Our mission is simple - 'Convert email chaos into business automation': Ruban Phukan

In an exclusive conversation with Awadh 360, Ruban Phukan, CEO & Co-Founder, GoodGist, speaks on the vision behind his company, generative AI, enterprise enablement, and much more. Excerpts:-

1) For those unfamiliar with GoodGist, how would you describe your company and its mission?


Ans. 

At GoodGist, we are solving one of the biggest bottlenecks in modern enterprises, turning unstructured email data into automated, structured workflows.

Every business today runs on emails, attachments, and scattered communications, yet most of this information is either lost in inboxes or manually processed, leading to inefficiencies. GoodGist’s Agentic AI platform bridges this gap by extracting insights, triggering workflows, and automating actions directly from emails and documents.

Our mission is simple: convert email chaos into business automation so that enterprises can focus on decision-making rather than manual tasks.

2) While there is growing awareness of generative AI, the concept of Agentic AI is less widely understood. Could you explain what it is and how it benefits enterprises?

Ans. 

Agentic AI goes beyond traditional rule-based automation or static AI models. It is about intelligent agents that understand context, make decisions, and execute actions independently.

For enterprises, this means AI that doesn’t just respond to commands — it proactively processes incoming data, identifies patterns, and executes workflows across business systems.

For example, imagine a vendor email with a purchase order attached; instead of manually reviewing it, GoodGist’s AI:

1. Extracts key details such as vendor name, order value, and deadlines
2. Validates information against internal records and updates system of records like ERP
3. Creates an approval request or triggers an invoice process
4. This kind of automation, driven directly from emails, eliminates bottlenecks, reduces human errors, and increases operational speed.

3) What was the inspiration behind founding GoodGist? Did you identify a specific gap in the market?

Ans. 

The idea behind GoodGist emerged from a fundamental observation: despite the rise of AI and automation, businesses still struggle with email-based workflows.

Across industries from finance to logistics to legal services — companies receive thousands of emails every day, containing critical information that must be manually processed and transferred into enterprise systems. Yet, existing automation tools largely ignore email, focusing only on structured data.

We saw a clear gap:

1. 80% of enterprise data remains unstructured, much of it trapped in emails and documents.
2. 86% of business processes begin with email.
3. Average enterprise processes 130+ emails per employee daily.
4. 68% of critical business information is trapped in unstructured email.
5. An average of 3.2 hours daily is spent by professionals just manually processing email
6. Businesses are spending hundreds of hours per month manually extracting, validating, and processing this data
7. Existing RPA and AI solutions required extensive manual setup and weren’t adaptive to natural language inputs

GoodGist was founded to bridge this gap by automating workflows natively from emails and attachments, enabling businesses to scale without increasing operational overhead.

4) What sets GoodGist apart from its competitors? 


Ans. 

GoodGist stands out because we focus on the most complex and overlooked automation challenge : email-driven workflows.

Most automation platforms specialize in structured data workflows, requiring businesses to manually define rules and train AI models. GoodGist takes a different approach:

1. No-Code, Adaptive AI – Our AI agents dynamically learn and extract insights from emails and attachments without extensive setup.
2. Context-Aware Automation – We don’t just extract data; our AI understands context, validates information, and executes business logic autonomously.
3. Seamless Enterprise Integration – GoodGist plugs directly into existing enterprise applications (ERP, CRM, ticketing systems, etc.), ensuring that businesses don’t need to change their workflows to adopt automation.

This enables a fully automated pipeline from inbox to action, reducing manual effort, minimizing errors, and significantly accelerating operational workflows.

5) In your view, what is your company’s unique value proposition?



Ans. GoodGist’s unique value proposition lies in its ability to:

1. Automate workflows directly from emails, attachments, and other unstructured data sources—a pain point most automation solutions fail to address.
2. Eliminate the need for predefined rules and extensive AI training—our Agentic AI learns and adapts dynamically.
3. Seamlessly integrate into enterprise systems—rather than requiring businesses to overhaul existing operations.

By combining these capabilities, GoodGist provides an automation solution that works in the real-world conditions of enterprise communication..where workflows originate from email, not from structured inputs


6) Your company places a strong emphasis on enterprise enablement. Could you elaborate on this focus and its significance?



Ans. 

True enterprise AI is not just about deploying technology — it’s about ensuring that AI-driven automation integrates seamlessly into business workflows, driving measurable impact.

Most automation tools require businesses to redesign their processes to accommodate AI, creating resistance to adoption. GoodGist was designed to work within existing enterprise frameworks, ensuring that companies can automate processes without disrupting their operations.

For example, in a financial services firm managing loan applications via email, GoodGist can:

1. Extract applicant data directly from incoming emails and attached PDFs
2. Validate against compliance criteria and internal databases
3. Automatically initiate review and approval workflows in the company’s loan management system

This approach enables businesses to scale without proportionally increasing administrative overhead, while ensuring that AI automation is aligned with existing regulatory and operational requirements.

At GoodGist, we prioritize Human-AI collaboration as a core focus. We believe that true operational efficiency is unlocked when every employee is empowered with AI to handle time-consuming, repetitive tasks — allowing them to focus on strategic, high-value initiatives. However, AI is not a replacement for human expertise but an augmentation tool, striking the right balance between autonomous execution and human oversight. This synergy ensures smarter decision-making, increased productivity, and a future where technology enhances, rather than replaces, human potential.


7) Finally, what message or advice would you offer to aspiring entrepreneurs, especially those with limited capital?



Ans.
For entrepreneurs, particularly those working with limited resources, the focus should always be on identifying real inefficiencies and solving them with precision.

1. Prioritize business impact over technical sophistication – AI is valuable only when it reduces operational complexity, enhances productivity, and delivers tangible ROI.
2. Leverage existing ecosystems – Instead of building standalone solutions, integrate with enterprise infrastructure to accelerate adoption and reduce barriers to entry.
3. Adopt a lean, iterative approach – The best AI applications start by solving a narrow problem exceptionally well, refining their capabilities based on real-world usage before expanding.

The next phase of AI innovation will not be driven by hype but by practical applications that remove inefficiencies from business operations. Entrepreneurs who focus on simplifying complex workflows rather than merely advancing AI capabilities will lead the way in enterprise transformation.

Closing thoughts: 
“GoodGist isn’t just about AI it’s about making AI work for enterprises where they need it most: in their inboxes, attachments, and workflows. We transform messy inboxes into a powerful business command center , seamlessly.”