Meeting Title: Brainforge Partnership Strategy and Metrics Sync Date: 2026-01-23 Meeting participants: Sheshu Chandrasekar, Holly Condos
WEBVTT
1 00:01:12.230 ⇒ 00:01:13.620 Holly Condos: Hey, Shishu.
2 00:01:18.940 ⇒ 00:01:20.120 Holly Condos: Hello?
3 00:01:23.690 ⇒ 00:01:25.070 Holly Condos: Hello?
4 00:01:25.280 ⇒ 00:01:26.549 Holly Condos: Can you hear me?
5 00:01:30.060 ⇒ 00:01:31.339 Holly Condos: Can’t hear you.
6 00:01:45.450 ⇒ 00:01:46.730 Holly Condos: Ishu?
7 00:01:54.140 ⇒ 00:01:55.549 Holly Condos: Hey, I can’t hear you.
8 00:02:04.630 ⇒ 00:02:06.840 Holly Condos: Can you hear me? I can’t hear you.
9 00:02:07.610 ⇒ 00:02:08.850 Holly Condos: Can’t hear you.
10 00:02:09.639 ⇒ 00:02:11.230 Holly Condos: Can’t hear you.
11 00:02:26.950 ⇒ 00:02:29.739 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Hey, Holly, it’s me, Shayshu. How are you doing today?
12 00:02:30.380 ⇒ 00:02:38.130 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Good, how are you? Good, good. I’m so sorry, I just realized in our one-on-one that I didn’t have a Zoom meeting in there, so hopefully this is okay.
13 00:02:38.500 ⇒ 00:02:44.180 Sheshu Chandrasekar: It’s all good, yeah, this is fine. I think I did the same thing my first week. Okay.
14 00:02:44.320 ⇒ 00:02:56.249 Sheshu Chandrasekar: That’s good, that’s reassuring to hear, because I was like, I only got, access to the Zoom meeting this week, so… or, like, literally yesterday, so… Yeah, no, you’re doing great, all good. So,
15 00:02:56.610 ⇒ 00:02:58.409 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Are you with Robert?
16 00:02:58.710 ⇒ 00:03:01.919 Sheshu Chandrasekar: No, I’m actually with Utom. I’m actually in Austin right now.
17 00:03:02.300 ⇒ 00:03:12.900 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Yeah, but yeah, currently just, chilling with, Utam and Pranav, our AI engineer, and just, yeah, just doing…
18 00:03:13.390 ⇒ 00:03:15.159 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Doing some co-working here.
19 00:03:15.540 ⇒ 00:03:18.079 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Okay, awesome. So,
20 00:03:18.270 ⇒ 00:03:34.879 Sheshu Chandrasekar: What’s your background? Yeah, absolutely. So, I think I briefly touched on it, but yeah, I come from a world of… I come from the consulting background, so I was at Deloitte for the past 4 years in the government public sector practice, and I really did a lot of…
21 00:03:35.050 ⇒ 00:03:49.209 Sheshu Chandrasekar: work with, like, large federal agencies, doing, like, digital transformation, financial transformation, even got involved with some… some big nonprofits, doing some marketing work for them. So, really, my career at Dubway was…
22 00:03:49.240 ⇒ 00:03:56.499 Sheshu Chandrasekar: I would say a bit of a generalist, in a way. I was never a master of anything, but I was…
23 00:03:56.560 ⇒ 00:04:09.420 Sheshu Chandrasekar: you know, I was in trade of all the jacks, in a way. So, yeah, then… then I, moved to… I always wanted to be in the startup world, so after Deloitte, I got… I actually got laid off, because the government… Really? Yeah.
24 00:04:09.420 ⇒ 00:04:16.760 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Yeah, it’s because the market conditions, the administration change, everything, right? There’s just so many different things that go with it.
25 00:04:17.120 ⇒ 00:04:25.439 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Then I… I felt like it was, like, a… no, I thought it was a blessing, because, I didn’t really want to be in consulting. At that point, I was thinking about, you know, alternative…
26 00:04:25.590 ⇒ 00:04:36.409 Sheshu Chandrasekar: things to do, and then my buddy from college, his, coworker was running a startup, in the GovTech space, and they needed help with go-to-market.
27 00:04:36.410 ⇒ 00:04:49.360 Sheshu Chandrasekar: operations building, so I was kind of on that end of working in Clay and helping them validate their ICP, building out their sales pipeline, based on the ICP, testing out different hypotheses of, like.
28 00:04:49.370 ⇒ 00:05:07.820 Sheshu Chandrasekar: who would be the best PMF for their tool. Unfortunately, again, with government, there’s always, like, funding constraints, and their clients weren’t paying them, so they had to let me go. And then, most recently, I was at this other startup, backed by investors of, like, Cursor, and actually Cognition Labs.
29 00:05:07.820 ⇒ 00:05:26.069 Sheshu Chandrasekar: building out their outbound pipe… outbound sales pipeline as well in Clay, and yeah, then, Pranav, who our AI Junior, who I’m good friends with, he told me, hey, we’re looking for someone, at, like, the ops level, at the company. And then, yeah, that’s how I got connected to UTAM, and now I’m here.
30 00:05:26.980 ⇒ 00:05:34.180 Sheshu Chandrasekar: That’s awesome. Well, I love the journey, and glad you’re here. So, I guess…
31 00:05:34.950 ⇒ 00:05:40.660 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Most urgently? Well, you’ve… have you met Hannah yet? I have not.
32 00:05:41.490 ⇒ 00:05:44.749 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Okay, so Hannah, is…
33 00:05:45.120 ⇒ 00:06:00.979 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Marketing and, marketing design. She’s really awesome at that. And then, when Brainforge, like, last year, right, in 2025, and perhaps earlier, I think she’s been here a year, maybe?
34 00:06:01.370 ⇒ 00:06:08.659 Sheshu Chandrasekar: But she was kind of, like, trying to help Utam and Robert with the partner motion, but…
35 00:06:09.010 ⇒ 00:06:17.399 Sheshu Chandrasekar: You know, they really hadn’t… gotten it, like, going like it is now. Right. And so,
36 00:06:19.090 ⇒ 00:06:25.890 Sheshu Chandrasekar: So, I’m sure she’ll share it with you, but she’s expecting And so I…
37 00:06:26.130 ⇒ 00:06:30.790 Sheshu Chandrasekar: And she hasn’t been feeling great, so I have been just trying to…
38 00:06:31.230 ⇒ 00:06:45.920 Sheshu Chandrasekar: And she and I were working together when I first joined in September, and I’m sure Robert and Tom have shared, but, you know, I have… I’m probably the oldest of all of you. I have,
39 00:06:46.070 ⇒ 00:06:51.509 Sheshu Chandrasekar: A lot of government, corporate and startup experience.
40 00:06:51.800 ⇒ 00:06:57.260 Sheshu Chandrasekar: I started out as a paralegal for a white-collar criminal defense firm.
41 00:06:57.440 ⇒ 00:07:10.740 Sheshu Chandrasekar: and then just kind of got… I was going to be a litigator, but I decided that I wanted to be a mom as well. So, I just went into contracts on the corporate side instead. Gotcha.
42 00:07:10.970 ⇒ 00:07:19.919 Sheshu Chandrasekar: I lived in Europe for 3 years and, you know, did a lot of, like, sales and, BD there. So…
43 00:07:20.210 ⇒ 00:07:28.049 Sheshu Chandrasekar: and then I worked for some startups, and then I started my own company. So, I am really kind of like you, and…
44 00:07:28.380 ⇒ 00:07:31.949 Sheshu Chandrasekar: some respects, although I don’t know a lot of…
45 00:07:32.070 ⇒ 00:07:43.289 Sheshu Chandrasekar: like, I’m not a coder, right? I’m not an engineer, but I’ve taught… I try to teach myself things, and that’s part of why I like Brainforge, especially what you heard today, right?
46 00:07:43.300 ⇒ 00:07:55.320 Sheshu Chandrasekar: UTAM has gone through Cursor, and what it can do, and how it can help us, and I think that’s so important, not only for customers, but for teams, right?
47 00:07:55.700 ⇒ 00:08:00.369 Sheshu Chandrasekar: And I think it’s great that Utam and Robert are so…
48 00:08:00.780 ⇒ 00:08:11.920 Sheshu Chandrasekar: not only capable of doing it themselves, but flowing it through the organization. So, I’m really excited about that, and I’m glad that you’re on board, because
49 00:08:12.290 ⇒ 00:08:19.079 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Right? Like, there’s a lot of little things. I think Eliza’s done a good job to kind of gather some
50 00:08:19.440 ⇒ 00:08:23.880 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Some things, but as you’re probably seeing.
51 00:08:24.450 ⇒ 00:08:37.339 Sheshu Chandrasekar: there’s other spots where we need to refine it, so… Right. I… and the reason I’m telling you all this is I’ve been trying to cover some of the stuff that Hannah would have been doing, or was doing.
52 00:08:37.799 ⇒ 00:08:41.919 Sheshu Chandrasekar: But, you know, I know that’s not the best use of my time.
53 00:08:42.110 ⇒ 00:08:55.149 Sheshu Chandrasekar: And also, just, you know, I need to be more strategy-focused for Bhutam and Robert, and kind of engage with the partners, and just, you know, keep that drumbeat going. But I’m also concerned
54 00:08:55.340 ⇒ 00:09:00.059 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Right? About, okay, we’ve got 4 or 5 campaigns going now, like.
55 00:09:00.220 ⇒ 00:09:04.900 Sheshu Chandrasekar: I want to make sure that someone is working now. Yeah.
56 00:09:05.320 ⇒ 00:09:21.270 Sheshu Chandrasekar: So, again, I… I don’t know exactly… I haven’t had a chance to talk to Robert since you came on, but, but I will help you, however, in the transition, and then obviously as we go forward. I just want to make sure that, you know, I’m not…
57 00:09:21.680 ⇒ 00:09:26.199 Sheshu Chandrasekar: like, I’m getting out of the way where I need to, but I’m also helping you as you
58 00:09:26.620 ⇒ 00:09:32.900 Sheshu Chandrasekar: get used to everything. Yeah, no, absolutely. And I think in… in part of that,
59 00:09:33.800 ⇒ 00:09:35.240 Sheshu Chandrasekar: I’m trying to figure out, like.
60 00:09:35.630 ⇒ 00:09:44.579 Sheshu Chandrasekar: So my thing is, like, as ops lead, or head of ops, I guess, is to kind of track, like, what’s going on in the partnership and the GTM side from a very quantitative way.
61 00:09:44.920 ⇒ 00:09:56.260 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Just so, like, we can figure out, like, okay, maybe there’s a process that’s… that needs to be built, or maybe it’s some… something else to look… go back to the drawing board strategically and think what needs to be done, so…
62 00:09:56.630 ⇒ 00:10:12.480 Sheshu Chandrasekar: I guess my point being here is, like, I’m trying to understand, like, how do you kind of, like, track your… your current, like, ongoing, I guess, like, campaigns, and, like, when you manage partnerships, like, how do you track all that from a, like, a quantitative standpoint? And…
63 00:10:12.720 ⇒ 00:10:16.220 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Yeah, so that’s, like, my biggest question right now.
64 00:10:16.860 ⇒ 00:10:23.350 Sheshu Chandrasekar: So, short answer is that, it’s…
65 00:10:24.030 ⇒ 00:10:29.170 Sheshu Chandrasekar: It’s a number of different lanes, but longer answer is…
66 00:10:29.480 ⇒ 00:10:34.450 Sheshu Chandrasekar: that it… it’s… it’s moving a lot, right? So, I understand
67 00:10:34.870 ⇒ 00:10:46.800 Sheshu Chandrasekar: where Robert’s coming from. He… he and Utom just want to be able to go to a spot and say, oh, okay, this is what’s happening with our top three, or whatever it is, right? And we currently probably…
68 00:10:47.050 ⇒ 00:10:51.169 Sheshu Chandrasekar: We probably, Well, let’s see.
69 00:10:52.260 ⇒ 00:10:55.790 Sheshu Chandrasekar: So, we’ve probably got about 8.
70 00:10:56.130 ⇒ 00:11:05.510 Sheshu Chandrasekar: to 10 that are actually moving forward, but of those 8 to 10, I think, you know, I featured them on the retro today.
71 00:11:05.940 ⇒ 00:11:13.330 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Because we have to make some decisions, right? We’re only so big of a team, and we have to decide, do we really want to
72 00:11:13.770 ⇒ 00:11:20.660 Sheshu Chandrasekar: manage all of these, and, you know, I’m game. I think it’s doable, but I also realize that, you know.
73 00:11:20.820 ⇒ 00:11:26.120 Sheshu Chandrasekar: even a campaign takes a number of us to do. So, back to your question.
74 00:11:26.330 ⇒ 00:11:31.169 Sheshu Chandrasekar: When I first came, I think…
75 00:11:31.640 ⇒ 00:11:36.650 Sheshu Chandrasekar: not sure how they were doing it. I think it was probably through Slack.
76 00:11:36.960 ⇒ 00:11:42.160 Sheshu Chandrasekar: And then Hannah and I put together, a Google Doc.
77 00:11:42.340 ⇒ 00:12:01.559 Sheshu Chandrasekar: that we were updating and was in Google Docs, right? In the drive, rather. And then I was doing a weekly sync. But of course, like, you know, briefing Robert and Utam along the way. But quantitatively, we’ve been trying to flow
78 00:12:02.230 ⇒ 00:12:08.489 Sheshu Chandrasekar: metrics into HubSpot, but I think that, again, I think there’s some hiccups there.
79 00:12:08.700 ⇒ 00:12:18.590 Sheshu Chandrasekar: And, I actually talked to Ryan again yesterday. You know, there are things… I think it’s getting better, so it’s… HubSpot is capturing
80 00:12:18.620 ⇒ 00:12:29.860 Sheshu Chandrasekar: email updates, and I think with… with what Bhutan put together about Slack, I think that’s going to help, but I think for you.
81 00:12:29.980 ⇒ 00:12:35.580 Sheshu Chandrasekar: to flow up to Robert and Utom. It’s like, okay, how do we do this So the…
82 00:12:35.700 ⇒ 00:12:51.409 Sheshu Chandrasekar: we can say, for Snowflake this week, we have 3 active leads, right? Or, of those… of those 3 leads, you know, one is in contract, one’s in nurture, right? Like, we don’t have that sort of granularity yet. Right.
83 00:12:51.680 ⇒ 00:13:00.919 Sheshu Chandrasekar: we are struggling a little bit with the conversion, right? So… Say, Utah might…
84 00:13:01.150 ⇒ 00:13:09.489 Sheshu Chandrasekar: have… because he has been inside it on me, so his guy may say, hey, you, Tom, you know, I’ve got this lead with Joe Blow, Inc.
85 00:13:10.050 ⇒ 00:13:12.570 Sheshu Chandrasekar: And Utah may talk to them, but…
86 00:13:13.130 ⇒ 00:13:17.679 Sheshu Chandrasekar: is it making it in top spot? And then, you know, I’ll talk to Utam.
87 00:13:17.790 ⇒ 00:13:27.540 Sheshu Chandrasekar: But then I’m circling back just to find out, is it in HubSpot? So, I guess that kind of, you know, it’s rough right now, and I think we just need…
88 00:13:28.330 ⇒ 00:13:32.560 Sheshu Chandrasekar: To decide on how centrally are we going to
89 00:13:32.660 ⇒ 00:13:36.070 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Manage the qualitative, or quantitative piece.
90 00:13:36.760 ⇒ 00:13:41.320 Sheshu Chandrasekar: with… with minimal pain, I think.
91 00:13:41.610 ⇒ 00:13:46.219 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Yeah, no, I totally hear it, because it’s kind of hard to even qualify and…
92 00:13:46.450 ⇒ 00:13:54.110 Sheshu Chandrasekar: define, like, okay, this deal, this partnership is not going anywhere. How do you define that in a way, right? So, from a quantitative standpoint.
93 00:13:54.520 ⇒ 00:14:12.510 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Yeah, and sorry to interrupt, but I think one other challenge is that, you know, Utah… and I hear them, they’re like, hey, let’s just deep dive into three. But then, like, even this week, right? Like, I met with Fresh Paint. Fresh Paint was quiet before I came.
94 00:14:12.790 ⇒ 00:14:18.240 Sheshu Chandrasekar: I had one meeting with Robert and the partner lead, probably in November.
95 00:14:18.880 ⇒ 00:14:30.949 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Then he was supposed to send us some documentation in December. He got busy with the holiday. Then I pinged him, because we kind of… my approach is…
96 00:14:30.950 ⇒ 00:14:40.399 Sheshu Chandrasekar: you know, not… not only to just meet and do the partner motion stuff, but to try to, like, develop rapport and relationship. Right.
97 00:14:40.660 ⇒ 00:15:00.200 Sheshu Chandrasekar: And so I was pinging him on LinkedIn, I… and on Slack, I’m like, hey, hope you had a good holiday, like, you know, that kind of thing. Yeah. And they said, oh, I, you know, I’m totally sorry, I just got so busy, so I met with him yesterday, right? Now, I mean, that’s probably not the best example of this
98 00:15:00.590 ⇒ 00:15:07.260 Sheshu Chandrasekar: problem, but, you know, they’re not quite in our sweet spot, and I think that
99 00:15:07.590 ⇒ 00:15:29.959 Sheshu Chandrasekar: I think that, from a product and fit perspective, there are other partners who are more ideal. Having said that, you know, there is potential traction there. Or another one, like… like Omni is great, but it was a little bit quiet for a while, right? And then they came out with their new product features.
100 00:15:30.060 ⇒ 00:15:43.299 Sheshu Chandrasekar: And I said to everybody, like, hey, look at all this cool stuff, can we do a post? And then that sort of, you know, kicked… kicked the tires a bit, and got their attention, and then I reposted
101 00:15:43.400 ⇒ 00:15:50.320 Sheshu Chandrasekar: And then we ended up getting a meeting with, with their marketing people, and now, you know, they’re engaged. So…
102 00:15:50.650 ⇒ 00:15:58.370 Sheshu Chandrasekar: it’s hard to say, yeah, we’re only going to do 3, but then we have momentum elsewhere, and I think that’s also part of the challenge.
103 00:15:58.550 ⇒ 00:16:04.520 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Which is maybe not your issue, but just so you know that that’s sort of in the flow.
104 00:16:04.730 ⇒ 00:16:13.560 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Yeah, no, that makes sense. I guess, in a way, now I’m thinking about it, maybe it should be kind of like a thesis-driven
105 00:16:14.700 ⇒ 00:16:28.440 Sheshu Chandrasekar: partnership, like, meaning, like, it makes sense, like, what you’re saying, like, some partnerships… I think we are treated, like, as a sales process, right? It’s like, certain things, we’re just not going to land partnerships, and it doesn’t even make sense for us strategically.
106 00:16:28.680 ⇒ 00:16:37.969 Sheshu Chandrasekar: So maybe we kind of… I was sharing this with Robert yesterday, too. I was like, maybe we need to think, like, kind of like an investor. It’s like, okay, as a firm, like, we…
107 00:16:38.110 ⇒ 00:16:50.580 Sheshu Chandrasekar: we are really good at data and AI stuff. Maybe we need to find other partners who are on the come-up, who are making strides in the marketplace, and go after those type of targets, versus…
108 00:16:51.240 ⇒ 00:17:04.379 Sheshu Chandrasekar: I guess a broad way of figuring out, like, okay, maybe, like, this healthcare company could be a potential. Maybe in that way, it’d be easier for us to track on a quantitative level, but also, like, it’d be fruitful of your time to kind of be like, okay, like.
109 00:17:04.619 ⇒ 00:17:13.590 Sheshu Chandrasekar: we can offer a lot of value here, and they can offer the same amount of value. I’m just thinking out loud here, by the way, but… yeah, I’m just thinking in that sense, like, how do we make sure, like.
110 00:17:14.140 ⇒ 00:17:19.559 Sheshu Chandrasekar: the time… yeah, I get it. Like, sometimes partnerships are not all about quantitative stuff, but…
111 00:17:20.000 ⇒ 00:17:22.230 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Maybe we just need to go after, like.
112 00:17:22.660 ⇒ 00:17:35.679 Sheshu Chandrasekar: wider bets, like, maybe 60% of our time goes after the big three partnerships that we’re trying to focus on, 40% is just, like, kind of nurturing other partnerships that could help us out in the future, right? And then…
113 00:17:36.600 ⇒ 00:17:45.310 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Sat… Again, when I first came over to Brainford. So, I met UTOM at a conference in Austin.
114 00:17:45.490 ⇒ 00:17:52.670 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Probably over a year ago, and we’ve just kind of, you know, we got connected, and we’ve just kind of become friends.
115 00:17:52.800 ⇒ 00:17:55.330 Sheshu Chandrasekar: But when I first…
116 00:17:55.990 ⇒ 00:18:06.620 Sheshu Chandrasekar: joined… I put together kind of a framework for… with options for how to approach The partnership motion, right?
117 00:18:07.100 ⇒ 00:18:14.200 Sheshu Chandrasekar: And it was, I will say, very high level, and I think it kind of kick-started some things.
118 00:18:14.400 ⇒ 00:18:32.519 Sheshu Chandrasekar: But, to your point, I think you and I are on the same page with, okay, that’s great, but let’s… let’s refine that, and let’s tie in to our ICP, and… and our qualitative metric… quantitative metrics, and, you know, our go-to-market. I think if…
119 00:18:33.030 ⇒ 00:18:43.040 Sheshu Chandrasekar: That would be awesome if we can tie all that together, but at the end of the day, we have some readable and…
120 00:18:43.530 ⇒ 00:18:47.230 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Easy-to-maintain dashboards, or whatever it is.
121 00:18:47.480 ⇒ 00:18:53.960 Sheshu Chandrasekar: that Utum and Robert can look at at any point, you know, in the week. I think that’s the goal.
122 00:18:54.800 ⇒ 00:18:59.659 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Got it. At least from a quantitative perspective, right? Yeah, for sure.
123 00:19:00.730 ⇒ 00:19:03.010 Sheshu Chandrasekar: So, I don’t know, I think…
124 00:19:04.700 ⇒ 00:19:09.180 Sheshu Chandrasekar: As you get more into things.
125 00:19:09.550 ⇒ 00:19:26.459 Sheshu Chandrasekar: you know, like I said, I will just work with you along the way. I think we have some, you know, cleanup to do, and perhaps setting up different angles to existing processes, or put new ones in place, I don’t know. I mean, certainly open to all of that.
126 00:19:26.930 ⇒ 00:19:32.620 Sheshu Chandrasekar: I think we just have to work together through it, and then…
127 00:19:32.940 ⇒ 00:19:49.619 Sheshu Chandrasekar: And quickly, right? Because I know Robert is anxious. Every week. He’s like, okay, how many leads do we have from partners? And it’s pretty good, but it’s… the fidelity of the data is not quite there. It needs to just be much tighter.
128 00:19:49.620 ⇒ 00:20:00.319 Sheshu Chandrasekar: I don’t know if you shared that, but that’s certainly my perspective. Okay, so, like, can you… what does that mean exactly? Like, is it, like, the HubSpot stuff that’s not working, or… Yeah.
129 00:20:00.540 ⇒ 00:20:01.430 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Yeah.
130 00:20:02.200 ⇒ 00:20:09.710 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Yeah, I think that… And again, this week, it looks… in the past two weeks, it looks like
131 00:20:10.020 ⇒ 00:20:17.290 Sheshu Chandrasekar: There is… Some better deal flow, or, or,
132 00:20:17.600 ⇒ 00:20:24.809 Sheshu Chandrasekar: like, tracking and entry of deals in HubSpot, I think that’s getting better.
133 00:20:25.330 ⇒ 00:20:29.419 Sheshu Chandrasekar: But then translating that data into
134 00:20:29.580 ⇒ 00:20:41.469 Sheshu Chandrasekar: the WBR, I think, is where we have a little bit of a disconnect. Not disconnect, but it’s just not smooth. Gotcha. Can you explain to me what WBR is? I’m a little nude to that term.
135 00:20:42.290 ⇒ 00:20:46.599 Sheshu Chandrasekar: A weekly business review? Oh, gotcha, gotcha, okay.
136 00:20:47.390 ⇒ 00:20:51.300 Sheshu Chandrasekar: It’s a chart. It’s a spreadsheet.
137 00:20:51.570 ⇒ 00:20:56.700 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Yeah, I see the Brainforge weekly, monthly, quarterly GTML. That’s the one?
138 00:20:57.450 ⇒ 00:20:58.850 Sheshu Chandrasekar: That’s it. Gotcha.
139 00:20:59.270 ⇒ 00:21:04.410 Sheshu Chandrasekar: That’s what we’re going over as a… as a team, like, on Mondays.
140 00:21:05.240 ⇒ 00:21:12.980 Sheshu Chandrasekar: And he… he, Robert, revised it, or I guess, updated it at the beginning of this month.
141 00:21:13.130 ⇒ 00:21:20.049 Sheshu Chandrasekar: So… this framework that he set up, you know, we’re… it’s new. It’s new to the team.
142 00:21:21.050 ⇒ 00:21:23.450 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Got it Yeah.
143 00:21:24.910 ⇒ 00:21:25.700 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Huh.
144 00:21:26.050 ⇒ 00:21:33.470 Sheshu Chandrasekar: So how new, how… how… I’m sorry, I’m just thinking, like, how new, how new is this, new framework that you’re referring to?
145 00:21:34.140 ⇒ 00:21:40.120 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Well, he basically rolled it out the first week of January. Okay, gotcha, so it’s very, very new.
146 00:21:40.350 ⇒ 00:21:45.279 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Okay. I mean, to say that we weren’t, you know, that we weren’t tracking
147 00:21:46.020 ⇒ 00:21:50.099 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Last year, we were. It’s just that this is more robust.
148 00:21:50.220 ⇒ 00:21:58.560 Sheshu Chandrasekar: There’s more, more things that Robert is looking at, like,
149 00:21:58.930 ⇒ 00:22:06.790 Sheshu Chandrasekar: I mean, I’m not looking at the thing, but at the spreadsheet itself, but… Like, percentage of…
150 00:22:07.050 ⇒ 00:22:11.920 Sheshu Chandrasekar: ICP meetings per week. That’s new.
151 00:22:12.400 ⇒ 00:22:17.349 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Right? Like, how many… how many of the meetings did we have for an ICP?
152 00:22:17.600 ⇒ 00:22:22.130 Sheshu Chandrasekar: How many were partners? How many leads came out of those meetings?
153 00:22:22.400 ⇒ 00:22:30.220 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Right? That sort of specificity and granularity is… newer.
154 00:22:31.430 ⇒ 00:22:34.509 Sheshu Chandrasekar: And I think it’s great. I think it’s great. It’s just…
155 00:22:35.090 ⇒ 00:22:40.709 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Sorry, I don’t mean to be making a wave here. It’s just somewhat new for the team.
156 00:22:41.030 ⇒ 00:22:43.450 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Yeah, no, that makes sense. I mean…
157 00:22:43.930 ⇒ 00:22:50.950 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Yeah, because, I mean, we’ve been rolling out the new model and stuff, so everything’s a little different. That makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
158 00:22:51.320 ⇒ 00:22:55.500 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Yeah, it’s part of the new model. I think that’s the right way to phrase it.
159 00:22:56.480 ⇒ 00:23:04.900 Sheshu Chandrasekar: And within that new model, as I said, you know, things are getting better with HubSpot.
160 00:23:05.320 ⇒ 00:23:10.970 Sheshu Chandrasekar: But, like, even today, Robert sent a Slack saying, hey, you know, it looks like
161 00:23:11.330 ⇒ 00:23:14.490 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Did you guys update the WBR? Did you update it?
162 00:23:15.770 ⇒ 00:23:16.930 Sheshu Chandrasekar: So…
163 00:23:18.170 ⇒ 00:23:25.109 Sheshu Chandrasekar: you know, I think Ryan was looking at it, but I think we want to get to the point where he doesn’t have to ask that, right? Right.
164 00:23:25.520 ⇒ 00:23:26.910 Sheshu Chandrasekar: No, that makes sense.
165 00:23:27.170 ⇒ 00:23:31.979 Sheshu Chandrasekar: And he just wanted to have a quick snapshot of it. Yeah, so I get it. So it sounds like it’s,
166 00:23:32.750 ⇒ 00:23:40.100 Sheshu Chandrasekar: it’s a… we have the framework, but now it’s just, like, proving… putting that framework to work, right? It’s like, okay, let’s solidify on an ICP, figure out…
167 00:23:40.610 ⇒ 00:23:48.120 Sheshu Chandrasekar: like, what the plan of attack is per quarter basis, and then figure out, like, how we’re gonna track that on a weekly basis. I think that’s kind of like…
168 00:23:48.440 ⇒ 00:23:54.549 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Yes. What I’m thinking right now. So, I guess, in order for us to get those metrics, the data,
169 00:23:55.510 ⇒ 00:24:04.380 Sheshu Chandrasekar: we may just have to just go into HubSpot, see what’s happening there, and then try to find a way to, like, just put this into the spreadsheet that I’m looking at right now.
170 00:24:05.320 ⇒ 00:24:09.430 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Okay, so then I… he also had me…
171 00:24:09.800 ⇒ 00:24:15.000 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Well, I was doing the partner tab of that spreadsheet. Partner tab.
172 00:24:15.920 ⇒ 00:24:18.140 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Oh, the partner tracker?
173 00:24:18.480 ⇒ 00:24:19.350 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Yes.
174 00:24:19.630 ⇒ 00:24:25.259 Sheshu Chandrasekar: So, I’ve… I’ve been doing that for the past… well, for this month.
175 00:24:25.470 ⇒ 00:24:32.240 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Okay. Right? We moved away from the Google Doc, and we moved over to this.
176 00:24:32.570 ⇒ 00:24:33.830 Sheshu Chandrasekar: So…
177 00:24:34.070 ⇒ 00:24:43.499 Sheshu Chandrasekar: And he said, he’s like, I don’t know if we need all this stuff. Remember, I think you were on the call then when you and me and Luke met, I was like, I’m not sure what he meant by all that, but…
178 00:24:43.800 ⇒ 00:24:53.229 Sheshu Chandrasekar: So, do we need first touch date, deal size, key cut, you know? I mean, yeah, I think we need some of these, but I don’t know that we need…
179 00:24:53.900 ⇒ 00:24:59.510 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Everything going across to column AX.
180 00:25:00.360 ⇒ 00:25:06.660 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Do you see that? So there’s pipeline stages, I’ll be up.
181 00:25:06.980 ⇒ 00:25:12.760 Sheshu Chandrasekar: AF… Yes, I see it. AF2… yeah.
182 00:25:13.200 ⇒ 00:25:22.160 Sheshu Chandrasekar: So, I basically have just been working from, obviously, from A over to…
183 00:25:22.810 ⇒ 00:25:27.620 Sheshu Chandrasekar: to K, basically, through the notes, and then the formula
184 00:25:27.930 ⇒ 00:25:38.370 Sheshu Chandrasekar: depending on when the last activity date is, the formula for The most recent touch, Time since first touch.
185 00:25:38.560 ⇒ 00:25:46.299 Sheshu Chandrasekar: that gets populated, right? So, basically, everything from M through U is formula-driven.
186 00:25:47.660 ⇒ 00:25:48.670 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Got it.
187 00:25:49.160 ⇒ 00:25:54.470 Sheshu Chandrasekar: But again, is… is this, you know, I mean… I don’t know.
188 00:25:54.730 ⇒ 00:26:03.440 Sheshu Chandrasekar: It’s… to me… well, I think… I think it does matter, you know, how much time have we spent with this partner? Okay, 10 months.
189 00:26:03.610 ⇒ 00:26:08.060 Sheshu Chandrasekar: And what have we gotten out of that in 10 months, right? That’s a fair question.
190 00:26:08.410 ⇒ 00:26:09.290 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Right? Yeah.
191 00:26:09.790 ⇒ 00:26:11.000 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Now.
192 00:26:11.960 ⇒ 00:26:26.580 Sheshu Chandrasekar: purely from a quantitative perspective, you would think, well, geez, how many leads have we got out of this? Two? Five? Whatever it is, five, right? Is that worth the squeeze?
193 00:26:26.860 ⇒ 00:26:40.740 Sheshu Chandrasekar: I don’t know. I mean, that’s not my call, at least right now. It could be at some point, but I’m not prepared to say that yet. And because I’m so deep in with the partners, I know that this guy, Jay.
194 00:26:41.610 ⇒ 00:26:45.400 Sheshu Chandrasekar: He’s the VP, and he recently…
195 00:26:45.630 ⇒ 00:26:53.830 Sheshu Chandrasekar: like, as of, I think, probably October of last year, sort of… Filled a void.
196 00:26:54.140 ⇒ 00:26:58.889 Sheshu Chandrasekar: in their partner ecosystem. So he’s kind of driving things.
197 00:26:59.000 ⇒ 00:27:02.209 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Currently, and I think that has also helped.
198 00:27:02.510 ⇒ 00:27:11.919 Sheshu Chandrasekar: reinvigorate the partnership for Brainforge. So, while the formula tells you that we’ve spent 10 months on this.
199 00:27:12.320 ⇒ 00:27:18.220 Sheshu Chandrasekar: We probably really haven’t spent a bona fide Hardcore, working, really.
200 00:27:18.580 ⇒ 00:27:21.160 Sheshu Chandrasekar: You know, intently for 10 months.
201 00:27:21.710 ⇒ 00:27:24.240 Sheshu Chandrasekar: See what I’m saying? Yeah, makes sense.
202 00:27:24.450 ⇒ 00:27:28.620 Sheshu Chandrasekar: And that’s fairly true of all of these, right? I mean, Snowflake…
203 00:27:28.750 ⇒ 00:27:37.489 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Utam had… do you have to go? It’s 2.30. Oh, yeah, I… I just realized. But yeah, let’s… yeah.
204 00:27:37.680 ⇒ 00:27:43.959 Sheshu Chandrasekar: So, I think… I think the point is that you and I need to spend some more time together. Yeah.
205 00:27:44.200 ⇒ 00:27:57.799 Sheshu Chandrasekar: And, you know, I have some ideas about how we can capture things better from the partner perspective, and in conjunction with and integrated with the other functions.
206 00:27:58.090 ⇒ 00:28:02.129 Sheshu Chandrasekar: That, you know, I’m happy to share, but…
207 00:28:02.350 ⇒ 00:28:10.129 Sheshu Chandrasekar: as I said, I’ll help you however I can, but I’m excited for you to be here, because
208 00:28:10.400 ⇒ 00:28:15.159 Sheshu Chandrasekar: you know, Yes, I care about the metrics, but…
209 00:28:16.340 ⇒ 00:28:22.939 Sheshu Chandrasekar: But I really am trying to drive these relationships. My focus is to drive those relationships.
210 00:28:23.210 ⇒ 00:28:29.000 Sheshu Chandrasekar: and get us known, and get deals. That’s really my focus. Yeah.
211 00:28:29.190 ⇒ 00:28:34.959 Sheshu Chandrasekar: And that will translate, right? That effort translates to, oh, we’ve got 10 leads here.
212 00:28:35.370 ⇒ 00:28:38.470 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Yeah. No, that makes sense. And I guess…
213 00:28:39.950 ⇒ 00:28:56.799 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Yeah, it’s a tough way to kind of quantifying, like, the movements of, partnerships, I guess. It is, it is, and I’ll just say one more thing, because I know you have to go. So, another one, like, Telisma is a fairly new partner. They referred…
214 00:28:57.240 ⇒ 00:29:00.000 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Us to one of their customers.
215 00:29:00.200 ⇒ 00:29:10.290 Sheshu Chandrasekar: And… Bhutam and I met with the guy, and he’s hiring a new, like, AI IT person.
216 00:29:10.440 ⇒ 00:29:11.620 Sheshu Chandrasekar: And…
217 00:29:11.850 ⇒ 00:29:20.079 Sheshu Chandrasekar: So he, the customer, wants us to meet again with them to figure out a scope of work once their new hire comes on board.
218 00:29:20.290 ⇒ 00:29:35.229 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Okay, well, last month I would have said, if I had to rank to Lisma, I would have put him in the bottom third, but there’s a bona fide lead, right? Right. It’s a repeat lead that is, you know, I give it at least a 50%, if not higher, chance to…
219 00:29:35.740 ⇒ 00:29:37.980 Sheshu Chandrasekar: To become, a sow.
220 00:29:39.500 ⇒ 00:29:55.649 Sheshu Chandrasekar: So, I don’t know, it’s a lot to think about, but just ping me next week. I mean, I’m happy to jump on a call whenever. You can call me or text me. I’m totally open. Sweet. But I think we can get our arms around this, that would be great. No, absolutely. It’s something to think about, and…
221 00:29:56.070 ⇒ 00:30:09.070 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Yeah, absolutely. I think we may need to meet next week and just kind of, like, sit down, just to kind of, like, refine the approach a little bit, and then figure out, like, hey, Robert, I think here are the other… like, we may just have to tell him, like, some metrics that he’s looking at may not be the right…
222 00:30:09.510 ⇒ 00:30:29.200 Sheshu Chandrasekar: right lens, and then propose, like, a newer metric that’s definitely doable on both sides, like, you know, from a strategic lens and a tactical lens. So, I’ll have to think about it a little bit, but definitely we will connect next week and kind of… kind of walk through that and figure out the HubSpot stuff, too. I think that’s been a big bottleneck, is what I’m hearing, so…
223 00:30:29.200 ⇒ 00:30:34.630 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Yeah, yeah, sounds great. All right, well, have a good weekend. Yeah, you too. Talk to you soon. Bye. Yeah.