Meeting Title: Brainforge x Eden Weekly Check-in Date: 2025-12-18 Meeting participants: Robert Tseng, Sezim Zhenishbekova
WEBVTT
1 00:01:10.880 ⇒ 00:01:11.840 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Robert?
2 00:01:13.660 ⇒ 00:01:14.620 Robert Tseng: And he says.
3 00:01:14.620 ⇒ 00:01:15.670 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Sorry.
4 00:01:16.160 ⇒ 00:01:16.810 Robert Tseng: No worries.
5 00:01:16.810 ⇒ 00:01:17.699 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Got lost.
6 00:01:20.530 ⇒ 00:01:22.900 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Mealings. How have you been?
7 00:01:23.480 ⇒ 00:01:30.690 Robert Tseng: I’m good. I’m at the airport. I’m going to California, visiting my parents for the holidays.
8 00:01:30.940 ⇒ 00:01:33.640 Robert Tseng: Nice, that’s great. You’re going to Michigan, right?
9 00:01:33.640 ⇒ 00:01:38.409 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Yes, I’m heading on Wednesday. Yeah, I’m gonna be here for now.
10 00:01:38.410 ⇒ 00:01:40.450 Robert Tseng: Oh, you’re gonna stay until Wednesday? Okay, got it.
11 00:01:40.450 ⇒ 00:01:47.740 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Yeah, until Wednesday, I’m gonna be here, but then, living until Jan… mid-January, so… Nice.
12 00:01:48.150 ⇒ 00:01:50.200 Sezim Zhenishbekova: How long is your vacation gonna be?
13 00:01:50.200 ⇒ 00:01:57.209 Robert Tseng: I… Well, so we’re… we’re taking Brainforges off the last week of December.
14 00:01:58.000 ⇒ 00:01:58.320 Robert Tseng: So…
15 00:01:58.320 ⇒ 00:01:59.060 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Oh, yeah.
16 00:01:59.060 ⇒ 00:02:01.820 Robert Tseng: You can kinda note that down, and then…
17 00:02:01.930 ⇒ 00:02:07.949 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I mean, I’ll be back in New York on the 28th of December, so I’m only gonna be gone for, like, 10 days.
18 00:02:08.120 ⇒ 00:02:15.359 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Also, by saying that the Brain Forge is off, it’s from 28th to 3rd of January?
19 00:02:17.000 ⇒ 00:02:18.210 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Or 21st to 21st.
20 00:02:18.210 ⇒ 00:02:22.940 Robert Tseng: Pretty much from, like, from Christmas Day through January 1st.
21 00:02:22.940 ⇒ 00:02:26.970 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Oh, okay, okay, got it. For Christmas Day, which is 25th.
22 00:02:27.380 ⇒ 00:02:37.159 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I guess some people are, yeah, it’s kind of loose. I mean, some people already went off today, so, you know, it’s just a slow, slower, slower time.
23 00:02:37.160 ⇒ 00:02:44.169 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Yeah. For you, it’s so slow, but for me, it’s also still a lot, even in Brainforge.
24 00:02:44.350 ⇒ 00:02:44.880 Robert Tseng: Oh.
25 00:02:44.880 ⇒ 00:02:46.070 Sezim Zhenishbekova: You have so much…
26 00:02:46.210 ⇒ 00:02:51.309 Sezim Zhenishbekova: I know you’re, like, pacing it, but I think with Eden and Insomnia, I think I’m getting, like…
27 00:02:51.830 ⇒ 00:02:52.270 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
28 00:02:52.400 ⇒ 00:02:56.080 Sezim Zhenishbekova: But yeah, you probably see based on my performance as well.
29 00:02:56.350 ⇒ 00:03:02.920 Robert Tseng: No, no, you’re good. So, I mean, I know we should have been having these check-ins a bit more regular,
30 00:03:03.170 ⇒ 00:03:04.270 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I guess…
31 00:03:05.340 ⇒ 00:03:11.589 Robert Tseng: I… yeah, I wanna just check in with you, see how… see how it’s going. Yeah, I guess…
32 00:03:11.960 ⇒ 00:03:12.980 Robert Tseng: there’s…
33 00:03:13.140 ⇒ 00:03:19.429 Robert Tseng: we were going to… we were trying to do, like, a one-month kind of, like, check-in after you get started around Thanksgiving time, so…
34 00:03:19.880 ⇒ 00:03:25.840 Robert Tseng: I’ll still get that time with you and Utom, hopefully before we go off for the holidays, so I might try to aim for, like.
35 00:03:26.300 ⇒ 00:03:29.370 Robert Tseng: Would next Tuesday or Wednesday be okay?
36 00:03:30.130 ⇒ 00:03:37.110 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Yes, Wednesday I’m flying at 5pm, or 4PM, so anytime before should work.
37 00:03:37.350 ⇒ 00:03:48.229 Robert Tseng: Okay, yeah, I’ll confirm with Uten, but it’ll… it’ll probably be Tuesday, Tuesday or Wednesday, so, I’ll let you know about that. But yeah, I guess, like, leading up to their,
38 00:03:48.570 ⇒ 00:03:57.600 Robert Tseng: I want to… I’ll tell you what I’m working on before while, like, I’ll finish to get this on the plane. I might… I don’t know if I’ve shared this with you before.
39 00:03:57.820 ⇒ 00:04:01.719 Robert Tseng: This is, like, a pretty light dock, like, it’s not as built out for…
40 00:04:02.030 ⇒ 00:04:10.169 Robert Tseng: like, this was… I was… I had meant for this to be shared with you before. It’s meant to be just, like, in your first month, I typically, like, build
41 00:04:10.430 ⇒ 00:04:12.119 Robert Tseng: Your job description with you.
42 00:04:12.120 ⇒ 00:04:13.680 Sezim Zhenishbekova: I guess. Yeah.
43 00:04:13.680 ⇒ 00:04:16.160 Robert Tseng: You know, that way you clearly see, like, what’s…
44 00:04:16.450 ⇒ 00:04:26.160 Robert Tseng: like, is this what you signed up for? Is this something that you want to do? And then, like, we kind of, like, you know, and then it also helps… helps us just kind of, like, document, like, where… where things are at.
45 00:04:26.160 ⇒ 00:04:37.260 Robert Tseng: I haven’t done this exercise with you yet, I just… I don’t know, we onboarded two people on the sales side, so, like, I’ve been a lot more involved with them, and kind of, like, building a bunch of stuff out on the sales side.
46 00:04:37.340 ⇒ 00:04:47.229 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I just… I just didn’t really have time to directly, manage, manage your work, which is why I had assigned you to Henry. I think, like.
47 00:04:48.070 ⇒ 00:05:05.600 Robert Tseng: I personally don’t think he’s been doing a good job of managing you, and I’m not gonna, like, throw him under the bus too much, but, like, I just think that, you know, there’s just been no structure. Like, I have no visibility into, kind of, how you’re doing, and obviously, maybe you just feel pressure for me when I’m, like, asking for deliverables, because that’s, like, the only touchpoint that I have with you.
48 00:05:05.600 ⇒ 00:05:07.499 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Yeah. So I’m trying to, like.
49 00:05:07.670 ⇒ 00:05:12.669 Robert Tseng: we’re changing that. Like, he’s not gonna be managing people anymore.
50 00:05:12.900 ⇒ 00:05:29.230 Sezim Zhenishbekova: I think he’s, like, I think he’s such a great technical guy, like, the way he was running all the queries, writing the programs, I can… I mean, he’s so fast, he thinks fast, but I think when it comes to… like, he’s not pushy enough as a manager, because sometimes managers…
51 00:05:29.360 ⇒ 00:05:33.080 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Have to be very confident in what they say, and push it, and just don’t try.
52 00:05:33.080 ⇒ 00:05:33.650 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
53 00:05:33.650 ⇒ 00:05:49.579 Sezim Zhenishbekova: when they just say yes, like, get into it. So I think, when I meant saying yes, I was like, yes, but he took it as yes. And then, you know what I mean? Like, that type of thing. But in general, other than that, he was always… yeah, I think he’s…
54 00:05:49.640 ⇒ 00:06:09.590 Sezim Zhenishbekova: He’s… I think, yeah, he was checking in on me basically every day, I was telling him, and it’s also my fault, probably, because I was just overwhelmed with so much information, and tried to understand myself first before asking questions, because even when I wanted to ask questions, I didn’t know what to ask.
55 00:06:09.820 ⇒ 00:06:19.130 Sezim Zhenishbekova: You know, when there’s a lot of information on the TEDAC, and then after we started having a call, like, a couple days ago, when we had a call, and then I was like.
56 00:06:19.130 ⇒ 00:06:38.840 Sezim Zhenishbekova: looking how he does the work, and then I’m checking in how he does it, and then, for example, one, like, comment… Command-K function on the task, right? Like, it just changes everything directly, but I didn’t know about it, so I was manually doing very slowly everything, but he knew the fast tracks, so just shadowing him helped me
57 00:06:38.850 ⇒ 00:06:54.160 Sezim Zhenishbekova: to get into this, like, thinking state, I guess, to better understand, but it took me some time to understand that myself, too, that I should have been more, like, asking several times to better clarify things.
58 00:06:54.390 ⇒ 00:06:55.880 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Yeah. Yeah.
59 00:06:55.880 ⇒ 00:07:00.569 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I think he’s… I think he’s a good IC, like, individual contributor.
60 00:07:00.570 ⇒ 00:07:01.060 Sezim Zhenishbekova: He’s a good.
61 00:07:01.060 ⇒ 00:07:04.740 Robert Tseng: pair programming, like, he’s a good technical partner to have, because, like.
62 00:07:04.740 ⇒ 00:07:05.240 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Yeah.
63 00:07:05.240 ⇒ 00:07:10.729 Robert Tseng: said, I think he can do things very quickly, like, just by watching his workflow, he should be able to pick some things up.
64 00:07:10.730 ⇒ 00:07:14.610 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Yeah. I don’t think we really set him up that well either to, like.
65 00:07:14.640 ⇒ 00:07:15.660 Robert Tseng: B…
66 00:07:15.770 ⇒ 00:07:27.309 Robert Tseng: I mean, he expressed that he wanted to manage, and so we… anyway, like, we… we tried it out by, like, having him start with… start with you, and I don’t… I don’t feel like it’s gone very well, so, that’s why we’re gonna change that.
67 00:07:27.410 ⇒ 00:07:36.959 Robert Tseng: But yeah, I think, like, in general, kind of trying to strip away all of those, like, kind of exceptions, like, I know it wasn’t, like, the smoothest start for you.
68 00:07:37.130 ⇒ 00:07:43.229 Robert Tseng: At least I feel like I’ve… I’ve observed enough to, like, kind of write some of this stuff out, and so…
69 00:07:43.230 ⇒ 00:07:43.890 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Yeah.
70 00:07:43.890 ⇒ 00:07:44.950 Robert Tseng: I think, like
71 00:07:45.110 ⇒ 00:07:51.590 Robert Tseng: We can go through it… I’ll just go through it chunk by chunk. I’m just gonna… I need some more time on the flight to kind of…
72 00:07:51.780 ⇒ 00:07:54.519 Robert Tseng: finish writing it out, so I won’t send it to you yet until I’m done.
73 00:07:54.520 ⇒ 00:07:55.320 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Yes.
74 00:07:55.320 ⇒ 00:08:02.140 Robert Tseng: But… In general, yeah, I think, like, you know, there’s some expectations here. One is, like, kind of…
75 00:08:02.140 ⇒ 00:08:16.460 Robert Tseng: getting to, like, decision-grade analysis. So you’re kind of working with both structured and unstructured inputs, right? So, like, obviously, from, like, a finance… like, Excel-wise, I have no doubt your skill is fine. Like, I think you’re able to build models and you’re able to run analysis.
76 00:08:17.100 ⇒ 00:08:19.610 Robert Tseng: But yeah, with our clients, like.
77 00:08:20.000 ⇒ 00:08:24.760 Robert Tseng: Not everything, like, sometimes they’re asking,
78 00:08:25.330 ⇒ 00:08:35.330 Robert Tseng: questions that can’t purely be answered out of the models and the tables that we have. So, you probably spent, like, a lot of time trying to understand, like, Eden data.
79 00:08:37.250 ⇒ 00:08:47.539 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I was hoping that Henry spending time with you would have given… caught you up faster, because from my perspective, there’s not that much data. Like, the data at Eden’s not that complicated.
80 00:08:48.090 ⇒ 00:09:06.539 Robert Tseng: there’s only, like, 4… 4 or 5, like, main tables that we write all the queries off of. Compared to some of our other clients that we, you know, there are… there are, like, at least 20 tables that people are working with. So, yeah, so I think I was, like, a little bit, like, not sure why that was… that took… that took so long to… to, to kind of grasp, but…
81 00:09:06.540 ⇒ 00:09:13.840 Robert Tseng: You know, assuming that, you know, you’re caught up on that, Eden has some… there are always exceptions to data, like.
82 00:09:14.170 ⇒ 00:09:21.630 Robert Tseng: That you just… I think as you get more familiar with the business context, you’ll know, like.
83 00:09:22.320 ⇒ 00:09:26.730 Robert Tseng: when something is and isn’t, like, what it seems. So…
84 00:09:27.440 ⇒ 00:09:32.360 Robert Tseng: Yeah, even, like, the… the forecast… the refill forecast that you worked on.
85 00:09:32.360 ⇒ 00:09:32.910 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Yeah.
86 00:09:32.910 ⇒ 00:09:47.850 Robert Tseng: we… there was one question… there were two questions in the ticket. Yeah, even those two questions, you can break it down more, and you can kind of, like… you can answer it a bunch of different ways. Ultimately, the number that you put out in your forecast was, like, quite off from, like, what Mitesh had wanted. It’s not.
87 00:09:47.850 ⇒ 00:09:48.260 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Because.
88 00:09:48.260 ⇒ 00:09:55.239 Robert Tseng: calculated incorrectly, but it’s because when he… when he said that, he actually meant something else. And so…
89 00:09:55.240 ⇒ 00:09:55.640 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Hmm.
90 00:09:55.640 ⇒ 00:10:06.290 Robert Tseng: there’s this kind of back and forth that needs to happen, where, you know, eventually, when you’re directly interacting with the client, they’ll always… and I kind of modeled this out a bit on the stand-ups.
91 00:10:06.450 ⇒ 00:10:22.280 Robert Tseng: you know, I’ve shown you examples when Jonah, the CFO, like, he asks for things. He’ll just, like, list out everything in his mind. He’ll send you, like, a giant essay, and then it’s more about taking his essay and bringing it to, like, one or two questions.
92 00:10:22.640 ⇒ 00:10:23.080 Sezim Zhenishbekova: That’s metabol.
93 00:10:23.080 ⇒ 00:10:33.150 Robert Tseng: like the opposite. He’ll only give you one or two questions, but then in his mind, he maybe is thinking about a bunch of other things. And so it’s more about taking those one or two questions, and then really, like.
94 00:10:33.420 ⇒ 00:10:47.240 Robert Tseng: trying to make assumptions for what he’s actually trying to ask, and in both situations, we need to have a bit of back and forth with… with them to, like… to really, like, first align on, like, what is… what are they really looking for, right?
95 00:10:47.360 ⇒ 00:10:49.700 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I think, like.
96 00:10:50.120 ⇒ 00:11:01.030 Robert Tseng: the… you’re not directly doing that at this point. You know, Henry’s supposed to do that. He’s been on this client for 6 months, so I think he dropped… he didn’t… he dropped the ball. He didn’t do a good job doing that.
97 00:11:01.760 ⇒ 00:11:09.740 Robert Tseng: So, that’s why you didn’t have clear requirements, and that’s why I don’t feel like, you know, that the deliverable that you put out, like, answered the question, supposedly.
98 00:11:10.450 ⇒ 00:11:17.549 Sezim Zhenishbekova: I think your… your approach, the process, everything is fine. Like, I’m just giving… I’m just using that as an example of, like… Yes.
99 00:11:17.570 ⇒ 00:11:29.659 Robert Tseng: Yeah, you can see when… when you don’t… when you’re not, like, answering… when you’re not… when you don’t have the right question, your… your answers… the way you approach it is just gonna be… just… it’s just not gonna get you to the right answer.
100 00:11:29.660 ⇒ 00:11:35.260 Sezim Zhenishbekova: I ended up going to Assumption side of things, because I wasn’t sure what… yeah.
101 00:11:35.690 ⇒ 00:11:48.860 Robert Tseng: Yeah, so in a real-world situation where you’re actually, like, kind of talking to the client more regularly, you should be able to ask the questions to them, and then there will be that back and forth. And so, yeah, I think, like, that’s…
102 00:11:49.220 ⇒ 00:12:01.029 Robert Tseng: that’s just, you know, that’s just… that’s just part of, like, kind of how… how we… how we do the analysis here. And so, I think that kind of leads to the, like, client-facing, and whatever this terminology is, it’s like.
103 00:12:01.290 ⇒ 00:12:09.940 Robert Tseng: We didn’t give you direct, but you’re not talking to the clients on a daily basis yet, you’re still really just doing internal stuff, obviously in part-time.
104 00:12:09.940 ⇒ 00:12:29.390 Robert Tseng: But assuming if you were to come on full-time, then, like, yeah, we would… we would put you in front of the clients. And, you know, I’ve seen your… your email to Mitesh, and, like, I think it’s fine. I think your… your bar for communication is high enough. Like, I… I would… I would be comfortable putting you in front of a client. So, I don’t have an… I don’t think I have an issue with this, for… for you.
105 00:12:29.430 ⇒ 00:12:44.199 Robert Tseng: You know, I think this is a good skill set to have if, you know, as a product manager as well, because, you know, we view our analysis, or, like, the things that we put out as, like, products. And so, we run sprints, we do spikes, like, we do all the same rituals that PMs do.
106 00:12:44.200 ⇒ 00:12:53.220 Robert Tseng: But, like, what we’re building is not necessarily, like, software product. It’s, the product is the… is the… is the… is the anal… is the service, or is the analysis.
107 00:12:53.580 ⇒ 00:12:58.219 Robert Tseng: we put out. And… but yeah, we still measure it the same way. It’s like.
108 00:12:58.440 ⇒ 00:13:15.759 Robert Tseng: we put something out, like, how do they actually take actions on it? What decisions are they making? What’s the ROI of the decisions that they’re making? So, I think there’s, you know, that level of rigor, I feel like, has dropped off on Eden, which is kind of not great, because I would want you to see that on some of our other clients, so…
109 00:13:15.760 ⇒ 00:13:19.439 Robert Tseng: I think that’s why, you know, you being on the stand-ups and seeing, like, other
110 00:13:19.440 ⇒ 00:13:28.739 Robert Tseng: how we’re running analysis on other clients, so you’ll get a better, like, flavor for, like, how this is run. But I do think that, you know, overall, like.
111 00:13:29.180 ⇒ 00:13:37.339 Robert Tseng: the… yeah, I think… I think the bar on Eden has… has… has dropped too low, which is why I’m kind of, like, stepping in a bit more now, and I’m gonna…
112 00:13:37.340 ⇒ 00:13:37.790 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Yeah.
113 00:13:37.790 ⇒ 00:13:39.340 Robert Tseng: Bring, bring it back up.
114 00:13:39.620 ⇒ 00:13:40.240 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Which is…
115 00:13:40.240 ⇒ 00:13:42.569 Robert Tseng: you know, I’m just giving you that context.
116 00:13:44.110 ⇒ 00:13:49.289 Robert Tseng: Yeah, and then, like, I think this part, you’re not doing any presentation yet, which is fine.
117 00:13:49.290 ⇒ 00:13:49.770 Sezim Zhenishbekova: This is…
118 00:13:49.770 ⇒ 00:13:55.079 Robert Tseng: less important to me for you to catch, so maybe I’ll kind of… I’m just gonna…
119 00:13:55.080 ⇒ 00:14:00.180 Sezim Zhenishbekova: I think the only translate insights to stakeholders, I did it for the long video.
120 00:14:00.360 ⇒ 00:14:02.849 Sezim Zhenishbekova: I tried to…
121 00:14:03.140 ⇒ 00:14:15.830 Sezim Zhenishbekova: be on the business side, and people who are watching it, just by making examples on what kind of questions they can ask, and how they can use it. But yeah, other than that, I didn’t make any presentations, so…
122 00:14:16.240 ⇒ 00:14:24.160 Robert Tseng: Yeah, and so, like, I think this is something that you could grow in… so… I’m just putting some thoughts here.
123 00:14:24.160 ⇒ 00:14:24.620 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Sure, so…
124 00:14:25.100 ⇒ 00:14:35.780 Robert Tseng: Current expectations, growth, stretch goals… Yeah, I mean, there’s something about putting together decks, and…
125 00:14:35.960 ⇒ 00:14:38.149 Robert Tseng: Stuff that, like, I think maybe you’re not…
126 00:14:38.560 ⇒ 00:14:50.560 Robert Tseng: that familiar with. So, yeah, I think, like, Amber has a good skill set there, like, she’s developed that here. I mean, it took her a while to learn. Like, it probably took her 3 months before she really, like.
127 00:14:50.780 ⇒ 00:15:01.409 Robert Tseng: was comfortable with kind of building client-facing, findings, and now I think the messages she sends, the decks that she puts out, they’re all, like, good quality.
128 00:15:01.650 ⇒ 00:15:02.030 Sezim Zhenishbekova: So I.
129 00:15:02.030 ⇒ 00:15:14.340 Robert Tseng: I think that’s something that you would learn if you were to be here for longer. And then, yeah, this idea of, like, collaborating cross-functionally, maybe this is your first time working with data engineers, so, like.
130 00:15:14.340 ⇒ 00:15:14.900 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Yeah.
131 00:15:14.900 ⇒ 00:15:23.670 Robert Tseng: Yeah, like, knowing, like, when you need to go and fish for the data yourself versus, like, when you can ask someone. Yeah, I think, like, that…
132 00:15:23.850 ⇒ 00:15:26.590 Robert Tseng: That’s, you know, I’m, you know, that’s not something…
133 00:15:26.590 ⇒ 00:15:45.729 Sezim Zhenishbekova: I would have expected you to know how to do before this job. That was the most difficult part of me, because, like, I got the task, right? Like, I got assigned the task, but I completely forgot, because I was trying to figure out the tableau itself, and then you messaged, like, deadline is today, and I didn’t even know that, and I jumped in, and I didn’t have data, I didn’t know, like.
134 00:15:46.050 ⇒ 00:16:03.920 Sezim Zhenishbekova: And then I didn’t even know what questions to ask, because it was a bit overwhelming, so I was like, okay, I probably am a business analyst, but am I also, like, have to, like… I didn’t know the whole system, how, where, what, so I think that, yeah, that took me some time to digest, I guess.
135 00:16:04.160 ⇒ 00:16:04.960 Sezim Zhenishbekova: By dreaming.
136 00:16:04.960 ⇒ 00:16:05.410 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
137 00:16:05.410 ⇒ 00:16:05.930 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Yeah.
138 00:16:05.930 ⇒ 00:16:11.459 Robert Tseng: And yeah, the deadline not being clear to you, I don’t blame you for that either. So, like I said.
139 00:16:11.860 ⇒ 00:16:17.309 Robert Tseng: It’s okay. I know you stayed up late for that. I don’t like that Henry was calling you at midnight. That will never happen again.
140 00:16:17.560 ⇒ 00:16:23.680 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Well, it was good, I actually needed that. That call actually helped me to get things done, but yeah.
141 00:16:23.680 ⇒ 00:16:27.809 Robert Tseng: Okay, but I don’t want that to happen at midnight, like, you don’t need to be working that way.
142 00:16:27.810 ⇒ 00:16:45.749 Sezim Zhenishbekova: So, because of the part-time kind of thing, it’s, like, it’s very shaky, so I think that’s why, like, thank you to Henry for being available at that time of the day also, I think. Yeah, to support the junior person. But yeah, I get that.
143 00:16:46.570 ⇒ 00:17:02.009 Robert Tseng: Yeah, so there’s definitely something around there that we need to do better, and, like, kind of just coaching you how to work with the data engineers, so I think, like, I’m pretty much gonna have, like, Dave Milade, like, shadow you more, or, like, kind of, whenever you’re working on something, you should just call him, like.
144 00:17:02.010 ⇒ 00:17:03.010 Sezim Zhenishbekova: I want, like…
145 00:17:03.010 ⇒ 00:17:13.899 Robert Tseng: there’s a couple of our full-time data engineers that, like, that know the client well. Like, he built a lot of the models there, so I think, like, I would just want you to lean on him. But yeah, we can…
146 00:17:14.300 ⇒ 00:17:15.210 Robert Tseng: estimates later.
147 00:17:15.890 ⇒ 00:17:23.980 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Yeah, and Avayesh was also really good in explaining. Like, I think even Avayesh is much better in explaining than Dimlad, but I get it, yeah.
148 00:17:24.540 ⇒ 00:17:31.250 Robert Tseng: Yeah, Awish is our most senior data engineer on our team. He runs, like, he leads data engineering.
149 00:17:31.250 ⇒ 00:17:37.100 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Yeah, he was really clear, like, how, what, where, why, so it helped me to get the clarity, yeah.
150 00:17:37.580 ⇒ 00:17:38.360 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
151 00:17:38.660 ⇒ 00:17:49.799 Robert Tseng: And then, like, this part, which is more like, this is, like, business modeling, or… For forecasting…
152 00:17:50.080 ⇒ 00:17:57.740 Robert Tseng: And… Opportunity sizing… Risk assessments…
153 00:17:58.370 ⇒ 00:18:13.460 Robert Tseng: this is not an easy skill to pick up, either. I think you have, like, the basics down, but, like, yeah, I think, you know, this is something that we’re working on, you know, I run this on other clients, but I do think this is a good skill set to develop.
154 00:18:15.370 ⇒ 00:18:19.180 Robert Tseng: Yeah, for example, like, Elements, they’re another brand that we work with.
155 00:18:19.380 ⇒ 00:18:21.670 Robert Tseng: You know, they’re…
156 00:18:21.880 ⇒ 00:18:35.420 Robert Tseng: they’re, like, they do, like, $700 million a year in revenue. Their ask for me was, like, build us, like, a 5-year, five-year roadmap for, like, how we grow, grow our partnerships, grow our partnerships.
157 00:18:35.750 ⇒ 00:18:44.099 Robert Tseng: like, who do we… how do we… how do we plan for headcount? And, like, what… what does growth look like over the next 5 years? So, like, you know, that’s…
158 00:18:44.420 ⇒ 00:18:54.780 Robert Tseng: pretty open-ended, and, you know, it’s not like… it’s not an easy project. I’m not like, it’s gonna take me a while. It’s gonna take me a month to build it. But, like, that’s… that’s one thing that I’m doing for one of those clients, so…
159 00:18:54.780 ⇒ 00:18:55.380 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Hmm…
160 00:18:55.910 ⇒ 00:19:06.979 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I, you know, Eden is, you know, probably more in, like, the 70 million a year range. They’re not gonna need a 5-year roadmap, but I, you know, you’re getting these requests from Jonah, and, like, they’re wanting
161 00:19:07.000 ⇒ 00:19:19.519 Robert Tseng: you know, forecast for one quarter, eventually they’re going to want one-year forecasts, and so, I think this is kind of, you know, this is the strategic finance kind of work that I want to see you kind of, like, step into more.
162 00:19:19.520 ⇒ 00:19:19.920 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Hmm.
163 00:19:19.920 ⇒ 00:19:35.009 Robert Tseng: I think you’ll… once you get more familiar with the client, I think you’ll be looped into this type of work. But yeah, I think, like, this is more for me to kind of help win… win those opportunities for you. I don’t think that, like,
164 00:19:36.190 ⇒ 00:19:40.369 Robert Tseng: Yeah, like, it… I don’t… I don’t…
165 00:19:41.590 ⇒ 00:19:45.180 Robert Tseng: I don’t think that this is, like, something that they’re asking for right now, but, like.
166 00:19:45.180 ⇒ 00:19:45.700 Sezim Zhenishbekova: We…
167 00:19:45.700 ⇒ 00:20:05.089 Robert Tseng: this is, like, I’m… I want to recommend this format, and, like, I want to be able to service that. So, yeah, I think, like, that’s another, like, area for you to grow in. So, yeah, I think, like, in summary, if I were to just kind of recap, I know this is very high level, I’m trying not to be very, like, specific to clients.
168 00:20:05.090 ⇒ 00:20:05.600 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Oh my god.
169 00:20:05.960 ⇒ 00:20:11.410 Robert Tseng: I just want you to get a sense of, like, what have you done so far, what skills have you demonstrated, and then, like.
170 00:20:11.410 ⇒ 00:20:11.869 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Where do I.
171 00:20:11.870 ⇒ 00:20:13.920 Robert Tseng: I feel like you could grow in.
172 00:20:14.960 ⇒ 00:20:23.250 Robert Tseng: Yeah, and if these are all the things that you want to do, like, then I think, like, yeah, we want to have you… we want to have you full-time at Brain Forge.
173 00:20:23.250 ⇒ 00:20:23.620 Sezim Zhenishbekova: of my.
174 00:20:23.620 ⇒ 00:20:29.419 Robert Tseng: we can, like, kind of finalize the details and seal the deal on Tuesday when we talk.
175 00:20:30.530 ⇒ 00:20:43.430 Sezim Zhenishbekova: So, yeah. So, yeah, like, I like everything that’s there, and then the only thing I think… I think I still need a lot more guidance from the senior people.
176 00:20:43.750 ⇒ 00:20:49.839 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Okay. I get it, for Eden, for example, yes, Yona, like, sent me
177 00:20:49.840 ⇒ 00:21:08.039 Sezim Zhenishbekova: all those, like, his retention rate, but he said don’t take copy-paste it to Tableau, like, come up, like, use it for your own logic of forecasting the stuff, and then at the same time, I’m also trying to build a model, but at the same time, I don’t know what kind of data we have and we don’t have, and what are the, like.
178 00:21:08.250 ⇒ 00:21:21.299 Sezim Zhenishbekova: negatives that, like, what can we do with what we have, right? And I’m trying to figure out what we have, which is taking more time to figure out what can we do, and I think, like, having senior people, maybe like you, who
179 00:21:21.300 ⇒ 00:21:33.069 Sezim Zhenishbekova: have run this forecast analysis, so guiding me there just to show some type of template, the thinking process would be very helpful, I think, for, like, the beginning stage.
180 00:21:33.070 ⇒ 00:21:57.939 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Because on my own, it’s been a bit difficult, like, I’ve been going through so many models that are run for, like, humans and herds, for example. I’m just, like, going through different models, like, how they forecast it, what kind of forecast makes much more sense, what’s just, like, weird bullshit, which doesn’t really… is useful, so just figuring that out is already taking me more time and brainpower.
181 00:21:58.510 ⇒ 00:22:06.589 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Than actually doing the thing. And then in addition to that, I don’t know what data I need and what I have, because I don’t know what data I have and I don’t have.
182 00:22:06.790 ⇒ 00:22:20.870 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Yeah. And yeah, and then that was, like, very encapsulating, I guess, encapsulating. But other than that, yeah, it’s been, it’s… yeah, I can see that there’s a lot of room to grow, for sure. Yeah.
183 00:22:20.870 ⇒ 00:22:21.460 Robert Tseng: Okay.
184 00:22:21.660 ⇒ 00:22:34.640 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I guess, like, yeah, I’m happy to pair with you more on those projects. Yeah, like, I don’t want to kind of just set you up for failure, so… I think what would be, like, what I can help you with, and what I think you should lean on the team for.
185 00:22:34.690 ⇒ 00:22:44.870 Robert Tseng: anything about, like, what data do we have? I think you should… you should lean on the data engineers for, like Dave Mallotta and Wish. They… they should be able to help you.
186 00:22:46.350 ⇒ 00:22:58.929 Robert Tseng: Yeah, and then, like, I think by the time you come to, like, kind of working with me, then I think you should, you know, you should just walk me through, like, how you’re approaching the problem, and then, like, I’ll kind of be able to.
187 00:22:59.480 ⇒ 00:23:05.139 Robert Tseng: more guidance that way. Like, I don’t want to build it up from the ground… from the ground up, unless…
188 00:23:05.510 ⇒ 00:23:19.100 Robert Tseng: Unless you want me to, like, unless… unless I have to. Like, if… if you do get stuck, and you just, like, don’t know where to start, then yeah, I can… I can start it, but, like, I would prefer if you… if you started it, and you came to me with, like, with something, and then I’ll tell you, like, what… what you can…
189 00:23:19.100 ⇒ 00:23:19.720 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Oh my god.
190 00:23:19.720 ⇒ 00:23:21.300 Robert Tseng: you should take away. Yeah.
191 00:23:21.300 ⇒ 00:23:28.310 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Yeah, Ember did the same thing. I had a call with her in Honey Stinger, she already drafted everything, and yeah.
192 00:23:28.810 ⇒ 00:23:30.070 Sezim Zhenishbekova: I could see that.
193 00:23:30.720 ⇒ 00:23:31.040 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
194 00:23:31.040 ⇒ 00:23:31.750 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Okay.
195 00:23:33.140 ⇒ 00:23:34.139 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Okay. Sounds great.
196 00:23:34.140 ⇒ 00:23:37.189 Robert Tseng: And then, if you need more, like,
197 00:23:37.600 ⇒ 00:23:50.959 Robert Tseng: coaching, like, I may… like, I have… I have other strategic finance folks that, like, I could probably arrange for them to kind of meet with you regularly. Like, when Amber first started here, like, I think I
198 00:23:51.150 ⇒ 00:23:59.099 Robert Tseng: you know, this is Amber’s first job, like, out of college, so, like, she’s, you know, she started with us in January, and, like, she didn’t really have any, like, skills at the point yet, so…
199 00:23:59.100 ⇒ 00:23:59.640 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Hmm.
200 00:24:00.790 ⇒ 00:24:13.719 Robert Tseng: yeah, like, I think she’s gotten really good at, like, learning how to jump into new problems. But yeah, like, there were… there were… there were some areas where, like, we just didn’t have the time to help her with, like, she didn’t know how to, like, manage her own projects, and so…
201 00:24:13.820 ⇒ 00:24:28.929 Robert Tseng: Just in terms of, like, managing expectations with clients, and, like, taking questions and breaking them down to tasks, like, just project management stuff. We basically paired her with a, like, a senior project manager who met with her weekly for probably, like.
202 00:24:29.030 ⇒ 00:24:40.599 Robert Tseng: probably, like, 4 or 5 months, and then, like, after… after that, then she’s good on her own now. So, I think that’s… that’s what I would do. Like, I… I don’t think you’re gonna get that much time from me, to be honest, because.
203 00:24:40.600 ⇒ 00:24:41.400 Sezim Zhenishbekova: We are.
204 00:24:41.400 ⇒ 00:24:44.990 Robert Tseng: Yeah, like, I think that’s just not the role that I’m in currently.
205 00:24:45.270 ⇒ 00:24:46.170 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Yeah.
206 00:24:46.170 ⇒ 00:24:52.689 Robert Tseng: But, yeah, like, I… I think you should tell me where you feel like you’re weaker in, and where you need more support, and I will try to…
207 00:24:52.840 ⇒ 00:24:55.319 Robert Tseng: I will try to, kind of…
208 00:24:55.800 ⇒ 00:25:01.480 Robert Tseng: at least find somebody internally to do that first, and if not, then I will find someone externally to come.
209 00:25:01.600 ⇒ 00:25:03.349 Robert Tseng: And help with that.
210 00:25:04.010 ⇒ 00:25:10.829 Robert Tseng: But yeah, obviously for me, like, I will… I will… I will… I will spend time with you, at least an hour a week.
211 00:25:11.040 ⇒ 00:25:20.119 Robert Tseng: You know, we have a 30-minute one-on-one, and then we could probably have another working session. But yeah, you’re probably not gonna get that much more time out of me, to be honest, so…
212 00:25:20.490 ⇒ 00:25:24.839 Robert Tseng: So yeah, so that’s… I’m just trying to be real with the expectations there.
213 00:25:26.070 ⇒ 00:25:33.300 Robert Tseng: Yeah, so… I think that’s what I have to say here. In terms of, like, ramping up,
214 00:25:33.750 ⇒ 00:25:49.949 Robert Tseng: yeah, I… you already know, kind of, the number of hours that I would expect you to ramp up into for Eden, and then, once we… yeah, like, you know, once you’re more stable there, then, like, I can… we can add… we can loop you into other… other clients.
215 00:25:51.280 ⇒ 00:26:03.509 Robert Tseng: Yeah, so there’s, like, there’s a couple, that we come on. I’ve already discussed, kind of, staffing people on, so, you know, I won’t say anything now, but probably by Tuesday, like, we’d be able to tell you, like, where we would staff you.
216 00:26:05.170 ⇒ 00:26:11.550 Robert Tseng: But yeah, I think, like, last thing I’ll say is, like, yeah, if you have any other questions, like, I’m gonna share this doc with you, probably.
217 00:26:11.660 ⇒ 00:26:14.730 Robert Tseng: after my flight, I’m gonna spend a lot more time kind of riding through stuff.
218 00:26:14.770 ⇒ 00:26:26.259 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I would just leave comments everywhere, like, really treat it as, like, this is your, you know, this is your job description, like, whatever is on here, you’re kind of, like, you agreed to that, or if not, then you should comment on it.
219 00:26:26.260 ⇒ 00:26:37.870 Robert Tseng: Like, I will have people leave comments on it and make it very detailed so that this is, like, very clear for you on, like, what you should be aiming for. Like, I want you to have, like, milestones that you can be looking at, too.
220 00:26:37.900 ⇒ 00:26:43.979 Robert Tseng: For, like, kind of what, you know, what does success look like for you in your time here?
221 00:26:45.850 ⇒ 00:26:52.050 Robert Tseng: And… yeah, so I think that’s… that’s what I’m trying… this is one of the things I’m trying to get done a lot.
222 00:26:52.050 ⇒ 00:26:52.450 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Okay.
223 00:26:52.450 ⇒ 00:26:53.850 Robert Tseng: One… one slide.
224 00:26:54.390 ⇒ 00:27:07.480 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Okay, yeah, this is very… I love this document, it’s very good to clearly show what is expected and what’s not. So, yeah, even in more granular scale. So far.
225 00:27:07.630 ⇒ 00:27:14.790 Sezim Zhenishbekova: I… beginning of the week, you mentioned that for this week, I should dedicate 10 hours?
226 00:27:15.050 ⇒ 00:27:24.599 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Yeah. For Eden, and because I’m, like, being back and forth a lot, learning and studying, how should… do you still want me to cap it for 10? Or…
227 00:27:25.730 ⇒ 00:27:33.429 Robert Tseng: I mean, that’s, like, a… that’s what I would ex… like, that’s the target. I think if you go a little bit over, that’s fine, but, like, I wouldn’t…
228 00:27:33.790 ⇒ 00:27:41.220 Robert Tseng: I wouldn’t, like, go at, like, 20. Like, I think if you’re, like, 12 or 13, like, that’s fine, but, like, I don’t think you should spend much more time than that, yeah.
229 00:27:41.220 ⇒ 00:27:42.840 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Okay, okay. Yeah. Sounds good.
230 00:27:45.760 ⇒ 00:27:55.109 Robert Tseng: Yeah, that’s just because the way that we staff, like, you know, I… if you spend more time, then I have to… I have to turn down somebody else’s hours, and, like.
231 00:27:55.670 ⇒ 00:27:56.629 Robert Tseng: I think that’s…
232 00:27:57.390 ⇒ 00:28:06.780 Robert Tseng: for… for now, like, we… we… we adjust the allocations on a… on a weekly, bi-weekly basis. I’m not gonna adjust it in the middle of the week.
233 00:28:06.780 ⇒ 00:28:08.100 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Okay, sounds good.
234 00:28:08.100 ⇒ 00:28:08.610 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
235 00:28:08.830 ⇒ 00:28:09.420 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Yeah.
236 00:28:10.020 ⇒ 00:28:27.299 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Other than that, yeah, I don’t really have other questions. I think it’s just now it’s me and Henry just going back and forth, trying to, go back to the past to project the retention rate from the past to the future. That’s what I’ve been working on within.
237 00:28:27.440 ⇒ 00:28:34.010 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Oh, today and tomorrow, so, other than that, yeah, nothing really. And just,
238 00:28:34.280 ⇒ 00:28:36.730 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Fix the SOP for insomnia.
239 00:28:37.530 ⇒ 00:28:38.260 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Okay.
240 00:28:38.260 ⇒ 00:28:45.010 Robert Tseng: Great, yeah, thanks for stepping in with Casey being out. Like, I know you didn’t have much context there, but hopefully the docs there were somewhat helpful.
241 00:28:45.010 ⇒ 00:28:53.869 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Yeah, I will just update the doc, and I just had called before him before you, so I just went through with him and explained him everything.
242 00:28:54.290 ⇒ 00:28:55.819 Robert Tseng: Okay. Nice.
243 00:28:56.030 ⇒ 00:29:00.800 Robert Tseng: Alright, well, I gotta… I gotta jump to a call, but, yeah, we’ll talk more soon. All right.
244 00:29:00.800 ⇒ 00:29:02.309 Sezim Zhenishbekova: Perfect. Sounds good. Bye, Robert.