Risotto

What do they actually do

Risotto is an AI agent for internal support that lives in Slack and Microsoft Teams. It connects to a company’s existing tools to answer questions, triage requests, and either resolve issues in chat or create/sync tickets in systems like Jira, Freshservice, and Zendesk. It handles tier‑1 troubleshooting, learns from past tickets and Slack threads, and can read screenshots to guide users to fixes (site, how it works, AI IT support).

For access-related requests, Risotto routes approvals and can automatically provision time-bound or approval-based access through identity tools like Okta, with an auditable trail. When it can’t fully solve an issue, it escalates to a human with full context, keeping everything bi-directionally synced with the ticketing system. The company offers SOC 2/HIPAA options and sells a hosted product with a published Startup plan alongside paid pilots/enterprise deployments (provisioning, pricing).

Published customer stories include Retool, Fundrise, Hazel Health, Vidyard, Ironclad, and Superhuman. Reported results include examples like ~56% of requests handled automatically at Vidyard, up to ~90% automation for access flows at Ironclad, and SLA reductions at Retool from ~2 days to under 1 day (customers/case studies).

Who are their target customer(s)

• IT helpdesk manager at a mid-size or larger company: Overloaded by repetitive, low‑complexity tickets and manual triage. Wastes time copying context between Slack, ticketing systems, and knowledge bases instead of solving higher‑value problems (how it works, customers).
• Identity and access administrator (Okta/groups): Slow, manual approval loops and risky standing access. Needs to provision time‑bound access with clear approvals and audit trails whenever roles change (provisioning).
• Security/compliance lead at a regulated company: Must prove who approved access and why, across fragmented logs. Needs reproducible audit trails and compliance controls (SOC 2 / HIPAA) for internal changes (pricing).
• Operations lead for non‑IT teams (HR, Finance, Legal): Trying to centralize internal support across many request types and siloed knowledge. Onboarding new support flows is slow and inconsistent.
• CTO or head of engineering at a fast‑growing startup: Wants fewer interrupts for engineers and faster SLA resolution. Needs predictable automation for tier‑1 issues to avoid hiring a large support team (customers, pricing).

How would they acquire their first 10, 50, and 100 customers

• First 10: Run warm-intro paid pilots with IT teams via YC and industry networks, deploying in hours and measuring autosolve % and SLA improvements to convert into Startup or pilot plans (customers, pricing, how it works).
• First 50: Streamline Slack/Teams installs and publish onboarding templates, while doing targeted outbound to helpdesk and identity admins using quantified pilot results; pursue co-sell/integration referrals with Jira/Okta/Zendesk for validation and leads (pricing, customers, provisioning blog).
• First 100: Scale with sales engineers/CSMs to run short enterprise proofs, add SOC 2/HIPAA and contractual SLAs for regulated buyers, and build MSP/channel partnerships and marketplace listings; invest seed funds in connectors and partner marketing to ease procurement (TechCrunch, pricing, customers).

What is the rough total addressable market

Top-down context:

Risotto straddles IT Service Management (ITSM) and Identity & Access Management (IAM). 2025 market estimates are roughly USD 12.8B–15.3B for ITSM and USD 26B–33B for IAM, yielding a combined TAM of about USD 39B–48B per year (ITSM 1, ITSM 2, IAM 1, IAM 2).

Bottom-up calculation:

Focusing on mid‑market and enterprise buyers using Slack/Teams plus ticketing/IDPs, a plausible bottom‑up path is 2,000 customers at $50k–$150k ACV, implying ~$100M–$300M ARR; scale increases with partner channels and regulated accounts (assumes enterprise pricing and multi‑department deployments).

Assumptions:

• Share of combined ITSM+IAM spend that shifts to automation agents ranges from 1% (conservative) to 10% (aggressive), implying a SAM of ~$0.39B–$4.8B.
• Typical enterprise ACV for autosolve + provisioning spans ~$50k–$150k depending on seat count, integrations, and compliance needs.
• Global pool of targetable mid‑market/enterprise organizations using Slack/Teams and modern ticketing/IDPs numbers in the tens of thousands; early penetration of 2–5% yields nine‑figure ARR potential.

Who are some of their notable competitors

• ServiceNow (ITSM + Virtual Agent): Dominant enterprise ITSM platform with a built‑in virtual agent and workflow automation; deeply embedded in large enterprises and a frequent incumbent in helpdesk modernization.
• Atlassian Jira Service Management: Popular ITSM suite (including former Halp capabilities) for Slack/MS Teams ticketing and automation; strong with engineering‑centric organizations already on Atlassian.
• Zendesk: Broad ticketing platform with AI features (Answer Bot) and workflow automation; common incumbent for support teams and internal helpdesks.
• Freshservice (Freshworks): ITSM tool with orchestration, asset management, and virtual agent; widely used in the mid‑market where Slack/Teams support is important.
• Moveworks: AI copilot for employees that automates IT support and access requests in Slack and Teams; strong enterprise focus and extensive LLM‑driven workflows.