Meeting Title: Brainforge <> DubiCars - Analytics Initiatives Date: 2025-07-22 Meeting participants: Uttam Kumaran, Felipe
WEBVTT
1 00:00:25.880 ⇒ 00:00:26.830 Felipe: Hello!
2 00:00:27.890 ⇒ 00:00:29.159 Uttam Kumaran: Hey! How are you?
3 00:00:29.750 ⇒ 00:00:31.650 Felipe: Hey, you, Tom? All good, and you.
4 00:00:31.650 ⇒ 00:00:38.019 Uttam Kumaran: Good sorry I’m just. I’m just running around the house for a second. I’ll I’ll be on camera in just a bit.
5 00:00:38.510 ⇒ 00:00:40.610 Felipe: It’s okay, man, I am.
6 00:00:41.230 ⇒ 00:00:45.210 Felipe: I am a bit sick. That’s why I turned off my camera because I don’t look well.
7 00:00:45.210 ⇒ 00:00:50.870 Uttam Kumaran: Oh, okay, no problem at all, man, hopefully. You get better. You’ve been sick all week.
8 00:00:51.780 ⇒ 00:00:58.340 Felipe: No, I’ve been. I’ve been. I started to feel weird Sunday night.
9 00:00:59.150 ⇒ 00:01:03.168 Uttam Kumaran: And then part of the week.
10 00:01:03.530 ⇒ 00:01:09.320 Felipe: Yeah. Yeah. And yesterday we finalized a presentation to a client.
11 00:01:09.740 ⇒ 00:01:13.919 Felipe: That was the thing that actually made me reschedule our chat.
12 00:01:13.920 ⇒ 00:01:14.900 Uttam Kumaran: Okay. Okay.
13 00:01:14.900 ⇒ 00:01:18.360 Felipe: So I think all of that
14 00:01:18.480 ⇒ 00:01:24.960 Felipe: stress. Yeah, everything was bottled up. And when it finished I think my body felt okay.
15 00:01:25.110 ⇒ 00:01:28.690 Felipe: Now it’s done. I’ve been holding up this flue and
16 00:01:29.040 ⇒ 00:01:31.419 Felipe: sinus infection for a while. Now.
17 00:01:31.730 ⇒ 00:01:32.350 Uttam Kumaran: Oh, man!
18 00:01:32.350 ⇒ 00:01:34.100 Felipe: Let let me have it now.
19 00:01:34.567 ⇒ 00:01:40.970 Uttam Kumaran: Well, there’s never a good time to be sick, but at least it was not last week, so.
20 00:01:40.970 ⇒ 00:01:45.617 Felipe: Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I mean, next week I’m off. So
21 00:01:46.470 ⇒ 00:01:52.139 Felipe: I have to recover in in what’s left of this week, so I can enjoy my trip. So.
22 00:01:52.470 ⇒ 00:02:03.560 Uttam Kumaran: Well, I appreciate you calling me during that time, you know, hopefully, it won’t take up hopefully. It’ll be a good use of time. And and yeah, I’m really glad that that Kyle put us in touch.
23 00:02:04.220 ⇒ 00:02:04.880 Felipe: Yeah.
24 00:02:04.880 ⇒ 00:02:13.772 Uttam Kumaran: You know, he’s he’s been a great team member. And yeah, I’m just, you know. I read a little bit about the company and just curious on
25 00:02:14.540 ⇒ 00:02:17.290 Uttam Kumaran: where? Where we could be helpful if possible.
26 00:02:17.950 ⇒ 00:02:21.900 Felipe: Yeah, yeah, of course. So 1st of all, I hope that my team
27 00:02:22.850 ⇒ 00:02:26.210 Felipe: speaks about me like Kyle speaks about you.
28 00:02:26.210 ⇒ 00:02:27.290 Uttam Kumaran: Oh, man!
29 00:02:27.490 ⇒ 00:02:29.849 Felipe: It would be great if they
30 00:02:30.040 ⇒ 00:02:33.120 Felipe: have such good things to to say about me.
31 00:02:34.120 ⇒ 00:02:34.640 Felipe: Thank you.
32 00:02:34.640 ⇒ 00:02:38.600 Uttam Kumaran: Never know. Look! I can’t. I can only try, and as a.
33 00:02:38.600 ⇒ 00:02:39.280 Felipe: Yeah, yeah.
34 00:02:39.280 ⇒ 00:02:46.979 Uttam Kumaran: Business owner like. I don’t make all the right decisions, and I think I mess up more frequently than I get things right. But
35 00:02:47.480 ⇒ 00:02:48.080 Uttam Kumaran: I I.
36 00:02:48.080 ⇒ 00:02:48.590 Felipe: Bye.
37 00:02:48.590 ⇒ 00:02:53.799 Uttam Kumaran: I I was. I was in a I’m a data engineer myself, like I worked in data, my whole career. So
38 00:02:54.210 ⇒ 00:02:58.730 Uttam Kumaran: I know what the deal is like being an employee on a team. So.
39 00:02:58.730 ⇒ 00:02:59.230 Felipe: Yeah.
40 00:02:59.230 ⇒ 00:03:04.779 Uttam Kumaran: Try to bias towards not being like that corporate corporate man.
41 00:03:04.780 ⇒ 00:03:05.540 Felipe: Yeah, yeah.
42 00:03:05.540 ⇒ 00:03:12.660 Uttam Kumaran: Like, maybe too transparent. And I kind of want to share what it’s like actually on the other side. But but no, that’s really nice.
43 00:03:12.660 ⇒ 00:03:13.350 Felipe: Fine.
44 00:03:13.350 ⇒ 00:03:13.990 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
45 00:03:14.250 ⇒ 00:03:17.299 Felipe: It’s fine, so maybe I can share a little bit of
46 00:03:17.420 ⇒ 00:03:20.249 Felipe: what I do here at the company and what’s going on.
47 00:03:20.630 ⇒ 00:03:23.429 Felipe: and it would be great to understand a little bit more
48 00:03:24.030 ⇒ 00:03:27.529 Felipe: briefly of your background, and then we can talk about
49 00:03:27.970 ⇒ 00:03:34.549 Felipe: what your company is doing and what kind of services you provide to see if make sense for us.
50 00:03:34.700 ⇒ 00:03:35.420 Uttam Kumaran: Sure. Okay.
51 00:03:36.540 ⇒ 00:03:43.529 Felipe: So I joined 2 months ago a company here in Dubai called Doobie cars, as you probably saw.
52 00:03:43.940 ⇒ 00:03:50.309 Felipe: and we are a marketplace for cars
53 00:03:50.980 ⇒ 00:03:54.840 Felipe: heavily focused in the last years
54 00:03:55.110 ⇒ 00:04:00.349 Felipe: on dealers selling to individuals. Right? So it’s either
55 00:04:00.740 ⇒ 00:04:07.570 Felipe: it’s kind of everything. It’s a b 2 b business, because dealers can buy from dealers. So it’s A, B, 2 B,
56 00:04:07.700 ⇒ 00:04:18.980 Felipe: B, 2 C and C, 2 B and C, 2 C business right? Because we have. We have on the platform both dealers and individuals buying from the platform.
57 00:04:20.060 ⇒ 00:04:25.790 Felipe: We have been trying over the last. We will try and focus even more
58 00:04:25.990 ⇒ 00:04:35.540 Felipe: on the C side of things. So bringing more individuals to sell on the platform, because right now the heaviest part is B, 2 C,
59 00:04:35.960 ⇒ 00:04:40.360 Felipe: we want to focus more and more on individuals, also using the platform to sell.
60 00:04:41.000 ⇒ 00:04:46.660 Felipe: Okay, right now we are, let’s say, the second player on the market.
61 00:04:47.070 ⇒ 00:04:53.050 Felipe: But we are the biggest vertical player, because our biggest competitor
62 00:04:53.320 ⇒ 00:04:56.369 Felipe: is a marketplace that is doing a little bit of everything.
63 00:04:56.660 ⇒ 00:05:00.830 Felipe: So they do property. They do cars.
64 00:05:00.950 ⇒ 00:05:04.820 Felipe: and they do other things as well. If you have a grill, if you have a bike.
65 00:05:05.630 ⇒ 00:05:09.950 Uttam Kumaran: Is there? Is there a Us equivalent to this? Because, you know, I’m familiar with the common dealership.
66 00:05:09.950 ⇒ 00:05:10.750 Felipe: Yes.
67 00:05:10.750 ⇒ 00:05:14.590 Uttam Kumaran: I’m also familiar with Carmax Carvana here.
68 00:05:15.140 ⇒ 00:05:18.179 Felipe: Man. I know
69 00:05:18.370 ⇒ 00:05:26.300 Felipe: a lot about the name of one in the Uk, because our CEO is British, so we speak about it a few times.
70 00:05:26.300 ⇒ 00:05:27.010 Uttam Kumaran: I don’t know that.
71 00:05:27.010 ⇒ 00:05:28.399 Felipe: In the Us.
72 00:05:29.770 ⇒ 00:05:33.070 Felipe: I don’t recall the biggest comparable.
73 00:05:34.090 ⇒ 00:05:36.249 Felipe: But yeah, there are many in the Us.
74 00:05:36.250 ⇒ 00:05:40.739 Uttam Kumaran: It may be it may be like the car, Max, or something, you know, but but I get you. Yeah.
75 00:05:41.332 ⇒ 00:05:43.109 Felipe: Car Max, maybe.
76 00:05:43.110 ⇒ 00:05:45.569 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, Carmax, or there’s also Carvana.
77 00:05:46.870 ⇒ 00:05:47.930 Felipe: And then Bio.
78 00:05:47.930 ⇒ 00:05:48.710 Uttam Kumaran: These are almost.
79 00:05:49.115 ⇒ 00:05:49.520 Felipe: Star!
80 00:05:49.520 ⇒ 00:05:55.100 Uttam Kumaran: There, you know, it’s not here, cause in the Us. It’s like all like a dealership model. But you don’t use.
81 00:05:55.580 ⇒ 00:06:00.600 Uttam Kumaran: You’re not. It’s not like a marketplace per se, like it’s all kind of hidden where they control.
82 00:06:01.100 ⇒ 00:06:01.970 Uttam Kumaran: you know, via.
83 00:06:01.970 ⇒ 00:06:03.750 Felipe: The rest. But so I’m.
84 00:06:03.750 ⇒ 00:06:08.610 Uttam Kumaran: For example, like a Ford dealership, will still sell other types of cars.
85 00:06:08.750 ⇒ 00:06:09.510 Uttam Kumaran: But
86 00:06:10.540 ⇒ 00:06:13.400 Felipe: They kind of own everything. Because that’s the whole lot.
87 00:06:13.700 ⇒ 00:06:14.000 Felipe: Yeah.
88 00:06:14.610 ⇒ 00:06:22.200 Felipe: And I’m and I’m checking here on Google both names that you mentioned. They say, explicitly, explicitly used cars.
89 00:06:22.490 ⇒ 00:06:26.889 Felipe: and we don’t do, and we don’t do. Only used cars. We do new cars as well.
90 00:06:27.150 ⇒ 00:06:28.050 Uttam Kumaran: Okay. Okay.
91 00:06:28.750 ⇒ 00:06:35.589 Felipe: And also an important thing on our business model is, for example, these competitors of competitor of ours.
92 00:06:36.060 ⇒ 00:06:44.450 Felipe: which is a horizontal competitor operating across multiple products and and types of product
93 00:06:45.110 ⇒ 00:06:48.329 Felipe: for cars. They have their own stock.
94 00:06:48.430 ⇒ 00:06:50.240 Felipe: And when they
95 00:06:50.530 ⇒ 00:06:54.910 Felipe: when you go to them and you say, Hey, I want to post my car online to sell.
96 00:06:55.040 ⇒ 00:07:04.960 Felipe: First.st They try to buy it from you, of course, at a discounted price, so they can put in their own shop and sell it with a delta, and make a profit.
97 00:07:05.240 ⇒ 00:07:05.760 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
98 00:07:06.220 ⇒ 00:07:08.490 Felipe: We don’t do it. We
99 00:07:08.780 ⇒ 00:07:17.249 Felipe: we are pure marketplace. We are a pure neutral party amongst everyone. We don’t own any stock, and we don’t want to own any stock.
100 00:07:17.590 ⇒ 00:07:22.950 Uttam Kumaran: Oh, okay, interesting. So there’s no, you don’t have that you don’t have the assets on your balance sheet.
101 00:07:23.230 ⇒ 00:07:25.500 Felipe: No, but you’re.
102 00:07:25.500 ⇒ 00:07:30.430 Uttam Kumaran: And so it’s just pure like broker. But store the car like it’s.
103 00:07:30.430 ⇒ 00:07:30.810 Felipe: No.
104 00:07:30.810 ⇒ 00:07:31.910 Uttam Kumaran: Marketplace. Okay? Okay?
105 00:07:31.910 ⇒ 00:07:39.480 Felipe: Yes, it’s a pure marketplace. We don’t have any assets on our balance sheet. We don’t have any physical shops, and we don’t want to have.
106 00:07:39.820 ⇒ 00:07:40.420 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
107 00:07:40.860 ⇒ 00:07:47.550 Felipe: So we are really focused on our local, on our line, which is
108 00:07:47.840 ⇒ 00:07:57.820 Felipe: your success? Is our business right? If the dealers grow, and if they are successful, we win, and we are not trying to make a soft competition. We don’t compete with them at all.
109 00:07:58.380 ⇒ 00:07:59.249 Uttam Kumaran: And then tell me.
110 00:07:59.250 ⇒ 00:08:03.959 Uttam Kumaran: tell me, what is the yeah. I mean, you’re probably getting this. What is the revenue model for the for the business?
111 00:08:04.300 ⇒ 00:08:08.210 Felipe: Yes. So everyone who’s posting a car
112 00:08:08.420 ⇒ 00:08:10.970 Felipe: on sale on the platform they pay a fee.
113 00:08:11.090 ⇒ 00:08:11.580 Felipe: That’s.
114 00:08:11.580 ⇒ 00:08:14.110 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, okay, so it’s almost similar to upwork.
115 00:08:15.470 ⇒ 00:08:19.259 Uttam Kumaran: In that in that manner where the the supply side pays.
116 00:08:19.760 ⇒ 00:08:25.359 Uttam Kumaran: Yes, and that way you kind of you can bootstrap the demand side because you have the supply. Okay.
117 00:08:25.360 ⇒ 00:08:31.039 Felipe: That’s it. So an individual. So most of the people who are posting cars
118 00:08:31.310 ⇒ 00:08:38.889 Felipe: as an individual, you post a car, you buy one and you move on with your life. Right? You change cars, let’s say.
119 00:08:39.289 ⇒ 00:08:43.969 Felipe: every 2 or 10 years. You’re not making it a business.
120 00:08:44.550 ⇒ 00:08:49.769 Felipe: So if that’s the case. We just charge you once for you to sell your car.
121 00:08:50.696 ⇒ 00:08:55.249 Felipe: Some people here they are what we call freelancers.
122 00:08:55.530 ⇒ 00:08:57.570 Felipe: so they don’t have a company.
123 00:08:57.710 ⇒ 00:09:00.649 Felipe: They might be doing other stuff as well.
124 00:09:00.890 ⇒ 00:09:06.060 Felipe: but they kind of operate buying and selling cars on an individual level right.
125 00:09:06.060 ⇒ 00:09:06.860 Uttam Kumaran: Makes sense.
126 00:09:06.860 ⇒ 00:09:10.680 Felipe: So we have some freelancers on the platform. We offer them
127 00:09:10.860 ⇒ 00:09:15.399 Felipe: competitive package, and for the dealers they pay a yearly fee
128 00:09:16.010 ⇒ 00:09:18.100 Felipe: to operate with us across the year.
129 00:09:18.420 ⇒ 00:09:25.649 Felipe: which is like a year yearly contract, and when it’s gonna expire we’re trying to renew.
130 00:09:26.290 ⇒ 00:09:27.190 Uttam Kumaran: Okay. Okay.
131 00:09:27.580 ⇒ 00:09:34.870 Felipe: So I joined to be the head of Bi, and to lead the business Intelligence team.
132 00:09:36.290 ⇒ 00:09:41.350 Felipe: But honestly, we are not great in terms of tools.
133 00:09:43.320 ⇒ 00:09:44.390 Felipe: Our
134 00:09:44.600 ⇒ 00:09:51.080 Felipe: other teams are really like thinking and operating in silos pretty much our data engineering team as well.
135 00:09:52.050 ⇒ 00:09:56.650 Felipe: And, for example, they do sometimes what they think it’s best.
136 00:09:56.800 ⇒ 00:10:01.299 Felipe: and then they come up and they make an announcement. And then we say, Hey, this doesn’t work for us. Why
137 00:10:01.553 ⇒ 00:10:02.060 Felipe: to do?
138 00:10:02.320 ⇒ 00:10:04.119 Felipe: Didn’t you talk to us first.st
139 00:10:04.380 ⇒ 00:10:05.070 Uttam Kumaran: But so
140 00:10:05.070 ⇒ 00:10:09.520 Uttam Kumaran: tell me, what is the what is the structure? Because you mentioned the data engineering team is not on the same team.
141 00:10:11.360 ⇒ 00:10:19.750 Felipe: No. So the data engineering team kind of
142 00:10:20.080 ⇒ 00:10:27.870 Felipe: a team that is somehow plugged into the C CTO, so the CTO is overseeing.
143 00:10:29.230 ⇒ 00:10:35.870 Felipe: Of course, any development team right back end, front end and the data engineers and me
144 00:10:36.760 ⇒ 00:10:42.159 Felipe: as the head of business intelligence, I am more plugged into the product structure. Of course.
145 00:10:42.160 ⇒ 00:10:43.310 Uttam Kumaran: Interesting. Okay?
146 00:10:43.410 ⇒ 00:10:45.735 Uttam Kumaran: Oh, for product analytics, like.
147 00:10:46.540 ⇒ 00:10:48.186 Felipe: Also that
148 00:10:49.110 ⇒ 00:10:50.540 Felipe: It’s maybe.
149 00:10:50.930 ⇒ 00:10:56.750 Uttam Kumaran: A structure that is not really conventional, and you don’t see it a lot, but it is what it is, what it is.
150 00:10:58.877 ⇒ 00:11:04.260 Felipe: And also like from my side, Sbi 1st challenge
151 00:11:04.470 ⇒ 00:11:10.720 Felipe: are the tools, because as a data visualization tool, we use metabase, which is not great.
152 00:11:11.650 ⇒ 00:11:12.700 Uttam Kumaran: Correct, then.
153 00:11:13.490 ⇒ 00:11:19.619 Felipe: We have our guys from data engineering who are operating silos.
154 00:11:19.840 ⇒ 00:11:30.499 Felipe: I’m not sure if our pipelines are the best ones, if they’re doing it properly. I have no idea how the data Warehouse or the data act.
155 00:11:30.500 ⇒ 00:11:34.519 Felipe: Wow, okay, was was structured. Because in the end.
156 00:11:35.500 ⇒ 00:11:41.529 Felipe: I understand data engineering, I can have multiple calls on the topic. But I’m not a data engineer. So.
157 00:11:41.530 ⇒ 00:11:46.250 Uttam Kumaran: But but you know, data engineering is there to support you, or the client of ultimately of that.
158 00:11:46.660 ⇒ 00:11:48.110 Felipe: Yeah, of course.
159 00:11:48.110 ⇒ 00:11:48.850 Uttam Kumaran: Of course.
160 00:11:48.850 ⇒ 00:11:49.749 Felipe: What I mean.
161 00:11:49.750 ⇒ 00:11:52.540 Uttam Kumaran: You don’t need to understand necessarily like how it’s done.
162 00:11:53.190 ⇒ 00:11:57.660 Uttam Kumaran: But you, your satisfaction is like what they’re.
163 00:11:58.080 ⇒ 00:12:10.400 Uttam Kumaran: you know. And and again, there’s a lot of different org structures. But it’s surprising that they’re so bifurcated because ultimately, the data team is typically the largest consumer of the data engineering
164 00:12:10.570 ⇒ 00:12:11.220 Uttam Kumaran: work. Right?
165 00:12:11.220 ⇒ 00:12:12.629 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, of course. Maybe they’re of course
166 00:12:12.630 ⇒ 00:12:17.929 Uttam Kumaran: they may be helping with some stuff on the product side, but usually back end handles
167 00:12:18.940 ⇒ 00:12:20.659 Uttam Kumaran: that sort of stuff right?
168 00:12:20.860 ⇒ 00:12:28.320 Felipe: But I mean a hundred percent. And I agree with you, but I mean, each team was. So
169 00:12:28.460 ⇒ 00:12:39.289 Felipe: we don’t have someone centralizing data strategy apart from the CTO. But then he has all the other tech topics that sometimes are more
170 00:12:39.730 ⇒ 00:12:41.329 Felipe: more of a priority.
171 00:12:41.570 ⇒ 00:12:42.025 Uttam Kumaran: Correct.
172 00:12:42.670 ⇒ 00:12:46.899 Felipe: I don’t know how things were thought or planned in the past.
173 00:12:47.490 ⇒ 00:12:50.780 Felipe: and I think the best comparison is
174 00:12:51.220 ⇒ 00:12:57.580 Felipe: I try. I’m trying to fix the wings of the plane while I fly the plane. So.
175 00:12:57.580 ⇒ 00:12:58.250 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.
176 00:12:58.710 ⇒ 00:13:05.109 Felipe: It’s doing a little bit of everything at the same time. And I think the idea of the guys behind my
177 00:13:05.240 ⇒ 00:13:11.619 Felipe: bringing me on board is okay. Let’s maybe fix Bi. Let’s see what’s needed from a
178 00:13:11.860 ⇒ 00:13:16.319 Felipe: data more business perspective. And later on, we fix data engineering.
179 00:13:17.200 ⇒ 00:13:18.109 Felipe: And also.
180 00:13:18.110 ⇒ 00:13:18.650 Uttam Kumaran: Make, sense.
181 00:13:18.650 ⇒ 00:13:21.069 Felipe: And that’s if you think about it.
182 00:13:21.750 ⇒ 00:13:31.890 Felipe: chain of topics or supply chain thing. So I’m in between data engineering and other business teams who are my clients right?
183 00:13:32.110 ⇒ 00:13:38.180 Felipe: And I face challenges on both sides and more on the client side.
184 00:13:38.340 ⇒ 00:13:45.699 Felipe: We have sales or customer experience teams that are not really data driven.
185 00:13:46.000 ⇒ 00:13:46.510 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
186 00:13:47.140 ⇒ 00:13:49.679 Felipe: Our tool metabase also doesn’t help.
187 00:13:49.920 ⇒ 00:13:55.470 Felipe: So there are many things that need to be done or corrected, and.
188 00:13:55.470 ⇒ 00:13:56.300 Uttam Kumaran: Makes sense.
189 00:13:56.730 ⇒ 00:14:00.140 Felipe: I am doing a lot. Many things have improved.
190 00:14:00.730 ⇒ 00:14:05.530 Felipe: but it will take a while for us to get there, and the thing is
191 00:14:05.940 ⇒ 00:14:08.340 Felipe: we can speed it up. That process.
192 00:14:08.530 ⇒ 00:14:15.870 Felipe: If we have consultants, data consultants, data consultants, right? Because
193 00:14:16.150 ⇒ 00:14:18.460 Felipe: in the end consultants for me, it’s a
194 00:14:18.800 ⇒ 00:14:21.500 Felipe: if you if you bring those guys who are just business consultants.
195 00:14:21.500 ⇒ 00:14:22.750 Uttam Kumaran: I agree, we do.
196 00:14:22.750 ⇒ 00:14:25.100 Felipe: Which are they don’t do anything.
197 00:14:25.650 ⇒ 00:14:29.400 Felipe: They’re just. They’re just telling you to increase your revenue.
198 00:14:29.400 ⇒ 00:14:33.170 Uttam Kumaran: You’re gonna get a great slide deck. Yeah, you’re gonna get a great slide deck, you know.
199 00:14:33.170 ⇒ 00:14:38.230 Felipe: They tell you, to increase the revenue and reduce the cost, and then they are driving their porsches back home. That’s it.
200 00:14:38.800 ⇒ 00:14:45.570 Felipe: So we are talking with data consultants who are hands-on people and knowledgeable people
201 00:14:45.720 ⇒ 00:14:51.170 Felipe: to come in and make an assessment, make an assessment from for everything.
202 00:14:51.900 ⇒ 00:14:55.179 Felipe: from from data collection data storage
203 00:14:55.450 ⇒ 00:15:04.699 Felipe: to data, warehouse slash data, lake data, pipelines, tools in general data, these tools and also dashboards
204 00:15:05.010 ⇒ 00:15:09.129 Felipe: make a whole data lifecycle assessment to say.
205 00:15:09.410 ⇒ 00:15:29.949 Felipe: you guys are not great here here and here. This is how you can fix it if you don’t change anything. These are the pros and cons. But for you to scale. This is what you need to do, because in the end we want to grow, we want to scale, and we want to be more and more ready for AI usages.
206 00:15:30.210 ⇒ 00:15:38.929 Felipe: and also to empower our teams in more self-servicing manners because we need our sales and Cx teams.
207 00:15:41.110 ⇒ 00:15:46.329 Felipe: We need to provide them tools that they can use. So we can do
208 00:15:46.740 ⇒ 00:15:56.100 Felipe: the coolest part of Bi, which is like, now that I’m a bit more free, I can think about risks and opportunities instead of just.
209 00:15:56.100 ⇒ 00:15:59.230 Uttam Kumaran: Good. You can go search and discover. Yeah.
210 00:15:59.230 ⇒ 00:16:00.090 Felipe: Exactly.
211 00:16:00.090 ⇒ 00:16:01.070 Uttam Kumaran: Reactive.
212 00:16:01.400 ⇒ 00:16:06.270 Felipe: Exactly, instead of just putting out fires and answering to requests.
213 00:16:06.490 ⇒ 00:16:11.920 Felipe: Right? So that’s pretty much where we stand. And I’ll be a hundred percent honest with you.
214 00:16:12.110 ⇒ 00:16:20.070 Felipe: We are talking to 2 other companies as well. And companies actually from here, from Dubai.
215 00:16:21.300 ⇒ 00:16:24.269 Felipe: one that I’m not really convinced about.
216 00:16:24.910 ⇒ 00:16:30.320 Felipe: and another one that I’m really liking the chats that I’m having with them, because
217 00:16:30.830 ⇒ 00:16:44.110 Felipe: I push both in the same direction, which is like, give me more details. What’s the plan? What are the steps here? What are the steps there? What’s the deliverable? What’s the timeline? Because I want to avoid that thing right?
218 00:16:44.260 ⇒ 00:16:44.839 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.
219 00:16:45.420 ⇒ 00:16:51.449 Felipe: I, wanna, I wanna avoid something that is super super high level where I pay
220 00:16:51.640 ⇒ 00:16:54.990 Felipe: X amount K of dollars. And I get nowhere.
221 00:16:55.180 ⇒ 00:16:56.490 Felipe: Yeah. And then we’re like.
222 00:16:56.490 ⇒ 00:16:58.219 Uttam Kumaran: Hey? We need to keep going. We need to keep going.
223 00:16:58.220 ⇒ 00:16:59.370 Felipe: Yeah, exactly.
224 00:16:59.370 ⇒ 00:17:00.649 Uttam Kumaran: Yes, it was.
225 00:17:00.650 ⇒ 00:17:07.929 Felipe: Avoid avoid the 2, the 2 situations right? Either I kept hooked on to them, and I need to keep going.
226 00:17:08.450 ⇒ 00:17:12.849 Felipe: or and or I have results that doesn’t. That don’t mean anything to me.
227 00:17:13.200 ⇒ 00:17:13.730 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.
228 00:17:13.730 ⇒ 00:17:22.229 Felipe: Okay. But what does this mean? What is the end of your assessment? What pipeline we need to fix? Should I change metabase to tableau or to power bi
229 00:17:22.717 ⇒ 00:17:32.520 Felipe: or neither should I keep metabase and just include tableau. You know this kind of thinking that I need inspiring sparing partners to think with me.
230 00:17:34.260 ⇒ 00:17:38.870 Felipe: and I cannot have bullshiters coming in right, because if we’re going to spend some money
231 00:17:39.310 ⇒ 00:17:41.410 Felipe: we need it to be a meaningful process.
232 00:17:41.520 ⇒ 00:17:46.090 Felipe: That’s pretty much it, and I don’t know if your company
233 00:17:46.880 ⇒ 00:17:49.650 Felipe: do this kind of work or no. This is extent.
234 00:17:49.650 ⇒ 00:17:56.749 Uttam Kumaran: This a perfect sort of intro. So let me tell you a little bit about us and my backgrounds and kind of like where we’re at, I think.
235 00:17:57.210 ⇒ 00:18:15.479 Uttam Kumaran: You know I won’t jump the gun, but you’re kind of describing kind of naturally our service offering because of sort of where we find clients in a very similar spot. So, my background, you know, I I worked as a data engineer for a number of years in in New York. I worked for a company called Wework and.
236 00:18:15.480 ⇒ 00:18:15.800 Felipe: Oh!
237 00:18:15.800 ⇒ 00:18:33.067 Uttam Kumaran: And then I, yeah, I was there sort of during the like, right when that company kind of became very big. And then I left right at after like a lot of drama happened. And then I worked for another smaller company called Flow Code there
238 00:18:33.630 ⇒ 00:18:36.081 Uttam Kumaran: they were a QR. Code startup
239 00:18:36.490 ⇒ 00:18:37.000 Felipe: And.
240 00:18:37.000 ⇒ 00:19:02.449 Uttam Kumaran: Right before Covid. So right before kind of QR code really became big across, you know the world and in there right now that company, you know, I was the 1st data hire there. And I built out the entire sort of data team of around 12 people. And then I also led like a full stack product customer facing product analytics team. So I was able to interact with design and do a lot of product work. And then the last
241 00:19:02.530 ⇒ 00:19:31.789 Uttam Kumaran: company I worked at I was leading product at A at a data startup, also in New York. So I kind of worked in in multiple roles, but increasingly smaller startups, increasingly crazier situations, I would say, but I always worked in data. And so, you know, I left my last role and was kind of deciding what to do in my career. I you know, I worked some consulting contracts like in between jobs. But I never.
242 00:19:31.870 ⇒ 00:19:51.250 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, but I never had any. I I didn’t wake up in the morning, and like I would love to be a consultant like. In fact, most of the consultants. I work with suck and so I had. I had very little interest. But I I sort of had 2 options, either go back into startup world, which I was kind of a little bit burnt out by that time on.
243 00:19:51.737 ⇒ 00:19:58.172 Felipe: On that world, or I go to like a big company, and I don’t know I’m kind of a little bit allergic to that as well.
244 00:19:58.750 ⇒ 00:20:13.939 Uttam Kumaran: And so I I decided like, okay, let me kind of let me set aside 3 months and and see if there’s a business here that I can start around data. And so I was able to just get a couple of clients work, work them alone. And so this is around 2 years ago, actually, like, you know, kind of.
245 00:20:13.980 ⇒ 00:20:14.500 Felipe: Hello!
246 00:20:14.500 ⇒ 00:20:19.354 Uttam Kumaran: To the State. So this is July. I incorporated the company July of 2023. So
247 00:20:19.640 ⇒ 00:20:20.370 Felipe: Okay.
248 00:20:20.370 ⇒ 00:20:29.160 Uttam Kumaran: So I was able to get 2 clients, and I hired our 1st sort of part time employee in December of 23, and then, a few months later, hired a second person, and then
249 00:20:29.320 ⇒ 00:20:55.530 Uttam Kumaran: basically Bootstrap the whole company. So we’re not PE back. We don’t have any investing. It’s slowly, just growing it like continuing to take any money that I make, and instead of my bank account it goes straight to the company. And now we’re we’re we’re 15 people sort of around the world like we have folks here in the States. We have folks like Kyle and some other team members that are in Europe. We have some folks in Asia.
250 00:20:55.530 ⇒ 00:21:14.350 Uttam Kumaran: and we’ve helped now almost 40 clients in one way or another, to accelerate data, and more recently, to also implement a lot of AI related tooling and workflows. And so the company started primarily as a data analytics consultancy. So
251 00:21:14.350 ⇒ 00:21:27.950 Uttam Kumaran: my background is really heavy in data engineering data modeling and then leading data team. So our methodology is we typically sell to the top. So we sell to the head of Bi, to the head of data to the CEO, to the Coo. Because
252 00:21:28.040 ⇒ 00:21:32.460 Uttam Kumaran: one thing I learned in a company is that you need to have their blessing for anything to get done.
253 00:21:32.500 ⇒ 00:21:45.590 Uttam Kumaran: and so we we don’t necessarily sell kind of to the middle or to the bottom of the org. Instead of we try to. We try to show the business office what it? What having great data, means in terms of
254 00:21:45.590 ⇒ 00:22:08.180 Uttam Kumaran: implications to revenue revenue growth, also around tooling costs. So we have some bigger companies that, you know, made some investments in large tooling, where now they’re spending 50 grand a year on segment, and they’re spending on looker, and then where we kind of help them manage that as well. So we have clients sort of at various different stages. I would say. Most of our clients are in the 5
255 00:22:08.530 ⇒ 00:22:15.899 Uttam Kumaran: to a hundred 1 million dollar range. So mid market private businesses is where we focus on, we have some clients that.
256 00:22:16.313 ⇒ 00:22:17.140 Felipe: Growth, revenue.
257 00:22:17.480 ⇒ 00:22:19.010 Uttam Kumaran: In terms of revenue. Yes.
258 00:22:19.010 ⇒ 00:22:19.680 Felipe: Okay.
259 00:22:19.870 ⇒ 00:22:29.969 Uttam Kumaran: So we have clients that have made like very little investment into data. But they’re growing right? So we don’t typically work with startups where product market fit.
260 00:22:30.442 ⇒ 00:22:52.109 Uttam Kumaran: Is like a question like, we want to go somewhere where they need data to to continue to accelerate their business. And so when I, when I look at companies like that, sometimes they’re just transitioning from spreadsheets into hey, we need our 1st data warehouse. We need our 1st bi tool. We need Dbt for, like basic data modeling, we also go into clients that have been using Dbt for 5, 6 years.
261 00:22:52.110 ⇒ 00:23:11.889 Uttam Kumaran: And we’re coming in and like re architecting, remodeling, you know, changing sort of the way we we model things and present things. But in any situation we typically act in in one or 2 ways, we have kind of one or 2 modes. So for all of our clients, we we do a proof of concept or an audit, basically so that’s typically anywhere.
262 00:23:11.890 ⇒ 00:23:13.170 Felipe: Do that exactly.
263 00:23:13.380 ⇒ 00:23:37.269 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah. So that’s typically anywhere from like 2 to 4 weeks, we, we typically produce a number of sort of deliverables that we promise as part of that. So the 1st thing is, we do a tool audit or we would call like a platform audit. So we look at every tool. That’s part of the staff. We look at. The costs and the contracts for each of those who the owner is and then we make strategic recommendations on.
264 00:23:37.450 ⇒ 00:24:04.960 Uttam Kumaran: If there should be a change. If a tool doesn’t exist, why it should be considered. So that’s on the platform side. We also, we also deliver an architecture diagram which is like, here’s how data flows to your organization. I’m happy to send an example of this over but it’s just a visual architecture that you can use to put in front of other stakeholders that might be more visual minded of like, hey, here’s like all the tools and how they interact with each other. We also put together
265 00:24:05.750 ⇒ 00:24:07.940 Uttam Kumaran: like a 3 to 6 month roadmap.
266 00:24:08.390 ⇒ 00:24:26.679 Uttam Kumaran: So this is sort of like what our recommendations are, and like a really detailed roadmap of changes that should be that should be considered and made. And we probably don’t break it down at this point to like the ticket level. But at least there’s like core initiatives with some sense of timeline feasibility, priority.
267 00:24:26.680 ⇒ 00:24:27.240 Felipe: Oh!
268 00:24:28.390 ⇒ 00:24:29.379 Uttam Kumaran: And then we also.
269 00:24:29.380 ⇒ 00:24:30.159 Felipe: Can I can! I.
270 00:24:30.160 ⇒ 00:24:30.720 Uttam Kumaran: Sorry go ahead.
271 00:24:30.720 ⇒ 00:24:33.570 Felipe: I’m really sorry. Can I interrupt you and ask a question?
272 00:24:33.840 ⇒ 00:24:38.690 Felipe: So you’re mentioning about this 1st phase between 2 and 4 weeks, where
273 00:24:38.880 ⇒ 00:24:41.049 Felipe: you come back with a report on
274 00:24:41.350 ⇒ 00:24:46.330 Felipe: data, tools, costs, potential architecture. That’s a paid service, right?
275 00:24:46.330 ⇒ 00:24:47.030 Uttam Kumaran: Correct.
276 00:24:47.800 ⇒ 00:24:48.470 Felipe: Okay?
277 00:24:48.850 ⇒ 00:24:51.279 Felipe: So because that’s what we are
278 00:24:52.070 ⇒ 00:24:58.020 Felipe: at 1st talking to these other companies. And they have solutions between 4 and 6 weeks
279 00:24:58.290 ⇒ 00:25:02.039 Felipe: where they come in and they do a health check right?
280 00:25:02.250 ⇒ 00:25:04.589 Felipe: They talk to people, they interview people.
281 00:25:04.590 ⇒ 00:25:05.020 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.
282 00:25:05.020 ⇒ 00:25:12.450 Felipe: They? They check our tools, they check our accesses. Integrations, let’s say, Crm, warehouse.
283 00:25:12.990 ⇒ 00:25:17.060 Felipe: different tools. So so it’s pretty much the same that you would do right.
284 00:25:17.410 ⇒ 00:25:32.369 Uttam Kumaran: That’s correct, I mean, for us, like again, I can’t speak to like what they produce, but all like, I know, send you sort of an example of what what an output would be. But it’s basically like what you would expect a a head of data to produce in their 1st month.
285 00:25:32.510 ⇒ 00:25:47.690 Uttam Kumaran: Right? So they’re going through looking at what are all the core data sources? What are the core tools? Who are the core stakeholders? Any business context? Questions that are amping answered today can’t be answered. What are all the problems? I think 6 weeks is kind of
286 00:25:48.060 ⇒ 00:25:54.410 Uttam Kumaran: a long time, though. I mean, I I say 2 to 4 weeks, and then for most clients we get there in 2 weeks.
287 00:25:55.180 ⇒ 00:25:55.830 Felipe: Wow, really.
288 00:25:55.830 ⇒ 00:26:00.941 Uttam Kumaran: For some clients. It takes 4 weeks, I mean, I don’t. We just worked with so many clients that
289 00:26:01.730 ⇒ 00:26:23.150 Uttam Kumaran: And it’s we we go talk to people, and we produce the recommendations. So I I think probably the only thing that would take time is as part of this exercise. If you’re like, hey? I would love to see a proof of concept of like a snowflake, data warehouse, or proof of concept of a mother duck warehouse, or I want to see another bi tool.
290 00:26:23.320 ⇒ 00:26:35.209 Uttam Kumaran: That’s probably the only thing in case we need access to something and like a little bit of modeling. But I don’t know. For all of our clients we haven’t ended up doing more than 4 weeks typically in this phase, and for the most part it’s 2 weeks.
291 00:26:35.770 ⇒ 00:26:39.039 Felipe: And how do you do it? You do through interviews or.
292 00:26:39.040 ⇒ 00:26:56.110 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, so it’s so it’s a mix. So one, we we, of course, like sign ndas and everything. And I can get access to the core tooling. We, we will do definitely calls with you the core people on the data team. Basically, these are just like part these work 2 ways. One is
293 00:26:56.553 ⇒ 00:27:23.129 Uttam Kumaran: as a consultant like, I’m always gonna be the one that people are asking like, who are these guys like, what are they coming in. So we want to build some confidence on the fact that, like, Hey, we’re the right people for this, and we’re here to help, and we’re here to accelerate and we’ve done this, you know, kind of tons of time, so partly is building company. Second is just to listen. Right? So here, hey, everybody who is involved, like, what is their incentive here into making sure this works? So right? So we know a lot of that down.
294 00:27:23.130 ⇒ 00:27:28.470 Felipe: But that’s but that’s the thing. I’m asking that because so
295 00:27:28.590 ⇒ 00:27:31.640 Felipe: we have potentially 3 situations here.
296 00:27:32.130 ⇒ 00:27:35.260 Felipe: me from the Bi side where I speak too much.
297 00:27:36.056 ⇒ 00:27:39.440 Felipe: People from sales and cx.
298 00:27:39.930 ⇒ 00:27:45.930 Felipe: Which are my customers, internal customers where they
299 00:27:47.140 ⇒ 00:27:50.060 Felipe: either don’t. They won’t know what to tell you.
300 00:27:50.330 ⇒ 00:27:50.659 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
301 00:27:51.220 ⇒ 00:27:53.170 Felipe: Or they will ask you for the moon.
302 00:27:53.720 ⇒ 00:27:55.800 Felipe: And we have
303 00:27:57.670 ⇒ 00:28:06.880 Felipe: all the people who are the ones in the teams. Let’s say before me in the data lifecycle, which are, let’s say, data engineers, or even the Devs.
304 00:28:07.050 ⇒ 00:28:13.029 Felipe: where you really have to fight to extract some information from them.
305 00:28:14.425 ⇒ 00:28:19.459 Felipe: And that’s something that I think it’s a challenge that potential consultants can can face.
306 00:28:20.080 ⇒ 00:28:26.780 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I mean, I think that’s where, like, partly, it’s it’s gonna be me, just I mean, I’m we’ve.
307 00:28:26.960 ⇒ 00:28:30.951 Uttam Kumaran: I’ve worked with many a challenging team and
308 00:28:31.780 ⇒ 00:28:41.479 Uttam Kumaran: I’m confident we can take it on. You know, I we work with people that that don’t want to work with data that feel like they’re threatened all of the above we’ve dealt with
309 00:28:42.017 ⇒ 00:28:50.070 Uttam Kumaran: you know. So I know exactly how you feel. I think you know the other thing is really understanding your goals. Right? So for me, it’s like.
310 00:28:50.070 ⇒ 00:28:50.720 Felipe: No.
311 00:28:50.720 ⇒ 00:29:01.319 Uttam Kumaran: Like, how do you feel about the current state of data? But like also like what? What would winning look like for you? Not just in like what you get out of the 4 weeks. But like
312 00:29:01.610 ⇒ 00:29:23.470 Uttam Kumaran: what is like the future of the data org, what is the future of your position. What like? That’s what I want to understand, because my the only way I’m successful is, if you are successful, there’s no brain forge like it’s not a brain forge wins situation. It’s only you win situation like I don’t care if we were even known in the company. Right my job.
313 00:29:23.870 ⇒ 00:29:33.920 Uttam Kumaran: and make sure that you and your team are highlighted and we prop you guys up. That’s it. And so that’s that’s for me also very important again, like.
314 00:29:34.030 ⇒ 00:29:47.689 Uttam Kumaran: I can only speak to our business. But we’ve worked as these data teams before. And for a lot of companies, we are their full data team. But I. But I. But data team and data is a people business and is a service organization.
315 00:29:47.890 ⇒ 00:30:09.610 Uttam Kumaran: Right? So you guys are always producing for other clients somewhat for yourselves. But some, but also primarily for other folks. And so it’s a it’s a business of empathy having to have a lot of empathy over who all the stakeholders are and what they need. And I think that’s something that’s something. I mean again, that’s something unique. I feel like it’s hard to realize that unless you’ve
316 00:30:09.770 ⇒ 00:30:14.234 Uttam Kumaran: been yelled at as a data person for a long time.
317 00:30:14.640 ⇒ 00:30:16.379 Felipe: Yeah, yeah, like, I know.
318 00:30:16.380 ⇒ 00:30:34.490 Uttam Kumaran: Oh, yeah, I mean, so we we have. We have these core deliverables. And I would say, the last piece is like, we typically leave room for like a deliver, some sort of proof of concept deliverable whether it’s like, Hey, we want to see a new bi tool that way. You can see that we can actually do the work. We’re not just like
319 00:30:34.690 ⇒ 00:31:01.643 Uttam Kumaran: writing, you know. So there’s that’s what we typically try to produce like, you know we do a lot of work with amplitude, segment, mixed panel as well. So one common, deliverable. There is like a report or a new segment in the in bi world. It’s like, Hey, can we produce new dashboard, or Hey, can you implement a new warehouse proof of concept? So we like to take one of those on. So you see what it’s like when we break things down into tickets, when we execute how we deliver
320 00:31:02.220 ⇒ 00:31:06.730 Felipe: We just started with a mixed panel as well. So.
321 00:31:06.730 ⇒ 00:31:07.420 Uttam Kumaran: Nice. Okay.
322 00:31:08.260 ⇒ 00:31:12.660 Felipe: We’re exploring it. I didn’t have the chance to touch it yet.
323 00:31:12.920 ⇒ 00:31:16.490 Felipe: It’s the 1st company that I joined that I’m going to work with it.
324 00:31:17.450 ⇒ 00:31:21.760 Felipe: I dedicated like 2 h into understanding it, because I didn’t have the time before.
325 00:31:22.140 ⇒ 00:31:22.460 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
326 00:31:22.460 ⇒ 00:31:24.879 Felipe: Just to let just let you know that we have Mixpanel here.
327 00:31:24.880 ⇒ 00:31:25.220 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
328 00:31:25.220 ⇒ 00:31:32.260 Felipe: I’m just. I’m just like a bit a bit a bit surprised that you’re saying quite a short time, 2 to 4 weeks.
329 00:31:32.400 ⇒ 00:31:33.070 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
330 00:31:33.130 ⇒ 00:31:38.470 Felipe: Where else other people have said more. And also
331 00:31:39.150 ⇒ 00:31:43.210 Felipe: I don’t know if you can share either here now or later on.
332 00:31:43.850 ⇒ 00:31:52.940 Felipe: an example of what to deliver in the end. It’s is it like a Pdf report? It’s a deck presentation.
333 00:31:53.730 ⇒ 00:31:56.360 Felipe: How how deep it is!
334 00:31:59.040 ⇒ 00:32:22.440 Uttam Kumaran: Typically, it’s typically it’s a it’s a deck. I will see if I can find something I can share. Otherwise I’ll sort of produce a little bit of a skeleton. I mean, we’ve typically done decks, but sometimes we work directly for technical teams, and they’re not so interested in like seeing a deck. So in that situation we are producing code. We’re producing. You know. It’s more more Demo focused.
335 00:32:23.620 ⇒ 00:32:27.279 Uttam Kumaran: I like to at least have some deck as a backup.
336 00:32:27.600 ⇒ 00:32:41.209 Uttam Kumaran: so that we can leave you with something that you can go share. But again, a lot of this is is going to be a mix of spreadsheets, getting a mix of notion documents where we’re doing a lot of writing. It’s also gonna be proof of concepts inside of tools.
337 00:32:41.860 ⇒ 00:32:49.519 Felipe: Okay. And once you do this 1st phase, like, let’s say, between 2 and 4 weeks, which is like a screening and giving a 1st report.
338 00:32:50.000 ⇒ 00:33:00.230 Felipe: After that, you’re gonna give us pointers. Right? This is wrong. This is okay. This needs change if needed.
339 00:33:00.570 ⇒ 00:33:06.169 Felipe: Can you carry on on doing those where we say, okay, out of these 10 things.
340 00:33:06.360 ⇒ 00:33:11.789 Felipe: 5 are okay. 5 need to be changed. We want to focus only on 3 of them
341 00:33:12.010 ⇒ 00:33:18.600 Felipe: is this something that you help with with the follow-up, with the second stage, which is like the execution.
342 00:33:19.540 ⇒ 00:33:30.249 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah. So so you know, our primary business is built on the execution phase. So we don’t. We don’t really make a whole lot of money on this initial audit phase. But.
343 00:33:30.250 ⇒ 00:33:30.650 Felipe: Yeah, this is.
344 00:33:30.650 ⇒ 00:33:38.620 Uttam Kumaran: Like a 2 is a little bit of a two-way interview. Right? So we want to understand that, hey, we’re working with a team that actually wants data.
345 00:33:39.250 ⇒ 00:33:39.610 Felipe: Yeah.
346 00:33:39.610 ⇒ 00:33:55.990 Uttam Kumaran: Has the budget and is is like healthy to work with for for me and my team. Right? And similarly for you, I think it’s you don’t want to get into like, hey? You have to sign a 6 month agreement upfront, and you’re not going to see anything for 4 months like.
347 00:33:56.621 ⇒ 00:34:04.139 Uttam Kumaran: That’s like, that’s also useless. And so I part of this is like as part of the deliverable. We produce a roadmap.
348 00:34:04.230 ⇒ 00:34:20.479 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I’m I’m actually, I tell all of our clients that they should go shop that around because you can go get pricing on what it takes to deliver that. But ideally. Yes, that’s something that at that point has the exact plan that you would need to execute. And then that’s what we would be presenting.
349 00:34:20.911 ⇒ 00:34:35.610 Uttam Kumaran: Right, and that’s what we critique together. And then if we, as part of that, we deliver what would it cost? For different, you know, speeds and scopes but but that isn’t like a that isn’t like an obscure like brain forge
350 00:34:36.420 ⇒ 00:34:50.510 Uttam Kumaran: specific plan. It’s usually like, Hey, implement this warehouse, and then we load data, and then we run. We migrate some stuff to Dbt, and then we do this and all those things are things you can definitely deliver with any team or with your own internal team.
351 00:34:51.059 ⇒ 00:35:01.281 Uttam Kumaran: Of course we try to. We try to put a pitch our hat in the ring you know, to help out there. But I don’t know. None of the stuff we we do is sort of
352 00:35:01.630 ⇒ 00:35:22.060 Uttam Kumaran: hey? Like we’re gonna we’ll call you back in 4 weeks and you’ll get a deck. It’s like a We. We operate in slack or or email. We do a lot of meetings, and then we’re working with you the whole time. So we’re contributing hours because we have to know we have to. We have to spend time. It’s not a I can’t like. Go look at the website and be like cool. Let me get a deck for you like
353 00:35:22.310 ⇒ 00:35:23.070 Felipe: The deck is.
354 00:35:23.070 ⇒ 00:35:42.629 Uttam Kumaran: It’s actually the easiest part producing. The deck is the easiest part. And again, like it may be a mix of deck plus a couple of demos and we sort of arrive, so I know I’ve been talking a little bit broadly, but as part of a next step I can think through. What are those deliverables? I’ll give you as many examples as I can.
355 00:35:43.018 ⇒ 00:35:47.580 Uttam Kumaran: And it’s actually a good push for us to go. Make sure we have examples for everything.
356 00:35:48.860 ⇒ 00:35:51.280 Felipe: And how do we do that on another call or.
357 00:35:51.700 ⇒ 00:35:54.010 Uttam Kumaran: And I’ll just email those over to you. And then.
358 00:35:54.010 ⇒ 00:35:54.460 Felipe: Real, quick.
359 00:35:54.677 ⇒ 00:36:02.719 Uttam Kumaran: If you want to have another call happy to, or you just poke around and I know you’re gonna be off next week, so I’ll try to get this to you as soon as I can.
360 00:36:02.820 ⇒ 00:36:07.180 Uttam Kumaran: I’m not sure if you have a timeline like for making a decision.
361 00:36:07.180 ⇒ 00:36:11.298 Felipe: Yeah, before I go on to the timeline. Another question.
362 00:36:12.560 ⇒ 00:36:19.129 Felipe: how much do you usually charge for something like this screening process up to 4 weeks.
363 00:36:19.620 ⇒ 00:36:26.049 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I mean, typically, we’re charging like, anywhere from 5 to 10. Grand.
364 00:36:26.390 ⇒ 00:36:30.259 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, it sort of depends on
365 00:36:30.360 ⇒ 00:36:54.039 Uttam Kumaran: the sort of scope as I mentioned, like, we don’t make a lot of money on on like this part, because there’s a lot of open ended like, if I have to have 5, 10 meetings. I have to do that right because we need to explore. So it sort of depends. If if you’re like, hey, we have clearly a goal to figure out these 4 areas of the company. And and we’re really focused on.
366 00:36:54.040 ⇒ 00:37:08.460 Uttam Kumaran: For example, some companies are not focused on changing tooling. But they’re more focused on data modeling. Or they’re more focused on product analytics. So having a little bit of a direction would help and then we time box it. So usually.
367 00:37:08.890 ⇒ 00:37:16.149 Uttam Kumaran: you know, our goal is to to complete these in 2 weeks, because we want to show you the pace at which we work and the types of delivery.
368 00:37:16.150 ⇒ 00:37:16.920 Felipe: Manage we get that.
369 00:37:17.520 ⇒ 00:37:21.600 Felipe: That’s that’s why I’m a bit surprised, because it seems a very short time.
370 00:37:22.310 ⇒ 00:37:27.039 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I mean, I think it depends on if we can get access to things and get access to people.
371 00:37:27.040 ⇒ 00:37:27.650 Felipe: Like.
372 00:37:27.650 ⇒ 00:37:29.160 Uttam Kumaran: So it’s
373 00:37:29.662 ⇒ 00:37:35.940 Uttam Kumaran: but I don’t. I don’t think we’re like that far away from a lot of these recommendations, especially on the tooling side. We’ve
374 00:37:36.180 ⇒ 00:37:47.630 Uttam Kumaran: we work with a ton of vendors. But some. But we also don’t take any money from any of the vendors. So we we shop around a lot like, I’m always looking for the best tooling
375 00:37:48.600 ⇒ 00:38:01.620 Uttam Kumaran: based on cost based on effectiveness, scalability. So we have recommendations. And we also, you know, knowing the cost of those tools could put together like, you know what proof of concepts could be and how much they could cost. So
376 00:38:01.890 ⇒ 00:38:10.070 Uttam Kumaran: yeah, I mean, we we try to work very fast in this 1st phase. And and ultimately we’re not doing a lot of work, which is the kind of the
377 00:38:10.500 ⇒ 00:38:15.059 Uttam Kumaran: the part I don’t like about this phase, because it’s a lot all like an audit, right? And so.
378 00:38:15.060 ⇒ 00:38:15.390 Felipe: Yeah.
379 00:38:15.390 ⇒ 00:38:18.940 Uttam Kumaran: Want to get us out of that, because I want to go deliver some of the
380 00:38:19.060 ⇒ 00:38:21.219 Uttam Kumaran: some of this stuff as fast as we can.
381 00:38:21.750 ⇒ 00:38:27.279 Felipe: Nice. And how? How do you think it would work if we go with you guys?
382 00:38:27.680 ⇒ 00:38:36.680 Felipe: Given the fact that you are mostly based in the Us, because we have quite of a time difference.
383 00:38:36.800 ⇒ 00:38:41.220 Felipe: And, for example, I don’t know where you are, but I think towards the.
384 00:38:41.700 ⇒ 00:38:43.340 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah. I’m in Austin, in Texas.
385 00:38:44.133 ⇒ 00:38:46.680 Felipe: Okay, I thought you were towards California.
386 00:38:47.050 ⇒ 00:38:56.410 Felipe: so they’re more in the middle. But anyways it’s too far from us, and most of my team. They are actually even 2 h ahead of me, because they are sitting in Pakistan.
387 00:38:56.880 ⇒ 00:38:58.090 Uttam Kumaran: Hmm, okay.
388 00:38:58.490 ⇒ 00:39:03.660 Felipe: So how does that work? Do you have experience on working with people that are.
389 00:39:03.860 ⇒ 00:39:08.639 Felipe: let’s say, far away in terms of time zones? Does it work well, or.
390 00:39:09.360 ⇒ 00:39:30.570 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, let me give you a sense. I mean, I would like to be honest. Most of our clients are here in States. But we have team everywhere. So we we’re, we’re a 100% remote company. We have team all across the world. So we we work with systems that have to be heavy in writing, heavy in looms. And then like.
391 00:39:30.710 ⇒ 00:39:45.540 Uttam Kumaran: try to get meetings on that that are, you know, that work for everybody. I mean thinking about Dubai time. Yeah, like again, it would we? I would prioritize having some of my team that’s either in Europe or closer to where y’all are at
392 00:39:46.166 ⇒ 00:39:46.759 Uttam Kumaran: sort of
393 00:39:46.760 ⇒ 00:40:09.589 Uttam Kumaran: help to assist in attending meetings, and then, as soon as I wake up I can definitely attend things. But I, but I do think that’s a fair, you know critique in that time zone could be a problem. I think it also depends on sort of where you see us fitting in like if, if, as part of like, let’s say, the audit works. And you know you’re happy with the results. And we want to go for things.
394 00:40:09.690 ⇒ 00:40:37.899 Uttam Kumaran: you know, in data, there are things that are really hands on where you know, you kind of have to be meeting with people and delivering versus things that are more in the background, like, Hey, we need to implement a warehouse. We need to implement models. So I think it’s so I think I would kind of ask you like where you would see these. You know this potential partner fitting in like, do you see them playing like an incredibly active role on like, the on the like. They’re they’re basically meeting with folks and managing. Or is it more of like
395 00:40:38.140 ⇒ 00:40:43.200 Uttam Kumaran: behind the scenes? I think that would is would be what what dictates
396 00:40:43.590 ⇒ 00:40:43.920 Felipe: Okay.
397 00:40:44.050 ⇒ 00:41:06.300 Uttam Kumaran: But I’m not. Gonna I’m not, gonna you know. Take our hat out of the ring. Just because of that. I we will make sure that you guys get supported in the way that that you need to be regardless of time zone, you know. But I will say we we’re not. We’re not all in one place. So everybody in the company is used to working like we have all these remote policies, and we do a lot of work in slack, and we do a lot. We rely
398 00:41:06.300 ⇒ 00:41:07.280 Uttam Kumaran: lot of writing
399 00:41:08.980 ⇒ 00:41:12.429 Uttam Kumaran: So it sort of depends on the type of work. I would say.
400 00:41:12.630 ⇒ 00:41:17.850 Felipe: Yeah, honestly, I trust you can do it. I was just asking how you do it, and.
401 00:41:18.070 ⇒ 00:41:19.559 Uttam Kumaran: Oh, okay, yeah, it’s okay.
402 00:41:19.560 ⇒ 00:41:20.820 Uttam Kumaran: If you have, it is.
403 00:41:21.320 ⇒ 00:41:24.909 Felipe: If you had such a such a time difference? Right? Because.
404 00:41:25.220 ⇒ 00:41:29.879 Felipe: for example, for you, it’s it’s not even 9 am. Right. And
405 00:41:30.050 ⇒ 00:41:33.710 Felipe: in Spain right now. It’s 3, 44.
406 00:41:33.710 ⇒ 00:41:34.350 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
407 00:41:34.350 ⇒ 00:41:40.040 Felipe: Pm, so you can talk to Kyle, and and it’s fine. But for us it’s almost 6 pm. So
408 00:41:40.880 ⇒ 00:41:42.840 Felipe: I would be closing my day.
409 00:41:43.660 ⇒ 00:41:50.070 Felipe: And the guys in Pakistan, it’s like 8 pm, so my team I can manage. I can ask for
410 00:41:50.440 ⇒ 00:41:54.669 Felipe: some later hours. But some other teams from data, engineering and stuff.
411 00:41:55.420 ⇒ 00:41:59.690 Felipe: Not really sure. But the guys are nice. The guys are great. I think they they would be up to it.
412 00:42:00.395 ⇒ 00:42:05.670 Felipe: And maybe answer it to your questions on terms of timeline.
413 00:42:06.490 ⇒ 00:42:15.029 Felipe: I actually changed my mind. Usually I got into the company. I was like, man. I need to push this project as hard as I can.
414 00:42:15.150 ⇒ 00:42:20.080 Felipe: because if I don’t fix everything, I cannot really
415 00:42:20.210 ⇒ 00:42:30.939 Felipe: do a great job from the from a bi perspective. Yeah. But but in the recent weeks I changed my mind a little bit. I thought, Okay, maybe I need one or 2 extra months
416 00:42:31.490 ⇒ 00:42:34.440 Felipe: to be exposed to more and more situations.
417 00:42:34.900 ⇒ 00:42:41.400 Felipe: So when this project happens, I can actually make the most out of it. So
418 00:42:41.670 ⇒ 00:42:47.850 Felipe: I think if we do something like this, we would be doing something towards September. Let’s say.
419 00:42:49.361 ⇒ 00:42:53.279 Felipe: I’m gonna be off next week. Our CEO is. Gonna be off for
420 00:42:53.610 ⇒ 00:42:58.700 Felipe: 3 weeks. Then, of course, there is some internal alignment that needs to happen.
421 00:42:59.670 ⇒ 00:43:02.020 Felipe: And then we start in September. So
422 00:43:02.170 ⇒ 00:43:05.520 Felipe: something like that in full transparency.
423 00:43:06.630 ⇒ 00:43:19.599 Uttam Kumaran: That’s fine. Yeah, I mean, look, I I think, I actually appreciate how detailed you are, because most clients don’t ask us for a lot of detail, and I feel like sometimes the level of detail that we try to produce
424 00:43:19.640 ⇒ 00:43:46.729 Uttam Kumaran: is sometimes just like people are like, that’s great. That’s great, that’s great, like, you know. So I I actually. And that’s I don’t think that timeline is is like so out of the ordinary. I mean again, like for us. I I want to give us the option of working quickly. But that’s why I say, for 2 to 4 weeks, typically, it lands somewhere around 2 to 3 weeks. You know, because everything on the tooling side and the architecture side, we’re just a couple of interviews away from
425 00:43:46.780 ⇒ 00:43:58.119 Uttam Kumaran: for isolating a lot of that. And then we try to give you we. I want to have more conversations that are like, Hey, we can go a couple of different paths, like hearing from the team on what the direction is. You know. That’s like more of my priority.
426 00:43:58.670 ⇒ 00:44:04.010 Felipe: Okay, sounds good man. So if you can send
427 00:44:04.690 ⇒ 00:44:09.639 Felipe: things that you mentioned and potential deliverables that you usually
428 00:44:10.110 ⇒ 00:44:17.460 Felipe: give to clients and so on. I’m gonna give a check. Maybe I still have time to have a catch up with our CTO.
429 00:44:17.950 ⇒ 00:44:24.909 Felipe: And once I’m back, maybe we can exchange a little bit more, and I wanna
430 00:44:25.080 ⇒ 00:44:30.610 Felipe: push this to the rest of the team, and especially our CEO, wants his back.
431 00:44:30.960 ⇒ 00:44:41.619 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, yeah, let me get you as much as I can. And then we have some stuff that we just produced for some clients. I’m gonna just try to block out some things and try to get it to you as well. And then, yeah, again, like
432 00:44:41.770 ⇒ 00:44:50.339 Uttam Kumaran: as technical as you want to go, or as businesses you want to go. Just please let me know any questions you guys have, and if I can be helpful in the meantime.
433 00:44:50.480 ⇒ 00:44:51.939 Uttam Kumaran: yeah, sure let me know.
434 00:44:52.740 ⇒ 00:44:53.920 Felipe: Sounds good.
435 00:44:54.720 ⇒ 00:44:55.270 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
436 00:44:55.270 ⇒ 00:44:55.600 Felipe: Thank you.
437 00:44:55.600 ⇒ 00:44:56.080 Uttam Kumaran: Great.
438 00:44:56.080 ⇒ 00:45:00.019 Felipe: Thank you so much for your time. It was great, great meeting you, and hearing more about.
439 00:45:00.020 ⇒ 00:45:04.269 Uttam Kumaran: As well. Yeah, and please get well soon before your holiday.
440 00:45:04.270 ⇒ 00:45:09.929 Felipe: Yeah, hopefully. I mean, I I feel I will be able to recover.
441 00:45:10.780 ⇒ 00:45:12.000 Felipe: I’m flying Saturday.
442 00:45:12.000 ⇒ 00:45:13.779 Uttam Kumaran: Soup, water, salt.
443 00:45:14.170 ⇒ 00:45:16.620 Felipe: Yeah, man, tea, and that’s it.
444 00:45:17.110 ⇒ 00:45:24.390 Uttam Kumaran: Sleep. That’s the one thing is I just, I’ll we keep. I still keep working, and then you gotta get to sleep. That’s where I like.
445 00:45:24.390 ⇒ 00:45:25.909 Uttam Kumaran: yeah, so hard to.
446 00:45:25.910 ⇒ 00:45:26.319 Felipe: Sleep, like.
447 00:45:26.320 ⇒ 00:45:30.000 Uttam Kumaran: 12 HA day, you know. And yeah, I’ll be fine.
448 00:45:30.140 ⇒ 00:45:33.729 Felipe: I have 3 more weeks to like. Take it easy, and and recover, and
449 00:45:34.120 ⇒ 00:45:36.279 Felipe: and make the most out of the trip. But it’s fine.
450 00:45:36.280 ⇒ 00:45:37.720 Uttam Kumaran: Okay. Okay.
451 00:45:38.110 ⇒ 00:45:41.830 Felipe: Great meeting you and congrats on the company.
452 00:45:42.108 ⇒ 00:45:43.499 Uttam Kumaran: Thank you, I appreciate it.
453 00:45:43.500 ⇒ 00:45:48.700 Felipe: Regardless. If we work together or not. It’s a very nice story, and.
454 00:45:49.830 ⇒ 00:45:53.360 Uttam Kumaran: No, I didn’t tell you. I didn’t tell you any of the bad parts of the story, so I kept it possible.
455 00:45:53.360 ⇒ 00:45:55.349 Felipe: But I can imagine I can imagine.
456 00:45:57.110 ⇒ 00:45:57.710 Uttam Kumaran: But.
457 00:45:57.710 ⇒ 00:46:02.239 Felipe: But just with the fact that you are trying, and you and you have a different approach. And
458 00:46:03.220 ⇒ 00:46:05.220 Felipe: it’s it’s already positive. So.
459 00:46:05.509 ⇒ 00:46:06.089 Uttam Kumaran: Thank you.
460 00:46:06.090 ⇒ 00:46:08.120 Felipe: I hope more things keep on coming.
461 00:46:08.330 ⇒ 00:46:10.129 Uttam Kumaran: Oh, appreciate it! Thank you so much.
462 00:46:10.710 ⇒ 00:46:13.100 Felipe: No worries. I’m gonna wait for that email. Then.
463 00:46:13.100 ⇒ 00:46:14.269 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, okay, perfect.
464 00:46:14.620 ⇒ 00:46:15.809 Felipe: Okay, have a good day.
465 00:46:15.810 ⇒ 00:46:17.519 Uttam Kumaran: Thank you. Talk to you soon.
466 00:46:17.520 ⇒ 00:46:18.320 Felipe: Take school.