Meeting Title: Brainforge: Uttam <> Kaitlin Date: 2025-10-16 Meeting participants: Kaitlin Walker, Uttam Kumaran
WEBVTT
1 00:00:50.000 ⇒ 00:00:51.129 Uttam Kumaran: Hey, Caitlin.
2 00:00:53.360 ⇒ 00:00:54.929 Kaitlin Walker: Hi, how are you?
3 00:00:54.930 ⇒ 00:00:56.319 Uttam Kumaran: Hey, good, how are you?
4 00:00:56.320 ⇒ 00:00:58.420 Kaitlin Walker: I’m great, good to meet you.
5 00:00:58.420 ⇒ 00:01:00.969 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, really nice to meet you. Thank you for taking the time.
6 00:01:00.970 ⇒ 00:01:02.260 Kaitlin Walker: Yeah, of course!
7 00:01:02.660 ⇒ 00:01:17.480 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, so, maybe just brief intro. So I saw your profile in Upwork, and we’re, you know, we’re thinking about expanding our project management crew, so just kind of, like, putting feelers out and seeing who’s available. So a little bit about
8 00:01:17.480 ⇒ 00:01:28.779 Uttam Kumaran: Brainforge, we’re a data analytics and AI consultancy. You know, we have, around 15 people, and we’re running projects for around 10 or 11 clients.
9 00:01:28.820 ⇒ 00:01:32.070 Uttam Kumaran: Most of our folks are split, sort of.
10 00:01:32.460 ⇒ 00:01:50.199 Uttam Kumaran: fractionally between 1 to 3 clients, and so we’re… we’re kind of a kind of small crew running that operation. I’m slowly kind of interested in bringing on, folks that can sub in and start to run some of these clients. I’m running most of them fractionally with some coordination help.
11 00:01:50.450 ⇒ 00:02:09.330 Uttam Kumaran: But yeah, we’re… we sort of do a lot of projects in the data world, so, this is setting up business intelligence tools, data warehouses, data models, working closely with, our business stakeholders, and then we’re running kind of everything agile, so we have, stand-ups, grooming, all the usual stuff.
12 00:02:09.570 ⇒ 00:02:15.349 Uttam Kumaran: And we’re, like, completely remote, so I’m based here in Austin. We have a lot of people in the States and a lot of people abroad.
13 00:02:15.510 ⇒ 00:02:20.280 Uttam Kumaran: So kind of a mixed bag, but everybody operates sort of central time zone.
14 00:02:21.960 ⇒ 00:02:34.150 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, that’s just a little bit about us. I would love to kind of hear a little bit about your background in PM, and kind of curious about, like, what you’re thinking about it for next opportunity, and yeah, we can probably go from there.
15 00:02:34.480 ⇒ 00:02:48.709 Kaitlin Walker: Yeah, yeah. So I started my career in the healthcare space, mainly as a dental office manager, and I thought that I wanted to go to the clinical side, so I became a dental hygienist, and quickly realized
16 00:02:48.710 ⇒ 00:03:04.979 Kaitlin Walker: no, I think I actually like operations. And so, as I was working as a dental hygienist, I did continue my education. I got a master’s in public health, master’s in business administration, and started taking on some projects. I’ve worked, you know, for
17 00:03:04.980 ⇒ 00:03:20.849 Kaitlin Walker: professors, like, I kind of have, like, a wide range, which I really appreciate, because I can kind of see both sides, you know, especially in healthcare, because that’s mainly where my expertise and my experience is. But as I was taking on projects, learning
18 00:03:20.990 ⇒ 00:03:40.190 Kaitlin Walker: you know, the Agile process. I did, complete my Scrum Master certification, just so I had more, you know, depth of knowledge with that, and taking on more project management roles since I’ve completed my graduate degrees. I’ve now been doing consulting, you know.
19 00:03:40.270 ⇒ 00:03:58.880 Kaitlin Walker: various different things, which I really appreciate, because I’m able to get experience in lots of different areas, but ultimately, you know, I’m eventually looking for something, you know, and the project management, operational aspect of things is what I’m most interested in and most skilled in, I would say.
20 00:03:58.880 ⇒ 00:04:03.800 Kaitlin Walker: And so, you know, just keeping things running smoothly, things like that. As far as the…
21 00:04:03.800 ⇒ 00:04:16.449 Kaitlin Walker: tech side of things. I wouldn’t say I’m super technical at this point. I’m totally, you know, interested in gaining more knowledge in that area, I just haven’t had the opportunity, because I’ve really been more on the healthcare side of things.
22 00:04:16.450 ⇒ 00:04:39.300 Kaitlin Walker: Sure. Which is, of course, less, like, you know, it’s transitioning that way, but, you know, not… not as much as full, you know, the full tech side. So, so yeah, I’m definitely interested in that path, for sure. I just don’t know for sure if I’m at the level that you would want me to be at. Definitely, as far as project management, for sure. I just don’t know how much technical knowledge you’re wanting.
23 00:04:39.300 ⇒ 00:04:41.610 Kaitlin Walker: you know, To have with that.
24 00:04:41.830 ⇒ 00:04:56.020 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, and definitely, so we kind of… what we… what we… where we started, you know, my background, I… I did… I was an engineer for a while, then I actually was a product manager and kind of led projects for a while. And so what we kind of arrived at… at Brainforge is…
25 00:04:56.020 ⇒ 00:05:04.329 Uttam Kumaran: we have sort of a lead PM and, like, a PM coordinator model, where, and I would say they’re not as, like,
26 00:05:04.350 ⇒ 00:05:12.370 Uttam Kumaran: one above the other, as they are actually just, like, pretty distinct. One is, like, a lot of our projects aren’t, like, we don’t have, like.
27 00:05:12.380 ⇒ 00:05:21.750 Uttam Kumaran: buy people’s staff full-time, and, like, even enough work for a full-time PM. And so what we’re kind of doing, and we’re a small crew, right? There’s probably 10 people that work on
28 00:05:21.750 ⇒ 00:05:32.399 Uttam Kumaran: all of the projects, and so there’s, like, a little bit of mixing. So what… what I’m doing right now is I’m sort of, like, the lead PM, and where I come in, I have the technical knowledge to… to lead, like, okay, what tickets need to get pushed?
29 00:05:32.400 ⇒ 00:05:51.290 Uttam Kumaran: what needs to get created, but where I’m getting actually a lot of support from two coordinators on our team, who do have some PM background as well, is on scheduling meetings, is on reading some of those meetings, is on client communication, producing, like, sprint review docs, sprint retros, and sort of actually, like.
30 00:05:51.430 ⇒ 00:06:06.629 Uttam Kumaran: subbing in for that added capacity, in actually enabling us to get client communications out on status changes, producing those sprint review decks, things like that. And this isn’t, like… I don’t think that is, like, a…
31 00:06:06.750 ⇒ 00:06:25.649 Uttam Kumaran: you know, I think about, okay, is this just, like, a EA, or is this a role? And I actually think this is actually much more of someone that actually has to have a lot of PM chops, but of course, where our coordinators lack is on the actual technical side, being able to check engineers on, like, when things need to move, producing alternatives, right? So some of the work I’m doing
32 00:06:25.650 ⇒ 00:06:32.300 Uttam Kumaran: is also some, like, solution architecture work. And so that’s really, like, that is an opportunity we have now, is for more of those…
33 00:06:32.300 ⇒ 00:06:49.510 Uttam Kumaran: PM coordinator roles, if that is of interest. And again, I would say, compared to a typical consultancy, I think a lot of those people would be closer to an EA. This is actually the ability to still interact with a lot of clients. It’s almost like we’re tag-teaming most clients together.
34 00:06:49.540 ⇒ 00:06:55.090 Uttam Kumaran: So if that’s of interest, I think that is kind of, like, an open opportunity we definitely have.
35 00:06:55.240 ⇒ 00:06:58.259 Kaitlin Walker: Yeah, no, I would definitely be interested in that, for sure.
36 00:06:58.620 ⇒ 00:07:13.730 Uttam Kumaran: cool. And then, yeah, I mean, so I guess, like, tell me what your current sort of state in your world is. Are you working fractionally? I know, like, are you sort of doing, like, a couple clients, and then looking to kind of just settle down at one longer term? Like, give me a sense of where you think stuff is going for you.
37 00:07:13.730 ⇒ 00:07:31.119 Kaitlin Walker: Yeah, so right now, I’m working with a couple of different, clients, but I do have, you know, the hour availability right now. I’m only at, like, 20 hours, so I still have, you know, about 20 hours. And I can also shift that around as it, you know, continues going forward. You know, some of them are
38 00:07:31.190 ⇒ 00:07:47.130 Kaitlin Walker: you know, not long-term. Sure. But ultimately, I would say I would want something long-term after a period of time. I’m really flexible when it comes to that. I’m really focusing on, you know, continuing to grow my skills and.
39 00:07:56.050 ⇒ 00:07:58.699 Uttam Kumaran: I think I just lost you maybe for the last…
40 00:07:59.610 ⇒ 00:08:02.600 Uttam Kumaran: 30 seconds… let me see…
41 00:08:04.480 ⇒ 00:08:05.469 Kaitlin Walker: Okay, you’re back.
42 00:08:05.470 ⇒ 00:08:10.040 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, so… Yeah, you’re so sorry. Okay, no, you’re good. I just missed the last, maybe, like, 20 seconds.
43 00:08:10.040 ⇒ 00:08:15.400 Kaitlin Walker: Oh, okay, yeah, I was basically just saying I, a vendor.
44 00:08:15.400 ⇒ 00:08:21.190 Uttam Kumaran: You said you have about 20 hours, and you’re, like, looking to go to one fo- one, probably one place eventually.
45 00:08:21.190 ⇒ 00:08:26.940 Kaitlin Walker: Eventually, yeah. I’m super flexible on the timeline, but that would be the eventual goal, yeah.
46 00:08:26.940 ⇒ 00:08:42.789 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, and then kind of give me the sense of, like, what the day-to-day looks like with your current clients, like, for the 20 hours that you’re working for them, like, what is… what is your typical schedule? Like, what are the activities? Even if you can share, like, what… who your… who on the client side your… your counter… you know, your counterparts are, really curious.
47 00:08:42.799 ⇒ 00:08:53.039 Kaitlin Walker: Yeah, so I’m supporting one nonprofit based out of LA. They’re a health education nonprofit. I’m working as the director of that program, so I’m coordinating
48 00:08:53.039 ⇒ 00:09:04.829 Kaitlin Walker: all of the different teams, so the marketing team, the tech team, the developers, everybody within that space, making sure that we’re all, you know, going towards the same goal. I’m working a lot with marketing plans for them, so coming up with
49 00:09:04.829 ⇒ 00:09:10.569 Kaitlin Walker: the strategy and the plans, for them to execute that. And then I’m also supporting a health
50 00:09:10.569 ⇒ 00:09:13.139 Kaitlin Walker: tech startup. It’s a dental lab.
51 00:09:13.139 ⇒ 00:09:31.619 Kaitlin Walker: And I’m basically doing the ground-up work with them. I mean, everything that you could possibly think of. I’m basically, like, their operational manager, but I’m also working with the development side. They don’t even have the website up yet, so it’s, like, very, you know, beginning stages with that, but I’m kind of coordinating all of that.
52 00:09:31.619 ⇒ 00:09:37.339 Kaitlin Walker: We use Asana to, like, track all of the projects and things like that. What tools.
53 00:09:37.340 ⇒ 00:09:39.330 Uttam Kumaran: We’re using linear for everything.
54 00:09:39.330 ⇒ 00:09:40.270 Kaitlin Walker: Okay. Yeah.
55 00:09:40.270 ⇒ 00:09:47.099 Uttam Kumaran: And then, so, what is it like with those clients, like, you have, like, a main stakeholder at each of them that you’re sort of
56 00:09:47.230 ⇒ 00:09:54.310 Uttam Kumaran: Paired with day-to-day, who’s like, hey, we have these, like, 5 work streams, go figure out what to do, like, I guess give me a sense of what it’s like working with those clients.
57 00:09:54.310 ⇒ 00:10:03.699 Kaitlin Walker: Yeah, so I work directly with the CEO, and, with… for both of those, and kind of come up with a strategy with them, and then create that process.
58 00:10:04.020 ⇒ 00:10:04.370 Uttam Kumaran: Right.
59 00:10:04.370 ⇒ 00:10:20.539 Kaitlin Walker: different, you know, and coordinating with the other teams, so I have team meetings throughout the week with each of those to make sure that we’re all, you know, going in the right direction. Like, I would say my direct report and the person I’m working more closely with would be the CEO for both of them.
60 00:10:20.780 ⇒ 00:10:29.869 Uttam Kumaran: Cool. And then, how has it been, like, working fractionally, like, in a PM role for both of them? Like, do you feel like it’s enough time? Do you feel like you’re able to…
61 00:10:30.010 ⇒ 00:10:35.329 Uttam Kumaran: sort of, like, do… move stuff forward every day with… with… with the, you know, 10 hours? Okay.
62 00:10:35.530 ⇒ 00:10:51.680 Kaitlin Walker: Yeah, I would say so. Especially with this startup, because, you know, everything is so beginning stages, I kind of have a very, you know, clear plan of, you know, where we’re going each week. But yeah, I would still say, yeah, we’re seeing a lot of progress, for sure.
63 00:10:51.680 ⇒ 00:11:03.710 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, cool. Okay, yeah, I mean, I think a good fit, and again, what we’re thinking about is, like, having this sort of lead PM, PM coordinator sort of hierarchy. I think there is opportunity, as you’ll…
64 00:11:03.750 ⇒ 00:11:19.259 Uttam Kumaran: in our company, for everybody to move into whatever role is available. And so I would like to see our PMs move into that lead PM role, but also, we’ve had PMs that have moved into even operations and marketing on our side, and so there is a lot of opportunity within the business. I think
65 00:11:19.310 ⇒ 00:11:35.610 Uttam Kumaran: for us, like, we tend to hire really slowly and find people that want to wear, like, multiple hats, but also we do start small with everybody, so we start, like, sort of 10, 20 hours, and then as you kind of work with us and see what it’s like, we can kind of grow that, so that would be sort of the process with us.
66 00:11:35.610 ⇒ 00:11:45.930 Kaitlin Walker: Yeah, and that works perfectly for me and everything that I have going on as well, because then I can, you know, plan to make, you know, the increase in hours and things like that. But yeah, that would be the perfect starting point for me, for sure.
67 00:11:45.930 ⇒ 00:11:55.780 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, so how about what I do is, you know, I’m gonna… I’ll… let me circle back with my team. I may connect you with one or two people on our project management side, just so you can get to
68 00:11:55.780 ⇒ 00:12:06.570 Uttam Kumaran: talk to them and talk about what it’s like. And then let me do some planning. We’re still interviewing a few more people for this role, so if you’re not in a huge rush, then we’ll probably end up figuring something out.
69 00:12:06.570 ⇒ 00:12:08.389 Uttam Kumaran: Come in the next 3-4 weeks.
70 00:12:08.390 ⇒ 00:12:14.029 Uttam Kumaran: But let me know if, like, you… if you have something come up and there is a rush. We’re just now, like.
71 00:12:14.080 ⇒ 00:12:30.230 Uttam Kumaran: sort of settled on this model. We tried to get a lot of, like, really technical PMs, but we just had a hard time finding that role in our budget, and so we were like, okay, well, I’ll still kind of help in delivery, but what I… what is really hard for me is, like, when you’re… when I’m managing, like, 10 clients, right, I can help
72 00:12:30.230 ⇒ 00:12:37.000 Uttam Kumaran: during stand-ups and in those rituals, but it’s like, hey, we need to go… we have to get a client meeting between the client and the vendor.
73 00:12:37.000 ⇒ 00:12:45.190 Uttam Kumaran: And get this decision made. Okay, well, I don’t need to necessarily be there to do that, right? So we’re just trying to find ways to scale, and then also, we use AI for a ton of stuff.
74 00:12:45.190 ⇒ 00:12:59.019 Uttam Kumaran: So we’re finding a lot of optimization with every… all of our team being really AI-enabled to create tickets, to summarize meetings, and for a lot of our clients, the biggest thing is just getting communication out to them, you know, which is where I think this model could really help, so…
75 00:12:59.020 ⇒ 00:13:03.419 Kaitlin Walker: Yeah, yeah, we… yeah, I use the same thing. We use, like, Otter AI for…
76 00:13:03.420 ⇒ 00:13:03.940 Uttam Kumaran: Perfect.
77 00:13:03.940 ⇒ 00:13:08.909 Kaitlin Walker: Yeah, and things like that. So, yeah, I’m seeing that in all the different areas.
78 00:13:08.910 ⇒ 00:13:20.729 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah. So, yeah. Okay, perfect. So, how about I circle back, and I can make some connections, I’ll probably, send an email, and we can move off of LinkedIn, and yeah, if you have any questions in the meantime, please let me know.
79 00:13:20.730 ⇒ 00:13:22.759 Kaitlin Walker: Yeah, perfect, I will. It was great to meet you, thank you so much.
80 00:13:22.760 ⇒ 00:13:24.510 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, great to meet you, thank you so much.
81 00:13:24.700 ⇒ 00:13:25.480 Kaitlin Walker: Alright, bye.
82 00:13:25.480 ⇒ 00:13:26.010 Uttam Kumaran: Bye.