Meeting Title: Brainforge Onboarding and Role Clarification Date: 2025-12-17 Meeting participants: Luke Scorziell, Henry Zhao
WEBVTT
1 00:01:14.780 ⇒ 00:01:16.050 Henry Zhao: Hey, Luke, how’s it going?
2 00:01:16.270 ⇒ 00:01:18.490 Luke Scorziell: Hey, good, Henry. How are you?
3 00:01:18.490 ⇒ 00:01:19.350 Henry Zhao: Good, thanks.
4 00:01:19.600 ⇒ 00:01:22.649 Luke Scorziell: Sorry for the… Delays on… on.
5 00:01:22.650 ⇒ 00:01:23.880 Henry Zhao: No, no worries.
6 00:01:24.460 ⇒ 00:01:26.430 Luke Scorziell: So,
7 00:01:26.700 ⇒ 00:01:35.209 Luke Scorziell: Well, yeah, I guess I could tell you a little bit about me. I’m curious to hear, I guess you’re more on, like, the marketing analytics side, like, the ad buying and stuff like that, or what do you…
8 00:01:35.210 ⇒ 00:01:41.690 Henry Zhao: I was, but I’m kind of just working on clients in general now, like, on data, marketing, operations, those kind of things.
9 00:01:42.410 ⇒ 00:01:48.809 Luke Scorziell: Oh, cool. So, like, you’re putting together, like, AI marketing, like, solutions for clients?
10 00:01:49.060 ⇒ 00:01:57.390 Henry Zhao: Not really the AI part, I think we have a team that does that. I’m more doing, like, the analysis, making decks, and presenting that to the client.
11 00:01:58.170 ⇒ 00:01:58.920 Luke Scorziell: Oh, cool, okay.
12 00:01:58.920 ⇒ 00:02:01.819 Henry Zhao: Yeah, what about you? What were… what is your role?
13 00:02:02.150 ⇒ 00:02:11.309 Luke Scorziell: Yeah, doing, like, go-to-market consulting, for now, and kind of helping with some of the messaging, like, overall brand positioning,
14 00:02:12.250 ⇒ 00:02:17.380 Luke Scorziell: And then, yeah, kind of helping, like, bring some order to the… Go-to-market team.
15 00:02:17.670 ⇒ 00:02:19.359 Luke Scorziell: Cause it’s a little…
16 00:02:19.360 ⇒ 00:02:22.240 Henry Zhao: A little all over right now, maybe, so…
17 00:02:24.310 ⇒ 00:02:24.790 Luke Scorziell: Yeah.
18 00:02:24.790 ⇒ 00:02:25.430 Henry Zhao: Gotcha.
19 00:02:25.780 ⇒ 00:02:30.249 Henry Zhao: Are you, like, are we your client, or are you helping our clients with the GTM?
20 00:02:31.460 ⇒ 00:02:36.209 Luke Scorziell: I… you are my client. Brainforge is my client.
21 00:02:36.210 ⇒ 00:02:41.210 Henry Zhao: Okay, gotcha. So, what are your goals, I guess, for the end of this year, and then for 2026?
22 00:02:41.400 ⇒ 00:02:42.759 Henry Zhao: Just to get an understanding.
23 00:02:42.760 ⇒ 00:02:45.970 Luke Scorziell: Yeah, I think end of this year is to really, know…
24 00:02:47.030 ⇒ 00:02:49.620 Luke Scorziell: Like, develop a better, like, product understanding.
25 00:02:49.730 ⇒ 00:02:55.490 Luke Scorziell: and service understanding of what BrainForge actually does and, like, can deliver for clients, and who the different ICPs are.
26 00:02:55.760 ⇒ 00:02:57.940 Luke Scorziell: And then I’d like to get, like.
27 00:02:58.500 ⇒ 00:03:04.179 Luke Scorziell: Some form of content strategy developed so that we can start 2026 kind of revamping, like.
28 00:03:04.290 ⇒ 00:03:07.399 Luke Scorziell: LinkedIn and some of those channels,
29 00:03:08.200 ⇒ 00:03:10.439 Luke Scorziell: with content, and then, yeah, I think…
30 00:03:10.780 ⇒ 00:03:14.380 Luke Scorziell: And then the… maybe a trigger goal for the…
31 00:03:14.500 ⇒ 00:03:17.679 Luke Scorziell: Next year would be, like, kind of determining if it’s a fit.
32 00:03:17.680 ⇒ 00:03:18.780 Henry Zhao: to where.
33 00:03:19.030 ⇒ 00:03:22.690 Luke Scorziell: Robert and Tom would like to work together,
34 00:03:23.800 ⇒ 00:03:27.570 Luke Scorziell: Going forward, and if I’d like to, too, so…
35 00:03:28.020 ⇒ 00:03:31.240 Luke Scorziell: Yeah, so that’s kind of where I’m at, but I think,
36 00:03:31.870 ⇒ 00:03:35.180 Luke Scorziell: It’s been interesting and fun so far to just get to, like.
37 00:03:35.470 ⇒ 00:03:40.189 Luke Scorziell: Develop some of the, like, knowledge of the product and service, and then,
38 00:03:40.690 ⇒ 00:03:46.320 Luke Scorziell: Like, start doing some work on the actual out, like, external marketing.
39 00:03:47.200 ⇒ 00:03:52.279 Henry Zhao: Okay. So, like, what does your output look like, just to get an understanding of, kind of, what is the deliverable?
40 00:03:52.740 ⇒ 00:03:54.649 Henry Zhao: So that’s not clear, I think.
41 00:03:54.830 ⇒ 00:03:58.000 Luke Scorziell: Oh, yeah. It would literally be, like, a,
42 00:03:58.130 ⇒ 00:04:02.990 Luke Scorziell: Like, the… a content strategy, so, like, we kind of post…
43 00:04:03.180 ⇒ 00:04:14.200 Luke Scorziell: Here are the themes and topics that we’re gonna post on, and, here’s, like, exactly… or not exactly what to post, but kind of giving a, like, finding the pain points and…
44 00:04:14.370 ⇒ 00:04:24.530 Luke Scorziell: issues that, like, clients come to us for, and creating specific strategy around that. So then I would give that off to, I think, Ryan is the copywriter. Ryan Brozas, I don’t know if you…
45 00:04:24.530 ⇒ 00:04:27.929 Henry Zhao: Okay. No, I haven’t talked… I didn’t even know that, so yeah, that’s good to know.
46 00:04:27.930 ⇒ 00:04:30.009 Luke Scorziell: Oh, yeah, and so then he,
47 00:04:30.580 ⇒ 00:04:33.559 Luke Scorziell: He will then write the content, and then it goes out on,
48 00:04:34.560 ⇒ 00:04:38.369 Luke Scorziell: On… LinkedIn, and… LinkedIn, and yeah, so…
49 00:04:38.480 ⇒ 00:04:42.519 Luke Scorziell: Yeah, so some of it’s a little bit, ethereal, I guess, because it’s…
50 00:04:43.410 ⇒ 00:04:47.340 Luke Scorziell: I don’t know, like, strategy isn’t always the most clear, but I think it’s kind of…
51 00:04:47.580 ⇒ 00:04:50.520 Luke Scorziell: Finding the directions that clients are,
52 00:04:50.940 ⇒ 00:04:52.869 Luke Scorziell: That speak the most to clients.
53 00:04:53.400 ⇒ 00:04:54.060 Henry Zhao: Oh, cool.
54 00:04:54.150 ⇒ 00:04:58.710 Luke Scorziell: So what’s your background? Like, is this what you do, kind of, full-time with a bunch of different clients, or…
55 00:04:58.950 ⇒ 00:05:01.200 Henry Zhao: I’m guessing you went to USC?
56 00:05:01.710 ⇒ 00:05:05.039 Luke Scorziell: Yes, sorry, I’m very, USC,
57 00:05:06.130 ⇒ 00:05:13.449 Luke Scorziell: pro today. I have a hat, too. But, yeah, I run a, like, marketing agency, so we do,
58 00:05:14.940 ⇒ 00:05:21.319 Luke Scorziell: started off doing brand and strategy and stuff, but more recently, I’ve just been doing, like, go-to-market campaigns for
59 00:05:21.540 ⇒ 00:05:32.549 Luke Scorziell: clients, so doing, like, ad buying for, Meta, and, coming up with the creative, and doing all that, but I think personally what I like to do most is the,
60 00:05:33.290 ⇒ 00:05:35.790 Luke Scorziell: Like, brand side, and the…
61 00:05:35.940 ⇒ 00:05:46.370 Luke Scorziell: Like, overarching strategies, like, what are the different key messages that we want to be speaking to, and how do we make what we’re saying intelligible and understandable to someone who’s not
62 00:05:46.660 ⇒ 00:05:50.519 Luke Scorziell: Of, like, a data or engineering, background as much.
63 00:05:50.630 ⇒ 00:05:57.179 Luke Scorziell: So… But, yeah, so I work with, couple smaller businesses.
64 00:05:57.520 ⇒ 00:06:04.010 Luke Scorziell: And then… You guys on another… Corporate client, so… .
65 00:06:04.060 ⇒ 00:06:07.700 Henry Zhao: Yeah, so that’s fun. Okay, cool. Do you have any questions? Yeah?
66 00:06:07.830 ⇒ 00:06:09.340 Luke Scorziell: A lot of variety. Yeah, I got…
67 00:06:09.340 ⇒ 00:06:12.150 Henry Zhao: Any questions for me in terms of your onboarding, or, like, what you need to…
68 00:06:12.850 ⇒ 00:06:15.150 Henry Zhao: Would you like to know to be successful?
69 00:06:15.730 ⇒ 00:06:18.760 Luke Scorziell: Yeah, I guess, what,
70 00:06:19.620 ⇒ 00:06:22.890 Luke Scorziell: So you sit under UTAM, on the more, like, the…
71 00:06:22.890 ⇒ 00:06:23.900 Henry Zhao: Under Robert, under Robert.
72 00:06:24.230 ⇒ 00:06:32.709 Luke Scorziell: Oh, under Robert, okay. And you’re doing, I guess maybe you could tell me a little bit more about your role. I guess I have the org chart also pulled up.
73 00:06:33.450 ⇒ 00:06:38.360 Henry Zhao: I don’t know, it gets a little bit of everything. I was brought on for the CDP,
74 00:06:38.640 ⇒ 00:06:39.910 Henry Zhao: Evaluation.
75 00:06:40.200 ⇒ 00:06:41.630 Henry Zhao: But it kind of just…
76 00:06:42.740 ⇒ 00:06:56.080 Henry Zhao: kind of expanded a little bit from there, and now I guess it’s just whatever is needed. I’m kind of leading one of our clients right now, but I’ve reduced my hours recently, to give more hours for the marketing, some of the marketing work.
77 00:06:56.220 ⇒ 00:07:02.910 Henry Zhao: So we’ll see what it looks like in 2026, but things are always changing, so I would expect it to probably even look different.
78 00:07:03.130 ⇒ 00:07:04.620 Henry Zhao: Next month, you know?
79 00:07:05.080 ⇒ 00:07:06.909 Luke Scorziell: Yeah, and when did you start with Prime Forge?
80 00:07:07.410 ⇒ 00:07:10.700 Henry Zhao: I started in the middle of July, so I’ve been here 5 months.
81 00:07:11.220 ⇒ 00:07:12.020 Luke Scorziell: Oh, cool, okay.
82 00:07:12.640 ⇒ 00:07:18.059 Luke Scorziell: And what does a deliverable for you look like, I guess, at least right now?
83 00:07:18.060 ⇒ 00:07:19.490 Henry Zhao: Like, slide decks, basically.
84 00:07:19.620 ⇒ 00:07:22.190 Luke Scorziell: Okay. Flight decks and maybe some spreadsheets.
85 00:07:23.620 ⇒ 00:07:25.110 Luke Scorziell: So, okay, I’m just…
86 00:07:27.660 ⇒ 00:07:31.489 Luke Scorziell: And what was the C… you said the CED project is what you came in on?
87 00:07:31.490 ⇒ 00:07:32.660 Henry Zhao: the CDP.
88 00:07:32.660 ⇒ 00:07:33.880 Luke Scorziell: CDP, what is that.
89 00:07:33.880 ⇒ 00:07:35.469 Henry Zhao: The customer data platform.
90 00:07:35.980 ⇒ 00:07:41.279 Henry Zhao: So just, like, evaluate which customer data platform our client should go with.
91 00:07:41.780 ⇒ 00:07:45.210 Luke Scorziell: Yeah, okay, so that’s… what, like, what is that…
92 00:07:46.080 ⇒ 00:07:48.820 Luke Scorziell: entail. So this is what I’m trying to learn still of, like, all.
93 00:07:48.820 ⇒ 00:07:59.029 Henry Zhao: Oh, yeah. Yeah, you can research more on this if you need, like, more information, but basically it keeps track of all the customer identities and their marketing journeys.
94 00:07:59.490 ⇒ 00:08:08.750 Henry Zhao: Anything from email to phone number, like, just all their profile information, and allows us to kind of look at their activities, send out email campaigns.
95 00:08:08.990 ⇒ 00:08:10.989 Henry Zhao: Just kind of that whole ecosystem.
96 00:08:11.650 ⇒ 00:08:12.150 Luke Scorziell: Dang, okay.
97 00:08:12.150 ⇒ 00:08:14.659 Henry Zhao: And it allows us to kind of automate some of our data processes as well.
98 00:08:15.750 ⇒ 00:08:17.879 Luke Scorziell: And so, you’re doing that for clients?
99 00:08:18.620 ⇒ 00:08:23.179 Henry Zhao: I was, but not so much anymore. So now, Zoran has taken over all of the marketing stuff.
100 00:08:24.180 ⇒ 00:08:26.080 Luke Scorziell: Rohan, okay. And.
101 00:08:26.850 ⇒ 00:08:27.960 Henry Zhao: Have you spoken to Zoran yet?
102 00:08:28.850 ⇒ 00:08:29.590 Luke Scorziell: No.
103 00:08:29.740 ⇒ 00:08:31.040 Henry Zhao: Okay, he’s good to speak to.
104 00:08:31.520 ⇒ 00:08:34.049 Luke Scorziell: Who… you said.
105 00:08:34.059 ⇒ 00:08:35.469 Henry Zhao: Z-O-R-A-N.
106 00:08:35.470 ⇒ 00:08:37.240 Luke Scorziell: Z-O-R-A-N.
107 00:08:37.240 ⇒ 00:08:37.740 Henry Zhao: Harrison.
108 00:08:39.890 ⇒ 00:08:40.549 Henry Zhao: Beautiful.
109 00:08:42.440 ⇒ 00:08:48.479 Luke Scorziell: Yeah, I guess, are there ways that… I’ll have to turn the question back on you, but,
110 00:08:48.730 ⇒ 00:08:50.329 Luke Scorziell: Things that,
111 00:08:51.380 ⇒ 00:08:58.690 Luke Scorziell: like, as I’m getting onboarded and up to speed, like, would be good for me to know or talk about. I think one of my primary goals is just to learn more.
112 00:08:59.130 ⇒ 00:09:08.170 Luke Scorziell: about what’s actually happening on… because I think there can be, oftentimes, like, a divide between marketing and, like, the people who are talking about the product, like, they don’t really understand what’s actually happening.
113 00:09:08.390 ⇒ 00:09:12.250 Luke Scorziell: On the more, like, engineering and, technical side.
114 00:09:12.250 ⇒ 00:09:16.569 Henry Zhao: Yeah, I would say definitely there’s room for improvement in terms of communication between silos,
115 00:09:16.830 ⇒ 00:09:26.999 Henry Zhao: I never know what sales is doing, I never know what, some of the other teams are doing, so… I mean, we try to do that in our bi-weekly meetings to talk about what a team is working on, but there could always be more of that.
116 00:09:27.240 ⇒ 00:09:29.319 Luke Scorziell: Yeah, yeah. Okay.
117 00:09:29.940 ⇒ 00:09:33.810 Henry Zhao: And I would say, like, making sure we define the team culture and that we adhere to that.
118 00:09:34.440 ⇒ 00:09:37.400 Luke Scorziell: Yeah, what do you think is, like, the team culture so far?
119 00:09:37.670 ⇒ 00:09:49.940 Henry Zhao: I don’t know, it’s very fluid, so… I think we need to just pick something and go with it. But right now, like I said, the jobs change, the roles change, like, everything’s very fluid, which is not a bad thing, but just kind of… it’s where we are right now, and just be aware of that.
120 00:09:50.500 ⇒ 00:09:57.499 Luke Scorziell: Yeah, yeah, interesting, okay. So there… that you know of hasn’t been, like, any cultural work done or anything like that on, like.
121 00:09:57.500 ⇒ 00:09:58.940 Henry Zhao: Not that I know of.
122 00:09:59.150 ⇒ 00:10:00.100 Luke Scorziell: the brand’s head.
123 00:10:00.230 ⇒ 00:10:00.780 Luke Scorziell: And…
124 00:10:00.780 ⇒ 00:10:02.229 Henry Zhao: Nothing serious, at least.
125 00:10:02.680 ⇒ 00:10:04.830 Luke Scorziell: Yeah, okay.
126 00:10:05.350 ⇒ 00:10:11.130 Luke Scorziell: Yeah, well, sweet. I noticed Robert had suggested that we talk and catch up, and so…
127 00:10:12.640 ⇒ 00:10:17.069 Luke Scorziell: Yeah, I’ll, maybe I’ll reach out to Zoron and tell him…
128 00:10:17.070 ⇒ 00:10:18.660 Henry Zhao: Have you spoken to Clarence yet?
129 00:10:20.100 ⇒ 00:10:23.089 Luke Scorziell: No, other than seeing him on the meeting.
130 00:10:23.090 ⇒ 00:10:24.779 Henry Zhao: I think Clarence would be good to talk to as well.
131 00:10:25.490 ⇒ 00:10:32.609 Henry Zhao: What do you think? Clarence, I think, would be good to talk to also, because he has a lot of good ideas, and I think some of it might even, like, be…
132 00:10:33.180 ⇒ 00:10:35.499 Henry Zhao: Like, supplementary to what you’re doing, so…
133 00:10:36.630 ⇒ 00:10:39.630 Henry Zhao: Yeah. I think it’s good to maybe sync with him also if you have time.
134 00:10:40.160 ⇒ 00:10:44.020 Luke Scorziell: And what about Zoran? What do you think would be helpful when talking to him again?
135 00:10:44.690 ⇒ 00:10:49.840 Henry Zhao: He’s more, like, he’s now leading kind of our biggest client, so he knows a lot of the day-in, day out.
136 00:10:50.100 ⇒ 00:10:52.589 Henry Zhao: And kind of where we’re headed.
137 00:10:53.380 ⇒ 00:10:55.079 Luke Scorziell: And the biggest client is ABC.
138 00:10:55.310 ⇒ 00:10:56.609 Henry Zhao: I think it’s Eden.
139 00:10:56.830 ⇒ 00:10:58.050 Luke Scorziell: Yeah, okay.
140 00:10:58.170 ⇒ 00:11:04.649 Luke Scorziell: And do you do other stuff outside of BrainForge, or is BrainForge kind of your…
141 00:11:05.410 ⇒ 00:11:06.850 Henry Zhao: No, no, not right now.
142 00:11:07.090 ⇒ 00:11:08.030 Luke Scorziell: How cool.
143 00:11:08.400 ⇒ 00:11:09.930 Luke Scorziell: Okay, sweet.
144 00:11:11.160 ⇒ 00:11:16.959 Luke Scorziell: Yeah, well, I’ll reach out to both of them, and yeah, if there’s any ways that I can be of help to you, or if you’re just curious to know what’s happening on the…
145 00:11:17.290 ⇒ 00:11:19.449 Luke Scorziell: Marketing, sales side.
146 00:11:20.180 ⇒ 00:11:20.950 Henry Zhao: Yeah, absolutely.
147 00:11:20.950 ⇒ 00:11:22.000 Luke Scorziell: helping me, so.
148 00:11:23.590 ⇒ 00:11:24.670 Henry Zhao: Anything else?
149 00:11:25.220 ⇒ 00:11:28.109 Luke Scorziell: Yeah, I think that’s… yeah, that’s everything from me. Sounds good.
150 00:11:28.110 ⇒ 00:11:28.570 Henry Zhao: Sounds good.
151 00:11:28.570 ⇒ 00:11:29.130 Luke Scorziell: Max.
152 00:11:29.530 ⇒ 00:11:31.069 Henry Zhao: Alright, nice to meet you, and good luck with everything.
153 00:11:31.330 ⇒ 00:11:32.020 Luke Scorziell: Thanks, Hunter.
154 00:11:32.160 ⇒ 00:11:32.670 Henry Zhao: Bye.