Meeting Title: Uttam <> Megan Date: 2024-09-04 Meeting participants: Megan Murray, Uttam Kumaran
WEBVTT
1 00:03:45.640 ⇒ 00:03:46.529 Uttam Kumaran: Hi Megan.
2 00:03:46.930 ⇒ 00:03:48.170 Megan Murray: Hey! How are you?
3 00:03:48.170 ⇒ 00:03:50.360 Uttam Kumaran: Hey? Good! How are you sorry for the delay?
4 00:03:50.360 ⇒ 00:03:55.149 Megan Murray: No, no problem. I know how it goes. I get kind of stuck in things, and
5 00:03:55.260 ⇒ 00:03:57.282 Megan Murray: it’s hard to get out sometimes.
6 00:03:57.620 ⇒ 00:04:04.830 Uttam Kumaran: That’s that’s just like every day of my life now. So how’s everything going? Really nice to meet you?
7 00:04:04.830 ⇒ 00:04:09.214 Megan Murray: Yeah, you, too. That’s just kind of the founder life, you know.
8 00:04:10.800 ⇒ 00:04:25.029 Megan Murray: Yeah. But yeah, I’m excited to connect. And I’m glad that Scott had put us in touch. But yeah, just want to hear a little bit more about what you’re doing with Brainforge, and just see, like, you know, kind of where you’re at, and
9 00:04:25.080 ⇒ 00:04:28.940 Megan Murray: you know just what’s going on, and get to know each other a little bit.
10 00:04:28.940 ⇒ 00:04:51.950 Uttam Kumaran: Sure. Yeah, I’m I’ve been, you know, trying to work with Scott for about a year. Now we got put in touch with some folks. From next coast ventures. And I. We’ve just been. We were initially working on some stuff in real estate. And AI, and we’re continuing to kind of prototype some things here and there. But you know, Scott’s
11 00:04:51.950 ⇒ 00:05:01.699 Uttam Kumaran: been around the block, especially in Austin and my background is in computer engineering and data engineering went to Bucknell, just like in Central PA. And then.
12 00:05:01.700 ⇒ 00:05:05.360 Megan Murray: Yeah, I lived in Philly for a little bit after college. So.
13 00:05:05.360 ⇒ 00:05:09.710 Uttam Kumaran: Oh, okay, my yeah, I went to Bucknell. My sister just graduated from Swathmore.
14 00:05:10.150 ⇒ 00:05:12.850 Megan Murray: Oh, cool are you from Pennsylvania, then.
15 00:05:12.850 ⇒ 00:05:15.291 Uttam Kumaran: No, I’m actually from the Bay Area.
16 00:05:15.640 ⇒ 00:05:19.929 Megan Murray: Wow! That’s so funny that both of you then went to like, you know, PA, area.
17 00:05:19.930 ⇒ 00:05:39.789 Uttam Kumaran: My dad was the one who was like, Hey, you guys should just get out of California like, Go to the East coast and then decide what you want to do. And I’m really. And the moment I was like, I don’t have any friends, I’ve never been to the East coast, but worked out really well. So I spent some time in New York after school
18 00:05:40.225 ⇒ 00:05:51.990 Uttam Kumaran: and then moved here to Austin over 2 years ago. And then started this business. About a year ago. July, officially. Like April
19 00:05:52.546 ⇒ 00:06:12.769 Uttam Kumaran: and that’s how I got kind of connected to Scott, and you know, I have a lot of like startup friends here in Austin. But yeah, like I, I you know, I worked as a data engineer and an analytics engineer. For a number of years I worked at, we work for a while. I worked for a company called Flow Code. They do like the circular QR codes that you probably see on TV. Now.
20 00:06:12.770 ⇒ 00:06:13.490 Megan Murray: Yeah.
21 00:06:13.799 ⇒ 00:06:27.420 Uttam Kumaran: So I joined that company right before Covid. And then that company just became very, very big. And then I was kind of leading product at a startup in New York. Decided to leave. And then I was here in Austin and
22 00:06:27.810 ⇒ 00:06:42.060 Uttam Kumaran: you know, I in between jobs I had done some contract work around data like basically everything around snowflake data, warehousing, internal reporting. You know, we work. I had worked on the Ipo. I worked with executives throughout my whole career, basically
23 00:06:42.250 ⇒ 00:06:45.790 Uttam Kumaran: building data teams, building internal reporting systems
24 00:06:46.538 ⇒ 00:06:48.779 Uttam Kumaran: across multiple domains. And then
25 00:06:49.340 ⇒ 00:07:18.590 Uttam Kumaran: I kind of decided that, hey, there’s some room for like an agency here that that can bring together like the best talent that I’ve met in the industry, and then really plug them into roles. You know, either. We come in as a we have a couple of different service offerings, but really it’s either one. There’s companies that just need an extra team member as part of their data team or the second where they just need like a data team for hire, basically. And we bring a whole host of resources. So you know, my edge in in this
26 00:07:18.700 ⇒ 00:07:30.529 Uttam Kumaran: kind of game is really that I have a lot of access to great talent through my career. I’ve met a lot of really amazing engineers myself. Of course, I’ve done a lot of these systems building myself. So
27 00:07:30.640 ⇒ 00:07:56.959 Uttam Kumaran: that’s where, compared to a typical like agency or consultancy, we really have an edge. The second thing is, you know, we’re we started really doing a lot of work in data. But we’re starting to. We’re starting to do work and starting to attract clients around AI and AI automation. A lot of it goes hand in hand, but a lot of it also has been me training folks internally on how to do that. Sort of work. Both industries, I think, still have a
28 00:07:57.080 ⇒ 00:08:23.649 Uttam Kumaran: a drought of like amazing talent. I think there is a lot of junior people. There’s a lot of outsource people, but really a lack of like senior Us. Talent people that can work with executives and work with business leaders. You know, folks like me that can speak like technical jargon, and then also kind of sit in like a in a board meeting, or sit with you know your head of legal or something. And so that’s the people that are kind of part of Brainforge and the part that the team that we’re kind of cultivating. So
29 00:08:23.680 ⇒ 00:08:36.659 Uttam Kumaran: this the business kind of started with me for like 6 months, and then had enough money coming in to bring on one person. And now we’re kind of like depending on the amount of projects we have, we have anywhere from like 5 to 7 people.
30 00:08:38.620 ⇒ 00:08:47.639 Uttam Kumaran: So yeah, that’s a that’s a little bit of the high level. I’m happy to go, of course, into any, into any detail or any other questions about me, or anything else. So.
31 00:08:48.340 ⇒ 00:09:04.209 Megan Murray: Yeah, no, that’s that’s awesome. I mean, so it’s funny. I I kind of ended up in the East Coast for a similar reason I was like, I just want to see what this is all about. And New York City seemed way, too hectic to me at that time, and cause. I mean, I’m mostly from like
32 00:09:04.947 ⇒ 00:09:06.860 Megan Murray: Kentucky, North Carolina.
33 00:09:06.860 ⇒ 00:09:07.210 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
34 00:09:07.210 ⇒ 00:09:17.478 Megan Murray: Florida. So like I’m a Southern kind of girl, and my family moved to Texas in 2,007. So it was like, you know still, kind of that Southern comfort zone right?
35 00:09:17.790 ⇒ 00:09:18.309 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I know.
36 00:09:18.310 ⇒ 00:09:31.589 Megan Murray: And but I got a job in Philly after. And so that was work. Cause I was like New York is way, too. Hectic DC. Is way, too boring and like political and stuffy. So Philly for me, was like a good middle ground between the 2.
37 00:09:31.590 ⇒ 00:09:32.180 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
38 00:09:32.180 ⇒ 00:09:35.495 Megan Murray: I I loved it until I did it.
39 00:09:35.910 ⇒ 00:09:43.807 Uttam Kumaran: I’m gonna say, I say, the exact well, that’s great. I say the exact same way where I’m like I loved it. And then one day. I just did.
40 00:09:44.080 ⇒ 00:10:02.390 Megan Murray: Yeah. And then I was like, you know what? I just gotta get to Texas. The 1st time I came to Texas to visit my family in 2,007 when my parents moved here and I was just like, I’m gonna live here one day and it so it like it worked out eventually. But I’ve been in Austin now for 9 years, which is.
41 00:10:02.390 ⇒ 00:10:03.340 Uttam Kumaran: Crazy to me.
42 00:10:03.340 ⇒ 00:10:16.499 Megan Murray: That’s the longest I’ve lived anywhere my entire life, and just every aspect of Austin just draws me in, and my husband’s a big music guy, and like, I like music, too. But he’s like a big music guy. And so
43 00:10:17.380 ⇒ 00:10:22.650 Megan Murray: so it’s like between that and like, you know, just the food scene, the outdoors. There’s always some.
44 00:10:22.650 ⇒ 00:10:23.020 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
45 00:10:23.020 ⇒ 00:10:36.799 Megan Murray: Do and and then for me, like the tech scene, it’s really kind of just been a perfect place for us to stay. I I really don’t know where else we would go. I think we’re just here forever is we’re going to be one of those like Austin lifers. So.
46 00:10:36.800 ⇒ 00:10:41.109 Uttam Kumaran: Great that’s really great to hear. You know, I feel very similarly like I think.
47 00:10:41.437 ⇒ 00:10:55.590 Uttam Kumaran: you know, I grew up in California. And then. So I have some of that. I kind of grew up with tech, and my parents worked into everybody around me, and then I was in PA and New York. And in New York you really get this edge about business, like.
48 00:10:55.590 ⇒ 00:11:16.590 Uttam Kumaran: you know, I have like a lot of energy. You get a lot of drive. And of course all my connections and a lot of the business that I have now for brain force came through that New York but then I I also was like, it’s just not. I never saw myself there longer. Term just like lifestyle. Wise I was like. It’s just like, not conducive, and to be like in more space and but
49 00:11:16.700 ⇒ 00:11:34.750 Uttam Kumaran: being here with that sort of drive, I think, has has really been great. You know I have had the ability to work with some people locally. Of course, people like Scott, some other partners that we’re trying to do work for. But I would love to like open an office here, hire staff here, like I’m really all in as well, because
50 00:11:34.750 ⇒ 00:11:51.379 Uttam Kumaran: I think that there is a lot of amazing people here. A lot of the great talent are locked into some of the big enterprise companies here, and I do think of some of the startups can definitely attract some of those people, and I. And again, I I’ve seen the growth of data in New York, of course, in the Bay area. And like.
51 00:11:51.380 ⇒ 00:12:17.350 Uttam Kumaran: I started working with some partners in Houston and Dallas, and then, you know, started attending some of the stuff around Snowflake and their user groups here in town, and there’s a lot of people that want to get interested in it. So for me, I’m also very similarly like, I don’t know. I’ve traveled all across the country. I I think this is the best place to be for me right now. I don’t see I I really don’t think a lot of people were like, When are you gonna come back to New York or and I’m like, there’s no.
52 00:12:17.360 ⇒ 00:12:22.280 Uttam Kumaran: I think I’m gonna be in Austin for for a long time hopefully, yeah, I’ll move from here. So.
53 00:12:22.280 ⇒ 00:12:25.644 Megan Murray: It really is a great place to be building, too. And
54 00:12:25.990 ⇒ 00:12:44.730 Megan Murray: But yeah, so like a lot of what I’ve kind of built out just over time, like I started working with Scott years ago with Swivel. You’ve probably heard him talk about swivel and and and so at that point like I’d I’ve done like independent contractor type of gigs for
55 00:12:45.102 ⇒ 00:12:58.510 Megan Murray: like for different startups. And it was like, mostly kind of helping with like business administration and cash flow forecasting and just like, and all of that. And then I slowly started to like, see where
56 00:12:58.510 ⇒ 00:13:13.710 Megan Murray: people were creating an efficiency like people. I mean companies, right? They were creating an efficiencies because they just didn’t know better. Right? Like, we’re kind of trained. It’s like, Okay, well, you hire a legal person. You hire an accountant. Those are like, you know, things that you kind of offload right.
57 00:13:13.710 ⇒ 00:13:14.520 Uttam Kumaran: But.
58 00:13:14.770 ⇒ 00:13:18.530 Megan Murray: It’s like tax preparation is very different than accounting, bookkeeping, and.
59 00:13:18.530 ⇒ 00:13:18.920 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
60 00:13:18.920 ⇒ 00:13:36.360 Megan Murray: So I was like realizing how much time I was spending as like a contracted Cfo or director of finance, really just kind of like downloading schedules of financial reports and sending them to the account. And how much of my time was spent, just like shuffling around
61 00:13:36.360 ⇒ 00:13:59.330 Megan Murray: schedule. So so kind of like access. This whole journey just accidentally started where I was just like trying to make things easier for me, realizing that it could be easier for those people, too. So I have a so I have a bookkeeping company that I that I work with exclusively. So it’s like we kind of just roll up as like a whole team. It’s like I’m I’m your point of contact, or like.
62 00:13:59.330 ⇒ 00:14:07.040 Megan Murray: you know, you have a dedicated point of contact. You have contact with the accounting team if you need to. But there really shouldn’t be any reason
63 00:14:07.040 ⇒ 00:14:19.429 Megan Murray: for you to interact right for like taxes and and accounting. So it’s like, so that was kind of the 1st thing that I really said, okay, this needs to be part of my service model because it
64 00:14:19.600 ⇒ 00:14:37.450 Megan Murray: it’s just more straightforward. It’s less time for me. It’s less headache for you, for the tax preparer. They’re already familiar with their your business. They have access to your financial statements, and they don’t have to ask me for things because they can pull them themselves. That’s really kind of what the whole, you know point is.
65 00:14:37.460 ⇒ 00:15:03.190 Megan Murray: and and then from there I started thinking, Okay, well, what are other things that kind of get dumped on the finance person when you’ve got a team of 5 people like the other trend I started to notice was Hr, so it was like, Okay, Hr. And compliance and pretty much everything like that you know people don’t want to do. And if you’re a small team you have Hr. And compliance needs. But let’s like, you know.
66 00:15:03.190 ⇒ 00:15:08.808 Uttam Kumaran: No 100%. I’m in the same. I’m in the same right now. Actually.
67 00:15:09.160 ⇒ 00:15:27.149 Megan Murray: Yeah, so that’s so, that’s kind of the other thing that I’ve added in. And then, as I’ve and and when I say added in, it’s like, you know, A. A dedicated fractional Hr. Benefits payroll manager who has been doing that job for 15 years, cause I was like, you know I could spend
68 00:15:27.150 ⇒ 00:15:52.090 Megan Murray: 30 min researching employment laws in California, or I could just hire someone, you know, who is already familiar with that, because that’s been their niche. So that so then I added on that. And then, more recently, I’ve added on a full blown risk management vendor management program, slash process as well, and that really helps set people up for success when they go for sock. 2. Compliance.
69 00:15:52.430 ⇒ 00:15:53.050 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, okay.
70 00:15:53.050 ⇒ 00:16:12.000 Megan Murray: It’s kind of like the evolution of it’s like to me I think about is like the basics are finance and accounting, because, regardless what stage you’re at. You’re gonna have some degree of that. And then the rest is really there, just to kind of like help, you know, support as needed when needed. So it’s like, Oh, shoot! Now, we gotta go like
71 00:16:12.280 ⇒ 00:16:20.889 Megan Murray: we gotta hire somebody. Now we need. It’s like you don’t have to go out and source that it’s all just sort of like, you know, included. When when you need.
72 00:16:20.890 ⇒ 00:16:21.400 Uttam Kumaran: That, and.
73 00:16:21.400 ⇒ 00:16:21.750 Megan Murray: Then.
74 00:16:21.750 ⇒ 00:16:22.420 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
75 00:16:22.816 ⇒ 00:16:47.400 Megan Murray: And all the support is fractional, too. So it’s all fractionalized professionals. We intentionally keep the bookkeeping and tax preparation fees low, so that you know that that part is just like, you know, accessible, regardless of stage and and then everything else is hourly on top of that. So that’s kind of the model of how I’ve designed.
76 00:16:47.400 ⇒ 00:16:55.673 Megan Murray: And it seems to seems to work really well for growth stage companies that really want that peace of mind and
77 00:16:56.300 ⇒ 00:17:07.999 Megan Murray: and yeah, so it’s just like, you know, from my own observations. And then my own, like, okay, well, I I need someone who knows? Hr. Compliance a little better than I do, so.
78 00:17:08.000 ⇒ 00:17:24.580 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, no, I I think when I described it to, I was just looking at compliance related stuff. You know, we’re working with another recruiting firm, and they need to have, like certain requirements and certain like compliance forms needed from the State. And again, it’s just for me this game has been like.
79 00:17:24.790 ⇒ 00:17:52.309 Uttam Kumaran: like, how I’m gonna drop a few balls at any moment, which are the least risky ones to do. But as you grow, of course it’s like, okay, let’s go back and make sure that things are ironed out. You know, we’ve been in the business for a year. Now we have a couple more people. Everybody so far has been 1099. But we’re planning on bringing on some people. W. 2, hopefully the next, you know. 6 months but again, like I’ve I had a personal kind of account here in the State. And then now I’m using this
80 00:17:53.042 ⇒ 00:17:54.670 Uttam Kumaran: like remote service.
81 00:17:55.013 ⇒ 00:18:11.959 Uttam Kumaran: That I got recommended. But again, some of it is also. You only know what you know. And also sometimes I have a bit of a financial background, and I’ve worked with a lot of financial data. So not nothing about like the actual mechanics are lost on me. It’s actually the time is actually the most important thing, and the confidence
82 00:18:12.404 ⇒ 00:18:18.739 Uttam Kumaran: and then the last piece is like proactivity. Right? You have someone who’s like, Hey, I have worked for like agencies like this before.
83 00:18:18.790 ⇒ 00:18:30.529 Uttam Kumaran: Like, here’s typically ways we could do to shield taxes. And then some sort of some sort of proactiveness is also. But again, you can only control what you control. So sometimes it’s just like, let’s get the let’s get what we can get done and
84 00:18:30.540 ⇒ 00:18:56.369 Uttam Kumaran: and move forward. But, as you know, as as Scott mentioned. And kind of the reason for the call is, we’re we’re thinking about opportunities and ways to draw. So far I funded the whole company myself, which is great, because, like I, I have control of it. But it’s also not so great because it’s a lot of cash. But we have money coming in through clients. We have a lot of pipeline. A lot of the kind of
85 00:18:56.710 ⇒ 00:19:02.339 Uttam Kumaran: the things like I need kind of flow for really are for one, for like payroll, right between
86 00:19:02.770 ⇒ 00:19:09.309 Uttam Kumaran: between when we get paid by clients, and when I can pay out contractors that’s like one key piece right? There’s some
87 00:19:09.360 ⇒ 00:19:11.829 Uttam Kumaran: like working capital needed there for
88 00:19:12.170 ⇒ 00:19:33.220 Uttam Kumaran: for payables. And then the second thing is really for like marketing and growth. Right? If we want to. Continue to evolve the website. If I want to bring on. You know, someone to help with our like outreach and outbound marketing, it just costs money on top right? And so those are the things that I’m really trying to look for opportunities like
89 00:19:33.220 ⇒ 00:19:48.504 Uttam Kumaran: debt related opportunities to see whether there’s any folks around that would would have you know, any sort of credit lines or financing related to that? It’s not a. It’s not a software company. So there’s not. It’s a you know. You can compare this to
90 00:19:48.860 ⇒ 00:19:57.289 Uttam Kumaran: margins of like just like a normal tech agency. Right? So then, the the difference in in. What we’re doing is one
91 00:19:57.300 ⇒ 00:20:02.539 Uttam Kumaran: I would say, we’re we’re very cost conscious in particular. Me, we’ve done a lot of stuff
92 00:20:02.620 ⇒ 00:20:16.339 Uttam Kumaran: for really low money, and like our run rate in terms of like the software and expenses need to run. The business is really low. The biggest expense, of course, is headcount and people. This is like, these are like high tech, you know, folks.
93 00:20:16.909 ⇒ 00:20:24.370 Uttam Kumaran: and then and then the other thing we’re doing is we’re slowly, actually starting to use AI to basically chip away at a lot of those margins and starting to use AI to basically
94 00:20:24.720 ⇒ 00:20:48.100 Uttam Kumaran: forego having to hire like a full time. Bdr. To forego having to hire, you know, some more like operations. People that would again be. I can get away with just having one project manager instead of having 3, because we have a lot of tooling around communication and things like that, right? And that’s like part of why I started to start the company was I? My whole background is in data.
95 00:20:48.360 ⇒ 00:20:56.679 Uttam Kumaran: And that’s what I’m really really good at. But the AI piece I knew is really brand new. And there’s gonna be such a a lack of people who have not only
96 00:20:56.710 ⇒ 00:21:05.370 Uttam Kumaran: understand how this works can do it, but then are available to hire all those people are locked up in a lot of the companies, and a lot of those people have never done it
97 00:21:05.650 ⇒ 00:21:30.139 Uttam Kumaran: have have done it in like either way too big of a production scale or just prototyping right like in my company, we’re actually doing this for transcribing meetings, for, like a whole host of automations are going on in the background. And really, I wanted to try to dog food that, and then, of course, begin to pitch that as outbound services right? And that’s where folks like working with folks like Scott. You know, we have a couple of clients that we’re speaking with.
98 00:21:30.425 ⇒ 00:21:34.279 Uttam Kumaran: On the AI side really helps because we can start these new product lines.
99 00:21:34.632 ⇒ 00:21:46.169 Uttam Kumaran: And then the last thing is just talent right for me to be able to have a really great outward facing brand to attract the best talent, and then, of course, to turn that around and allow them to solve problems for clients is
100 00:21:46.280 ⇒ 00:21:48.820 Uttam Kumaran: that’s like the whole business. I’m in. Basically.
101 00:21:48.820 ⇒ 00:21:50.010 Megan Murray: Yeah, I
102 00:21:50.140 ⇒ 00:22:12.450 Megan Murray: I think all that is smart, too, especially with like trying to design your workflows so that you can scale without having to go and rush out and get a you know, biz dev person right away. And yeah, I think that’s all like really smart focusing on, you know, streamlined operations instead of throwing people at it like using AI smartly.
103 00:22:12.570 ⇒ 00:22:19.409 Megan Murray: And I I think that that’s really cool. I’m hearing of other people starting to do the same thing. But there’s just so much of that like
104 00:22:19.960 ⇒ 00:22:22.320 Megan Murray: it’s it’s all still so new, and it.
105 00:22:22.320 ⇒ 00:22:22.720 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.
106 00:22:22.720 ⇒ 00:22:50.790 Megan Murray: There’s new stuff that comes out all the time. And so but but yeah, I think it’s like, it sounds like you’re really at a a good like juncture, where you know you’ve got revenue. You have people who are familiar with what you’re doing because you’ve been, you know, working with contractors and about like like, what’s your revenue? Currently. And are you pricing things like kind of at a project level? Or is there some sort of like subscription or continuity.
107 00:22:50.790 ⇒ 00:23:05.750 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah. So we started the company last year around July, and we’re probably around like 500 K in revenue. Since then. Again, we’ve we’ve we do anywhere from like 10 to 30 KA month. Give or take
108 00:23:06.165 ⇒ 00:23:10.780 Uttam Kumaran: and that’s really what I’ve been able to grow with no outbound sales
109 00:23:10.940 ⇒ 00:23:16.579 Uttam Kumaran: like no paid marketing efforts. All just kind of like inbound or referrals.
110 00:23:17.950 ⇒ 00:23:21.690 Uttam Kumaran: and then in terms of the way we price things so initially.
111 00:23:21.750 ⇒ 00:23:23.949 Uttam Kumaran: And this is all like learning. So.
112 00:23:24.120 ⇒ 00:23:28.721 Uttam Kumaran: of course, like things change as I get smarter and make more mistakes. But
113 00:23:29.130 ⇒ 00:23:53.840 Uttam Kumaran: we really kind of like I’ve arrived on like kind of 2 areas in which we do business. And I can also talk about kind of like other partnerships that we’ve also developed. So one area is, we’re like your data team for hire meaning, we have a e-commerce company that we work with, that they had never had a data warehouse before they particularly got all the reporting from their systems itself. They never had any Consolidated reporting so, looking at.
114 00:23:53.840 ⇒ 00:24:09.650 Uttam Kumaran: you know, anywhere from gross revenue all the way to net profit, including inventory costs, including discounts, refunds. So all these types of complication calculations are the things that, having a data warehouse having reporting really solves, and then, of course, we we help them with that. And then we went
115 00:24:09.650 ⇒ 00:24:31.429 Uttam Kumaran: to multiple parts their business. We help them with customer service, reporting with inventory reporting with opening up new 3 pls. And so when we get into a business we quickly don’t just go and do. We’re not like a point solution type of crew. I like to just become like an extension of the business. Right? And I think you can kind of relate to that is.
116 00:24:31.430 ⇒ 00:24:32.650 Megan Murray: Yes, I want.
117 00:24:32.650 ⇒ 00:24:41.599 Uttam Kumaran: Want clients to articulate that like, Hey, these guys, although they’re external. And that’s just a technicality, like, you know, for us on the data side. We really.
118 00:24:41.630 ⇒ 00:24:49.819 Uttam Kumaran: we’re not like a it staffing firm in that sense, you know. So that’s 1 way as we come in as kind of like a data team for hire, and those are all
119 00:24:50.320 ⇒ 00:25:16.270 Uttam Kumaran: at the moment where we have some package pricing for that. But initially, we’ve kind of we we that package actually, what didn’t exist, we initially were just pricing based on people. So I would say, you have 10 h of a data engineer’s time or 20 h of analytics. Engineer, here’s our pricing for that. And then Brainforge has a margin. Now, you know, some folks really have never hired a data person, or, you know, don’t really have
120 00:25:16.420 ⇒ 00:25:17.290 Uttam Kumaran: like
121 00:25:17.440 ⇒ 00:25:23.530 Uttam Kumaran: anything to compare that to. So not only are we introducing them to this world, we’re also giving them a price that maybe they’re
122 00:25:23.770 ⇒ 00:25:27.589 Uttam Kumaran: a lot of people have never hired a full time engineer, right? But then I explained to them, look
123 00:25:27.730 ⇒ 00:25:41.160 Uttam Kumaran: full time. Senior data engineer is probably like 100 to 50 to 200 k. And that may end up to like 250 K. All in right. And so that person you’re hiring full time.
124 00:25:41.160 ⇒ 00:26:03.719 Uttam Kumaran: They maybe only have, like one or 2 iterations of this cycle and their ability to actually like, come in with on the ground running. And then also, if you need to let go of that person, there’s all these complications. So there’s actually a lot of benefit to bring on a firm like us, and then, of course, we have some like fair pricing tiers where you get not only just one person, but you get a mix of people
125 00:26:03.760 ⇒ 00:26:31.410 Uttam Kumaran: and data, especially when you’re going. 0 to one is like A is a kind of a flow. Right? You have some data engineering to bring in data into one central area. You have analytics, engineering for data modeling. And then you have analysis which is more dashboarding and the require like who needs to be involved at any point of that flow changes. So instead, we decided, like, kind of wrap a package up and do that based on just like a retainer model like you have amount of hours, and those hours will get distributed through these types of characters.
126 00:26:31.960 ⇒ 00:26:35.880 Uttam Kumaran: And then also, we have the other model, which is like, Hey, I need a data engineer
127 00:26:35.900 ⇒ 00:26:51.396 Uttam Kumaran: for my team or us. A Ben, a contractor contacts us, and like we want to subcontract. And we just need someone. I did like an analytics engineer with experience. Here’s the rate cool. Then we’ll we’ll do a deal that way. So that’s the kind of the 2 ways that
128 00:26:51.790 ⇒ 00:26:53.520 Uttam Kumaran: we’re thinking about it. Yeah.
129 00:26:53.890 ⇒ 00:27:06.599 Megan Murray: Gotcha. No, that’s super helpful, especially like when you’re like when you’re pursuing or like even looking at debt options, I will tell you just is probably just obvious. But like interest rates, even though they’re.
130 00:27:06.600 ⇒ 00:27:07.020 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
131 00:27:07.020 ⇒ 00:27:20.570 Megan Murray: Going down. They’re still not great for that side of the equation. Great! If you have cash and you can float it in a money market, but like not not so great with with debt. But it just sort of
132 00:27:20.620 ⇒ 00:27:30.351 Megan Murray: that. That just sort of is what it is. There’s still options. There’s short term loans. There’s bridge loans. There’s there’s even longer term loans like, I think, that I think
133 00:27:31.000 ⇒ 00:27:46.120 Megan Murray: you can take, you know, loans out to 20 years. Not that you’d want to do that, but still, that’s just like some of the ways that you can get creative. I’m not like most of the clients I’ve worked with directly have had a 1st round of equity funding.
134 00:27:46.120 ⇒ 00:27:46.730 Uttam Kumaran: And.
135 00:27:46.730 ⇒ 00:27:50.889 Megan Murray: And if if debt does come in in the future, it’s usually for
136 00:27:50.920 ⇒ 00:28:12.224 Megan Murray: short period of time, like a bridge loan, and you know it’s paid back right away. And so it’s just been like a little bit different. But but that said I, do have really good relationships with Svb, Jpm, I think the fact that you have revenue already is gonna be interesting. And the way that they
137 00:28:12.580 ⇒ 00:28:34.850 Megan Murray: at least the way Jpm structures they’ve got like that, like I I kind of used to shy away from Jpm, just because I was like, oh, the traditional banks black. I’ve had bad experiences with clients at like, you know, more community, like business clients at community banks and like. And who do you use as your banking partner? Now.
138 00:28:34.850 ⇒ 00:28:37.159 Uttam Kumaran: No, we’re using Jpm. For
139 00:28:37.640 ⇒ 00:28:47.669 Uttam Kumaran: so I use. I’ve used J. Morgan personally, for since I had a bank account, basically. And then all of the business banking. I’ve also done through. Jpm.
140 00:28:49.180 ⇒ 00:28:51.029 Uttam Kumaran: yeah. So all of our stuff is with them.
141 00:28:51.030 ⇒ 00:28:59.299 Megan Murray: Yeah, well, that’s that’s good and and there’s are you like part of their startup banking? Because they have a whole separate.
142 00:28:59.300 ⇒ 00:29:06.309 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I I just went to someone on east. I went to their retail bank on East 6, cause I I had been running
143 00:29:06.935 ⇒ 00:29:13.660 Uttam Kumaran: like 1099 myself through some contracts before I started the business. Yeah, that would be going on for like a year
144 00:29:13.680 ⇒ 00:29:29.540 Uttam Kumaran: and on and off. And then I started the business and kind of like formally created an entity and everything in Texas. But all of that was done through Jp. Morgan. I but I I of course I went to the retail guy, and I was like, what are your options? He’s like we haven’t been in business for more than a year.
145 00:29:29.860 ⇒ 00:29:30.510 Megan Murray: Yeah, see that.
146 00:29:30.510 ⇒ 00:29:31.040 Uttam Kumaran: Don’t know any.
147 00:29:31.040 ⇒ 00:29:31.520 Megan Murray: So.
148 00:29:31.520 ⇒ 00:29:37.400 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, so that’s but then I didn’t know. I also know that even them, and like Fidel, some of these big banks they’re trying to get.
149 00:29:37.900 ⇒ 00:29:48.890 Uttam Kumaran: Probably in addition to my business, they’re probably trying to get my personal business as well. So I mean, I hope maybe like having all that already there like, gives them some peace of mind, or makes them more interesting.
150 00:29:49.222 ⇒ 00:29:59.869 Megan Murray: They. They don’t care really about your personal assets. I’ll just tell you like point blank that doesn’t really get you any, even like, you know, like Brownie points, or anything.
151 00:29:59.870 ⇒ 00:30:00.260 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
152 00:30:00.260 ⇒ 00:30:22.779 Megan Murray: They, even though it’s like, Okay, they’re all Jpm or Svb, like when you peel it back. I was in the banking industry before doing what I do now. So my whole career has been in financial services. But when you put when you peel everything back, it’s like Jpm itself is probably 10 different types of banks. You know, they’ve got wealth management. They’ve got retail. They’ve got brokerage.
153 00:30:22.780 ⇒ 00:30:41.639 Megan Murray: And so it’s kind of just like a matter of really lucking out and getting to the right place, that you should be because they do have business checking accounts, but they also have a startup division, and so they’ve got a whole startup banking. That kind of, you know, it’s all based on funding. But then, the way that they
154 00:30:41.730 ⇒ 00:31:10.080 Megan Murray: structure everything is, if you’re part of their like, you know, startup banking. Then they’ve got a bunch of other services that I haven’t used directly, but I’ve explored them with clients. And it’s so. It’s always just a mix of seeing like, what do people have? What are they looking for? But you know, kind of just doing that next level of diligence with like, just to see? Okay, like they’ve got, they’ve got whole, like different, like white labeled Ap and AR systems that you can.
155 00:31:10.080 ⇒ 00:31:10.410 Uttam Kumaran: Just.
156 00:31:10.410 ⇒ 00:31:25.860 Megan Murray: Like have for free, if you’re part of it. And then there’s like a a 3 year period where they give you like 3 years to kind of use a bunch of these services at no cost, and then, I’m sure, eventually, like they start kicking it in right. But
157 00:31:26.170 ⇒ 00:31:40.729 Megan Murray: But they’ve they’ve got a lot of different solutions that are available. And and the teams based in Austin to Svb has a similar team. That’s also like they’re both kind of structured the same. They have like
158 00:31:40.730 ⇒ 00:31:52.760 Megan Murray: a a super startup be like, you know, they’re they’re they lend a little bit more towards equity. So it’s just they’re gonna look at things sort of in that stage. But then they always seem to put like
159 00:31:53.135 ⇒ 00:32:22.049 Megan Murray: commercial debt or structured debt into the same sorts of teams or support that support their series B organizations. At least, that’s how I’ve understood them to structure the teams a little. But I think Jpm makes sense. I honestly, I think probably both of them would make sense just to do due diligence right? Compare between the 2, because then, like starting to think like ahead in the future, it’s like, okay, well, then.
160 00:32:22.180 ⇒ 00:32:32.090 Megan Murray: what’s your credit? Card solutions gonna be like, what are your workflows and what’s gonna create the least amount systems, because it’s like, okay, well, if Jpm doesn’t have like.
161 00:32:32.412 ⇒ 00:32:55.290 Megan Murray: you know, a good credit card system like, I don’t know what their expense reimbursement process is like. Well, then, all of a sudden, that’s a future bolt on. Now you’re talking about expenseify versus Svb. I know 1st hand. So they have like credit card systems, but also a free expense reimbursement platform. If you’re using that. So it’s like it’s kind of just like piecing together all the different.
162 00:32:55.290 ⇒ 00:32:55.860 Uttam Kumaran: That’s.
163 00:32:55.860 ⇒ 00:33:05.569 Megan Murray: Puzzle. And it’s like, Okay, what do I want to solve in the future versus like, can I get everything I need in one place, and what would that look like so.
164 00:33:05.570 ⇒ 00:33:06.180 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
165 00:33:06.410 ⇒ 00:33:07.870 Megan Murray: Yeah, I mean, like.
166 00:33:08.050 ⇒ 00:33:23.140 Megan Murray: and just even just for my own learning, like I’d be interested in just sitting in on a call with Jpm, because I haven’t really like explored much of like their debt offerings. You know. And and for me, too, that’s just like.
167 00:33:23.340 ⇒ 00:33:24.629 Megan Murray: just so I can.
168 00:33:24.630 ⇒ 00:33:28.330 Uttam Kumaran: No, I’m also. I’m also interested in that same manner again, I
169 00:33:28.610 ⇒ 00:33:32.290 Uttam Kumaran: I’ve kind of looked at a bunch of other solutions. I think there’s a lot of stuff
170 00:33:32.380 ⇒ 00:33:41.899 Uttam Kumaran: from like Paypal, and from like quick books that they’re doing stuff like that. And then but I know, you know, there’s probably some strategic benefit to doing it with a bigger bank.
171 00:33:42.255 ⇒ 00:33:45.579 Uttam Kumaran: But also the nice thing is like we have revenue. We have, like.
172 00:33:45.580 ⇒ 00:33:46.200 Megan Murray: Right.
173 00:33:46.200 ⇒ 00:33:51.639 Uttam Kumaran: Clear partners. So there’s a lot going on. The only issue is, it’s not a software. It’s not a software company.
174 00:33:51.700 ⇒ 00:33:56.889 Uttam Kumaran: So the like, the allure to getting like equity funding for this.
175 00:33:56.990 ⇒ 00:33:59.270 Uttam Kumaran: Wasn’t that interesting to me? Because.
176 00:33:59.270 ⇒ 00:33:59.950 Megan Murray: Yeah.
177 00:33:59.950 ⇒ 00:34:04.859 Uttam Kumaran: This is like this is just like a service business, right like maybe in the future. But
178 00:34:04.870 ⇒ 00:34:18.149 Uttam Kumaran: and there, but I do have some clear ways that we’re going to look to make the margin structure look a lot better. We do have some clear ways that we’ve competed in the market, and one and we have pipeline right? And so
179 00:34:18.330 ⇒ 00:34:24.920 Uttam Kumaran: that’s where I’m like I could. Again, my whole background is in startup world. So I know how like the pitch goes for startup.
180 00:34:24.929 ⇒ 00:34:25.719 Megan Murray: Yeah.
181 00:34:26.000 ⇒ 00:34:36.399 Uttam Kumaran: And then I’m kind of thinking about like, okay, so what is it for a service company? Right? I know the typical margin profiles, and, like, you know, people get how a service like a consultancy works?
182 00:34:36.813 ⇒ 00:35:01.469 Uttam Kumaran: But I would, I would say in data, there’s not a ton of people outside. There’s there’s a lot of actually like one or 2 person businesses. And then there’s a lot of like couple of 100 to 1,000 people. And then there’s a whole range in the middle that’s really not very tapped. And then again, it’s also really dominated by just a few people. But still there’s a huge demand right like, if I’m still winning business. That means there’s still a lot of people out there, and.
183 00:35:01.470 ⇒ 00:35:01.850 Megan Murray: Right.
184 00:35:01.850 ⇒ 00:35:03.060 Uttam Kumaran: Not. We’re.
185 00:35:03.070 ⇒ 00:35:12.820 Uttam Kumaran: And even in working these deals I still spend a lot of time on like sales and marketing and stuff like that. So I have a lot of clarity on the industry. I think the biggest thing for me is just the stress of like.
186 00:35:13.230 ⇒ 00:35:31.249 Uttam Kumaran: like, I’m just putting all my money into it month after month, and especially for expenses like that fall out of like our profit. That’s the stuff that I’m like, hey? We just had like 50 to 100 K that would float us to get Xyz done. And here’s how we hit these revenue goals, basically based on that.
187 00:35:31.636 ⇒ 00:35:37.550 Uttam Kumaran: You know, that’s I. That’s how I cause again, I’m I’m in the data business. I’ve done this for other people. So that’s I think.
188 00:35:37.820 ⇒ 00:35:45.039 Uttam Kumaran: very much like conversion rates. And I’m like, Okay, what’s the cack on our folks, and how much money do we think? And time do we think we would take to do this?
189 00:35:46.710 ⇒ 00:35:56.410 Megan Murray: Yeah. So what what are you thinking? As like what your target principle would be? You said, like a hundred K. But are you thinking more than that, like, just to.
190 00:35:56.410 ⇒ 00:35:59.750 Uttam Kumaran: I kind of. I guess I would love to get your advice on.
191 00:35:59.980 ⇒ 00:36:09.539 Uttam Kumaran: I feel like sometimes people don’t want to do deals that are too small, I think sometimes I so I I guess I would. I would love to get your feedback on it, to give you a sense.
192 00:36:09.887 ⇒ 00:36:12.560 Uttam Kumaran: The biggest things that we need expense we need
193 00:36:12.720 ⇒ 00:36:17.969 Uttam Kumaran: basically flow for is one I mentioned for accounts payable. But again, that gets like paid back.
194 00:36:18.395 ⇒ 00:36:22.179 Uttam Kumaran: I think the biggest thing otherwise is we I really need to
195 00:36:22.380 ⇒ 00:36:31.200 Uttam Kumaran: invest in like some sort of fractional Bdr, or at least bring someone on to help on the sales outbound side, you know. I think I’ve done
196 00:36:31.440 ⇒ 00:36:36.080 Uttam Kumaran: almost as much as I could do just with like me and my like
197 00:36:36.270 ⇒ 00:36:38.062 Uttam Kumaran: track team. But
198 00:36:39.100 ⇒ 00:36:51.650 Uttam Kumaran: I definitely see the need of someone that’s like really working accounts and getting us meetings. That’s where most of the money would go. The nice thing is that person has a ton of support, right? Not only support for me, but we have a lot of
199 00:36:51.760 ⇒ 00:37:13.679 Uttam Kumaran: case studies that we’ve already done. We have online presence. We have a ton of relationships and accounts that we’ve already talked to. So that’s really where I would invest that money. You know, ideally, that person comes on like more fractionally and like really performance based. And then we look to grow that. But again, we’ve it’s really the only operations folks we’ve hired as a project manager, and that’s really
200 00:37:13.780 ⇒ 00:37:23.040 Uttam Kumaran: on the revenue side, anyway. So it’s it’s mainly been me. So we’ve we’ve kept the team really lean on the engineering side. I’m very, very confident on the operation side.
201 00:37:23.200 ⇒ 00:37:32.780 Uttam Kumaran: Also, I’ve ran teams before, and I’m getting more confident like how to do the day to day. It’s the sales side that’s just like it’s really like an 8 HA day
202 00:37:32.890 ⇒ 00:37:36.160 Uttam Kumaran: type thing that that’s where the I would say the money would go.
203 00:37:37.100 ⇒ 00:37:53.740 Megan Murray: Gotcha. Yeah. And then I mean, that’s always like the tricky part is like, you want to make sure you don’t take out too much. But you also don’t want to be like back at, you know, the drawing board like in 3 months. So it’s always just like a moving target.
204 00:37:54.817 ⇒ 00:37:57.540 Megan Murray: But yeah, that’s
205 00:37:57.620 ⇒ 00:37:59.649 Megan Murray: well, I think it’s like
206 00:38:00.520 ⇒ 00:38:02.440 Megan Murray: it’s hard to know without like
207 00:38:02.760 ⇒ 00:38:06.780 Megan Murray: seeing your financials 1st hand. And are you using quick books or.
208 00:38:06.780 ⇒ 00:38:07.870 Uttam Kumaran: Wrong Quickbooks.
209 00:38:07.870 ⇒ 00:38:11.200 Megan Murray: Book books, and probably, like excel for forecast or something.
210 00:38:11.200 ⇒ 00:38:15.469 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, we’re all quick books. Yeah, I have forecast in my Google sheets. And then.
211 00:38:15.470 ⇒ 00:38:15.850 Megan Murray: Yeah.
212 00:38:16.191 ⇒ 00:38:18.920 Uttam Kumaran: Everything else on payroll is running through gusto.
213 00:38:19.220 ⇒ 00:38:19.770 Uttam Kumaran: love.
214 00:38:19.770 ⇒ 00:38:20.970 Megan Murray: Gusto.
215 00:38:20.970 ⇒ 00:38:22.290 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah. And then we don’t have.
216 00:38:23.040 ⇒ 00:38:26.778 Uttam Kumaran: It’s not like that we’re not like. It’s not that crazy. Otherwise.
217 00:38:28.330 ⇒ 00:38:31.530 Megan Murray: Yeah, I mean, I I get it, too, because I’m in the services.
218 00:38:31.530 ⇒ 00:38:32.220 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, yeah.
219 00:38:32.220 ⇒ 00:38:34.710 Megan Murray: And I’m also in the self funded service.
220 00:38:34.710 ⇒ 00:38:52.579 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah. So you know what it? You know what I mean. It’s like, if someone’s like, how much money do you need? It’s I mean, of course, like I will back into. Hey? Let’s, I’ll start with a revenue target, and then we back into cool. That’s this. Many clients, and expected this much churn. Then we need to have this many meetings, and I can kind of gauge
221 00:38:52.730 ⇒ 00:38:53.280 Uttam Kumaran: like.
222 00:38:53.930 ⇒ 00:38:59.250 Uttam Kumaran: I can kind of back into all the numbers pretty easily. I think the biggest thing is understanding like
223 00:38:59.510 ⇒ 00:39:01.640 Uttam Kumaran: for a service business like mine.
224 00:39:01.780 ⇒ 00:39:06.930 Uttam Kumaran: like what are like favorable terms that I get? And how does how do those levers change based on
225 00:39:07.170 ⇒ 00:39:09.714 Uttam Kumaran: duration and amount? Really?
226 00:39:10.690 ⇒ 00:39:16.329 Uttam Kumaran: But again, I also don’t. Wanna if I get like 10 K. That’s gonna go nowhere.
227 00:39:16.330 ⇒ 00:39:17.219 Megan Murray: Right, yeah.
228 00:39:17.220 ⇒ 00:39:20.320 Uttam Kumaran: Getting something that really like we can take a bet on.
229 00:39:22.440 ⇒ 00:39:26.883 Uttam Kumaran: And you know, that’s that’s the real big. That’s the real big thing for us.
230 00:39:28.400 ⇒ 00:39:50.790 Megan Murray: Gotcha. Yeah, no, that’s super helpful. I’m happy to do an intro to heidi. I I think like, just just because it is kind of like an unknown. I could do the same with with the Svb startup team as well, and just like iterate to both that like, Hey, this is exclusively looking for.
231 00:39:50.790 ⇒ 00:40:06.480 Megan Murray: you know not multi, millions of debt, and just sort of explaining a little bit more about what you’re looking for. Cause, yeah, I hear you on. You’re just trying to like, get through that first, st like.
232 00:40:06.480 ⇒ 00:40:06.990 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
233 00:40:06.990 ⇒ 00:40:12.390 Megan Murray: You’ve got the. You’ve got the team who can do the stuff. That’s the biggest problem. And.
234 00:40:12.390 ⇒ 00:40:18.409 Uttam Kumaran: And so I think you know, you know, services come from one side or the other. Right? There’s a lot of sometimes people on the business side will say
235 00:40:18.470 ⇒ 00:40:23.590 Uttam Kumaran: I have the relationships now I just staff it, and you just staff with whoever right? And then.
236 00:40:23.590 ⇒ 00:40:23.920 Megan Murray: Yeah.
237 00:40:23.920 ⇒ 00:40:46.040 Uttam Kumaran: On my side. I was the other way. Right? I’m like, Oh, I have a huge network of data people. And every week I have data people that are asking me like, Hey, is there? You guys, you have work. So and these are all really great people. They have. They work on these key technologies where there’s not much supply of engineers. And then the second. And then the second thing is like, How do I?
238 00:40:46.264 ⇒ 00:40:53.560 Uttam Kumaran: Make sure that they’re all operating well, but the last thing is the sales side, and that’s the thing we’re in the recent time we’ve really been spending a lot of time on. But
239 00:40:53.880 ⇒ 00:41:02.260 Uttam Kumaran: again, I’m someone that will give it my best shot for as long as I can. But it’s tough, you know, and word of mouth and referral is not reliable. Inbound.
240 00:41:02.360 ⇒ 00:41:07.420 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah. So that’s the thing I want to build is a reliable pipeline of inbound, because before I can make
241 00:41:07.480 ⇒ 00:41:10.360 Uttam Kumaran: full time hiring decisions and think
242 00:41:10.390 ⇒ 00:41:12.249 Uttam Kumaran: farther than a few months
243 00:41:12.320 ⇒ 00:41:19.889 Uttam Kumaran: right? We kind of need that engine to work a little bit. The nice thing is servicing that revenue we’re we’re locked in on.
244 00:41:20.280 ⇒ 00:41:22.259 Megan Murray: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
245 00:41:23.920 ⇒ 00:41:29.120 Megan Murray: Yeah. Well, cool. Well, I’ll definitely put some intros together.
246 00:41:29.650 ⇒ 00:41:36.420 Megan Murray: with the the people I know locally. So yeah, that’s at the very least, I’m happy to do that.
247 00:41:36.420 ⇒ 00:41:36.800 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
248 00:41:37.120 ⇒ 00:41:45.139 Megan Murray: Yeah. And I mean, would love to stay in touch, too. And let’s like just knowing a little bit more about your business and like.
249 00:41:45.210 ⇒ 00:41:48.220 Megan Murray: But I I love that. You’re already on gusto like that’s just.
250 00:41:48.736 ⇒ 00:41:53.899 Uttam Kumaran: On the legal side and the finance side. I really
251 00:41:54.110 ⇒ 00:41:56.780 Uttam Kumaran: play like very little games.
252 00:41:57.000 ⇒ 00:41:58.530 Uttam Kumaran: mainly because.
253 00:41:59.000 ⇒ 00:42:04.470 Uttam Kumaran: like all of our contracts and everything are really buttoned up mainly because I was like this isn’t something to like.
254 00:42:04.540 ⇒ 00:42:18.150 Uttam Kumaran: Start up your way out of everything else is like a little bit all over but on on those sides I really tried to have everything get set up pretty properly, and all the state registrations and everything so.
255 00:42:18.490 ⇒ 00:42:20.419 Megan Murray: Good. Yeah, that’s another big
256 00:42:20.810 ⇒ 00:42:28.709 Megan Murray: ball that gets dropped a lot, too. So but yeah, I mean, I know, like as you’re looking to grow, too. It’s like I’ve
257 00:42:28.730 ⇒ 00:42:36.010 Megan Murray: I’ve been really focused the past couple of months on getting my team sort of up to speed so that they can start, like, you know.
258 00:42:36.060 ⇒ 00:42:41.860 Megan Murray: like getting up to speed with the current clients we have. So I haven’t really been like looking for new clients.
259 00:42:41.860 ⇒ 00:42:42.260 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
260 00:42:42.579 ⇒ 00:42:57.900 Megan Murray: Just because that’s been my focus. It’s like, okay, it’s a better use of my time to spend a month or 2 making sure that people know the basics, and then, as we start to like, bring, you know, eventually bring on new relationships. But probably, like
261 00:42:58.190 ⇒ 00:43:07.339 Megan Murray: some point. Soon, I will be, you know, able to take on other clients, too. So yeah. So just if you want to just keep that in mind, because.
262 00:43:07.340 ⇒ 00:43:09.090 Uttam Kumaran: That would be great.
263 00:43:09.090 ⇒ 00:43:34.650 Megan Murray: You’re at right now is for me like the best time to come in, because then it’s like we can. We can just review things like we’re going to go through and look at things regardless. You know, and just make sure that they’re set up in the right way. And then yeah, especially if you’re doing things on the Dev side like you might have some eligibility for R&D tax credits, too.
264 00:43:34.650 ⇒ 00:43:41.389 Uttam Kumaran: That sort of stuff is where, like, you know, I could try to get that going through gusto. But that’s that requires some
265 00:43:41.420 ⇒ 00:43:48.050 Uttam Kumaran: like hand holding. And it’s tough, you know, for me to go figure that. And I I call friends, and they’re like you should look into that.
266 00:43:48.160 ⇒ 00:44:04.740 Uttam Kumaran: And then I, Google it. I’m like, it’s like looking at. It’s like, I have a headache. And you Google, that like, what’s wrong with me? No, you have. You get nothing back. That’s important. So yeah, that sort. And of course, like, you know, I would, it would be great for me. I want to work with people in Austin as much as possible.
267 00:44:05.169 ⇒ 00:44:08.789 Uttam Kumaran: You know, so would love to be able to kind of.
268 00:44:09.010 ⇒ 00:44:15.369 Uttam Kumaran: you know. Get your list of services and kind of share a little bit about how we’re getting stuff done now, and kind of understand?
269 00:44:15.829 ⇒ 00:44:34.650 Uttam Kumaran: You know. And this isn’t something that’s like brand new again. We’ve been at it for a year, thankfully, still alive. And you know, we’re definitely trying to grow so where I can invest in taking care of the things that really keep me up at night. That gives me a lot more time to focus on just like growing the core business. So.
270 00:44:34.650 ⇒ 00:44:45.809 Megan Murray: Yeah, absolutely. Someone said to me a couple of weeks ago, they said, Did you just take all the things that nobody wants to do at startups, and just like, put them in one place. And like, Yeah, I guess I did. So.
271 00:44:45.810 ⇒ 00:44:49.730 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I mean, look, that’s it. I mean, I feel again.
272 00:44:49.730 ⇒ 00:45:06.340 Megan Murray: Has a need, even if they can do that themselves, like you said, just like your time at some point gets to be better suited on anything but paperwork. And but yeah, the tax credits, too. Like, that’s that’s
273 00:45:06.420 ⇒ 00:45:12.899 Megan Murray: that’s where it gets really interesting. Because, like, even if you’re you know. Not
274 00:45:12.900 ⇒ 00:45:36.519 Megan Murray: if you’re not paying, because it’s tax credit, right? So it technically should be going against whatever tax you have, you know. Do while most startups or early stage companies don’t have. Don’t pay tax because they’re spending more money than they’re bringing in. And until you really get to that hurdle, but with the R. And D tax credit. You can use it as an offset to Fica taxes.
275 00:45:36.520 ⇒ 00:45:36.950 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
276 00:45:36.950 ⇒ 00:46:02.959 Megan Murray: So that’s how that’s kind of a nice loophole where you’re able to still maximize that credit, you know, really going against like whatever you would be paying. And you know the employer side of taxes. So as you’re thinking about like bringing on employees in the next 6 months, that all of a sudden gets my wheels turning. I’m like, okay. Now, all of a sudden, this is like much more intriguing. Right?
277 00:46:03.540 ⇒ 00:46:13.050 Megan Murray: But yeah, there’s other considerations. But it’s yeah. Be happy to just kind of keep in touch and be able like there’s really no like.
278 00:46:13.070 ⇒ 00:46:16.470 Megan Murray: It’s never too soon for us to come in, because it’s like
279 00:46:16.600 ⇒ 00:46:31.030 Megan Murray: we just get things cleaned up, and if you don’t need us, then there’s nothing for us to do so. But then, if you, as you do, start to scale and grow quickly. We’ve already got it’s getting access to all the systems is always the most challenging part. And so, yeah.
280 00:46:31.030 ⇒ 00:46:38.929 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah for me again. Like I’m I would say, I’m like, even for my sense. We’re like decently organized. Everything’s in notion and slack, and we don’t.
281 00:46:39.140 ⇒ 00:46:41.369 Uttam Kumaran: And like, everything’s in one password. So like.
282 00:46:41.480 ⇒ 00:47:05.490 Uttam Kumaran: yeah, people come in and need stuff. And I just share vaults where we have everything. Basically. So that side of stuff hopefully, we’re pretty easy to work with. And then, yeah, again, we’re it’s an interesting business, because part of the the money I’m reinvesting into improving our own operations internally. And that’s sort of things I actually want to spin out you know, and sell, especially on the AI side and as you mentioned, like, some stuff is so new. But
283 00:47:05.804 ⇒ 00:47:20.519 Uttam Kumaran: what I’m realizing is that it feels like that because nobody really is. There’s not a lot of people, you know, who are actually like. Hey, I automated this key workflow that probably your company has where you’re translating extra my information, or a particular part of your sales outbound
284 00:47:20.999 ⇒ 00:47:49.049 Uttam Kumaran: and those are things where I’m investing time to like, basically eat at that internally, which is, saves us money or prevents us from hiring. And then, ideally, I’m trying to turn that around and basically run the service around AI as well. The tough part about AI where I don’t have much of an edge as the people like. There’s just not. There’s not engineers that know how to do this. So you really have to like have a training ground for that in data, you know, I can go hire people. But in in AI
285 00:47:50.270 ⇒ 00:47:59.559 Uttam Kumaran: and this isn’t even like language model stuff. This is just like putting systems together and knowing how to like develop AI solutions. It’s very, very shallow in terms of the
286 00:48:00.331 ⇒ 00:48:04.180 Uttam Kumaran: pool of candidates, especially fractionally like
287 00:48:04.230 ⇒ 00:48:14.719 Uttam Kumaran: I. And again I got connected with some people that worked at like Accenture and Mckinsey in their like AI division. Not only did they mention, like none of the stuff they did ever worked. But they’re like, yeah, these are like
288 00:48:15.120 ⇒ 00:48:17.149 Uttam Kumaran: tens of 1 million dollar projects.
289 00:48:17.150 ⇒ 00:48:17.690 Megan Murray: Yeah.
290 00:48:17.690 ⇒ 00:48:20.899 Uttam Kumaran: And that’s probably the only place you can go where they’ll
291 00:48:20.950 ⇒ 00:48:25.150 Uttam Kumaran: you can be like, well, these guys probably have some AI people on staff, you know. So.
292 00:48:25.840 ⇒ 00:48:27.289 Megan Murray: Yeah, no, that’s
293 00:48:27.710 ⇒ 00:48:29.097 Megan Murray: well, yeah, that’s
294 00:48:29.650 ⇒ 00:48:32.899 Megan Murray: Well, that’s awesome. I’m really excited. That Scott connected us.
295 00:48:32.900 ⇒ 00:48:33.590 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I appreciate it.
296 00:48:33.590 ⇒ 00:48:39.580 Megan Murray: Yeah, and loved hearing more about like, I mean you. Sometimes you can only get so much from a website right?
297 00:48:39.877 ⇒ 00:48:48.209 Uttam Kumaran: No. And also there’s not much on our website, which is part of the part of the need for the money. But yeah, you know, I think.
298 00:48:48.210 ⇒ 00:48:48.820 Megan Murray: Yeah.
299 00:48:48.820 ⇒ 00:49:00.559 Uttam Kumaran: I think it’s really nice, because sometimes I work with partners or vendors, and it’s nice that you’re also in. You’re you’re working your own service business. So you get all the challenges about people and
300 00:49:01.006 ⇒ 00:49:15.389 Uttam Kumaran: you know, like having really care for the clients and client success. And you know, I’ve worked with a lot of external data. Consultancies where there was just no care. It was like we need someone to through a body at a problem.
301 00:49:15.390 ⇒ 00:49:42.059 Uttam Kumaran: That’s not what we do. And by not being that way we’ve had very sticky clients, and we’re we’re able like. Once I’m in a meeting, we’re able to close people really? Well. So taking bets on that and also allows us to charge more rates. Right? We’re not like, we’re not like really outsourced cheap labor. We’re like senior Us. Talent. And we move quickly. And we’re we’re both. And so those things it’s kind of. It’s nice to talk to someone about, you know, kind of like
302 00:49:42.110 ⇒ 00:49:44.330 Uttam Kumaran: that. That’s that’s an aspect of it. So.
303 00:49:44.330 ⇒ 00:49:47.449 Megan Murray: Yeah, no, that’s an important one, for sure.
304 00:49:48.810 ⇒ 00:50:01.429 Uttam Kumaran: Cool. Okay, well, I appreciate the time. And yeah, let me know about those introductions. If you have any anything you think I should mention on the call beforehand. Let me know. But I’ll I’ll kind of just mention a little bit about what we talked about and kind of
305 00:50:01.680 ⇒ 00:50:07.430 Uttam Kumaran: that. We’re going after Dad. We’re a service company, and this is the kind of sizes and kind of maybe. Just see what they say.
306 00:50:07.810 ⇒ 00:50:37.710 Megan Murray: Yeah, I think I think that’s all it really is. And you know, just to cause they’re gonna wanna try to sell you everything right. It’s good to know, like, you know, for future reference, too. But if, like, you’re really just kind of focused on a, you know, shorter term debt instrument. Then we’ll make sure that the focus stays on that. And then the rest is just like just Fyi, you know. And as you start thinking about like systems and integration and growth. And it’s like, okay, well, what are we
307 00:50:37.800 ⇒ 00:50:44.539 Megan Murray: like? What do we have access to? Versus? What would if we picked a different partner. What would we have to go out? And, you know.
308 00:50:44.690 ⇒ 00:50:50.450 Megan Murray: fill a future gap like Ap, and AR so yeah.
309 00:50:50.810 ⇒ 00:50:53.070 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, thanks, Megan. I really appreciate it.
310 00:50:53.290 ⇒ 00:50:59.909 Megan Murray: Yeah, no problem. Yeah. Give me. Give me a day or so to get these intros out, and then we’ll be in touch.
311 00:50:59.910 ⇒ 00:51:01.485 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, perfect. Thanks. So much.
312 00:51:01.800 ⇒ 00:51:03.640 Megan Murray: Talk to you later. Bye.