About Us

The people behind Petaluma.

Nikhil Maddirala

Head of Technology

Led AI automation at Meta where systems he built reached billions of users. Now designs reliable AI architectures for businesses.

Focus

The science: Understanding what models can and cannot do, and engineering them into production systems that work.

Piyush Agarwal

Head of Business

Led enterprise sales at Google for nearly a decade, scaling AI-powered products to $500M plus ARR with clients including Disney and Airbnb.

Focus

The craft: Operationalizing AI to drive measurable business growth for your organization.

Why Petaluma AI

There are a lot of new AI consultancies. Here is why we are different.

1. You see it working before you pay.

Our free audit includes a working demo on your real data. Not a slideshow. Not a mockup. A live system your team can interact with. If it does not impress you, we part as friends.

2. You work directly with founders.

No junior analysts. No hand-offs to offshore teams. Nikhil architects your system. Piyush makes sure it solves your business problem. That is it. That is team.

3. We are practitioners, not advisors.

We use AI to run our own operations, scheduling, analysis, content, and client delivery. When we recommend something, it is because we have built it for ourselves first.

4. Reliability is product.

AI that works once is a demo. AI that works every time, handles edge cases, and fails gracefully, that is what we ship. We build guardrails, audit trails, and human escalation into every system.

5. Your data stays yours.

We build the pipes, you own the water. We integrate with your existing systems and minimize data retention. Your information does not train anyone else's model.

6. We meet you where you are.

Your team uses Slack, Email, WhatsApp, or Excel? We deploy into tools people already know. Zero new logins. Zero retraining.

How we operate

We are a small founder-led team by design.

  • We optimize for reliability and adoption, not one-time demos
  • We scope tightly, ship quickly, and measure impact with you
  • We build long-term trust through clear ownership and transparent communication

Trust and Security

Trust and security FAQ.

Where does our data go?

Your data stays in scoped, access-controlled environments. We use encrypted connections and do not retain data longer than needed.

Do you use our data to train AI models?

No. Your data is used only to build and operate your system.

Who has access to our systems?

Only founders and required engineers on a need-to-know basis. Access is logged, and we can align with client NDA and security requirements.

Do you have SOC 2 certification?

For compliance-heavy clients, we design architectures that keep sensitive data inside your infrastructure. Certification requirements are handled case by case based on engagement needs.