Meeting Title: Brainforge x Vixel Sales Strategy Review Date: 2025-08-06 Meeting participants: Vishnu’s Fathom Notetaker, Vishnu Priya, Vishnu Priya, Aater’s Fathom Notetaker, suleman, Robert Tseng, Sam Melehy
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1 00:02:48.130 ⇒ 00:02:49.029 suleman: Hey! Arishna!
2 00:02:49.830 ⇒ 00:02:50.790 Vishnu Priya: Hey? He had to.
3 00:03:03.540 ⇒ 00:03:06.740 suleman: I think mostly this is about listening right?
4 00:03:07.350 ⇒ 00:03:07.900 Vishnu Priya: Yeah.
5 00:03:32.940 ⇒ 00:03:34.099 suleman: Hey, Robert.
6 00:03:34.100 ⇒ 00:03:35.629 Robert Tseng: Hey! Arthur! Hey! Vashley.
7 00:03:36.600 ⇒ 00:03:37.960 Vishnu Priya: You know. But
8 00:03:42.630 ⇒ 00:03:48.070 Vishnu Priya: yeah, okay, we can get started right? I think it’s it’s just the 3 of us may join.
9 00:03:48.460 ⇒ 00:03:49.060 Robert Tseng: Okay.
10 00:03:49.680 ⇒ 00:03:50.210 Vishnu Priya: Oh!
11 00:03:51.150 ⇒ 00:03:51.530 Robert Tseng: My side.
12 00:03:51.772 ⇒ 00:03:57.599 Vishnu Priya: Yeah, from our end. I think Sam may join you know, if he’s available. But you know we can get started. Robert.
13 00:03:57.600 ⇒ 00:03:58.210 Robert Tseng: Okay.
14 00:03:59.670 ⇒ 00:04:01.320 Vishnu Priya: 1st like, how are you doing today.
15 00:04:02.182 ⇒ 00:04:07.140 Robert Tseng: Good, I think, things are busy, but good. It’s a good way.
16 00:04:07.140 ⇒ 00:04:07.460 Vishnu Priya: Sure.
17 00:04:07.460 ⇒ 00:04:08.040 Robert Tseng: If.
18 00:04:08.420 ⇒ 00:04:09.580 Vishnu Priya: Sure thing.
19 00:04:09.860 ⇒ 00:04:10.300 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
20 00:04:10.300 ⇒ 00:04:17.878 Vishnu Priya: Hey? Okay, hey? Do you wanna jump into the topic that you had in mind? Robert, like, you know, help us understand the situation a bit more
21 00:04:18.140 ⇒ 00:04:21.540 Robert Tseng: Yeah, sure, I think, we’re like, we’re like.
22 00:04:21.910 ⇒ 00:04:33.580 Robert Tseng: I guess. I first, st I didn’t realize that. What kind of Ujan wasn’t submitting the operating decks or something. I think that was used to me. I I just thought that he was because that how we split it up.
23 00:04:33.974 ⇒ 00:04:36.440 Robert Tseng: I mean, we do report on this stuff internally.
24 00:04:37.530 ⇒ 00:04:48.167 Robert Tseng: yeah. So I think, I don’t know. I just feel like the past couple of months. We’ve kind of just dropped off in our engagement with Vixel. And then, yeah, I think
25 00:04:49.360 ⇒ 00:04:53.270 Robert Tseng: the message I sent was really just, you know, we’re talking to other people, and
26 00:04:53.713 ⇒ 00:05:22.679 Robert Tseng: I mean, go to market is still like top of mind for me. So, wanting to see where we can get more guidance. There. I’ve been in talks with another like similar program. I guess I don’t really want to do another boot camp, but like they are very go to market focus. And so I think, before I make a decision on that like, I wanted to bring it to you guys 1st and then kind of just see like if we can get similar kind of support, and then, if not, then maybe I would. It would make sense to just do it.
27 00:05:23.330 ⇒ 00:05:23.920 Vishnu Priya: Okay.
28 00:05:24.600 ⇒ 00:05:27.829 Robert Tseng: Yeah. So I think I came to this call thinking.
29 00:05:27.930 ⇒ 00:05:41.500 Robert Tseng: I mean, there, I think we can discuss the few things that we we would like to refine and just see like how we can get support from Pixel in those. But otherwise. Yeah, I guess that’s that’s all I really had in mind.
30 00:05:42.200 ⇒ 00:06:00.529 Vishnu Priya: Sure thing we can maybe deep dive into you know what exactly you have in mind, you know, from a support standpoint. Here in a second, Robert. But I did, wanna you know quickly. Clarify just one thing right in our understanding. Uttam has been relatively active. You know, even in the even since the the boot camp.
31 00:06:00.790 ⇒ 00:06:19.699 Vishnu Priya: I think we’ve finished the boot camp somewhere in March. He’s been active, like, you know. We see him on, so, relatively speaking, right like compared to our you know folks you know, in the other cohorts has been, you know, popping up and engaging, so we did not see a decline in engagement on our end, you know. So I just wanted to make sure.
32 00:06:20.010 ⇒ 00:06:37.229 Vishnu Priya: You know. I I you know I shared that with you. Opstick was the only thing that was missing, but I know you know he was at least, you know, engaging in some form with us. Right? And you know we had access to your you know the the financial sheet. So I knew you know what was going on. You know, in terms of update. It was the, you know, like the
33 00:06:37.450 ⇒ 00:06:51.741 Vishnu Priya: the more of the the structure, you know, like, what are your accomplishments? Setbacks, if you will, that you put in the OP. Stick that we were missing out on primary, basically. So with that said, actually, I’ll take a quick pause here after. Did you have anything to add? You know, or can we just ask
34 00:06:51.980 ⇒ 00:07:01.350 suleman: I think I wanna understand the context on what you guys are looking for. Robert. That would probably be the best next step. So let’s jump into that. Actually, I would love to get into the details. I think.
35 00:07:01.900 ⇒ 00:07:06.542 Robert Tseng: Yeah, so I think, like, we’re kind of a stage now where?
36 00:07:07.880 ⇒ 00:07:16.850 Robert Tseng: I mean, I think we’ve grown quite a bit since we were in Vixel. So I think that’s a good sign, but also just trying to continue to scale up our sales motion. Pretty much so.
37 00:07:17.522 ⇒ 00:07:18.939 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I think
38 00:07:19.470 ⇒ 00:07:39.459 Robert Tseng: to me like we have these, we have some of the basic foundations. We have our content motion going like we have an outbound motion. We do out inbound some to some extent. We have all the assets there, but it’s just, you know, kind of maybe just reviewing kind of our sales Ops process and seeing kind of where we need to.
39 00:07:39.570 ⇒ 00:07:40.990 Robert Tseng: where where we could
40 00:07:41.230 ⇒ 00:07:50.820 Robert Tseng: like optimize and better delegate kind of what we’re doing, I think would be helpful. I mean, we’re still very constrained to just founder. Let sales every every yield needs to go through
41 00:07:51.256 ⇒ 00:07:57.659 Robert Tseng: Utam and I in order for it to close. And maybe that’s just how it is for kind of the foreseeable future. But
42 00:07:58.233 ⇒ 00:08:01.939 Robert Tseng: yeah, I think just wanting some guidance on
43 00:08:02.390 ⇒ 00:08:04.350 Robert Tseng: on what we have set up so far.
44 00:08:05.202 ⇒ 00:08:13.619 Robert Tseng: This 1st part, and then just like other, just wanting to continue to discuss like go to market strategies, I know, like
45 00:08:13.720 ⇒ 00:08:22.650 Robert Tseng: Uton, was more kind of trying to tap the vixel network, trying to understand partnerships like we’ve connected to many friends of Pixel at this point.
46 00:08:22.870 ⇒ 00:08:28.560 Robert Tseng: I mean, frankly, like none of them have really worked out in terms of like working with us directly.
47 00:08:29.340 ⇒ 00:08:34.370 Robert Tseng: yeah, I mean, like, we tried to get someone through Pixel for like a Pm. Hire as well.
48 00:08:34.650 ⇒ 00:08:48.650 Robert Tseng: for one reason or another, just that didn’t didn’t work out either. So like, I feel like we’re under utilizing the pixel network in some way. So I think that I feel like maybe that to me has has quieted down the past couple of months.
49 00:08:49.690 ⇒ 00:08:59.870 Robert Tseng: So yeah, I don’t know. Maybe if it’s just a matter of communicating what our needs more are now, maybe that’ll help us to drum up more conversation with with people in the in the network.
50 00:09:00.690 ⇒ 00:09:02.810 Robert Tseng: But yeah, I think that’s that’s
51 00:09:03.510 ⇒ 00:09:08.300 Robert Tseng: maybe like one level deeper to like what we’re what we’re focused on right now.
52 00:09:09.230 ⇒ 00:09:18.359 suleman: Sure thing, sure thing. So I think maybe if I would suggest like a a, maybe a higher level comment, and then let’s go deeper into it.
53 00:09:18.550 ⇒ 00:09:23.859 suleman: So I think the 1st thing we would. It’s more of a request, not a comment
54 00:09:24.615 ⇒ 00:09:34.560 suleman: is that you may recall the 1st time we talked, and I think I’ve probably said it multiple times since, perhaps to you over time as well is that Vixel is like a gym.
55 00:09:34.950 ⇒ 00:10:04.349 suleman: So you kind of have to show up to get the value. It’s unfortunately, it’s just the model of the the idea here. So what I was just gonna make an overarching comment was that please don’t hold back like you want us to review your sales plan. Let’s review your sales plan. There is nothing back from that. And the answer to the the other 2 items is absolutely not even a question. So I think that’s why I attacked the route first, st which is, I think, maybe we need to engage more is probably the root of the issue.
56 00:10:04.430 ⇒ 00:10:33.139 suleman: because all of these things the fact that you felt that we don’t provide that support is also kind of concerning for us, right from that standpoint on, how did this not come up so? And usually these kind of things. Tuition’s credit is right, and that typically companies would put together the Ops deck. And in there one of the slides is, well, what do you need help with. And if you put down there, then that’s exactly what we start focusing on. But you do have to tell us a little bit more about specifically. So. There is the overarching stuff that we do right. And there’s a
57 00:10:33.140 ⇒ 00:10:50.439 suleman: things go on all the time. But if we actually have a deeper insight into what you need, then that’s exactly where we will jump in. So what you asked for 1st part, like review of the sales process, I think the next step is very straightforward. Let’s put time on the calendar. In fact, we can do it right now.
58 00:10:51.060 ⇒ 00:10:55.031 Robert Tseng: Okay, yeah, I mean, we we I would. I would. I would want to do that.
59 00:10:55.850 ⇒ 00:11:08.210 Robert Tseng: yeah, I think like the main metric that we’re looking at this quarter, at least, for from a sales perspective, it’s just meetings booked. I think we kind of had all of these different other targets for in the funnel. But I don’t know, I think just to.
60 00:11:08.530 ⇒ 00:11:13.269 suleman: I like it. Actually, just one Kpi is how things get. So one Kpi meetings booked.
61 00:11:13.430 ⇒ 00:11:26.900 suleman: And obviously we would love to understand what you are doing. There’s usually 2 angles to it. If I may get into the advisory for a second, and then we’ll come back to the feedback as well, the the 2 things that have we have seen is that,
62 00:11:27.170 ⇒ 00:11:51.700 suleman: the the general rule of any sales, motion, or any meeting books. Motion, for example. For instance, it does take about you. Take a strategy and you operate on it, and you iterate on it. It takes about 6 to 9 months for it to really take off like. So what we have seen is early termination of strategies like that is actually usually one of the biggest mistakes we have seen a lot of companies make because they get impatient 3 months, 6 months in
63 00:11:51.700 ⇒ 00:12:17.229 suleman: like inbound like you said right. The content, for example, like you put the content on the website before you will actually see the SEO kicking in and the leads actually start to pop in. It takes about 18 months. By the way, it’s insane. I know it’s not an easy one, but so it’s the combination of that. But the key is that we are marching in the right direction for the right amount of time, perhaps, is the way to say it so, for you guys, not seeing your results yet, I think, is
64 00:12:17.230 ⇒ 00:12:40.420 suleman: in some ways very expected and reasonable. Perhaps, if I may say that because it’s well again, I’ll have to look into it deeper to see what things have been going on for 12 months, and what has more recent, but the ones that have been going on for a while, those are the ones where we need to do cost correction, the ones that are early. We need to just make sure you guys are on the right target based on what we know about data from other companies that we excel as well on what’s working and what’s not.
65 00:12:40.570 ⇒ 00:12:44.379 suleman: and from there, as long as you’re in the marching in the right direction. The second
66 00:12:44.550 ⇒ 00:13:09.700 suleman: wisdom we can probably bring to the table will be, is, hey? This is might be a little too early. Give it a little more time. Some of those answers might just be that. And one of those, by the way, is, you and Utham need to be in the sales process I would. I think I’ve shared this with you and Utham, and I’ve talked about this at least once, I remember, but in a roundtable. But I was personally still involved in my sales process all the way up to about 5 million dollars in revenue.
67 00:13:10.840 ⇒ 00:13:32.889 suleman: So that is one role. That is one of the last ones. And frankly, I will tell you even guys stories on. Why that happened. It wasn’t that it was not tried. It was that every time I would try I would start seeing a dip. Basically, it takes time to find the right person who can replace you in the sales cycle. And so that’s another example of just a
68 00:13:33.050 ⇒ 00:14:02.340 suleman: it. You should keep trying. But just keep the expectations that may take another year or 2 again, one of those things that does take a couple of years to really settle in. But I think the short answer to that is is, let’s go deeper. That’s my next step is, let’s take some time and let’s go deep, and I can take a look at it. Sam can take a look at it. We can even give completely independent opinion. Sam and I have actually come from slightly different sales background. So I think that actually helps 2 different perspectives.
69 00:14:03.400 ⇒ 00:14:04.030 Robert Tseng: Okay.
70 00:14:04.560 ⇒ 00:14:10.992 Robert Tseng: yeah, no, I I think that that makes sense. I I would love to run through what we what we put together for you guys.
71 00:14:11.730 ⇒ 00:14:14.899 suleman: Yeah, I mean, I would. I would say that like I.
72 00:14:15.740 ⇒ 00:14:33.600 Robert Tseng: And run our go to market strategy. I guess so. I mean all the docs and everything we’ve I kind of like have a good sense of that. Yeah. So I think that’ll probably just be like, I’ll I’ll I’ll book time with you guys I know, sends out the booking link. So maybe that’d be where I can grab time with you.
73 00:14:33.980 ⇒ 00:14:36.500 suleman: Good thing, or we can pick a time before we leave today.
74 00:14:38.136 ⇒ 00:14:45.969 suleman: I, either way. But yeah, I mean, if it’s important to you guys and you’re feeling left behind. Then I wanna get ahead of it. I don’t want to just leave it. I wanna get ahead of it.
75 00:14:46.150 ⇒ 00:14:50.309 suleman: So let’s then we can get on a call as soon as possible.
76 00:14:50.370 ⇒ 00:14:56.680 suleman: So I think that’s the 1st thing. And let’s maybe after that.
77 00:14:56.720 ⇒ 00:15:20.400 suleman: once we understand. And you kind of see our perspective. And we take a look at what you guys are doing. Maybe the boot camp decision will potentially become the other boot camp decision will potentially either become void or become clear. Perhaps, if we understand like, I’ll obviously I was gonna actually ask you if you could point us. To which Bootcamp you’re considering, also, because maybe we can take a look at that as well to see how we feel if it builds up or complements what we do, or is it
78 00:15:20.400 ⇒ 00:15:30.409 suleman: overlapping? We can probably give you our perspective on how it compares to what we believe we can support as well. We can give you an honest perspective there, too.
79 00:15:30.870 ⇒ 00:15:40.334 Robert Tseng: Yeah, yes, I mean, I’ve been talking to Jesse Pooji. He’s like he runs this thing called Bootstrap giants. I mean, he runs a bunch of different things. But
80 00:15:40.870 ⇒ 00:15:51.401 Robert Tseng: i, 1 of his old port Port Codes is ox insights. They’re kind of. They’re just like they’re like a marketing agency targeting. PE
81 00:15:52.120 ⇒ 00:15:57.430 Robert Tseng: backed companies. Yeah. So like, I, I know, kind of the
82 00:15:57.610 ⇒ 00:16:04.009 Robert Tseng: the person that’s leading that team for them. And so I’ve I’ve just been talking to them, and he’s he’s been trying to
83 00:16:04.400 ⇒ 00:16:12.530 Robert Tseng: tell me I should. I should work with with Jesse directly and try to join join the the Bootstrap guys kind of program.
84 00:16:12.965 ⇒ 00:16:17.710 Robert Tseng: I’ve had like a couple of one off conversations with him, I think. Like the feedback has been good, I think?
85 00:16:19.680 ⇒ 00:16:22.529 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I think the things that he offered one is like
86 00:16:22.610 ⇒ 00:16:44.070 Robert Tseng: playbook for different, like, go to market like hacks. For like to to get better intros into strategic targets. Because, yeah, we’ve kind of developed an Icp and that continues to be refined. We don’t really have like a strategic account strategy and just kind of like hearing him like talk about a bit. How he does it at Ops. I mean, their contracts are much bigger than ours, like
87 00:16:44.090 ⇒ 00:17:13.620 Robert Tseng: clients are paying them like 200 to 300 KA month, which is, you know, way bigger than what we’re what we’re asking for. But like, I think. I don’t know. I just thought there was something valuable there, and kind of like how they actually have a strategy for going after their icps. So I think that was helpful. That was that was intriguing to me. And then I mean all the other stuff like sales tracking frameworks like Rgm, like all that stuff we already like figured out and big sold. So I don’t really think that was necessarily that interesting to me.
88 00:17:14.002 ⇒ 00:17:19.310 Robert Tseng: I think it is really just like getting like his strategic sales perspective that I think I
89 00:17:19.890 ⇒ 00:17:29.579 Robert Tseng: I was like, well, I don’t really feel like we have an advisor that’s like that we’re actively engaged with on that yet. So I think I’m you know. That’s just that’s.
90 00:17:29.580 ⇒ 00:17:29.970 suleman: You know.
91 00:17:29.970 ⇒ 00:17:30.859 Robert Tseng: Where things are at.
92 00:17:31.220 ⇒ 00:17:38.979 suleman: I have not heard of him before, so let me deep dive, so that’ll be an action item we can also discuss as a follow up to see if we believe
93 00:17:39.320 ⇒ 00:17:55.029 suleman: it’s cause. Yeah, it could be either over overlapping complementary bills on top, and maybe we all learn something. I I’m by the way, a big fan of like always learning something new from that standpoint as well. So I will take a look at what they have to offer, and from there see if I can give you some
94 00:17:55.330 ⇒ 00:18:18.409 suleman: advisory, because at Wixel, as you know, we are not just. Gtm, we are kind of looking at it. Bigger picture. So yeah, a very important part of Wixel. But it’s not all of Wixel. So the way I’m also looking at it as well. It’s something that I should be aware of, anyways. So thanks for making me aware of that. If it’s a good program that you’re getting good reviews on. Do you know what the pricing model is? Because I don’t see that on their website for the Bootstrap.
95 00:18:18.410 ⇒ 00:18:18.940 Robert Tseng: I’m
96 00:18:19.220 ⇒ 00:18:42.970 Robert Tseng: yeah. I mean, it’s basically like a coaching model like they do. 6 weeks you have the platform. You kind of like, go in a lot of self serve content similar to Vixel. And then they do like twice a week, kind of like video check ins pricing wise. I think it’s similarly priced. It’s like 5 K. For I think you pay it upfront, and then they do like a
97 00:18:43.410 ⇒ 00:18:47.249 Robert Tseng: they say, oh, like 2 months. Guaranteed if you don’t, you know
98 00:18:47.750 ⇒ 00:18:55.649 Robert Tseng: close. Yeah. If you don’t close more business to like, make up your costs like you get a full refund like that’s that’s their pricing model.
99 00:18:56.000 ⇒ 00:19:00.190 suleman: No, no, that’s a. The last part is is attractive. Absolutely. Because,
100 00:19:01.610 ⇒ 00:19:08.719 suleman: yeah, I mean, most most companies and programs that I’m aware of would just charge you a fee and then just disappear. So that last part is pretty
101 00:19:08.880 ⇒ 00:19:11.240 suleman: good, and some skin in the game.
102 00:19:11.620 ⇒ 00:19:39.909 Robert Tseng: I’ve talked to a couple of their alumni, I guess, which I think was also attractive to me, that I think to the alumni. They’re both doing over over a million in revenue, which is kind of what we’re on track to do at this point. So like, I just feel like it’s more similar stage like I like, I felt like from a community perspective like just being able to talk to people who are in our stage, or like a couple of steps ahead, as something I’m always looking to do. And
103 00:19:40.337 ⇒ 00:19:45.359 Robert Tseng: I don’t find many people that are where we’re at currently. So.
104 00:19:46.110 ⇒ 00:19:50.931 suleman: Got it. So that actually, definitely has a little to do with the the
105 00:19:51.730 ⇒ 00:19:58.910 suleman: I don’t think I’ve seen you in a lot of the round tables, I think. If I if I remember correctly, I I mean that there’s actually
106 00:19:59.140 ⇒ 00:20:16.399 suleman: about half the communities where you guys are probably right in the middle of the Wixel community, so that there is about how about 15 companies exactly where you probably are wanting them to be, and then 15 behind you as well, because you’re only looking at your perspective cohort, perhaps as a sample set.
107 00:20:16.400 ⇒ 00:20:36.399 suleman: But the companies who have been around longer obviously have grown over time as well. So we should. Probably that is something again, we can discuss in more detail. So the community piece, I do think. In fact, I don’t know. Keep me honest. But from what I’m seeing the boots. By the way, did I get the link right? Let me make sure.
108 00:20:36.400 ⇒ 00:20:37.896 Robert Tseng: Oh, I didn’t look
109 00:20:38.270 ⇒ 00:20:52.669 suleman: So yeah, put it in the chat to make sure, but rather than beat this horse to death right now let me let me review, and let me do my 2 cents on what I believe. But it sounds interesting to to say the least. Yeah.
110 00:20:53.251 ⇒ 00:21:17.890 suleman: So that’s that’s great. And then I think the second point we had was that. Yeah. So I think the second point actually also ties a little bit into the engagement and but that sounds like it was more a misunderstanding than anything. So we can even talk to with them. If you want about the Ops tech and how to do it, because there’s actually the blocker there also, because which is that?
111 00:21:17.890 ⇒ 00:21:32.669 suleman: Vishnu probably explained it on slack. But I’ll say it again, because majority of our companies do have a 1 on one boots brain trust advisor. And actually, majority of the companies talk to them about nothing but Gtm. By the way, so you kind of that’s having your own shot.
112 00:21:32.670 ⇒ 00:21:34.000 Robert Tseng: I would expect.
113 00:21:34.000 ⇒ 00:21:42.629 suleman: Help help you with the Gtm. To get there, and I will explain the history, if it may sound overbearing. So I don’t wanna just leave you guys wondering why? So.
114 00:21:42.630 ⇒ 00:21:43.080 Robert Tseng: Oh, yeah.
115 00:21:43.080 ⇒ 00:21:52.879 suleman: That was that if we the engagement with the Brain Trust is significantly more productive when our founders prepare for those meetings.
116 00:21:53.110 ⇒ 00:22:21.859 suleman: Yeah. And then, frankly, you guys are not alone in this bucket, which is that folks who are unable to make the time to prepare the decks in time. So what we did was we put a gating function. And we said, until you show us that you can do these 3 months in a row and see, and and that they’re not done just for the benefit of the you may recall in the boot camp we talked about it. It’s actually supposed, helps the entrepreneurs a lot, too, because it gives you an hour or so is all it takes, but it helps you to zoom out and kind of put
117 00:22:21.860 ⇒ 00:22:25.469 suleman: a view of your company together for somebody else
118 00:22:25.490 ⇒ 00:22:42.100 suleman: externally, and putting the view together itself is very helpful. It’s the same thing as writing is sometimes for your own benefit and nobody else’s. It’s kind of the same thing forces you to think about what are my biggest challenges. What do I need help with? That’s basically what the template is all about. So if one, it helps us help you better.
119 00:22:42.100 ⇒ 00:23:02.299 suleman: And 2, it helps you and 3 when you have done it 3 months in a row. Basically, you become eligible to work with a Braintrust mentor who then kind of becomes your sherpa for Gtm, so I would say we can work. We can connect with Uttam and kind of see how you guys can prioritize this a little. And how can we help to
120 00:23:02.450 ⇒ 00:23:04.480 suleman: cross that or
121 00:23:04.660 ⇒ 00:23:29.380 suleman: Hub there, because that might also help a lot for you to actually have somebody who is dedicated to you and talking to you so that cause I’ve seen sometimes like the roundtables, obviously at fixed times and stuff, so you may or may not be able to make it. But like, if you have some one on one relationship with one of the mentors. It’s a little different. So I think that would be my second thing is, let’s actually get ahead of the
122 00:23:30.243 ⇒ 00:23:41.090 suleman: hope you understand and appreciate the rationale for the operations deck, because this discipline is kind of what we want to see our founders to exercise before we will take the time of an ex CEO. Basically.
123 00:23:41.870 ⇒ 00:23:42.255 suleman: Oh.
124 00:23:42.640 ⇒ 00:24:02.270 Sam Melehy: And to to also, I’ll throw in on that. Robert. The reason we do it that way is because, those companies that have been shown to have a track record on producing the operational decks and have are forced to think about the things like out there was saying are traditionally from the data we have says they’re more successful.
125 00:24:02.270 ⇒ 00:24:21.179 Sam Melehy: And so that’s what we want to give our brain trust. As our brain trust members are are kind of a very high value resource. So we want to give those to the companies that have the highest potential right? And so you guys would easily qualify for that where you are. If you were to go through that that operational deck 2 times.
126 00:24:22.110 ⇒ 00:24:25.869 Robert Tseng: Okay, yeah, no. I think like, I said, I think it’s it’s definitely our battery.
127 00:24:26.080 ⇒ 00:24:26.469 Robert Tseng: Think
128 00:24:27.320 ⇒ 00:24:35.060 Robert Tseng: as far as how we split the accountability, like, I mean, we do review stuff internally. I mean, we turn my every month. We’re you know, we have a deck that we.
129 00:24:35.270 ⇒ 00:24:47.259 Robert Tseng: or talking too short. I just didn’t know it wasn’t being shared. I just assumed that it was. And yeah, I think it sounds like, I I mean, I wanna probably insert myself more into the fold of engaging with
130 00:24:47.370 ⇒ 00:25:00.239 Robert Tseng: like I, I could probably take take that on. And yeah, I think it makes sense like we’ll we’ll we’ll have to put in the work in order to get value out of it. So yeah, like I, if anything, this is just like a warning sign for me. It’s like, well.
131 00:25:00.250 ⇒ 00:25:00.910 suleman: Yeah.
132 00:25:01.390 ⇒ 00:25:16.119 Robert Tseng: Things seem to have slowed down. Well, stuff. There’s definitely something on us that we need to adjust in order to to keep engaging with the pixel community. So I mean, appreciate taking the time to kind of just like talk through. You know, where we’re at pretty honestly. So.
133 00:25:16.740 ⇒ 00:25:17.699 Sam Melehy: Absolutely so appreciate.
134 00:25:17.700 ⇒ 00:25:26.890 Sam Melehy: Thank you for bringing that to our attention. I mean, we wanna make sure that we’re taking care of the needs of our our portfolio companies. You know. We want to make sure we’re we’re doing that.
135 00:25:27.560 ⇒ 00:25:28.080 suleman: Okay?
136 00:25:29.090 ⇒ 00:25:41.779 suleman: So I think 3 actionables, Sam. I know if you caught the 1st one. But the 1st actionable is, Robert actually wants us to review Robert, and want us to review what they have put together for the go to market. They have one single kpi, more meetings.
137 00:25:42.010 ⇒ 00:25:42.560 Sam Melehy: Yep.
138 00:25:42.560 ⇒ 00:25:52.470 suleman: The I was telling Robert that we could maybe even do like you and I could do it together that way. We can give 2 different perspectives, because we do come from slightly different sales. Motion backgrounds. So.
139 00:25:52.470 ⇒ 00:25:53.782 Sam Melehy: Sure, sure, absolutely.
140 00:25:54.460 ⇒ 00:26:02.440 suleman: And, by the way, Robert, one comment I did not address, and I’ll actually go back and address just reminded. Got reminded me of bigger deals that you guys were talking about
141 00:26:02.540 ⇒ 00:26:07.580 suleman: how to build strategic context, I would definitely say, and I’m gonna
142 00:26:07.640 ⇒ 00:26:30.570 suleman: put Sam on the spot here a little bit. But I would say, you probably do want to that. That can be an actual top level top topic item, when we have that review discussion. Because I think that’s something where Sam, I have my own experiences on how to build it from ground up. But Sam has actually taken relationships and taken them to be much bigger levels than I ever have, so I would probably look up to him myself
143 00:26:30.600 ⇒ 00:26:38.530 suleman: with that goal in mind on how do we increase the Acv, the average contract value as well as the Tcv. The total contract value for a customer?
144 00:26:38.580 ⇒ 00:27:07.060 suleman: I think we could. That could be a topic. And then we can definitely talk about getting more meetings, because obviously the the latter doesn’t matter. If there are no meetings, then doesn’t matter how good we are at the relationships. It’s a prerequisite element. So let’s let’s do that. 1st action item is, let’s set that meeting. Second action item is for us to review Sam. Actually, again we put Robert shared this boot camp, this Gtm. Boot camp that somebody recommended
145 00:27:07.060 ⇒ 00:27:30.050 suleman: to them. So I was like, take a look at it and give them our advice on how we feel if that will be complementary to Wixel or overlapping, or just another thing, because if it’s a if it’s everything that we already can support through the brain trust system, anyways, because it’s rather flexible, then it may not be worth for them to go through yet another boot camp story, but we’ll we’ll take a look at it and give them our sincere advice there
146 00:27:30.150 ⇒ 00:27:43.119 suleman: and then, and the last is with you. Robert, which is, you would love to see given that Gtm, Gtm. Is critical for you. And frankly, most of our meetings do end up being about. Gtm.
147 00:27:43.400 ⇒ 00:27:51.739 suleman: I think it would love to see you engaging a bit more. But at the same time there’s that, and then there’s the Ops Tech, which.
148 00:27:51.870 ⇒ 00:28:08.700 suleman: like I said, if there’s anything we can do to help. If you guys are making a deck internally, just just send them over. That’s all we ask for. We could probably very quickly qualify you guys towards a brain trust and give you guys a 1 on one mentor. So I think, having a brain trust mentor, combined with additional engagement from your end.
149 00:28:08.940 ⇒ 00:28:17.379 suleman: Let’s do a review of your sales, Pipeline, and let us do a review of the boot camp and give you our advice. Those could be the 4 actions I think we can take from this call.
150 00:28:17.970 ⇒ 00:28:23.569 Robert Tseng: Okay, yeah, that sounds good. Yeah. Just give me like a day to how to get everything together. I mean.
151 00:28:23.983 ⇒ 00:28:36.600 Robert Tseng: we, we do a lot of notion, docs, and but if you prefer something else we could do, we could put it. We could do decks. If if that’s your preference for how we, how we present the the information to you.
152 00:28:36.920 ⇒ 00:28:54.120 suleman: So the as long as the notion decks aren’t like very verbose. If you will. Basically, if you look at the format, it’s really just a bunch of dashboards. We just, in fact, a lot of founders. In fact, I’ll give you a quick tip in many cases. What the founders will do is since the
153 00:28:54.120 ⇒ 00:29:05.279 suleman: they have written it in another format, like they might have it in a spreadsheet format. Not that we cannot review a spreadsheet, but I think there is an actual. As Sam said earlier, we have seen actual correlation in
154 00:29:05.280 ⇒ 00:29:28.240 suleman: there is, there is value in just taking a screenshot of that copying it over because it forces you to look at the numbers once, kind of from a zoomed out angle and say, Hey, how’s somebody else? Gonna look at these. There is one thing ourselves versus like, well, Sam’s gonna see it. How does Sam? How do I think Sam’s gonna feel about this? And sometimes you feel the the urge to at that point put an asterisk and say, this number is lower, because this one client left us.
155 00:29:28.450 ⇒ 00:29:38.150 suleman: and that kind of stuff is what gets memorialized in those decks that typically gets lost in just system of records. Otherwise, right? That that zoom.
156 00:29:38.490 ⇒ 00:29:56.087 suleman: So what we would probably recommend is we? We are not married to the deck. That’s not the point, however. A dashboard like Format, with some explanation, I think, is what we are looking for some footnotes and stuff. And the second piece of that I was gonna share was that the
157 00:29:57.309 ⇒ 00:30:20.450 suleman: kind of the if you guys have those decks, or that data collected on a monthly basis even for the past months, like you already have it. We could even review that together. I think that could be one way to start to catch up, because it looks like it was just a lack of communication rather than a lack of actually put doing the strategic work, so there to catch up faster than wait. 3 more months.
158 00:30:20.920 ⇒ 00:30:26.569 Robert Tseng: Okay, yeah, no, I yeah. I mean, I’ll I’ll take it on myself. Make sure we have all that sent over to you.
159 00:30:27.030 ⇒ 00:30:51.171 suleman: Sounds sounds like a plan. Awesome. No, we we love working with you guys. I’ll I’ll I did not start by saying that, but I will end saying that do love working with you love the way you guys are progressing definitely here to support. And you wanna set a call. All it is is all it takes is a slack message, right? It’s just a slack. How do you get on a call? Or if you want to talk via slack depends on how whatever is your preference?
160 00:30:51.440 ⇒ 00:31:02.810 Vishnu Priya: I was gonna do that emphasis there, you know, for sure. I I like. I was telling you yesterday, Robert. You have like various methods. You know that you can reach out to us. It can start with like a simple, slack message all the way up to
161 00:31:03.160 ⇒ 00:31:11.198 Vishnu Priya: getting even multiple one on one calls with us. Right? So we are here to support. Just say the word, and you know we’ll be more than happy to support. So
162 00:31:11.450 ⇒ 00:31:19.549 Robert Tseng: Okay, yeah, no. Really appreciate your time. Yeah, I guess. Do you want? Do we wanna book something just as like a target for us to kind of
163 00:31:19.820 ⇒ 00:31:22.399 suleman: Yeah, let’s chat. Let’s do that.
164 00:31:22.790 ⇒ 00:31:27.579 suleman: I have my calendar and Sam’s calendar open at my end. At this point.
165 00:31:27.950 ⇒ 00:31:28.325 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
166 00:31:28.700 ⇒ 00:31:31.850 suleman: Know if you want, and we can collaborate.
167 00:31:32.180 ⇒ 00:31:38.470 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I I got. I got ours open would sometime early next week make sense.
168 00:31:39.464 ⇒ 00:31:50.210 suleman: Yes, actually, that would make a little more sense for me, just because my kids are starting to go to school tomorrow. So I’m a little tired, so yes, early next week would be ideal. We are both on Monday at one Pm. Central.
169 00:31:51.190 ⇒ 00:31:51.960 suleman: for for now.
170 00:31:53.310 ⇒ 00:31:54.739 Robert Tseng: Yeah. But we could do that.
171 00:31:55.320 ⇒ 00:32:02.510 suleman: Okay, then let’s do it. That’s that was easy. So I will just say, Brainforge.
172 00:32:05.600 ⇒ 00:32:09.930 suleman: slash Wixel, I wish to. Do you want to be there as well.
173 00:32:10.110 ⇒ 00:32:11.769 Vishnu Priya: I can be optional, I think.
174 00:32:12.380 ⇒ 00:32:18.410 suleman: Okay, I’ll put you as an optional. Sure. And I have Robert’s email saved. I have there, I’m going to add.
175 00:32:18.970 ⇒ 00:32:20.190 suleman: wish no.
176 00:32:22.361 ⇒ 00:32:26.950 suleman: let’s see if we know how to make you optional. I do so got that one taken care of.
177 00:32:27.170 ⇒ 00:32:36.820 suleman: Okay, awesome. I have sent the invite to all of us. So let’s start right there, and on the 11, th at one Pm. Central, and then we’ll go from there.
178 00:32:37.610 ⇒ 00:32:39.050 Robert Tseng: Alright, that sounds great.
179 00:32:39.370 ⇒ 00:32:40.589 suleman: Awesome. See? You guys, then.
180 00:32:41.110 ⇒ 00:32:41.810 Sam Melehy: Thanks, Sarah.
181 00:32:41.810 ⇒ 00:32:42.560 Robert Tseng: Thanks. Everyone.
182 00:32:43.120 ⇒ 00:32:43.800 Vishnu Priya: Bye, bye.