is used across technical and non-technical teams.

- It can perform tasks like organizing files, writing software, automating UI tests, and even creating marketing reports by integrating with tools like Snowflake, Tableau, and Google Docs.

- Goose is open-source and available for other companies to use and extend.

📈 Measuring AI Productivity Gains

- Block measures AI’s impact by tracking manual hours saved, with AI tools saving up to 25% of manual work hours across the company.

- Non-technical teams, such as risk management and legal, have seen significant productivity gains by using AI to build their own tools, reducing reliance on engineering teams.

- The company emphasizes that AI is still in its early stages, and its value is expected to grow exponentially over time.

🛠️ Build vs. Buy: The AI Dilemma

- Block encourages teams to question whether building or buying software aligns with the company’s core mission of economic empowerment.

- While AI tools like Goose enable teams to build custom solutions quickly, Dhanji warns against diverting focus from the company’s primary goals.

- He emphasizes the importance of balancing innovation with practicality, ensuring that resources are allocated to initiatives that directly serve customers.

💡 Lessons in Leadership and Innovation

- Dhanji highlighted the importance of starting small with experiments, citing Goose and Cash App as examples of projects that began as small initiatives and grew into major successes.

- He stressed the need to question base assumptions and focus on solving real problems for users rather than getting caught up in technical perfection.

- Reflecting on his career, Dhanji shared that many of his early projects, like Google Wave and Google+, failed because they tried to do too much too soon without meeting real user needs.