WEBVTT NOTE This file was generated by Descript 00:00:01.170 --> 00:00:05.460 Welcome to The Chemical Show, the podcast where Chemical means business. 00:00:05.910 --> 00:00:09.690 I'm your host, Victoria Meyer, bringing you stories and insights 00:00:09.690 --> 00:00:13.590 from leaders driving innovation and growth across the chemical industry. 00:00:14.550 --> 00:00:18.840 Each week we explore key trends, real world challenges, and the 00:00:18.840 --> 00:00:20.670 strategies that make an impact. 00:00:20.880 --> 00:00:21.720 Let's get started. 00:00:23.366 --> 00:00:26.786 Victoria: Welcome back to the Chemical Show where Leaders Talk Business. 00:00:27.086 --> 00:00:33.076 Today I am speaking with Ali Amin Javari, who is the CEO of Knowde. 00:00:33.626 --> 00:00:37.406 Ali has been previously on the Chemical Show back in December 2023. 00:00:37.406 --> 00:00:41.156 I'm actually gonna link to that episode so you can hear what we 00:00:41.156 --> 00:00:46.468 talked about then, and Knowde is continuing to grow and develop. 00:00:46.468 --> 00:00:48.298 And that's frankly what we're talking about, right? 00:00:48.298 --> 00:00:53.038 So, uh, the chemical industry and frankly all industries are in the midst of a 00:00:53.038 --> 00:00:58.318 digital transformation and there's a lot of companies trying to find their way, 00:00:58.438 --> 00:01:00.988 harness the path and help us get forward. 00:01:00.988 --> 00:01:01.888 And Knowde is one of those. 00:01:01.888 --> 00:01:02.068 So, 00:01:02.068 --> 00:01:04.331 super excited to have Ali back today. 00:01:04.331 --> 00:01:04.978 Um, we're 00:01:04.978 --> 00:01:06.118 Victoria: gonna have a great conversation. 00:01:06.618 --> 00:01:08.248 Ali, welcome back to the Chemical Show. 00:01:08.466 --> 00:01:09.246 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): It's great to see you. 00:01:09.486 --> 00:01:12.371 Um, it's, it's been how long, A year and a half. 00:01:13.078 --> 00:01:14.548 Victoria: Almost two years. 00:01:14.686 --> 00:01:15.106 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): Okay. 00:01:15.688 --> 00:01:16.498 Victoria: it's been a while. 00:01:17.266 --> 00:01:17.956 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): A lot has changed. 00:01:18.058 --> 00:01:19.348 Victoria: aged, nor have you. 00:01:20.236 --> 00:01:21.136 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): Well, that's awfully kind. 00:01:23.098 --> 00:01:24.898 Victoria: So, so let's just start this. 00:01:24.898 --> 00:01:28.048 'cause, um, for people that don't know a lot about you, 00:01:28.048 --> 00:01:30.503 how, who are you, Ali, and how did you get 00:01:30.553 --> 00:01:30.793 Victoria: here? 00:01:31.529 --> 00:01:33.059 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): boy, where, where do you even start? 00:01:33.089 --> 00:01:38.519 Um, I don't know if I kind of mentioned much of the backstory last time we talked. 00:01:39.821 --> 00:01:44.641 my father used to work at DuPont and uh, I learned about this 00:01:44.641 --> 00:01:46.741 industry at a very young age. 00:01:47.311 --> 00:01:51.271 I was that kid and toe that he took to many manufacturing sites. 00:01:52.171 --> 00:01:55.941 And, his claim to fame, I don't know if it's true or not, but his claim to fame 00:01:55.941 --> 00:02:00.051 is, uh, that he, he helped build the first nylon plant in the Middle East. 00:02:00.778 --> 00:02:01.158 Victoria: Cool. 00:02:01.791 --> 00:02:04.851 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): and, uh, and so, you know, having been exposed 00:02:04.851 --> 00:02:09.051 this industry at a young age, you know, I always thought that, you 00:02:09.051 --> 00:02:13.491 know, I'd, I'd probably work in it, but eventually we moved around 00:02:13.491 --> 00:02:15.261 the US and settled in Seattle. 00:02:15.261 --> 00:02:18.741 And as you can imagine, there's not a lot of industry in Seattle. 00:02:19.561 --> 00:02:27.421 But I luckily found a, you know, chemical tech company that had very big aspirations 00:02:27.451 --> 00:02:32.581 and I was fortunate enough to join when I was essentially coming outta school. 00:02:32.941 --> 00:02:34.396 And I've stayed in the industry since. 00:02:34.948 --> 00:02:35.833 Victoria: Yeah, that's cool. 00:02:36.013 --> 00:02:40.213 Um, and in fact, you know, I think what's important about that, I'm gonna just, 00:02:40.963 --> 00:02:44.443 this was not part of the pre script anyway, but what I think is important 00:02:44.443 --> 00:02:50.443 about that is the, the chemical industry is very unique, very relationship driven. 00:02:50.443 --> 00:02:51.343 And frankly, we like. 00:02:51.658 --> 00:02:53.398 Working with people that know chemicals. 00:02:53.398 --> 00:02:58.048 So the fact that chemicals is part of your DNA from a um, from your time as 00:02:58.048 --> 00:03:04.438 a kid probably helps you understand and engage a lot more effectively 00:03:04.438 --> 00:03:06.148 with your chemical customers. 00:03:07.321 --> 00:03:09.001 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): Relationships certainly matter. 00:03:09.061 --> 00:03:13.921 And, uh, I think anytime a tech company rolls into a chemical company, 00:03:13.921 --> 00:03:18.631 there's always this, a slight amount of anxiety in terms of, you know, 00:03:18.631 --> 00:03:20.461 who are you, where did you come from? 00:03:20.461 --> 00:03:22.141 Why did you pick this industry? 00:03:22.141 --> 00:03:23.251 You know, like those sort of 00:03:23.253 --> 00:03:23.373 Victoria: A, 00:03:23.506 --> 00:03:23.546 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): questions. 00:03:23.578 --> 00:03:25.588 Victoria: a healthy dose of skepticism. 00:03:25.828 --> 00:03:25.948 Yeah. 00:03:26.416 --> 00:03:30.092 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): And so when I do tell, part of that story that I just 00:03:30.092 --> 00:03:33.752 shared here, it, it usually disarms people because it just now makes a lot 00:03:33.752 --> 00:03:37.647 more sense as to like why I've kind of dedicated my career to this space. 00:03:38.474 --> 00:03:38.864 Victoria: yeah. 00:03:38.954 --> 00:03:39.434 I love it. 00:03:39.674 --> 00:03:41.554 So tell us a little bit about Knowde. 00:03:42.044 --> 00:03:42.774 Who is Knowde? 00:03:42.794 --> 00:03:43.574 What do you guys do? 00:03:44.482 --> 00:03:45.227 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): Oh boy. 00:03:45.257 --> 00:03:45.647 Okay. 00:03:45.647 --> 00:03:46.217 So, 00:03:46.274 --> 00:03:46.304 Victoria: I. 00:03:46.577 --> 00:03:50.627 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): um, you know, the core of our technology is the ability 00:03:50.627 --> 00:03:55.427 to create a singular source of truth in a chemical company's data layer. 00:03:55.637 --> 00:03:55.727 Right. 00:03:56.207 --> 00:04:00.647 Our thesis when we started the company was that it's gonna be hard for this 00:04:00.647 --> 00:04:07.247 industry to transform if most of its data is sitting in offline sources. 00:04:07.729 --> 00:04:08.019 Victoria: Yeah. 00:04:08.447 --> 00:04:12.897 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): um, you know, a lot of times companies get enamored with 00:04:12.987 --> 00:04:14.937 the, the user interface of the tech. 00:04:14.967 --> 00:04:19.407 Like the, they, they get enamored by the shiny objects, and what they don't 00:04:19.407 --> 00:04:22.467 see is what's sitting underneath it that is feeding the application layer. 00:04:22.867 --> 00:04:27.007 And so, you know, ever since day one we've been very much focused on 00:04:27.007 --> 00:04:29.917 building this data pipeline capability. 00:04:30.517 --> 00:04:32.797 And that's how, I don't know if I mentioned this last time, but that's 00:04:32.797 --> 00:04:34.047 how we came up with the name Knowde. 00:04:34.237 --> 00:04:36.577 Uh, we're the node that connects all this knowledge. 00:04:37.297 --> 00:04:40.237 Um, and so, you know, as you know, chemical companies have a 00:04:40.237 --> 00:04:44.881 lot of information spread across PDF documents and PowerPoint 00:04:44.881 --> 00:04:49.274 presentations, and lots of different systems scattered around the world. 00:04:49.334 --> 00:04:49.874 And. 00:04:50.269 --> 00:04:55.879 We create the, the harmonized clean version of, of all that data. 00:04:56.341 --> 00:04:57.211 Victoria: that's interesting. 00:04:57.211 --> 00:05:00.811 And so, you know, I think what's interesting about that Allie, is, 00:05:00.811 --> 00:05:02.101 and, and we talked about data. 00:05:02.101 --> 00:05:06.211 and the importance of that before, but I think most people's first 00:05:06.211 --> 00:05:10.794 introduction to Knowde was the storefronts that you guys were building. 00:05:11.334 --> 00:05:13.884 Is that part still part of what you do today? 00:05:14.452 --> 00:05:17.542 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): But what I think most people didn't recognize is what we 00:05:17.542 --> 00:05:19.762 were building underneath the marketplace. 00:05:20.242 --> 00:05:25.392 So the marketplace is, an application that sits on top of our core technology, 00:05:25.392 --> 00:05:29.142 which is this data pipeline that does the ingesting, extracting, 00:05:29.544 --> 00:05:29.834 Victoria: Yeah. 00:05:30.072 --> 00:05:31.337 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): and harmonizing of all the data. 00:05:31.992 --> 00:05:35.832 Um, because from our perspective, like that's the core problem. 00:05:36.032 --> 00:05:41.762 That our industry has to solve first, and then once that's solved, then um, you 00:05:41.762 --> 00:05:46.502 know, any type of application can be built on top of it, including marketplaces and, 00:05:46.622 --> 00:05:50.462 and storefronts and customer experience software and, you know, anything 00:05:50.462 --> 00:05:52.502 else that you can possibly imagine. 00:05:52.974 --> 00:05:53.364 Victoria: Yeah. 00:05:53.784 --> 00:05:59.664 So, um, know, the talk of the town is ai, right? 00:05:59.664 --> 00:06:03.264 So I think about two years ago when the first time we talked, I think people 00:06:03.264 --> 00:06:06.414 could barely spell AI, by the way. 00:06:06.414 --> 00:06:09.234 And it's just a i for those that wonder. 00:06:09.564 --> 00:06:12.804 Um, and, um, and yet it's. 00:06:13.629 --> 00:06:15.489 embraced it kind of. 00:06:15.489 --> 00:06:18.369 I think there's still skepticism, but there's also this view 00:06:18.369 --> 00:06:19.539 that it's the Holy Grail. 00:06:20.379 --> 00:06:23.229 and I know Knowde is embracing ai. 00:06:23.229 --> 00:06:26.409 So what do you see as the role of AI in all of this? 00:06:27.047 --> 00:06:30.647 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): Our industry is highly, highly technical. 00:06:30.866 --> 00:06:35.876 it requires a lot of know-how knowledge in order to be able to make decisions. 00:06:35.938 --> 00:06:36.218 Victoria: Yeah. 00:06:36.776 --> 00:06:41.856 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): And, a lot of that know-how today sits in SharePoint 00:06:41.856 --> 00:06:47.380 drives and random documents and a lot of times between people's ears and. 00:06:47.488 --> 00:06:55.108 I think the impact of this tech is gonna be felt a lot because, that know-how is 00:06:55.108 --> 00:07:01.048 now gonna become transparent and people can start making decisions without 00:07:01.108 --> 00:07:04.018 having been in the industry for 25 years. 00:07:04.621 --> 00:07:09.811 Um, and so if the cost of intelligence goes down to zero. 00:07:10.638 --> 00:07:13.818 Imagine how much faster a sales rep can ramp. 00:07:13.878 --> 00:07:17.238 Imagine how much faster you can, you know, fill out a regulatory 00:07:17.238 --> 00:07:21.538 document, imagine how much faster you can make procurement decisions. 00:07:22.068 --> 00:07:24.528 And so, you know, that is the promise of the tech. 00:07:24.698 --> 00:07:30.818 As of right now, I would say that a lot of companies are piloting across different 00:07:30.818 --> 00:07:34.538 use cases in their company and, um. 00:07:35.303 --> 00:07:37.163 So far, I would say mixed results. 00:07:37.552 --> 00:07:38.332 Victoria: Why? 00:07:38.392 --> 00:07:39.922 Why do you see the mixed results? 00:07:39.922 --> 00:07:40.942 What's going on there? 00:07:41.450 --> 00:07:47.076 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): I think the key in deploying tech like this is understanding 00:07:47.076 --> 00:07:48.251 the problem that you're trying to solve. 00:07:49.281 --> 00:07:50.491 It's not about the tech. 00:07:51.096 --> 00:07:55.176 It's about what problem are you trying to solve and then how can 00:07:55.176 --> 00:07:56.976 you apply the tech to that problem? 00:07:57.113 --> 00:07:57.403 Victoria: Yeah. 00:07:58.086 --> 00:07:59.376 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): The tech is just the solution 00:07:59.383 --> 00:07:59.673 Victoria: Yeah. 00:07:59.676 --> 00:08:04.660 Ali Amin Javaheri: and a lot of times I've seen companies sort of create their 00:08:04.660 --> 00:08:10.370 own version of a chat bot or whatever and roll it out to their audience, and see 00:08:10.370 --> 00:08:12.980 them use it for very rudimentary reasons 00:08:13.672 --> 00:08:13.792 Victoria: Hmm. 00:08:13.970 --> 00:08:14.750 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): rather than saying, look. 00:08:16.010 --> 00:08:20.030 The problem that we're trying to solve is to make our sales team 00:08:20.030 --> 00:08:21.770 more productive, as an example. 00:08:22.367 --> 00:08:22.727 Victoria: Right. 00:08:23.210 --> 00:08:26.010 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): the use case is helping our team cross 00:08:26.010 --> 00:08:29.070 sell or solution sell or you know, whatever, whatever it may be. 00:08:29.573 --> 00:08:32.543 Now through that lens, if you start to apply the tech, I think 00:08:32.543 --> 00:08:36.503 that companies will have a lot higher likelihood of success. 00:08:36.800 --> 00:08:37.700 Victoria: Yeah, that's good. 00:08:37.760 --> 00:08:40.880 And that's actually a great segue 'cause I know before we hit the record 00:08:40.880 --> 00:08:46.100 button, you talked about the, Um, amount of time you're spending on the, road 00:08:46.370 --> 00:08:51.530 engaging with chemical leaders and, and people across the globe, not just. 00:08:51.770 --> 00:08:53.150 US Europe elsewhere. 00:08:53.510 --> 00:08:56.518 And so that was actually gonna be my question, which is What are you 00:08:56.518 --> 00:09:02.788 hearing from your customers about what they want to be doing with digital? 00:09:03.238 --> 00:09:07.558 What problems they wanna be solving and how they wanna be harnessing it today? 00:09:08.075 --> 00:09:11.735 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): um, this topic is front of mind for most executives. 00:09:11.855 --> 00:09:15.935 And I think right now, like I said, they're, they're piloting and 00:09:15.965 --> 00:09:18.395 searching for the right use cases. 00:09:18.812 --> 00:09:21.632 But it is very, very much top of mind. 00:09:21.752 --> 00:09:26.072 It's something they're looking to their teams and wondering, okay. 00:09:26.714 --> 00:09:28.754 We, how do we get these productivity gains? 00:09:28.754 --> 00:09:30.674 Like, what should we be using it for? 00:09:31.300 --> 00:09:34.450 you know, they're, like I said, they're, they're searching for the use case. 00:09:35.140 --> 00:09:39.970 And, um, you know, as they kind of experiment and do these different 00:09:39.970 --> 00:09:42.670 pilots, I think they're gonna start to see where the opportunities 00:09:42.670 --> 00:09:44.620 are from our perspective. 00:09:44.954 --> 00:09:50.144 We see a lot of front of house opportunities in commercial teams. 00:09:50.234 --> 00:09:53.064 So how do you make, sales more productive. 00:09:53.094 --> 00:09:56.064 How do you enable customers to self-serve? 00:09:56.664 --> 00:10:01.814 We see a lot of use cases in, finance around reporting and being 00:10:01.814 --> 00:10:03.254 able to make decisions faster. 00:10:03.974 --> 00:10:08.544 We're seeing a lot of use cases in like supply chain and procurement, related 00:10:08.604 --> 00:10:15.094 to leveraging, global spend, um, in, in, in better ways, um, better managing. 00:10:15.439 --> 00:10:16.759 Tail procurement spend. 00:10:16.972 --> 00:10:20.782 Um, we're seeing a lot of use cases in regulatory where there's a lot of 00:10:20.782 --> 00:10:25.102 manual effort today happening and, you know, in, in, in this environment 00:10:25.102 --> 00:10:27.952 there's, these regulatory teams are getting bigger and bigger and bigger. 00:10:28.672 --> 00:10:31.072 And so there's tons of room for efficiency there. 00:10:31.532 --> 00:10:36.192 Knowde doesn't play as much in the back office, like manufacturing, so I'm 00:10:36.192 --> 00:10:38.682 not as familiar with those use cases. 00:10:38.682 --> 00:10:43.062 But because our industry is so rooted in in assets and chemical engineers 00:10:43.062 --> 00:10:46.422 and process engineers, I know that they've been certainly applying 00:10:46.422 --> 00:10:47.922 this tech into the back office. 00:10:48.534 --> 00:10:48.834 Victoria: Yeah. 00:10:48.834 --> 00:10:49.644 Absolutely. 00:10:49.884 --> 00:10:50.514 Absolutely. 00:10:50.814 --> 00:10:57.794 Um, it seems like the industry has been on this journey for a long time, right? 00:10:57.794 --> 00:11:00.734 So I go back and I think about my own personal experience. 00:11:01.664 --> 00:11:04.664 I was helping shell build and start up. 00:11:04.664 --> 00:11:06.704 Its first customer facing. 00:11:06.969 --> 00:11:10.539 E-business system, if you will, which is what we called it back in the day. 00:11:10.539 --> 00:11:13.329 Now it's all digital, but back then it was e-business. 00:11:13.389 --> 00:11:16.209 But we were doing this in 20, uh, in the year 2000. 00:11:16.389 --> 00:11:16.719 Right? 00:11:16.719 --> 00:11:21.339 So the year 2000 was when, uh, digital got super exciting. 00:11:21.339 --> 00:11:26.369 We had, oh my gosh, that puppet that went along with pets.com 00:11:26.369 --> 00:11:27.059 or whatever it was. 00:11:27.269 --> 00:11:29.789 Anyway, there was this whole boom of startups and the. 00:11:30.449 --> 00:11:32.939 Great Holy grail that hey, we're all gonna be digital. 00:11:33.209 --> 00:11:38.279 And yet here we are 25 years later, which is kind of shocking considering 00:11:38.279 --> 00:11:43.379 I'm only 25, but um, 25 years later and we're still trying to figure out 00:11:44.069 --> 00:11:52.249 how do we really harness and leverage and create value, from digital. 00:11:52.781 --> 00:11:53.381 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): Boy, 20. 00:11:53.501 --> 00:11:55.211 It's been close. 00:11:55.241 --> 00:11:55.451 Yeah. 00:11:55.481 --> 00:11:56.621 20, 25 years. 00:11:56.721 --> 00:11:59.241 I think, I think what you said is very fair argument. 00:11:59.271 --> 00:12:05.929 I mean, You know, back in 2000, uh, there were certainly lots of attempts to, you 00:12:05.929 --> 00:12:12.469 know, change this space and, um, you know, you could certainly debate as to how many 00:12:12.469 --> 00:12:15.079 of them had a lasting impact on the space. 00:12:15.789 --> 00:12:20.239 You can also debate how much, you know, the tech from the last 20 years 00:12:20.239 --> 00:12:21.679 has really impacted these companies. 00:12:21.679 --> 00:12:25.039 I mean, obviously everyone's implemented ERP systems. 00:12:25.404 --> 00:12:31.581 You know, but CRM, you know, adoption is fairly low customer facing, technology 00:12:31.581 --> 00:12:35.001 is, you know, from our perspective just starting to really, really accelerate. 00:12:35.961 --> 00:12:39.611 And so, it's certainly, you know, this industry when it comes to tech, 00:12:39.611 --> 00:12:43.331 we all know is a bit of a laggard and there's a lot of like hobby projects. 00:12:43.431 --> 00:12:46.071 And I think it goes back to what I said earlier, which is that. 00:12:46.531 --> 00:12:52.311 When we see projects fail or get delayed, it's because there's not 00:12:52.311 --> 00:12:56.091 crystal clarity in terms of the business problem we're trying to solve. 00:12:56.557 --> 00:12:59.857 You know, they, a lot of times people, you know, they, they see 00:12:59.857 --> 00:13:04.137 that, interesting idea and they want to go apply it, but they, they're not 00:13:04.137 --> 00:13:07.557 applying it to a top level initiative. 00:13:08.399 --> 00:13:08.519 Victoria: Hmm. 00:13:08.607 --> 00:13:11.642 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): In other words, whether it's AI or you know, some 00:13:11.642 --> 00:13:16.579 digital capability, it, it has to get applied to what the executives believe 00:13:16.609 --> 00:13:19.969 is a top three bleeding initiative. 00:13:20.989 --> 00:13:24.289 If it's not one of those top three, don't spend money on it, 00:13:24.771 --> 00:13:24.991 Victoria: Wow. 00:13:25.669 --> 00:13:28.249 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): because what inevitably happens is 00:13:28.249 --> 00:13:30.199 that, the project gets delayed. 00:13:30.946 --> 00:13:32.266 The teams ask for more money. 00:13:32.751 --> 00:13:35.901 Business runs outta patients and the project gets canned. 00:13:36.261 --> 00:13:42.411 I mean, we've seen that sort of motion over and over and over again, but if 00:13:42.411 --> 00:13:46.461 the project was tied to a top three bleeding initiative, that's gotta 00:13:46.461 --> 00:13:49.971 get fixed in order for the business to grow or become more efficient. 00:13:50.297 --> 00:13:52.847 then there would be a lot more, um, focus on it. 00:13:53.057 --> 00:13:56.087 There'd be a lot higher expectations in terms of deliverables. 00:13:56.477 --> 00:14:00.647 They would create bigger budgets in order to make sure that it gets delivered. 00:14:01.064 --> 00:14:04.724 And so, you know, it's not tech for the sake of tech. 00:14:04.724 --> 00:14:07.364 Like, you know, you gave a story about when you were at Shell, I 00:14:07.364 --> 00:14:10.304 don't know what problem you guys were necessarily trying to solve. 00:14:10.544 --> 00:14:13.034 but if the objective isn't to. 00:14:13.674 --> 00:14:18.624 Free up a sales person's time to be more proactive to go sell more product 00:14:18.954 --> 00:14:23.284 and thus eliminate, all the, the remedial requests coming through from 00:14:23.284 --> 00:14:27.394 customers and thus why we're creating the customer experience platform. 00:14:28.294 --> 00:14:29.134 Then don't do it. 00:14:29.611 --> 00:14:29.911 Victoria: Yeah. 00:14:30.241 --> 00:14:31.321 Yeah, I think that's fair. 00:14:31.321 --> 00:14:35.931 And actually that was, that was our objective was to, was to streamline, the 00:14:35.931 --> 00:14:42.371 number of just nagging calls coming in to the customer center, or the number 00:14:42.371 --> 00:14:47.021 of calls that a sales person and a, a customer service person feels about. 00:14:47.021 --> 00:14:48.041 Where's my truck? 00:14:48.299 --> 00:14:48.659 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): Hmm. 00:14:48.746 --> 00:14:49.136 Victoria: truck? 00:14:49.136 --> 00:14:49.946 Where's my truck? 00:14:50.186 --> 00:14:50.846 Oh my gosh. 00:14:50.846 --> 00:14:53.906 I can give you access to the same system I'm looking at. 00:14:53.936 --> 00:14:54.776 That's where it is. 00:14:55.076 --> 00:14:59.486 Um, and so figuring that out to create that level of efficiency, what I think 00:14:59.486 --> 00:15:02.336 is, I think what I think is really important about what you said though, 00:15:02.336 --> 00:15:07.916 ally, is about this fact that it, it needs to be of the top three initiatives 00:15:07.976 --> 00:15:14.336 and, and problems and focus areas for the executives teams in order to really 00:15:14.336 --> 00:15:16.196 put the right resources behind it. 00:15:16.541 --> 00:15:21.321 To ensure and drive support, but I sometimes wonder at, is it. 00:15:21.921 --> 00:15:26.721 Connected to the people lower in the organization who are frankly, really 00:15:26.721 --> 00:15:28.341 affected by it on a day-to-day basis. 00:15:28.341 --> 00:15:33.021 So, I mean, what do you see in terms of user adoption, right? 00:15:33.021 --> 00:15:36.371 So it's one thing to come in, and implement a system. 00:15:36.401 --> 00:15:39.701 And build a system and you know, you start with a pilot and then you roll it out. 00:15:40.091 --> 00:15:44.081 Are you seeing that the salespeople are embracing it, that the 00:15:44.081 --> 00:15:45.551 procurement people are embracing it? 00:15:45.551 --> 00:15:45.896 What do you see? 00:15:46.662 --> 00:15:48.942 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): I think it goes back to, you know, is 00:15:48.942 --> 00:15:50.442 it tied to a top initiative? 00:15:50.532 --> 00:15:53.772 And you know, don't just do it for the sake of doing it, so 00:15:54.252 --> 00:15:55.932 let's use CRM as an example. 00:15:55.932 --> 00:15:59.592 Just because like, you know, that's like everyone's thorn. 00:16:00.196 --> 00:16:05.329 at some point, starting about 7, 8, 10 years ago, the industry woke up to 00:16:05.329 --> 00:16:08.959 the fact that they should probably be organizing their customer data somewhere 00:16:09.302 --> 00:16:12.322 and everyone started buying some system. 00:16:12.784 --> 00:16:13.074 Victoria: Yeah. 00:16:13.297 --> 00:16:17.807 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): And, asking their team to fill it out every 00:16:17.807 --> 00:16:22.337 time they go visit a client and their people said, no, thanks. 00:16:22.994 --> 00:16:25.697 I'd rather not do that with my time it was a rally. 00:16:25.757 --> 00:16:27.477 The organization was trying to. 00:16:27.539 --> 00:16:27.783 Victoria: Hmm. 00:16:28.068 --> 00:16:32.568 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): Was clear and it was repeated over and over and over again. 00:16:32.598 --> 00:16:34.188 'cause it's one of the top three initiatives. 00:16:35.148 --> 00:16:38.958 I think adoption in our industry would be a lot different and we would stop talking 00:16:38.958 --> 00:16:40.368 about change management all the time. 00:16:40.865 --> 00:16:43.965 You have no idea how many times I hear the two words change management. 00:16:44.205 --> 00:16:47.715 And of course it's hard, you know, people have their preferences and you 00:16:47.715 --> 00:16:50.295 know, people have certain behaviors and all of those sort of things. 00:16:50.728 --> 00:16:52.628 However, people can change. 00:16:53.018 --> 00:16:57.578 And people can be led to, um, you know, a better direction. 00:16:57.638 --> 00:17:01.208 And a lot of times folks want that if they understand the why. 00:17:01.268 --> 00:17:04.538 And it's been, and it's being repeated over and over and over again. 00:17:04.538 --> 00:17:06.158 It's like, why it's so important. 00:17:07.478 --> 00:17:11.208 And so, I think it just always comes down to, you know, what 00:17:11.208 --> 00:17:12.198 problem we're trying to solve. 00:17:12.198 --> 00:17:14.118 And is, is it, is it important enough? 00:17:15.240 --> 00:17:16.830 Victoria: Yeah, I think that's a great point. 00:17:16.830 --> 00:17:21.327 And, um, do you see companies, whether they're in the chemical 00:17:21.567 --> 00:17:25.737 industry or outside of the chemical industry doing this well, um, really 00:17:25.737 --> 00:17:32.187 rallying around this reason, you know, the, the top three, bleeding 00:17:32.187 --> 00:17:35.307 initiative priorities for a company. 00:17:35.607 --> 00:17:37.587 Do you see, um, who's doing this well? 00:17:37.813 --> 00:17:41.383 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): the commonality amongst the ones that are doing well is 00:17:41.383 --> 00:17:43.393 that when the C-suite is highly engaged, 00:17:43.585 --> 00:17:43.645 Victoria: it. 00:17:44.713 --> 00:17:47.383 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): um, if they're not around the table or 00:17:47.383 --> 00:17:49.783 they're soft supporting this. 00:17:50.281 --> 00:17:54.421 It's just, it's, it's, it's obvious that, you know, this is gonna be, 00:17:54.451 --> 00:17:58.891 you know, three years of some poor team's time and a road's nowhere. 00:17:59.578 --> 00:17:59.998 Victoria: Yeah. 00:18:00.028 --> 00:18:00.658 absolutely. 00:18:00.868 --> 00:18:05.698 So you talked about kind of the whole aspect of harnessing AI and harnessing 00:18:05.698 --> 00:18:10.828 digitization in these tools to really connect all the different data points. 00:18:11.188 --> 00:18:13.678 Um, and I know a lot of where you started 00:18:13.756 --> 00:18:14.046 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): Yeah. 00:18:14.278 --> 00:18:15.958 Victoria: was around, um. 00:18:17.223 --> 00:18:17.443 Ms. 00:18:17.448 --> 00:18:20.758 DSS product, data, et cetera. 00:18:21.418 --> 00:18:25.678 you also now connecting into CRM systems, SAP systems? 00:18:25.678 --> 00:18:29.068 So when you talk about how you bring it all together, that information a 00:18:29.068 --> 00:18:31.048 lot of times is in various places. 00:18:31.108 --> 00:18:31.588 So is 00:18:32.041 --> 00:18:32.251 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): Yeah. 00:18:32.278 --> 00:18:33.328 Victoria: there a connection point? 00:18:33.328 --> 00:18:36.928 Is that still part of the, the journey that we're at? 00:18:38.011 --> 00:18:41.191 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): There's like four core types of data that our 00:18:41.191 --> 00:18:44.821 industry primarily talks about, vendor, material, product, and customer. 00:18:45.031 --> 00:18:47.731 And there's all sorts of other related data like, you know, bombs 00:18:47.731 --> 00:18:50.341 and formulations and transactions and all that other stuff. 00:18:51.121 --> 00:18:55.291 and you know, when we started building our capabilities, we, we did it 00:18:55.291 --> 00:18:57.211 to be agnostic of the data type. 00:18:57.901 --> 00:19:00.691 And so, you know, our objective is to be able to. 00:19:00.888 --> 00:19:04.218 cleanse and structure and harmonize all the different types of data. 00:19:04.744 --> 00:19:10.774 We started with product data because we believed that it was really complex, just 00:19:10.774 --> 00:19:14.764 imagine the different types of products across all four corners of the industry. 00:19:15.484 --> 00:19:19.114 Imagine all the different types of attributes related to each product. 00:19:20.059 --> 00:19:22.909 And if you can solve for that, then you can probably solve 00:19:22.909 --> 00:19:24.169 for a lot of other problems. 00:19:24.889 --> 00:19:27.259 And so, um, today it's holistic. 00:19:27.449 --> 00:19:29.789 But you're right, we, we certainly started with product. 00:19:30.263 --> 00:19:30.583 Victoria: Got it. 00:19:30.940 --> 00:19:34.590 so we've talked a little bit about you know, I think one of the topics 00:19:34.590 --> 00:19:39.450 I've got on here is just what the, you know, how AI is changing this, um, and 00:19:39.450 --> 00:19:41.070 changing the future of the industry. 00:19:41.070 --> 00:19:44.370 What are you seeing and how is Knowde tying into that? 00:19:44.839 --> 00:19:46.219 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): we're seeing all sorts of different 00:19:46.219 --> 00:19:48.889 use cases and I mentioned some of 'em a little bit earlier. 00:19:48.979 --> 00:19:53.599 Um, and you know, I would say when we're talking to like commercial 00:19:53.599 --> 00:19:58.633 folks, the types of use cases we're hearing are around like, how do you 00:19:58.633 --> 00:20:02.323 give more knowledge to the sales team? 00:20:02.683 --> 00:20:05.623 How do you make it easier for them to answer? 00:20:06.343 --> 00:20:08.173 Basic customer questions faster. 00:20:09.313 --> 00:20:12.433 How do you, um, help them recommend the right products? 00:20:12.949 --> 00:20:15.469 Cross-selling comes up more times than you can know. 00:20:15.469 --> 00:20:18.319 It's like this thing that's, you know, 00:20:18.346 --> 00:20:19.246 Victoria: always a thing. 00:20:19.396 --> 00:20:19.961 it's, always 00:20:19.999 --> 00:20:21.739 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): it's it's literally this thing that this 00:20:21.739 --> 00:20:23.209 industry just can't solve for. 00:20:23.729 --> 00:20:27.959 so, so on the commercial side, those are probably the, the most common use cases. 00:20:27.959 --> 00:20:30.269 Like I mentioned earlier, there's a lot of things happening 00:20:30.269 --> 00:20:31.979 around supply chain procurement. 00:20:32.249 --> 00:20:33.869 Uh, regulatory finance, 00:20:33.881 --> 00:20:34.301 Victoria: Yeah. 00:20:34.499 --> 00:20:37.229 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): um, obviously within the digital teams themselves. 00:20:37.733 --> 00:20:39.083 yeah, it's lots and lots. 00:20:39.425 --> 00:20:41.885 Victoria: You know, you talk about that cross-selling and I think one of the 00:20:41.885 --> 00:20:46.210 pieces of, One of the challenges if I think about the chemical industry, 00:20:46.210 --> 00:20:51.040 and so I mean, as, as users, you and I we're interacting with all 00:20:51.040 --> 00:20:55.300 kinds of digital applications in our personal and business lives that are 00:20:55.300 --> 00:20:58.450 servicing millions of people, right? 00:20:58.450 --> 00:21:01.900 So if you think about, you know, the Amazon storefront, right? 00:21:01.900 --> 00:21:06.550 And, um, or um, I was, you know. 00:21:06.990 --> 00:21:10.020 And, uh, the pandemic changed the way I used Instacart. 00:21:10.020 --> 00:21:12.480 When you order on Instacart and then it says, Hey, would you 00:21:12.480 --> 00:21:15.900 also like to add A, B, or C? 00:21:15.900 --> 00:21:21.616 Or, it's easier to do because frankly there's no, um, you know, you're, you're 00:21:21.616 --> 00:21:23.626 not trying to do a technical sale. 00:21:23.626 --> 00:21:25.666 It doesn't have to be formulated in. 00:21:25.976 --> 00:21:27.896 there's so much more data. 00:21:28.376 --> 00:21:32.036 Um, and yet I think as users. 00:21:32.421 --> 00:21:33.231 Humans. 00:21:33.261 --> 00:21:40.131 We want our chemical and business industry tools to be as fast, seamless, 00:21:40.635 --> 00:21:48.225 tested, evolved as we see on our personal devices and use cases, and yet 00:21:48.585 --> 00:21:50.685 we're actually operating at a fraction 00:21:50.833 --> 00:21:51.043 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): Yeah. 00:21:51.165 --> 00:21:55.155 Victoria: the number of interactions versus an Amazon. 00:21:55.311 --> 00:21:59.511 I think there's just this, this disparity that, um, people need to also, 00:21:59.601 --> 00:22:03.801 you know, kind of self-regulate for recognizing that when you have fewer 00:22:03.801 --> 00:22:09.321 users, the evolution maybe is not on the same pace because you've got fewer 00:22:09.681 --> 00:22:11.631 opportunities to test, evolve and grow. 00:22:11.661 --> 00:22:12.981 Would you agree with that? 00:22:13.461 --> 00:22:17.391 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): there's been, over the course of history, 00:22:17.391 --> 00:22:25.778 there's been so much m and a in this industry, and as companies divest 00:22:25.808 --> 00:22:33.218 and acquire, they are acquiring bigger catalogs, larger sales teams. 00:22:33.589 --> 00:22:39.248 A lot of like cross-functional support and, it's hard for folks even internally 00:22:39.548 --> 00:22:41.858 to understand what's in this catalog. 00:22:42.098 --> 00:22:47.864 if a sales rep is in a certain division, they don't know what that next 00:22:47.864 --> 00:22:49.274 division next to 'EM is even selling. 00:22:49.848 --> 00:22:53.088 And now you've got five reps calling the same account. 00:22:53.495 --> 00:22:53.785 Victoria: Yeah. 00:22:54.333 --> 00:22:57.439 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): Stepping on each other, talking about the same topics 00:22:57.444 --> 00:22:59.089 to, to the same procurement person. 00:22:59.709 --> 00:23:01.929 And you know, there's a ton of inefficiency there. 00:23:03.579 --> 00:23:08.169 And so, you know, that particular use case, um, certainly comes up a lot. 00:23:08.289 --> 00:23:13.839 And I think, you know, a step one is at minimum give your customers 00:23:13.929 --> 00:23:15.609 easier access to this catalog. 00:23:15.609 --> 00:23:18.609 So with that, when the need originates. 00:23:18.918 --> 00:23:23.998 They can easily browse for themselves because like creating demand in our 00:23:23.998 --> 00:23:26.578 industry is really, really hard, right? 00:23:26.638 --> 00:23:30.898 Like the customer either has an r and d project that's, that's like in 00:23:30.898 --> 00:23:38.268 motion that you can fit into or they don't like for, for a sales person 00:23:38.268 --> 00:23:41.898 to show up and try to create a new project, that's not so easy to do. 00:23:42.183 --> 00:23:45.033 Because you're asking them to like free up r and d dollars. 00:23:45.543 --> 00:23:47.433 The, the, the r and d project needs to be in motion. 00:23:47.433 --> 00:23:50.703 But our industry, our, our, you know, sales teams, you know, 00:23:50.703 --> 00:23:54.243 traditionally have had a hard time getting into the r and d office. 00:23:54.333 --> 00:23:55.923 You know, they're spending a lot of time with procurement. 00:23:56.913 --> 00:24:02.124 And so, in order to be able to get into the r and d, Department, you've 00:24:02.124 --> 00:24:03.084 gotta have a lot of knowledge. 00:24:03.084 --> 00:24:04.494 You gotta like know the products. 00:24:04.494 --> 00:24:07.284 You gotta understand the applications and the value propositions and why you should 00:24:07.284 --> 00:24:08.814 use this product instead of that product. 00:24:08.814 --> 00:24:13.974 And you know, I think that where tech has gone over the past two years 00:24:14.604 --> 00:24:17.094 makes that a very real possibility. 00:24:17.094 --> 00:24:17.274 Now, 00:24:17.735 --> 00:24:18.815 Victoria: Because why? 00:24:19.240 --> 00:24:20.735 How, how, or why or how? 00:24:20.735 --> 00:24:20.885 How 00:24:20.943 --> 00:24:23.258 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): instant, instant access to information 00:24:23.348 --> 00:24:24.728 in, instant access to knowledge. 00:24:24.938 --> 00:24:31.353 Um, you know, three years ago, just having a product catalog online and 00:24:31.353 --> 00:24:35.583 being able to browse and filter by different attributes and certifications 00:24:35.583 --> 00:24:37.023 and stuff like that was fairly novel. 00:24:37.686 --> 00:24:41.406 But fast forward three years, nobody's really gonna want that, that nobody's 00:24:41.406 --> 00:24:43.116 even gonna want that experience anymore. 00:24:43.626 --> 00:24:45.576 What they're gonna want to do is just like, type in their 00:24:45.576 --> 00:24:46.566 question and get their answer. 00:24:46.983 --> 00:24:47.583 Victoria: Yeah. 00:24:47.721 --> 00:24:50.661 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): type in the question and set off a workflow and 00:24:50.734 --> 00:24:52.474 automatically take a bunch of actions. 00:24:52.860 --> 00:24:56.520 and so, yeah, I mean, things are just gonna, things are gonna rapidly 00:24:56.520 --> 00:24:57.370 change over the next three to five. 00:24:57.792 --> 00:24:58.092 Victoria: Yeah. 00:24:58.092 --> 00:24:58.782 that makes sense. 00:24:58.782 --> 00:25:03.012 And in fact, as, as formulators, as procurement people, as whomever is 00:25:03.012 --> 00:25:08.352 working on stuff to say, I need, I need a product that does X, Y, and Z. 00:25:08.622 --> 00:25:09.402 Go find it. 00:25:10.052 --> 00:25:12.722 having this all digitized, having. 00:25:13.517 --> 00:25:17.237 The information connected, and then of course the, the AI layer that goes 00:25:17.237 --> 00:25:20.147 with it becomes far more productive. 00:25:20.267 --> 00:25:20.687 Right. 00:25:20.687 --> 00:25:22.697 And, and Yeah. 00:25:22.697 --> 00:25:24.917 because I may not know what it's actually called. 00:25:25.187 --> 00:25:26.597 I just need to know what it does. 00:25:26.715 --> 00:25:27.910 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): Yep, that's right. 00:25:28.307 --> 00:25:28.607 Victoria: Yeah. 00:25:28.697 --> 00:25:31.877 And that's actually changing the way I guess people are formulating or 00:25:31.877 --> 00:25:35.277 that's what you, you know, that's maybe directionally where, the industry is 00:25:35.277 --> 00:25:42.057 evolving and when we think about product development and formulation is based, um. 00:25:42.477 --> 00:25:44.157 And a bit product agnostic. 00:25:44.157 --> 00:25:44.732 Would you agree? 00:25:45.575 --> 00:25:47.015 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): the short answer is I don't know. 00:25:47.105 --> 00:25:48.575 Um, however, I will say that. 00:25:49.807 --> 00:25:56.047 one of the most valuable resources in every chemical company is the TSMD people. 00:25:56.977 --> 00:26:00.367 Um, they're the ones that have the most amount of application and product 00:26:00.367 --> 00:26:06.937 knowledge, and this knowhow is trapped in dozens and dozens of binders, angers. 00:26:07.344 --> 00:26:07.634 Victoria: Yeah, 00:26:07.960 --> 00:26:10.570 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): And if that information becomes 00:26:10.750 --> 00:26:15.400 more transparent, then you can essentially scale your ts and D team. 00:26:15.790 --> 00:26:20.320 Significantly and give access to all that knowledge to your customers instantly. 00:26:20.643 --> 00:26:23.463 And uh, I think that's gonna change our space. 00:26:24.225 --> 00:26:24.915 Victoria: Absolutely. 00:26:25.275 --> 00:26:27.045 So Ellie, what are you excited about? 00:26:27.045 --> 00:26:30.855 If you were gonna say, this is the one thing I'm, I'm shouting from the 00:26:30.855 --> 00:26:37.455 rooftops about, I'm super excited about this, in terms of, gosh, I guess 00:26:37.455 --> 00:26:42.125 almost anything, but let's frame it in around digitization, and where, 00:26:42.155 --> 00:26:45.155 where we're going and where Knowde is going and where the industry is going. 00:26:46.027 --> 00:26:49.250 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): Generally speaking, I think there's a lot 00:26:49.340 --> 00:26:55.883 of efficiency opportunities in our industry, across, you know, customer 00:26:55.883 --> 00:27:00.083 service, sales, operations, regulatory. 00:27:00.143 --> 00:27:04.013 I mean, there's just tons of efficiency opportunities and the ability to be 00:27:04.013 --> 00:27:07.223 able to free up people's time to go work on something more important. 00:27:07.640 --> 00:27:13.130 And we're closer than ever to be able to automate a lot of these workflows. 00:27:13.995 --> 00:27:17.918 simple, simple use case, I think I brought this up a little bit earlier. 00:27:18.402 --> 00:27:23.352 Regulatory teams spend countless hours filling out customer questionnaires, 00:27:23.742 --> 00:27:28.090 and these questionnaires are long and more and more of them come in every day. 00:27:28.940 --> 00:27:29.330 And 00:27:29.612 --> 00:27:31.652 Victoria: tedious, repetitive, And 00:27:31.652 --> 00:27:32.947 sometimes you don't know the answers. 00:27:33.440 --> 00:27:36.230 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): I, you know, I feel for the people that have to sit 00:27:36.230 --> 00:27:42.290 down, read these documents, then go and try to find the answers to each 00:27:42.290 --> 00:27:48.362 of these questions by just manually shuffling through a bunch of documents. 00:27:49.067 --> 00:27:52.007 That workflow can now be fully automated. 00:27:52.439 --> 00:27:52.889 Victoria: Yeah. 00:27:53.012 --> 00:27:55.202 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): Now, not to put, you know, a commercial, you know, 00:27:55.202 --> 00:27:58.772 a Knowde commercial in here, but it does require, you know, structured 00:27:58.862 --> 00:28:02.372 clean data in order to be, be able to execute that sort of use case. 00:28:03.062 --> 00:28:04.652 But it's now possible. 00:28:04.682 --> 00:28:08.995 Whereas, a year ago that use case was not possible to solve. 00:28:09.535 --> 00:28:13.945 So it's, it's things like that, that get me really, really excited. 00:28:14.262 --> 00:28:16.482 you know, like I said at the top, you know, this industry. 00:28:17.108 --> 00:28:20.955 there's a lot of know-how that's trapped and, you know, because this 00:28:20.955 --> 00:28:24.765 industry is so technical, you have to have that know-how in order to 00:28:24.765 --> 00:28:26.415 be able to, like, make decisions. 00:28:26.825 --> 00:28:30.485 But if all of that knowledge now becomes transparent and you 00:28:30.485 --> 00:28:32.315 can access it really quickly. 00:28:32.957 --> 00:28:36.137 These companies can start to make decisions a lot faster and, you know, 00:28:36.167 --> 00:28:39.797 free up their time to go work on things that are much, much more value add. 00:28:40.637 --> 00:28:41.687 And it's gonna be interesting. 00:28:41.687 --> 00:28:46.957 I mean, there's certainly lots of interest in like applying this tech into r and d, 00:28:47.298 --> 00:28:51.605 and a lot of interest across like, you know, commercial use cases and some of 00:28:51.605 --> 00:28:52.740 the other things I already mentioned. 00:28:53.395 --> 00:28:53.665 Victoria: Yeah. 00:28:53.695 --> 00:28:55.315 I love It, I think that's right. 00:28:55.315 --> 00:29:00.282 I think, I think the ab absolutely, simplifying the tedious work 00:29:00.282 --> 00:29:02.892 so that you can go do the value add is really critical. 00:29:03.510 --> 00:29:06.480 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): it, um, it it was not possible 18 months ago. 00:29:06.870 --> 00:29:09.390 It just like the, the, the tech didn't exist. 00:29:09.510 --> 00:29:10.650 It did not exist. 00:29:10.763 --> 00:29:14.003 and, you know, things have fundamentally changed. 00:29:14.645 --> 00:29:14.885 Victoria: Yeah. 00:29:15.353 --> 00:29:17.331 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): um, You know, thi this isn't, you know 00:29:17.331 --> 00:29:18.591 what I'm about to say is not novel. 00:29:18.591 --> 00:29:19.761 It's, it's quite silly. 00:29:19.761 --> 00:29:24.251 But like, I think, when we look back on this in 20 years, you know, the 00:29:24.251 --> 00:29:29.291 impact of what's about to happen will be significantly, and, I mean, 30 x 00:29:29.291 --> 00:29:33.458 more impactful to our industry than, you know, everything that happened 00:29:33.458 --> 00:29:36.368 between, you know, 2000 and 2020. 00:29:36.920 --> 00:29:38.030 Victoria: Yeah, I believe it. 00:29:38.030 --> 00:29:40.610 And in fact, if you, if you, if you look at the innovation curves, right? 00:29:40.610 --> 00:29:42.950 They, the pitch on them is steep. 00:29:42.950 --> 00:29:45.770 We're making dramatic changes and I think that's really cool. 00:29:46.070 --> 00:29:49.953 Alright, final question for you, Allie, which is, it's around leadership. 00:29:50.013 --> 00:29:54.393 So if you, you know, You've had a unique opportunity to. 00:29:55.293 --> 00:30:00.123 Frankly be at the front end of two digital companies inside the chemical industry. 00:30:00.273 --> 00:30:04.323 I'm not sure if you knew that was gonna be the case when you first 00:30:04.323 --> 00:30:07.983 started your career, but if you were looking back and you're, you're 00:30:07.983 --> 00:30:13.203 looking, talking to somebody, a young entrant, a young alley joining the 00:30:13.203 --> 00:30:19.493 chemical industry or looking to join a digital platform that is adjacent 00:30:19.493 --> 00:30:21.803 to in changing the chemical industry. 00:30:22.493 --> 00:30:26.123 Um, what advice would you give to that, to that person? 00:30:26.123 --> 00:30:28.553 Somebody just starting out in the industry? 00:30:29.066 --> 00:30:30.296 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): You've gotta really want it. 00:30:30.656 --> 00:30:33.266 You've gotta really, really want it. 00:30:33.406 --> 00:30:37.366 you know, I've had an amazing time building Knowde for the past, 00:30:37.516 --> 00:30:38.806 you know, seven, eight years. 00:30:38.856 --> 00:30:40.721 Being a founder is something that I would. 00:30:41.561 --> 00:30:45.341 I, I think everyone should, you know, go experience at some point 00:30:45.371 --> 00:30:50.255 because, it, it causes you to like grow and it tests your persistence 00:30:50.945 --> 00:30:52.865 harder than anything you can imagine. 00:30:53.175 --> 00:30:58.095 and so, you know, in order to build something in markets like chemicals, 00:30:58.095 --> 00:31:02.085 where historically there's been a lot of resistance and a lot of risk aversion, 00:31:02.085 --> 00:31:04.245 a lot of like consensus driven thinking. 00:31:04.743 --> 00:31:08.223 You have to have an incredible amount of grit and persistence. 00:31:08.433 --> 00:31:14.793 And so for anybody that wants to come into a market like this one and try to 00:31:14.793 --> 00:31:17.390 change the way it works, be prepared. 00:31:17.570 --> 00:31:22.400 Um, be prepared because it, it, it, it's, um, it's a lot of work. 00:31:22.490 --> 00:31:26.210 It requires an amazing team, requires amazing investors that 00:31:26.210 --> 00:31:27.800 are willing to back you to no end. 00:31:28.178 --> 00:31:32.798 And it, you know, there, there's a reason why there hasn't been a lot of 00:31:32.798 --> 00:31:35.168 tech companies in the chemical industry. 00:31:35.438 --> 00:31:39.248 There's a reason this industry is opaque to most people. 00:31:39.338 --> 00:31:42.518 Most tech founders have never even heard of this industry. 00:31:42.758 --> 00:31:44.288 They, they, they don't know the first thing about it. 00:31:44.691 --> 00:31:48.641 and so coming into a market like this where it's just sort 00:31:48.641 --> 00:31:50.951 of, you know, hiding from. 00:31:51.551 --> 00:31:53.531 What's happening around the rest of the world? 00:31:54.168 --> 00:31:58.478 You, you've gotta build a team that has, a a lot of courage. 00:31:59.348 --> 00:32:02.198 You know, it's, it's a lot of persistent, a lot of courage. 00:32:02.198 --> 00:32:07.148 And, you know, our, internally, our, our first cultural principle is 00:32:07.148 --> 00:32:11.428 that, you have to believe in yourself against all reasonable logic and. 00:32:11.766 --> 00:32:14.526 it's because what we do is hard, you know, what we're doing is hard. 00:32:15.063 --> 00:32:16.353 Victoria: Yeah, I love it. 00:32:16.413 --> 00:32:17.763 And that is a great way to end this. 00:32:18.153 --> 00:32:19.683 Allie, thank you so much. 00:32:19.683 --> 00:32:23.853 I've really enjoyed this conversation, um, and getting reconnected with you. 00:32:23.853 --> 00:32:24.933 So thanks for joining me today. 00:32:25.536 --> 00:32:25.896 Ali Amin Javaheri (2): That's great. 00:32:26.046 --> 00:32:29.226 You, um, enjoyed the conversation as always. 00:32:29.523 --> 00:32:31.653 Victoria: Absolutely, and thank you everyone for listening. 00:32:31.653 --> 00:32:34.053 Keep listening, keep following, keep sharing, and we will 00:32:34.053 --> 00:32:35.883 talk with you again soon.