Stop building AI wrappers. Start building agent harnesses.

I sit down with Jon Noronha, co-founder and chief product officer of Gamma, to break down agent harnesses and the startup openings around them. Jon explains how Gamma rebuilt its product as a creative agent this year and walks me through the roughly 20 models and 200 calls behind one finished presentation. We talk about AI smell, why taste carries more weight than evals in creative work, how Gamma tests a new model within the hour, and the fast mode test that lost to good friction. Jon also shares the harnesses he wants to see, from a Slack agent that learns his voice to a couch shopping tool that checks the fit in your room. If you want to build a vertical agent, this episode gives you a clear model of what a harness is and where your edge can come from.

This episode was made possible thanks to Anthropic (the team behind Claude) for hosting us at Claude Founder house and sponsoring the episode.

Timestamps

00:00 – Intro

01:23 – What Is an Agent Harness

03:36 – Harnesses as the New Wrappers

04:25 – Inside One Gamma Prompt

08:23 – Where Vertical Harnesses Fit

11:08 – Finding Your Edge

11:56 – Opportunities for Harnesses

13:09 – Designing a Niche Harness

13:48 – AI Smell