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Building an Autonomous Enterprise for Real-World Services with Netic Founder Melisa Tokmak

When your AC fails in a heatwave, you don’t want a busy signal; you need a solution. Netic founder and CEO Melisa Tokmak joins host Elad Gil to explain how Netic’s autonomous AI platform acts as an intermediary between companies and customers, deploying agents to instantly handle essential services, from emergency home repairs to hospitality to pet care. Melisa describes the complexity of these real-world workloads, which have traditionally relied on large human support teams, and how over 70% of Netic’s customers interact first with AI. She also talks about the reasoning behind building a scalable product company rather than an AI roll-up, why she believes robotics will not catch up in these industries in the near future, why she doesn’t view large frontier labs as competitive threats, and how private equity’s playbook has shifted toward measurable ROI in the AI-era. Plus, why Melisa is optimistic about the impact AI will have on education. Sign up for new podcasts every week. Email feedback to show@no-priors.com Follow us on Twitter: @NoPriorsPod | @Saranormous | @EladGil | @netic_AI | @melisatokmak Chapters: 00:00 – Melisa Tokmak Introduction 00:32 – What Netic Builds 03:53 – Automating Workflows for Essential Services 06:26 – Building a Service vs. AI Roll-Up 10:38 – AI for the Real World Timeline 12:56 – Can Big Labs Compete? 15:35 – Modern Founder Mindset 19:09 – Screening for Agency 22:25 – Five Year Vision 23:53 – Selling to Slow Industries 27:23 – How Private Equity Approached AI 31:14 – What Excites Melisa About the Future of AI 34:27 – Conclusion

Elad GilhostMelisa Tokmakguest
Jul 31, 202634mWatch on YouTube ↗

At a glance

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Netic’s AI agents automate essential service enterprises end-to-end workflows

  1. Netic sits between essential-service enterprises and their customers, using AI voice/text/web agents to capture intent, apply business rules, and dispatch the right labor at the right time.
  2. The company targets operationally complex, high-volume, often cyclical industries (HVAC, plumbing, roofing, pet care, wellness, hospitality, automotive) where responsiveness and scheduling optimization drive revenue and customer delight.
  3. Tokmak argues Netic is a scalable product company (not an AI roll-up) because the value comes from compounding software, orchestration, and last-mile operational integration rather than M&A and one-off optimizations.
  4. She believes big AI labs are unlikely to compete directly due to lack of sustained vertical focus and because success requires domain-specific “last mile” systems across models, orchestration software, and product workflows.
  5. The conversation covers founder mindset and hiring for agency and follow-through, plus how private equity and “slow” industries actually adopt AI quickly when ROI is provable via live deployments and revenue impact.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Netic automates the enterprise layer around human-delivered services.

Netic aims to handle everything except the physical labor—customer interaction, intent capture, record lookup, prioritization, and dispatch—so businesses can invest more in technicians and service quality.

Mission-critical workflows require more than a strong model.

Tokmak emphasizes “last-mile” execution: orchestration, software harnesses, operational integrations, and handling real-world variability (accents, urgency, channels, incomplete information) to reliably execute outcomes, not just chat.

Complexity in essential services creates a defensible wedge.

Dispatch decisions depend on constraints like equipment type, urgency, technician specialization, customer lifetime value, and seasonality—making the problem harder than simple call answering and increasing the value of domain-optimized automation.

A product platform scales better than a roll-up for this vision.

Roll-ups can optimize only the acquired assets and rely heavily on M&A skill; Netic’s bet is that a single platform can generalize across many enterprises and compound via shared learnings and connected products.

Robotics won’t replace many field-service tasks soon due to environment variance.

She argues real buildings and homes are not standardized enough, and robotics dexterity and navigation remain insufficient for messy, uncertain repairs—plus many interactions include a human-empathy component on customers’ “worst day.”

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

Netic builds AI to run millions of real-world businesses that keep the world running.

— Melisa Tokmak

I grew up in a very small town in Turkey. I grew up with nothing and really came here only for college. When I got a full scholarship to Stanford, I didn't even own a computer before, and all of my town is actually in these type of industries.

— Melisa Tokmak

In terms of looking at the problem we're solving, the answer would be, well, when we get the A- AGI, we'll ask how to solve it for essential services. And I think that is both operationally and intellectually a bit lazy thinking.

— Melisa Tokmak

I see, especially Gen Z in these days when I'm, you know, looking at hiring, obsessed with this permanent underclass mentality. If I don't make my money in the next 18 months, or if I don't learn everything in the world-

— Melisa Tokmak

It would be pretty sad if we used AI only for cost cutting.

— Melisa Tokmak

AI agents for essential servicesVoice/text/web customer intake and triageScheduling, dispatch, and operational rule optimizationProduct platform vs. AI roll-up strategyWhy robotics is a later chapter for servicesBig labs vs. vertical execution riskPrivate equity adoption and ROI proof

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