Meeting Title: Brainforge x Talisma Partnership Sync Date: 2025-11-21 Meeting participants: Rico Rejoso, Holly Condos, RohitKhera, Gareth Francis, Aaron Schwarzberg, Hannah Wang, SanthoshR, Uttam Kumaran
WEBVTT
1 00:00:07.740 ⇒ 00:00:09.030 Holly Condos: Good morning!
2 00:00:12.050 ⇒ 00:00:13.099 Rico Rejoso: Morning, guys!
3 00:00:13.320 ⇒ 00:00:14.860 RohitKhera: Hi, good morning, everyone.
4 00:00:35.220 ⇒ 00:00:36.740 Aaron Schwarzberg: Hey everyone, how are you?
5 00:00:37.710 ⇒ 00:00:38.980 Holly Condos: Good morning, Erin.
6 00:00:39.660 ⇒ 00:00:40.259 Aaron Schwarzberg: Hi, Holly.
7 00:00:40.480 ⇒ 00:00:42.019 RohitKhera: We’ve got very good running.
8 00:00:43.940 ⇒ 00:00:45.030 Aaron Schwarzberg: Hey, Gary.
9 00:00:46.670 ⇒ 00:00:47.709 Rico Rejoso: Morning, guys.
10 00:00:47.950 ⇒ 00:00:48.720 Aaron Schwarzberg: I’m going.
11 00:00:50.760 ⇒ 00:00:51.590 Holly Condos: Good.
12 00:00:51.970 ⇒ 00:00:55.800 Holly Condos: Can’t believe it’s gonna be the end of 2025 soon.
13 00:00:56.360 ⇒ 00:00:58.409 RohitKhera: It’s… it’s crazy, isn’t it?
14 00:00:58.580 ⇒ 00:01:01.840 Holly Condos: It’s just been a very fast year for some reason.
15 00:01:02.470 ⇒ 00:01:05.899 Aaron Schwarzberg: Extra fast this year. Fastest year of all time.
16 00:01:09.000 ⇒ 00:01:14.169 Aaron Schwarzberg: Let’s see, what else… Looks like Hannah’s logging on.
17 00:01:14.610 ⇒ 00:01:17.610 Holly Condos: Yeah, and I think U-Tam is momentary.
18 00:01:18.140 ⇒ 00:01:20.090 Aaron Schwarzberg: Perfect. Hi, Hannah, how are you?
19 00:01:21.210 ⇒ 00:01:24.929 Hannah Wang: I am… I’m hanging in there. How are you guys?
20 00:01:25.390 ⇒ 00:01:39.339 Aaron Schwarzberg: Doing well, thank you. Hannah, thanks for all the organization, that you brought to the partnership through the email you sent yesterday. Really, really helpful, great structure to the Excel spreadsheet, so we look forward to diving into that, so thank you again for sending and building that.
21 00:01:39.630 ⇒ 00:01:44.100 Hannah Wang: Oh, of course. Yeah, I enjoy doing stuff like that, so that’s not a problem.
22 00:01:44.510 ⇒ 00:01:46.929 Aaron Schwarzberg: Amazing. Thanks again. Hi, Utam!
23 00:01:47.190 ⇒ 00:01:48.469 Uttam Kumaran: Hey, how are you?
24 00:01:49.150 ⇒ 00:01:50.370 Aaron Schwarzberg: Doing well, how are you?
25 00:01:50.370 ⇒ 00:01:51.660 Uttam Kumaran: Good, good.
26 00:01:52.360 ⇒ 00:01:56.490 Aaron Schwarzberg: Good, good. So, is this everyone, on the Brainforge side?
27 00:01:57.150 ⇒ 00:01:57.860 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.
28 00:01:58.780 ⇒ 00:02:09.899 Aaron Schwarzberg: Perfect. Okay, so we have a few, new members, not to TOSMA, but new to the partnership. So I thought, if it’s okay, can we start with some introductions?
29 00:02:09.900 ⇒ 00:02:23.200 Aaron Schwarzberg: on our side, Utham, because I think Rohit, Santosh, are going to be playing a vital role moving forward, as is Gary, and myself, and the rest of the team. So, can we just jump in really quick and do some quick introductions, is that alright?
30 00:02:23.520 ⇒ 00:02:28.929 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, yeah, no problem. Yeah, I can, maybe… yeah, I’m happy to go. Great to meet you guys, and…
31 00:02:29.000 ⇒ 00:02:41.560 Uttam Kumaran: Ceo of Brainforge. We’re a data and AI consultancy. I’m based here in Austin, Texas. Yeah, know, Aaron via his brother, actually, David. Used to work with David.
32 00:02:41.570 ⇒ 00:02:49.630 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, really excited to collaborate, and I’ll maybe pass the baton to Holly if you want to give an introduction.
33 00:02:50.350 ⇒ 00:03:03.250 Holly Condos: Thanks. Hi, Holly Condas, Partnerships Lead, and I’m doing contracts for Brainforge also. I go between San Diego and Vermont. I’m in San Diego for the rest of the year.
34 00:03:04.930 ⇒ 00:03:06.040 Aaron Schwarzberg: Perfect, thank you.
35 00:03:07.080 ⇒ 00:03:08.520 Aaron Schwarzberg: Anna, maybe over to you?
36 00:03:08.740 ⇒ 00:03:19.210 Hannah Wang: Yeah, sure. I’m Hannah, I’m based in LA, it’s not sunny right now, it’s cloudy and rainy, so it’s not the stereotype.
37 00:03:20.330 ⇒ 00:03:26.790 Aaron Schwarzberg: I work on the marketing team, mostly, and the design team, so I lead design and help with a lot of
38 00:03:30.150 ⇒ 00:03:31.550 Aaron Schwarzberg: Marketing to everyone.
39 00:03:31.550 ⇒ 00:03:35.439 Uttam Kumaran: Aaron, I’m getting some static, or from somebody, there’s a lot of static.
40 00:03:35.440 ⇒ 00:03:35.780 Holly Condos: Yeah.
41 00:03:37.970 ⇒ 00:03:38.910 Aaron Schwarzberg: I don’t think it’s…
42 00:03:39.780 ⇒ 00:03:40.660 Holly Condos: Let’s see…
43 00:03:41.570 ⇒ 00:03:42.530 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, it was Aaron.
44 00:03:46.360 ⇒ 00:03:47.050 RohitKhera: Adam Liquid.
45 00:03:48.330 ⇒ 00:03:55.369 Uttam Kumaran: Maybe your mic switched or something? I feel like it’s, it’s still coming through. We didn’t hear, your… your voice at all.
46 00:03:59.000 ⇒ 00:04:02.530 RohitKhera: Yeah, when you unmute, Aaron, we can stay static, we can’t hear you speaking.
47 00:04:14.630 ⇒ 00:04:16.269 Uttam Kumaran: Still… nothing.
48 00:04:16.279 ⇒ 00:04:17.709 Aaron Schwarzberg: How about now? Can you hear me?
49 00:04:17.709 ⇒ 00:04:18.759 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s working now.
50 00:04:18.760 ⇒ 00:04:19.510 Holly Condos: There you go.
51 00:04:19.940 ⇒ 00:04:25.410 Aaron Schwarzberg: Perfect, I apologize, sorry about that, I disconnected my job register to make sure, so I think we’re good.
52 00:04:25.690 ⇒ 00:04:31.810 Aaron Schwarzberg: Okay, so Hannah, thank you, and then do we… did Rico, intro?
53 00:04:32.270 ⇒ 00:04:33.590 Rico Rejoso: Not yet, yeah.
54 00:04:33.880 ⇒ 00:04:42.799 Aaron Schwarzberg: Okay. So, hey guys, yeah, my name is Rico, I’m based in the Philippines, I’m on the operations side, so anything operations-related, I’m here to assist you in that case.
55 00:04:44.000 ⇒ 00:04:51.009 Aaron Schwarzberg: Amazing. Thanks, Rico. So, Rohit, maybe we can start with… you could do an intro, and then, Sanfosh can go after that, please?
56 00:04:51.520 ⇒ 00:04:55.690 RohitKhera: Sure. Nice to meet everyone. I’m Rohit, I’m the VP of Marketing and…
57 00:04:56.570 ⇒ 00:05:11.220 RohitKhera: the higher education business for Talisma. I’m based in Bangalore in India, and Aaron and I speak at all odd hours, odd for him, odd for me, but we’re happy to do that, and lovely meeting all of you, look forward to engaging with the Brainforge team.
58 00:05:12.670 ⇒ 00:05:16.209 Aaron Schwarzberg: Awesome. Rahi, thank you. Sent those over to you, sir.
59 00:05:16.590 ⇒ 00:05:27.020 SanthoshR: Hey, hey everyone, this is Sandosh here. So, I’m based in Bangalore, too, in India, and I take a bit of, marketing program and all for the Telisma, and yeah, nice meeting you all.
60 00:05:28.320 ⇒ 00:05:28.870 Uttam Kumaran: Nice meeting you.
61 00:05:30.130 ⇒ 00:05:42.080 Aaron Schwarzberg: So, I saw that you have to jump at the half hour. I think, if it’s okay with everyone, we’ll try to keep it relatively short. It’s, very late, for Rohit and for Santosh. It’s about 10 p.m. for them.
62 00:05:42.150 ⇒ 00:05:48.280 Aaron Schwarzberg: And I think we have a handful of things to touch upon. Most importantly, or…
63 00:05:48.280 ⇒ 00:06:06.129 Aaron Schwarzberg: one of the most important factors. Rico, thank you for, adjusting access. So I think now we have the ability to upload and to share, so I think, we’re good to go there. That was one of the topics that Gary wanted to cover, so I think we’re good to go. Gary, is there anything related to the access? Were you able to see if you’re able to upload?
64 00:06:09.500 ⇒ 00:06:11.250 Aaron Schwarzberg: You’re on mute if you’re talking, Gary.
65 00:06:12.420 ⇒ 00:06:18.440 Gareth Francis: Sorry, yeah. I just checked before restarting, it looked like it was accessible. I’ll just check it again.
66 00:06:18.440 ⇒ 00:06:30.190 Aaron Schwarzberg: Perfect. Amazing, thank you very much. So, what we want to do from an upload perspective, just so you guys know, Gary’s gonna be adding a couple documents, I’m going to be adding a few as well. One thing that Gary’s gonna add is our BFSI deck.
67 00:06:30.440 ⇒ 00:06:37.520 Aaron Schwarzberg: then he’s gonna add a video that shows more on the higher ed capabilities as it pertains to AI.
68 00:06:37.520 ⇒ 00:06:56.429 Aaron Schwarzberg: I’m gonna upload the, higher ed deck specifically, so I think that’ll be a really great start, but anything else that you need, Hannah, for the building of the kind of unified deck, after you’ve reviewed everything that we’ve uploaded, please let us know if there’s any context that’s needed, if there’s any other information you need, but we’re happy to be super responsive on that side, okay?
69 00:06:56.740 ⇒ 00:06:57.280 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
70 00:06:57.830 ⇒ 00:06:58.610 Hannah Wang: Sounds good.
71 00:06:58.610 ⇒ 00:07:01.360 Aaron Schwarzberg: Awesome. Awesome, awesome.
72 00:07:01.550 ⇒ 00:07:18.839 Aaron Schwarzberg: a couple things related to, the event and the announcement. So, on our side, Utam, it’s gonna be Rohit and Santos who are going to be playing a primary role in being supportive on, being, you know, involved from the marketing perspective as it pertains to those two elements.
73 00:07:18.840 ⇒ 00:07:40.629 Aaron Schwarzberg: So, if there are any specific meetings that you, that you and team want to set, with them related to those, aside from these meetings, feel free. Now, you have their email, because they’re associated with this, this meeting. They’ll also be active in the shared folders, but, Rohit and Sentosh will be helping to support, from a primary perspective on the event and the announcement.
74 00:07:43.440 ⇒ 00:08:00.029 Aaron Schwarzberg: Client list. So I want to, give you a heads up. So what we want to do, and tell me if you think this makes sense, and Holly, I think we talked about this on the last call, the ones that we think are the lowest hanging fruit, but again, we can add more to it, but this is preliminarily what we’re thinking.
75 00:08:00.120 ⇒ 00:08:05.340 Aaron Schwarzberg: For the groups that we’ve presented to, higher ed and corporate, both.
76 00:08:05.410 ⇒ 00:08:16.249 Aaron Schwarzberg: Where we kind of got to the one-yard line, and we were really, really close to moving the deal forward. But for whatever reason, they felt like they needed more information, more data.
77 00:08:16.320 ⇒ 00:08:31.319 Aaron Schwarzberg: more kind of confirmation as to what exactly they needed from an AI perspective moving forward. They didn’t move all the way. And we’re on the precipice, things are really good, really close, a lot of collaboration with those groups, but there are 3 or 4 organizations, in particular.
78 00:08:31.320 ⇒ 00:08:36.740 Aaron Schwarzberg: that are on the precipice of moving forward, but I think if they have the front end
79 00:08:36.740 ⇒ 00:08:51.499 Aaron Schwarzberg: kind of brain-forged special sauce view as to where exactly their gaps were. I think it would be more comfortable with them to say, okay, this aligns with where we think our intended outcomes are as it relates to AI, and those are the ones we think we can really move forward together.
80 00:08:51.500 ⇒ 00:08:57.070 Aaron Schwarzberg: So, those are the ones that we want to upload first, and kind of introduce you to.
81 00:08:57.070 ⇒ 00:08:57.400 Holly Condos: Okay.
82 00:08:57.400 ⇒ 00:09:06.690 Aaron Schwarzberg: see if an outreach perspective, we can send an email looping whomever Utamiu, Holly, and team want to be the primary point of contact for those introductions.
83 00:09:06.690 ⇒ 00:09:28.529 Aaron Schwarzberg: and say, we know we’re really close, we know that you’re being thoughtful about next steps, and you want to do a little bit more of a deep dive, we’ve now partnered, and we’ll have the formal announcement coming in Q1, but we’ve partnered with Brainforge, and we wanted to see whether or not, to what extent, you think they could be helpful in that further analysis. Does that make sense, Utam and Holly, from a preliminary, prospective client partnership perspective?
84 00:09:30.780 ⇒ 00:09:32.580 Holly Condos: I think that’s great, yes.
85 00:09:33.600 ⇒ 00:09:44.720 Aaron Schwarzberg: Okay, perfect. Okay, so then those are the first ones that we’ll load up, and then any additional higher ed opportunities that we think could be good for us to partner on, we’ll load those into the shared folder as well, okay?
86 00:09:45.220 ⇒ 00:09:45.750 Holly Condos: Perfect.
87 00:09:46.880 ⇒ 00:10:00.350 Aaron Schwarzberg: Okay, those were the main topics, that I had. There’s some others, but wanted to kick it over to you guys to see what you wanted to focus on for today as well. I know, Hannah put together an agenda, so we can start wherever you guys would like.
88 00:10:04.880 ⇒ 00:10:05.590 Holly Condos: Yeah, it opens.
89 00:10:05.590 ⇒ 00:10:07.119 Uttam Kumaran: So wherever you want to start. Yeah, go ahead.
90 00:10:07.760 ⇒ 00:10:08.579 Holly Condos: Oh, go ahead.
91 00:10:09.890 ⇒ 00:10:11.180 Uttam Kumaran: No, no, yeah, go.
92 00:10:12.280 ⇒ 00:10:25.420 Hannah Wang: I feel like the… we already kind of touched on the joint deck and, like, the partnership announcement and event planning, like, I’ll be in touch with you guys, for that, like, planning that.
93 00:10:25.420 ⇒ 00:10:28.110 Aaron Schwarzberg: So I feel like what we can talk about.
94 00:10:28.160 ⇒ 00:10:35.529 Hannah Wang: for this meeting is probably… well, I feel like, Erin, you already touched on the lead list, too, and just, like, what…
95 00:10:35.960 ⇒ 00:10:53.159 Hannah Wang: opportunities there are, and just going after the low-hanging fruit. So I don’t know if we want to take out the… take a look at the doc together, the Google Sheet, or we can just talk about the higher ed offers, doc that Holly put together. So I don’t know, Holly, what do you think?
96 00:10:53.450 ⇒ 00:10:56.510 Holly Condos: Well, Erin, did you see our lead list yet?
97 00:10:56.720 ⇒ 00:10:57.470 Holly Condos: Just curious.
98 00:10:57.470 ⇒ 00:11:11.759 Aaron Schwarzberg: I looked at the lead list… I looked at the lead list very briefly. I didn’t deep dive into any of them. I just saw that there were 5 or 6 listed. I was not familiar with them. I have heard of Clark, but the other ones I’m not familiar with, and I wanted to do a little bit more of a deep… I just haven’t had a chance.
99 00:11:12.000 ⇒ 00:11:20.339 Holly Condos: Sure, no problem, and I think, at least initially, it would be helpful to know if, you know, those are examples of
100 00:11:20.990 ⇒ 00:11:34.750 Holly Condos: you know, a good fit. Is that around your ICP, right? Are we in the right direction, I guess, is the question there. And understand that you probably need to do some deep dive before you can answer that.
101 00:11:35.130 ⇒ 00:11:51.649 Aaron Schwarzberg: Yes, I can’t, thoughtfully answer that until I do more of a deep dive. I haven’t had a chance to take a look. I think there’s one higher ed institution, the rest look like, they may be, in the higher ed space, but not insta- higher ed institutions like colleges and universities, is that correct?
102 00:11:52.210 ⇒ 00:11:53.520 Holly Condos: I believe so, yes.
103 00:11:53.870 ⇒ 00:12:12.880 Aaron Schwarzberg: Okay, so let me take a look at those. The answer is most likely, yes, they will be in the wheelhouse, but I want to confirm with certainty, so, by Monday, I’ll be able to confirm for you, you know, which ones are, which ones are not, if they’re not, why they’re not, and if they are, why they are, and that’ll help to kind of compartmentalize for you guys what makes sense.
104 00:12:13.300 ⇒ 00:12:29.760 Holly Condos: Okay, that sounds good. Yeah, and then Hannah mentioned that we put together the, the higher ed doc, just, you know, just as an idea, as an example, to kind of spearhead some discussion. I don’t know if you’ve had a chance to look at that.
105 00:12:30.310 ⇒ 00:12:46.530 Aaron Schwarzberg: I didn’t. Can we look at that together? Can all of us take a look at that? Especially because we have the benefit of having Rohit on the call. Rohit’s an expert in the higher ed space as well, so I think it’d be great to jointly review. One thing I did want to say is Gary pinged in the Teams channel, he still doesn’t have the ability to upload, just so you guys know.
106 00:12:47.260 ⇒ 00:12:48.010 Holly Condos: Okay.
107 00:12:49.580 ⇒ 00:12:54.379 Rico Rejoso: Yeah, I can… I can only look at that Excel sheet, I can’t even go into the other folder.
108 00:12:54.380 ⇒ 00:12:55.779 Gareth Francis: How can I think that…
109 00:12:55.780 ⇒ 00:13:07.049 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, you need to use your personal Gmail. The, to Lisma email is just not a Gmail address, so it’s giving some trouble, but if you… your personal Gmail is shared there as a contributor, so it should work.
110 00:13:07.850 ⇒ 00:13:10.180 SanthoshR: Don’t expect right to, you know.
111 00:13:10.460 ⇒ 00:13:11.019 Gareth Francis: Is that power.
112 00:13:11.020 ⇒ 00:13:16.419 SanthoshR: that link to using my personal Gmail. I think it’s asking for the access, so even I requested for one.
113 00:13:16.960 ⇒ 00:13:17.650 Gareth Francis: Yeah, oh god.
114 00:13:18.240 ⇒ 00:13:19.250 Gareth Francis: I don’t see it.
115 00:13:19.830 ⇒ 00:13:22.990 Uttam Kumaran: If you just keep requesting, we’ll go through them as they come, so…
116 00:13:23.380 ⇒ 00:13:25.900 Gareth Francis: I’ll do some Gmail.
117 00:13:25.900 ⇒ 00:13:30.059 Holly Condos: Hannah, can you pull up our higher ed doc, please?
118 00:13:30.460 ⇒ 00:13:34.140 Hannah Wang: Yeah, one second…
119 00:13:36.300 ⇒ 00:13:44.770 Holly Condos: And again, Aaron, Rohit, Gary, Santosh, this is, you know, just an idea to kind of get the discussion going. I mean, they’re…
120 00:13:45.090 ⇒ 00:13:47.370 Holly Condos: Certainly other angles that we can
121 00:13:47.530 ⇒ 00:13:51.469 Holly Condos: Come at this from, but this was just kind of an initial take.
122 00:13:53.600 ⇒ 00:14:02.209 Holly Condos: Utam, did you… Have any gloss you want to put on this from my initial perspective?
123 00:14:03.170 ⇒ 00:14:10.110 Uttam Kumaran: No, I mean, I think if you want to go through it for everybody, that would be great. I felt…
124 00:14:10.700 ⇒ 00:14:17.290 Uttam Kumaran: pretty good, but I think I kind of want… I just don’t know, I want to see what the Teleismo angle is, is on some of these, so…
125 00:14:17.580 ⇒ 00:14:18.160 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
126 00:14:18.160 ⇒ 00:14:28.960 Holly Condos: Right, so Erin, we just… we just thought maybe putting together kind of an AI readiness program for a university or a higher ed institution
127 00:14:28.960 ⇒ 00:14:44.629 Holly Condos: from the perspective of doing an assessment, and then kind of building a foundation for that AI readiness, and commingling our complementary service strengths might be an angle.
128 00:14:44.940 ⇒ 00:14:48.909 Holly Condos: That that’s the high-level thought here.
129 00:14:50.310 ⇒ 00:14:53.419 Aaron Schwarzberg: I think that will resonate, Holly.
130 00:14:53.820 ⇒ 00:14:57.410 Aaron Schwarzberg: I’m just looking through a 48-hour AI Readiness POC.
131 00:14:57.410 ⇒ 00:14:59.379 Holly Condos: Yeah, I don’t want to read it for you.
132 00:14:59.380 ⇒ 00:15:03.260 Aaron Schwarzberg: Yeah, yeah, no, can we zoom in just a hair?
133 00:15:04.360 ⇒ 00:15:08.060 Aaron Schwarzberg: Cool, perfect. Okay, so, how does your building week two?
134 00:15:08.590 ⇒ 00:15:13.189 Aaron Schwarzberg: Is the, the total scope… it’s a 30-day program, yes?
135 00:15:13.710 ⇒ 00:15:15.640 Holly Condos: Yeah, and I guess, is that…
136 00:15:15.850 ⇒ 00:15:18.959 Holly Condos: Does that sound reasonable from your perspective?
137 00:15:19.280 ⇒ 00:15:37.070 Aaron Schwarzberg: I think it does. Any shorter, I think they’ll anticipate that there’s not enough of a deep dive happening. Any longer, I think it could get in the way of what they’re looking to implement in the near term. So I think 30 days is a sweet spot. I think you could go as high as 45. I wouldn’t go more than 45, and I wouldn’t go less than 30.
138 00:15:37.530 ⇒ 00:15:38.010 Holly Condos: Okay.
139 00:15:38.010 ⇒ 00:15:41.809 Aaron Schwarzberg: Rohit, what are your thoughts, Rohit? Do you agree? Do you disagree? What do you think?
140 00:15:42.520 ⇒ 00:15:49.920 RohitKhera: No, I’m going through this, and I agree that we want to get into a certain level of depth, but also not make it too long that it…
141 00:15:50.340 ⇒ 00:15:55.739 RohitKhera: So, this stops resonating at some point, and I agree that a 30-day sounds perfect.
142 00:15:56.130 ⇒ 00:15:56.740 Aaron Schwarzberg: Yep.
143 00:15:57.030 ⇒ 00:15:58.330 Aaron Schwarzberg: Perfect, okay.
144 00:15:58.980 ⇒ 00:16:09.540 Aaron Schwarzberg: So, regulatory compliance assessment, good for FERPA… What’s the, oh, adoption and training. What happens in the 3-4 week adoption and training, side, Holly? What happens there?
145 00:16:10.660 ⇒ 00:16:20.530 Holly Condos: Well, so, the thought was that because you guys have the micro-learning modules and the CERT programs, that maybe this is the spot where
146 00:16:20.590 ⇒ 00:16:34.679 Holly Condos: Once they’ve adopted the… or at least they’re AI-ready, that they can then move into, getting a cert, or doing the… the micro-learnings that you guys have.
147 00:16:36.540 ⇒ 00:16:41.580 Aaron Schwarzberg: So, where did you get the AI CERT programs from? Where did that stem from?
148 00:16:42.380 ⇒ 00:16:53.540 Holly Condos: Well, and that might have been a misunderstanding on my part, but I thought you guys had some AI certs, or at least were thinking about rolling those out, no?
149 00:16:53.620 ⇒ 00:17:11.070 Aaron Schwarzberg: I think, yeah, we might have… I’m now remembering kind of that part of the conversation. I think it’s for institutions that want to provide AI certification. I think what I was talking about was in a previous life, we had the internal ecosystem that allowed for the building of an AI certification specific to that institution.
150 00:17:11.079 ⇒ 00:17:11.949 Holly Condos: I see.
151 00:17:11.950 ⇒ 00:17:22.079 Aaron Schwarzberg: Okay. And then once it was built for them, then they can launch it internally. So we don’t have, for example, Telisma AI certification, but I remember… now I’m remembering the conversation, it was related to…
152 00:17:22.099 ⇒ 00:17:46.150 Aaron Schwarzberg: my previous organization, we built microlearning modules for AICERT, and it was specific to our org and how AI would be utilized internally, and then the people who took that, they received their, you know, branded certification from the organization. They could upload that to LinkedIn, and they could have that as their background and experience, and it was something that allowed them to move up within the organization because they had that experience. So, we can build that.
153 00:17:46.150 ⇒ 00:17:52.350 Aaron Schwarzberg: Same with the microlearning, right? If they want microlearning modules built, through AI, we’re able to help them with that.
154 00:17:52.850 ⇒ 00:17:57.039 Holly Condos: Okay, yeah, and apologies there, that was my misunderstanding.
155 00:17:57.370 ⇒ 00:17:59.280 Aaron Schwarzberg: All good, I’m sure I can, I’m…
156 00:17:59.280 ⇒ 00:18:00.220 Holly Condos: this part.
157 00:18:00.940 ⇒ 00:18:01.510 Aaron Schwarzberg: Yeah.
158 00:18:02.340 ⇒ 00:18:04.110 Aaron Schwarzberg: Okay, so adoption training.
159 00:18:04.400 ⇒ 00:18:07.230 Aaron Schwarzberg: Change management, transformation brain.
160 00:18:07.860 ⇒ 00:18:16.809 Holly Condos: What do you think about the investment from a cost perspective? Is that within a higher ed institution budget? Are we in the ballpark? Is it too high?
161 00:18:16.990 ⇒ 00:18:23.749 Aaron Schwarzberg: Very high. Very, very, very high. So, what’s typically,
162 00:18:23.800 ⇒ 00:18:39.249 Aaron Schwarzberg: digestible for them is, you know, somewhere in the… it depends on what’s being provided, right? So you’re adding a whole new layer to it, so there’s more that can be, assumed from a value perspective, but I think somewhere in the range from, like.
163 00:18:39.390 ⇒ 00:18:54.869 Aaron Schwarzberg: 3 to 7 or 8K per month is something that they can digest. Okay. It’s a significantly lower. Now, what will happen is, through that 6-month, 9-month, 12-month engagement, Holly, if they see the value, and if they see the impact, and for example.
164 00:18:55.350 ⇒ 00:19:09.229 Aaron Schwarzberg: They’re able to, increase retention, reduce enrollment, reduce administrative headcount in certain areas, and they see that the value is significant, rolling into a second and third year agreement at a higher price point
165 00:19:09.230 ⇒ 00:19:18.729 Aaron Schwarzberg: is something that they can validate. What we want to do is we want to make sure we can get in the door. From an AI perspective, the way I was kind of thinking in my head and compartmentalizing it was, if you got…
166 00:19:18.730 ⇒ 00:19:37.029 Aaron Schwarzberg: similar to what I described on a previous call. One of the ways that we were able to sell 200,000 and 10,000, 18,000 learning needs analysis. Kind of how I’m thinking about the AI analysis that you guys do, which is.
167 00:19:37.900 ⇒ 00:19:51.809 Aaron Schwarzberg: We’re gonna come in for… I’m making the number up, because that… let’s put that aside for a second, but 10 to 20K, and we’re going to do a 30-day analysis of your systems, your, tools, your resources,
168 00:19:51.870 ⇒ 00:20:09.609 Aaron Schwarzberg: your infrastructure, all of that, and we’re gonna let you know where the gaps are, what you should be thinking about, how you can utilize your data more effectively. Are you using your data effectively at all? If not, what we would recommend, what’s the roadmap? Then, from there, they’d be able to say whether or not, to what extent.
169 00:20:09.880 ⇒ 00:20:20.880 Aaron Schwarzberg: Talisma or another organization would be able to plug those gaps. I think if you put something in front of them that’s 250K, it’s very hard for them to digest that, because everyone is…
170 00:20:20.880 ⇒ 00:20:22.420 Holly Condos: I figured.
171 00:20:22.420 ⇒ 00:20:39.830 Aaron Schwarzberg: not everyone, but the organizations that we’ve reached out to, existing clients and prospective clients in the higher ed space in particular, they’re on the fence. They know they need AI adoption, but they’re not 100% sure, and they’re not ready to put their neck on the line to say, 100%, here’s what we need. Now, if there was a group that could say to them.
172 00:20:40.020 ⇒ 00:20:44.959 Aaron Schwarzberg: here’s what you need, here’s the data that backs that up, here’s why. And it’s a…
173 00:20:45.000 ⇒ 00:21:01.809 Aaron Schwarzberg: relatively digestible price point, I think it’s very… they would almost move forward with that before they’d move forward with anything else. So, it took a lot of consultation on our side. We had to put our consultant hats on to help the hired institutions see and feel the value, and that’s where we think
174 00:21:01.810 ⇒ 00:21:16.269 Aaron Schwarzberg: guys, you have much more of that expertise and, you know, capability and skill set to be able to do that more effectively and to give them even more value from a front-end analysis perspective. But I do think it would be cost prohibitive at the 250 range.
175 00:21:16.630 ⇒ 00:21:29.880 Holly Condos: Okay, so of the leads that you were mentioning earlier at the top of the call that you feel are, you know, at the one-yard line, low-hanging fruit, have you done an assessment with them already, or…
176 00:21:29.900 ⇒ 00:21:31.150 Aaron Schwarzberg: No, no, the one…
177 00:21:31.150 ⇒ 00:21:33.310 Holly Condos: for this assessment.
178 00:21:33.640 ⇒ 00:21:46.600 Aaron Schwarzberg: Exactly right, the latter. They are right for the assessment, Holly. We did not conduct analysis for them. Where we’ve conducted more of an analysis and provided more consultation are with the existing clients, the healthcare and higher ed clients who said.
179 00:21:46.680 ⇒ 00:22:05.239 Aaron Schwarzberg: we like this, but we need to see more of it, and we need to understand more of an ROI. We know it’s not an exact formula, but walk us through where the value is, what that looks like. So, for the existing clients, we did more of that. For these 4 or 5 clients that we’re thinking of, in particular, who are on the 1-yard line, we have provided none of that, you know, kind of, front-end analysis.
180 00:22:05.700 ⇒ 00:22:06.370 Holly Condos: Okay.
181 00:22:06.600 ⇒ 00:22:10.730 Holly Condos: Okay, so, and…
182 00:22:11.410 ⇒ 00:22:23.209 Holly Condos: what I’m thinking, maybe, is… and Utam, weigh in here, but does it make sense that, Brainforge and Teleisma could attack
183 00:22:23.740 ⇒ 00:22:27.219 Holly Condos: Or address your low-hanging fruit clients.
184 00:22:27.350 ⇒ 00:22:29.759 Holly Condos: From that joint…
185 00:22:29.960 ⇒ 00:22:38.319 Holly Condos: sell the assessment perspective, and then go from there as far as getting them AI-ready? Is… is that the right way to look at it?
186 00:22:40.380 ⇒ 00:22:43.789 Aaron Schwarzberg: Go ahead, Utam. I have an opinion, but what are your thoughts?
187 00:22:43.790 ⇒ 00:22:44.630 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
188 00:22:45.240 ⇒ 00:22:46.919 Uttam Kumaran: I mean, I…
189 00:22:47.020 ⇒ 00:22:56.329 Uttam Kumaran: I sort of think it’s, like, depending on their appetite, like… and there’s a couple of things that we’re seeing. We’re seeing, in three different directions, people needing help with AI. One is…
190 00:22:56.370 ⇒ 00:23:13.090 Uttam Kumaran: hey, none of the folks on our team are using ChatGPT, or maybe we released it, but we have no understanding of adoption. We have no understanding if people can even know how to, like, work with basic chat interfaces, so this is either Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude. So that’s, like, one piece.
191 00:23:13.090 ⇒ 00:23:28.030 Uttam Kumaran: Second piece is we also have clients who, they have developers that are interested in, like, upskilling how to use Cursor, how to use the latest for writing project plans and things like that, so more technical development. And then the last piece here is we also
192 00:23:28.030 ⇒ 00:23:35.650 Uttam Kumaran: have, like, a workshop offering. So this is, like, a full day or half day where we come in, and you kind of get all the right people in the room.
193 00:23:35.720 ⇒ 00:23:45.899 Uttam Kumaran: You have a really concise discussion about problems, opportunities, and then we arrive at 3 to 5, like, proof of concepts worth prying.
194 00:23:46.100 ⇒ 00:23:54.839 Uttam Kumaran: You know, so moving the conversation from, like, hey, we need… we have a directive to use AI, to, like, okay, actually, what are the next steps? So those are, like, the three…
195 00:23:55.070 ⇒ 00:24:05.639 Uttam Kumaran: areas that we kind of come in. I feel like there’s probably something on the first one and the third one, right? The third one is definitely geared more towards the leadership.
196 00:24:05.810 ⇒ 00:24:09.799 Uttam Kumaran: But the first sort of training is all geared towards staff, like.
197 00:24:09.870 ⇒ 00:24:26.289 Uttam Kumaran: general upskilling to use the latest in AI, you know? So that could be… that could be, like, okay, not only just, like, using the tool, but there’s, like, levels, right? So you could… we also would consider, like, how do you write prompts, creating a prompt library, custom.
198 00:24:26.290 ⇒ 00:24:26.610 Holly Condos: MG.
199 00:24:26.910 ⇒ 00:24:28.639 Uttam Kumaran: Things like that, so…
200 00:24:29.520 ⇒ 00:24:43.190 Aaron Schwarzberg: I love all of that, and I think that if we come to them with a menu, I think that’s extraordinarily powerful. I think we sometimes think we know what a prospective client wants and is most interested in.
201 00:24:43.270 ⇒ 00:24:58.649 Aaron Schwarzberg: And oftentimes, that’s not necessarily the case, and things are so fluid with budget, with need, with AI, that it could be what we anticipated, then the next day it’s something different. So I think, Utham, all those things that you mentioned, I think, would be of interest, and
202 00:24:59.140 ⇒ 00:25:11.890 Aaron Schwarzberg: putting all of those opportunities in front of them with descriptions associated and ranges for cost, I think that would be a very interesting conversation that they’d be open to having, for sure.
203 00:25:12.610 ⇒ 00:25:13.160 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
204 00:25:13.910 ⇒ 00:25:14.760 Aaron Schwarzberg: No.
205 00:25:15.270 ⇒ 00:25:23.440 Aaron Schwarzberg: Rohit, what do you think? You agree, based on the conversations you’ve had, and kind of appetite for understanding more before diving in? What do you think?
206 00:25:24.110 ⇒ 00:25:33.749 RohitKhera: I have to say, I’m extremely excited by the vision and the direction we’re going in. I think, you know, one of the challenges, as Utam, you rightly pointed out, is…
207 00:25:33.750 ⇒ 00:25:45.789 RohitKhera: Everybody is looking at AI as, you know, the magic bullet that will solve a problem, but nobody’s able to articulate what the problem is that they’re trying to solve. And I think being able to go in and give them that direction, saying.
208 00:25:46.100 ⇒ 00:25:58.109 RohitKhera: you know, identify the problem, work out how it’s going to help you, both, you know, at an organizational or a strategic level, but also at a tactical level, at a, you know, at a people level. How do you make your work
209 00:25:58.320 ⇒ 00:26:06.099 RohitKhera: as a person in the organization easier. I think that’s a very powerful conversation. Like you rightly pointed out, there are a few points that would
210 00:26:06.190 ⇒ 00:26:24.300 RohitKhera: echo or resonate with the leadership, but I think being able to provide something at the grassroot level is going to be pretty powerful, and that’s the phase three part of it, right? So, I’m in alignment with all of that, and I think working with Brainforge in order to structure that correctly, is going to be super helpful.
211 00:26:26.310 ⇒ 00:26:30.369 Uttam Kumaran: Perfect, yeah, no, I agree, and this is not, like, a… really, like, a…
212 00:26:31.810 ⇒ 00:26:40.499 Uttam Kumaran: we only decided to release a workshops product that wasn’t sort of, like, self-affirming, meaning, like, it’s a kind of, like, it shouldn’t be a really, like.
213 00:26:40.610 ⇒ 00:26:46.860 Uttam Kumaran: Chill meeting. Like, it should be a really conversation about, like, what is going wrong.
214 00:26:47.080 ⇒ 00:26:57.299 Uttam Kumaran: Right? So that’s the first thing. It should be a conversation about, like, what are open opportunities? And what we bring to the table in that meeting is, okay, where can data and AI play a part?
215 00:26:57.300 ⇒ 00:27:13.539 Uttam Kumaran: And then, like, for me, that workshop is to drive towards, like, immediate actions that can be taken. So this is not, like, another committee meeting around, like, AI. And then, of course, like, why… what’s in it for us is, like, we hope that they work with us on those proof of concepts, you know?
216 00:27:14.790 ⇒ 00:27:15.660 RohitKhera: 100%.
217 00:27:18.010 ⇒ 00:27:29.280 Aaron Schwarzberg: Amazing. So I think what we wanted… and Utham, are you open… so the clients that I was… prospective clients I was thinking about, and Holly, the prospective clients I was thinking about are U.S, specific clients.
218 00:27:29.280 ⇒ 00:27:38.689 Aaron Schwarzberg: If there are clients in other countries and other regions, are you open to and receptive to working with them as well, or do you want to only focus on U.S?
219 00:27:39.000 ⇒ 00:27:49.680 Uttam Kumaran: No, that’s fine. I think, like, in the U.S, we give people, like, options on if they want to do that in person or they want to do it virtual. For the most part, a lot of the companies we support are virtual, so…
220 00:27:49.820 ⇒ 00:27:55.349 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, that’s… that’s totally fine. We are running, like, a workshop for…
221 00:27:55.430 ⇒ 00:28:14.749 Uttam Kumaran: another team that’s in, Kyrgyzstan, so we’re working with folks that are sort of everywhere, but yeah, that’s no problem. I think the biggest… and we can send a lot of criteria on how to run these, but these are, like, maybe, like, 5 to 15 people, like, you know, and it’s, like, core leadership.
222 00:28:14.900 ⇒ 00:28:19.250 Uttam Kumaran: We’re working on a shared whiteboard together.
223 00:28:19.400 ⇒ 00:28:32.670 Uttam Kumaran: And David on our team, who facilitates these, is really, really great, and then usually I’m there, or another sort of senior person is there for, like, the subject matter expertise. And we’re working with them on the workshop, too. So, like.
224 00:28:32.800 ⇒ 00:28:41.320 Uttam Kumaran: David facilitates it, and then so I’m in there just as a participant. And so, again, for the clients, like, they often internally don’t have
225 00:28:41.510 ⇒ 00:28:43.750 Uttam Kumaran: This sort of subject matter expertise.
226 00:28:44.000 ⇒ 00:28:59.710 Uttam Kumaran: And often, their meetings never drive towards, like, clear outcomes. And so, like, that’s, like, the opposite of, like, you know, how… what we hope for is, at the end of it, they have clarity in multiple areas on, like, what the roadmap is for AI at their company.
227 00:29:00.330 ⇒ 00:29:16.270 Aaron Schwarzberg: Yep. Awesome. Okay, so knowing that we have that ability to tap into Brainforge, globally, not just U.S.-based, is helpful. I think it’ll, for now, it’ll start probably 80-20 U.S. to non-U.S, but
228 00:29:16.270 ⇒ 00:29:17.970 Aaron Schwarzberg: But I think over time, what we’ll…
229 00:29:17.970 ⇒ 00:29:41.890 Aaron Schwarzberg: inevitably happen, and I see the wheels moving, for Rohit, for sure, is that at some point, it’s definitely going to move to 50-50, there’s no doubt about it. And what I was referring to wasn’t just the, these kind of smaller breakout groups, the 5 to 15, but also just the full bevy of Brainforge capabilities, services, and structure. I think, you know, in speaking with Rohit in previous conversations, and Gary and others about
230 00:29:41.920 ⇒ 00:29:56.360 Aaron Schwarzberg: existing and prospective clients in India in particular, I think that there are some clients who are ripe for this type of service and support. So, it’s good to know that there is that possibility to go global or international.
231 00:29:56.430 ⇒ 00:30:00.579 Aaron Schwarzberg: Okay, so this is great, this is helpful.
232 00:30:00.790 ⇒ 00:30:08.100 Aaron Schwarzberg: What else? Holly, anything else on this document in particular, or Hannah, or Adam, or team that we want to focus on?
233 00:30:08.730 ⇒ 00:30:15.599 Holly Condos: I think just the… the go-to-market strategy, you know, not… I took a guess here that
234 00:30:16.310 ⇒ 00:30:20.589 Holly Condos: You’re dealing with the sea level at a university?
235 00:30:21.720 ⇒ 00:30:26.360 Holly Condos: Or the president, if you were, if you will, right? I mean,
236 00:30:27.230 ⇒ 00:30:37.449 Holly Condos: Is that… is that right, or is… is there typically, like, an IT department that you would go to first? What’s your kind of…
237 00:30:37.720 ⇒ 00:30:38.350 Holly Condos: path.
238 00:30:38.350 ⇒ 00:30:38.870 Aaron Schwarzberg: Okay.
239 00:30:38.990 ⇒ 00:30:54.709 Aaron Schwarzberg: it’s multifaceted, and it depends on the institution. There’s… some of them are structured, very similarly, and some of them are structured very differently. Our primary point of contact, or our intro, is sometimes, maybe I’d say usually, the vice president of enrollment. That’s usually where we get the most…
240 00:30:55.230 ⇒ 00:31:03.120 Aaron Schwarzberg: VPs of enrollment also have budget, right? Where they would say, I, as the VP of Enrollment, am tasked with the following.
241 00:31:03.120 ⇒ 00:31:15.630 Aaron Schwarzberg: I have to, incorporate AI to be more efficient, and to not have to lean as much on having more people moving forward, because costs are, you know, challenging for higher ed institutions right now.
242 00:31:15.630 ⇒ 00:31:29.130 Aaron Schwarzberg: They need to increase retention. There’s a huge, huge issue in retention across the board. Doesn’t matter what type of university you’re talking about. Small, private, based versus public, massive institution, everyone’s having problems with retention. And, front-end recruitment.
243 00:31:29.130 ⇒ 00:31:46.290 Aaron Schwarzberg: document support, right, from an OCR perspective, not having to have 5, 10, 15 people who are reviewing documents, but having a technology that does the lion’s share of the work. A lot of that sits with the VP of Enrollment. Now, the VP of Enrollment then undoubtedly pulls in
244 00:31:46.290 ⇒ 00:31:51.789 Aaron Schwarzberg: InfoSec, pulls in legal, pulls in marketing, pulls in,
245 00:31:51.890 ⇒ 00:32:10.899 Aaron Schwarzberg: C-suite, the chancellor, the president will typically get involved as well, but typically, the first person who we have to convince, or walk through the capabilities and the potential outcomes are the VP of Enrollment, then it flows to CIO, President, InfoSec, Legal, Marketing, and the other departments as well.
246 00:32:11.120 ⇒ 00:32:13.740 Holly Condos: Gotcha. Okay. That’s helpful, thanks.
247 00:32:14.100 ⇒ 00:32:15.260 Aaron Schwarzberg: Sure, of course.
248 00:32:15.350 ⇒ 00:32:30.820 Aaron Schwarzberg: And if you… if we’re thinking about, like, for example, the event we’re gonna do in Q1, I think the best group to target is VP of Enrollment. I think if we can get 15, 20 VPs of enrollment, that will get some serious buzz moving.
249 00:32:30.840 ⇒ 00:32:36.559 Aaron Schwarzberg: Then I think we would… the follow-up might be a President and Chancellor roundtable.
250 00:32:36.740 ⇒ 00:32:42.900 Aaron Schwarzberg: Or maybe it’s a smaller, more intimate group, but it’s, you know, a different level of the institution. I think that would…
251 00:32:42.950 ⇒ 00:32:54.759 Aaron Schwarzberg: I think both of those would get a lot of traction, and we’d get a lot of good coming from them. I’ll tell you this, Holly, there’s a group that, you might want to look at, you and Hannah and Utam.
252 00:32:54.760 ⇒ 00:33:03.000 Aaron Schwarzberg: I was introduced to them 5 or 6 months ago. They’re called Hurdy, H-E-R-D-I, Hurdy.
253 00:33:03.520 ⇒ 00:33:10.020 Aaron Schwarzberg: And they are a consortium of,
254 00:33:10.350 ⇒ 00:33:23.619 Aaron Schwarzberg: well, they have 3 subcategories, but one of the groups, the one that I worked with recently, is college presidents and chancellors, and they have about 15 or 20 of them that they work closely with, and they have these in-person events, 1, 2, 3, 4 times.
255 00:33:23.620 ⇒ 00:33:23.940 Holly Condos: times a year.
256 00:33:23.940 ⇒ 00:33:43.830 Aaron Schwarzberg: different cities, where you as a vendor, me as a vendor, that’s what we would be referred to as for the purposes of HERDI, would come in, and we would have the ability to have 5 or 6 college presidents or chancellors, and at the other ones, they have VPs of enrollment and others, but for this particular group, and you’d have 3 hours with them.
257 00:33:44.030 ⇒ 00:33:58.029 Aaron Schwarzberg: where you present everything that you do, how you do it, why it’s beneficial, and they are so locked in. And I sat in as an observer because we wanted to see what it was like first before we presented. I was blown away.
258 00:33:58.220 ⇒ 00:34:06.270 Aaron Schwarzberg: by the level of engagement, and the goal is not to sell to those presidents and chancellors. That’s an organic, great.
259 00:34:06.430 ⇒ 00:34:24.060 Aaron Schwarzberg: you know, tangential benefit, but the goal for these meetings is to get their feedback. Is our go-to-market right? Does this marketing make sense? Is the intended outcome what resonates with you as a decision maker? And authentically, what happens is they pull people aside after and they say, hey.
260 00:34:24.060 ⇒ 00:34:28.520 Aaron Schwarzberg: great, we need this, give me a call next week, let’s talk about it. So it’s…
261 00:34:28.520 ⇒ 00:34:32.830 Aaron Schwarzberg: the dual emphasis, but really what Hurdy presents it as is a way to
262 00:34:32.830 ⇒ 00:34:40.219 Aaron Schwarzberg: Get your voice heard by the, higher ed market, specifically for, community colleges, and to get that feedback from them.
263 00:34:40.300 ⇒ 00:34:44.209 Aaron Schwarzberg: the way I… and I say all that, and I’m sorry for being so long-winded, but I say all that.
264 00:34:44.219 ⇒ 00:34:44.879 Holly Condos: Yeah. Because I…
265 00:34:44.880 ⇒ 00:34:55.529 Aaron Schwarzberg: that some of the in-person event that we… some of the in-person events that we want to do can mirror that infrastructure, where we reach out to those presidents or those VPs of enrollment, and we say.
266 00:34:56.699 ⇒ 00:35:13.739 Aaron Schwarzberg: We’re… this partnership is new. Brainforge is established on the data side, on the AI side, on the analytics side, on the capability side, on the assessment side. Tilismud, we do all of these things, and this partnership is very powerful, and we think it’s going to resonate deeply in the higher ed market in particular.
267 00:35:13.949 ⇒ 00:35:21.499 Aaron Schwarzberg: can we invite you to this event, and can you be on this panel? And I think they would be very receptive to it, because
268 00:35:21.499 ⇒ 00:35:37.999 Aaron Schwarzberg: they’re all tasked with, from their boards, with being more innovative with, you know, looping AI in. And so, again, I say all that to say I think the HERDI model, if you look them up, it’s a very interesting approach, and Brainforge may want to have a relationship with HERDI directly, of course, that’s fine too. We’re looking at the.
269 00:35:38.000 ⇒ 00:35:38.879 Holly Condos: Yeah, we’ll check it out.
270 00:35:38.880 ⇒ 00:35:40.609 Aaron Schwarzberg: in 2026.
271 00:35:41.050 ⇒ 00:35:45.320 Holly Condos: Good to know, thank you. And yeah, thank you, Hannah, for noting it. We’ll check it out.
272 00:35:45.630 ⇒ 00:35:46.609 Aaron Schwarzberg: Great. Perfect.
273 00:35:46.610 ⇒ 00:35:51.650 Holly Condos: But I like the idea of taking that, Hurdy model.
274 00:35:51.780 ⇒ 00:36:07.119 Holly Condos: And mirroring it for our event. I think it makes total sense. My dad was in higher ed forever, so I kind of have an understanding of their mindset. Nice. And, you know, just the general resistance to change.
275 00:36:07.180 ⇒ 00:36:15.010 Holly Condos: and then, you know, granularly AI. So, I think I like what you’ve described. I think it makes sense.
276 00:36:15.500 ⇒ 00:36:19.340 Aaron Schwarzberg: Amazing. Holly, what did your dad do in higher ed? What was… what was his… what were his roles?
277 00:36:19.790 ⇒ 00:36:33.580 Holly Condos: Basically, he was the, at the University of Denver, actually, he was, the head of, higher, or, the teacher education program.
278 00:36:33.770 ⇒ 00:36:36.330 Aaron Schwarzberg: And then he was.
279 00:36:36.330 ⇒ 00:36:39.730 Holly Condos: Dean of Arts and Sciences at Valparaiso for a while, so…
280 00:36:39.770 ⇒ 00:36:41.130 Aaron Schwarzberg: Wow, incredible.
281 00:36:41.130 ⇒ 00:36:50.419 Holly Condos: I kind of just grew up in that mode, and my mom was a first grade teacher, so I was just kind of steeped in the education ecosystem, if you will.
282 00:36:50.600 ⇒ 00:36:56.860 Aaron Schwarzberg: Amazing. Amazing, amazing, amazing. Oh, it’s so great. Okay, so you speak this language very fluently, and you’ll.
283 00:36:56.860 ⇒ 00:36:57.240 Holly Condos: Little.
284 00:36:57.240 ⇒ 00:37:00.300 Aaron Schwarzberg: What’s interesting? For sure, you will.
285 00:37:00.640 ⇒ 00:37:16.479 Aaron Schwarzberg: nothing… what’s interesting is nothing’s changed. Everything you just described, from your, understanding of, kind of, the conversations you’ve probably had with your dad over the years when he was, you know, heavily involved in it, nothing’s changed. It’s still very slow moving, but the difference is, now.
286 00:37:16.480 ⇒ 00:37:33.819 Aaron Schwarzberg: I don’t know, I think I mentioned this on, like, 5 calls ago. We had a presentation to a healthcare client, and we actually closed this client. We weren’t sure if we were going to based on how this conversation went, but when we presented to them, the decision maker in the room said, I’m not so sure I believe in AI.
287 00:37:34.270 ⇒ 00:37:39.659 Aaron Schwarzberg: And everyone was, like, kind of taken aback, and I paused for a second, and I said, you know.
288 00:37:39.800 ⇒ 00:37:59.639 Aaron Schwarzberg: I hear you, but I think that’s analogous to faculty senates at universities saying, online learning is never going to be the answer. We need to be face-to-face with a student, and if we’re not in front of them, students will never learn. Online learning is a waste of time, and it’s not right for students.
289 00:38:00.870 ⇒ 00:38:05.939 Aaron Schwarzberg: At the time, they felt vindicated in that perspective, and by the way, they had the right
290 00:38:06.290 ⇒ 00:38:14.559 Aaron Schwarzberg: Rationale, maybe, for, you know, wanting to be true to the teaching element, and being face-to-face, and being able to see the stu…
291 00:38:14.690 ⇒ 00:38:18.510 Aaron Schwarzberg: For no ill reason or purpose, but they were wrong.
292 00:38:18.510 ⇒ 00:38:36.700 Aaron Schwarzberg: And they… those institutions were farther behind in adopting, and they… it hit them negatively. And when I shared that with them, I said, it’s kind of analogous to what you’re saying. It’s not an if, it’s a when institutions are going to adopt AI, and it’s not about if you believe in it, it’s putting up the guardrails that allow for the protection
293 00:38:36.700 ⇒ 00:38:41.249 Aaron Schwarzberg: In ensuring the right data is consumed and the right outputs are generated.
294 00:38:41.250 ⇒ 00:38:44.879 Holly Condos: And I took the air out of the room, and it was…
295 00:38:44.880 ⇒ 00:39:01.840 Aaron Schwarzberg: a little insulting, I think it was not how I was intending it, but after the meeting ended, they said, how quickly can you guys get us a contract? And they wanted to move forward. Right, so… but it’s that same approach, and you’re exactly right, Holly. These institutions are very slow to move, but that now, the difference is they know they need to.
296 00:39:02.090 ⇒ 00:39:02.770 Holly Condos: Right.
297 00:39:03.020 ⇒ 00:39:07.660 Aaron Schwarzberg: you guys are the answer, right? So Brainforge is potentially the solution, which is.
298 00:39:07.820 ⇒ 00:39:18.990 Aaron Schwarzberg: Don’t dive in immediately. Let us do the analysis. Let us come back to you with what we think you do need and what you don’t need. And I think that will be so incredibly powerful in higher ed.
299 00:39:18.990 ⇒ 00:39:23.070 Holly Condos: Right, I agree, and I think also, just again, for this
300 00:39:23.730 ⇒ 00:39:30.510 Holly Condos: for higher ed. It’s comforting, right, to know that you’re not just being sold the
301 00:39:31.260 ⇒ 00:39:33.070 Holly Condos: The banana, if you will.
302 00:39:33.210 ⇒ 00:39:34.410 Holly Condos: Right? It’s…
303 00:39:34.740 ⇒ 00:39:45.340 Holly Condos: okay, let’s see where you’re at, what are your goals, what do you need, what can we do now, what can we help you with later? And I think that’s helpful for them, because they don’t feel like they’re…
304 00:39:45.500 ⇒ 00:39:47.750 Holly Condos: being you know.
305 00:39:47.860 ⇒ 00:39:50.540 Holly Condos: Sold the whole bucket right away.
306 00:39:50.860 ⇒ 00:40:06.850 Aaron Schwarzberg: Right? You said it perfectly. So that’s exactly the value that, among other things, but one of the main value propositions that Brainforge brings to the equation, and so that’s why, you know, one of the reasons we’re very excited about the partnership. So I think those couple
307 00:40:06.850 ⇒ 00:40:13.610 Aaron Schwarzberg: Institutions that, were on the precipice but needed a little more of that consultation and analysis.
308 00:40:13.610 ⇒ 00:40:27.570 Aaron Schwarzberg: We think that you guys would be perfect, so what we’ll do is, I’ll speak with the team internally, we’ll figure out… next week is not a good time to do the outreach for that, but, maybe the following week, we’ll start with email introductions.
309 00:40:27.570 ⇒ 00:40:39.930 Aaron Schwarzberg: Or maybe I’ll call in the background and say, hey, I’m going to be sending you an email, we’re partnered with this group, Brainforge, they’re exceptional, this is what they do. I think it’d be nice for all of us to get on a call, and then we’ll kind of structure it that way, if that’s okay.
310 00:40:40.280 ⇒ 00:40:42.349 Holly Condos: That sounds great. Yes, perfect.
311 00:40:42.650 ⇒ 00:40:43.440 Aaron Schwarzberg: Amazing.
312 00:40:43.570 ⇒ 00:40:50.029 Aaron Schwarzberg: Okay, so this is a great start. We’re gonna look more at this document. Are you okay if we redline, tweak, and make.
313 00:40:50.030 ⇒ 00:40:51.150 Holly Condos: Absolutely, yes.
314 00:40:51.150 ⇒ 00:40:51.620 Aaron Schwarzberg: Okay.
315 00:40:51.620 ⇒ 00:40:54.789 Holly Condos: Yes, absolutely. Like I said, it was just kind of a…
316 00:40:55.200 ⇒ 00:41:00.330 Holly Condos: Entree to get us talking and… You know, moving.
317 00:41:01.110 ⇒ 00:41:06.319 Holly Condos: So, please… Edit at your, as much as you like.
318 00:41:06.750 ⇒ 00:41:16.270 Aaron Schwarzberg: The hard part is what you and Hannah did. It’s putting this forward. The easy part is the adjusting thereafter. So thank you guys for taking lead on that, really appreciate it.
319 00:41:16.270 ⇒ 00:41:17.319 Holly Condos: Of course, yeah.
320 00:41:17.320 ⇒ 00:41:29.649 Aaron Schwarzberg: We’ll have thoughts and feedback, and what we’re gonna put is just our perspective. That doesn’t mean it’s the right perspective, so if anything we say doesn’t make sense, or if you think it’s wrong, we’re open and receptive to hearing that as well.
321 00:41:29.870 ⇒ 00:41:38.090 Holly Condos: Certainly, that sounds great. So Aaron, beyond that, do we want to just recapture next steps?
322 00:41:38.690 ⇒ 00:41:39.820 Aaron Schwarzberg: Yeah, that’d be great.
323 00:41:39.820 ⇒ 00:41:42.249 Holly Condos: Now, you know… Yeah, go ahead.
324 00:41:42.670 ⇒ 00:41:44.630 Aaron Schwarzberg: No, no, please, please. So,
325 00:41:44.950 ⇒ 00:42:01.059 Aaron Schwarzberg: from our perspective, we need to make sure that we have access to be able to modify the documents, so if you guys could help us with that, I think it’s just the Gmail issue, so once we use our personal Gmail, it shouldn’t be a problem, but Rico will work directly with you on that, just to make sure we have access.
326 00:42:01.190 ⇒ 00:42:13.760 Aaron Schwarzberg: We’ll look at making edits for next week. I think next week is tough for a lot of people. Are you… are you guys okay with canceling next week? We don’t want to get in the way of anyone’s Thanksgiving, is that okay? Yes, absolutely, yes.
327 00:42:13.780 ⇒ 00:42:14.350 Holly Condos: Yes.
328 00:42:14.810 ⇒ 00:42:20.410 Aaron Schwarzberg: So what we’ll do is, by the time we get together the week after Thanksgiving.
329 00:42:20.570 ⇒ 00:42:26.010 Aaron Schwarzberg: what you should see from myself, from Rohit, from Santos, from Gary, from our team.
330 00:42:26.010 ⇒ 00:42:39.039 Aaron Schwarzberg: is input, thoughts, recommendations on the documents that you shared, the shared prospective clients that we want to, first kind of go after. Then that same week, you’ll see some email introductions.
331 00:42:39.040 ⇒ 00:42:46.609 Aaron Schwarzberg: And I think we’ll go from there. But Rohit, Santosh, Gary, did I miss anything from the Teleismo perspective?
332 00:42:49.560 ⇒ 00:42:54.479 SanthoshR: No, I think, nothing from ice. How about you, Roy, did we miss anything?
333 00:42:54.480 ⇒ 00:42:55.549 Gareth Francis: No, I think…
334 00:42:56.010 ⇒ 00:42:57.030 Gareth Francis: Sounds good.
335 00:42:57.780 ⇒ 00:42:58.350 RohitKhera: Gotta, gotta go.
336 00:42:58.350 ⇒ 00:42:59.080 Aaron Schwarzberg: Parker.
337 00:42:59.220 ⇒ 00:43:03.319 Gareth Francis: No, I was saying it sounded good, I think, Adam, what Aaron covered is all what he wanted to say.
338 00:43:03.600 ⇒ 00:43:12.509 Aaron Schwarzberg: Perfect. So then, Holly, from you, Hannah, Enrico, anything else that you think we need to capture as a next step that I didn’t, mention?
339 00:43:13.550 ⇒ 00:43:32.640 Hannah Wang: Yeah, maybe if, you guys can send over, like, any collateral or doc decks that you have, just so that maybe I can start working on, like, a draft of a joint capabilities deck. Obviously we can co-brand it and everything, so I’ll try to put together maybe, like, a rough
340 00:43:32.960 ⇒ 00:43:42.680 Hannah Wang: draft of it, and then maybe after all the content is approved, we can go into designing it. I don’t know who… like, I…
341 00:43:42.680 ⇒ 00:43:53.819 Hannah Wang: whoever wants to design it, like, feel free. I don’t necessarily need to do it, so I guess we can kind of discuss offline, who wants to, like, take initiative on designing everything, and even
342 00:43:54.020 ⇒ 00:43:57.780 Hannah Wang: Like, designing the announcement for our partnership,
343 00:43:58.080 ⇒ 00:44:08.590 Hannah Wang: yeah, I think we can probably do that offline, but like I said, I don’t… I don’t necessarily need to take the reins on edit… designing everything, so every… whoever else wants to design it feels.
344 00:44:08.590 ⇒ 00:44:09.040 Aaron Schwarzberg: We…
345 00:44:09.040 ⇒ 00:44:11.869 Hannah Wang: But I’m also happy to do it as well.
346 00:44:12.580 ⇒ 00:44:37.269 Aaron Schwarzberg: We feel the same way you do, we have no ego about it, we’re happy to be super supportive, we’re happy to be hands-off and let you take the lead, so I think it’s a matter of who wants to own what. We’re open, so if there’s something in particular that you said, you know, you mentioned the Excel piece, right, as an example, if there’s something that you really like to own in the process, Hannah, let us know, and then you can own it, and then if there’s something that you
347 00:44:37.270 ⇒ 00:44:45.680 Aaron Schwarzberg: don’t particularly like to own, and you want us to take responsibility for it, just let us know, and we’re happy to own it as well. So, we want it to be a collaborative effort, so
348 00:44:45.680 ⇒ 00:45:03.520 Aaron Schwarzberg: with none of… with all of these… I shouldn’t double negative… with all of these separate, workflows, it should be a collaborative effort. So, let us know what your thoughts are, and then we’ll take the lead from you. We’ll take your… you’ll take the lead, and we’ll follow, and you’ll let us know how we should, operate, okay?
349 00:45:03.770 ⇒ 00:45:10.200 Hannah Wang: Okay, do you guys, create docs on Google Slides? Just, like, a quick question? .
350 00:45:10.260 ⇒ 00:45:14.539 SanthoshR: No, actually, we do that morely in the PowerPoint. Okay.
351 00:45:15.440 ⇒ 00:45:16.780 Holly Condos: And PowerPoint, sorry.
352 00:45:17.580 ⇒ 00:45:22.250 SanthoshR: It’s required, then we can just upload it in the Google Slides and share it with you if it’s required.
353 00:45:24.860 ⇒ 00:45:37.340 Hannah Wang: I see. So you said PowerPoint. I don’t use PowerPoint at all, so if you guys want to take a stab at designing it first pass, like, I can just put input,
354 00:45:37.570 ⇒ 00:45:42.870 Hannah Wang: since we’re co-branding it, I don’t really know, I guess, the vision of, like, what it’ll look like, but…
355 00:45:43.750 ⇒ 00:45:58.240 Hannah Wang: Yeah, maybe what I can do is just look at the decks and everything that you send me, and then maybe, Holly, you and I can brainstorm, like, an outline, and then from there we can do the outline. You can look at it, and you can start designing it, and we can go from there.
356 00:45:58.240 ⇒ 00:46:00.459 Holly Condos: I can help on the PowerPoint side.
357 00:46:02.410 ⇒ 00:46:03.090 Aaron Schwarzberg: Perfect.
358 00:46:03.470 ⇒ 00:46:18.890 Aaron Schwarzberg: So I think… so I think we have that… the right structure. So I think from Rico’s comment in Teams, it looks like we now have access, or should have access, so Gary will, upload, the BFSI and the video, all share the higher ed, and then for whatever reason.
359 00:46:19.010 ⇒ 00:46:19.990 Gareth Francis: Go ahead.
360 00:46:20.630 ⇒ 00:46:21.519 Aaron Schwarzberg: Sorry, what?
361 00:46:21.520 ⇒ 00:46:23.800 Gareth Francis: I’ve already uploaded those two files.
362 00:46:24.060 ⇒ 00:46:39.820 Aaron Schwarzberg: Oh, okay, great, perfect. So then, Hannah, I’ll share with you the higher ed, so from those three pieces of information and collateral, and then what’s available on the website, if you also want to take a look at the website, I think that should kind of piece it all together, but if there’s something specific missing, let us know, and then we’ll get that over to you as well.
363 00:46:40.740 ⇒ 00:46:47.040 Hannah Wang: Okay, great. I, I just checked the Google Drive, I do see, the stuff that…
364 00:46:47.410 ⇒ 00:46:50.700 Hannah Wang: was uploaded, so we’re good to go there, yeah.
365 00:46:50.700 ⇒ 00:46:57.840 Aaron Schwarzberg: Perfect. Okay. So I think, I think we’re good. Anything else, team? Anything else that, from the Brainford side?
366 00:46:58.730 ⇒ 00:47:14.990 Hannah Wang: I… another quick thing, I know we want to plan for, like, a Q1 event, and we kind of discussed that during this meeting. Do we want to maybe, like, flesh that out more, or should we focus on more of the low-hanging fruit, client… prospects that Talisma has?
367 00:47:15.490 ⇒ 00:47:23.219 Aaron Schwarzberg: I like the idea of running parallel paths, because I think… I think one… one element… one side will take on a life of its own, and then the other will create new opportunities.
368 00:47:23.220 ⇒ 00:47:35.550 Aaron Schwarzberg: So I think, and maybe the low-hanging fruit, maybe I’m wrong, and it’s not so low-hanging, and it takes more time, so well then we say, oh, I wish we would have done the Q1 event. So I think we think about both, but if at some point
369 00:47:35.550 ⇒ 00:47:40.780 Aaron Schwarzberg: Over the next couple weeks, things start to really heat up on the prospective client side, and we want to
370 00:47:40.780 ⇒ 00:47:47.040 Aaron Schwarzberg: push the event out or not, accelerate on it, I think we can make that decision collaboratively.
371 00:47:47.630 ⇒ 00:47:48.330 Hannah Wang: Okay.
372 00:47:48.420 ⇒ 00:47:55.130 Holly Condos: Yeah, I agree. I think we talked about running these in parallel, maybe last meeting, or the one before
373 00:47:55.360 ⇒ 00:48:06.719 Holly Condos: prior. But just, just to piggyback on Hannah’s question, I think maybe if we can also, as an action, start thinking about
374 00:48:08.010 ⇒ 00:48:09.380 Holly Condos: the,
375 00:48:10.910 ⇒ 00:48:17.659 Holly Condos: the framework for that event? Like, what do we want to talk about, right? Are we going to talk about what we sort of have.
376 00:48:18.220 ⇒ 00:48:21.969 Aaron Schwarzberg: Looked at in this meeting, right?
377 00:48:22.160 ⇒ 00:48:32.620 Holly Condos: with the… with the assessment, do we want to kind of take that idea and move it into that Q1 event? I don’t know, just an idea.
378 00:48:34.060 ⇒ 00:48:42.160 Aaron Schwarzberg: I think there’s so many different ways of thinking about it, and I think the way you described it makes a lot of sense, Holly. We’re open and amenable to what…
379 00:48:42.700 ⇒ 00:48:54.819 Aaron Schwarzberg: the in-person events is not something we’ve done, right? So, we would be open and receptive to the format, the structure, the intended audience, all those things that you would kind of bring to the table and recommend. We’re open to all of it.
380 00:48:55.170 ⇒ 00:49:09.560 Holly Condos: Okay, so let me just say there, Hannah, let’s take as an action for us on our side, to generate, a list of some ideas for the in-person event, and we can share those, Erin, with you and team.
381 00:49:09.560 ⇒ 00:49:18.230 Holly Condos: And just discuss that, right? So I’m… I agree with, let’s work both of these things in parallel, the low-hanging fruit.
382 00:49:18.300 ⇒ 00:49:34.140 Holly Condos: And the event, and the other things that we’re doing that really benefit both angles. But we can put that list together with some ideas just based on things we’ve already done that have worked for us, you know, that we think are good fits.
383 00:49:34.360 ⇒ 00:49:40.499 Holly Condos: And then we can iterate on that, maybe in our first or second week after we join up after Thanksgiving.
384 00:49:41.030 ⇒ 00:49:58.740 Aaron Schwarzberg: Perfect. I think that all sounds perfect, Holly, I think, across the board. So, again, I want to reiterate, thank you to you, and Hannah, Enrico, and Utam, the team. I think this has kicked off beautifully, and we’re very excited about all the collaboration that’s taking place. If this is any indication of what the partnership is going to yield, we’re already very excited.
385 00:49:59.200 ⇒ 00:50:17.490 Holly Condos: Well, we… right back at you. We’re very excited as well, and, so nice to meet Rohit, Santosh, and Gary today, and, we hope you have a good Thanksgiving. Thank you. We’ll be in touch, and we’ll talk to you. We’ll meet back up in, what’s that, the first Friday of December?
386 00:50:17.490 ⇒ 00:50:24.120 Aaron Schwarzberg: I think so. I think that sounds right, yeah. Great. Thank you guys so much. Healthy, happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate, and we’ll all talk soon, okay?
387 00:50:24.120 ⇒ 00:50:24.730 RohitKhera: sleeping?
388 00:50:24.730 ⇒ 00:50:26.230 Holly Condos: Same to you. Take care.
389 00:50:26.230 ⇒ 00:50:27.070 SanthoshR: Thank you all the way.
390 00:50:27.280 ⇒ 00:50:28.520 SanthoshR: Happy, Happy Thanksgiving.
391 00:50:28.520 ⇒ 00:50:28.910 Hannah Wang: Cheers.
392 00:50:28.910 ⇒ 00:50:29.430 Holly Condos: Thanks, guys.
393 00:50:30.390 ⇒ 00:50:31.150 SanthoshR: Goodbye.