Meeting Title: Brainforge x Talisma Partnership Planning Date: 2025-11-12 Meeting participants: Aaron Schwarzberg, Holly Condos, Uttam Kumaran, Rico Rejoso, Hannah Wang
WEBVTT
1 00:01:41.270 ⇒ 00:01:42.949 Aaron Schwarzberg: Hi, Holly, how are you?
2 00:01:43.380 ⇒ 00:01:44.840 Holly Condos: I’m good, how are you?
3 00:01:45.020 ⇒ 00:01:50.350 Aaron Schwarzberg: Doing well, doing well. How was, how was your day yesterday? Did you take some time yesterday?
4 00:01:50.350 ⇒ 00:01:53.440 Holly Condos: Not really.
5 00:01:53.820 ⇒ 00:01:54.570 Aaron Schwarzberg: Right.
6 00:01:54.810 ⇒ 00:01:55.899 Holly Condos: How about you?
7 00:01:55.900 ⇒ 00:02:05.469 Aaron Schwarzberg: Same, you know, kind of in and out, right? Had a lot of meetings in the morning, and then the afternoon was able to take, you know, a couple hours with the kids, and then back to work.
8 00:02:05.470 ⇒ 00:02:06.590 Holly Condos: Oh, that’s good.
9 00:02:06.590 ⇒ 00:02:08.409 Aaron Schwarzberg: Yeah, it was nice. Hey, Utam, how are you?
10 00:02:08.419 ⇒ 00:02:09.769 Uttam Kumaran: Hey, good, how are you?
11 00:02:09.770 ⇒ 00:02:12.340 Aaron Schwarzberg: Good, good. Hey, Rico, how’s everything?
12 00:02:14.770 ⇒ 00:02:15.650 Rico Rejoso: Hey, guys.
13 00:02:15.900 ⇒ 00:02:16.760 Aaron Schwarzberg: Hey, hi.
14 00:02:17.000 ⇒ 00:02:23.280 Aaron Schwarzberg: I don’t, know if Gary’s gonna join, he was offline last I checked.
15 00:02:23.950 ⇒ 00:02:29.610 Aaron Schwarzberg: So I think we… We can spin, and then if he’s able to join, you know, that’s great.
16 00:02:29.800 ⇒ 00:02:47.940 Aaron Schwarzberg: Utam, from the last conversation, from where we left off, and Holly, from your perspective as well, what are your thoughts? Everything that you guys shared last time was very helpful, especially the partnership deck, right? It helped to compartmentalize how you put things together and how you think about, the right approach, right? A couple different models.
17 00:02:47.940 ⇒ 00:02:55.029 Aaron Schwarzberg: Have you given some thought as to what you think makes the most sense? I have some thoughts on my side, but I’d love to hear from you guys.
18 00:02:57.130 ⇒ 00:02:58.850 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, go ahead, Oli, if you have thoughts.
19 00:03:00.580 ⇒ 00:03:03.960 Holly Condos: Well, I, I think that…
20 00:03:04.390 ⇒ 00:03:15.069 Holly Condos: Looking at doing an event, I know it’s towards the end of the year, but maybe even just thinking about something for Q1 at this point.
21 00:03:15.460 ⇒ 00:03:21.970 Holly Condos: Is certainly in… My top 3, I think Utam probably as well.
22 00:03:22.210 ⇒ 00:03:26.939 Holly Condos: And then I think, potentially.
23 00:03:27.670 ⇒ 00:03:31.700 Holly Condos: Doing some sort of, social, as far as…
24 00:03:31.900 ⇒ 00:03:42.750 Holly Condos: You know, hey, we’re partners, making some kind of announcement, you know, that we have joined together, and focusing on our strengths.
25 00:03:43.220 ⇒ 00:03:47.369 Holly Condos: Within each company, but then how we have a synergy?
26 00:03:48.630 ⇒ 00:03:52.590 Holly Condos: I think those are maybe some easy short-term
27 00:03:53.410 ⇒ 00:04:05.960 Holly Condos: things that we could accomplish quickly. As far as driving, you know, sales and deals, I… I haven’t put as much thought into that, but Uten, maybe
28 00:04:06.420 ⇒ 00:04:11.229 Holly Condos: you know, you’ve thought about that a little bit more than I have, but I think those two things, Erin.
29 00:04:11.230 ⇒ 00:04:11.660 Aaron Schwarzberg: Yup.
30 00:04:11.660 ⇒ 00:04:14.890 Holly Condos: Would be good to at least get started with.
31 00:04:15.430 ⇒ 00:04:38.440 Aaron Schwarzberg: So, the reason… and Uttam, I definitely want to get your thoughts at all, but I just want to share the reason I had a big smile on my face is you said those are my top three. Everything that you said, those two elements are my top four, so I have… that’s why I had that goofy smile on my face, just so you know. So, I have a partnership announcement, which you call it kind of social, right? So that’s one thing that I like. Event, you know, Q1, I think, makes a lot of sense.
32 00:04:38.440 ⇒ 00:04:54.050 Aaron Schwarzberg: I was thinking, is it possible, does it make sense to get towards the end of this year? But really, I think Q1 will be more impactful because people’s brains, you know, they’re just other places, right? It’s just gonna be white noise at this point if we try to squeeze it in, so I think that’s a smart way of thinking about it.
33 00:04:54.050 ⇒ 00:04:55.700 Uttam Kumaran: It gives us a lot of time to plan.
34 00:04:55.990 ⇒ 00:04:56.540 Uttam Kumaran: No.
35 00:04:56.790 ⇒ 00:05:15.079 Uttam Kumaran: I don’t think it… like, we’ve done stuff in pretty fast fashion, but at least we can start to think about what an event would look like, who’s our ICP, like, where it is, and then we can start to budget for it and plan for it. It’ll be even better. So we can kick that off, and it’ll sort of sit there as a plan.
36 00:05:15.130 ⇒ 00:05:24.120 Uttam Kumaran: I think totally we should do an announcement, and our team can help with whatever preparations on content there. I also think we should drive people to, like.
37 00:05:24.200 ⇒ 00:05:37.479 Uttam Kumaran: some type of call to action or asset as part of that, whether that is a joint deck, whether that is, like, we can host a landing page with our capabilities, or we can kind of have it be both.
38 00:05:37.480 ⇒ 00:05:49.299 Uttam Kumaran: But that’s something that I think Hannah will have some ideas on. So, that’s sort of what I push our team on, is like, not just to say, like, we’re partners, but every time I see partnership announcements, I’m like, okay, so how can that help us, or…
39 00:05:49.300 ⇒ 00:05:51.009 Aaron Schwarzberg: Now what? Now what? Right.
40 00:05:51.010 ⇒ 00:06:06.550 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, so I want to make sure, like, the first comment is, like, if you’re interested or you want to talk, like, and also to explore… we’ll sort of talk through the copy, but to explain sort of why we’re partnering and, like, what… how does this benefit, sort of, clients? I think at that point, when… once we have that partnership, I think
41 00:06:06.550 ⇒ 00:06:16.500 Uttam Kumaran: between now and the end of the year, I think there’s kind of two ways. I think we should just try to activate that. One, once we have that announcement, we can start to look at both.
42 00:06:16.600 ⇒ 00:06:20.010 Uttam Kumaran: Like, circlebacks, so, like, we can look through all of our past
43 00:06:20.120 ⇒ 00:06:26.320 Uttam Kumaran: Leads and see, like, are there any opportunities that we can go after and use this as sort of the…
44 00:06:26.430 ⇒ 00:06:39.819 Uttam Kumaran: like, spark to, like, say, hey, we just recently partnered with Talismo, like, there’s this. The other piece is we also have a lot of existing leads that we can go through and see, okay, can we use this as a catalyst? And then third is just, like, cold.
45 00:06:39.820 ⇒ 00:06:47.159 Uttam Kumaran: So, who should we just go after through cold LinkedIn, or otherwise, to just get this announcement in front of them?
46 00:06:47.230 ⇒ 00:06:49.340 Uttam Kumaran: And I think that’s, like, more than enough…
47 00:06:50.050 ⇒ 00:07:00.649 Uttam Kumaran: stuff to kind of carry us out. Like, it’ll take a… probably a week or two to get around to, like, what the social… the asset is, and then we can carry, like, as long as we identify
48 00:07:00.810 ⇒ 00:07:13.100 Uttam Kumaran: a basket of leads, we could have that drip until the end of the year, and again, use the announcement as a catalyst to push towards that. I think the biggest pieces for me is for us to think about,
49 00:07:13.680 ⇒ 00:07:14.520 Uttam Kumaran: like.
50 00:07:14.790 ⇒ 00:07:16.639 Aaron Schwarzberg: If it’s an offer.
51 00:07:16.640 ⇒ 00:07:22.689 Uttam Kumaran: Or if it’s, like, a certain, like, combined expertise, like, what is the,
52 00:07:23.090 ⇒ 00:07:35.200 Uttam Kumaran: like, what is that offering that we’re going to market with? Are we focused on an industry? Like, we have other partners that are, like, we’re squarely going after insurance together, we’re going after legal together, or…
53 00:07:35.200 ⇒ 00:07:44.189 Uttam Kumaran: we’re going after a capability, like, we have some… we have partners that want us to help them build embedded analytics. And so, I think for us, it’s to think about, like.
54 00:07:44.290 ⇒ 00:07:58.119 Uttam Kumaran: yeah, like, what the industry or the niche is, so that our team will then go build the lead list. And, like, we’ll do a bunch of enrichment and scraping to kind of put together, you know, however, why we want that to be, and then I think…
55 00:07:58.290 ⇒ 00:08:04.749 Uttam Kumaran: Aaron, this crew can look through that lead list, could give feedback, and then say, okay, like, these are the types of ICPs that
56 00:08:05.000 ⇒ 00:08:07.760 Uttam Kumaran: We… we should just get in front of one way or another.
57 00:08:08.100 ⇒ 00:08:12.210 Aaron Schwarzberg: Yep, I’m a thousand percent aligned, I think that all makes a lot of sense.
58 00:08:12.210 ⇒ 00:08:36.520 Aaron Schwarzberg: I think the joint deck is a great idea as part of the call to action. I think it’s very smart. I’m with you. Every time I hear about a strategic partnership, and it’s just the information, it’s like, great, now what? If there’s an understanding of, so now we have the ability to fully understand all of your internal intended outcomes, and whether or not to what extent you’re structured for success in the future. We have that front-end consulting piece now fully solidified with and through Brainforge.
59 00:08:36.570 ⇒ 00:08:56.070 Aaron Schwarzberg: and now Telisma has the ability to come in behind that and activate that action plan. I think that’s really, really powerful. What you’re saying is you have two, very distinct and important capabilities that, in a very smart way, is actually separate but together. I think that’s a really, really strong value proposition, and I would dive into that as
60 00:08:56.070 ⇒ 00:08:59.750 Aaron Schwarzberg: Someone in any industry, because everyone is asking the same question.
61 00:08:59.910 ⇒ 00:09:03.479 Uttam Kumaran: We… everyone’s saying they want AI, but they don’t really know where to start.
62 00:09:03.480 ⇒ 00:09:14.940 Aaron Schwarzberg: In my mind, you guys are the start, right? Like, that’s how I think about it, and then we have the solutions on the back end, so I think this would be very attractive, to the broader audience. In terms of the…
63 00:09:14.940 ⇒ 00:09:33.270 Aaron Schwarzberg: markets. We are open and receptive. Obviously, you know, we’re very strong on the higher ed side, and that’s something you guys want to start dipping your toe into to some degree, but we also have a lot of banking and fintech experience as well, mostly in India, but can bring a lot of that experience to the U.S.
64 00:09:34.060 ⇒ 00:09:50.729 Aaron Schwarzberg: and so… and hospitals, health systems, and healthcare. I think I told you we closed our first big deal in the U.S, and now we have a couple more that are lined up that are on the precipice of closing before year-end. So, we can definitely start thinking about how we want to go after targets, you know, market-specific targets. But I love…
65 00:09:50.970 ⇒ 00:09:59.330 Aaron Schwarzberg: Holly, I love the idea of the Q1 event. Utam, to your point, spending a lot of time being very thoughtful and intentional and planning it between now and then.
66 00:09:59.620 ⇒ 00:10:01.529 Aaron Schwarzberg: Doing the announcement at,
67 00:10:01.530 ⇒ 00:10:20.960 Aaron Schwarzberg: at some point between now and then, so that kind of the excitement carries into the event. So I think we have the right kind of framework put together. For the joint deck, how do you want to work on that? We have that on our list as well. That’s something that Raj actually brought up that he asked me to bring to the conversation today, and I’m glad you brought it up with him. So from a joint deck perspective.
68 00:10:21.390 ⇒ 00:10:34.820 Aaron Schwarzberg: what do you think makes the most sense? Should we schedule a working session for the teams where we can bring in some marketing brains on our side, you can do the same, and then we kind of work through what each team should be focused on, or build it together? Like, what are your thoughts in that regard?
69 00:10:34.820 ⇒ 00:10:40.800 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, if you’re all good on Google Slides, then what we can do is we can just make sure that your
70 00:10:40.910 ⇒ 00:10:49.910 Uttam Kumaran: If you have any deck materials, then we’ll just throw them all into one, and then if we could… if we can meet, and probably Hannah can lead it from our side, we could pay.
71 00:10:49.910 ⇒ 00:10:50.390 Aaron Schwarzberg: Yep.
72 00:10:50.390 ⇒ 00:10:56.730 Uttam Kumaran: what we want to take from either side, or what we want to combine, and then at that point, yeah, we can divvy it up, for sure.
73 00:10:56.940 ⇒ 00:11:21.849 Aaron Schwarzberg: Perfect. So if you wanna, if you and team wanna open up that channel, I don’t know if it’s a new channel, or we can use one of the other ones that we’ve used before, like, for the contract back and forth, but if you can set that up, if you can provision access for me and for Gary, I think, to start, that would be great, and then we’ll do, we’ll loop in some marketing people on our side. There’s a gentleman named Santos who can loop into the process as well, and he’s really
74 00:11:21.850 ⇒ 00:11:23.280 Aaron Schwarzberg: Really good on the marketing piece.
75 00:11:23.360 ⇒ 00:11:31.299 Aaron Schwarzberg: And then we’ll send over, and you guys can see what fits where and how. So I think those three, the joint deck.
76 00:11:31.340 ⇒ 00:11:44.479 Aaron Schwarzberg: starting the thoughts around the Q1 event and then the announcement are a great start. Do you think that we should focus on those three? Do you think anything else should be folded in, or should we kind of get those three up and running and then go from there?
77 00:11:45.650 ⇒ 00:11:49.930 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I guess I’m curious, like, Holly, if a particular, like, industry…
78 00:11:50.090 ⇒ 00:11:54.290 Uttam Kumaran: Sounds better. I mean, we’ve… we have some wins in healthcare. The…
79 00:11:54.430 ⇒ 00:11:55.830 Holly Condos: I was thinking that.
80 00:11:55.830 ⇒ 00:11:58.700 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, the pace and the regulation, though, is really tough.
81 00:11:58.720 ⇒ 00:12:07.549 Aaron Schwarzberg: So, that’s one thing. Like, education is where, like, we… I think you guys are sort of the elephant in the room, and we don’t have a lot of experience in.
82 00:12:07.710 ⇒ 00:12:12.139 Uttam Kumaran: But, similarly, like, that could be good or bad, so…
83 00:12:12.440 ⇒ 00:12:29.320 Aaron Schwarzberg: Well, so jumping in on that, I don’t mean to interrupt, but you brought up a good point, and it brings me back to another good point I wanted to get to, and I forgot about. The past leads. In higher ed, higher ed moves very quickly, we’ve seen, right? So, we have the bench strength, the experience, you know, 20 years in higher ed, and so I think the…
84 00:12:29.520 ⇒ 00:12:40.099 Aaron Schwarzberg: people are very comfortable, and there’s a lot of trust that’s built very quickly, and so we’re able to move the process relatively quickly. And there are budgets for AI. Everyone’s freed up budgets in preparation for this year, so…
85 00:12:40.100 ⇒ 00:12:51.450 Uttam Kumaran: Can you tell me, is it mostly focused on, like, internal optimization? Is it… or is it all focused on, like, providing applications to students? Like.
86 00:12:51.770 ⇒ 00:13:15.859 Aaron Schwarzberg: Full cycle. And everything that you just said, plus everything else that you didn’t say. So, essentially, what they want to do, I’ll give you an example, you know, our OCR capability for admissions processes, right? So, going through the application, having the AI review it, and then see what transfer credits come in, see what experiential learning should be considered, making sure that the person filled out all the forms correctly, and so that it loads in real time.
87 00:13:15.860 ⇒ 00:13:22.179 Aaron Schwarzberg: person doesn’t have to hear from an admissions advisor a week later, and then they’ve already picked another school, right? So that’s the front-end stuff.
88 00:13:22.180 ⇒ 00:13:37.979 Aaron Schwarzberg: Then there’s hyper-personalized learning path, right, where each student is met where they are through an assessment that’s AI-generated through our platform, and then we can see that Utham and Aaron are in the same class, but Utham needs more help over here to the left, Aaron needs more help over there to the right, even though it’s the same course.
89 00:13:37.980 ⇒ 00:13:48.230 Aaron Schwarzberg: we can meet each student where they are. So it’s everything from pre-enrollment, enrollment, and then even all the way through graduation, and then alumni activity thereafter.
90 00:13:48.510 ⇒ 00:13:56.320 Aaron Schwarzberg: schools are looking for all of it, and the biggest, the only thing that’s held us back in the past, and that’s why I love what you said about going to past leads.
91 00:13:56.360 ⇒ 00:13:59.659 Aaron Schwarzberg: Is, we love this, it makes sense.
92 00:13:59.670 ⇒ 00:14:14.149 Aaron Schwarzberg: We just don’t… we’re not sure how to think about the right way and where to start and how to start, and what existing capabilities we can lean into versus what needs to be ripped out and replaced, and I think that’s where you guys are very strong. We can go back to those 7, 8, 10 clients
93 00:14:14.150 ⇒ 00:14:23.839 Aaron Schwarzberg: We kind of fall into that similar bucket of, we just need more consultative capability on our side to be able to understand which pieces of this we want to incorporate and when.
94 00:14:23.840 ⇒ 00:14:39.740 Aaron Schwarzberg: and we can introduce you guys, and maybe we forward the, announcement piece, or maybe we ask for a meeting and loop you guys into those conversations, and you guys can do the same on your side. But I think that’s a very powerful way of, looking at it. So, on the higher ed side, I think we have
95 00:14:40.020 ⇒ 00:14:51.700 Aaron Schwarzberg: a handful of clients we can go back to immediately and say, you kind of wanted to dip your toe, but you didn’t know where to start. We want to introduce you to Brainforge because we think they can help hold your hand through the process.
96 00:14:52.040 ⇒ 00:15:04.619 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I think exactly right. Like, where we have done a lot of work is on the, like, internal operations and internal, sort of, AI work. Like, we have a couple of offers right now
97 00:15:04.830 ⇒ 00:15:09.240 Uttam Kumaran: Around, like, basically establishing, like, a chief automation office.
98 00:15:09.240 ⇒ 00:15:12.980 Aaron Schwarzberg: We also have something around, like, we have an AI adoption accelerator.
99 00:15:12.980 ⇒ 00:15:16.960 Uttam Kumaran: Of course, we have a lot of work on the data side, so…
100 00:15:17.350 ⇒ 00:15:27.189 Uttam Kumaran: like, whether it’s, like, something around digital marketing, or migrations, or data stack setup, but so, the data side, I feel like we’re really mature.
101 00:15:27.190 ⇒ 00:15:27.570 Aaron Schwarzberg: Yeah.
102 00:15:27.570 ⇒ 00:15:39.390 Uttam Kumaran: that could be helpful is, if there is an industry-specific offer, like, when we go into education, where we can talk directly to that ICP, and again, this is where, like, we’ll learn from you on, like.
103 00:15:39.530 ⇒ 00:15:46.619 Uttam Kumaran: who is the buyer, who is the buyer’s bot, like, who needs to get sold. I would basically like to not only develop
104 00:15:46.890 ⇒ 00:15:58.929 Uttam Kumaran: like, the clear, like, kind of offer for that person as, like, a deck or talking points. But additionally, there’s certainly going to be one or two demos that we can produce and my team can produce.
105 00:15:59.240 ⇒ 00:16:17.109 Aaron Schwarzberg: Amazing. The data piece is going to be critical, and you’re going to want to lead with that on the higher ed side, because they all have… every school, regardless if it’s a small faith-based school in the middle of Kansas, or if it’s one of the, you know, an Ivy League school, they’re all dealing with the same challenge and complexity, where they have disparate systems.
106 00:16:17.110 ⇒ 00:16:29.190 Aaron Schwarzberg: and the data is not aggregated, and they’re not able to kind of understand what the CRM… CRM, SAS, LMS, ERP, like, all these systems are disparate, and they’re not talking to one another, so decisions are made
107 00:16:29.190 ⇒ 00:16:36.900 Aaron Schwarzberg: without the full picture. So I think data is a critical element, and I think trying to figure out how to piece it all together to have
108 00:16:36.900 ⇒ 00:16:47.799 Aaron Schwarzberg: informed decisions, again, all the way through the life cycle of the student process. So at the very beginning, what’s the next best action based on the information we have about the student right now?
109 00:16:47.800 ⇒ 00:16:59.829 Aaron Schwarzberg: So I think that’s a big part of where we’ve been able to come in and be supportive, and something that’s very attractive to them is kind of piecing that all together, having our AI wrap around, and then provide one unified view, pulling structured and unstructured data all together.
110 00:16:59.830 ⇒ 00:17:00.280 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
111 00:17:00.280 ⇒ 00:17:03.760 Aaron Schwarzberg: Data piece will resonate in the higher ed space very deeply.
112 00:17:04.349 ⇒ 00:17:13.969 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, one of the things that we’re finding is that we have these generic decks around AI and around data, but we’re starting to get concentration in a few industries where, like.
113 00:17:14.109 ⇒ 00:17:23.779 Uttam Kumaran: I could just… we can just make the messaging, like, even one step more specific, and if, like, if higher ed is that, then I think we should just…
114 00:17:23.849 ⇒ 00:17:40.899 Uttam Kumaran: we should just build towards that. Again, it’s good… I want to hesitate towards going after too many industries that aren’t… don’t have so much relation, because we’ll end up producing a couple things that are more generic. So we want the offer to just be, like, very crisp towards that exact buyer, so…
115 00:17:40.959 ⇒ 00:17:50.859 Uttam Kumaran: if we think… if… but again, it also matters on, like, your strategic priority, like, if you’re like, hey, we actually want to expand into these other industries, or if you’re like, hey, we just…
116 00:17:51.029 ⇒ 00:17:52.249 Uttam Kumaran: we both…
117 00:17:52.579 ⇒ 00:18:06.099 Uttam Kumaran: And it’s also driving towards the first win, where if we start to win, we could take other risks. If you’re like, hey, there are people that you’ve talked to that maybe just didn’t want to get the full solution, or needed that hand-holding that we could circle back with.
118 00:18:06.100 ⇒ 00:18:06.440 Aaron Schwarzberg: Yep.
119 00:18:06.440 ⇒ 00:18:09.669 Uttam Kumaran: On our side, we have a couple of those in education, that would be great.
120 00:18:09.670 ⇒ 00:18:12.259 Aaron Schwarzberg: And already, we kind of have the…
121 00:18:12.260 ⇒ 00:18:16.079 Uttam Kumaran: the comms in. I feel like the, the,
122 00:18:16.550 ⇒ 00:18:18.840 Uttam Kumaran: The sort of tax there is a lot less.
123 00:18:18.840 ⇒ 00:18:24.859 Aaron Schwarzberg: I don’t really love the phrase low-hanging fruit, but I think that’s the idea, is there are people who
124 00:18:24.860 ⇒ 00:18:40.350 Aaron Schwarzberg: now, with this partnership solidified, going back to them will be meaningful, and it’s not just a pitch, it’s… we know that that was the piece that was missing in our preliminary outreach, and now we’ve filled that gap, right? So, I think going both ways, if you have clients in the higher ed space.
125 00:18:40.350 ⇒ 00:18:55.749 Aaron Schwarzberg: And you think now is a great time to circle back, I think that’s really an opportunistic, you know, situation where we can provide that value to those clients, and you guys can provide those values to those prospective clients that really needed the handholding that, you know, we didn’t provide at the time, you know?
126 00:18:55.750 ⇒ 00:18:56.320 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
127 00:18:56.700 ⇒ 00:18:57.330 Aaron Schwarzberg: Yeah.
128 00:18:57.330 ⇒ 00:18:58.600 Holly Condos: I think that’s great.
129 00:18:58.600 ⇒ 00:19:11.639 Aaron Schwarzberg: Amazing. So yeah, that would be some, you know, quick wins would be really nice. So I think that’s the fourth prong, right? So if we think about the joint deck being one, we think about the partnership announcement slash social as two.
130 00:19:11.660 ⇒ 00:19:19.990 Aaron Schwarzberg: We think about the Q1 event as 3, and then four, which I think we’ll need a lot of strategy around, is, the…
131 00:19:20.130 ⇒ 00:19:29.969 Aaron Schwarzberg: List of clients on both sides to circle back to that we think will be open and receptive to this new, exciting, kind of joint capability.
132 00:19:32.770 ⇒ 00:19:40.540 Holly Condos: That sounds good. Yeah, I just had one question for you, Erin. So, on, your new… customers.
133 00:19:40.750 ⇒ 00:19:44.069 Holly Condos: In higher ed, do you do some sort of assessment?
134 00:19:44.710 ⇒ 00:19:49.139 Holly Condos: With them, like, you know, what do they have, what do they want?
135 00:19:49.380 ⇒ 00:19:56.910 Holly Condos: Just to kind of understand, you know, where Brainforge might fit in on the AI side, or do you kind of just take it on a case-by-case basis?
136 00:19:57.060 ⇒ 00:20:14.479 Aaron Schwarzberg: So, it’s a great question. It’s less of a formalized… in a previous life, when I was Global Head of Learning and Development at a previous organization, we almost always started with learning needs analysis. What’s your current tech stack? What are your processes? What’s the team dynamic? We go through all of that, and then we have a blueprint, right?
137 00:20:14.480 ⇒ 00:20:19.989 Aaron Schwarzberg: We work with their teams, their trainers, their coaches, and so it’s a jointly built analysis.
138 00:20:19.990 ⇒ 00:20:27.500 Aaron Schwarzberg: That shows exactly where they are, where the gaps are, and how we could help to fill those gaps. Whether they took that blueprint internally and actioned it on their own.
139 00:20:27.770 ⇒ 00:20:46.819 Aaron Schwarzberg: that usually wasn’t successful, but 9 times out of 10, they’d say, through this analysis, you’ve shown your expertise, we want you guys to do this. We… we don’t have… we haven’t utilized that same approach, with Mahali, where it’s more through the discovery process, organically, where we’re asking those questions.
140 00:20:46.820 ⇒ 00:20:53.060 Holly Condos: Sure. But it’s not… the way you just described it, I think you were talking more of a formal analysis, is that correct?
141 00:20:53.290 ⇒ 00:20:55.269 Holly Condos: Yeah, yeah, I was just curious.
142 00:20:55.270 ⇒ 00:20:59.640 Aaron Schwarzberg: Yeah. You approach it, but I think it probably makes sense, especially…
143 00:20:59.730 ⇒ 00:21:06.509 Holly Condos: With how things are in higher ed today, is to just kind of treat it organically and not so formally.
144 00:21:07.250 ⇒ 00:21:17.610 Aaron Schwarzberg: Yeah, I think… I think sometimes yes and sometimes no. I think there are opportunities where the formal analysis, I think, would be received well, especially in those circumstances where someone or a group is apprehensive.
145 00:21:17.730 ⇒ 00:21:35.949 Aaron Schwarzberg: And they’re shy about what the next steps can and should be. They have budget, they know they need to do it, but they’re not sure where to start. Maybe that formal analysis, that kind of blueprint that you can hand to them, actually would be what they need to kind of move further, faster. And I think that’s where you guys can be meaningfully impactful.
146 00:21:36.250 ⇒ 00:21:37.070 Holly Condos: Okay.
147 00:21:37.230 ⇒ 00:21:39.390 Aaron Schwarzberg: Yeah. Great. Question.
148 00:21:40.780 ⇒ 00:21:47.420 Aaron Schwarzberg: Okay, so what else are we thinking? Obviously, there’s a lot here within these four elements.
149 00:21:47.540 ⇒ 00:21:54.209 Aaron Schwarzberg: What do we want as the first next step, Utam and Holly, what are you guys thinking? What makes the most sense?
150 00:21:54.210 ⇒ 00:22:09.419 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, so we’ll summarize, sort of, these work streams. I think, Rico, we can also get this stuff just, like, in a quick project plan in linear, so we just have some tracking, and then, we’ll… we can schedule a meeting for the joint deck, and then I think we’ll start an,
151 00:22:09.440 ⇒ 00:22:26.810 Uttam Kumaran: a Notion doc or a Google Doc for the copy on the announcement, something that we’ve done before, and I’ll let you catch up on the earlier part of the meeting, but I think it’s pretty clear there. I think similarly, like, Erin, maybe in parallel, while the team is working on the deck and that, like.
152 00:22:26.970 ⇒ 00:22:36.440 Uttam Kumaran: like, maybe me and Holly can brainstorm a little bit over email or whatever about, like, the core offering for, like, the joint offering for higher ed.
153 00:22:36.890 ⇒ 00:22:41.419 Aaron Schwarzberg: I would… I love that. I love that idea. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to jump. Go ahead, do you think what?
154 00:22:41.420 ⇒ 00:22:52.329 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, and, like, some type of, like, offer, or accelerator, or something that is timeboxed. I think our point these days is to just try to go to market with,
155 00:22:52.370 ⇒ 00:23:08.990 Uttam Kumaran: a clear offer that is timely, and that speaks, like, directly to, you know, the ICP, so I think that’s something that we can arrive at. And then I think once we sort of arrive at that, we can then move… the three of us can move towards building out, like, the…
156 00:23:09.270 ⇒ 00:23:14.959 Uttam Kumaran: the past leads, and then… given those, that’ll help us sort of source more of them. So…
157 00:23:15.650 ⇒ 00:23:26.979 Uttam Kumaran: I feel like that’s probably a good next step. I think all of that we can start to do and basically have kind of in a good spot, like, this month. So I think I don’t feel like we’re, we’re too far from, like, at least
158 00:23:27.060 ⇒ 00:23:36.339 Uttam Kumaran: As long as we’re aligned on the offer, and we have all the copy, we can pull the trigger on that, and then we can start to send out stuff to people, so…
159 00:23:36.560 ⇒ 00:23:45.540 Aaron Schwarzberg: I think everything you said makes sense, and I think that, that order of operations is sound, so I’m good with all of that. Okay. So…
160 00:23:45.700 ⇒ 00:23:51.949 Aaron Schwarzberg: I’ll… we’ll look for the group to be set up, and then we’ll pull the right people into that group, people in marketing, people in product.
161 00:23:51.970 ⇒ 00:24:07.499 Aaron Schwarzberg: So that everyone has, you know, eyes on it, and then we’ll kind of work collaboratively towards those pieces of collateral. And then, like you said, we can work via email, you, Holly, myself, on kind of that offer.
162 00:24:07.500 ⇒ 00:24:13.959 Aaron Schwarzberg: that go to market for higher ed. I think it’s gonna be really well received, and I’m really excited about it. It’s gonna be great.
163 00:24:14.390 ⇒ 00:24:22.120 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, yeah, and then we’ll have everything in our… we’ll create a joint Google Drive, and then… so stuff will be linked there. Perfect. So, yeah, I think we’ll land everything there.
164 00:24:22.200 ⇒ 00:24:37.179 Uttam Kumaran: And then, yeah, I guess also, Aaron, if there’s any, like, industry news or places where you’re reading stuff on higher ed that I can just take a look at or sort of glance through to kind of get some talking points on AI and higher ed, like, that would be very helpful.
165 00:24:37.180 ⇒ 00:24:54.199 Aaron Schwarzberg: Yep, I’ll send you some resources, for you to take a look at and bookmark, and kind of spend some time checking in on. Okay. I’m going to probably be ramping up conferences in Q1 as well, spending a lot of time on the road, I think, going to those. A lot is…
166 00:24:54.700 ⇒ 00:24:58.900 Aaron Schwarzberg: I think a lot of the, digital publications that I’m looking at
167 00:24:58.900 ⇒ 00:25:15.889 Aaron Schwarzberg: track to the upcoming events and what’s going to be covered there, and then kind of the write-ups take place thereafter. So, I’ll let you know, kind of, what events I’m thinking about, and then, of course, if there’s anything in and around the Austin area and or New York, I’ll put an emphasis on those as well, and maybe we’ll try to look to go to some conferences together as well.
168 00:25:16.160 ⇒ 00:25:17.120 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, okay, perfect.
169 00:25:17.450 ⇒ 00:25:18.100 Aaron Schwarzberg: Cool.
170 00:25:18.100 ⇒ 00:25:21.189 Holly Condos: That sounds great, and Erin, maybe add California to your list.
171 00:25:21.190 ⇒ 00:25:25.999 Aaron Schwarzberg: I was just gonna say, I was just gonna say, Holly, I just want to confirm, you’re in California, right? Are you in Northern or Southern?
172 00:25:26.350 ⇒ 00:25:27.160 Holly Condos: Southern.
173 00:25:27.160 ⇒ 00:25:27.860 Aaron Schwarzberg: Southern, okay.
174 00:25:27.860 ⇒ 00:25:28.700 Holly Condos: Diego.
175 00:25:28.920 ⇒ 00:25:35.319 Aaron Schwarzberg: San Diego… oh, that’s… that’s incredible. What… please tell me, I’m gonna get very jealous, but what’s the temperature in San Diego right now?
176 00:25:35.500 ⇒ 00:25:39.010 Holly Condos: It’s probably about 65.
177 00:25:39.200 ⇒ 00:25:43.200 Aaron Schwarzberg: Of course it is, right? And of course, it’s San Diego, it’s 65 year-round, it’s perfect.
178 00:25:43.200 ⇒ 00:25:53.460 Holly Condos: But I will say, I will say that it’s been very foggy in the morning, and then, you know, with the time change, with daylight savings, it’s dark at 5.
179 00:25:53.460 ⇒ 00:25:55.659 Aaron Schwarzberg: Yeah. And then it’s foggy again, so…
180 00:25:55.660 ⇒ 00:25:57.630 Holly Condos: It’s not always warm.
181 00:25:57.720 ⇒ 00:26:03.009 Aaron Schwarzberg: If you’re looking for anyone to feel badly for you living in San Diego, it’s just not gonna happen.
182 00:26:03.010 ⇒ 00:26:05.330 Holly Condos: No, I know. I’m not complaining.
183 00:26:05.330 ⇒ 00:26:13.000 Aaron Schwarzberg: My best… the only place in the U.S. that I think has better weather, or equal weather, is Denver, Colorado. I love the weather in Denver.
184 00:26:13.000 ⇒ 00:26:22.019 Holly Condos: Well, I’m actually from Denver, that’s where I was born and raised. Were you really? I would agree, it’s great weather there, you get, you know, mild seasons.
185 00:26:22.320 ⇒ 00:26:25.010 Aaron Schwarzberg: Oh, it’s so funny. So, I went to DU for undergrad.
186 00:26:25.170 ⇒ 00:26:26.130 Holly Condos: Oh, you did? Wow.
187 00:26:26.130 ⇒ 00:26:26.770 Aaron Schwarzberg: Yep.
188 00:26:27.140 ⇒ 00:26:30.279 Holly Condos: My dad was a professor there for a while in,
189 00:26:30.520 ⇒ 00:26:33.979 Holly Condos: Like, education, you know, training teachers to be teachers.
190 00:26:33.980 ⇒ 00:26:37.720 Aaron Schwarzberg: Wow, so now that’s the Mortgage School of Education, I believe, right?
191 00:26:37.720 ⇒ 00:26:40.899 Holly Condos: Yeah, and I actually worked at the ice rink when I was, like, 6.
192 00:26:40.900 ⇒ 00:26:44.239 Aaron Schwarzberg: No, you did not work at Magnus Arena, did you really?
193 00:26:44.240 ⇒ 00:26:44.570 Holly Condos: Now.
194 00:26:45.140 ⇒ 00:26:46.630 Aaron Schwarzberg: Oh, my God.
195 00:26:46.630 ⇒ 00:26:49.030 Holly Condos: Yeah, I dated a hockey player for a while.
196 00:26:49.030 ⇒ 00:26:50.020 Aaron Schwarzberg: Wow.
197 00:26:50.020 ⇒ 00:26:51.820 Holly Condos: My brother played there.
198 00:26:51.820 ⇒ 00:26:53.830 Aaron Schwarzberg: Your brother played hockey at DU?
199 00:26:54.090 ⇒ 00:26:57.419 Holly Condos: Yeah, just when he was a kid, you know, when he was a squirrel.
200 00:26:57.420 ⇒ 00:27:00.429 Aaron Schwarzberg: In the, in the rink, in the rink there. Yeah.
201 00:27:00.430 ⇒ 00:27:01.760 Holly Condos: It’s elementary school.
202 00:27:01.760 ⇒ 00:27:08.429 Aaron Schwarzberg: Incredible. That’s so cool. Holly, we will forever be connected with that Denver connection. I love that. That’s so great.
203 00:27:08.430 ⇒ 00:27:11.380 Holly Condos: That is awesome. I’ll go to Denver, too, if there’s.
204 00:27:11.380 ⇒ 00:27:28.089 Aaron Schwarzberg: I was just gonna say, now we’ll add Denver to the list as well. All right, I got it. Okay, great. Perfect. Okay, so we have, we have that. I think we have a good preliminary roadmap. I’ll socialize with the team, we’ll get organized, we’ll look for the invite, to the
205 00:27:28.090 ⇒ 00:27:40.700 Aaron Schwarzberg: Google Access, we’ll kind of start sharing some documents there. We can all get you some industry kind of resources to start taking a look at. And I think we have a good start. Is there anything else you guys wanted to cover on this call in particular?
206 00:27:42.140 ⇒ 00:27:43.129 Uttam Kumaran: I think we’re good.
207 00:27:43.130 ⇒ 00:27:44.599 Holly Condos: I think that’s a good start.
208 00:27:45.000 ⇒ 00:27:56.600 Aaron Schwarzberg: I think it’s a great start. Thank you guys very much for the thought that went into today. Really appreciate it. I think we’re in a good place, so let’s keep the momentum going, and we’ll have a good next couple weeks, okay?
209 00:27:57.000 ⇒ 00:27:58.510 Holly Condos: Sounds perfect. Thanks, Erin.
210 00:27:58.510 ⇒ 00:27:59.980 Aaron Schwarzberg: Thanks, have a great day.
211 00:28:01.340 ⇒ 00:28:02.500 Aaron Schwarzberg: Yeah, bye-bye, bye.