Building Enterprise AI Trust Through Customer Success Stories | Vivek Vishwakarma from ThirdAI Automation

RICK: Pathmonk is the AI for website conversions. With increasing online competition, over ninety-eight percent of website visitors don’t convert. The ability to successfully show your value proposition and support visitors in their buying journey separates you from the competition online. Pathmonk qualifies and converts leads on your website by figuring out where they are in the buying journey and influencing them in key decision moments with relevant micro experiences like case studies, intro videos, and much more.

Stay relevant to your visitors and increase conversions by fifty percent by adding Pathmonk to your website in seconds by letting the AI do all the work and increase conversions by fifty percent while you keep doing marketing as usual. Check us out on pathmonk.com. Everybody, welcome back to Pathmonk Presents.

Today, we are joined by Vivek. He’s the co-founder and CEO of Third AI Automation. Vivek, welcome to the show.

VIVEK VISHWAKARMA: Thank you so much, Rick. Thank you so much for the opportunity. Happy and glad to be here.

RICK: Likewise, and I’m excited to dive in, Vivek, just because of, we, had, the chance luckily to talk offline a little bit.

And, I wanna learn more and then, selfishly speaking, but also for our audience, to know more about Third AI Automation, about the space you work in. what’s the heart of what your company does? And if you were to explain this to a friend over coffee, how would you describe what you do exactly?

VIVEK VISHWAKARMA: Absolutely. if I meet a friend in a coffee, I can usually give a coffee maker example, but I’ll try to break it, in short, who we are. Third AI is an industrial AI company. we leverage the class of AI, we call it causal AI, to a root cause analysis. We predominantly operate in semiconductor ecosystem, so the best way to picture is this is such a high CapEx industry, of trillions of dollars.

One fab or manufacturing facility takes tens of billions of dollars to make, and these big, facilities are filled with equipments per piece that cost over tens to hundreds of millions of dollars. When these machines running all the time, twenty-four/seven, three sixty-five days a year, they break as well all the time.

Piece of software that we build, the agentic framework that we build goes into these machines. So whenever the issue happens, the tool error comes up, our agents go and help debug those issues and notify the engineers, field support engineers, process engineers.

RICK: Okay. That’s, so that’s super interesting, and I would love to dig a little bit deeper, right?

Just to understand if there is a specific industry or vertical, or type of business, if you will, that’s looking at this and saying, “Okay, this is, this is what I need.” and in that sense, as a, two-parter, if you will, what’s the key problem that you helped them solve with this, aside from the obvious that you just mentioned, the debugging and going into automatically?

VIVEK VISHWAKARMA: Absolutely. So some of the key KPI that it impacts in the industry, not just, the semiconductor, the vertical that I talked about. Pick any manufacturing is like OEE, overall availability. these are the parameters that define how efficient a factory or a floor is. it may… Our solution gets into not just on the equipment side, but also the entire process segments.

So it could be as simple as, you’re assembling a laptop or companies like Flextronic, they put together all these iPhones. And then if you go one layer further down, these are the fabs which makes these chips. There is also the process that is going in. And everything happens very sequentially.

So if one block or the process is stopped, your entire segment is stopped. So the amount of money that you incur or, the loss incurred is, again, in millions of dollars. the solution seems very small, but the, revenue hit is very high. and it just not, localized in semi.

we are in semi because I come from that semi background. I understand the ecosystem. Our group, our, advisory board and everyone, they come from the ecosystem. But we have worked with HS& Dino Verticals, which is on the electronic side. we in fact have customer from the utility side. So if tomorrow we choose to leave, semiconductors, we can totally go to any, any vertical of our choice within manufacturing or not manufacturing.

RICK: Gotcha. Okay. So practically speaking, let’s… to set an example, I’m a person working in manufacturing, right? Yes. and I, don’t know exactly what, what role this may be, right? But maybe you can, give me an idea. The, the fact is I know there’s a problem, right? I’m aware of the problem, and I see you as a potential solution, right?

What’s… going from A to B, as I just said, how do I discover you guys? How do I find out about Third Eye Automation? In, in other words, what, are the marketing channels that are your go-to right now for bringing in more, business, more clients?

VIVEK VISHWAKARMA: absolutely. more specifically in the ecosystem that we are in and the way we are deep embedded, predominantly we rely on, closed network and, our customers talking good stuff about ourself.

customer do the most of the marketing. other than that, we are heavy on the field marketing. The way industry move, we have to present or be there in all the conferences, lead certain topic. Like Third Eye along with Semi, it leads the ontology for semiconductors. that puts it out pretty much all the customer out there, be it the fab, be it the tool vendors.

so we have to be present with them. And of course, having website, does play a key role, but not the main role. because no one in this ecosystem just look into your website and just buys a product. These are all enterprise product. You really have to, sit in a room. It takes, a couple of months of, understanding the product, how it is gonna be a product for a customer’s ecosystem themselves.

where we have 85% of the same product, but 15% is very specific and customized. you can think of it if someone has to employ, Salesforce or SAP, they cannot just directly go online and purchase it. You have to go through a channel where they will understand your need. There will be an implementation and rollout plan, and that’s how you’re gonna go about it.

so it’s a combination of three, and the one big part is our channel partners. So we work with our channel partners who are also a distributor of the product and then, be the equipments or, the services in this ecosystem because they could also be a direct user of our platform or a recommender of our solution to their customer, which is also our end customer.

Okay. So these are the three play that we have. but most importantly on the field marketing Second is, going through our, of course, the Rolodex, of, advisors and customers, and being very, active in the, academic or, technology, front in the, ecosystem and the field that we are in.

RICK: Okay. And so it sounds to me like th- there’s a lot of, referrals is, one of the oldest methods in, marketing, right? and- Absolutely … in a lot of ways, if you do a really good job then people refer you. If you do a bad job, likewise, but not in the way you want it. but the great thing about it is that, there’s a, there’s an experience.

There’s social proof, embedded, in it.

VIVEK VISHWAKARMA: Absolutely.

RICK: But your website, you were telling me, it’s the way I understand it, it plants the seed or educates the prospect a little bit or- Absolutely … plants the seed. And then, it’s, a process from there. Then the sales cycle, then, it’s fairly- Absolutely

not super long, but, fairly, fairly long- Yeah … depending on, you know- Yeah … perspective you look it from. Yeah … now, as far as the website, the current website you have, I-

VIVEK VISHWAKARMA: Yeah …

RICK: Pathmonk being a website tool, I’m, I’m sure our audience is also interested. What are the things that you’ve seen work great so far when it comes to converting, visitors, right?

if not on the spot, as we just, established that’s not possible, but maybe even just start a conversation, right? That’s a conversion, in, in my, book. So how’s that working for you, and, what have you seen, in your experience, if it’s not just for Third Eye Automation? What are the things that work when it comes to getting people to take that first step, right?

To trust you enough to say, “Hey, I’m gonna book a call. I’m gonna see what these guys have for me.”

VIVEK VISHWAKARMA: I think, from the website point of view, the most important part is the customer success stories.

That is the most important part. If I have, look into analytics and I was actually asking this team, and there’s a fun story.

about a year ago, we had our website done, and then we were like, heads down, build the product, get the business. That’s what matters. And we didn’t touch it until our customer asked us because, we got these internal champions, they’re promoting us, and then internally they are looking in our website and said “No, you do– you guys do a lot cooler stuff, but your website does not talk about it.”

And we’re like, “Oh, yeah.” we’re just old school, just getting the business right, getting the product out, and, which is good, but the marketing piece is also very important. And when we did that, one of the most important thing that we realized, that ninety-five percent of the people, they don’t care about, what…

They already understand by this now, that many other channel, who we are, what we do, because we’re just not present from the website. But they for sure care about, because the industry is very proprietary, like we deal with a lot of, IP data. They care about the success stories. They care about the case studies.

They care about if there is any, executives interview that we have published or, some way they can get into Gauge, because it’s quite hard to get it implemented and get it implemented, get it right, getting a customer who’s generating value has the highest impact. that’s, what our observation has been, and honestly, this is where all our, effort goes in as well.

Whatever we do, how can we enrich those part of the, content in our, social presence?

RICK: Yeah. it makes a lot of sense, and I love to hear that just because we go back, right? We go full circle. The referral is the first thing you mentioned. Now we talk about another form of it, which is essentially, what’s the sh- social proof or the, or is the trust that I can have in you guys?

Do I see myself… speaking from the person, the perspective of that person looking at the world- Yeah.

VIVEK VISHWAKARMA: Yeah …

RICK: can you help me solve similar issues, similar industry? People are, like, quite particular about that. Understanding, hey, if you help some business of mine, even a competitor, right? or maybe in the same vertical, then I know what you’re doing might work for me, too.

So let’s, let’s find out, right?

VIVEK VISHWAKARMA: Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. And that works almost 100% of the time.

RICK: That’s perfect. Okay. Vivek, maybe we switch gears for a second. you were, telling me about, just now, about, the way you interacted with the team and, a little bit of brainstorming, understanding, how you can improve things.

Maybe we talk about you as a leader, right? give us a glimpse into, a day in the life of Vivek. What, is that like being the CEO of Third AI Automation? What, what things do you focus on as soon as you sit down to work on a daily basis, and what gives you energy?

VIVEK VISHWAKARMA: Oh, coffee. I’m chugging coffee right now.

I can’t ignore it. being a CEO is tough, challenging, but it’s fun at the same time. I think, one of the most important thing that I convey to my team and to myself internally is, be happy. As simple– Whatever you are, doing, wherever you are, just be happy at that moment.

and I think, when I start my day, I try to make sure that I, start with that note. and this is the message I give to everyone as well, that even very the first meeting, everyone have to talk about, how they’re doing. is everything okay? I know the work is gonna keep on going. Yeah.

It just sets the tempo. and we try to include that, in our culture as well. being a startup, it’s very natural. We move very fast. It doesn’t take for things to escalate very quickly. The hours are, very, long. so we start with that note, even I, and, we focus on our, we call it focal, which are, the five pillars, or the values for the company, which is, focus, ownership, C for communication.

and we emphasize on C, which is the communication, because the team is, at different locations. So right now we, have, we are at four places. we have two offices in India. We have one office here in Bay Area and one in Canada. So when we are working with so many different time zone, it’s very important to have, To have a very clear line of communication.

no communication is a miscommunication, so over-communication is the way to go when we operate in a very hybrid way. And then of course, A for authority and for level-headedness. These are the five, pillars that we, focus on. and team seems to, like it, enjoy it. And, yeah, we put a lot of, pressure on everyone to, drive the work, ownership and everything, but they’re also free to take as much time as off they can.

we have given everyone a lot of freedom. That’s, that kind of, works for us because everyone is with us doing exactly what they want in their life and enjoying it.

RICK: Yeah. I… First of all, I love it. And, it sounds to me like, there’s a lot of the components that make work fun or enjoyable, if you will.

That’s, that’s the level of autonomy that you mentioned. ownership, of course. if you don’t own it, then you’re not gonna be able to Well, what’s a better way to, to own it, right? It’s just- Absolutely … describing in a way. And, Yeah … and it sounds like a great environment to be in, to be honest.

Of course, high pressure, but that’s, that’s how diamonds are made, right? That’s what they say.

VIVEK VISHWAKARMA: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

RICK: Beautiful. Okay. So fast-paced, as far as I understand, and, I’d like to keep it, on that note, Vivek, as we wrap things up before the, the end of this episode here.

there’s a rapid-fire segment that we like to do. Absolutely. Just a few questions. Are you ready?

VIVEK VISHWAKARMA: Yes. Yes.

RICK: All right. Good. Go

VIVEK VISHWAKARMA: for it.

RICK: When it co- when it comes to consuming content, do you prefer watching, reading, or listening?

VIVEK VISHWAKARMA: listening.

RICK: Listening. Gotcha. So what’s the latest piece of content you listened to?

It could be an audiobook, you know, a podcast even, or some kind of soundbite that you consumed. And was there anything that really stuck with you and any, any kind of gem, any teaching, if you will?

VIVEK VISHWAKARMA: yes. I think the most recent thing that I was listening is, the podcast. It’s called DOAC, Diary of a CEO.

it’s pretty famous, and, there are just way too many things that got stuck with me. I was just, learning about, how AI is gonna change the world. I think, that is one piece that is stuck with me. that’s the most recent, podcast that I’ve had. and, yeah, I think I would say that’s, the most recent thing I’ve been just listening to.

RICK: Yeah. that’s a great podcast, too. lots of interesting guests, and it varies, from topic to topic. you’re never-

VIVEK VISHWAKARMA: Yeah …

RICK: hearing the same thing, twice, right? So that’s-

VIVEK VISHWAKARMA: Exactly.

RICK: Exactly … pretty cool. if you had a magic wand, Vivek, and you could fix one frustrating thing in your life with tech, what would you pick?

What would you fix?

VIVEK VISHWAKARMA: Oh, that’s a good one. If I have a magical wand in my life to, Okay

There are just so many things

RICK: All of them.

VIVEK VISHWAKARMA: yeah

I would pick, a magical wand that will magically make my 30 minutes when I wake up, stress-free 30 minutes.

RICK: I guess there’s a way to do that is just shut off all communication, right?

VIVEK VISHWAKARMA: Ugh. But, I should not, remember it. All right. just, wipe it out- Like it …

RICK: those 30

VIVEK VISHWAKARMA: minutes.

RICK: I like it. I like it.

Maybe this is related, maybe not, but, if you could go back, Vivek, at, the start of your journey, right? And give your-

VIVEK VISHWAKARMA: Yeah …

RICK: yourself a quick pe- pep talk, at the beginning of your career, what advice would you give yourself, to your younger self?

VIVEK VISHWAKARMA: th- the best advice I would give my younger self, would be to Read a lot more.

as a, yeah, as a younger self, I, I’m a very studious person, but I’m also a very athletic person. I felt there was one piece where I was just way too athletic and, I could have, probably read a lot.

I could. but it evens out because the amount of content and everything is out there, you just can consume a lot of things. But I wish I could have and, yeah.

RICK: Nice. Okay. So wisdom, right? This is the search for wisdom and the quest for wisdom in a way. I like that. Yes. Now, Vivek, I would love to keep this going, and I wanna thank you a lot for being on the show with us today.

But we have to wrap things up. as we do that, I wanna give you the last word. if someone forgets everything about the interview today, right? Just as you said, forget about everything with a magic wand, what is the one thing that they should remember about the work you guys are doing at Third AI Automation?

VIVEK VISHWAKARMA: We do complex work look very easy in a matter of minutes. that’s who we are, that’s what we do, and there’s a reason why we call ourself Third AI, as in like third e- third eye. we say things beyond that is… that’s not natural, that can’t be seen. So I’ll just leave it at that. I love that.

RICK: I love that.

I love that. And, if, if people want to check you guys out, where can we send them, as far as website, social? Where can we send them to be able to understand more?

VIVEK VISHWAKARMA: Absolutely. Absolutely. they can go to our website, which is www.thirdaiautomation.com. They can visit our LinkedIn page.

We do have, social media presence in, in xai or x.com. so they can just always, reach out there.

RICK: Awesome.

VIVEK VISHWAKARMA: And you can just directly reach out to me as well if you have Zoom info and Rocket Reach. Amazing. Nothing is public. Yeah,

RICK: yeah, absolutely. Exactly. So now these days it’s just too easy.

we’ll put your, social, feed in a, in the show notes too, just in case. But, that’s a great way to make some, some really good connections. But, speaking of, it’s been great to connect with you, Vivek, and, have this conversation. Oh, of course. I want to thank you for, again, for being part of the show.

Thank you for your insights and, maybe we get to do this again soon. But in the meantime, I, want to wish you a wonderful day.

VIVEK VISHWAKARMA: Sounds good. Thank you so much, Erik. Have a good night as well. Bye-bye. All

RICK: right. Bye everyone.

VIVEK VISHWAKARMA: Thank you.