New AI tools in the works for ThoughtSpot analytics platform

The ThoughtSpot analytics platform only has been available for six years, but since 2014 the vendor has quickly gained a reputation as an innovator in the field of business intelligence software.

ThoughtSpot, founded in 2012 and based in Sunnyvale, Calif., was an early adopter of augmented intelligence and machine learning capabilities, and even as other BI vendors have begun to infuse their products with AI and machine learning, the ThoughtSpot analytics platform has continued to push the pace of innovation.

With its rapid rise, ThoughtSpot attracted plenty of funding, and an initial public offering seemed like the next logical step.

Now, however, ThoughtSpot is facing the same uncertainty as most enterprises as COVID-19 threatens not only people's health around the world, but also organizations' ability to effectively go about their business.

In a recent interview, ThoughtSpot CEO Sudheesh Nair discussed all things ThoughtSpot, from the way the coronavirus is affecting the company to the status of an IPO.

In part one of a two-part Q&A, Nair talked about how COVID-19 has changed the firm's corporate culture in a short time. Here in part two, he discusses upcoming plans for the ThoughtSpot analytics platform and when the vendor might be ready to go public.

One of the main reasons the ThoughtSpot analytics platform has been able to garner respect in a short time is its innovation, particularly with respect to augmented intelligence and machine learning. Along those lines, what is a recent feature ThoughtSpot developed that stands out to you?

Sudheesh Nair

Sudheesh Nair: One of the main changes that is happening in the world of data right now is that the source of data is moving to the cloud. To deliver the AI-based, high-speed innovation on data, ThoughtSpot was really counting on running the data in a high-speed memory database, which is why ThoughtSpot was mostly focused on on-premises customers. One of the major changes that happened in the last year is that delivered what we call Embrace. With Embrace we are able to move to the cloud and leave the data in place. This is critical because as data is moving, the cost of running computations will get higher because computing is very expensive in the cloud.

With ThoughtSpot, what we have done is we are able to deliver this on platforms like Snowflake, Amazon Redshift, Google BigQuery and Microsoft Synapse. So now with all four major cloud vendors fully supported, we have the capability to serve all of our customers and leave all of their data in place. This reduces the cost to operate ThoughtSpot -- the value we deliver -- and the return on investment will be higher. That's one major change.

Looking ahead, what are some additions to the ThoughtSpot analytics platform customers can expect?

Nair: If you ask people who know ThoughtSpot -- and I know there are a lot of people who don't know ThoughtSpot, and that's OK -- ... if you ask them what we do they will say, 'search and AI.' It's important that we continue to augment on that; however, one thing that we've found is that in the modern world we don't want search to be the first thing that you do. What if search became the second thing you do, and the first thing is that what you've been looking for comes to you even before you ask?

What if search became the second thing you do, and the first thing is that what you've been looking for comes to you even before you ask?

Let's say you're responsible for sales in Boston, and you told the system you're interested in figuring out sales in Boston -- that's all you did. Now the system understands what it means to you, and then runs multiple models and comes back to you with questions you'll be interested in, and most importantly with insights it thinks you need to know -- it doesn't send a bunch of notifications that you never read. We want to make sure that the insights we're sending to you are so relevant and so appropriate that every single one adds value. If one of them doesn't add value, we want to know so the system can understand what it was that was not valuable and then adjust its algorithms internally. We believe that the right action and insight should be in front of you, and then search can be the second thing you do prompted by the insight we sent to you.

What tools will be part of the ThoughtSpot analytics platform to deliver these kinds of insights?

Nair: There are two features we are delivering around it. One is called Feed, which is inspired by our social media curating insights, and conversations and opinions around facts. Right now social media is all opinion, but imagine a fact-driven social media experience where someone says they had a bad a quarter and someone else says it was great and then data shows up so it doesn't become an opinion based on another opinion. It's important that it should be tethered to facts. The second one is Monitor, which is the primary feature where the thing you were looking for shows up even before you ask in the format that you like -- could be mobile, could be notifications, could be an image.

Those two features are critical innovations for our growth, and we are very focused on delivering them this year.

The last time we spoke we talked about the possibility of ThoughtSpot going public, and you were pretty open in saying that's something you foresee. It's about seven months later, where do plans for going public currently stand?

Nair: If you had asked me before COVID-19 I would have had a bit of a different answer, but the big picture hasn't changed. I still firmly believe that a company like ThoughtSpot will tremendously benefit from going public because our customers are massive customers, and those customers like to spend more with a public company and the trust that comes with it.

Having said that, I talked last time about building a team and predictability, and I feel seven months later that we have built the executive team that can be the best in class when it comes to public companies. But going public also requires being predictable, and we're getting in that right spot. I think that the next two quarters will be somewhat fluid, which will maybe set us back when it comes to building a plan to take the company public. But that is basically it. I think taken one by one, we have a good product market, we have good business momentum, we have a good team, and we just need to put together the history that is necessary so that the business is predictable and an investor can appreciate it. That's what we're focused on. There might be a short-term setback because of what the coronavirus might throw at us, but it's going to definitely be a couple of more quarters of work.

Does the decline in the stock market related to COVID-19 play into your plans at all?

Nair: It's absolutely an important event that's going on and no one knows how it will play out, but when I think about a company's future I never think about an IPO as a few quarters event. It's something we want to do, and a couple of quarters here or there is not going to make a major difference. Over the last couple of weeks, we haven't seen any softness in the demand for ThoughtSpot, but we know that a lot of our customers' pipelines are in danger from supply impacts from China, so we will wait and see. We need to be very close to our customers right now, helping them through the process, and in that process we will learn and make the necessary course corrections.

Editor's note: This interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness.