Meeting Title: Brainforge Operations Leadership Discussion Date: 2026-02-16 Meeting participants: Uttam Kumaran, Sheshu Chandrasekar
WEBVTT
1 00:00:31.510 ⇒ 00:00:32.610 Uttam Kumaran: Hey!
2 00:00:32.850 ⇒ 00:00:33.819 Sheshu Chandrasekar: How you doing?
3 00:00:34.020 ⇒ 00:00:35.220 Uttam Kumaran: Hey, good, how are you?
4 00:00:35.220 ⇒ 00:00:36.220 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Good, good.
5 00:00:37.150 ⇒ 00:00:38.990 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Oh, yeah.
6 00:00:39.190 ⇒ 00:00:45.480 Uttam Kumaran: Weekend was good, yeah, just… just, like, quiet, didn’t do much, just hung out with a girlfriend for Valentine’s Day.
7 00:00:45.600 ⇒ 00:00:49.829 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Oh, yeah, that’s right. That’s good. Well, hope you had a great Valentine’s Day, then.
8 00:00:49.830 ⇒ 00:00:51.500 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, it was pretty good, yeah.
9 00:00:51.500 ⇒ 00:00:52.170 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Awesome.
10 00:00:52.750 ⇒ 00:00:58.060 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Cool, I know, we spoke on Saturday, you know.
11 00:00:58.290 ⇒ 00:01:09.409 Sheshu Chandrasekar: I mean, it took… yeah, it took some time to, like, kind of, like, take a step back and realize there were some miscalculations on my end when it came to prioritizing some things, but I feel…
12 00:01:09.580 ⇒ 00:01:14.680 Sheshu Chandrasekar: like, this plan I have that I want to present to you, like…
13 00:01:14.980 ⇒ 00:01:33.869 Sheshu Chandrasekar: you know, it should be very, like, straightforward and definitely, like, you know, seal some holes that we have at the company that could definitely help the supply side of things when it comes to resource constraints and stuff like that. So… yeah, I mean, I’m ready to jump right in. Sure. Yeah, let’s do it. Cool.
14 00:01:38.530 ⇒ 00:01:46.360 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Here, I’m gonna share my screen here. So this is kind of like a planning board I have, of initiatives that I do want to work on.
15 00:01:49.350 ⇒ 00:01:51.839 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Okay, so…
16 00:01:52.150 ⇒ 00:01:58.099 Sheshu Chandrasekar: this is all mapped to our AORs that I… that I currently own. So I guess, like.
17 00:01:58.870 ⇒ 00:02:08.519 Sheshu Chandrasekar: we can start with each AO… each, like, workstream, or I can kind of, like, tell you, like, where I really want to focus, like, my next 3 or 4 weeks, in terms of, like.
18 00:02:08.729 ⇒ 00:02:16.120 Sheshu Chandrasekar: you know, through any time I have as… as an ops lead here. So, like, one of my biggest priorities is
19 00:02:16.200 ⇒ 00:02:31.459 Sheshu Chandrasekar: creating this capacity dashboard. Basically, my understanding from the EPs is that they don’t operate… update operating on a consistent basis, and the second biggest problem that I’m noticing is that with operating,
20 00:02:31.880 ⇒ 00:02:45.030 Sheshu Chandrasekar: let’s say for, like, Eden, right? They have, like, two… for deal three, they have two projects. Well, the problem is, we’re not able to see comprehensively what’s happening for each project. It’s, like, kind of all lumped up into one deal.
21 00:02:45.130 ⇒ 00:02:57.120 Sheshu Chandrasekar: So my biggest thing is, like, okay, in order for EPs to better estimate projects, that’s, like, one thing we need to do, but second thing is, like, we need to make sure that they’re well within, like.
22 00:02:57.290 ⇒ 00:03:06.140 Sheshu Chandrasekar: the hours, like, allowed. So, for example, if our deal size is, like, 20K, right? Like, for us, like, numbers’ sake,
23 00:03:06.600 ⇒ 00:03:13.250 Sheshu Chandrasekar: and, like, each project’s, like, worth 10K. Well, they only need to start… they need to start thinking about how to better allocate within the budget.
24 00:03:13.390 ⇒ 00:03:31.709 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Right? Just for better margin protection. Obviously, that’s not gonna be perfect all the time, because ultimately, client delivery is, like, utmost focus, but from an operations side, like, we need to figure out, like, hey, like, where are we, like, overspending? Where are we overutilizing this person, for each project? So…
25 00:03:31.980 ⇒ 00:03:39.950 Sheshu Chandrasekar: For me, I think the capacity dashboard is something super important, hence why I started, implementing this operating compliance, like.
26 00:03:40.130 ⇒ 00:03:49.789 Sheshu Chandrasekar: cadence, where, you know, every Friday, EPs go into operating, they update their hours, and then Monday, we kind of get, like, a confirmation, and we kind of keep that in track.
27 00:03:49.960 ⇒ 00:03:59.739 Sheshu Chandrasekar: And what this helps for us is, you know, one, we get to see who’s, you know, underutilized, overutilized, or where we need to start hiring in the next 8 weeks out.
28 00:04:00.160 ⇒ 00:04:16.019 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Right? And for… so that… I mean, this has already started, partially at phase zero, but eventually, like, we want to build some sort of dashboard in Omni that automatically, like, forecasts, like, in 8 weeks, like, okay, in 8 weeks, like.
29 00:04:16.450 ⇒ 00:04:27.429 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Sam is going to be off, right? So we need to find another SL, in 8 weeks’ time. So, like, that’s kind of where I’m thinking about, but it’s more data-driven. I know you already put together some
30 00:04:27.540 ⇒ 00:04:31.220 Sheshu Chandrasekar: A baseline spreadsheet, but…
31 00:04:31.220 ⇒ 00:04:36.470 Uttam Kumaran: I think my… probably my only concern here is, like, I don’t know if either you or Rico
32 00:04:36.830 ⇒ 00:04:43.540 Uttam Kumaran: are technical enough to set up Omni and set up, like, Snowflake and all these things, right? So…
33 00:04:43.540 ⇒ 00:04:45.270 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Seems like this is…
34 00:04:46.370 ⇒ 00:04:49.989 Uttam Kumaran: Like, would require, like, engineering resources to do.
35 00:04:50.300 ⇒ 00:04:53.649 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Yeah, and I agree. So I guess, like, for Phase 0 and Phase 1,
36 00:04:53.750 ⇒ 00:04:56.490 Sheshu Chandrasekar: It’s gonna be manual for now, until we get some…
37 00:04:56.800 ⇒ 00:05:15.370 Sheshu Chandrasekar: some resource availability, like Mustafa has some time on his hands, then we’ll kind of, like, ask him to help us out, because we did figure out how to use Google Sheets, and kind of feed that into Snowflake, and then build Omni dashboards on top of it. But, obviously, you’re right, it’s gonna take some engineering resources to build that out. But, yeah, this is, like.
38 00:05:15.840 ⇒ 00:05:20.140 Sheshu Chandrasekar: I think this is my utmost priority moving forward, because…
39 00:05:20.460 ⇒ 00:05:28.390 Sheshu Chandrasekar: I mean, obviously, I’m… my role is to kind of help protect the margins, right? If not even increase it. So,
40 00:05:28.720 ⇒ 00:05:35.669 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Yeah, so, like, this is one of the initiatives I want to work on. Something that I thought was very… it’s…
41 00:05:36.200 ⇒ 00:05:53.060 Sheshu Chandrasekar: it could be useful, is kind of developing, like, a role-specific digest. So, for example, if Pranav, who is now a CSO, he gets every single, like, summary of what’s happening in his client’s Slack channels, or what’s happening in his meetings for that week.
42 00:05:53.060 ⇒ 00:05:58.509 Sheshu Chandrasekar: So he… and, like, when he opens on Monday, like, when he opens his laptop on Monday, he gets to know, like, okay, like.
43 00:05:58.510 ⇒ 00:06:06.490 Sheshu Chandrasekar: this is what I need to start working on, right? It’s like, it’s a nice-to-have, it’s not gonna move the needle, but it’s something… it’s a feedback that I’ve been hearing a lot.
44 00:06:06.530 ⇒ 00:06:12.649 Sheshu Chandrasekar: that could help out every team member moving forward on, like, what to prioritize. So that’s…
45 00:06:12.660 ⇒ 00:06:24.209 Sheshu Chandrasekar: something that I would like to work on, but I know this is gonna take a lot more engineering resources than it needs to, so, my plan is to honestly use the EP, SL, and…
46 00:06:24.210 ⇒ 00:06:35.970 Sheshu Chandrasekar: CSO meetings to kind of, like, structure that data out. So, like, for example, in the first, like, couple minutes, I’ll be like, hey, how’s your client doing? Like, tell me more about your client, what are some blockers, what are some things that are going well, and, like.
47 00:06:36.240 ⇒ 00:06:42.150 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Basically, the platform’s gonna record all of that, and that’s already structured data in the platform that we can leverage at some point.
48 00:06:42.630 ⇒ 00:06:43.180 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
49 00:06:43.710 ⇒ 00:06:47.859 Sheshu Chandrasekar: So that’s project operations.
50 00:06:48.830 ⇒ 00:06:51.099 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Let’s see, where else do I want to… oh, yeah.
51 00:06:51.300 ⇒ 00:06:52.670 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Financial stuff.
52 00:06:53.780 ⇒ 00:07:12.979 Sheshu Chandrasekar: So, yeah, I mean, based on Megan’s email last Saturday, this is something I was thinking about, started kind of working on this already, so the accounts receivable alert. Basically, we just go through every contract and figure out, okay, like, who has paid so far? And this is literally, like, kind of like a wall of shame, right? It’s like.
53 00:07:12.980 ⇒ 00:07:26.929 Sheshu Chandrasekar: for example, if we have, like, 3 or 4 clients having paid, well, we get a SlackBot alert, from, like, a 15, 20, 45 day mark. So that allows us to be a little bit more proactive in, like, reaching out to them, and asking the finance team to loop in, or, like.
54 00:07:27.030 ⇒ 00:07:29.279 Sheshu Chandrasekar: We just have to, like, nudge them and say, hey, like.
55 00:07:29.550 ⇒ 00:07:36.360 Sheshu Chandrasekar: the late fees are incurring. Can you, like, start, like, thinking about payment plans and stuff like that? Like, something that allows us to, like.
56 00:07:37.310 ⇒ 00:07:41.770 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Think about the next steps and how to collect our payment for the invoices that are already outstanding.
57 00:07:42.230 ⇒ 00:07:46.399 Sheshu Chandrasekar: So that’s what… that’s what the AR alerts is, and then…
58 00:07:46.470 ⇒ 00:07:54.560 Sheshu Chandrasekar: this is something that I already spoke about even before I started here, so the cost margin revenue dashboard. So just building out, like.
59 00:07:54.620 ⇒ 00:07:57.540 Sheshu Chandrasekar: The cost, margin, the revenue, so basically, like, you’re…
60 00:07:57.540 ⇒ 00:08:14.700 Sheshu Chandrasekar: your financial data, and we’ve already started identifying which reports, Megan is trying… Megan uses. I think Rico is to follow up with her today to get those reports, so we can start using those reports to kind of build out, like, a baseline Google Sheets, dashboard of some sort.
61 00:08:15.770 ⇒ 00:08:16.280 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
62 00:08:16.480 ⇒ 00:08:20.719 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Yeah, so that’s… a lot of this is, like, dashboard work, but I think…
63 00:08:20.960 ⇒ 00:08:25.540 Sheshu Chandrasekar: It allows us to kind of, like, figure out, like, okay, like, where in the company do we need to, like.
64 00:08:26.090 ⇒ 00:08:42.909 Sheshu Chandrasekar: like, start focusing on, right? Like, what’s… what are we lacking, and what are we doing well? Like, I think having that bird’s-eye view of what’s happening is super helpful for us for ops team, at least, and for yourself, to kind of, like, help us prioritize things that, you know, will move the needle at the company.
65 00:08:43.630 ⇒ 00:08:55.840 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I guess, like, just maybe even take a step further back, though. It’s like, all of these things are great and, like, probably needed at some point. But for me, the biggest concern is, like.
66 00:08:56.100 ⇒ 00:09:02.550 Uttam Kumaran: I don’t know how fast this team can operate, and even, like, one of these items, I feel like, would take this current team, like.
67 00:09:02.700 ⇒ 00:09:03.959 Uttam Kumaran: Weeks to do.
68 00:09:04.260 ⇒ 00:09:06.279 Uttam Kumaran: And so…
69 00:09:06.410 ⇒ 00:09:16.599 Uttam Kumaran: you know, again, and I think even broadly, like, I’m still not seeing, like, how this ties into achieving, like, the OKRs, right? Because the OKRs have nothing to do with margin.
70 00:09:17.010 ⇒ 00:09:23.180 Uttam Kumaran: on purpose, right? Like, we can only focus on a couple of things right now, and margin…
71 00:09:23.500 ⇒ 00:09:36.360 Uttam Kumaran: observability is not a priority for me, because I know we’re getting good margins. I mean, with… I kind of… I look at the financial reports, we’re increasing our pricing, I know our margins are healthy, so this is where, like.
72 00:09:36.580 ⇒ 00:09:47.780 Uttam Kumaran: even before doing this, like, we’ve already set up the OKRs to show what the priorities are for this quarter. So, like, some of this is okay, some of this is, like, we shouldn’t be doing right now.
73 00:09:49.520 ⇒ 00:09:54.360 Uttam Kumaran: Right? And so that’s also… and then the other thing is I’m still not seeing, kind of, a reflection on, like.
74 00:09:54.850 ⇒ 00:10:00.429 Uttam Kumaran: how are you gonna be leading the team, right? Like, that was something on Saturday I tried to stress, is like.
75 00:10:01.110 ⇒ 00:10:15.969 Uttam Kumaran: I’m not interested in you being a project manager for this team. Like, I’m interested in you, like, leading, right? So, like, tell me about your relationship with Rico, with Eliza, like, how are you helping them grow? Like, what is the capacity of the team? Like, still, right now.
76 00:10:16.000 ⇒ 00:10:24.909 Uttam Kumaran: I’m just seeing, like, a list of, you know, it’s clear that, like, I’m just seeing a list of, sort of, generated projects for the ops team, which is…
77 00:10:25.070 ⇒ 00:10:27.170 Uttam Kumaran: Helpful, but again, like.
78 00:10:27.320 ⇒ 00:10:40.250 Uttam Kumaran: it’s a quick exercise, like, I’m interested in hearing your reflection on, like, hey, am I gonna… is Shaysia gonna be able to lead this team and achieve those OKRs within a reasonable timeframe and, like, get organized, you know?
79 00:10:40.590 ⇒ 00:10:43.439 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Yeah. I mean…
80 00:10:44.400 ⇒ 00:11:03.129 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Yeah, for sure, like, I mean, I feel like I’ve started building a good rapport, like, I’m understanding, like, Rico’s and Eliza’s, like, working style. So, like, I know where I can leverage Rico, and I hate using that word, leverage, on people, but I know where I can put them in the best spots for them to be successful, right? Like, I’m understanding, like.
81 00:11:03.310 ⇒ 00:11:16.449 Sheshu Chandrasekar: where Eliza wants to work on certain things at the company, and where Rico wants to work on. And a lot of them, at the end of the day, they just want to be told what to do, but for me, I’m more… I more care about, like, okay, is the work I’m giving you, like.
82 00:11:16.450 ⇒ 00:11:20.270 Uttam Kumaran: But, like, tell me how that, like, how that… what actions…
83 00:11:21.060 ⇒ 00:11:27.050 Uttam Kumaran: like, in what way does that happen? Like, I’m hearing that, like, yes, I’m giving… I’m building these relations, but, like.
84 00:11:27.200 ⇒ 00:11:35.179 Uttam Kumaran: How does stand-up change? How does the day-to-day process change? Like, how does the weekly reporting change? Like, what are the actual actions that you’re gonna be taking?
85 00:11:35.780 ⇒ 00:11:40.300 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Yeah, I mean, for sure, like, on Friday, like, like I said, like, on Fridays, like.
86 00:11:40.440 ⇒ 00:11:59.739 Sheshu Chandrasekar: we’re gonna start planning out two weeks ahead, right? Like, I told you on Saturday, like, we’re changing how we change our cadence, so we prioritize on things. But also, I’m gonna start implementing one-on-ones with Rico and Eliza to kind of, like, understand where I can grow as a leader, and where I can help them grow in their career, right? Like, I think that’s something that’s super important.
87 00:11:59.830 ⇒ 00:12:17.639 Sheshu Chandrasekar: as, like, a leader, for me to, like, be like, okay, like, I don’t want to put them in an initiative where they’re not happy in doing that work. So, for me, that’s utmost importance. Our cadence has changed. Like, every Friday, we’re gonna be start planning. Monday, we’re gonna start executing, like, kind of
88 00:12:17.970 ⇒ 00:12:31.880 Sheshu Chandrasekar: you know, devise the tasks that we’re gonna start, like, implementing to make that change happen, and then on Tuesday, one of our meetings we have with you, we’re gonna look a lot more sharper moving forward. Like, I’m pretty confident that
89 00:12:31.980 ⇒ 00:12:38.330 Sheshu Chandrasekar: the Tuesday meeting tomorrow is gonna be a lot different from last week’s meeting, right? And that’s because we’re finally, like.
90 00:12:38.560 ⇒ 00:12:43.470 Sheshu Chandrasekar: We have a great cadence and a great alignment moving forward.
91 00:12:44.340 ⇒ 00:12:47.990 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Yeah, I mean, I’m not… I’m not too… for me, I don’t think…
92 00:12:48.160 ⇒ 00:12:50.529 Sheshu Chandrasekar: for me, that’s a worry, like, because…
93 00:12:50.530 ⇒ 00:12:57.850 Uttam Kumaran: For me, I’m extremely worried. Like, this is where I’m still, like… one of the things we talked about on Saturday is, like, hey, I just need to see a list
94 00:12:58.150 ⇒ 00:13:07.359 Uttam Kumaran: of the changes that you’re proposing to make for the team, and, like, you didn’t come with that today, right? Like, I see these projects.
95 00:13:07.580 ⇒ 00:13:25.890 Uttam Kumaran: I’m not wowed by them, because we have a large backlog. It’s easy to look at all of the things that we have to do, and all of these are great projects, but again, I… what I’m interested in is not… is, like, I can let this team run, and I know that they’re going to, like.
96 00:13:26.240 ⇒ 00:13:27.580 Uttam Kumaran: demolish…
97 00:13:27.750 ⇒ 00:13:47.689 Uttam Kumaran: the objectives at hand, like, not just, like, hit them, and not just, like, get close to them, but, like, exceed expectations. It’s sort of what we talk about, which is, like, whenever we, like, have new teams established, the goal is to, like, be a step above. And what I’m… what I’m… I’m just not hearing that. And I… and I get that you… it’s…
98 00:13:47.830 ⇒ 00:14:00.230 Uttam Kumaran: you could… you’re… you’re saying that, like, okay, you have confidence that things will change. For me, though, if the last… the last two weeks have not demonstrated that, right? And so today, for me, I was like, okay, if I’m able to see, like, a step-by-step
99 00:14:00.540 ⇒ 00:14:09.040 Uttam Kumaran: hey, this is how stand-ups were operating before, this is how they’re gonna go now, this is how, like, you know, we came… it’s been four…
100 00:14:09.520 ⇒ 00:14:23.069 Uttam Kumaran: sessions of founding ops team meetings where, okay, we’ve given this feedback, how have those individual feedback items been addressed? Like, that’s the level of, like, criticality and organization, like, we need.
101 00:14:23.320 ⇒ 00:14:28.199 Uttam Kumaran: Because putting these together is great, but it’s the bare minimum.
102 00:14:28.450 ⇒ 00:14:33.209 Uttam Kumaran: And so I’m still not… like, personally, for me, I’m not seeing…
103 00:14:33.360 ⇒ 00:14:35.049 Uttam Kumaran: That this is going to work.
104 00:14:35.190 ⇒ 00:14:41.030 Uttam Kumaran: Like, I think you’re gonna take another stab at it, but you’re…
105 00:14:41.290 ⇒ 00:14:46.470 Uttam Kumaran: you’re improving too much. Like, I’m not seeing the organization, I’m not seeing, like.
106 00:14:46.580 ⇒ 00:14:55.330 Uttam Kumaran: here’s exactly how stand-ups are gonna run, here’s exactly how Friday meetings are gonna run, here’s what you can expect, like, you should have come into this meeting with a two-week plan.
107 00:14:55.490 ⇒ 00:14:57.310 Uttam Kumaran: You’re telling me it’s gonna take another…
108 00:14:57.630 ⇒ 00:15:01.189 Uttam Kumaran: week to get that, right? Like, we’re out of time.
109 00:15:01.750 ⇒ 00:15:08.100 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Well, I’m not… I don’t think I’m necessarily saying that it’s gonna take 2 weeks. I… I think, like, moving forward.
110 00:15:08.290 ⇒ 00:15:10.779 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Obviously, yes, I did not have, like, a…
111 00:15:10.930 ⇒ 00:15:20.839 Sheshu Chandrasekar: like, a great presentation here when it comes to, like, how our cadence is gonna move forward. How, like, as Shaysu, like, he’s gonna, like, lead Eliza and Rico.
112 00:15:21.050 ⇒ 00:15:21.680 Sheshu Chandrasekar: But…
113 00:15:21.680 ⇒ 00:15:23.970 Uttam Kumaran: That’s all that I’m… that’s all that I’m interested in, actually.
114 00:15:24.440 ⇒ 00:15:25.120 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Okay.
115 00:15:25.120 ⇒ 00:15:28.670 Uttam Kumaran: I’m not interested in the individual items, because these are all…
116 00:15:28.820 ⇒ 00:15:34.459 Uttam Kumaran: things that a lot of us already know. So, like, shaping these is not the priority.
117 00:15:34.650 ⇒ 00:15:41.360 Uttam Kumaran: Right? Like, I can tell you which one to do, and how to do it, and Clarence can tell you, and Robert can tell you.
118 00:15:41.490 ⇒ 00:15:55.380 Uttam Kumaran: the hard part is the leadership part. It’s like, hey, this team is going to set these goals, and we are going to knock them out, and you can expect this, this, and this within the time frame, right? It’s exactly how we work with our clients.
119 00:15:55.550 ⇒ 00:15:58.589 Uttam Kumaran: And… that’s not what I’m seeing here today.
120 00:15:59.190 ⇒ 00:15:59.890 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Okay.
121 00:16:00.910 ⇒ 00:16:04.079 Sheshu Chandrasekar: I mean, I can give you a little bit more insight on, like.
122 00:16:04.290 ⇒ 00:16:07.630 Sheshu Chandrasekar: how, like, our Friday cadence has changed, like, moving, like.
123 00:16:07.860 ⇒ 00:16:09.850 Sheshu Chandrasekar: From, like, how we’re gonna start…
124 00:16:10.030 ⇒ 00:16:17.490 Sheshu Chandrasekar: producing, like, a lot more things, like, moving forward, if you want me to dive into that, but I feel like you’re not interested in hearing that right now.
125 00:16:17.490 ⇒ 00:16:23.570 Uttam Kumaran: It’s not that I’m not interested, I just think, like, today was the time to have all that ready to go to make the case.
126 00:16:23.720 ⇒ 00:16:32.849 Uttam Kumaran: Like, you know, I think on our side, you know, I’ve spoken to Robert, I’ve spoken to Clarence, I’ve spoken to other folks on the team, like.
127 00:16:32.950 ⇒ 00:16:39.070 Uttam Kumaran: I don’t think that right now you’re the best person suited for this role. And so…
128 00:16:39.230 ⇒ 00:16:44.690 Uttam Kumaran: today’s meeting was like, hey, okay, if I can see something that changes that…
129 00:16:44.880 ⇒ 00:16:54.639 Uttam Kumaran: feedback that the team has given, and that I’ve given, I’m happy to reconsider, but I haven’t seen that today. And so, kind of like, maybe two things.
130 00:16:54.860 ⇒ 00:16:57.620 Uttam Kumaran: To consider. Like, one.
131 00:16:57.930 ⇒ 00:17:12.040 Uttam Kumaran: look, this company is a crazy company to work at, like, we move extremely fast. Not everybody is suited for this type of work. I also think, like, it’s clear that, you know, I don’t think you’ve led operations at this capacity before.
132 00:17:12.310 ⇒ 00:17:22.880 Uttam Kumaran: And that’s fine, like, I’m a big proponent of taking chances on people, especially earlier in their career, but this isn’t sort of a…
133 00:17:23.150 ⇒ 00:17:34.040 Uttam Kumaran: wake-up-and-figure-it-out type of job. Like, we… we’re… this is a multi-million dollar company, like, we’re growing really fast. I’m willing to take chances on people, but people need to come to the table with…
134 00:17:34.490 ⇒ 00:17:52.159 Uttam Kumaran: like, meet me halfway, and I’m not seeing that right now. So what… what I kind of want to tell you is, like, one, like, at this point, I don’t… I don’t think this is gonna be the role for you here. I want to… I want you to… one thing I asked on Saturday is, if there is another role at the company that you think
135 00:17:52.360 ⇒ 00:17:56.840 Uttam Kumaran: you would like to be considered for, I’m happy to… consider you there.
136 00:17:57.050 ⇒ 00:18:16.470 Uttam Kumaran: But I want you to kind of come to the table with, like, hey, here’s, like, where my skill set lies based on what you’ve seen at Brainforge. So one thing I don’t want to do is, like, have someone like you who spends time with us, and we, like, can’t work together. But I don’t think… like, for me, what I’m seeing is I’m not seeing the level of leadership on this
137 00:18:16.880 ⇒ 00:18:19.840 Uttam Kumaran: on the operations side that I need to, you know, right now.
138 00:18:20.580 ⇒ 00:18:21.260 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Okay.
139 00:18:22.330 ⇒ 00:18:24.410 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Yeah, I mean, that’s fair.
140 00:18:25.550 ⇒ 00:18:30.230 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Yeah, I should have been a little bit better on that, but…
141 00:18:30.650 ⇒ 00:18:35.879 Sheshu Chandrasekar: I guess, like, for next steps, like, is it more like, okay, like, what kind of roles do I want to…
142 00:18:36.230 ⇒ 00:18:40.109 Sheshu Chandrasekar: I’ve thought about some roles I would like to, like, kind of take on,
143 00:18:40.250 ⇒ 00:18:44.790 Sheshu Chandrasekar: For the… for the next month or so, if this doesn’t work out, but…
144 00:18:45.350 ⇒ 00:18:48.450 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I mean, that would be great, and I think, like, really, it’s like a…
145 00:18:48.740 ⇒ 00:18:50.840 Uttam Kumaran: One thing I would ask for is either just, like.
146 00:18:51.030 ⇒ 00:19:01.390 Uttam Kumaran: a concise email to me and Robert with, like, hey, given my time here at Brainforge, I’ve seen X, Y, and Z roles, here’s why I can… I think I should be considered for those.
147 00:19:01.920 ⇒ 00:19:04.170 Uttam Kumaran: Like, that’s what would be really, really helpful.
148 00:19:04.520 ⇒ 00:19:05.710 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Okay. Yeah, I can work on that.
149 00:19:05.710 ⇒ 00:19:06.300 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
150 00:19:06.610 ⇒ 00:19:25.059 Uttam Kumaran: you know, even if it’s delivery or otherwise, like, I don’t think, like, I would prefer to find a way to continue to work together, but, like, this role is tough. Like, it’s an internal role, which means it’s pure operating expense. So, like, for me, from, like, a budget
151 00:19:25.220 ⇒ 00:19:35.670 Uttam Kumaran: standpoint, like, I’m not really interested in adding more budget to operations, because we need to hire engineers, like, actively, right? So, if I’m not seeing that this is, like.
152 00:19:35.840 ⇒ 00:19:44.979 Uttam Kumaran: 5X-ing the efficiency of everybody at Brainforge, it’s not a worthwhile investment for me. And right now, it’s not doing that. Like, I think, net-net, it’s taken…
153 00:19:45.190 ⇒ 00:19:55.139 Uttam Kumaran: time from me, from Clarence, from other folks, and we haven’t seen… we haven’t changed the pace of our progress. Like, I was running operations team.
154 00:19:55.650 ⇒ 00:19:59.339 Uttam Kumaran: in Q4, and this is sort of the pace at which we are running.
155 00:19:59.470 ⇒ 00:20:08.469 Uttam Kumaran: And we were looking for, like, a step function change, you know, in that. And so, I think if you can… if you can sort of spend some time, you know, ideally, like.
156 00:20:09.120 ⇒ 00:20:13.580 Uttam Kumaran: this morning, and, you know, message Robert and I with, like, hey.
157 00:20:14.240 ⇒ 00:20:20.049 Uttam Kumaran: outside of, like, lead operations, like, here’s where I think I can fit, like, I’m happy to consider you for that.
158 00:20:20.760 ⇒ 00:20:24.659 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Okay, yeah, that works. I can… I can definitely write something up there.
159 00:20:24.660 ⇒ 00:20:25.560 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, okay.
160 00:20:26.100 ⇒ 00:20:26.670 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Cool.
161 00:20:27.540 ⇒ 00:20:32.200 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Okay, cool, yeah, let me get back to you on that.
162 00:20:32.200 ⇒ 00:20:33.359 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, okay, perfect.
163 00:20:33.820 ⇒ 00:20:36.159 Sheshu Chandrasekar: Okay. Well, sweet. Thanks for your time.
164 00:20:36.160 ⇒ 00:20:36.870 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, bye.