00:09Joining me on this episode of 10-Minute Talks, I have Vikas Rao, the CEO of Dark Matter Technologies.
00:16Thank you for joining me today.
00:17Yeah, great to be here.
00:20So this is a new announcement.
00:22We're getting you right after some of the initial press around your new role as CEO.
00:28And your career has been built on the intersection of product strategy and technology.
00:34How has that perspective shaped the leadership approach that you're bringing into your role as CEO?
00:42You know, yeah, as you mentioned, my career has really been about building fantastic products for our customers, whichever organization
00:51I was part of.
00:53And, you know, what that means for me is, you know, I bring a very customer-first, customer-centric product
01:01innovation approach to everything I do.
01:04We are a technology company, you know, serving this fantastic industry.
01:09And we have some incredible customers on our platform.
01:12So my focus is to help these customers be, you know, very successful.
01:19You know, paradigm is shifting from a technology and lending perspective.
01:24And we want to help lead our customers into that future, right?
01:29So the shift is one to being innovation-focused and very customer-centric as opposed to being much more of
01:37a commercial focus.
01:39It's all about, you know, driving product innovation for the future.
01:45What you just said now really echoes a lot of the language that was in the announcement that you had
01:51posted about the role.
01:53And you emphasized in that announcement, building the infrastructure that quietly powers everything people depend on.
02:02How does that philosophy translate into your priorities for scaling the business and driving long-term impact?
02:09So, you know, first of all, that's what dark matter is, right?
02:14You know, the actual scientific term.
02:16And, you know, the time when people would go into applications and click buttons and navigate screens, that's a thing
02:24of the past.
02:26Where our customers really want us to be is where it's an exception-based workflow.
02:32People are not doing things.
02:34It's automation.
02:36It's AI.
02:36AI, that's the doing.
02:39And humans come in to review what AI did.
02:42And that's how everything is shifting.
02:46You know, and we have now the platform on top of which all of this can happen.
02:51And so we're doubling down on that and just really creating this incredible automated experience, you know, for our lenders.
03:01At the same time, very intuitive experience for the borrowers who, you know, who interact with these lenders.
03:07You just mentioned the magic word, AI.
03:10And you have highlighted an AI-first approach as a central to the company's direction.
03:17From a leadership standpoint, what does it take to embed that kind of mindset across teams, culture, and execution and
03:25not just at the product level?
03:26Yeah, I mean, internally as well as externally, you know, we're very AI-focused.
03:32So about 12 months ago, we embarked upon this very intentional journey to distribute and adopt AI within dark matter.
03:42Over 95% of our organization uses AI on a daily basis today.
03:46So our engineers, our testers, our finance team, you know, like nobody just starts with, you know, a blank screen.
03:57They're asking of AI what they want from, as an output.
04:02And that's driving them their review and acceptance.
04:06So it's how you start now is not with work and then have AI check it.
04:11You're starting with AI, have it do the work, and then you're reviewing it.
04:14And that's transformed how we organize, how we operate, and the productivity of, you know, the dark matter team.
04:22It's a very high-functioning team.
04:24And that's what's, you know, allowing us to move at the pace at which we are moving, you know, lately.
04:30So how do you balance that pace, accelerating innovation with ensuring that what you build remains practical and valuable for
04:42lenders that are navigating real operational challenges in a market that changes seemingly day-to-day, week-to-week?
04:50Yeah, you know, and that's a great question.
04:52You know, AI, you know, for this regulated industry, has to be extremely well thought through.
05:02The explainability of AI is as important as, you know, adopting AI.
05:08So, you know, in this industry, you can't just have an outcome which you cannot explain, you know, fair lending
05:17laws, all of these things.
05:18You know, you need to be able to explain how your AI arrived at a conclusion.
05:22So that's something that we really pay a lot of attention to.
05:26And this is why, you know, we feel we're best suited to help our customers adopt this technology because everyone
05:34has a lot of questions on what this means for them, how they can adopt it, what's the security, what's
05:40the data privacy.
05:41All of that has to be thought through and explained.
05:45And, you know, we're really trying to bring customers along with us on this journey so that, you know, we're
05:50not just adopting it or rolling it out, but it's getting adopted and they are seeing success from that.
05:56You know, that's really what the measure of success is when our customers are adopting it and seeing the value
06:02from it.
06:03And you said that you're covering all of the bases for them.
06:07You're thinking about all of those compliance and transparency standpoints.
06:11Absolutely.
06:12It's a great opportunity for something that can perhaps be a little bit scary to get into as an industry
06:19to have a partner who's willing to do that with you.
06:23Yeah.
06:23You know, we have some great customers who've actually been kind of leading this with us.
06:30So we just put out a podcast, you know, with one of our flagship customers, Truist, who adopted one of
06:37our AI solutions.
06:38And they have 99% adoption within their organization.
06:42That's insane.
06:44That too with their underwriters.
06:46You know, and oftentimes underwriters resist change.
06:50They want to check everything.
06:52Yet they were able to develop champions internally and have them drive this internal adoption.
06:59And they've seen incredible value from this.
07:01I mean, that's just one example, but so many of our customers are adopting the AI solutions that we're putting
07:07out there and seeing success from them.
07:10That's a really high adoption rate.
07:11That's incredible.
07:12So I want to dig into some recent organizational challenges, including workforce adjustments.
07:18How are you thinking about aligning talent, culture, and strategy to support a faster pace of innovation and maintaining internal
07:28stability and trust?
07:30Yeah.
07:31The nature of work is transformed, you know.
07:34And what that really means is it changes how we organize, how we operate, and the pace at which, you
07:42know, we all move.
07:46And, again, we invest in our teammates.
07:49You know, we're spending more on AI technology, you know, AI tools internally than we ever have because we want
07:56our team to have the best tools out there to be, you know, the best at what they do.
08:01At the same time, you know, we're setting incredible standards for everybody to achieve.
08:08But how, you know, everybody feels good about it is when you win together as a team.
08:13You know, some of the, you know, even if you take sports analogies, you know, the teams that work the
08:20hardest, they all seem fulfilled because of the winning that happens, you know, together as a team.
08:27So that's the culture.
08:30And another, you know, very important thing that, you know, I personally value and I always talk about this with
08:35our team is, you know, positional authority is not the way.
08:40And, you know, I'm never going to win an argument, you know, by using my position.
08:47Best ideas have to win.
08:50And when people feel that their voice is heard, their ideas are heard, and they are directly transforming the organization,
08:59it just feels, you know, that ownership mindset allows them to be, you know, really engaged and drive towards, you
09:07know, our company's success.
09:08So let's end on a forward-looking note.
09:12When you look ahead, what does success look like under your leadership, both for Dark Matter Technologies as a company
09:22and for the broader mortgage ecosystem?
09:25First of all, technology-wise, what's possible today was not possible a few years ago.
09:31So I'm energized by what we as Dark Matter can do, not just for our customers, but for the industry.
09:40We are setting the bar as to how lenders should, you know, should be thinking about their operations, how they
09:48organize, and the experience they can offer their customers.
09:54So for our customers, you know, they are in for an incredible journey with us, and from a forward-looking
10:02perspective, you know, hope to bring a lot more customers along for that ride.
10:07But the days of people, you know, manually doing things, you know, checking things, those days are over.
10:16So it's now, the nature of work has shifted from doing to reviewing, and that's the journey we're taking our
10:24customers on.
10:25I'm very excited to see what's next, because thank you so much for taking me through how you're looking at
10:31growth at Dark Matter Technologies.
10:33We'll have to talk again soon.
10:35Yeah, would love to.
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