Meeting Title: Brainforge Delivery Function Best Practices Date: 2025-07-25 Meeting participants: Uttam Kumaran, Rajiv
WEBVTT
1 00:00:18.620 ⇒ 00:00:19.550 Rajiv: Hello!
2 00:00:19.840 ⇒ 00:00:21.150 Uttam Kumaran: Hi! How are you?
3 00:00:22.880 ⇒ 00:00:24.040 Rajiv: I’m doing good.
4 00:00:24.700 ⇒ 00:00:29.160 Rajiv: I just restarted my machine. I, my video was not working.
5 00:00:29.600 ⇒ 00:00:32.120 Uttam Kumaran: No, no, no, yes, yes, I can see you.
6 00:00:32.890 ⇒ 00:00:35.060 Rajiv: Hello! Hi! Utham! How are you doing.
7 00:00:35.060 ⇒ 00:00:37.720 Uttam Kumaran: Hi, good! How are you? Thank you for taking the time.
8 00:00:38.200 ⇒ 00:00:43.700 Rajiv: Yeah, thank you for giving me the opportunity. So may I know what is the purpose of this connect to what you need.
9 00:00:43.920 ⇒ 00:00:47.680 Rajiv: or what? Exactly the reason you
10 00:00:48.650 ⇒ 00:00:50.769 Rajiv: given your precious time to me.
11 00:00:51.135 ⇒ 00:01:03.180 Uttam Kumaran: No, that’s I appreciate you. No, we’re so we’re we’re starting to build up our delivery function here at Brain Forge, and I don’t know. I’m just connecting with people that have
12 00:01:03.210 ⇒ 00:01:13.140 Uttam Kumaran: clearly been in sort of the consulting industry in sort of delivery function. Just have questions about like
13 00:01:13.160 ⇒ 00:01:40.299 Uttam Kumaran: like best practices and curious about like you know what you’ve seen in in your experience. I mean, we are. We are hiring for people on the project management side, too, if you know anyone interested. But really just like I have some questions about like what to do. Right? Brain forge is a 15 person company that I started about 2 years ago. We primarily do data analytics. And AI related, it projects
14 00:01:40.612 ⇒ 00:02:01.410 Uttam Kumaran: and but we’re growing quickly. And so we’re starting to for me. I always don’t want to ask for help for people that are just one layer. I need to ask 3 or 4 layers so I could see that. So you know, I saw your background. And and you just have worked in a lot of different projects. So yeah, just like interested to hear about, like your reflection on
15 00:02:01.630 ⇒ 00:02:09.069 Uttam Kumaran: project being a project and programming. I just like hearing about some of the stories about like things you would have done differently. Just so I can
16 00:02:09.310 ⇒ 00:02:13.820 Uttam Kumaran: hear like what it’s like to run a be in this position in a larger firm, you know.
17 00:02:15.012 ⇒ 00:02:21.799 Rajiv: So see, I’m having almost 20 plus years of experience started with infosys.
18 00:02:22.550 ⇒ 00:02:27.529 Rajiv: Then I worked in different different clients at offshore and in us.
19 00:02:27.770 ⇒ 00:02:32.240 Rajiv: And I work in different different locations in us various different clients.
20 00:02:32.810 ⇒ 00:02:43.589 Rajiv: So every environment is different. And it’s a deeper learning aspect of the due to different technology, the different group of people with their cultures and emotional
21 00:02:44.283 ⇒ 00:02:57.280 Rajiv: connect. How? How you better? The more you connect with people the better information you get on the different areas of challenges and how they smart ways they use to mitigate those challenges.
22 00:02:57.420 ⇒ 00:02:58.115 Rajiv: So
23 00:02:59.010 ⇒ 00:03:07.419 Rajiv: it’s not like I read the books and I go. And it works out. So every environment is, you learn every day. Actually, basically.
24 00:03:07.820 ⇒ 00:03:11.330 Rajiv: So, yeah, that is how we evolve. And
25 00:03:11.610 ⇒ 00:03:16.780 Rajiv: the more you take challenges the more growth happens to you.
26 00:03:16.910 ⇒ 00:03:20.779 Rajiv: Okay, it’s every one week, like, yeah, is one week
27 00:03:21.631 ⇒ 00:03:27.785 Rajiv: so industry, also evolving with different different things happening around.
28 00:03:28.690 ⇒ 00:03:35.359 Rajiv: there’s always some changes happening. Okay? And every day there’s a new challenge. Either. It could be a technology channel challenge.
29 00:03:35.620 ⇒ 00:03:37.491 Rajiv: or it could be
30 00:03:38.100 ⇒ 00:03:47.960 Rajiv: how the market situation changes every now and then. Now air has got revolution. It was not there when I started my career initially, I was not that significant.
31 00:03:48.220 ⇒ 00:03:52.350 Rajiv: It was just starting up. But now it has flared up.
32 00:03:52.740 ⇒ 00:03:53.630 Rajiv: So yeah.
33 00:03:53.630 ⇒ 00:03:54.109 Uttam Kumaran: And now it’s.
34 00:03:55.080 ⇒ 00:04:03.129 Rajiv: Whatever learnings I had, it can be achieved by AI. In no time. The new person needs to know how to use AI
35 00:04:04.098 ⇒ 00:04:25.080 Rajiv: smartly. The smartest. Even the companies are competing with each other on different AI tools. Right now, you think about okay, tomorrow, old man is going to bring something new. It’s totally some of that idea for the previous company. So it’s AI competition going on.
36 00:04:27.320 ⇒ 00:04:29.920 Rajiv: You need to identify what is a niche area
37 00:04:30.230 ⇒ 00:04:34.500 Rajiv: where you can scale up like you have to identify Gap.
38 00:04:34.900 ⇒ 00:04:39.879 Rajiv: All these different technologies they are evolving. There are still gap in the society.
39 00:04:40.250 ⇒ 00:04:44.322 Rajiv: and there are like I believe, like AI should
40 00:04:44.970 ⇒ 00:04:47.699 Rajiv: help humanity to better their lives.
41 00:04:48.080 ⇒ 00:04:49.860 Rajiv: It’s not always a money aspect.
42 00:04:50.140 ⇒ 00:04:58.530 Rajiv: and if you think how we can better life like in us. Also there are a lot of challenges like manpower shortages many things.
43 00:04:58.630 ⇒ 00:05:02.380 Rajiv: As an interpreter. You, you know yourself. Take care of your home.
44 00:05:02.380 ⇒ 00:05:12.010 Uttam Kumaran: Oh, it’s so! My God, it’s horrible like, even though this country is so much small business so hard, you know, like it’s just so expensive, and
45 00:05:12.290 ⇒ 00:05:18.890 Uttam Kumaran: it’s the guy only was able to. Truly, the only reason the business exists is because AI is there
46 00:05:19.020 ⇒ 00:05:34.770 Uttam Kumaran: because I didn’t. I didn’t raise any money to start this business. So I I built it with AI alongside of me for emails, documents, everything because I have to. I have no choice right? I don’t have any money, and so you’re totally right.
47 00:05:36.360 ⇒ 00:05:39.840 Rajiv: Yeah. So if you know how to use the AI
48 00:05:39.950 ⇒ 00:05:42.659 Rajiv: effectively, it might ease your life.
49 00:05:43.430 ⇒ 00:05:51.020 Rajiv: And see, I right now, I’m a program manager for Pcs. So I’m handling a lot of different teams. I’m working on splank, also
50 00:05:52.121 ⇒ 00:05:54.849 Rajiv: data ingestion tool. And they are also using
51 00:05:56.228 ⇒ 00:05:59.579 Rajiv: progressive Chatbot AI development phase is there.
52 00:05:59.730 ⇒ 00:06:04.909 Rajiv: And events, plan calls. So many problems were able to solve complex using AI
53 00:06:05.487 ⇒ 00:06:14.869 Rajiv: like, client specific. AI, okay, so and nowadays, so I’m also I completed a master’s in AI that did.
54 00:06:14.870 ⇒ 00:06:15.610 Uttam Kumaran: Oh, yeah. Great.
55 00:06:16.610 ⇒ 00:06:19.549 Rajiv: From Uk Labor University. It was a dual degree program.
56 00:06:19.660 ⇒ 00:06:30.619 Rajiv: So while study or working only, I during covid time, there was a lot of remote option. And I was getting bored. And I thought to enroll in the
57 00:06:31.480 ⇒ 00:06:37.209 Rajiv: that program just to update myself, even E, even if, after the master. I feel like I learned something new.
58 00:06:37.480 ⇒ 00:06:38.630 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
59 00:06:39.312 ⇒ 00:06:42.209 Rajiv: Something design, something new. I know how to
60 00:06:42.400 ⇒ 00:06:46.870 Rajiv: create AI from Llm. From scratch, but I don’t have time.
61 00:06:47.200 ⇒ 00:06:47.960 Rajiv: So
62 00:06:49.140 ⇒ 00:06:59.250 Rajiv: so I have to figure out a way if I can do something more out of my daily job routines, I’ve still had Job. Okay, so I’m not an entrepreneur like you.
63 00:07:01.620 ⇒ 00:07:09.439 Rajiv: so. But I have a startup company from my wife’s name. Techno global group. So we have some patch up with some Internet entrepreneurs
64 00:07:09.680 ⇒ 00:07:18.211 Rajiv: on some different new technologies like depth map. I am not sure you heard or not like converting from 2D. To 3D images or,
65 00:07:18.540 ⇒ 00:07:20.380 Rajiv: Oh, okay, okay, yeah. Yeah.
66 00:07:20.970 ⇒ 00:07:26.949 Rajiv: So my partner has the algorithm. He’s already making some money with that
67 00:07:27.664 ⇒ 00:07:30.575 Rajiv: not. I’ll not say my partner, but he’s just a friend.
68 00:07:31.180 ⇒ 00:07:33.279 Rajiv: So he has a company in India at.
69 00:07:33.730 ⇒ 00:07:37.195 Rajiv: He want to poison some do some marketing here. But
70 00:07:37.740 ⇒ 00:07:41.470 Rajiv: we need a lot of funds for some of the marketing and all those things.
71 00:07:41.920 ⇒ 00:07:49.970 Rajiv: So that is stopping us. Some challenges some infrastructure challenges also there to host, the servers and all. It’s very costly, actually.
72 00:07:50.370 ⇒ 00:07:51.070 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.
73 00:07:51.930 ⇒ 00:07:52.530 Rajiv: Yeah. No.
74 00:07:52.530 ⇒ 00:07:54.249 Uttam Kumaran: All those on Gpus. Yeah.
75 00:07:54.430 ⇒ 00:08:01.610 Rajiv: Yeah, yeah, running. The gpus is very expensive. If we aws, it’s going to a huge bill.
76 00:08:03.820 ⇒ 00:08:15.845 Rajiv: So there are some things stopping us, because nowadays the AI Gpu is taking a huge amount of energy like how our brain function? Right? It requires minimum not that kind of
77 00:08:16.180 ⇒ 00:08:28.790 Uttam Kumaran: No, no, it does not require that much like it’s calorie, right, calorie, if you I don’t know if you studied like physics or but calorie is just the amount to make one. Whatever water go up one degree so small.
78 00:08:28.790 ⇒ 00:08:31.310 Rajiv: Out of power. Yeah, is needed.
79 00:08:31.826 ⇒ 00:08:40.319 Rajiv: But but how our brain functions build that machine you needs. You need a humongous amount of power.
80 00:08:40.650 ⇒ 00:08:44.749 Rajiv: Right? So I think there’s a lot to improve on that aspect.
81 00:08:45.128 ⇒ 00:08:47.450 Rajiv: Yeah, it will still going to change and evolve
82 00:08:47.560 ⇒ 00:08:53.740 Rajiv: in the coming days. So that is what things are actually, yeah.
83 00:08:53.740 ⇒ 00:09:23.380 Uttam Kumaran: No, I’m so I’m finding that even in our company, I’m basically forcing everybody to use AI all the time. So we built our own AI platform for the company. So for every client we get they get an AI agent, so we use it to go over all the company documents, all the delivery related assets. So we can generate the sprint summary. The Sops, sows, case studies much quicker. Right? All of our developers are using cursor to write code using AI.
84 00:09:23.600 ⇒ 00:09:24.179 Rajiv: So we’re sorry.
85 00:09:24.180 ⇒ 00:09:38.700 Uttam Kumaran: Doing everything. So I’ve given everything to everybody because I want to enable them to use AI so that we can deliver a faster product. And my team is not working on boring things right? The stuff that’s boring. Use it with AI.
86 00:09:38.700 ⇒ 00:09:39.100 Rajiv: Yeah, yeah.
87 00:09:39.100 ⇒ 00:09:42.269 Uttam Kumaran: Go spend time with the client and focus on the hard, you know. Difficult.
88 00:09:42.270 ⇒ 00:09:55.709 Rajiv: So what do you think like? How will the market be with agent care? Because last year it was generated this year, Agent Tk, and maybe within next 6 months something new comes which says Agent Tk is not good. Something different is good.
89 00:09:55.710 ⇒ 00:10:02.267 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I don’t know. Cause now I’ve been. So I’ve been using this AI really, almost daily for 2 years. And
90 00:10:02.860 ⇒ 00:10:11.719 Uttam Kumaran: it’s moved from just like simple chat interfaces to workflows to agentic. I mean, the next biggest thing is going to be like these multi agent systems
91 00:10:11.780 ⇒ 00:10:32.890 Uttam Kumaran: right where once you’ve built a level of like different workflow specific agents. You need some orchestration. Right? So that way you need routing, you need security. You need odd. So it’s gonna be a lot on security lot on the routing and then, second, is, the Ui has to change. So it’s it can’t be simple like
92 00:10:33.060 ⇒ 00:10:34.970 Uttam Kumaran: it just can’t be simple.
93 00:10:35.150 ⇒ 00:10:40.779 Uttam Kumaran: Chat. Get something back. Has to be much more dynamic. Uis. Use case specific uis, right?
94 00:10:40.780 ⇒ 00:10:41.140 Rajiv: I don’t.
95 00:10:41.620 ⇒ 00:10:45.420 Rajiv: Data. Privacy and data contracts are very important.
96 00:10:45.420 ⇒ 00:10:46.350 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah. Yes.
97 00:10:46.350 ⇒ 00:11:03.860 Rajiv: Because certain things are there, whichever like, if you use some other person’s data, they might sue you. You know, very careful what data you’re using, because initially, it was not like image generation, for example, like anybody’s images, can be taken out great. But nowadays
98 00:11:04.030 ⇒ 00:11:09.630 Rajiv: something maybe like proprietary, some with somebody, with some Us. Laws.
99 00:11:09.760 ⇒ 00:11:10.280 Rajiv: So.
100 00:11:10.280 ⇒ 00:11:10.790 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.
101 00:11:10.790 ⇒ 00:11:16.699 Rajiv: Very you can proceed. What AI doesn’t see all those things. You can proceed anywhere. But
102 00:11:17.206 ⇒ 00:11:30.390 Rajiv: you can be penalized. So we have to be very careful data contracts. So right now, our like splunk when you work whatever data. So we ensure data contracts are signed properly with all the stakes. Then we proceed with that particular data
103 00:11:30.710 ⇒ 00:11:34.440 Rajiv: data governance. And how the data is managed
104 00:11:34.840 ⇒ 00:11:37.050 Rajiv: and update it on a regular basis.
105 00:11:37.050 ⇒ 00:11:44.149 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah. So security is gonna be big. But also it’s adoption. Like everybody in the organization, is not going to want to use the AI.
106 00:11:44.300 ⇒ 00:11:57.309 Uttam Kumaran: Some people are afraid some people don’t know. And that’s the biggest limiting factor, because we go to companies and we implement AI solutions. It’s not the fact that we can’t build a solution, that adoption is tough. So how can you make sure that your team adopts.
107 00:11:57.310 ⇒ 00:12:00.620 Rajiv: Yeah, people don’t understand properly AI agents.
108 00:12:00.620 ⇒ 00:12:01.220 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
109 00:12:01.525 ⇒ 00:12:05.720 Rajiv: In fact, I am also learning to be honest agents.
110 00:12:06.630 ⇒ 00:12:09.709 Uttam Kumaran: But not even building, just using it, just.
111 00:12:09.710 ⇒ 00:12:10.530 Rajiv: Busy.
112 00:12:10.530 ⇒ 00:12:22.850 Uttam Kumaran: Instead of Google, use the Chatgv. That’s it. Simple thing, right? People aren’t able to change the habits. So I think it will take 2, 3, 4, 5 years to change the habits. But it’s happening so fast
113 00:12:22.990 ⇒ 00:12:39.560 Uttam Kumaran: like yes, even 5 years. Is not that long for a complete company change so in my company. It’s like, I want to have one project manager for a couple of projects. Not just one project, right? So I want to be able to hire less people and my Kpis revenue per employee.
114 00:12:39.630 ⇒ 00:12:55.150 Uttam Kumaran: So I want to see, how can I maximize the revenue per employee? Right? But that means I have to hire. My revenue has to grow, and my head count cannot grow at the same rate, so people hate to be taking on more right. And so I that’s gonna AI is the only way to do that.
115 00:12:55.910 ⇒ 00:13:06.009 Rajiv: So I have few questions for you to understand like right now, the market is not good like jobs also, very less. So. Yeah, are you not finding challenges
116 00:13:06.110 ⇒ 00:13:13.070 Rajiv: to find clients or market your products like you must be having.
117 00:13:13.070 ⇒ 00:13:22.509 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I don’t we? You know, I honestly like, I don’t spend much time thinking about the market as a whole, like if it goes up. If it goes down.
118 00:13:22.700 ⇒ 00:13:26.400 Uttam Kumaran: I have to still wake up and try. But we haven’t found much struggle.
119 00:13:26.510 ⇒ 00:13:35.330 Uttam Kumaran: Number one is like, we’re not a staffing agency. We are like an engineering company. So when I go to a client, we come in as a partner.
120 00:13:35.380 ⇒ 00:13:48.679 Uttam Kumaran: right? We come in because we we can solve a series of problems. But they want to partner right? They may not know even where to start. And so we come in and we absorb a series of challenges, and we run into the fire.
121 00:13:48.690 ⇒ 00:14:13.620 Uttam Kumaran: Right? So so one thing is like. And so we’ve gotten a lot of second is like we’ve done a lot on the marketing side. So a lot of events, a lot of things on Linkedin, a lot of partnerships. And we try to be honest right? And the number. One thing is like, we believe in our product, which is our people. And so we try to make sure we have great people, and that that the things that we’re developing are the same or faster than if you were to hire yourself.
122 00:14:14.099 ⇒ 00:14:27.080 Uttam Kumaran: And so we you know, it’s a i would say, it’s been a struggle, our entire business to get sales. But that’s just because I think that’s just the way running a business is like we’re not so big in that, like
123 00:14:27.360 ⇒ 00:14:29.599 Uttam Kumaran: Macro, will affect us.
124 00:14:29.740 ⇒ 00:14:32.849 Uttam Kumaran: If anything, we are the only ones stopping ourselves.
125 00:14:33.240 ⇒ 00:14:39.329 Rajiv: So how did you start up this company like with your own money, or you have some background, or some like what was.
126 00:14:39.330 ⇒ 00:14:48.269 Uttam Kumaran: No, it’s just yeah, just my own money. I quit my last job. I was leading product at A at a company before data company, and then I left, and then
127 00:14:48.370 ⇒ 00:14:53.650 Uttam Kumaran: I had done some contracting here and there in the last, you know, kind of when I was working, and then.
128 00:14:54.270 ⇒ 00:15:06.310 Uttam Kumaran: I just called everybody for a couple of months. I knew everybody I’ve met, and then somehow, I got into some clients and I was working myself, and then slowly put all the money back into the business.
129 00:15:06.550 ⇒ 00:15:07.530 Uttam Kumaran: so it didn’t take.
130 00:15:07.530 ⇒ 00:15:11.640 Rajiv: Clients are mostly like small startup, or like a big corporation.
131 00:15:11.640 ⇒ 00:15:15.719 Uttam Kumaran: No, yeah. So most of our companies are between 20 to 100 million in revenue.
132 00:15:16.402 ⇒ 00:15:33.020 Uttam Kumaran: So my background is in startups. And so we have worked for some startups. But we try not to do any startup work anymore. It’s mostly mid market private businesses. But it’s tough. It’s like long sales cycles like few months to sell it. It’s incredibly hard, like
133 00:15:33.250 ⇒ 00:15:38.479 Uttam Kumaran: I’m still working like 12 h days every day, like, you know, for 2 years.
134 00:15:38.720 ⇒ 00:15:41.940 Uttam Kumaran: so I’m not none of it, too challenging.
135 00:15:42.300 ⇒ 00:15:49.310 Rajiv: Yeah, it is really challenging to quit a job and to vision that I will reach that level so that.
136 00:15:49.310 ⇒ 00:15:53.319 Uttam Kumaran: See, I didn’t have. But see, you’re giving you too much credit. I didn’t. I didn’t have this vision.
137 00:15:53.450 ⇒ 00:15:58.330 Uttam Kumaran: I thought it was gonna be easier. But
138 00:15:58.660 ⇒ 00:16:13.230 Uttam Kumaran: my options were, go back to a startup. It’s so much work and you don’t. You don’t. Typically if you’re just an employee, you don’t win. You just get so much work, and you don’t get any of the benefit. And then it’s going to a big company, and I don’t know I
139 00:16:13.400 ⇒ 00:16:18.699 Uttam Kumaran: I had too much energy to go to a big company like it. It things would not move fast enough.
140 00:16:18.990 ⇒ 00:16:29.970 Uttam Kumaran: and so I said, I gave myself a 3 month deadline. If I can’t make money in 3 months, then I’ll go somewhere. I’ll get a job. And so that 3 month hit and I found something, and then it’s been going. But you know.
141 00:16:29.970 ⇒ 00:16:34.229 Rajiv: How easy or tough was the getting the 1st client. That is important, right?
142 00:16:34.710 ⇒ 00:16:37.909 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I mean, I think the 1st client was actually not
143 00:16:38.507 ⇒ 00:16:48.930 Uttam Kumaran: really. 1st kind of, I’m selling myself right? And so I’m selling my resume. And so that’s easy, because I have a lot of background. The challenge now is that the company is not me
144 00:16:49.050 ⇒ 00:17:02.249 Uttam Kumaran: right? The company’s brain forge. So when I go to a client I’m selling Brain Forge. You’re not getting. You’re not getting me. Maybe I help and part of the solution. But we have a team we have pro, so that transition is the hardest
145 00:17:02.370 ⇒ 00:17:09.139 Uttam Kumaran: is the hardest thing, because the 1st 5 clients we got there I’m working with them, and then I may be bringing some people with me, but
146 00:17:09.329 ⇒ 00:17:14.179 Uttam Kumaran: they don’t even know brain force. There’s no brand any of this me. Then I have to switch.
147 00:17:14.319 ⇒ 00:17:16.190 Uttam Kumaran: Right? So now there’s the company.
148 00:17:16.390 ⇒ 00:17:40.380 Uttam Kumaran: and we have marketing of sales. But like that’s the tough part is is, and also letting go right like there’s things happening in the company that I’m not part of anymore. And now it’s my employees run the company right, and I’m an employee like I have. My job is so just like they have a job, a CEO. I have a job which is not micromanaging, which is not sitting. It’s like.
149 00:17:40.600 ⇒ 00:17:41.130 Rajiv: Need to go, get.
150 00:17:41.130 ⇒ 00:17:44.000 Uttam Kumaran: Us the next double the company. Get us the next
151 00:17:44.150 ⇒ 00:18:08.540 Uttam Kumaran: best people and it’s challenging, I think every 6 months you have to change completely who you are, and your whole role has to change. But but I never. I never have interest in like I don’t have any ego, and I I want the business to win, so, no matter what you I can, if if for me to win, I have to take out the trash every day. I will take the trash every day.
152 00:18:09.070 ⇒ 00:18:10.879 Uttam Kumaran: I don’t care. I just want to win.
153 00:18:10.880 ⇒ 00:18:14.470 Rajiv: Yeah. Yeah. All those things. Yep, understand?
154 00:18:14.470 ⇒ 00:18:26.039 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, anything that drops. I need to be the one to pick it up. And so that’s how it’s been. But in the last 6, 7 months we’ve been growing a lot more. It was slow. And then now it’s starting to pick up where we’re.
155 00:18:26.040 ⇒ 00:18:26.730 Rajiv: What do you want?
156 00:18:27.110 ⇒ 00:18:27.660 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
157 00:18:27.660 ⇒ 00:18:35.040 Rajiv: Yeah, sorry to interrupt. So like how you’re handling your personal family and this entrepreneurship like you, you’re a bachelor, or still like.
158 00:18:35.478 ⇒ 00:18:39.751 Uttam Kumaran: I have my, I have, I live with my girlfriend actually
159 00:18:41.201 ⇒ 00:18:44.458 Uttam Kumaran: It’s hard. It’s tough, man. I don’t think it’s
160 00:18:45.180 ⇒ 00:18:47.919 Uttam Kumaran: I don’t know what the answer is like.
161 00:18:48.320 ⇒ 00:18:51.209 Uttam Kumaran: You kind of have to apologize to everybody.
162 00:18:51.330 ⇒ 00:18:53.490 Uttam Kumaran: and you have to say, because
163 00:18:53.810 ⇒ 00:18:59.219 Uttam Kumaran: nobody like for me at any moment of time in my business something is going wrong.
164 00:18:59.450 ⇒ 00:19:02.769 Uttam Kumaran: right? And there’s an endless amount of things to do.
165 00:19:03.341 ⇒ 00:19:12.090 Uttam Kumaran: So it’s really hard and also like for me, this is my life’s work right? So if you ask me at any point. Am I thinking about work? Yeah.
166 00:19:12.440 ⇒ 00:19:19.089 Uttam Kumaran: that’s what I mean. That’s all. I am right. And now people’s live people’s lives depend on the business.
167 00:19:19.340 ⇒ 00:19:30.909 Uttam Kumaran: you know, but also, like everybody wants a piece of you because they like you right? Like your family, your friends and you just have to be okay with trying to say no, or
168 00:19:31.200 ⇒ 00:19:42.119 Uttam Kumaran: you manage what you can. And you just say you just try to be a good person and say, Hey, I’m so sorry like I’m so busy. I’m sorry I forgot this thing I can’t visit.
169 00:19:42.240 ⇒ 00:19:46.370 Uttam Kumaran: and that’s it. It’s a it’s a horrible process like.
170 00:19:48.030 ⇒ 00:19:58.889 Uttam Kumaran: Like. I don’t have anything else to say, but it’s very difficult. It’s a negotiation with everybody where you have to say, hey, I’m trying my best. But if this company wins, it’s gonna be like a lottery ticket for us.
171 00:19:58.890 ⇒ 00:19:59.590 Rajiv: Yeah, definitely.
172 00:19:59.590 ⇒ 00:20:01.379 Uttam Kumaran: So I just need some more time, you know.
173 00:20:02.760 ⇒ 00:20:13.170 Rajiv: Yep. So, Tom, like how can we help each other like, do you want me for? What do you want from just as a regular cadence discussion, or something greater you want to.
174 00:20:13.170 ⇒ 00:20:17.490 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, you know, I’m I’m well, one is like, Look, we’re we’re building up our
175 00:20:17.770 ⇒ 00:20:44.530 Uttam Kumaran: delivery function. I’m certainly interested. If there’s anyone in your network that you’d recommend that’s interested. Or if you’re at all interested in potentially like opportunity with us. But generally I’m just trying to kind of meet people that have done this, and so I can kind of in case I have questions. I can come, ask for some help or some advice. And of course happy to be helpful. However, I can, you know, in in whatever way I can.
176 00:20:44.530 ⇒ 00:20:51.359 Rajiv: In my current profession. I know people who are mostly on business. I have a lot of community friends and pets.
177 00:20:51.470 ⇒ 00:20:59.100 Rajiv: and who are on citizen green cards. There are some interest people who are part of my current organization. Pcs, okay.
178 00:20:59.963 ⇒ 00:21:04.909 Rajiv: but with the current job market. They don’t want to risk leaving cases.
179 00:21:05.520 ⇒ 00:21:15.589 Rajiv: Do something extra but not quitting Tcs means, if you ask me, I I’m not. I don’t feel still comfortable to quit Tcs.
180 00:21:15.590 ⇒ 00:21:19.119 Uttam Kumaran: No, no, it’s it’s yeah. I totally hear you. Yeah.
181 00:21:20.667 ⇒ 00:21:24.832 Rajiv: I can. I will certainly do many things on the side I keep learning
182 00:21:25.250 ⇒ 00:21:29.030 Rajiv: the step. I also plan to build some agent, Ki stuffs
183 00:21:29.270 ⇒ 00:21:36.830 Rajiv: and market for my own. My spouse has a I have a corporation, a spouse name, techno, global group, Llc, so
184 00:21:37.580 ⇒ 00:21:46.599 Rajiv: I have some contacts and partners we have a website also on that. So it is not visible in my profile. But it’s a different page is there.
185 00:21:46.720 ⇒ 00:21:49.800 Rajiv: you know the Hr. Is always.
186 00:21:49.930 ⇒ 00:22:00.320 Uttam Kumaran: I know, I know. Let me, if I if I could help with that, if I could help with Techno global, let me know. Yeah, I don’t know. Look, I’m just like I’m in business. This is gonna be a long thing. So
187 00:22:00.450 ⇒ 00:22:25.079 Uttam Kumaran: for me, what I’ve realized in life and business is just like the more friends that we can have of the business. It it helps right? And so if there’s, you know, even even just to hear your stories about what it’s like working there. And of course, like the great questions is, it’s just helpful for me to reflect on like kind of the decisions that we have to make. And that’s it. Like I I that’s kind of like my my overall goal. You know.
188 00:22:25.490 ⇒ 00:22:34.009 Rajiv: Yeah, see, I have a kind of problem person like, if I get into trouble any technical problem, I can solve any problem. Okay, I find my own way to solve it.
189 00:22:34.220 ⇒ 00:22:39.219 Rajiv: But right now, my, my current I’m more like a delivery, has it delivery.
190 00:22:39.370 ⇒ 00:22:44.149 Rajiv: There’s a lot of people report to me. And I have people connect basically for me.
191 00:22:45.389 ⇒ 00:22:50.999 Rajiv: like, technological, wise, 30% or 70% people, other issues.
192 00:22:51.580 ⇒ 00:22:56.241 Rajiv: different kind of as organization aspect. So I’m handling both client and Tcs.
193 00:22:56.750 ⇒ 00:23:02.235 Rajiv: so I have 2 machines already working. And there’s a personal laptop for my own things like
194 00:23:02.540 ⇒ 00:23:03.069 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, yeah.
195 00:23:03.070 ⇒ 00:23:05.069 Rajiv: And get off this job and all.
196 00:23:05.510 ⇒ 00:23:06.180 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, yeah.
197 00:23:06.180 ⇒ 00:23:07.319 Rajiv: Always in the mind.
198 00:23:07.520 ⇒ 00:23:08.660 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
199 00:23:09.340 ⇒ 00:23:15.289 Rajiv: Yeah, the thing is, the the moment I reach a keep of my knowledge, I realize that certain things have expanded.
200 00:23:15.460 ⇒ 00:23:19.350 Rajiv: Yeah, I still no more.
201 00:23:19.670 ⇒ 00:23:25.030 Uttam Kumaran: No, it’s so hard, you know. The only reason I can keep up is because I’m doing it as part of my company.
202 00:23:25.530 ⇒ 00:23:25.990 Rajiv: Yeah, yeah.
203 00:23:25.990 ⇒ 00:23:30.119 Uttam Kumaran: Otherwise impossible. Impossible. It’s for me
204 00:23:31.480 ⇒ 00:23:34.619 Uttam Kumaran: it’s a full time job keeping up right. And that’s but that’s what I do for.
205 00:23:34.620 ⇒ 00:23:38.770 Rajiv: How much, how much revenue you’re currently making. And what is your vision like
206 00:23:38.920 ⇒ 00:23:41.290 Rajiv: to reach like what is a vision to reach.
207 00:23:41.740 ⇒ 00:23:45.369 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I mean, we will end up doing one to 2 million this year.
208 00:23:47.530 ⇒ 00:23:51.660 Uttam Kumaran: In terms of vision. I don’t know, man, I just try to.
209 00:23:51.970 ⇒ 00:23:55.420 Uttam Kumaran: They’re just trying to grow fast like it’s
210 00:23:55.850 ⇒ 00:24:07.469 Uttam Kumaran: it’s not even worth, because I just don’t know what the future is going to be. So for me. What I think about is like, I want to recruit the best people, and I want to give them a great home, and I want to find the toughest clients.
211 00:24:07.800 ⇒ 00:24:09.779 Uttam Kumaran: I think the score will settle.
212 00:24:09.880 ⇒ 00:24:15.790 Uttam Kumaran: you know, at that point. So for us, it’s just growth. So we’re we’re in a big revenue growth mode right now.
213 00:24:15.910 ⇒ 00:24:24.249 Uttam Kumaran: So figuring out sales. And it’s starting to work really? Well. The next piece is, of course, delivery. So how do we become a plus at at delivery.
214 00:24:26.220 ⇒ 00:24:53.130 Uttam Kumaran: But if we can’t, if we don’t have any clients, there’s nothing to deliver, so we have to work on one at a time. And so we’re getting a lot better on the sales side. The delivery piece is where my mind is going next. But I also want to learn. How do I can use? How I can build AI systems to support that right? Because the lucky thing I don’t have to do everything the old way I can think about. How can my project managers or program managers? Delivery man, use AI to give a better experience to the client, you know. So those are what kind of what I’m thinking about.
215 00:24:53.130 ⇒ 00:24:59.989 Rajiv: So we use azure devops like as a kind of cool code repository, and all those things like.
216 00:24:59.990 ⇒ 00:25:05.382 Rajiv: I’ll be chat so as you basically backlog refinement, we do. And
217 00:25:06.030 ⇒ 00:25:10.210 Rajiv: we keep all the stops at the backlog refinement level.
218 00:25:10.340 ⇒ 00:25:16.090 Rajiv: So there’s a different layers of people who are working like from
219 00:25:17.310 ⇒ 00:25:20.829 Rajiv: like, you know, the scrum process right? How the work comes.
220 00:25:21.030 ⇒ 00:25:25.250 Rajiv: And we have meetings and development team.
221 00:25:27.030 ⇒ 00:25:34.230 Rajiv: And there are various different projects happening at multiple layers, like one person doesn’t have the complete information.
222 00:25:34.450 ⇒ 00:25:35.260 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
223 00:25:35.260 ⇒ 00:25:39.700 Rajiv: In their own area. It’s very vast, like cyber security in its own area.
224 00:25:40.184 ⇒ 00:25:54.789 Rajiv: is very vast like. And they also working on very neat skills. So recently there was a requirement for a cyber security gaudy core talent. There was no talent in the market in the technology, only some professionals were there. Who were ever in Uk.
225 00:25:55.070 ⇒ 00:26:01.640 Rajiv: so yeah, it’s like that. What are opening coming is only for neat skill. I don’t.
226 00:26:01.640 ⇒ 00:26:02.010 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
227 00:26:02.010 ⇒ 00:26:10.290 Rajiv: Direction the customer is going. But I see people with a lot of knowledge
228 00:26:10.610 ⇒ 00:26:14.060 Rajiv: that comes only from working on the particular specialized area.
229 00:26:14.660 ⇒ 00:26:15.690 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, yeah.
230 00:26:15.950 ⇒ 00:26:26.939 Rajiv: So I think the AI has to be smarter to get involved and to it’s not that easy means I I’m not challenging anything but AI has to get smarter to solve those complex problems.
231 00:26:27.230 ⇒ 00:26:33.640 Uttam Kumaran: No. And then for me, it’s like, I don’t even I actually want to leave the humans to solve those problems. But meeting notes.
232 00:26:33.790 ⇒ 00:26:37.249 Uttam Kumaran: some sprint summary grooming ticket creation
233 00:26:37.630 ⇒ 00:26:55.869 Uttam Kumaran: that has to be AI. Right? So for me, that’s how I think about it. Like I’m not. I don’t want to replace the people. I want them to go spend time on the hard, difficult things, right? Really cross project, creative stuff, the basic things like taking notes in a meeting, then creating tickets. Grooming
234 00:26:56.320 ⇒ 00:27:00.490 Uttam Kumaran: that has gotta go. That’s gotta go right. Cause it’s so much time, you know.
235 00:27:00.490 ⇒ 00:27:15.460 Rajiv: Right? Right? So I definitely I was using the perplexity. I don’t know you. You must have used a perfect city right? It is so smart it has a voice command. If you tell anything it can be your friend. Just you just ask anything. It will tell you an answer.
236 00:27:15.740 ⇒ 00:27:20.009 Rajiv: Yeah, let’s show you a better way than most of your friends can do.
237 00:27:20.010 ⇒ 00:27:21.030 Uttam Kumaran: Yes, yes.
238 00:27:21.030 ⇒ 00:27:22.680 Rajiv: And talk to your original language.
239 00:27:22.900 ⇒ 00:27:23.710 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.
240 00:27:25.270 ⇒ 00:27:46.119 Uttam Kumaran: No, it’s it’s amazing. So that’s the things like, I want everybody in our team to be enabled by a brain forge. AI, right? So that when when you come to Brainforge, it’s not just like we’re a normal consult. It’s like, I know, if I go there, I’m going to be AI forward. I’m gonna learn everything about AI. And then I’m going to be able to use AI and my delivery process. That’s what we’re we’re thinking about.
241 00:27:46.120 ⇒ 00:27:46.710 Rajiv: Got it.
242 00:27:47.340 ⇒ 00:27:50.930 Rajiv: Yeah, you look quite young. And all this is a really good work.
243 00:27:51.408 ⇒ 00:27:56.191 Uttam Kumaran: I appreciate it. Yeah, that’s it’s very hard and
244 00:27:56.950 ⇒ 00:28:03.580 Uttam Kumaran: I don’t know. It’s it’s changed. It’s come a long way, but it’s still. Every day is like just one step
245 00:28:04.160 ⇒ 00:28:11.730 Uttam Kumaran: chipping forward, you know. So I I thank you for the for taking the time, and so for the for the kind of advice and the the stories really helpful.
246 00:28:11.970 ⇒ 00:28:18.079 Rajiv: Yeah. So I have. Like, I have an entrepreneur friend from India, from Kolkata. He has his own
247 00:28:19.176 ⇒ 00:28:22.743 Rajiv: product company or different. If you’re interested
248 00:28:23.540 ⇒ 00:28:26.969 Rajiv: I can set up I’ll just talk to him.
249 00:28:26.970 ⇒ 00:28:27.680 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
250 00:28:27.680 ⇒ 00:28:30.560 Rajiv: Try to find new avenues.
251 00:28:31.250 ⇒ 00:28:36.652 Rajiv: He’s already making some money, and he already has some clients in international from Uk,
252 00:28:37.650 ⇒ 00:28:44.393 Rajiv: Canada. So we had some CEO level meets on some of those products he has. He has some of the patents
253 00:28:45.130 ⇒ 00:28:48.298 Rajiv: So if you’re interested, I can connect with him.
254 00:28:48.650 ⇒ 00:28:54.999 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, please, yeah, let me know what what he’s working on. And I’m happy to chat. Yeah, we’d love to see if there’s any avenues to work together.
255 00:28:55.000 ⇒ 00:28:59.722 Rajiv: Yeah, definitely. So if you have any personal number or something you can share, I can.
256 00:29:00.000 ⇒ 00:29:00.480 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
257 00:29:00.770 ⇒ 00:29:03.049 Rajiv: Or Whatsapp, or whatever way you feel.
258 00:29:03.050 ⇒ 00:29:04.010 Rajiv: Okay, yeah.
259 00:29:04.010 ⇒ 00:29:07.510 Uttam Kumaran: Feel free to connect with me. And it was nice talking to you. Okay.
260 00:29:07.510 ⇒ 00:29:10.079 Uttam Kumaran: perfect. Yeah, thank you so much and have a great weekend enjoy.
261 00:29:10.080 ⇒ 00:29:12.529 Rajiv: You, too, have a great day. Take care, bye.
262 00:29:12.530 ⇒ 00:29:13.020 Uttam Kumaran: Bye.