AI Works Best With Humans – Vinay Patankar on Smart Automation

In this episode, Vinay Patankar unpack the company’s founding story, evolution from a horizontal SaaS product to a compliance-focused automation platform, and the growing role of AI in business workflows. The conversation highlights key learnings from building a product in the process management space, the challenges of product-led growth (PLG), and how AI is best used as a supportive tool rather than a human replacement.

About Vinay Patankar: 

Vinay Patankar is the CEO and founder of Process Street, a leading platform for workflow automation and compliance. With a background in scaling remote teams and a passion for operational efficiency, Vinay built Process Street to streamline recurring work and help businesses automate complex processes. Under his leadership, the company has evolved from a PLG-focused startup to an AI-powered solution serving compliance-heavy industries like HR, IT, and finance.

Here is what we cover:

1. Founding & Early Vision

• Built to solve quality control in remote teams.
• Started as a broad, PLG-driven workflow tool.

2. PLG Challenges

• Limited virality and single-user value hindered growth.
• Complex setup made quick wins difficult.

3. Strategic Pivot

• Compliance-heavy teams (HR, IT, legal) showed higher retention.
• Repositioned as an AI-powered compliance automation platform.

4. AI in Business

• AI works best as a copilot, not a replacement.
• Helps automate content, support, and code tasks.
• Tools like Superhuman are redefining inbox and workflow management.

5. Barriers & Adoption

• Founders often resist automation due to uncertainty.
• Education and expert guidance ease the transition.

6. Looking Ahead

• AI voice assistants with LLMs could drive mass adoption.
• SMB tools are rapidly improving and closing the gap with enterprise tech.