Good morning, everyone, and welcome to another Nacho Tuesday. Today, we have Toshendra Sharma, founder and CEO of Records Keeper AI, here to discuss his company.

Toshendra Sharma: Hi everyone, my name is Toshendra Sharma, and I'm the founder and CEO of Records Keeper AI. As the name suggests, we are an AI-based record-keeping company for enterprises and individuals. We turn data chaos into business intelligence, automating everything related to record-keeping, data management, and file management using AI. You simply provide us with the documents, and our AI handles the rest. It's a B2B SaaS platform where you connect your storage, and we take it from there.

Host: Amazing. What made you decide to start Records Keeper? This isn't your first venture, from what we discussed before the interview.

Toshendra Sharma: That's right. In 2016, I was managing multiple companies when the idea for Records Keeper hit me. At that time, I couldn't afford an accountant for all the record-keeping. I thought there must be a way to automate everything because it's easy to extract context from documents. Why couldn't we automate it? But back then, AI wasn't very advanced. So, I waited a few years. Then, two years ago, I realized it was the right time to start an AI-powered record-keeping company like Records Keeper AI. We can read content from documents, understand the context, categorize, classify, and tag them, putting them in the right folders. Whenever you need them, we can instantly retrieve these documents through a chat-like interface. You can talk to the AI and say, "I need this document," or "Bring me that document from that period," and the AI will fetch it for you, saving a lot of time. You no longer have to scan through documents and folders to find a specific file. You just remember certain contexts, type them, or say them, and the AI will fetch them. We envisioned this in 2016, but it was challenging. So, two years ago, I decided to build it, and now it's possible. It's live, and people are already using it; you can sign up and try it out.

Host: Amazing. As they say, timing is everything, right? You might have an idea, but it might not be the right time to implement it. So, I'm glad you jumped on that when the opportunity arose.

Toshendra Sharma: Exactly, exactly.

AI-Driven Record Management vs. Traditional Methods

Host: How would you define AI-driven record management, and what makes it different from the traditional way we've done things? I've run into this problem myself, trying to find documents and spending much more time than I'd wanted to on it.

Toshendra Sharma: Exactly, exactly. The typical record-keeping process involves receiving documents from various sources—whether it's a CRM, accounting management software, Dropbox, Google Drive, or any other source. Every single day, we generate digital documents. These documents can be fed into a single AI that will categorize, tag, and classify them, placing them in the right folder at the right time. Whenever you need them, it can instantly fetch these documents within a fraction of a second, saving you a lot of time. This is far different from traditional record-keeping, where you have to go to a folder, figure out where you kept a document, and sometimes you've forgotten where you put it entirely. Then you have to search in Google Drive, Dropbox, or even your email inbox to find it. With our AI platform, all these channels and storages are connected, so all your documents remain in a single place.

AI literally does everything for you in the record-keeping space. Record-keeping isn't just about archiving; it's about document management, file management, and data management. Everything digital needs to be managed properly; otherwise, it will grow so large that it becomes very difficult to access. That's the fundamental problem we solve using AI. Traditional record-keeping is completely broken and very outdated, especially in this era of AI where everything can be done by AI. Why not record-keeping? This is one of the easiest tasks AI can do. Right now, very few companies are doing it—almost literally no one. So, we decided to tackle and solve this problem. It's a common problem that every company faces daily. It's not just companies; individuals also forget their medical records, need certain reports, tax returns, or ID documents instantly. Sometimes you're at the airport, and they ask for something, and you're like, "Okay, let me just fetch this document." We also have a mobile app, so you can chat with it and say, "Give me this document," and the AI will fetch it for you instantly within the app.

Host: Sounds like an ADHD person's dream!

Toshendra Sharma: Exactly, exactly, exactly! This really becomes a bigger problem for enterprise companies, especially. Even small companies struggle to manage their records, but once you get to an enterprise, that issue scales infinitely.

Challenges for Enterprises and Data Accuracy

Host: What are some of the other challenges that enterprises are having today with their record-keeping? And in general, it's just that files are in so many different locations. What other kinds of challenges do you see with the way people manage their records today?

Toshendra Sharma: Exactly. People generally keep files on Slack, ClickUp, Notion, Salesforce CRM, Zoho, or HubSpot. Documents can be in any part of your business software. So, bringing them all together in one place and then asking that particular centralized system for the document makes complete sense. That's where we are going to solve the most fundamental problem of data management: everything in just one place. You leave it, and we'll take care of the rest; everything is automated. AI is easing everyone's life now, so why not this? This is the most basic problem, and it's not just a choice. Record-keeping isn't optional; it's legally mandatory. You have to do record-keeping in most industries—healthcare, finance, supply chain, legal—you name it. In all industries, if you're running a business, you have to do record-keeping; there's no choice.

Host: How do you ensure the accuracy of data classification, retrieval, and indexing overall?

Toshendra Sharma: We use large language models (LLMs), like many other companies. These models recognize patterns in images, PDFs, Word files, text files, CSVs, and Excel sheets—you name it. The context of all these documents can be fetched by the AI and then converted into a very well-structured proprietary data format. We create that document and structure for you within the application. Obviously, we use a high-end RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation) system to fetch documents whenever you need them. The accuracy comes from the quality of the LLM we're using. These models are pretty accurate. If you provide any image or file, even a 100-year-old printed file that you scan and upload into our system, you'll notice that the AI will be able to classify, tag, and contextualize it very accurately. You might not even be able to do it yourself, but the AI will. You'll be amazed when you try it out.

Host: You mentioned images; can it also understand videos—the content of uploaded video files?

Toshendra Sharma: In record-keeping systems, videos and audios are a very small fraction of the documents. Ninety-nine percent of documents are PDFs, CSVs, Excel sheets, text files, or images. Video and audio are a very small fraction, so we haven't covered them as of now because that would become a much bigger problem to solve. We decided we'd solve that at some other time. Right now, we are mostly focused on finance, supply chain, healthcare, and legal, where videos and audios are very less common.

Host: That's smart. You guys aren't trying to boil the ocean, per se.

Toshendra Sharma: Exactly. It would just be a waste of time as of now. But yes, obviously, this is a problem we have already decided to solve, maybe in the near future, but not immediately.

Host: Always a new feature later down the road. Many companies worry about legacy data. Maybe they have a new file format or naming convention later, but older legacy documents can be really messy sometimes. How does your AI handle unstructured or messy historical records that they might have had in the past?

Toshendra Sharma: As I said, we can read any kind of unstructured data, no matter the format. Even if the format isn't widely known, AI can still read it because it has the ability to open files in various formats. That's how we're solving the problem of legacy storage. Legacy storage can be in the form of a hard disk, a floppy disk, even a CD, or any other digital format. The only requirement is that the data must be in digital format. No matter where this data resides or in which format it is, we can read it, crawl it, and convert it into business intelligence. All this legacy data can be transformed into actionable business intelligence that can be utilized by businesses. Obviously, data is power, right? Most businesses don't realize they are sitting on a very large pool of intelligence. With Records Keeper, we are converting that legacy data into intelligent business intelligence that can be utilized for making better business decisions, resulting in better revenue, better sales, and better growth.

Host: That's really smart, actually. Every company has all these documents they might have written a long time ago, and they don't use them for anything now, but that's a lot of stored knowledge they could actually leverage quite significantly.

Toshendra Sharma: Yes, yes, yes.

Compliance, Security, and Business Outcomes

Host: How does AI improve compliance and audit readiness—some of the less fun stuff with record-keeping, but undoubtedly very important when you actually need it?

Toshendra Sharma: Definitely. There are basic regulatory requirements like GDPR and HIPAA. We track these in real-time because certain requirements exist for data traceability, data auditability, and data trackability, as well as specific formats for audit trails and reports. We have this functionality within the platform where you can view these documents, and granular-level access control is also available. We also provide blockchain-based audit trails for documents if they have been modified or tweaked, so you can rely on that and use it for compliance purposes. Besides that, our platform is compliant with GDPR, HIPAA, and SOC2. Our data is pretty much safe. I'm sure this is a standard question in record-keeping systems: "How are you ensuring data security?" All the data we use is encrypted at rest, and it's also trackable, with notifications, alerts, and audit trails all available within the platform. So, you can be assured that we are following those compliances, making sure these documents adhere to the standard compliances that any company like Google, Dropbox, or OneDrive would follow. We are at that level in terms of security and platform compliance to ensure user data remains secure.

Host: I would assume security and privacy are very important for all the clients you work with. What other features do you have around ensuring that certain people can't access documents, or that some information doesn't get leaked from the organization?

Toshendra Sharma: First and most important is granular-level access control. We have a very fine-tuned, detailed role management system where you can define permissions at a very specific level—read, access, write, delete, modify—everything you can control. Second, we have two-factor authentication on the platform, and all alerts go to users whenever something happens, via mobile app, email, SMS, and web app—everywhere. In terms of security and ensuring the privacy framework is followed as per GDPR, HIPAA, and SOC2, our infrastructure is configured so that only a limited number of employees and team members have access, especially to the production environment. Nobody in the company has access except the founders. This way, we ensure that user data is intact, traceable, and reportable in case anything happens. Everything within the platform is well-managed.

Host: You guys really thought through everything!

Toshendra Sharma: The record-keeping system naturally has to be like this; otherwise, it's of no use. That's why it took us more than a year to build this; otherwise, it would have been just a two- or three-month job.

Host: Definitely. What are some of the key business outcomes that some of your customers are seeing after adopting Records Keeper?

Toshendra Sharma: We see an 85% reduction in manual work because now you don't have to manually place documents in the right folder; AI does that. You just provide it and forget it. Then comes retrieval: 90% faster document retrieval because of AI. You can just say, "I need this document," and AI will fetch it for you, which makes it much faster and more efficient for everyone. Then there are fewer compliance issues and zero audit penalties because the data is more structured. Whenever you need data, it's already there, classified in a proper structure. You don't have to worry about it. This actually saves cost. Whenever an authority asks for an audit, you can simply say, "This is the button," click it, and all the audit trails will be generated for reporting. I would say that in terms of manual labor costs, it can also be reduced by 60% to 70%. You don't have to hire multiple people to manage records for you; this can be done using the tool. That's why B2B SaaS makes sense—it reduces the cost of manual workforce. Also, there's collaboration. Since we have a platform where multiple users can access the same system with proper granular control of access, everything can remain in one place, making life easier because everybody has the same documents classified in the same structured and classifications. This makes the overall outcome better. So, you save cost, you save time, and you increase performance.

Host: Those are the most important things in any business, really. You want your employees working on important tasks and actually growing your company and being productive, not looking for records just to do their job.

Toshendra Sharma: Correct, correct.

The Future of AI in Record Management and Entrepreneurial Advice

Host: How do you see AI shaping the future of enterprise record management over the next three to five years? What do you think is coming down the pipeline next?

Toshendra Sharma: I think data will manage itself because that's how LLMs are going to become more powerful. Records are going to manage themselves, with fully automated self-learning, self-structuring, self-classification, real-time compliances, and predictive audits becoming much cheaper and more effective in the future due to AI managing all documents and data for you. AI will turn any static data or record into business intelligence in the future, much better and much deeper. Obviously, with time, this will go much deeper. For instance, if you upload a thousand files, AI will tell you something you never knew about your business because now AI has access to your files and can provide much better insights about your business that you don't even know. That's the future of AI record management.

Host: Very interesting. I wonder if you could ever go from taking data and then turning it into a report. Can you do anything like that, you think, in the future where you could prompt it to take a look at, say, your email campaigns, analyze them, and generate a report for management on what's working and what's not in email marketing, as an example?

Toshendra Sharma: Exactly, exactly. That's where business intelligence comes in. For example, in financial audits, if you've provided access to audits from the last 10 years, AI can tell you exactly where you can save costs or how to increase the profitability of your company. These things can be figured out by AI because now AI has access to your balance sheet. So that can happen easily.

Host: Wow, this is really amazing to hear. It's streamlining everything. It sounds like we could probably use this for our organization as well.

Toshendra Sharma: Exactly.

Host: What's next for Records Keeper? What are you guys building that you could release publicly, of course?

Toshendra Sharma: We are currently expanding globally, especially in Europe, the Middle East, and the West, where there's high demand for B2B SaaS solutions like ours. We are targeting to serve around 1,000+ enterprises in the next couple of years and are launching more AI modules like predictive compliances, voice-based retrieval, and much deeper business intelligence that are more customizable for users based on their industry and business type. The idea is to become the default, go-to platform for record-keeping. Whenever somebody thinks about record-keeping, they should think about Records Keeper AI. That's the vision for the company in the next few years. So, "record-keeping means Records Keeper AI"—it's that simple. It's a universal and massive problem, and solving it can generate a lot of revenue for the company, as well as save a lot of energy, time, and resources for users, especially enterprises.

Host: As they say, it's in the name.

Toshendra Sharma: Exactly, it's in the name: Records Keeper AI—very straightforward. I love what you guys are building there. This is your fourth startup, right?

Toshendra Sharma: Yes, fourth startup.

Host: Nice. For other entrepreneurs out there, what would you recommend—some key lessons you've learned along the way?

Toshendra Sharma: The biggest lesson is that it takes time. It's never going to be an overnight success; it takes time. Always believe in doing rather than just thinking. Out of 10, 20, or maybe 100 decisions, the one right decision will change your life and perhaps your future generation's life. That's how entrepreneurship works: you don't have to be successful all the time; you just have to be successful once. So, probability-wise, the chances of getting success at least once are very high if you keep trying. You just have to be successful once; you don't have to fail again and again. Out of 100 things you do, if you're successful just one time, you're done for the rest of your years.

Host: I tell people the same thing. Success is when opportunity meets preparation. You just never know when you'll get that moment when you make the right decisions, and everything starts to click. But it's those moments of learning and failure that lead you to that point where you make better decisions and get better over time as an entrepreneur. It's truly a lifelong skill that you get better and better at as time goes on, and it takes time. You have to try again and again; you can't give up.

Toshendra Sharma: Can't give up. That's the most challenging part, actually. Not giving up. It looks easy, it sounds easy, but when you are trying again and again and not producing something, and you keep trying after getting knocked down badly, and you stand up and say, "Okay, I'll try again"—that's the most difficult part. But I think, hang in there, you'll get there, no worries.

Host: I think there's a Japanese term: "Fall down seven, stand up eight."

Toshendra Sharma: Yes, correct.

Host: What's one of the biggest causes of failure you think for startups?

Toshendra Sharma: I would say overconfidence. Being overconfident about what they're building, thinking it's 100% perfect. Always have that small doubt in yourself; leave space for improvisation. Some people are very confident that their idea will definitely work and there's no chance it can fail, but people do fail, and this overconfidence kills everyone. So, don't be overconfident; always have just a 1% doubt that this may not work. This doubt will help you fine-tune yourself, make yourself a better person, a better entrepreneur, or a better business because nothing is 100% perfect.

Host: And it could be the smallest thing that throws the whole plan off.

Toshendra Sharma: Exactly. It could be a small thing, it could be a big thing, but I've seen many entrepreneurs in the beginning who are so confident about their idea that they think they can never fail, and it's the best idea ever. But that's not true, and they learn it the hard way. By the time they learn, it's very late. So, it's not a good idea to fail repeatedly by being overconfident.

Host: You should always feel like you're playing from behind, right? It's never good enough. Look for those minute details you can change in your business to make it better.

Toshendra Sharma: Keep improvising. Be optimistic. Don't be overconfident, but be optimistic. Yes, that's very important.

Host: You've got to enjoy what you do, too, right? If you enjoy what you do, you never really work a day in your life. You're just, "Can I put in a few more hours today to get to where I'm trying to go?"

Toshendra Sharma: Yes, correct. There's the saying that the person who loves the journey will always go further than the person who loves the destination.

Host: Yes. For that very reason, I guess. But the people who like the destination more and just want quick results usually never end up going that far.

Toshendra Sharma: Yes. And again, this journey is complicated; it's not hard. I've read news articles about the depressing life of an entrepreneur. Most entrepreneurs are depressed in one way or another because they have to be positive, keep trying, keep building, and keep motivating team members. But that's life; it's a very lonely job, actually, a very lonely profession, I would say. But yes, once one thing goes right, everything goes right. The moment one thing goes right, everybody feels that, "Okay, you are the best person I've ever seen."

Host: Exactly. Then everybody wants to be your friend. You're like, "Where were you when I needed you?"

Toshendra Sharma: Exactly.

Host: What do you recommend for entrepreneurs that might be going through some of that struggle? I would say that community is big—having sounding boards, maybe other entrepreneurs going through the same thing as you are, people who just kind of understand what you're going through and are willing to be there to support you, even if it's not putting money into the company, but just offering advice, listening to your feedback, just letting you vent sometimes. What other tips would you offer for entrepreneurs that want to get through those hard moments in that journey?

Toshendra Sharma: It's very difficult to give advice on those things when you are struggling and having hard times about what to do next. I would say, remain connected with your family; that's the most important part, because family is always there, no matter what they do or say. Also, think about small, small happiness and successes that will actually keep you going. Generally, people only think about the bigger goal, and when they don't reach it, they become very sad. I think small successes—if you fix a bug, you feel happy; if you publish a feature, you feel happy; if you get a reply from a client, you feel happy. These small things actually keep you going very easily.

For people who are looking to build something they've never built, I would say this is the best time ever to start an AI company. Since AI is here, think about a problem, and then ask yourself, "Can AI solve this problem?" If the answer is yes, go ahead and solve it. It's cheaper. Building software right now is much cheaper than it has ever been in the past. You can build better, perfect, cheaper, and most accurate software using AI. Why not do it now? If you think you'll do it six months later, it will be harder to build software because AI will become more advanced. "Harder" means more competition because everybody can easily build software now; the skill level required to build software has gone down. So, even a high school person can build software even if they don't know anything about programming because of AI. Building software will become easier in terms of money expenditure, but more difficult in terms of competition because there will be a lot of people who can build software now. So, you better do it now before it gets too late. Do it—that's my only advice right now.

Host: That's a call to action for anybody listening there. And I love that idea about celebrating the small wins, and I totally agree with you. If you can appreciate that first customer, like, even not tech-related, but you go into a restaurant, they'll have the first dollar bill framed on the wall there. Stuff like that really adds up and kind of gives you encouragement.

Toshendra Sharma: It gives you encouragement, it gives you hope that you are doing something right in your life. Because there will never be a "eureka" moment in your life as an entrepreneur where you think, "Okay, this is the life, this is the moment I was waiting for, now this moment actually changed my life." No, this is not going to happen. There are going to be very small, minor moments that you are missing right now that you should be enjoying. Otherwise, you'll realize that this whole journey is like this; there was never a "mega" moment in my life. Because it's not going to be. This is the whole journey. There are going to be minor, minor moments. You have to enjoy them and then keep going. That's it.

Host: A lot of people like to think of the concept of "overnight success," but it doesn't really work like that. It's more like an "overnight decade."

Toshendra Sharma: Overnight decades. Yes, exactly.

Host: Awesome. Well, Tosh, it's been great chatting with you. Where can people learn more about Records Keeper? RecordsKeeper.ai, I believe.

Toshendra Sharma: Yes, correct. RecordsKeeper.ai.

Host: Everybody that wants to get their organization in line and stop spending 85% of their time looking for documents, just let AI do it. It was made for this. Check out recordskeeper.ai. They're building a really helpful tool over there. If you've been looking for a document, you know the exact pain point, so you're probably rushing over to the website right now. You can also find it in NachoNacho's B2B SaaS and AI marketplace. Of course, we have the best AI tools, and we wouldn't be complete without your product. So, thank you very much for partnering with us, and we look forward to growing our companies together.

Toshendra Sharma: Yes. Thank you, everyone. Thank you for joining. Thank you