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Manav Thaker

Everyone's asking the same question about AI.

Is it relevant to my business - or just hype?

I ran your operations. Built your software. Now I apply AI to it.

That's how I know where AI fits - and where it doesn't.

20+
Years in Operations
50+
Teams Managed
3
Companies Scaled
1
Successful Exit
4+
Years Deploying AI

Who I Work With

Organizations that put people first

Hospitality & Food & Beverage

Operations prioritizing guest experience while managing complex logistics, staffing, and seasonal demands.

Common Challenges:

  • Peak times create bottlenecks in service
  • Teams juggle multiple systems while maintaining personal touch
  • Staff scheduling around variable demand
  • Inventory management across multiple locations

Retail & Grocery

Businesses focused on customer relationships while managing inventory, omnichannel experiences, and operational efficiency.

Common Challenges:

  • Online and offline experiences feel disconnected
  • Inventory surprises cost sales and frustrate customers
  • Seasonal demand fluctuations
  • Maintaining personalized service at scale

Logistics & Fulfillment

Companies managing complex operations while optimizing for speed, cost, and reliability in dynamic environments.

Common Challenges:

  • Last-mile efficiency remains elusive
  • Drivers make decisions with incomplete information
  • Customers expect real-time updates
  • Route optimization across changing conditions

Nonprofits & Community Organizations

Organizations maximizing impact with limited resources while serving diverse populations and maintaining mission focus.

Common Challenges:

  • Limited resources mean choosing between reach and quality
  • Donor engagement feels like a full-time job
  • Volunteer coordination and training
  • Measuring and reporting impact effectively

Healthcare & Wellness

Providers balancing efficiency and care while managing administrative burden and regulatory requirements.

Common Challenges:

  • Staff spends more time on paperwork than patient care
  • Documentation requirements keep growing
  • Patient scheduling and follow-up coordination
  • Maintaining care quality under resource constraints

You need AI to compete, but you won't sacrifice your people or your values to get it.

The Gap Between AI Promise and Reality

You've sat through the vendor demos. They show you dashboards that would take 6 months to implement. They talk about "AI transformation" but have never managed a 6 AM sick call or dealt with a supplier who closes on Sundays.

You've tried piloting tools. Your team used them for a week, then went back to the old way. Not because they're resistant—because the tools didn't actually solve the problems they face daily.

Meanwhile, your competitors are moving. Tasks that used to take your team 6-8 hours now take them 90 minutes. And you're watching your best people burn out on work that's already been automated elsewhere.

The gap isn't the technology. It's having someone who gets both your world AND the tech world.

I spent 10 years running hospitality operations before I built software. I know what 6 AM sick calls cost you. I've dealt with inventory systems from 2003 and suppliers who don't answer on weekends. I've managed 50+ person teams through seasonal chaos.

Then I became a product leader at an 18-year-old e-commerce company—and led them to 90% AI adoption in 3 weeks. Not with expensive enterprise platforms. With practical implementation that achieved 80% efficiency gains and zero layoffs.

AI should enhance your operations, not replace your people.

Step 1: Understand the opportunity

Where AI Creates Value

For most legacy businesses, AI helps in one of three places:

Time

Your team is drowning in repetitive work.

AI handles the grunt work so humans do the thinking.

Money

There's revenue sitting in your data that nobody's finding.

AI spots patterns humans miss.

Capacity

You're turning down opportunities because you're maxed out.

AI lets you do more without hiring more.

Not sure which applies to you? That's what the Scan is for.

How I work

Clear scope. Defined outcomes. No mystery.

Most conversations start with the Scan.

AI Opportunity Scan

One week. One memo. Clarity on where AI fits your business.

  • 1-hour discovery call
  • Analysis of your operations against AI capabilities
  • 2-page memo: 3 specific opportunities (or why now isn't the time)
  • 30-min readout call

AI Pilot Sprint

4-6 weeks. One workflow automated. Your team trained to run it.

  • Select highest-impact opportunity from Scan
  • Build working proof-of-concept
  • Train your team on the new system
  • Measure results, document for scale

Ongoing Support

Expand what works. Handle what doesn't.

  • Monthly retainer for continued optimization
  • Additional workflow automation
  • Team coaching and troubleshooting
Real work, real results

Recent Engagements

2024-2025 Product Operations + AI

NSLS

$30M edtech company, 20M+ students

Built product operations foundation ahead of AI platform launch.

  • Freed CEO from daily product decisions
  • Killed 6 of 9 competing initiatives to focus engineering
  • Reduced cross-functional meeting overhead 50%
  • Early pilot: 83% completion rate, 16-min avg sessions
2024 AI Transformation

Lovingly

Gift marketplace, 1,500+ florists

Led AI transformation on $50M → $200M growth path.

  • Deployed multi-agent workflows for data extraction
  • Prevented $400K churn through behavioral analysis
  • Identified $6M revenue opportunity in transaction data
  • 90% AI adoption across 50-person team in 3 weeks

About

I spent 20 years in operations - hotels, grocery, logistics - before I learned to build AI systems.

That combination gave me an unusual advantage: I understand operational chaos and I know what AI can actually do.

AI is not magic. It is leverage. The question is not "should we use AI?" It is "where would AI create the most value right now?"

I have helped teams:

  • Cut 80% off their design-to-dev workflow
  • Find $3.6M in opportunities from customer data sitting unused
  • Get 90% of a skeptical 50-person team using AI daily within a month

I work with companies as an advisor, consultant, or team member - whatever creates the most value.

If you are wondering whether AI is relevant to your business, I will tell you what I see.

Not sure if AI is relevant to your business?

Let's figure it out together. 30 minutes, no pitch - just clarity on whether this makes sense for you.

Grab 30 minutes - no pitch, just clarity