Cleo CEO: AI Agents Reveal Who's Shipping, Flattening Org Charts
Barney Hussey-Yeo, Cleo's CEO, uses AI agents to get direct insights into developer output from Slack and PRs, cutting through management layers.
Barney Hussey-Yeo in conversation with John Collison
With John Collison, Barney Hussey-Yeo · Sunday, June 14, 2026
The episode features John Collison in conversation with Barney Hussey-Yeo, founder of Cleo, a fast-growing AI financial assistant. They discuss Barney's past as a professional poker player and his current use of an AI agent, the evolution of Cleo's AI from supervised learning to LLMs for personalized financial advice, and his views on the impact of AI on organizational structures and the broader software industry. Barney also shares critical insights on UK vs. US financial regulation and the need for more creative destruction in Europe.
Cleo's Growth Hack: 30 Comedians, Then AI for Financial Fun
Cleo founder Barney Hussey-Yeo reveals how humor and personality, first with 30 comedians and now AI, transformed engagement and revenue in dry finance.
Barney Hussey-Yeo's $200K AI Poker Agent
Cleo founder Barney Hussey-Yeo built an AI agent to play online poker, earning $200K/year passively. Learn why this 'solved game' model matters for founders.
Cleo's Barney Hussey-Yeo: Ditch Financial Advice for AI Agents
Cleo's AI evolved from supervised learning to LLMs, moving beyond generic advice to proactively make users' financial decisions. Founders, demanding user 'engagement' is outdated.
Cleo Founder Debunks the 'SaaS Apocalypse' Narrative
Barney Hussey-Yeo argues that specialized, vertical AI companies will thrive by building deep domain knowledge, not by simple AI wrappers on frontier models.