ThirdLayer

What do they actually do

ThirdLayer makes Dex, a browser‑native AI copilot delivered as a Chrome extension that runs inside your real tabs. Users invoke Dex by voice or text while working in their normal web apps; Dex can perceive what’s on the page and control the browser UI, instead of sending users to a separate dashboard (site, product site, docs, demo video). The product is in private beta/early access with a waitlist, not a broad consumer release (product site/FAQ, YC profile).

In practice, users install the extension, then ask Dex to read on‑screen context, fetch related info, and take multi‑step actions across tabs and tools (e.g., find a policy in Drive, open it, and draft a response into a live form). Dex connects to common tools via integrations and a user API (Zapier, email CC/BCC import, and more) to pull/push data without manual copy/paste (docs, founder demo example).

Who are their target customer(s)

• Knowledge workers with many tabs (PMs, researchers, analysts): They lose time context‑switching and copying data between apps to draft emails or reports; they need a way to pull relevant docs and draft text directly in the page they’re already using.
• Customer support and operations reps: They hunt across Drive/docs/ticketing tools for the right policy snippet and paste answers manually, slowing responses and creating inconsistency.
• Sales and account managers: They repeatedly look up contracts, notes, and product details to personalize outreach and then re‑enter data in CRMs, which is slow and error‑prone.
• Engineers and product leads during incidents/handoffs: They spend time collecting logs, links, and runbooks from scattered tabs to update tickets or brief teammates, delaying resolution and causing context gaps.
• Small teams or non‑technical staff: They want simple cross‑app automations but can’t build integrations; repetitive copy/fill/sync tasks need a reliable in‑browser tool without engineering help.

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

• First 10: Invite early adopters from founders’ networks and the YC/private‑beta waitlist for hands‑on pilots with concierge onboarding; build 1–2 custom workflows per pilot and capture demos/testimonials (YC profile, beta/docs).
• First 50: Convert pilots to paid short‑term contracts; use referrals and targeted outbound to similar teams, sharing recorded case studies and workflow templates. Publish the extension with clear self‑serve guides and offer a paid concierge tier for larger accounts (docs/integrations).
• First 100: Shift to product‑led growth with a limited free tier, in‑product workflow suggestions, teammate invites, and templates (tickets, CRM outreach, incidents). Add targeted LinkedIn ads and a light enterprise motion focused on privacy/admin needs, using early ROI stories to close deals (site/vision, docs).

What is the rough total addressable market

Top-down context:

Hundreds of millions of people meet broad “knowledge‑worker” definitions globally (≈644M–997M per ILO), setting the upper bound for potential users of a browser copilot (ILO estimate). Pricing expectations are anchored by current copilots in the $10–$30+ per user per month range (GitHub Copilot, Microsoft 365 Copilot).

Bottom-up calculation:

At a global midpoint of ~820M knowledge workers, 0.1% penetration (≈820k users) at $20/user‑mo implies ≈$197M ARR; 1% penetration (~8.2M users) at $20 implies ≈$1.97B ARR. For the U.S. proxy (≈70.7M), 1% at $20 implies ≈$170M ARR (ILO, BLS).

Assumptions:

• Target users are modern browser‑based knowledge workers; browser access to common tools is sufficient for Dex to add value.
• ARPU scenarios use $10/$20/$30 per user per month, consistent with current copilot pricing benchmarks (GitHub, Microsoft).
• Early penetration limited (0.1%–1%) due to required trust in cross‑app actions and enterprise privacy/admin controls while Dex is in private beta (Dex product pages, docs).

Who are some of their notable competitors

• Microsoft 365 Copilot: AI assistant embedded across Office apps (Word, Outlook, Teams) for drafting, summarizing, and retrieval. Strong enterprise traction and IT controls make it a reference point for knowledge‑worker assistants.
• Zapier (incl. AI features): Popular no‑code automation platform connecting hundreds of apps; recent AI features let users describe automations in natural language. Competes on cross‑app workflow automation without living in the browser UI.
• Bardeen: A browser automation extension that scrapes pages and runs multi‑step automations across web apps. Overlaps on in‑browser actions and repetitive task automation for ops, sales, and research.
• Axiom.ai: Chrome automation bot for clicking, scraping, and filling forms on websites without coding. Directly comparable on automating repetitive browser tasks for non‑technical users.
• UiPath: Enterprise RPA platform that automates desktop and web workflows at scale. Not browser‑native in the same way, but competes for the budget to automate cross‑app business processes.