Founder’s Background and Intro
Mounir, CEO and co-founder of Portia AI, brings a powerhouse background from launching products at tech giants. He spearheaded Google Pay's expansion across 30 markets and led Bank as a Service in EMEA at Stripe, where he also infamously brought Black Friday to the UK in 2011. With an MBA from London Business School and engineering roots, Mounir spotted a critical gap in the AI agent revolution that most founders were missing.
Nearly a year ago, Mounir and his co-founder Emma made the bold decision to leave their lucrative Stripe careers to build what they saw as the missing infrastructure for production-ready AI agents. After raising over $5 million in funding, Portia AI emerged from stealth two months ago with an open-source SDK designed specifically for regulated industries—solving the "permission death loop" that keeps 70% of enterprise AI agent implementations stuck in proof-of-concept purgatory.
What you’ll learn:
Why 70% of enterprise AI agent implementations fail to reach production and the specific "permission death loop" that kills them
How human-in-the-loop architecture is becoming the critical differentiator for AI agents in regulated industries
The strategic advantage of open-source SDKs in the rapidly evolving AI infrastructure space
Why regulated industries (fintech, healthcare) are leading AI agent adoption despite seeming risk-averse
How AI agents are already disrupting SaaS pricing models and per-seat subscription economics
Some Takeaways:
The Permission Problem: Enterprise AI agents fail because they can't handle authentication and permissions at scale—Portia's solution lets agents "raise their hand" for human approval at critical moments
Regulated = Ready: Industries with strict compliance requirements are actually leading AI adoption because they're building the right guardrails from day one
Open Source Strategy: In nascent markets, open source accelerates learning and community building faster than proprietary solutions
SaaS Disruption: AI agents will fundamentally challenge per-seat pricing models as they automate tasks previously requiring human licenses
Europe's AI Opportunity: Despite US dominance, European AI companies like DeepMind, Mistral, and Portia are carving out significant market positions
Where to find Mounir:
• LinkedIn: Link
• Website: Link
In this episode, we cover:
00:00 Introduction & Background
03:10 What is Portia AI?
05:30 The Permission Death Loop Problem
09:34 Why 70% of Agent Projects Stay in POC
14:42 Go-to-Market Strategy & Open Source
20:41 What Can AI Agents Actually Do Today?
29:31 Real-World Agent Examples & Costs
42:54 AI Talent War in Europe
For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email david@thehomabase.ai
Referenced:
• Portia AI open-source SDK
• Crew AI and competitive landscape
• Google Pay market expansion strategy
• Stripe Bank as a Service
• London Business School MBA program
• OpenAI's European expansion
• DeepMind and European AI companies
• Cursor AI coding assistant
Find Case Studies of all other episodes here.