Nextech3D.AI Corporation (NEXCF) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Well, hello, friend, Steve Darling here from Proactive, our Worldwide Broadcast Center in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, welcome you to another live stream event this time with Nextech3D.ai Corporation as we talk about. A lot of happenings with the company, including a move into India and what that means as far as NexTech is concerned. So we're excited to have you along as well as you'd like to be a part of this, use the chat feature beside, make sure that you ask a question, and we'll make sure we pose it to our guests today. We're going to be talking to Hareesh Achi, in just a couple of minutes. He is the new Executive Vice President of Operations for NexTech. And as well, we have Evan Gappelberg, the CEO. So we encourage your participation. Again, we'll be asking your questions throughout our time today.

Right now, let's bring in the man himself, Evan Gappelberg, the CEO, Nextech3D.ai Corporation. I say that because, Evan, you officially news release out today talking about the name change of the company that really better serves to where you want to go as a company, I would think.

It does, Steve. We've been -- we did announce that we rebranded a while back, but this is actually an official name change. So when you search for us as a public company, Nextech3D.ai, the 3D obviously, is what we do. We create 3D models for Amazon and others. And AI is the technology that we're building to be able to scale. So augmented -- NexTech AR solutions previously augmented reality solutions. We're still in the augmented reality space, but it's not the main driver of revenue for NexTech. And so this change -- our legal name being changed, I think really is a better representation of our current technology and business direction. And so for our shareholders, they don't have to do anything. Nothing is going to change. The same stock symbols are going to apply NTAR and NEXC.F. We're still going to be listed in Canada and be listed on the COC in Canada and OTCQX in the U.S. and the actual name change, which we're coordinating with the Securities and Exchange Commission and as well as with the Canadian Securities Exchange, will occur Wednesday, October 4 at the open. So that's the news on the name change today, Steve.

Okay. Good. We got that up to date. Evan, you've talked over the last little while about the demand, it continues to grow. And the one thing you talked about was how you were going to obviously meet that demand while also keeping an eye on getting the company to profitability. And they work really hand-in-hand in trying to, in essence, reduce cost. And that's what today's topics will be about as a big part of the reduction of costs, correct?

Absolutely. Hareesh was just brought into our company recently. And he's now in India. He'll be joining us from India live in just a few minutes, but we are moving into high-scale production. We're really only focused on that. We set up NexTech 3D Solutions India, which is going to reduce our labor costs quite dramatically by as much as 70% and increased profitability, right? Labor cost goes down, productivity stays the same or even goes up. And that means that we're going to have more cash every month coming in. It's a strategic move. It really does position us for growth for years to come. If you don't have scale, there isn't that much benefit to moving to India. But once you get scale, once you get to a point where you're going to go and do significant volume and have significant people in place to help you achieve that, then it does make sense. So we've kind of waited for this time and it's here now. And so we're gearing up for a record Q4, Steve, in 3D modeling growth and more importantly, a really, really big 2024.

Okay. Let's bring Hareesh Achi joining us, as I mentioned, Executive Vice President with NexTech, the new name, 3D.ai Corporation. Hareesh, I thought a great opportunity just to give everyone who's with us today, a bit of background on yourself as well. And you come from some pretty, pretty big name places. So just to remind everyone a little bit about where you've been and where you're headed.

Yes. Thank you so much, Steve. Nice to be here. So as Evan just mentioned, I recently joined NexTech AR. I was part of NexTech a couple of years ago as well. I have -- my background is in operations. I worked at Microsoft, leading their overall advertising operations. And then I worked at Meta or Facebook leading their reality labs, product operations as well. And yes, I'm excited to be here at NexTech in this pivotal moment of growth that NexTech is seeing and how NexTech is strategizing to rebuild scaled operations as well as reducing costs.

Hareesh, what do you bring with you from those type of places that you worked at as far as Microsoft and Meta are concerned? Because they do things in a very certain way. And for anyone who's worked in that type of environment. They like the idea of people being inventive, being creative. Is that what you bring with you to NexTech?

That is true, Steve. Yes, It's trying to be very inventive, trying to be innovative, trying to be finding solutions that are scalable and a reduced cost and being efficient in our operations is what those companies look for. And that's what I've built my experience, 20 years of my experience at both these companies ease in that area. So that's what I want to bring into NexTech.

Yes. Hareesh, someone asked you a quick question about why did you leave Meta to return to NexTech. What intrigued you about this particular position? Because yes, I'll let you answer that.

Yes, that's a great question. I think it's about the NexTech product portfolio that I know, Evan and I have been in touch as well. And I've been keeping up to speed with NexTech's product portfolio. It is a technology how Evan has been driving the strategy across the company. It's the growth that is coming up in this 3D AI space that NexTech has a key role and has key technology to play in. Those 2 factors are the ones that enabled me to come in or made me choice to come to NexTech. And it's fun working with Evan. He's a great leader. He's built this company, and it has a lot of potential. That's what I see in the company and that's why it was an easy choice.

Evan, on this, I want to ask you a question because you've had other people join your company from those big ones as well. And as I mentioned earlier, the thing about those companies, they like people to be inventive. They like people to be -- but they also have a certain set of ways they do things. And when you're in a company like NexTech, there's opportunity for you to, in essence, lead more, provide more, offer more. Is that one of the reasons that's a draw?

Yes. So what's interesting about Hareesh and one of the key ingredients to being successful in a start-up is to be a leader, a self-starter. Somebody who doesn't need to be told what to do day in and day out. And that is Hareesh. Hareesh, he has a lot of experience working for decade at Microsoft running a substantial team, working at Meta. So he is a self-starter and that's what is critical for startups, like you can't be telling executives what to be doing, they kind of just need to go. Also, Hareesh has a pleasant personality, which is important. He's very positive, very optimistic and he does share our vision. As we mentioned, he sees the value in 3D models. I think he sees the value in having Amazon as a key customer and he knows he can grow that business. He knows how big technology companies work. I mean he worked there for 10 years, right? So he knows how they work. And actually, I'm learning some stuff from Hareesh about how big -- how Amazon thinks. When I talk to Hareesh, when we strategize, he actually knows a lot just because of where he comes from. So that's very, very valuable, very -- he's a very strategic thinker. And as he told me, believe in 2 things. God and the numbers. He's the numbers guy, right? He follows the numbers. And that's something that, again, small companies don't do enough of. So I think it's very, very important to have somebody who's tracking the numbers. And at the end of the day, it ended up being just a perfect, perfect timing situation where Hareesh is actually in India now. I don't know if anyone heard the traffic in the background. But you could tell he's in India. And it's his backyard. So he actually has relationships there. He knows his way around. I think I just heard a horn blaring. So he knows his way around and having boots on the ground, I can't stress it enough for our shareholders. Having a local in India who has relationships, who knows his way around is extremely, extremely valuable as we enter this next phase of our growth. We didn't really need that in 2020, 2021, 2022, maybe it would have been nice to have. But we really do need it now. And so the timing is perfect and he met with Amazon. And Amazon, I think, got excited when you met with them, right, Hareesh?

That's correct, Evan. Yes. I think, yes Amazon was super excited of being built there, they are in Hyderabad where I am right now in India. And yes, they are very excited that we are expanding operations in India and especially within their backyard as well. And yes, that was a great positive sign from Amazon.

Hareesh, tell me a bit about India in general as far as technology is concerned as far as the growth of it, and this really started many, many years ago, correct?

That's correct, Steve. Yes. I think it started around 90s when India started opening up for globalization. And then the first one area, big area that they started off is technology. And because of huge, vast amount of resources in terms of people, in terms of educational resources, universities. So you have a lot of engineering talent, you have a lot of technology talent coming out of colleges and schools here in India. That's how has boosted the India's technology landscape. And today, India is ranked #1 in the world for talent, especially in the technology industry. And that's what has, I think, a lot of companies like Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Amazon, are all in the Top 10 Fortune 100 companies are in India right now. Their next bigger operations outside of U.S. or their home country is India today.

Yes. And I would just say that being in business, I mean, I've been in different businesses over the last couple of decades. When you meet people on their -- in their hometown, like I've often flown in around United States meeting with different customers over the last decade or two, it changes the dynamic of the relationship. So of course, having Hareesh meet with Amazon, I believe, is changing the dynamic of the relationship in a very positive way. And our goal is to scale our production capability in India for Amazon. And I think it's important to talk a little bit about the cost savings, the actual cost savings. When you think about it, we're anticipating as much as a 70% reduction in cost savings. That's game changing for a public company like NexTech, where those kinds of reductions in costs and primarily, it's just the cost of labor, the cost of rent, just the cost of doing business over there, if you can imagine, it's like a 70% less and sometimes more. And so the productivity, as Hareesh was saying, you get talented people in the 3D modeling space, but your cost is significantly less. So we're going to get a similar, maybe even more productivity for less cost and that's going to drive our bottom line. And then as the AI kicks in, we're going to be able to scale even further and become even more profitable as time goes on. And that's really the story here, Steve. India has got a great culture, great food, great talent. But at the end of the day, NexTech's benefit to doing business in India is that we're going to be able to scale our productivity, increase the number of 3D models and at the same time, reduce our costs, both through lower labor costs, but also through the AI kicking into gear and providing us with just more scale.

Yes. Hareesh maybe you can address that a little as well, just about the cost savings that you have. I mean you've obviously worked in around India a lot more than other people have. So maybe you can talk to us a bit about that.

Yes. So as Evan suggested, right, that the cost savings are significant, and the talent pool is also very high over here. And it's about that combination of those two attracts many of these big conglomerates as well as why NexTech I think we are in the right strategy to enable us to scale our operations. So it enables us to scale the operations, build it through the talent pool, especially like Evan touched a little bit on the 3D . 3D is a significantly growing area. And I think recently, Adobe has even released a paper article, research article highlighting the growth of 3D and the 3D artists in India specifically. And so that's where it positions us very effectively to leverage the talent, reduce our costs and scale our operations. So that's how we are using that 3-part strategy to enable our operations here in India.

Okay. I want to ask you a bit about that part of it, but I think it's a really good question I want to share with you and Evan maybe you can talk about this one as well. What does NexTech will gain or do for the work relationship with Amazon, increase in efficiency, does Amazon trying open -- was it there a suggestion that you thought about opening up this office? Or is this something you're always thinking of?

Yes. So it wasn't something we were always thinking of. It was brought to our attention by Hareesh. So we always have had some resources in India, let's be clear. But they weren't managed with boots on the ground, right? There's a difference between having Hareesh there and having our team here and then having someone we've never met before, over there kind of manage that team. It's a really night and day. And so in terms of the Amazon relationship, I'll let Hareesh fill you in. They got excited and they want to come into our office. They didn't tell us to do this. We just -- we did this because we thought it made good business sense. But I do think it is going to solidify the relationship with Amazon even further because they did mention they want to come into the office. Hareesh has already been to their office. I've never been to their office. So that's already a step forward, right? We've been working with them for a year. I haven't been to their office. Now Hareesh is been here for like a month. He's already been to their office, and he has other meetings set up with them. And so this is going to, I think, really solidify the relationship and the technology piece of it is quite interesting where they're interested in what we're building on the AI side of the business. And they kind of want us to demo for them what we have, and they've indicated to Hareesh that they're going to supply us with more tools and more technology to allow us to run faster. So they very, very much want us to succeed, and they're giving us all the tools in their toolbox so that we can be more successful, producing more and more 3D models because Amazon has told us repeatedly, they have to produce about 100-plus million 3D models. They've only just produced less than 5% of that. So there's still at least 95% ahead of them. That's a big heavy lift, especially when nobody is really producing 3D models at mass scale, hyperscale where it's 100,000 or hundreds of thousands a month. We hope we can get there with AI, but nobody has actually been able to break out and deliver on that scale. Amazon would love it. Won't you think, Hareesh?

Yes, they do love it exactly. And I think to add on to Evan's point there and Steve for the question. It is about efficiencies. It's not that Amazon has said anything or anything. They have been working with us for the last 1 year even though we were in U.S. and Canada there. So it's about efficiencies. What do we gain these efficiencies because there is -- Amazon team is here. We will be here. So then that feedback grew how we can quickly turn around things that enables us to bring those efficiencies. Two, is about, again, going back to the tech talent and the 3D talent that is available here. There is a huge amount of 3D artists that are available and the talent to scale our operations. So that was well when I first joined, pitch to have and about, hey how do we think about building the operations in India and growing it. Even if it's Amazon today, but in a customer future comes in as well, we are ready for it.

Hareesh, can you talk about what it takes to set up an office in India? What is it you -- like if someone were to come in to -- if Evan finally gets on a plane and heads over to India and visits the office, what would he see? What are you setting up?

I'm going to do that, by the way.

Okay, good. I thought you would be. But yes, just what would he see? What are you setting up?

Well, I think he would see a huge [ list ] now India the location where we are in Hyderabad that we are establishing is now called as the second Silicon Valley of India kind of thing. So when it comes in here, he will see a lot of the tech landscape, all these big conglomerate companies that are already here, like Evan said, I visited Amazon already here this week. So it will be looking at the tech landscape of companies as they are walking down in San Francisco Bay area, downtown with a lot of high-rises with all of these buildings with Amazon, Deloitte, Microsoft, Meta, NexTech. Yes.

I think, Hareesh, that's what Steve was asking, like, so if I show up to the NexTech office in India, I think I'm going to walk into this big high-rise building, I'm going to go into the lobby, there's going to be security there. I'm going to have to scan my card, right? That's what you were describing and then.

That's correct? Yes.

And then what sort of -- like how many people are you planning on having? Is it -- do you hire 5? Do you hire 10? Or do you hire as you need?

It's going to be quite significant. I would expect that we're going to probably get to about 100 count. And actually, this is a good time, I think, Hareesh, to talk about your relationship with the CEO of a local company there that deals with 3D model production because there's an enormous pool of 3D modeling experts that Hareesh has tapped into. Again, this is only because boots on the ground as otherwise would not happen.

That's right. Yes. Just to expand on that point, Steve, I think, yes, there are several, as I said, the 3D and that's growing here. And so there is a company called one of the 3D training 3D artist training company that trains individuals and has an academy, training academy. That enables individuals to get trained on all the 3D softwares and how to design and build things in 3D, and that's a school. And we have connections there and forming that partnership with that company. And that's where we will get the talent pipeline as well. So our strategy as we set to scale the operations is bringing the talent pipeline from this training academies that are building the 3D candidate pool, and we use them and we bring them into our next ecosystem and grow them in their careers and grow our business together. And that partnership enables us to be a lot more agile and also use the Academy for even upskilling our own artists as well, right? So the opportunities already exist. So we can -- by forming that partnership with that company, it enables us to upscale continuously because artists, as we know, need to learn new technologies, new softwares and making sure that they are up-to-date with all the changes that are happening in the software technology space. So this is how it enables us to be constantly on top of our game and be able to execute flawlessly and efficiently.

Yes. And I would just add that we're talking about an academy, you can call it a university, or whatever you want to call it. They graduate over 100 of these 3D artists a month. After 9 months of training, they cycle them in. They use them for movie studios, Disney and others to create 3D models. And so by the time we get them, they have some skills already, and we spend a couple of weeks training them, but we could potentially bring in as many as 100 in a given month, spend a couple of weeks training them. Obviously, we're going to have only the creme of the crop. So you might end up with an 80-20 rule, where you only keep 20 out of the 100 and then you end up with this highly-skilled, low-cost, when I say low-cost, I mean Hareesh, he was saying like $300, $400 a month. Is that...

That's fair. That's right. Yes.

It's $400 a month, let that sit in, Steve. I mean that's probably what you pay going out to like a nice restaurant in Toronto. So -- but the point is we're paying $300, $400 a month for highly skilled labor. And that again, this is game-changing news for our investors. At the end of the day, this is going to generate significant additional cash flow for NexTech by optimizing production and taking advantage of this low-cost resource in India, a highly-skilled resource too. And it's going to enhance our profitability, we believe, for years to come. And it's really -- again, I'm super excited because this is happening now. Hareesh is there now. This is something we're planning in 2024. This is something -- we're going to be renting the space. When are we signing the lease, Hareesh?

We are ready to sign the lease, Evan. So I'm just finalizing some of the legal paperwork kind of thing. But, yes.

Yes, I just want to make a point here just because I don't want people to get the wrong impression that you're hiring all these people at small salary. But that -- just so people understand, that's what the going rate is for this. I want to make sure because I think that when we talk about North America, we may see things a bit differently. And I want to be crystal clear that you're saying what you're saying and not the other way around.

Yes. Sorry, Steve. Let me clarify. I thought the audience knew, but if they don't understand. In other parts of the world, India, Vietnam, China, making $300, $400 a month is not unusual. It's -- I don't know if you want to call it middle class, but it's pretty normal. And it's not like we're taking advantage of anybody. In fact, it's quite the opposite. They are very happy to work for us. I mean the alternative is that they would be, I guess, farmers, which is not a bad thing, but it's kind of a different lifestyle. So this is an economy that's emerging. And as these economies continue to emerge and continue to grow, I mean, China has seen its wages increase by 50%, in some cases, 100% over the last couple of decades. And you're going to see that happen in India over time as well, and I'm sure it's already happened. I mean, I think Hareesh was telling me that the cost of labor has gone up. But relative to where we live in North America and the more developed world, it is very, very appealing, which is why these -- as Hareesh was saying, big tech companies set up offices there because you get highly-skilled labor for a fraction of the cost. To be honest with you, Steve, if you think about it, it's more threatening at least in my mind to the North American people than it is bad for the locals in India because for them, they're winning. And so it's an interesting dynamic. It's a completely different conversation.

Yes. I just wanted to make sure that everyone understood that because I'm a fair wage person and a living wage person, and people should be making living wage or more. And so I wanted to make sure that, that was the case. And I know you and I have talked about this before. So I just want to make sure people understood that and that's important. Hareesh, you want to talk about it?

Just to that last point that Evan was mentioning in terms of how we think about this in terms of competition. I think there is another study by Deloitte recently that they published. India will be the only country expected to have a skilled talent surplus by 2030, right? So that tells us like how the talent, skill set and the resourcing is coming up, and that's where it's about supply/demand in any economy.

Yes. Let's talk a little bit about the -- you mentioned the talent pool that's available, and there's a lot of tech companies that are there. How do you lure some of those people away? Are you talking about Hareesh setting up with new people that are rising up in the industry? Or are you talking about potentially getting other people that are with a Meta or Microsoft or whoever it is. And I know you have connections with all of those companies. So are you looking and hoping pulling some of that talent away like Evan did you?

It's a combination, Steve. It's going to be across the board. That's how we will scale the operations, right? We do will require some experience skills -- experience in talent as well, while we also want to create opportunities for upcoming early in career individuals as well to help them grow in our company as well, right? So it's going to be both. But I think it's -- again, it's proportionate, right? What will be -- probably it will be 20% that experienced and then 80% where we are bringing early in career kind individuals and growing them.

Yes. I guess, Evan, in that point, it's making sure that you're developing your own talent as well, which makes -- when the company grows, so does the employees, and that's a key part of this, I would think.

Yes, absolutely. I mean, look, at the end of the day, NexTech is a technology company. We're building technology, the next generation of technology. 3D models is kind of the end product. And AI is what we're leveraging and Hareesh has his hand in that as well to build these 3D models and be able to deliver them at scale. But while we're doing that, it's kind of important for our investors to understand that to be in the game, I mean, we can sit on the sidelines and generate no revenue, just have an R&D lab creating 3D models. And to be honest with you, I've met a whole bunch of companies that are doing just that, and they're trying to sell themselves. They're literally out of money. They've done some R&D. They've done some interesting stuff with AI, but Hareesh and I and some of our other team members here have looked at what they've done. I'm talking about some of our upstart competitors. And they're not really in the real world, let's just say they could not deliver a single model that Amazon would approve. That's very, very important to understand. Amazon has to approve every single model that we deliver to them. And so there's a very, very high bar, a very high standard within the e-com ecosystem and especially with Amazon. And so what we're doing with some of our manual labor is very, very important work. It puts us in business with Amazon, and it gives us an opportunity to then bring our technology forward and use the technology to hyperscale where we can only scale to a certain point with people. And even with low-cost labor in India and even with high-skilled labor, I mean, we're never going to get to thousands of employees making 3D models. That's not the goal here. The goal here is to have a small team that's highly skilled, highly efficient, highly productive, on the front end and have them working with our technology, the AI, the Toggle technology, which is for texturing, and we're now building technology to make the mesh. And those are the 2 pieces to a 3D model. The mesh, which is kind of a blank just kind of like a wire frame, and then you have the texturing, which is the color and the fabric and the material. And those 2 pieces come together, you have a 3D representation of a product. And so we're -- we have part of that entire workflow built. The AI takes a while to learn but it is learning, and it is getting stronger and it is getting better. And the goal here is to have our setup in India, have our low-cost labor producing as many 3D models as possible, using our technology, our AI technology to enhance their production. It's almost like putting a jet pack on a human. It's almost like putting a human -- how fast can a person run, 10 miles an hour, okay, put them on a bicycle. Well, now they could go 30, 40. Going downhill, you can get to 60%. All right. Put them in a helicopter. You get to 100. Put them in a jet, now we're going 600 miles an hour, right? Now we could travel from here to Europe. It's the same thing. We're using technology to get ahead. When you look at what we're doing, we're running with our 3D model production, right, this team we have of humans, but the technology is now getting put into play. And if I think about where we're at, we don't have the jet yet. We don't have the rocket ship yet, but we're building towards that. And that's the key in understanding NexTech and what we're actually building here because I think a lot of it is -- maybe gets lost on our investors.

Okay. There's also another question coming in here. You mentioned a bit of that, Evan. What does a move like this have an impact on ARway and Toggle as well? Is there much of an effect on those 2 as well with setting up this particular office?

So there is. Our ARway team is already in India, our tech team. And so this really closes the loop on our tech team for ARway and NexTech kind of combining. And then if you look at Toggle, like I just mentioned, the Toggle is going to be utilized by our team in India. This group of 100 in India that Hareesh is assembling will be trained on Toggle. And so they will be using Toggle day in and day out. In terms of productivity, yes, I mean we're going to leverage amongst all the 3 companies this presence in India.

Okay. Hareesh, you want to add to that?

Yes, just to chime in there and add on. Definitely right like I'm a technology person. My whole carrier has been in technology industry. That's, again, in the beginning, someone has asked like what made me come to NexTech. It's the technology that attracted me as I shared. So Toggle and ARway is definitely part of the road map. Those are the ones that we will use and leverage to further to Evan's point earlier on, boost our offerings and how we scale our operations. So it is a complementary to what we are building as well here. So I think the artists that will be coming in, we'll be leveraging definitely our existing technology and working on improving and building on top of our existing technology and improving the tech stack overall through which we will be able to offer at a much better and a bigger scale.

Okay. Another question here, which is another good one. It says here, with the move to an enhanced NexTech operations on the gaming side of the business, as a move towards Amazon 3D models or other company ventures as well. So is this just for the 3D modeling gentlemen? Or is there other opportunities as well?

There's definitely other opportunities. There's an unlimited number of opportunities, but we're trying to stay very focused really within our lane because we see a lot of upside within this 3D modeling space. And so as mentioned, Amazon is just huge, and their demand is massive. And so the more productivity we can generate, the more they're going to feed us in terms of 3D models. And ultimately, that's going to be more revenue and it's just going to continue to cycle up. Obviously, as we're going along, we see Toggle being a part of that. The gaming industry has already started using Toggle in some instances. And so -- but really, if you think about NexTech, our 3D modeling business is primarily geared towards e-com. We have some other 3D models that we make but they're not as significant as the e-com business.

Hareesh, do you want to add into that?

No, I think just to add on there, it's about not just Amazon, like as I think that towards the end of that question that was there. It's not about just Amazon. Our focus is building a portfolio of solutions as well as scalable and applicable to any customer in the future as well. So we are not custom tailoring a solution or an operational model specific to the customer.

Okay. Let's talk a bit about -- Evan mentioned you had met with Amazon recently and went into their offices. Tell me a bit about that meeting. I think a lot of people -- they see Amazon as this -- the old picture of Jeff Bezos sitting in his garage with his computer, a little different now, obviously. But what's -- what have you heard from them so far? I know you haven't been with the company for that long, as I mentioned. But you obviously have gotten some pretty good insight into -- from Amazon to what NexTech is providing. So I'm interested. I'm sure the viewers would like to know a bit about that as well.

Right. Yes. I think, Steve, you asked in the beginning, what is that, that I'm bringing working at Microsoft and Meta. That's where I think I have an understanding on how these big conglomerates think about how their partnership with various suppliers or partner engagement. So I have a good understanding of that. So that's where -- when I first came here, I joined -- my first goal was go and visit Amazon and make an -- meet with the Amazon team in their offices. The reason being, it builds more partnership, improving our partnership is the first one. Should also understanding and providing our point of view to Amazon about how we want to operate, how we want to grow our business together. And what are the things we are bringing uniquely to the table. And my conversation with Amazon very specifically was about this technology that we were just talking earlier is we are not just -- again, we are not just building operations through just resources only. It's a combination of resources with technology that differentiates us from any other partner or suppliers that Amazon could be working with. So they received that very well. And then the second element of it is establishing the operations in India. That for them, again, going back to our earlier position, it's about quick turnaround times, quick efficiencies. If we all know about Amazon, they are all about same-day delivering and high quality, delivering the right thing at the right place. And that is what they expect from us as well. So it was about reinforcing that message that we are along with them and share those same principles of quality and speed with them and making sure that we are in and we will -- we are going to enable them. So it was received very well. As Evan mentioned in the earlier, they are looking forward to have our office up and running here, so they can have their team of experts support us as well. So that is one of the things that they brought as well as we are here, we can bring how Amazon evaluates any product or any SKUs that we deliver to them. They can train our team members come into our offices, do a kind of a workshop thing. And so we kind of talked about those scenarios as well. So it's a -- I came out of that meeting feeling very energized, very excited about the partnership and it looks like there is investment on both sides in the partnership.

Hareesh, did that meeting help you in order to decide on how you would set up this particular office on saying, okay, their real focus is on this. So we need to make sure that we deliver this, this and this. Is that something that you really took away from that meeting as well?

Yes, Steve. Yes, definitely. It was a lot of good insights into how we want to structure the organization, how we want to build the team as well as how we want to deliver the products to Amazon. Again, as I said earlier, this was more an input that I have taken out from that meeting and then extrapolating that to across various other customers that we potentially will see in the future as well. So definitely a lot of good insights in that way. How does Amazon operate, how do they evaluate, how do they want to receive the product or the outcome of the quality and the service levels from a partner like us?

Yes. Evan, that's really good insight for someone that, in essence, speaks the same language of what Amazon is talking about and what they want to receive. And I know that when you and I originally talked about Hareesh joining the company, In an interview, you talked about this is the type of thing that he brings with him is the ability of this kind of to just step up and say, "Let's have a meeting." And they say, "Yes, come on over."

Yes. It's going to be quite interesting to watch this office in India develop. I am going to make a trip over there possibly before the end of the year. We'll see once the office is set up. And my thinking is that this is foundational. This is really going to allow us to become cash flow positive, allow us to become profitable and allow us to deliver at scale for Amazon. And as Hareesh mentioned, and again, I'm reiterating, we have our team of humans that are able to do so much. But when you start to bring the technology, the AI technology, the Toggle to the table and you bring the mesh capabilities to the table using AI, that's when our productivity is going to go much, much faster, much, much higher. And again, our profitability is going to follow. And so I'm actually getting more and more excited as we keep talking about this because this is literally the moment that I think all of our investors have been waiting for, where we're set up for scale and we're set up for scale with a low-cost infrastructure, and that is critical. I mean it's business at its best when you're able to scale and produce. I mean there's a reason why everything is made in China or India or Bangladesh or wherever. There's a reason why. And there's a reason why companies that do manufacture overseas are profitable. And we're going to be one of those companies with this new initiative. And that's really the bottom line, Steve.

Yes. Somebody has brought up here, just mentioned something online that, well, with AI, it sort of replaces the need for humans. So why set up an office with a -- but there's a lot -- I know people don't quite understand how AI works. And even though it's AI, you still have to -- there has to be something input it into it, right?

Yes. We have to train those AI models. They just don't...

And we don't want AI replacing humans. We want people to be working, right? Like that's the thing with me is that...

Yes. So if you actually pay attention to the big tech companies talk about AI, it's an AI assist.

Yes.

Right? It's not replacing a human. It's assisting -- and that's what I was saying about the bicycle, the jet, helicopter. Those things assist us. They haven't -- so now we're able to travel and do things that -- with technology, and that's what AI is. It's going to allow us to do things that we were not able to easily do before. It allows us to be more productive, allows us to spend more time doing the things we like to do as opposed to the manual labor type of activities. And I think that's what AI really brings to the table is it increases the productivity of a human. It doesn't replace a human. It increases the productivity. So while we might have, let's say, 100 headcount in India. Over time, it's possible that it goes down to 50% or 60%. But it's never going to be 0 is the point is that it's finding that balance where you have the AI assisting the human and not replacing.

Yes. Hareesh, you want to add some?

Yes. I think just -- you cannot just scale operations by just adding humans, right? So that is where this AI and technology comes in. So it's a complementary, both of them have to go work well and work together and learn from each other. AI enables humans, humans train AI. So that circle keeps continuously happening. That's when you have an efficient and scalable operations side, I truly believe that. And even any AI that you take today ChatGPT or even I know Meta just is having their connect, which is their technology showcase that they do and they showcase their AI as well. And that has -- I know that has taken a lot of human work behind the scenes. And that's what AI is not about taking off humans. It's about working together with humans and enabling them. And that combination allows from an operational and I'm coming from an operational background. For me, that is a good balance as Evan says, to build your scalable operations.

Absolutely. All right. Gentlemen, we're just nearing the end of our time slot. First off, Hareesh, some final thoughts from you on where things are at and where you're heading. I know you sound very excited about where things are going.

Yes, Steve, I'm super excited, super energized and as I said, being here in India, the Silicon Valley or the next Silicon Valley of India here. The energy, the talent that I get to interact with, meeting people in those offices as well is going super well. Everywhere I go, it's about how do we scale, how do we bring our technology into this enabling our services. So super excited. As I mentioned, we have a tech stack, we are growing. And this is what I'm very excited and looking forward to establishing these operations here in India and executing on them.

Absolutely. Hareesh, thank you so much. I enjoy talking to you. I think you've got a wealth of knowledge and a lot more that we'll get into in the months to come. But I really appreciate your time, and I know it's a busy day and where you are, and we really appreciate your time today.

Thank you so much, Steve.

Yes, Hareesh actually the Head of Product Operations. Evan, final thoughts?

Yes. I would just say to our shareholders, make no mistake about it, 3D models are here to stay. Amazon is very, very serious about building NexTech business to be able to supply them with more 3D models. We are very, very serious about delivering on our promise to shareholders with our business. We think we're on the right track. We think that our investors are going to be quite surprised. The stock currently is not reflecting any of the value that we're building for our shareholders today, but I do believe that it will reflect that value in the future. And so as we continue to build in India, as we continue to build our AI capabilities, we're going to see Amazon continue to give us more and more business and others. We're not going to talk about it right this minute, but there are some other whales out there as well that are quite interested in our high-volume production and especially with the fact that we're situated now in India. So there's just an enormous amount of momentum starting to build. And again, it's not being reflected in our share price, at least not yet.

Okay. All right. We'll leave it there. Someone has suggested you get those air miles working and get over to India and check it out. So there you go. You're ready to go. Evan, thank you so much. Good to see you again.

Thank you, Steve.

All right. There's Evan Gappelberg, the CEO of Nextech3D.ai Corporation, of course, the new name taking effect in a couple of weeks. And as always, we want to thank you very much for being a part of this proactive live stream. I look forward to talking to you again down the road, and I appreciate all your questions as well. Enjoy the rest of your day.