Ashok Gudibandla is currently working on a new venture in Vertical AI and has a track record of identifying gaps in the market, using this knowledge to launch startups and growing them while staying ahead of his competitors. In fact, that is what he achieved with his previous company, Automate.io, a startup that answered a need in the Software as a Service (SaaS) market for a cloud data integration and workflow automation product that could work across multiple cloud applications. Ashok Gudibandla Ashok Gudibandla In the five years between 2016 and 2021, Ashok scaled Automate.io up to 200 software integrations, providing data integration and workflow automation for over 4,000 businesses around the globe. The startup was so successful that in 2021, Ashok was able to sell it to San Francisco-based SaaS company Notion. San Francisco-based SaaS company Notion San Francisco-based SaaS company Notion Seizing the Moment Seizing the Moment Ashok’s successful launch of Automate.io in 2016 came on the heels of an earlier attempt that had proven less lucrative. “I founded my first company in 2008,” Ashok recalls. “It was a total failure. I struggled with it because we were not building a product that was aligned with market trends, and I didn’t have much market knowledge. The second time, I did not make that mistake.” The specific idea for Automate.io came to him while he worked as a product manager for a SaaS company, interacting with global customers and assessing their needs. He realized that many companies were having data integration challenges while adopting multiple cloud-based platforms to support various business operations. These applications are rarely integrated, and these companies were searching for third-party software to fill the gaps. The problem was that the products available provide that data integration were specialized and limited; they could only integrate and move data between two applications. “In my interactions with customers,” Ashok explains, “I saw that some of their needs exceeded what these products could do. And that there was a need for a more sophisticated workflow and data synchronization product that could work across multiple cloud applications (not just two). Such products did not exist then.” So, he created Automate.io. The Rise of Automate.io The Rise of Automate.io Automate.io provided workflow and data integration across 200 separate software services. The more than 4,000 businesses served were diverse, ranging from small businesses to large global enterprises that needed a solution like this to automate their marketing and sales processes. Ashok created a product-led growth engine where customers discovered the product primarily through Google, signed up, tried it, and made a purchase. This approach became the primary method for attracting the majority of the company's customers. In contrast, Automate.io rarely engaged with customers before they subscribed; in fact, some Fortune 500 companies used the product without even realizing they were customers until a payment was received. The second growth engine Ashok built was through partnerships. He turned technology partnerships with the 200 apps the company integrated into marketing opportunities. With every strategic partner, he led co-marketing initiatives—from engaging blogs to impactful announcements—that showcased the product's value and converted the partner's customer base, fueling exceptional growth. Ashok was the first to see the need and act on it. After the launch of Automate.io, other products started adding  muti-app workflow capabilities.. “So in a sense,” he shares, “we were the initial trendsetters in the space.” Looking Ahead Looking Ahead What Ashok Gudibandla learned from his early setbacks and demonstrated with Automate.io was his ability to work ahead of the curve, execute at scale, and set industry trends. Today, he is looking ahead yet again, exploring the opportunities for Vertical AI—artificial intelligence designed for specific industries, with capabilities tailored to particular business needs—and preparing to disrupt another industry with a new AI-powered product.

This story contains new, firsthand information uncovered by the writer.

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