Meeting Title: Brainforge Happy Hour Planning Date: 2026-02-25 Meeting participants: Uttam Kumaran, Robert Tseng
WEBVTT
1 00:00:15.900 ⇒ 00:00:16.850 Uttam Kumaran: Hey, dude.
2 00:00:17.030 ⇒ 00:00:17.750 Robert Tseng: Hey.
3 00:00:18.010 ⇒ 00:00:19.680 Robert Tseng: You in San Antonio now?
4 00:00:21.360 ⇒ 00:00:21.940 Uttam Kumaran: What’s.
5 00:00:21.940 ⇒ 00:00:23.890 Robert Tseng: Ayyyyy!
6 00:00:24.050 ⇒ 00:00:25.250 Robert Tseng: Hey, Clarence.
7 00:00:25.400 ⇒ 00:00:27.570 Uttam Kumaran: What’s up? Now you know the background’s real.
8 00:00:27.570 ⇒ 00:00:28.260 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
9 00:00:29.570 ⇒ 00:00:30.100 Uttam Kumaran: That’s right.
10 00:00:30.100 ⇒ 00:00:32.750 Robert Tseng: Come to Austin next week when I’m in town.
11 00:00:32.750 ⇒ 00:00:42.849 Uttam Kumaran: You’re gonna be in town! Yeah, we’re doing a happy hour on Thursday. So, Monday to Thursday morning, I’m gonna be, in Dallas, but I will stop on the drive back.
12 00:00:43.040 ⇒ 00:00:43.920 Robert Tseng: Oh, perfect.
13 00:00:43.920 ⇒ 00:00:46.800 Uttam Kumaran: typically lines up to zero. Oh, okay.
14 00:00:46.800 ⇒ 00:00:47.180 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
15 00:00:47.180 ⇒ 00:00:52.220 Uttam Kumaran: Mac, maybe, I don’t know. Depends.
16 00:00:52.320 ⇒ 00:00:53.110 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
17 00:00:53.320 ⇒ 00:00:53.820 Uttam Kumaran: Robert.
18 00:00:53.820 ⇒ 00:00:54.360 Robert Tseng: Nice.
19 00:00:54.360 ⇒ 00:00:57.319 Uttam Kumaran: His wife were staying at the house. Oh, cool! Yeah, cool.
20 00:00:58.580 ⇒ 00:01:03.689 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I have another Burmese friend who, is gonna be… be at our happy hour.
21 00:01:03.690 ⇒ 00:01:04.510 Uttam Kumaran: Wonderful.
22 00:01:04.510 ⇒ 00:01:04.980 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
23 00:01:04.989 ⇒ 00:01:06.849 Uttam Kumaran: practice my shitty Burmese.
24 00:01:08.900 ⇒ 00:01:23.630 Uttam Kumaran: Like, it’s so bad now, because I haven’t talked to my parents, in a while. That’s… I mean, there’s, like, nobody to practice with. Yeah, yeah. There’s no Burmese food here either, really. There’s Nepalese food. Oh my gosh, right down the block, there’s a Burmese food. Oh, really?
25 00:01:23.630 ⇒ 00:01:35.579 Uttam Kumaran: Oh, damn. Dude, I was going on a run randomly, so Robert, I bought this house, like, and then I just went on a run one day, and I just look up, and there’s a Burmese supermarket just right in this parking lot, and I’m like, what did I just do? Like…
26 00:01:35.580 ⇒ 00:01:36.200 Robert Tseng: Wow.
27 00:01:36.200 ⇒ 00:01:37.730 Uttam Kumaran: The Matrix?
28 00:01:38.550 ⇒ 00:01:51.470 Uttam Kumaran: chances, right? So, yeah. Cool. That’s amazing. I’m gonna… I’m gonna just time it so that… I’m gonna invite Michael and some bunch of our… some of our people. Cool. But there should be a lot of native people and clients.
29 00:01:51.470 ⇒ 00:01:59.809 Robert Tseng: Yeah, it’s just… yeah, it’s more of just friends at Brainforge, but also a good kind of networking opportunity. We’re just not limiting ourselves to mixed panel people or whatever, so…
30 00:01:59.810 ⇒ 00:02:01.459 Uttam Kumaran: I think I read… so this was the mixed panel.
31 00:02:01.460 ⇒ 00:02:02.900 Robert Tseng: Yeah. This was…
32 00:02:02.980 ⇒ 00:02:05.750 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah. But I actually think this is gonna get more people, because…
33 00:02:05.750 ⇒ 00:02:08.880 Robert Tseng: Yeah, this is gonna get more people. I think we already have 4 signups, or whatever, so…
34 00:02:08.880 ⇒ 00:02:12.080 Uttam Kumaran: I was wondering, Robert, that place is right near my house, like.
35 00:02:12.080 ⇒ 00:02:13.879 Robert Tseng: Well, I asked Hannah to book it, so, yeah.
36 00:02:13.880 ⇒ 00:02:17.739 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, cool. I mean, I was literally there the other day. It’s a nice, like, cozy East Austin…
37 00:02:17.740 ⇒ 00:02:21.240 Robert Tseng: Or if you think something else is better, then you just tell her to change it, but I’.
38 00:02:21.240 ⇒ 00:02:26.260 Uttam Kumaran: Well, I just didn’t know, like, if you wanted to be, like, downtown or something. It’s, like, literally, like.
39 00:02:26.530 ⇒ 00:02:28.930 Uttam Kumaran: 10-minute walk from… it’s just my local, like.
40 00:02:29.040 ⇒ 00:02:32.550 Uttam Kumaran: Coffee shop kolache spot. Nice. It’s a nice place.
41 00:02:33.130 ⇒ 00:02:34.980 Robert Tseng: I don’t know, well…
42 00:02:35.390 ⇒ 00:02:39.019 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, I’ll… I don’t know, if I get a second thought, I can change.
43 00:02:39.210 ⇒ 00:02:42.479 Robert Tseng: Yeah, if we get more too many people, you’re like, I don’t know, you should move it.
44 00:02:42.480 ⇒ 00:02:48.319 Uttam Kumaran: They have a lot of space, and they get very little traffic, they’re gonna be very, very happy. And I feel… I feel good, because it’s like a…
45 00:02:48.320 ⇒ 00:02:49.679 Robert Tseng: It’s your local place, yeah.
46 00:02:49.680 ⇒ 00:02:52.900 Uttam Kumaran: I’m an institution, and the kolaches are banging.
47 00:02:53.180 ⇒ 00:03:03.779 Uttam Kumaran: And they have beer and coffee, like, it’s a nice place, and it’s like, people are in Austin, they would have never been there. It’s a huge outdoor picnic table and everything, the weather here is really nice right now, so…
48 00:03:04.070 ⇒ 00:03:04.800 Robert Tseng: Nice.
49 00:03:04.800 ⇒ 00:03:06.030 Uttam Kumaran: Pretty good.
50 00:03:06.030 ⇒ 00:03:09.950 Robert Tseng: Kolache is that, like, that Pakistani roll, right? Is that what you’re talking about?
51 00:03:10.610 ⇒ 00:03:26.930 Uttam Kumaran: Is it maybe Pakistani? Oh, German, yeah. Well, it’s just… it’s just, like, yeah, bread roll stuff, typically, it’s, like, almost, like, kind of like calzone, like, sometimes they have pepperoni, sausage, cheese, sausage, egg, and cheese. You’ve been to, like, Paris Gaguette, where they have, like, the pastry with the hot dog inside of it?
52 00:03:26.930 ⇒ 00:03:28.360 Robert Tseng: Oh, yeah, yeah, it’s like that.
53 00:03:28.360 ⇒ 00:03:33.690 Uttam Kumaran: Like that, except, like, you know, hot dog is too long. Everything gets sets up in the thing.
54 00:03:33.690 ⇒ 00:03:37.839 Robert Tseng: Okay, yeah, I have a pair of spaghetti right around the corner. I go there in the morning.
55 00:03:38.590 ⇒ 00:03:39.930 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
56 00:03:42.660 ⇒ 00:03:44.190 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, so…
57 00:03:44.510 ⇒ 00:03:51.469 Uttam Kumaran: I actually, dude, I actually liked… Debbie actually, like, I… I was, like, kind of impressed, how he was thinking about it.
58 00:03:51.580 ⇒ 00:03:57.540 Uttam Kumaran: I don’t know if you saw that thread, which is just basically, it’s like, maybe the 3-month forces us
59 00:03:57.880 ⇒ 00:03:59.860 Uttam Kumaran: To basically drop them if they don’t.
60 00:04:00.180 ⇒ 00:04:01.090 Uttam Kumaran: But…
61 00:04:02.760 ⇒ 00:04:08.680 Uttam Kumaran: I met… yeah, I feel like… so you said, I feel like we may have gone more up front, but it didn’t look… really bode well for the relationship.
62 00:04:09.120 ⇒ 00:04:16.799 Uttam Kumaran: Yes, I don’t really see the vision for Magic Spoons, because it looks like they have an analytics team already. We are, yes, that’s kind of, like, what we’re doing.
63 00:04:17.480 ⇒ 00:04:22.629 Uttam Kumaran: Even if we get a 12-month, we could still tack on. We have to clearly define it.
64 00:04:22.870 ⇒ 00:04:24.100 Uttam Kumaran: I think that’s FedEx.
65 00:04:24.980 ⇒ 00:04:28.520 Uttam Kumaran: I think that’s our current state so far, is the So…
66 00:04:32.370 ⇒ 00:04:39.939 Robert Tseng: Like, I see these guys, like, playing, like, defense. They’re not, like, going out and finding the opportunities. And, like.
67 00:04:40.090 ⇒ 00:04:59.089 Robert Tseng: I’d rather him, like, we’re in a 12-month, and then they’re asking him to do more work, and then our CSOs are like, oh, no, that’s not in our scope of work, like, we should tech it on an SOW. Then it’s, like, very clear. Then, like, they’re not looking for the opportunity. It literally comes to them, and they have to learn how to, like, actually, like, grow the contract.
68 00:04:59.340 ⇒ 00:05:06.699 Robert Tseng: Rather than us telling, like, alright, you’re starting at 6K, go find us another 10, 15K. Like, nobody’s done that yet at this point, so…
69 00:05:06.700 ⇒ 00:05:08.560 Uttam Kumaran: But, so, but you’re saying do that.
70 00:05:09.360 ⇒ 00:05:23.709 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I’m saying just sign the longer contract, like, yeah, and then, like, make… yeah, I think I… all of this is kind of my thinking for why we should… I didn’t realize you wrote that you wanted to sign the 12-month, but, like, yeah, I’m on the same page. I think we should sign the 12-month.
71 00:05:27.100 ⇒ 00:05:30.799 Robert Tseng: the 12-month MSA, so that we can tack on additional SOWs.
72 00:05:32.420 ⇒ 00:05:36.400 Uttam Kumaran: I… yeah, I see what you mean in that, like, he’s kind of taking it, like, the…
73 00:05:36.710 ⇒ 00:05:39.250 Uttam Kumaran: It’s gonna force them Up.
74 00:05:39.250 ⇒ 00:05:47.750 Robert Tseng: I don’t think it will. Like, I… just… based on what we saw with Urban Steps, like, I think they’ll just… it’ll run up, and they’ll… they’re just gonna procrastinate. I mean.
75 00:05:48.140 ⇒ 00:05:59.599 Robert Tseng: just generally speaking, e-com planning, like, tech investments happen in Q1. Like, they already budgeted it out at that point. So, by the time this 3-month comes up and end of Q2,
76 00:05:59.790 ⇒ 00:06:13.329 Robert Tseng: It’s like, they’re thinking about prepping for Q4, they, like, make some operational changes in Q3, but I don’t think anybody makes a new tech investment at that time, in terms of, like, for e-com companies that are investing in tech.
77 00:06:14.900 ⇒ 00:06:15.550 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
78 00:06:16.920 ⇒ 00:06:18.749 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, so then I’ll,
79 00:06:23.330 ⇒ 00:06:31.190 Uttam Kumaran: I mean, dude, actually, can I just… I think… I think actually, like, oh, he’s just off. Maybe I’ll see if he’s on, because I think it’s actually a good learning moment for him.
80 00:06:33.510 ⇒ 00:06:39.020 Uttam Kumaran: I mean, I’m… he seems like… I think if he hears that from you, it’ll motivate him. So, like…
81 00:06:40.120 ⇒ 00:06:43.059 Uttam Kumaran: Do you wanna… do you wanna shoot that note?
82 00:06:43.250 ⇒ 00:06:44.089 Robert Tseng: Yeah, yeah.
83 00:06:44.090 ⇒ 00:06:45.900 Uttam Kumaran: Okay. Like, the… I think.
84 00:06:45.900 ⇒ 00:06:47.620 Robert Tseng: I’ll, like, I’ll dress it up a little more.
85 00:06:47.620 ⇒ 00:06:52.409 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, yeah, no, but I think, like, I think he’s… I think Demi’s really hungry to do exactly that.
86 00:06:52.780 ⇒ 00:06:56.699 Uttam Kumaran: So, I think, like, just that frame is gonna be really helpful.
87 00:06:57.120 ⇒ 00:06:57.820 Robert Tseng: Okay.
88 00:06:58.110 ⇒ 00:07:03.520 Uttam Kumaran: So… And then, on the element side, basically.
89 00:07:03.740 ⇒ 00:07:06.159 Uttam Kumaran: The only thing she said was, like.
90 00:07:06.520 ⇒ 00:07:11.559 Robert Tseng: You ended up getting on another call with her? Yeah. I thought we, like, canceled the call with Phil, and then I was like, oh, great.
91 00:07:11.560 ⇒ 00:07:15.089 Uttam Kumaran: I called Phil, but she still said, she’s like, I wanna just chat.
92 00:07:16.020 ⇒ 00:07:20.409 Robert Tseng: I never know if she actually booked something, or if she’s just saying that, so…
93 00:07:20.410 ⇒ 00:07:22.479 Uttam Kumaran: It’s, so basically.
94 00:07:22.820 ⇒ 00:07:27.700 Uttam Kumaran: basically, she was like… she kind of said what I said, which is, like, it’s a big jump, and, like.
95 00:07:28.030 ⇒ 00:07:30.210 Uttam Kumaran: Can you just make that super clear, what the jump.
96 00:07:30.210 ⇒ 00:07:30.760 Robert Tseng: Yes. Yeah.
97 00:07:31.020 ⇒ 00:07:31.800 Uttam Kumaran: And…
98 00:07:32.040 ⇒ 00:07:38.470 Uttam Kumaran: I hopped on, and I was like, yeah, this is the jump. She’s like, yeah, but you didn’t… none of that is on this dock. And I was like, okay, fair. So…
99 00:07:39.040 ⇒ 00:07:39.700 Uttam Kumaran: Maybe…
100 00:07:39.700 ⇒ 00:07:42.970 Robert Tseng: Is it not in the summary, I feel like we put it in there, but…
101 00:07:43.950 ⇒ 00:07:47.340 Uttam Kumaran: Well, we were just gonna put…
102 00:07:47.610 ⇒ 00:07:51.110 Uttam Kumaran: Well, yeah, I mean, this… I would say it wasn’t really in, like…
103 00:07:51.400 ⇒ 00:07:54.650 Uttam Kumaran: I wrote this, it wasn’t really crisp at all in here.
104 00:07:55.360 ⇒ 00:07:58.669 Uttam Kumaran: So basically, this was, like, sort of what I came up with.
105 00:07:58.670 ⇒ 00:08:01.590 Robert Tseng: Yeah, yeah, yeah, you added this row, yeah. Okay.
106 00:08:01.590 ⇒ 00:08:14.539 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I just was gonna say, like, this is it, LM wanted to move faster, layering team, getting close to capacity, we would have needed to adjust price, even the accelerate option, we recommend going B, before we look around the options, great.
107 00:08:15.330 ⇒ 00:08:19.899 Uttam Kumaran: I didn’t know if, like, any of these ones were worth adding here.
108 00:08:20.570 ⇒ 00:08:21.540 Uttam Kumaran: like…
109 00:08:23.920 ⇒ 00:08:29.000 Robert Tseng: We’re gonna take stuff like that out, like, I just kind of put a few different views that kind of show.
110 00:08:29.100 ⇒ 00:08:34.770 Robert Tseng: How they could make the comparison. Obviously, I want… I’m trying to drive them to option B, but…
111 00:08:35.520 ⇒ 00:08:36.990 Uttam Kumaran: No, I think there’s a chance.
112 00:08:40.400 ⇒ 00:08:43.690 Uttam Kumaran: So yeah, I mean, I’m just gonna remove this. I do think that this…
113 00:08:45.280 ⇒ 00:08:47.230 Uttam Kumaran: It’s helpful to see it like this.
114 00:08:47.590 ⇒ 00:08:48.150 Robert Tseng: Great.
115 00:08:52.210 ⇒ 00:08:57.589 Uttam Kumaran: and then basically to show her, like, one thing she was like, and then she was like, yeah, but I’m still not clear, like.
116 00:08:58.460 ⇒ 00:09:02.970 Uttam Kumaran: do we still get, like, you and Robert’s time? Like, what is the breakdown? So I think this kind of answers that.
117 00:09:03.130 ⇒ 00:09:07.819 Uttam Kumaran: And then tell me, like, did I mess this up? Like, how many people were we thinking for this?
118 00:09:08.090 ⇒ 00:09:11.119 Robert Tseng: Yeah, this is a little bit more than I expected.
119 00:09:11.120 ⇒ 00:09:15.549 Uttam Kumaran: I think you had, like, dedicated as the change, not another dedicated.
120 00:09:16.060 ⇒ 00:09:16.890 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
121 00:09:19.470 ⇒ 00:09:21.139 Robert Tseng: Whoa, is this a different…
122 00:09:21.640 ⇒ 00:09:27.000 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I just… well, I used the AI and the transcript basically immediately to just rewrite the summary.
123 00:09:28.090 ⇒ 00:09:32.340 Robert Tseng: Yeah, yeah, I mean, I can just go in there and, so…
124 00:09:34.970 ⇒ 00:09:40.069 Robert Tseng: Well, yeah, what I had showed from Current, Current was just, like.
125 00:09:40.270 ⇒ 00:09:53.580 Robert Tseng: 1DE1… or one lead DE, one AE. That was the current contract. And then, like, option A is, like, what we’ve… option A is, like, what we’ve added already, which is, like.
126 00:09:53.950 ⇒ 00:10:13.899 Robert Tseng: well, it’s a mix of, like, what we’ve added. So, the analyst, the… another lead strategist, and then a senior strategist. Like, those three got added to option A. That’s, like, the bare minimum, what we’re willing to do, because, like, that reflects, like, the recalibration that we did in the middle of the contract, plus, like, we know we have to bring in someone more senior in order, because
127 00:10:13.900 ⇒ 00:10:16.590 Robert Tseng: Shivadi can’t work directly with Amber, so it’s not gonna work.
128 00:10:17.610 ⇒ 00:10:39.119 Robert Tseng: And then, like, B is, like, okay, well, if we’re gonna really have to parallelize and get this, like, supply chain thing done by September as well, then we do need pretty much a full-time analyst and full-time engineer on there. So, it feels like I worded it so that it looks like we’re adding more people, but I’m not, like, committing to adding more people. It may just mean that, like, we’re just…
129 00:10:39.120 ⇒ 00:10:44.950 Robert Tseng: make… dedicating someone’s entire time to that. Like, I think it’s implied that everything else is just kind of…
130 00:10:45.020 ⇒ 00:10:47.070 Robert Tseng: Fractional, like, yeah.
131 00:10:47.070 ⇒ 00:10:49.690 Uttam Kumaran: That’s what I think we should say here, like…
132 00:10:50.320 ⇒ 00:10:53.619 Uttam Kumaran: If you want to write out fractional, that’s fine. I just feel like…
133 00:10:53.620 ⇒ 00:10:56.060 Robert Tseng: I mean, I don’t feel like it’s misleading, but, like, yeah.
134 00:10:56.060 ⇒ 00:10:57.750 Uttam Kumaran: I don’t think we should say fraction.
135 00:10:57.750 ⇒ 00:10:59.729 Robert Tseng: I don’t think… I don’t like the sound of that, yeah.
136 00:11:00.190 ⇒ 00:11:04.409 Uttam Kumaran: I think… We should stay dedicated.
137 00:11:05.590 ⇒ 00:11:10.930 Uttam Kumaran: But, like, which… so which one’s here… So, I should basically…
138 00:11:11.740 ⇒ 00:11:16.990 Robert Tseng: Or we could recall full-time, or whatever, but I don’t really want to use the word full-time either, because I’m not an employee, so…
139 00:11:18.590 ⇒ 00:11:21.180 Uttam Kumaran: I think dedicated is fine.
140 00:11:21.180 ⇒ 00:11:21.760 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
141 00:11:23.720 ⇒ 00:11:27.059 Uttam Kumaran: So, like, one dedicated senior strategist.
142 00:11:27.800 ⇒ 00:11:29.960 Uttam Kumaran: So then that removes this one, basically.
143 00:11:32.120 ⇒ 00:11:32.770 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
144 00:11:33.250 ⇒ 00:11:35.210 Uttam Kumaran: So what I’m gonna do is…
145 00:11:44.640 ⇒ 00:11:48.679 Uttam Kumaran: And then… Dedicated, dedicated lead.
146 00:11:52.150 ⇒ 00:11:57.460 Uttam Kumaran: So… okay, so this is… So this becomes a dedicated person, right?
147 00:11:58.360 ⇒ 00:11:58.960 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
148 00:12:00.930 ⇒ 00:12:05.209 Uttam Kumaran: So, plus one dedicated analyst, plus one dedicated…
149 00:12:20.800 ⇒ 00:12:23.589 Uttam Kumaran: So, the dedicated engineer…
150 00:12:25.800 ⇒ 00:12:28.359 Robert Tseng: I think it’s like this. It’s gonna go in and…
151 00:12:28.930 ⇒ 00:12:29.830 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
152 00:12:49.300 ⇒ 00:12:51.849 Uttam Kumaran: I just wanted to see, like, it’s getting bigger.
153 00:12:51.850 ⇒ 00:12:55.569 Robert Tseng: Yes, yes, I’m gonna… I’m gonna… I see what you’re doing now.
154 00:13:25.170 ⇒ 00:13:28.420 Robert Tseng: I just call them a data engineer, I don’t think they know the difference, anyways.
155 00:13:29.500 ⇒ 00:13:30.060 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
156 00:14:08.920 ⇒ 00:14:12.800 Robert Tseng: Oh… Hierarchy, hierarchy, okay, so this is better.
157 00:14:20.740 ⇒ 00:14:23.199 Uttam Kumaran: Unplugged in. No, it plugs into that.
158 00:14:23.850 ⇒ 00:14:25.480 Uttam Kumaran: Oh, thanks.
159 00:14:25.650 ⇒ 00:14:27.929 Uttam Kumaran: And you can use the keyboard to track that page.
160 00:14:29.700 ⇒ 00:14:30.550 Uttam Kumaran: Beautiful.
161 00:14:34.570 ⇒ 00:14:36.720 Robert Tseng: Then… do…
162 00:14:47.190 ⇒ 00:14:47.980 Robert Tseng: Great.
163 00:14:48.320 ⇒ 00:14:51.000 Robert Tseng: I think that’s the… That’s the look.
164 00:14:58.080 ⇒ 00:14:59.280 Robert Tseng: So, it’s like…
165 00:14:59.330 ⇒ 00:14:59.990 Uttam Kumaran: Fuck.
166 00:15:00.360 ⇒ 00:15:09.449 Robert Tseng: Yeah, currently, you were supposed to just have two of us on there. And then, you know, with kind of the calibration that we’ve made, the minimum is, like, you’re gonna have five.
167 00:15:10.200 ⇒ 00:15:16.980 Robert Tseng: And then, like, it’s just, you know, adjusting capacity, but it’s gonna be, like, 6 or 7 for B and C.
168 00:15:21.340 ⇒ 00:15:23.360 Uttam Kumaran: What are we at on Eden right now?
169 00:15:24.110 ⇒ 00:15:31.040 Robert Tseng: Yeah, it’s about… it’s about the same. It’s more like… It’s more like option B.
170 00:15:32.130 ⇒ 00:15:33.889 Robert Tseng: Right, it’s like, away sh…
171 00:15:34.390 ⇒ 00:15:39.340 Robert Tseng: Supposedly. Okay, well, I’ll just… I’ll just put the names out. Awash lead, me lead…
172 00:15:39.700 ⇒ 00:15:44.369 Robert Tseng: analytics engineer Ashwini, senior strategist, is,
173 00:15:44.750 ⇒ 00:15:53.040 Robert Tseng: I guess, like, Greg, plus dedicated… I mean, we don’t really have dedicated analysts, but it’s, like, then we have Amber and Zoran. That’s, like, 6 people on that client.
174 00:15:55.430 ⇒ 00:16:09.149 Robert Tseng: obviously, the engineer… and then there’s Demolat… but, like, Ashwini Demlade is, like, maybe… they’re very minimal at this point. But Awesha’s still pretty… I would say he probably spends, like, at least 15 hours there, and then…
175 00:16:09.630 ⇒ 00:16:16.310 Robert Tseng: like, obviously Greg is building, like, 15… 15 hours there as well, so, like, it’s, you know, they’re… Yeah.
176 00:16:16.430 ⇒ 00:16:20.410 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I mean, the Zoran can go up to 20, 25, or 30, so…
177 00:16:22.740 ⇒ 00:16:24.179 Uttam Kumaran: Should I literally just put your name here?
178 00:16:25.760 ⇒ 00:16:35.700 Robert Tseng: Oh, well, I actually put mine as, like, well, I’m assuming you’re lead, and I’m lead. Like, I just kind of changed the terminology. So, like, this is more supposed to be, like, Jasmine, right? So…
179 00:16:36.200 ⇒ 00:16:40.050 Uttam Kumaran: Oh, okay, okay, okay. Oh, I see, I see, I see, great.
180 00:16:40.050 ⇒ 00:16:45.579 Robert Tseng: Yeah, so you’re actually, like, I don’t know, like, if you’ve wa- if you want to be… whatever, I just assume you’re…
181 00:16:45.900 ⇒ 00:16:53.340 Robert Tseng: lead engineer, and fra- and, like, one… I’ll leave that.
182 00:16:53.680 ⇒ 00:16:54.640 Robert Tseng: Oh, gosh.
183 00:16:57.390 ⇒ 00:16:58.110 Robert Tseng: What?
184 00:16:59.770 ⇒ 00:17:00.460 Robert Tseng: There’s it.
185 00:17:02.080 ⇒ 00:17:07.289 Robert Tseng: I would say it should be, one, the architects. That’s what we call you. You’re an architect.
186 00:17:10.520 ⇒ 00:17:11.840 Uttam Kumaran: Whatever it takes.
187 00:17:14.310 ⇒ 00:17:15.170 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
188 00:17:17.290 ⇒ 00:17:17.859 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
189 00:17:19.670 ⇒ 00:17:22.640 Uttam Kumaran: Okay. Ben, I think I’m good with this, like, what…
190 00:17:22.990 ⇒ 00:17:25.640 Uttam Kumaran: So what I’m gonna do is I’m gonna put…
191 00:17:28.920 ⇒ 00:17:34.240 Uttam Kumaran: I’m gonna put this in…
192 00:17:34.750 ⇒ 00:17:37.609 Uttam Kumaran: This into the back of her dock.
193 00:17:38.200 ⇒ 00:17:38.780 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
194 00:17:39.810 ⇒ 00:17:45.319 Uttam Kumaran: And then… I’ll probably just text her and tell her this is in.
195 00:17:47.160 ⇒ 00:17:49.080 Uttam Kumaran: Can I just confirm what she said.
196 00:17:50.530 ⇒ 00:17:55.920 Robert Tseng: You have a note here on your hours. I don’t know if that’s from AI as well, like, do you want to include that?
197 00:17:56.740 ⇒ 00:17:57.440 Uttam Kumaran: Shit.
198 00:17:57.680 ⇒ 00:18:01.179 Uttam Kumaran: she wanted… I mean, that’s honestly, like, what I’m spending now.
199 00:18:01.340 ⇒ 00:18:03.519 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I mean, we can keep saying that, yeah.
200 00:18:03.520 ⇒ 00:18:08.960 Uttam Kumaran: I don’t mind, it’s, like, not… I don’t mind, because this is not, like, ending up… that’s not, like, ending up in the contract.
201 00:18:09.560 ⇒ 00:18:10.110 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
202 00:18:10.460 ⇒ 00:18:14.409 Uttam Kumaran: So, I don’t mind continuing to say. I mean, this… this does become our…
203 00:18:14.410 ⇒ 00:18:19.009 Robert Tseng: Why don’t we just take your… we just say, you know, collectively, we’ll spend that much.
204 00:18:19.010 ⇒ 00:18:19.400 Uttam Kumaran: Sure.
205 00:18:19.400 ⇒ 00:18:21.440 Robert Tseng: Three times ago, yeah.
206 00:18:21.820 ⇒ 00:18:22.480 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
207 00:18:24.400 ⇒ 00:18:28.569 Uttam Kumaran: I mean, she was saying that, and I was like, well, I guess, yeah, you… I was honestly trying to be, like.
208 00:18:28.760 ⇒ 00:18:37.449 Uttam Kumaran: not say, okay, yeah, you become our biggest client. I was gonna be like, yeah, you guys become one of our larger engagements.
209 00:18:39.820 ⇒ 00:18:49.509 Robert Tseng: Well, I mean, like, personnel-wise, it’s… I think I feel confident saying option B is, like, what we do at, like, when Brainforge is at, like, full capacity.
210 00:18:49.660 ⇒ 00:19:05.790 Robert Tseng: I wouldn’t have to talk about budget, but it’s just like, yeah, we’re used to running teams like this size, you know? And, like, deploying this many people to kind of work on, you know, this type of… this type of work. So I… I feel you should feel comfortable saying that. As far as pricing, obviously, we’re charging more now, like, we’re gonna…
211 00:19:06.010 ⇒ 00:19:06.500 Robert Tseng: the…
212 00:19:06.500 ⇒ 00:19:06.900 Uttam Kumaran: Nice.
213 00:19:06.900 ⇒ 00:19:07.370 Robert Tseng: So…
214 00:19:07.370 ⇒ 00:19:10.340 Uttam Kumaran: I said I totally stand behind how we price, and I said it’s gonna…
215 00:19:10.340 ⇒ 00:19:10.890 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
216 00:19:11.160 ⇒ 00:19:14.030 Uttam Kumaran: super clear, especially if Phil has run a team like this, like.
217 00:19:14.180 ⇒ 00:19:16.340 Uttam Kumaran: It’s not gonna come as a surprise to a lot of people.
218 00:19:16.530 ⇒ 00:19:24.019 Robert Tseng: Yeah. I don’t know if, like, I had a section before in the investment summary where I was, like… or maybe we took it out,
219 00:19:24.380 ⇒ 00:19:29.599 Robert Tseng: Kind of, like, what you… what this would cost if you do it in-house, like, the building internally?
220 00:19:30.120 ⇒ 00:19:31.879 Robert Tseng: I don’t know if that’s helpful, Matt.
221 00:19:42.720 ⇒ 00:19:48.090 Uttam Kumaran: I mean, I like all… I like… I wish… I like the whole doc, like, every part of it is, like, really good.
222 00:19:48.630 ⇒ 00:19:49.400 Uttam Kumaran: I just, like…
223 00:19:49.400 ⇒ 00:19:56.449 Robert Tseng: Yeah, this diagram, I did that manually, no AI. That took… that was my last thing I did before I slept last night.
224 00:19:56.450 ⇒ 00:19:57.180 Uttam Kumaran: Yes?
225 00:19:57.530 ⇒ 00:19:58.150 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
226 00:19:58.650 ⇒ 00:19:59.450 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
227 00:20:00.030 ⇒ 00:20:05.189 Uttam Kumaran: No, dude. I mean, like, it looks beautiful, but…
228 00:20:07.040 ⇒ 00:20:12.190 Uttam Kumaran: Big, dude, how did you… I wanna… I was gonna ask you, like, how do… how do we do this for other shit? Like, how did you get to do this?
229 00:20:12.690 ⇒ 00:20:15.470 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I just, used, like, Google, like.
230 00:20:15.830 ⇒ 00:20:18.460 Robert Tseng: Drawing board thing, whatever they have.
231 00:20:20.410 ⇒ 00:20:22.529 Robert Tseng: I don’t even know what feature I used here.
232 00:20:24.050 ⇒ 00:20:29.049 Robert Tseng: Oh yeah, well, yeah, I used… I used drawing. I literally just drew it in the doc.
233 00:20:30.940 ⇒ 00:20:35.010 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, I’m gonna put this…
234 00:20:37.020 ⇒ 00:20:39.289 Uttam Kumaran: At the bo- right underneath this one.
235 00:20:43.890 ⇒ 00:20:52.520 Uttam Kumaran: And I’m going to… Take the summary… Can you,
236 00:20:53.240 ⇒ 00:20:55.850 Uttam Kumaran: While I do this, do you want to just draft, like, an email?
237 00:20:57.430 ⇒ 00:20:58.410 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
238 00:20:58.670 ⇒ 00:21:00.409 Uttam Kumaran: I’ll have to move this to her docs.
239 00:21:01.540 ⇒ 00:21:02.850 Robert Tseng: We’re addressing Phil.
240 00:21:03.750 ⇒ 00:21:06.069 Uttam Kumaran: Phil, addressing Phil, Jason Schiavone.
241 00:21:06.600 ⇒ 00:21:07.140 Robert Tseng: Okay.
242 00:21:25.420 ⇒ 00:21:30.179 Uttam Kumaran: It’s also funded, Pranav’s negotiating with… with Lilo.
243 00:21:30.500 ⇒ 00:21:34.270 Robert Tseng: Yeah, dude, I feel bad. How’s he doing?
244 00:21:34.650 ⇒ 00:21:37.910 Uttam Kumaran: He’s literally like, no, I love, like, I’m learning so much about, like.
245 00:21:38.280 ⇒ 00:21:39.070 Robert Tseng: Great.
246 00:21:39.770 ⇒ 00:21:42.430 Uttam Kumaran: I was, like, I was also like, dude, am I, like.
247 00:21:42.610 ⇒ 00:21:52.010 Uttam Kumaran: throwing this guy too much into, like, this crazy shit, but I’m also like, yo, we have to kind of go through this, and I was like, how nice it is that you could just be like, no, because Clarence is like, dude, just…
248 00:21:52.200 ⇒ 00:21:58.200 Uttam Kumaran: basically go to them and say management found out that we were doing way too much here, and they, like… there’s, like, all these options for.
249 00:21:58.200 ⇒ 00:21:59.050 Robert Tseng: Yeah, yeah.
250 00:21:59.200 ⇒ 00:22:04.359 Uttam Kumaran: No, but then he’s like, no, no, no, dude, I, like… I can handle it, like, I just need some, like.
251 00:22:04.460 ⇒ 00:22:07.459 Uttam Kumaran: Talking points, and I’m like, fuck yeah, let’s go.
252 00:22:55.800 ⇒ 00:22:56.400 Robert Tseng: Great.
253 00:25:03.640 ⇒ 00:25:06.440 Uttam Kumaran: Dude, can I tell you something, too?
254 00:25:06.660 ⇒ 00:25:07.460 Uttam Kumaran: this…
255 00:25:07.460 ⇒ 00:25:08.120 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
256 00:25:08.970 ⇒ 00:25:16.410 Uttam Kumaran: Someday I’m gonna meet that Gen Able woman and, like, give her a hug, dude. Literally, like… Her tweets.
257 00:25:17.320 ⇒ 00:25:22.760 Uttam Kumaran: That podcast has changed Like, enterprise selling for me so significantly.
258 00:25:23.080 ⇒ 00:25:23.420 Robert Tseng: change.
259 00:25:23.650 ⇒ 00:25:26.450 Uttam Kumaran: Higher attitude about… like…
260 00:25:27.010 ⇒ 00:25:34.749 Uttam Kumaran: the fact that, like, calling Shivani, and basically, she literally was like, I want to get you the money, I need you to write this. And I was like.
261 00:25:35.120 ⇒ 00:25:40.149 Uttam Kumaran: oh my god, it’s what Jen Abel said was gonna happen. And…
262 00:25:40.450 ⇒ 00:25:43.860 Uttam Kumaran: I don’t know how you… I don’t know if you already, like, knew some of that, but, like.
263 00:25:44.430 ⇒ 00:25:48.489 Uttam Kumaran: I knew some of it, and I knew there was something beneficial to having, like.
264 00:25:48.920 ⇒ 00:25:53.599 Uttam Kumaran: the personal relationship, and maybe I only saw it, like, a couple times, because all of our deals were, like.
265 00:25:53.930 ⇒ 00:25:56.279 Uttam Kumaran: Always, like, so small, and, like, it was their money.
266 00:25:56.280 ⇒ 00:25:56.880 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
267 00:25:57.430 ⇒ 00:26:00.850 Uttam Kumaran: But this one and CTA is the first one where I’m like.
268 00:26:01.570 ⇒ 00:26:06.069 Uttam Kumaran: Oh, like, she… they need us, but they need, like, me or you.
269 00:26:06.640 ⇒ 00:26:12.160 Uttam Kumaran: And, like, Shivani was basically, like, when you hopped on the call, she’s like, I want to be at Ellman for, like, 10 years.
270 00:26:12.360 ⇒ 00:26:16.690 Uttam Kumaran: Like, and I want you guys to help me do that, and I’m like.
271 00:26:17.130 ⇒ 00:26:23.089 Uttam Kumaran: oh my god, like, I feel like I’m, like… this is, like, scripted? Is this, like, a scripted television show right now? I’m like.
272 00:26:23.090 ⇒ 00:26:23.750 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
273 00:26:23.900 ⇒ 00:26:31.639 Uttam Kumaran: I’m like, on punked? Like, is this really happening? This is exactly what I thought, this is exactly what she said was gonna happen.
274 00:26:31.640 ⇒ 00:26:32.420 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
275 00:26:34.130 ⇒ 00:26:36.579 Uttam Kumaran: I don’t know, yeah, I feel like that. I mean…
276 00:26:37.380 ⇒ 00:26:41.790 Robert Tseng: No, I mean, I’m right… I’m there with you. I’m learning that, too, so…
277 00:26:47.070 ⇒ 00:26:49.540 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I mean, and it’s not… cause, like, it’s like…
278 00:26:50.680 ⇒ 00:26:58.940 Robert Tseng: It’s good that neither of them are the C-level, or like… like, truly the one… like, they have to… it forces them to go and advocate for us.
279 00:26:59.340 ⇒ 00:27:00.150 Robert Tseng: You know.
280 00:27:00.520 ⇒ 00:27:01.760 Robert Tseng: Neither of those are the…
281 00:27:01.760 ⇒ 00:27:03.280 Uttam Kumaran: I don’t know, sea level?
282 00:27:03.820 ⇒ 00:27:06.129 Uttam Kumaran: But they have money to spend.
283 00:27:06.130 ⇒ 00:27:17.639 Robert Tseng: Yeah, yeah, but they have budget, and they have to… but yeah, our job actually makes them look good. With Eden, I don’t think we’re gonna get there, because it’s like, they are… I’m already talking to their C-level people. Those guys are just gonna…
284 00:27:17.780 ⇒ 00:27:24.600 Robert Tseng: whatever, like, I’m not really making anybody look good. It’s just, like, kind of transactional with them. Like, I mean, we have a relationship, sure, but, like.
285 00:27:24.760 ⇒ 00:27:33.809 Robert Tseng: it’s hard to make some… one of them look… look good, and like, they have no one to advocate for us for, to help. Like, I don’t have somebody to kind of brag to Eden other than us.
286 00:27:33.810 ⇒ 00:27:37.859 Uttam Kumaran: win, either… For them, company winning is the win, so they’re like.
287 00:27:37.860 ⇒ 00:27:38.380 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
288 00:27:38.650 ⇒ 00:27:41.299 Uttam Kumaran: You don’t individually need the win as much.
289 00:27:41.550 ⇒ 00:27:42.310 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
290 00:27:42.310 ⇒ 00:27:45.010 Uttam Kumaran: like, Catherine is literally, like, I’m helping her…
291 00:27:45.510 ⇒ 00:27:54.889 Uttam Kumaran: basically, how do you pitch Snowflake, and, like, how do we arrange your budget so you can make the ask for tools and us, like, and we can stagger it on, like.
292 00:27:54.890 ⇒ 00:27:55.510 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
293 00:27:55.660 ⇒ 00:28:03.050 Uttam Kumaran: helping her play politics. Yes. It’s different, there’s not as much politics But…
294 00:28:03.500 ⇒ 00:28:11.649 Robert Tseng: It’s interesting, they don’t have a board, like, yeah, it’s just fewer people to… it’s generally just… it’s a simpler operational structure, so I appreciate that.
295 00:28:11.650 ⇒ 00:28:14.979 Uttam Kumaran: Operation thing, but they’re gonna… they’re spending at the same level.
296 00:28:14.980 ⇒ 00:28:15.820 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
297 00:28:15.870 ⇒ 00:28:17.659 Uttam Kumaran: Things, you know, so…
298 00:28:18.950 ⇒ 00:28:25.799 Uttam Kumaran: But, I mean, dude, they’re… I mean, they’re trying… they’re… they’re… they’re trying to, you know, get to a billion dollars or more, you know, so what’s…
299 00:28:25.800 ⇒ 00:28:26.420 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
300 00:28:33.140 ⇒ 00:28:44.830 Robert Tseng: I mean, she was saying all that about, kind of, the new… I mean, it’s a very similar place to where Ruggable was when I… when I was there, to be honest. Like, after they got… they crossed 400 million, then they started to launch a bunch of
301 00:28:45.030 ⇒ 00:28:50.589 Robert Tseng: of products, like, I don’t know if you knew this, but we had a whole sub-brand that was doing art, like.
302 00:28:51.640 ⇒ 00:28:52.310 Uttam Kumaran: Oh.
303 00:28:52.310 ⇒ 00:28:55.250 Robert Tseng: hangable art. It was called Hangable or something.
304 00:28:55.550 ⇒ 00:29:00.810 Robert Tseng: And then there was another sub-brand that was doing, furniture. So, like.
305 00:29:01.120 ⇒ 00:29:17.999 Robert Tseng: Maybe more Scandinavian-style kind of things. And then there’s another one as well. So, none of them… none of them stuck. They’ve all shut down at this point. But yeah, for a brand to try to diversify, it’s… it’s tough.
306 00:29:18.000 ⇒ 00:29:18.990 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
307 00:29:19.330 ⇒ 00:29:21.540 Uttam Kumaran: For them to be like, we don’t want to get bought.
308 00:29:21.960 ⇒ 00:29:22.670 Uttam Kumaran: in beverage.
309 00:29:22.670 ⇒ 00:29:29.310 Robert Tseng: But yeah, but they… but they will need to do that, and then if it fails, then it’s not gonna… they’re just gonna get acquired, like Liquid IV did, so…
310 00:29:32.920 ⇒ 00:29:35.660 Robert Tseng: I frankly don’t know any brands.
311 00:29:35.720 ⇒ 00:29:54.949 Robert Tseng: that have really made that adjacent, like, launch well. Like, Eden’s trying to by doing the whole vertically integrated health club thing, but it’s not differentiable enough. At least, it’s been a year since they’ve launched their health club. The traction looks okay, like, I don’t really think they’ve really shown that it’s a competitive advantage to
312 00:29:55.080 ⇒ 00:30:02.300 Robert Tseng: Sell product, services, and everything, like, to own the entire, like, vertical of a health…
313 00:30:02.410 ⇒ 00:30:08.380 Robert Tseng: of a health club thing, of a health unit, or whatever, yet. So, I mean…
314 00:30:09.450 ⇒ 00:30:16.460 Robert Tseng: We’ll see, like, what Alman has, but… Yeah.
315 00:30:18.900 ⇒ 00:30:23.709 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I mean, dude, I think maybe also the play here… Because I, I also…
316 00:30:24.060 ⇒ 00:30:29.479 Uttam Kumaran: I basically was like, are you guys doing any other AI stuff? And she’s like, no, CX is using some random AI app.
317 00:30:29.890 ⇒ 00:30:32.390 Uttam Kumaran: Maybe that’s another thing for Shivani.
318 00:30:32.530 ⇒ 00:30:37.320 Uttam Kumaran: To basically have her become, like, the AI person.
319 00:30:38.250 ⇒ 00:30:49.880 Robert Tseng: I’m actually trying to do that with, with Danny at Eden now, the COO. He kind of pitched the scope that, like, it seems like our agency, kind of, or basically, like, our…
320 00:30:50.060 ⇒ 00:30:57.790 Robert Tseng: our AI for agency kind of, like, playbook might work for him. Like, he’s… he’s thinking about
321 00:30:57.860 ⇒ 00:31:12.239 Robert Tseng: wanting to build, like, a… inter… like, an operating system for… to manage their team better, so, like, I… I’m gonna run… run some ideas by him, but I think… I have been thinking about how do we get these brands to, like.
322 00:31:12.710 ⇒ 00:31:16.520 Robert Tseng: eat into our… to take our AI business, too, so…
323 00:31:19.860 ⇒ 00:31:30.409 Robert Tseng: I put, like, a… I put a proposal in front of him today during the check-in. He wants to talk further, so I priced it at around $50K.
324 00:31:30.760 ⇒ 00:31:36.070 Robert Tseng: Just for a setup for, like, this… he has a very small scope that he wanted. We’ll see.
325 00:31:36.350 ⇒ 00:31:37.939 Uttam Kumaran: Providing clearance on.
326 00:31:38.360 ⇒ 00:31:44.299 Uttam Kumaran: And he’s challenging me to think, like, Basically be, like.
327 00:31:44.560 ⇒ 00:31:49.330 Uttam Kumaran: The downstream impact of some of these things are so enormous, like…
328 00:31:49.650 ⇒ 00:31:51.940 Uttam Kumaran: We need to price way higher.
329 00:31:52.250 ⇒ 00:31:55.400 Uttam Kumaran: And then I’m like, okay, but, like, how do you get, like.
330 00:31:56.400 ⇒ 00:32:03.919 Uttam Kumaran: can we do something usage-based? And he’s like, yeah, I mean, we have a setup, but then we should tack on the skills, we should tack on data sources.
331 00:32:07.270 ⇒ 00:32:14.240 Uttam Kumaran: But I mean, like, because he’s taught… I mean, it’s clear, like, we did this… we value price, what we did for Lilo, and it’s significant, like…
332 00:32:14.410 ⇒ 00:32:22.810 Uttam Kumaran: And I think… I think we… it’s sort of, like, just as tough as it is to say, like, what is the value of everybody in the company having a dashboard, like.
333 00:32:23.430 ⇒ 00:32:25.169 Uttam Kumaran: I think we’re underpriced.
334 00:32:26.710 ⇒ 00:32:31.839 Uttam Kumaran: But what is the… the AI piece is difficult, like, I’m trying to think, like, what is the appropriate pricing, you know?
335 00:32:32.350 ⇒ 00:32:32.980 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
336 00:32:40.840 ⇒ 00:32:48.390 Robert Tseng: Yeah, how do you tie it to an outcome for them? Yeah.
337 00:32:59.170 ⇒ 00:33:02.229 Robert Tseng: Okay, let me wrap up this email first.
338 00:33:03.220 ⇒ 00:33:08.069 Robert Tseng: I gotta… I gotta go switch over to… Last mode scene.
339 00:33:56.640 ⇒ 00:33:59.510 Robert Tseng: Move faster toward data.
340 00:36:16.390 ⇒ 00:36:18.130 Robert Tseng: Oh, sure.
341 00:36:20.250 ⇒ 00:36:23.039 Robert Tseng: Okay, so.
342 00:36:40.510 ⇒ 00:36:45.510 Uttam Kumaran: Maybe compromising quality and… Allow.
343 00:36:45.510 ⇒ 00:36:46.760 Robert Tseng: Alright, just check that out.
344 00:36:46.760 ⇒ 00:36:47.739 Uttam Kumaran: at the show.
345 00:36:51.570 ⇒ 00:36:58.070 Robert Tseng: I mean, she should advocate for herself, I don’t need to assume for her. And take that part out…
346 00:37:05.540 ⇒ 00:37:07.220 Robert Tseng: our recommendation…
347 00:37:11.210 ⇒ 00:37:12.479 Uttam Kumaran: You’re gonna attach a dock?
348 00:37:13.800 ⇒ 00:37:16.640 Robert Tseng: Oh, yeah, yeah. I mean, this is just a draft, but… yeah.
349 00:37:34.890 ⇒ 00:37:36.390 Robert Tseng: I don’t know if that’s true.
350 00:37:37.020 ⇒ 00:37:38.320 Uttam Kumaran: What? Oh.
351 00:37:38.320 ⇒ 00:37:38.980 Robert Tseng: -Oh.
352 00:37:49.000 ⇒ 00:37:52.330 Uttam Kumaran: Including a dedicated analyst and more bandwidth.
353 00:37:53.550 ⇒ 00:37:57.999 Uttam Kumaran: And… and… You can just do, like, senior bandwidth, or I don’t know.
354 00:37:58.660 ⇒ 00:37:59.310 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
355 00:38:06.090 ⇒ 00:38:10.500 Robert Tseng: Directly… Engage VP.
356 00:38:12.670 ⇒ 00:38:13.940 Robert Tseng: production…
357 00:38:40.910 ⇒ 00:38:41.570 Robert Tseng: Whoa.
358 00:39:37.230 ⇒ 00:39:38.220 Robert Tseng: Whoa…
359 00:39:43.430 ⇒ 00:39:44.690 Robert Tseng: You should find me.
360 00:39:45.950 ⇒ 00:39:48.210 Uttam Kumaran: It’ll allow her to elevate her impact.
361 00:39:49.510 ⇒ 00:39:50.530 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, that’s kinda like…
362 00:39:50.530 ⇒ 00:39:51.190 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
363 00:39:55.440 ⇒ 00:40:00.750 Uttam Kumaran: I guess I don’t… I don’t know about… because free up implies it’s like, everybody should be fucking busy here, is what I would think. Yeah.
364 00:40:01.130 ⇒ 00:40:04.889 Uttam Kumaran: So I would say, like, would elevate Shivani, yeah.
365 00:40:05.510 ⇒ 00:40:07.889 Uttam Kumaran: There’s impact, and keep…
366 00:40:19.920 ⇒ 00:40:23.150 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah… Keep our team focused.
367 00:40:23.550 ⇒ 00:40:24.320 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
368 00:40:25.310 ⇒ 00:40:26.220 Robert Tseng: on our team.
369 00:40:26.340 ⇒ 00:40:29.649 Uttam Kumaran: on… Our tight deadlines, yeah.
370 00:40:30.090 ⇒ 00:40:31.590 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I wanna work on it.
371 00:40:53.040 ⇒ 00:40:57.399 Robert Tseng: I don’t know if we want to say it’s, like, it’s a structure we’re used to, kind of.
372 00:41:03.630 ⇒ 00:41:08.150 Robert Tseng: It’s a structure we’re used to staffing.
373 00:41:08.780 ⇒ 00:41:18.070 Robert Tseng: Across… R… Larger accounts… Or late.
374 00:41:54.570 ⇒ 00:41:58.590 Robert Tseng: Okay, I’ll rethink about it, reword that.
375 00:41:59.990 ⇒ 00:42:02.570 Robert Tseng: Jason’s not the same model for him. Okay.
376 00:42:02.880 ⇒ 00:42:07.470 Robert Tseng: And then the dock will go to,
377 00:42:08.350 ⇒ 00:42:09.820 Robert Tseng: Is it just gonna be her doc?
378 00:42:11.220 ⇒ 00:42:11.960 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.
379 00:42:12.690 ⇒ 00:42:14.090 Robert Tseng: Which is.
380 00:42:14.090 ⇒ 00:42:15.579 Uttam Kumaran: You should see two tabs.
381 00:42:18.310 ⇒ 00:42:19.690 Robert Tseng: There’s too many dogs.
382 00:42:20.500 ⇒ 00:42:24.890 Robert Tseng: The enable one? Okay.
383 00:42:26.960 ⇒ 00:42:28.359 Robert Tseng: Who’s D?
384 00:42:30.410 ⇒ 00:42:32.020 Uttam Kumaran: I forgot Danny’s on some team.
385 00:42:32.240 ⇒ 00:42:32.900 Robert Tseng: Oh.
386 00:42:38.690 ⇒ 00:42:44.610 Robert Tseng: Okay, yeah, it’ll be something like this. I mean, I can give it… I’ll give you this draft, you can… you should send it, and you can…
387 00:42:46.240 ⇒ 00:42:46.979 Robert Tseng: Could be.
388 00:42:54.730 ⇒ 00:42:55.850 Robert Tseng: the warranty.
389 00:42:58.150 ⇒ 00:42:59.330 Robert Tseng: That’s very, man.
390 00:43:10.630 ⇒ 00:43:14.979 Robert Tseng: systems, and establish the sequencing.
391 00:43:16.220 ⇒ 00:43:24.880 Robert Tseng: We should only light on staffing, so we can align on scope and pace before scaling.
392 00:43:26.150 ⇒ 00:43:32.279 Robert Tseng: to hit… The proposed September milestone with leadership and found it.
393 00:43:34.280 ⇒ 00:43:35.190 Robert Tseng: 2…
394 00:44:06.400 ⇒ 00:44:14.780 Robert Tseng: This includes the meaningful Adjustments we’ve already made.
395 00:44:35.050 ⇒ 00:44:44.750 Robert Tseng: This minimally includes… The adjustments we already… This includes the minimal.
396 00:44:45.400 ⇒ 00:44:51.530 Robert Tseng: Adjustments we already made to… to the… to the…
397 00:45:00.200 ⇒ 00:45:01.369 Robert Tseng: Explain to me.
398 00:45:03.770 ⇒ 00:45:04.580 Robert Tseng: Dang.
399 00:45:12.200 ⇒ 00:45:16.330 Robert Tseng: And… One additional senior staff.
400 00:45:23.650 ⇒ 00:45:27.539 Robert Tseng: to complete your four work streams by September.
401 00:45:37.640 ⇒ 00:45:38.550 Robert Tseng: Yet.
402 00:45:38.780 ⇒ 00:45:41.190 Robert Tseng: to discovery completion.
403 00:45:41.490 ⇒ 00:45:43.350 Robert Tseng: as originally.
404 00:45:44.970 ⇒ 00:45:45.810 Robert Tseng: Scoped.
405 00:45:49.810 ⇒ 00:45:51.420 Robert Tseng: I think we mentioned Spot in there.
406 00:45:51.850 ⇒ 00:45:55.970 Robert Tseng: All four work streams delivered by September, including a dedicated analyst.
407 00:45:56.230 ⇒ 00:45:57.070 Robert Tseng: And…
408 00:46:03.440 ⇒ 00:46:05.559 Robert Tseng: focus in,
409 00:46:12.100 ⇒ 00:46:13.819 Robert Tseng: From… who Tom.
410 00:46:15.160 ⇒ 00:46:17.820 Robert Tseng: And Robert to directly engage.
411 00:46:19.340 ⇒ 00:46:20.150 Robert Tseng: Peace.
412 00:46:22.710 ⇒ 00:46:24.540 Robert Tseng: description of matches the claim.
413 00:46:40.930 ⇒ 00:46:46.710 Robert Tseng: This is the… This is the fastest.
414 00:46:52.090 ⇒ 00:46:53.360 Robert Tseng: Aggressive.
415 00:46:55.380 ⇒ 00:46:56.600 Robert Tseng: Visible.
416 00:46:57.750 ⇒ 00:46:58.710 Robert Tseng: Option.
417 00:47:02.970 ⇒ 00:47:04.120 Robert Tseng: Silly.
418 00:47:09.310 ⇒ 00:47:11.210 Robert Tseng: Into complete.
419 00:47:11.380 ⇒ 00:47:12.840 Robert Tseng: Or work streams.
420 00:47:21.350 ⇒ 00:47:22.460 Robert Tseng: Luvity.
421 00:47:32.030 ⇒ 00:47:32.930 Robert Tseng: 2…
422 00:47:54.490 ⇒ 00:47:57.340 Robert Tseng: From building to refining.
423 00:48:06.500 ⇒ 00:48:07.320 Robert Tseng: Or…
424 00:48:27.730 ⇒ 00:48:34.899 Robert Tseng: The attached investment summary, doc… Seal Crop Investment Summary.
425 00:48:44.870 ⇒ 00:48:46.699 Robert Tseng: Oh, we didn’t put the,
426 00:48:48.830 ⇒ 00:48:51.710 Robert Tseng: You didn’t put the diagrams and stuff? You don’t want to put that in there?
427 00:48:52.410 ⇒ 00:48:53.899 Uttam Kumaran: Where? Oh.
428 00:48:56.120 ⇒ 00:49:02.709 Uttam Kumaran: I don’t know, up to you. I felt like we may send that, like, as a larger thing, or, like…
429 00:49:04.240 ⇒ 00:49:07.430 Uttam Kumaran: I don’t know, it seems like from Shivani, she didn’t want, like.
430 00:49:09.900 ⇒ 00:49:13.409 Uttam Kumaran: I mean, you can just attach as a screenshot, too, if you want to this.
431 00:49:14.640 ⇒ 00:49:15.920 Uttam Kumaran: Or toss it in.
432 00:49:16.400 ⇒ 00:49:18.719 Robert Tseng: I mean, I don’t… I don’t mind, I don’t… I don’t care.
433 00:49:21.160 ⇒ 00:49:23.019 Uttam Kumaran: You just wanted to get used somewhere.
434 00:49:26.340 ⇒ 00:49:31.329 Robert Tseng: I mean, I thought it would be helpful for a conversation with her, but I don’t know if he cares, so…
435 00:49:37.610 ⇒ 00:49:42.780 Uttam Kumaran: I think if we get pushback, we have… Appendix after appendix after appendix.
436 00:49:43.160 ⇒ 00:49:43.680 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
437 00:50:05.660 ⇒ 00:50:06.690 Robert Tseng: You’re touched…
438 00:50:52.410 ⇒ 00:50:53.190 Robert Tseng: Okay.
439 00:50:53.340 ⇒ 00:50:55.360 Robert Tseng: I think this is… good.
440 00:50:56.070 ⇒ 00:51:01.959 Robert Tseng: So maybe I will first, just send it to you, and then we can decide on it.
441 00:51:03.540 ⇒ 00:51:04.890 Uttam Kumaran: Why, why don’t you want me to send it?
442 00:51:04.890 ⇒ 00:51:06.769 Robert Tseng: You want me to send it? I can send it, sure.
443 00:51:07.750 ⇒ 00:51:08.309 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, yeah.
444 00:51:10.590 ⇒ 00:51:11.710 Robert Tseng: Oh, shoot.
445 00:51:16.640 ⇒ 00:51:22.430 Robert Tseng: I think these are their… yeah, still under… Dope.
446 00:51:25.170 ⇒ 00:51:27.409 Robert Tseng: But he may not have talked to me, so…
447 00:51:31.540 ⇒ 00:51:34.310 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, you can just say it’s… Yeah.
448 00:51:34.850 ⇒ 00:51:37.070 Uttam Kumaran: Great to meet supporting
449 00:51:38.780 ⇒ 00:51:44.509 Uttam Kumaran: supporting artists engagement. I mean, again, I think part of, like, it is just based to show us that we’re big, like, I think.
450 00:51:44.510 ⇒ 00:51:45.130 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
451 00:52:54.780 ⇒ 00:52:56.620 Robert Tseng: I mean, Shivani and Jason.
452 00:52:58.890 ⇒ 00:53:00.050 Robert Tseng: co-authored.
453 00:53:02.170 ⇒ 00:53:03.699 Robert Tseng: plan with us.
454 00:54:33.750 ⇒ 00:54:35.519 Robert Tseng: Okay, look good for you.
455 00:54:39.590 ⇒ 00:54:40.250 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
456 00:54:41.040 ⇒ 00:54:41.810 Robert Tseng: Alright.
457 00:54:43.020 ⇒ 00:54:44.249 Robert Tseng: Let’s send it.
458 00:54:45.190 ⇒ 00:54:51.960 Uttam Kumaran: You remember how lonely it used to be sending these alone? So, at least, at least there’s two of us now.
459 00:54:51.960 ⇒ 00:54:56.849 Robert Tseng: Yeah, you know, I’m gonna… I feel like this is just gonna be a good video at some point.
460 00:54:57.970 ⇒ 00:54:58.940 Robert Tseng: Alright.
461 00:54:58.940 ⇒ 00:55:00.630 Uttam Kumaran: You know, you…
462 00:55:00.740 ⇒ 00:55:10.749 Uttam Kumaran: You know what I woke up today saying? I woke up… I told, you’ll like this, I told Jess that this contract is bigger than my company was for the first 2 years.
463 00:55:11.850 ⇒ 00:55:14.729 Uttam Kumaran: like… Do you know what I mean?
464 00:55:14.940 ⇒ 00:55:21.130 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah. Dude, that’s… that is big… that’s almost as much as I make in two ears.
465 00:55:21.790 ⇒ 00:55:25.970 Uttam Kumaran: I said, touche.
466 00:55:26.560 ⇒ 00:55:28.430 Uttam Kumaran: So… nice.
467 00:55:29.010 ⇒ 00:55:30.190 Robert Tseng: This is it.
468 00:55:31.060 ⇒ 00:55:39.930 Robert Tseng: We need to sell 10 of these a year, and we’ll be a 8 million ARR business, and we’ll… we’ll sell the company and be done with it.
469 00:55:42.440 ⇒ 00:55:43.600 Uttam Kumaran: Oh, man.
470 00:55:44.340 ⇒ 00:55:48.300 Robert Tseng: Alright, let’s go. Here we go. Bam.
471 00:55:48.300 ⇒ 00:55:50.999 Uttam Kumaran: Shout out Jen Abel, the GOAT!
472 00:55:51.000 ⇒ 00:55:54.840 Robert Tseng: Yeah, shout out to the test memo. Oh, I should do…
473 00:55:55.380 ⇒ 00:55:58.569 Robert Tseng: Linked memo. Thank you. Thank you, thank you.
474 00:56:00.830 ⇒ 00:56:02.630 Robert Tseng: Blinked memo.
475 00:56:04.780 ⇒ 00:56:06.980 Robert Tseng: Oh, alright, there we go.
476 00:56:10.160 ⇒ 00:56:13.149 Robert Tseng: Alright, sent. Let’s go…
477 00:56:14.620 ⇒ 00:56:15.090 Uttam Kumaran: Huge.
478 00:56:15.090 ⇒ 00:56:16.769 Robert Tseng: Ding ding, ding, ding, ding!
479 00:56:16.920 ⇒ 00:56:19.719 Uttam Kumaran: I need a coffee!
480 00:56:20.590 ⇒ 00:56:21.410 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
481 00:56:22.300 ⇒ 00:56:23.280 Robert Tseng: Woo!
482 00:56:23.510 ⇒ 00:56:42.239 Uttam Kumaran: Kayla was, like, asking me, like, so what roles are priority? I said, she’s like, okay, but then we talked about it, she’s like, okay, so if we hire this data engineer, though, like, we have, like, 3 or 4 more in pipeline. I’m like, we’re probably gonna hire everybody that makes it to the end at this point. So I said, hopefully as much of them can make it to the end would be great, because
483 00:56:42.440 ⇒ 00:56:48.519 Uttam Kumaran: We have, like, If this turns on, if ABC turns on, if any of your things turn on.
484 00:56:49.880 ⇒ 00:56:51.800 Uttam Kumaran: Then we’re… we’re running.
485 00:56:52.070 ⇒ 00:56:52.690 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
486 00:56:54.710 ⇒ 00:56:55.690 Robert Tseng: Nice.
487 00:56:56.440 ⇒ 00:57:08.800 Robert Tseng: Alright. You know, that’s a win. Even us just sending a pitch like that. We did not have the balls to… to pitch, like, 100K a month contracts, even, like, 3 months ago, so…
488 00:57:09.550 ⇒ 00:57:14.010 Uttam Kumaran: And she didn’t… she didn’t, like, gawk at it, she was like.
489 00:57:14.590 ⇒ 00:57:18.979 Uttam Kumaran: okay, I think we can, like, she’s like, I think this is possible.
490 00:57:19.510 ⇒ 00:57:19.860 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
491 00:57:19.860 ⇒ 00:57:25.029 Uttam Kumaran: Damn, imagine… I mean, we’ll see if it happens, but like…
492 00:57:25.440 ⇒ 00:57:30.050 Uttam Kumaran: if it happens, then I will literally probably be like, how much money have we left on the table?
493 00:57:30.470 ⇒ 00:57:36.519 Uttam Kumaran: That’s such like a sadistic tape, Carmel Cash.
494 00:57:37.320 ⇒ 00:57:42.889 Uttam Kumaran: But, again, it’s… maybe it took, like, it took all this, like, support to make it happen, you know, so…
495 00:57:42.890 ⇒ 00:57:43.540 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
496 00:57:52.190 ⇒ 00:57:53.060 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
497 00:57:53.320 ⇒ 00:57:59.520 Uttam Kumaran: All right. I see. Send a… send a thing to… to Demi. I think he’ll be interested to close that out, so…
498 00:57:59.520 ⇒ 00:58:01.450 Robert Tseng: Yeah, okay, will do.
499 00:58:02.090 ⇒ 00:58:05.370 Uttam Kumaran: And then, my other ask is, do you want to close out the,
500 00:58:06.080 ⇒ 00:58:08.060 Uttam Kumaran: Vexel, if you want to click.
501 00:58:08.060 ⇒ 00:58:11.149 Robert Tseng: Yes, I need to send that message tonight,
502 00:58:12.110 ⇒ 00:58:18.050 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I’m gonna be MIA for a couple hours, I need to… I have an oral argument.
503 00:58:20.510 ⇒ 00:58:21.100 Robert Tseng: So…
504 00:58:21.640 ⇒ 00:58:27.000 Uttam Kumaran: I think, you should… you should teach a negotiations thing to all the CSOs, I think.
505 00:58:27.170 ⇒ 00:58:36.260 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I’m learning, I’m learning some stuff here. Yeah. We’ve been, they brought in a guest speaker, he was, like, a chief,
506 00:58:36.870 ⇒ 00:58:40.630 Robert Tseng: negotiator for the FBI. He was doing hostage negotiations for them.
507 00:58:41.550 ⇒ 00:58:42.480 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
508 00:58:42.480 ⇒ 00:58:43.699 Uttam Kumaran: You mean Chris Voss?
509 00:58:43.700 ⇒ 00:58:44.580 Robert Tseng: Chris Voss.
510 00:58:44.880 ⇒ 00:58:46.479 Uttam Kumaran: I read his book. Great book.
511 00:58:46.480 ⇒ 00:58:47.900 Robert Tseng: Dude, yeah.
512 00:58:48.170 ⇒ 00:58:53.359 Uttam Kumaran: Negotiating to yes, or there’s another one, is, like, getting to yes.
513 00:58:53.880 ⇒ 00:58:55.680 Uttam Kumaran: Or never split the difference, maybe?
514 00:58:55.680 ⇒ 00:58:57.570 Robert Tseng: Never split the difference, yeah.
515 00:58:57.790 ⇒ 00:59:04.490 Uttam Kumaran: Buyer book, bro. You know what? I read… when I was going for my second job at… when I was going to Flowcode.
516 00:59:04.980 ⇒ 00:59:14.519 Uttam Kumaran: I used to read a lot of, like, self-help stuff, and so I saved those books for when I was gonna get my next job, and then I read that and Never Split… Never Split the Difference and Negotiating
517 00:59:14.940 ⇒ 00:59:18.190 Uttam Kumaran: We’re negotiating yes. Basically.
518 00:59:18.190 ⇒ 00:59:20.180 Robert Tseng: as I was interviewing.
519 00:59:20.750 ⇒ 00:59:30.410 Uttam Kumaran: It was literally perfect. It was, like, so helpful, because they were trying to… they were trying to screw me. Yeah. And we should have everybody… I mean, I think we’re gonna have to do book clubs again, because
520 00:59:30.770 ⇒ 00:59:34.059 Uttam Kumaran: I would love to re-read those, it’s so helpful, fire you up.
521 00:59:34.170 ⇒ 00:59:37.230 Robert Tseng: Yeah. That’s neat that you got to see him. That book is, like.
522 00:59:37.360 ⇒ 00:59:38.550 Uttam Kumaran: One of the best.
523 00:59:38.760 ⇒ 00:59:46.519 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I’m still kind of, like, going through it slowly, but yeah, I’m, like, taking pieces and applying it to the kind of negotiations we do in class, but…
524 00:59:47.960 ⇒ 01:00:00.679 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I mean, it’s interesting that you read those two books together, because I feel like they say… I mean, I read Getting to Yes, because, like, that’s, like, the standard book in… I took a negotiating communications class in college. His… he kind of, like, is, like, opposite of that.
525 01:00:00.790 ⇒ 01:00:03.489 Robert Tseng: He’s like, the yes doesn’t matter.
526 01:00:03.490 ⇒ 01:00:16.120 Uttam Kumaran: You said, what are the… like, what I… what I used to do is I used to be interested in a topic, I’d go through every list for, like, the best books on, and then I’m like, okay, these are, like, the three that every… everybody references, I’m just gonna read those.
527 01:00:16.120 ⇒ 01:00:16.790 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
528 01:00:16.790 ⇒ 01:00:17.859 Uttam Kumaran: Me too, too.
529 01:00:17.980 ⇒ 01:00:21.739 Uttam Kumaran: And so, yeah, I think they both settled… I mean, at this point, like, it’s been a long time.
530 01:00:21.740 ⇒ 01:00:22.920 Robert Tseng: Yeah, it’s working well.
531 01:00:23.140 ⇒ 01:00:23.930 Uttam Kumaran: Here’s what?
532 01:00:24.430 ⇒ 01:00:30.330 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, never split the difference is more about, like, don’t get screwed.
533 01:00:30.330 ⇒ 01:00:31.080 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
534 01:00:31.080 ⇒ 01:00:32.450 Uttam Kumaran: amicable, like…
535 01:00:32.630 ⇒ 01:00:33.560 Robert Tseng: That’s true.
536 01:00:33.560 ⇒ 01:00:34.820 Uttam Kumaran: Positive.
537 01:00:35.630 ⇒ 01:00:36.240 Robert Tseng: So…
538 01:00:36.730 ⇒ 01:00:37.310 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
539 01:00:42.230 ⇒ 01:00:44.630 Robert Tseng: Cool. Well, enjoy your time in San Antonio.
540 01:00:44.950 ⇒ 01:00:46.320 Uttam Kumaran: Thanks, dude. Alright.
541 01:00:46.320 ⇒ 01:00:47.970 Robert Tseng: Two-hour drive? Something like that?
542 01:00:47.970 ⇒ 01:00:49.509 Uttam Kumaran: Hour and… hour and 10.
543 01:00:49.510 ⇒ 01:00:51.050 Robert Tseng: Hour and 10? Oh, okay, it’s not bad.
544 01:00:51.050 ⇒ 01:00:51.860 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
545 01:00:53.360 ⇒ 01:00:55.290 Robert Tseng: Cool. Alright, talk to you later.