Meeting Title: Uttam Kumaran_Bo Yoon Date: 2025-02-05 Meeting participants: Uttam Kumaran, Bo Yoon
WEBVTT
1 00:00:29.120 ⇒ 00:00:30.020 Bo Yoon: Hello!
2 00:00:57.610 ⇒ 00:00:58.100 Uttam Kumaran: Hey!
3 00:00:58.990 ⇒ 00:01:00.300 Bo Yoon: Hey? How’s it going.
4 00:01:00.300 ⇒ 00:01:02.900 Uttam Kumaran: Hey? Good! How are you nice to finally meet?
5 00:01:03.170 ⇒ 00:01:03.910 Bo Yoon: Yeah.
6 00:01:04.989 ⇒ 00:01:06.160 Uttam Kumaran: How’s everything?
7 00:01:06.370 ⇒ 00:01:10.379 Bo Yoon: Yes, that’s good, is Robert, joining us as well.
8 00:01:10.922 ⇒ 00:01:30.139 Uttam Kumaran: I think it’s just gonna be us. I think he’s on another call. But he sort of briefed me a little bit on what you guys talked about. And yeah, I’m I’m sure you know, he told you a little bit about the company. But yeah, maybe just to kind of get right to it. We’re we’re sort of in a growth phase as well. And also, you know, interested in bringing on more analysts.
9 00:01:30.500 ⇒ 00:01:35.330 Uttam Kumaran: A lot of. We do a lot of work on the data side and Ecom, and like B, 2 B Saas.
10 00:01:35.490 ⇒ 00:01:43.489 Uttam Kumaran: So a lot of very similar marketing related analytics that we’re doing from Eden as well as like user churn. Ltv, retention.
11 00:01:44.035 ⇒ 00:01:49.089 Uttam Kumaran: And then sort of as we solve those problems sort of getting to more statistical things.
12 00:01:49.290 ⇒ 00:02:07.090 Uttam Kumaran: And yeah, basically, we’re just like interested to see, you know, like what your availability may have been like for for more work, and also potentially just like, you know, combining forces for Eden, but then also bring you bringing you in on some other work that we’re we’re doing for some other clients.
13 00:02:08.210 ⇒ 00:02:13.909 Uttam Kumaran: I don’t know if that kind of covered sort of what Robert mentioned, or if there’s any other, if there’s anything else that he you guys talked about.
14 00:02:14.300 ⇒ 00:02:18.989 Bo Yoon: Yeah, he did. He did mention that. And yeah, I’m open to
15 00:02:19.560 ⇒ 00:02:28.550 Bo Yoon: to like work for for other clients as well, especially since even the data for Eden is not quite ready yet. It’s like.
16 00:02:28.550 ⇒ 00:02:29.989 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, it’s horrible.
17 00:02:29.990 ⇒ 00:02:30.450 Bo Yoon: Yeah.
18 00:02:30.989 ⇒ 00:02:34.229 Uttam Kumaran: I’m doing that right now. So.
19 00:02:34.230 ⇒ 00:02:36.251 Bo Yoon: Much that I can do with it.
20 00:02:36.860 ⇒ 00:02:41.130 Bo Yoon: they only have like a like a year worth of data. I believe.
21 00:02:42.340 ⇒ 00:02:47.160 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, they only have a year worth of data. And it’s yeah. They’re making good amount of revenue. But still, it’s like, maybe.
22 00:02:47.350 ⇒ 00:02:53.659 Uttam Kumaran: like 20,000 a month, 20,000 orders a month, like transactions.
23 00:02:54.139 ⇒ 00:02:58.379 Uttam Kumaran: Or so, it’s not that much. Yeah, we have some other clients doing a lot more volume
24 00:02:58.811 ⇒ 00:03:03.310 Uttam Kumaran: but also like with some more immediate needs, for like dashboards, where there’s pretty clear requirements.
25 00:03:03.480 ⇒ 00:03:07.690 Uttam Kumaran: so I don’t know if you’re interested in sort of taking that on, maybe
26 00:03:07.890 ⇒ 00:03:12.950 Uttam Kumaran: can talk a little bit about some of the other clients that we have on our plate, and maybe just kind of get your
27 00:03:13.180 ⇒ 00:03:15.849 Uttam Kumaran: reaction to them. And then sort of like, what’s your
28 00:03:16.090 ⇒ 00:03:20.280 Uttam Kumaran: like availability these days? Are you just kind of occupied just with work for Eden?
29 00:03:20.976 ⇒ 00:03:26.510 Bo Yoon: No, I’ve been doing work for Eden and another company but
30 00:03:26.950 ⇒ 00:03:32.000 Bo Yoon: as of now, I’m pretty I’m available like for most of the time.
31 00:03:32.350 ⇒ 00:03:46.680 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, okay, cool. So I do think that probably there’s a thing there’s an opportunity to sort of continue with some work, for even the nice thing is I we have me, Robert, and one other person, Sahana, that’s also working so would love to sort of have you join, like our
32 00:03:46.740 ⇒ 00:04:04.539 Uttam Kumaran: squad in terms of like meeting about Eden and sort of giving up work which I think would be really helpful. We also have another analytics, engineer. That’s gonna be sort of taking on the data modeling work. So I think that should help a lot of the stuff on the analytics side. But again, you’re right on Eden. I think a lot of work still needs to happen on the modeling side.
33 00:04:04.690 ⇒ 00:04:12.370 Uttam Kumaran: We have 2 other clients that I’m sort of like thinking about where we could definitely use some. Some help.
34 00:04:12.905 ⇒ 00:04:31.680 Uttam Kumaran: One is this client called Javi Coffee. They are a e-commerce coffee company. They sell like little like coffee concentrates. GAJA, VY, and yeah, we’re basically doing a sort of end to end analytics for them. And we have some growing requirements there
35 00:04:31.820 ⇒ 00:04:34.740 Uttam Kumaran: that I think would be really really helpful to get
36 00:04:35.090 ⇒ 00:04:41.640 Uttam Kumaran: your insight on. We have a few other clients, but I do think that those 2 are probably like the most
37 00:04:42.030 ⇒ 00:04:43.539 Uttam Kumaran: pressing right now.
38 00:04:43.974 ⇒ 00:04:50.679 Uttam Kumaran: So would love to kind of consider. If you have time to sort of maybe come on to that squad as well.
39 00:04:51.141 ⇒ 00:04:58.099 Uttam Kumaran: And then maybe just like kind of work within our typical team structure and sort of work under Brainforge for those.
40 00:04:59.410 ⇒ 00:05:06.830 Bo Yoon: Oh, yeah, yeah, that that sounds great. So so, for example, for this shop. What kind of services are you providing for them?
41 00:05:06.830 ⇒ 00:05:35.410 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, so we do. We’re doing like sort of end to end. So we we established the data warehouse on Snowflake. We are doing a bunch of stuff in Dbt to create data models. And then they are in Meta base right now. Although, considering some other bi tools. So they’re really, we just need some help more on the dashboarding. And then also some like specific analysis side, they have a really rich customer data set as well as both subscription data and one time transactions across Amazon shopify and Tiktok.
42 00:05:35.490 ⇒ 00:05:42.750 Uttam Kumaran: So a lot of stuff. We’re also planning sort of a roadmap right now. Right now. We sort of have one part time
43 00:05:43.340 ⇒ 00:05:50.710 Uttam Kumaran: analysts there, but definitely want someone that’s like more dedicated. We sort of have someone that’s like kind of jumping in and out.
44 00:05:51.250 ⇒ 00:05:55.249 Bo Yoon: So I think, like easily, I think, between Eden and.
45 00:05:55.824 ⇒ 00:06:01.360 Uttam Kumaran: Javi, we should have like quite a bit of work that needs to get done.
46 00:06:03.050 ⇒ 00:06:16.279 Uttam Kumaran: And then again, like, I think, depending on like how those go we have. We have, like almost 4 other clients that we’re managing right now that, like kind of just depending on your capacity, you could totally take on, I think, like for analysts work. I think it.
47 00:06:16.460 ⇒ 00:06:24.199 Uttam Kumaran: It’s tough to go past like 3 clients, I think, like cognitively like I look at. I’m looking at like 7 clients right now, like my brain is like.
48 00:06:24.870 ⇒ 00:06:40.280 Uttam Kumaran: my brain is like fucked up like I don’t know it’s it’s really hard. But for like people on each pod, I sort of want to be focused and like, especially on the analysis side, I want to move from doing just like dashboards to being like, Hey, we found this thing.
49 00:06:40.460 ⇒ 00:06:47.320 Uttam Kumaran: you know, in your data, right? Like some like everybody’s gonna ask for dashboards. But after that it’s also just like going in and looking at analysis.
50 00:06:47.500 ⇒ 00:06:54.749 Uttam Kumaran: And then it’s also working with our analytics engineers to be like, Hey, I need a new model for this, or I need a new new column for this, or I need some new logic.
51 00:06:55.610 ⇒ 00:07:00.981 Uttam Kumaran: So if you’re interested in that, like, I think we have a great. We have opportunity for sure.
52 00:07:01.900 ⇒ 00:07:22.120 Uttam Kumaran: I mean I I know I didn’t. I? I kind of jumped a little bit fast. I guess I can kind of give a little bit of intro, too. So my background is in data engineering. And I worked in New York for a bit. I’m here in Austin, and sort of was a data engineer, worked across like the full stack and data and then built it, built a few data teams and then worked
53 00:07:22.300 ⇒ 00:07:27.899 Uttam Kumaran: as a like the lead product lead for a new like data product startup
54 00:07:28.408 ⇒ 00:07:36.520 Uttam Kumaran: and then I started brain forge like, roughly, like a year and a half ago, sort of just on my own, and was kind of managing clients on my own for about 8 months.
55 00:07:36.640 ⇒ 00:07:42.159 Uttam Kumaran: and then sort of slowly started bringing people on. We’re mostly an engineering company like
56 00:07:42.270 ⇒ 00:07:44.560 Uttam Kumaran: there’s not me and Robert.
57 00:07:44.860 ⇒ 00:07:52.149 Uttam Kumaran: and like maybe one of the personal, only business people, and I really want to keep it that way. Like all of our stuff, I want to focus on engineering.
58 00:07:52.410 ⇒ 00:07:58.560 Uttam Kumaran: And like I did contract work before, like I was in your position sort of like just working for clients, one on one by one. And
59 00:07:58.820 ⇒ 00:08:00.850 Uttam Kumaran: I honestly think, like the trouble
60 00:08:01.100 ⇒ 00:08:03.059 Uttam Kumaran: I had is like, really, just like
61 00:08:03.420 ⇒ 00:08:08.010 Uttam Kumaran: balancing multiple getting the right requirements, managing
62 00:08:08.110 ⇒ 00:08:15.969 Uttam Kumaran: kind communication, and also thinking about like renewal payment. All that shit like the nice thing about working with us is, that’s sort of all taken care of.
63 00:08:16.527 ⇒ 00:08:23.140 Uttam Kumaran: And you’re like, kind of part of the brand. And then hopefully, the focus is really just on like delivering great analyst work.
64 00:08:23.400 ⇒ 00:08:27.120 Uttam Kumaran: and we sort of can bring you onto a bunch of clients.
65 00:08:27.960 ⇒ 00:08:34.990 Uttam Kumaran: We’re signing almost like one new client a month. And on data. And it’s a lot of this sort of e-commerce. B, 2 B Saas data work.
66 00:08:35.110 ⇒ 00:08:40.360 Uttam Kumaran: So there’s like a ton of work to go around. We don’t have a full time analyst, though we have
67 00:08:40.650 ⇒ 00:08:44.100 Uttam Kumaran: right now we have 3 part time analysts. Sahana is one of them.
68 00:08:44.800 ⇒ 00:08:46.770 Uttam Kumaran: We have 2 others, but both of them
69 00:08:47.160 ⇒ 00:08:51.989 Uttam Kumaran: I don’t know. I’m not sure if we’re gonna maintain like longer term.
70 00:08:52.500 ⇒ 00:08:57.850 Uttam Kumaran: I think we’re gonna consider, we want to consider bringing someone in full time to sort of
71 00:08:58.080 ⇒ 00:09:00.580 Uttam Kumaran: be available for each of these clients.
72 00:09:01.570 ⇒ 00:09:13.819 Uttam Kumaran: So that’s interesting, like, that’s sort of what we got going on, I mean for any. For all this sort of work we can. We sort of bring you in. I mean, you’re already working on eating stuff, but like we would just bring you in. We run everything on slack and
73 00:09:13.970 ⇒ 00:09:17.969 Uttam Kumaran: bring you in. And we have. We do data team meetings every day.
74 00:09:18.370 ⇒ 00:09:21.189 Uttam Kumaran: and then we have a company meeting on Monday and Friday.
75 00:09:21.610 ⇒ 00:09:27.450 Uttam Kumaran: and then we do Pr reviews like data, infra sessions and things like that. And like.
76 00:09:27.630 ⇒ 00:09:29.079 Uttam Kumaran: kind of tech debt stuff.
77 00:09:30.920 ⇒ 00:09:40.950 Uttam Kumaran: So yeah, I mean, like, I’m trying to run a pretty, I’m trying to run the best data organization and hire the best people and sort of like push out the best work. The better our work is.
78 00:09:41.190 ⇒ 00:09:42.709 Uttam Kumaran: the more efficient we are.
79 00:09:42.830 ⇒ 00:09:51.199 Uttam Kumaran: the more we can charge, and the more like everybody makes and that’s my goal is to pay everybody as best as we can, and sort of get the best work.
80 00:09:51.410 ⇒ 00:09:55.820 Uttam Kumaran: So I think it’s a good place. If you’re an engineer, sort of like wanting to work on multiple clients.
81 00:09:56.050 ⇒ 00:10:01.050 Bo Yoon: Sort of like work on some really challenging problems. I think we have a lot of good stuff going on.
82 00:10:02.940 ⇒ 00:10:04.869 Uttam Kumaran: So yeah, yeah, go ahead.
83 00:10:05.160 ⇒ 00:10:06.864 Bo Yoon: Yeah, that sounds great.
84 00:10:07.640 ⇒ 00:10:15.330 Bo Yoon: So so what I’ve been actually doing for Eden was building like new customer models and retention models.
85 00:10:15.460 ⇒ 00:10:20.359 Bo Yoon: So what I mainly do is kind of forecasting.
86 00:10:20.580 ⇒ 00:10:21.090 Uttam Kumaran: Cool.
87 00:10:21.430 ⇒ 00:10:28.840 Bo Yoon: Forecasting and recommendations on like what to do for each platform like add platforms and stuff.
88 00:10:29.110 ⇒ 00:10:29.680 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
89 00:10:30.060 ⇒ 00:10:40.569 Bo Yoon: So my work will be mostly like forecasting analyzing retention customers, I mean returning customers, new customers.
90 00:10:40.570 ⇒ 00:10:41.130 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
91 00:10:41.130 ⇒ 00:10:43.602 Bo Yoon: Is that? Is that something that you’ll be looking at?
92 00:10:44.380 ⇒ 00:10:59.439 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I guess, like in, I think we we do have some needs across that. In addition, I think we also had just for some clients before we get there. A lot of it is just like creating some of these clients like 1st retention dashboard, 1st customer, dashboard.
93 00:10:59.850 ⇒ 00:11:03.830 Uttam Kumaran: Ideally, I want the person that is end up, that is, gonna do the
94 00:11:03.960 ⇒ 00:11:07.840 Uttam Kumaran: like. Ltv analysis? Do the churn analysis to also
95 00:11:08.090 ⇒ 00:11:13.979 Uttam Kumaran: be able to do the small like more more like I don’t know. I’ll say easy, but like sort of the building blocks right.
96 00:11:14.140 ⇒ 00:11:15.250 Bo Yoon: So for me.
97 00:11:16.370 ⇒ 00:11:35.700 Uttam Kumaran: The sort of the separation is on the data and side, which I’m like. The only data engineer is just setting up all the infrastructure, making sure pipelines are working. Snowflake is working authentication, everything. Then, on the data modeling side, it’s just making sure that models get created, they’re orchestrated. They run on time and then on the analyst side, it’s basically everything from
98 00:11:36.310 ⇒ 00:11:40.100 Uttam Kumaran: timely analysis, which is like, Hey, we have an investor meeting. We need something
99 00:11:40.200 ⇒ 00:11:44.739 Uttam Kumaran: dashboarding, which is just like we want something recurring. And then sort of like
100 00:11:45.090 ⇒ 00:11:48.160 Uttam Kumaran: point analysis, which is like, we have a problem.
101 00:11:48.420 ⇒ 00:11:52.106 Bo Yoon: Just like, keep running until we we figure out what we need to do.
102 00:11:52.620 ⇒ 00:12:01.049 Uttam Kumaran: So I do think that there will be a lot of stuff around retention and forecasting. But I will say the scope is definitely a little bit bigger if you’re okay with that.
103 00:12:01.590 ⇒ 00:12:02.919 Bo Yoon: Yeah, yeah, sure.
104 00:12:02.920 ⇒ 00:12:09.229 Uttam Kumaran: Cause. I don’t know how it. I think it’ll be hard for you to do the retention analysis without a really core understanding of the business use case
105 00:12:09.360 ⇒ 00:12:12.699 Uttam Kumaran: and the analysis that the Executive is looking at.
106 00:12:13.620 ⇒ 00:12:14.160 Bo Yoon: Okay.
107 00:12:14.390 ⇒ 00:12:20.399 Uttam Kumaran: But honestly, a lot of our analysts that we’ve that we initially brought on. They weren’t capable of doing that like
108 00:12:20.640 ⇒ 00:12:29.079 Uttam Kumaran: the further forecasting analysis. So I’d much rather hire more technical people that can do that because the dashboarding work will be easy.
109 00:12:29.220 ⇒ 00:12:33.159 Uttam Kumaran: That’s the easiest part but in order to do that like.
110 00:12:33.160 ⇒ 00:12:34.489 Bo Yoon: Look at 1st and stuff.
111 00:12:34.840 ⇒ 00:12:51.140 Uttam Kumaran: It’s like looker dashboards or tableau. But again, a lot of that is like Robert or someone will work on the wireframe. And then it’s basically like, just make sure this is there, and the customers will start asking questions like, I noticed, this thing is off, or, Hey, can we double down into this. That’s where I think the real
112 00:12:51.300 ⇒ 00:12:53.270 Uttam Kumaran: join, like analysis is
113 00:12:53.450 ⇒ 00:13:02.554 Uttam Kumaran: dashboarding piece. Unfortunately, like the way our work is consumed, like everybody’s work, gets consumed in in a dashboard or a report right?
114 00:13:03.110 ⇒ 00:13:09.629 Uttam Kumaran: but like, ultimately, we need to get the warehousing right, the modeling right and the analysis right
115 00:13:10.100 ⇒ 00:13:16.049 Uttam Kumaran: for them. The end product to be good. But most of our clients don’t care about the data engineering. They don’t care about the modeling.
116 00:13:16.150 ⇒ 00:13:29.540 Uttam Kumaran: right? And so it’s like kind of tough, because there’s a lot of work that has to go there for you to win. But also you winning is the most crucial part. So we kind of need this like layered approach.
117 00:13:30.350 ⇒ 00:13:35.420 Uttam Kumaran: But yeah, we have plenty of work. In fact, we are.
118 00:13:35.700 ⇒ 00:13:43.650 Uttam Kumaran: We’re sort of hoping to bring someone on like this week. I’m I’m interviewing sort of 3 other. I have like 3 or 4 other people. I’m sort of running interviews with
119 00:13:44.140 ⇒ 00:13:48.950 Uttam Kumaran: but ideally, if you’re interested like would love to give you that opportunity.
120 00:13:49.433 ⇒ 00:13:57.859 Uttam Kumaran: And we sort of start, you know. Of course, with Eden, I think we could just start to include you on things on our side, and then sort sort of start to
121 00:13:57.970 ⇒ 00:14:02.489 Uttam Kumaran: work with us and the team. And it’s nice, because again, you have like a team. So
122 00:14:02.650 ⇒ 00:14:04.040 Uttam Kumaran: we have like tickets. And
123 00:14:04.250 ⇒ 00:14:12.079 Uttam Kumaran: you have, like other people that know Eden data. And then also, like everything sort of goes through, Robert, for, like the delivery.
124 00:14:12.280 ⇒ 00:14:20.480 Uttam Kumaran: so it kind of gets you a little bit out of like the what am I doing today? And like, how is it getting delivered. It’s more on the building side, which I think is
125 00:14:22.040 ⇒ 00:14:27.659 Uttam Kumaran: more important, and then also presenting like work when you need to. If it’s a 1 specific thing. So.
126 00:14:28.360 ⇒ 00:14:36.393 Bo Yoon: Yeah, yeah, that would be great. Yeah, I would love something like consistent over time like this is something that I’ve been looking for a long time.
127 00:14:36.680 ⇒ 00:14:41.119 Uttam Kumaran: What is what did you do before this? And like, how do? How did you sort of get into contracting with this.
128 00:14:43.798 ⇒ 00:14:47.940 Bo Yoon: so I got a I got a master’s degree in business analytics.
129 00:14:48.270 ⇒ 00:14:49.690 Uttam Kumaran: Are you in the bay? By the way.
130 00:14:49.860 ⇒ 00:14:52.410 Bo Yoon: No, no, I’m I’m here in La.
131 00:14:52.640 ⇒ 00:14:55.040 Uttam Kumaran: Oh, nice. Okay. Okay. I grew up in the bay in the East Bay.
132 00:14:55.040 ⇒ 00:14:56.480 Bo Yoon: Oh, in this way!
133 00:14:56.480 ⇒ 00:14:57.100 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
134 00:14:57.260 ⇒ 00:14:58.640 Bo Yoon: East Bay. That’s.
135 00:14:58.640 ⇒ 00:14:59.810 Uttam Kumaran: Like San Ramon.
136 00:15:00.420 ⇒ 00:15:01.627 Bo Yoon: Oh, I see!
137 00:15:02.030 ⇒ 00:15:04.620 Uttam Kumaran: You probably know Wal-walnut Creek, or like in north?
138 00:15:04.650 ⇒ 00:15:06.440 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
139 00:15:06.440 ⇒ 00:15:10.220 Bo Yoon: Yeah, I went to school. Oh, in the Bay area for undergrad. So.
140 00:15:10.220 ⇒ 00:15:11.109 Uttam Kumaran: Oh, nice!
141 00:15:12.390 ⇒ 00:15:14.670 Bo Yoon: Oh, where do you? Where do you live now?
142 00:15:15.000 ⇒ 00:15:18.679 Uttam Kumaran: I’m in Austin in Austin, Texas. Yeah. So I grew up there
143 00:15:19.010 ⇒ 00:15:26.680 Uttam Kumaran: didn’t go to school in California, which is crazy because everybody goes to school there, went to school in Pennsylvania, at Bucknell.
144 00:15:27.452 ⇒ 00:15:32.900 Uttam Kumaran: Which is like Lewisburg, PA. And then I was in. I was in New York for a while
145 00:15:34.660 ⇒ 00:15:37.870 Uttam Kumaran: my 1st job out of school was at wework. So I was on the data team there.
146 00:15:39.880 ⇒ 00:15:42.230 Uttam Kumaran: and that was like insane and then
147 00:15:42.410 ⇒ 00:15:46.609 Uttam Kumaran: sort of worked for different startups after that. So yeah.
148 00:15:48.440 ⇒ 00:15:49.940 Bo Yoon: Yeah. Oh, okay.
149 00:15:49.940 ⇒ 00:15:57.600 Uttam Kumaran: But if you’re ever in Austin, let me know, or if I mean now that we have, I mean, we have. We have a couple of people that are in La couple of people that are in New York.
150 00:15:57.810 ⇒ 00:15:59.961 Uttam Kumaran: and then some people globally. But
151 00:16:00.720 ⇒ 00:16:02.937 Uttam Kumaran: yeah, if you’re having an awesome. Let me know
152 00:16:03.430 ⇒ 00:16:04.015 Bo Yoon: Sorry.
153 00:16:04.600 ⇒ 00:16:06.450 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I guess sorry, I interrupted.
154 00:16:06.450 ⇒ 00:16:09.900 Bo Yoon: No, no worries. So at this.
155 00:16:10.460 ⇒ 00:16:14.220 Bo Yoon: Yeah, I got a Master’s degree graduated
156 00:16:14.920 ⇒ 00:16:18.940 Bo Yoon: last year and started working for this marketing agency
157 00:16:20.057 ⇒ 00:16:27.330 Bo Yoon: and and and there’s where I I learned all this stuff like the new customer retention modeling
158 00:16:27.490 ⇒ 00:16:33.980 Bo Yoon: and cause their their clients were basically those like big e-commerce shops.
159 00:16:34.990 ⇒ 00:16:35.410 Bo Yoon: Those.
160 00:16:35.410 ⇒ 00:16:36.649 Uttam Kumaran: What agency was it.
161 00:16:37.420 ⇒ 00:16:41.920 Bo Yoon: The agency was statless.
162 00:16:43.255 ⇒ 00:16:50.039 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, yeah, my friend, works for common thread collective. It’s like another marketing agency.
163 00:16:50.740 ⇒ 00:16:53.080 Bo Yoon: Oh, yeah, it’s a. It’s the same same.
164 00:16:53.420 ⇒ 00:16:54.700 Bo Yoon: It’s the same place.
165 00:16:55.190 ⇒ 00:16:56.179 Uttam Kumaran: Oh, really.
166 00:16:56.180 ⇒ 00:17:00.479 Bo Yoon: Yeah. So I I’m still kind of working for them, like, it’s not like full time.
167 00:17:00.890 ⇒ 00:17:01.390 Uttam Kumaran: Wait.
168 00:17:01.390 ⇒ 00:17:03.520 Uttam Kumaran: What is it? What is it called statless?
169 00:17:03.520 ⇒ 00:17:04.150 Bo Yoon: Yeah.
170 00:17:04.150 ⇒ 00:17:06.410 Uttam Kumaran: How do you spell that like like Atlas.
171 00:17:07.679 ⇒ 00:17:09.309 Bo Yoon: STA.
172 00:17:09.470 ⇒ 00:17:10.429 Uttam Kumaran: LAS.
173 00:17:10.630 ⇒ 00:17:14.599 Bo Yoon: Yeah, STAT LAS, yeah.
174 00:17:14.669 ⇒ 00:17:18.469 Uttam Kumaran: And these guys are like, these guys are part of common thread, or what.
175 00:17:19.660 ⇒ 00:17:23.480 Bo Yoon: It’s just the developer team or comments.
176 00:17:24.050 ⇒ 00:17:25.920 Uttam Kumaran: No way. So you worked for Taylor.
177 00:17:26.670 ⇒ 00:17:28.130 Bo Yoon: Oh, you know Taylor.
178 00:17:28.490 ⇒ 00:17:39.880 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah. Dude, my friend, is, works directly. My friend works directly for Taylor. Like he’s like he he runs all their. He runs all their Newsletter related content. He’s there in la, right now.
179 00:17:40.360 ⇒ 00:17:42.629 Uttam Kumaran: Oh, yeah, that’s kind of crazy. Yeah.
180 00:17:43.030 ⇒ 00:17:47.590 Uttam Kumaran: I mean, I know the product, really. I mean, like I talked to him. So I know I know everything about that.
181 00:17:48.120 ⇒ 00:17:54.139 Uttam Kumaran: The the company. But yeah, he just got hired, maybe like 4 or 5 months ago. And he does. He runs all of their
182 00:17:54.620 ⇒ 00:18:03.560 Uttam Kumaran: video, social and like edit. You know how Taylor goes on Twitter. And like, they edit those videos and put on Youtube of him talking like they. He does all of those edits and everything
183 00:18:04.600 ⇒ 00:18:05.690 Uttam Kumaran: so nice.
184 00:18:07.590 ⇒ 00:18:07.920 Bo Yoon: Yeah.
185 00:18:07.920 ⇒ 00:18:08.730 Uttam Kumaran: How was that?
186 00:18:09.010 ⇒ 00:18:12.240 Bo Yoon: Yeah, I’m still working for them. So yeah.
187 00:18:12.770 ⇒ 00:18:15.869 Uttam Kumaran: Is it like building the platform? Is it consistent work like.
188 00:18:18.670 ⇒ 00:18:23.370 Bo Yoon: No, that’s that’s more for the developer team. I’m I’m on the data team. So.
189 00:18:23.370 ⇒ 00:18:23.940 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
190 00:18:24.420 ⇒ 00:18:30.579 Bo Yoon: Yeah, it’s like I’m doing. I’m taking care of the retention modeling part.
191 00:18:30.890 ⇒ 00:18:32.729 Uttam Kumaran: Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Nice.
192 00:18:35.060 ⇒ 00:18:40.620 Bo Yoon: But for Eden I had to build like the everything from scratch. So yeah.
193 00:18:42.090 ⇒ 00:18:45.919 Bo Yoon: because I can, I can use her. You know her software, and all of that.
194 00:18:46.690 ⇒ 00:18:47.290 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
195 00:18:49.860 ⇒ 00:18:50.480 Bo Yoon: Okay.
196 00:18:50.480 ⇒ 00:18:53.099 Uttam Kumaran: And then so then, and then how did you land this Eden gig.
197 00:18:54.000 ⇒ 00:19:02.230 Bo Yoon: Even the the the work wasn’t really consistent. So I needed more work.
198 00:19:02.690 ⇒ 00:19:03.450 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
199 00:19:03.450 ⇒ 00:19:07.200 Bo Yoon: Yeah, so just looking for it. And they want.
200 00:19:07.200 ⇒ 00:19:11.200 Uttam Kumaran: So statless just has you like as they need, or you’re just like you’re still going to meetings and stuff.
201 00:19:11.790 ⇒ 00:19:13.900 Bo Yoon: Yeah, yeah, I still go to
202 00:19:15.740 ⇒ 00:19:19.870 Bo Yoon: to meetings, but only with one person, not not with like, not with.
203 00:19:19.870 ⇒ 00:19:23.509 Uttam Kumaran: Oh, so it’s just like kind of like when they need you. Or it’s just like.
204 00:19:23.740 ⇒ 00:19:25.719 Bo Yoon: Yeah, it’s not. It’s not full time, right?
205 00:19:26.020 ⇒ 00:19:26.799 Uttam Kumaran: Oh, okay.
206 00:19:27.960 ⇒ 00:19:32.340 Uttam Kumaran: okay, cool. Yeah. That’s dope. Yeah. I know all I know all about that company. So that’s great.
207 00:19:32.921 ⇒ 00:19:35.800 Uttam Kumaran: Interesting place to work I heard so
208 00:19:38.040 ⇒ 00:19:44.760 Uttam Kumaran: cool. And then like, what do you think? Like rate? Wise like? What do you? What are you looking for? And like? How can we make something work.
209 00:19:44.760 ⇒ 00:19:48.989 Bo Yoon: So I have my own company like
210 00:19:49.110 ⇒ 00:19:51.209 Bo Yoon: I’m finding my own company, so
211 00:19:51.340 ⇒ 00:19:54.122 Bo Yoon: I’ll prefer just getting paid through that.
212 00:19:54.520 ⇒ 00:19:55.030 Uttam Kumaran: That’s fine!
213 00:19:56.410 ⇒ 00:20:02.890 Bo Yoon: And I’m not sure. How many, how many hours do you like? Should I like.
214 00:20:03.420 ⇒ 00:20:07.660 Uttam Kumaran: I mean, I’m expecting to start at probably like 20 h
215 00:20:08.767 ⇒ 00:20:12.636 Uttam Kumaran: I think, between Eden and between Eden and
216 00:20:13.740 ⇒ 00:20:18.630 Uttam Kumaran: and Javi coffee. I think there’s probably 20 HI think we may start.
217 00:20:20.620 ⇒ 00:20:26.850 Uttam Kumaran: I think we may start look a little bit slow, but that’s probably what I would expect. I mean, ideally, hopefully, this takes.
218 00:20:26.980 ⇒ 00:20:30.110 Uttam Kumaran: You can think about your time that you’re already spending on Eden as sort of part of this
219 00:20:31.370 ⇒ 00:20:37.460 Uttam Kumaran: but I mean. I wanna ramp like I would love you to be working 40 h for with us, to be quite to be frank.
220 00:20:37.600 ⇒ 00:20:40.570 Uttam Kumaran: and but everybody on at Brainforge, like.
221 00:20:41.400 ⇒ 00:20:55.849 Uttam Kumaran: I’m not really good at hiring meaning like I. The way we found best to hire people is just to have people start to work with us. You kind of figure out like, are we good people? And like you like our process, we sort of figure out, if, like, you can work within our flow.
222 00:20:55.950 ⇒ 00:21:02.060 Uttam Kumaran: And then that’s it. So like, if you start working with us and we’re like cool, you want to hop on this next client. That’s sort of how it’ll work
223 00:21:02.320 ⇒ 00:21:10.609 Uttam Kumaran: ideally. If you’re looking for 40 h, then that’s what we’ll go for, if you’re like, hey? I only have about 20 h with this and status.
224 00:21:11.627 ⇒ 00:21:13.930 Uttam Kumaran: Then we’ll sort of keep it at that
225 00:21:16.030 ⇒ 00:21:22.070 Uttam Kumaran: ideally for this role. We’re looking for someone who over time can ramp to closer to 40, if not more hours.
226 00:21:23.170 ⇒ 00:21:27.900 Bo Yoon: Yeah, sure. And you know, the problem with contracting is that
227 00:21:30.631 ⇒ 00:21:37.380 Bo Yoon: I’ll prefer to get like like a weekly weekly payment instead of the hourly tracking.
228 00:21:37.380 ⇒ 00:21:37.900 Uttam Kumaran: Play.
229 00:21:38.450 ⇒ 00:21:39.010 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
230 00:21:39.010 ⇒ 00:21:41.110 Bo Yoon: There must be doesn’t matter.
231 00:21:41.270 ⇒ 00:21:42.359 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I mean.
232 00:21:42.460 ⇒ 00:21:51.979 Uttam Kumaran: for in terms of that. So there’s kind of 2 options we have there. Right now, all of our engineering contractors. We pay monthly, and they track time.
233 00:21:53.830 ⇒ 00:21:59.479 Uttam Kumaran: So probably not as ideal. I think there’s kind of some options one. If if you, if you.
234 00:22:00.460 ⇒ 00:22:08.530 Uttam Kumaran: if you’re not gonna time track for us. It’s just hard to know, like allocation, like understanding that. And we’re not looking for like
235 00:22:09.560 ⇒ 00:22:19.769 Uttam Kumaran: so 2 things. One, I’m not. We’re not looking for like this 30 min. I do this, this 30 min of this. It’s more just like we have to. Clients are sometimes interested in how much time we’re spending.
236 00:22:21.030 ⇒ 00:22:27.070 Uttam Kumaran: second thing is as we get more consistent, like, after a month or 2, I typically try to convert people to
237 00:22:27.430 ⇒ 00:22:28.749 Uttam Kumaran: like an amount.
238 00:22:29.970 ⇒ 00:22:35.480 Uttam Kumaran: So a lot of our employees that have been us been here for like 2 or 3 months. We’re sort of converting now.
239 00:22:35.610 ⇒ 00:22:42.320 Uttam Kumaran: because they’ve all, either. They’re all roughly within 30 to 50 HI then move people to like a fixed budget.
240 00:22:42.750 ⇒ 00:22:47.869 Uttam Kumaran: So if you’re okay with starting, that’s sort of like an hourly, and then moving towards that.
241 00:22:48.130 ⇒ 00:22:54.089 Uttam Kumaran: That would be that would give me a lot of like clarity and be like cool. You’ve been working with us for a month. We’re pretty consistent.
242 00:22:54.440 ⇒ 00:23:05.949 Uttam Kumaran: Let me or let’s let’s split it up to do a guarantee, and then and then something on top. Or basically, we’re like cool. Let’s just guarantee this amount of hours. Of course you may not work all of them
243 00:23:07.210 ⇒ 00:23:12.029 Uttam Kumaran: but like for me to be able to guarantee that. That’s that’s what I would. That’s what I would need.
244 00:23:12.160 ⇒ 00:23:13.389 Uttam Kumaran: Does that make sense.
245 00:23:13.730 ⇒ 00:23:17.143 Bo Yoon: Yeah. So so start with tracking the hours.
246 00:23:18.400 ⇒ 00:23:37.270 Uttam Kumaran: Like over time and again, this is also where, like, we’re just building up sort of our full time analyst. We have a full time we have, we’ll have 2. We have 2 full time modelers, just part time analysts. But as we sort of figure out like, Okay, how long do things. Take blah. Blah. Yeah, I I’m totally fine to move to that. So if you’re okay with doing that for a month
247 00:23:37.650 ⇒ 00:23:40.400 Uttam Kumaran: and sort of bearing with us like that would be.
248 00:23:40.590 ⇒ 00:23:43.840 Uttam Kumaran: appreciate it, and then we can move towards that as we get consistent.
249 00:23:44.600 ⇒ 00:23:46.199 Bo Yoon: Okay. Okay. Sure.
250 00:23:47.490 ⇒ 00:23:51.600 Uttam Kumaran: Do you think like you think like 40 h
251 00:23:51.870 ⇒ 00:23:55.539 Uttam Kumaran: you could handle that with statless, or what like? What would? What would end up happening.
252 00:23:56.420 ⇒ 00:23:59.140 Bo Yoon: 40 h
253 00:24:00.920 ⇒ 00:24:02.899 Uttam Kumaran: Because I guess my my worry is that
254 00:24:03.500 ⇒ 00:24:10.310 Uttam Kumaran: I want to get someone who eventually can ramp to 40 h. But if one day you’re like, Hey, Statless called. I gotta like
255 00:24:10.690 ⇒ 00:24:12.340 Uttam Kumaran: I could only do 10 h.
256 00:24:12.490 ⇒ 00:24:13.990 Uttam Kumaran: Then it’s going to be tough.
257 00:24:14.110 ⇒ 00:24:18.780 Uttam Kumaran: But that’s sort of like the thing I want to avoid. Because a lot of our part time analysts.
258 00:24:18.920 ⇒ 00:24:20.979 Uttam Kumaran: that’s the problem right now is they’re juggling.
259 00:24:21.190 ⇒ 00:24:26.409 Uttam Kumaran: And our clients are sort of they want someone who can like
260 00:24:26.580 ⇒ 00:24:34.040 Uttam Kumaran: that? You send a dashboard. They’re gonna ask 3 questions, can’t wait 4 days to get back to them. So that’s the sort of thing would love
261 00:24:34.310 ⇒ 00:24:36.410 Uttam Kumaran: to hear like. If if you’re kind of.
262 00:24:36.690 ⇒ 00:24:38.989 Uttam Kumaran: if you think you’re confident in that, then
263 00:24:39.180 ⇒ 00:24:41.330 Uttam Kumaran: that would be great for me.
264 00:24:42.210 ⇒ 00:24:47.399 Bo Yoon: Yeah. Yeah, I can do that. I mean, yeah, the hours are very flexible. So.
265 00:24:47.400 ⇒ 00:24:48.040 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
266 00:24:49.688 ⇒ 00:24:54.590 Bo Yoon: I can jump in. I can input this work priority and.
267 00:24:54.590 ⇒ 00:24:55.120 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
268 00:24:55.563 ⇒ 00:25:03.196 Uttam Kumaran: cool, and then look ideally like, I wanna pay you enough and sort of give you enough work that this is what you focus on. So that’s like, my.
269 00:25:03.620 ⇒ 00:25:21.310 Uttam Kumaran: that’s my, that’s my goal. And I can compete with statless there. So I’ll I’ll do that. Do you have sort of a a number in mind that you’d be going, for I don’t know if you already discussed anything with Robert. And then I can take that back and discuss with him, and sort of send over an email with with an offer.
270 00:25:21.870 ⇒ 00:25:23.969 Bo Yoon: Oh, the the hourly wage.
271 00:25:23.970 ⇒ 00:25:24.600 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
272 00:25:25.160 ⇒ 00:25:30.920 Bo Yoon: Okay. So for now I’m getting I’m getting 45.
273 00:25:31.190 ⇒ 00:25:31.900 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
274 00:25:31.900 ⇒ 00:25:34.660 Bo Yoon: You know. So I would probably.
275 00:25:36.250 ⇒ 00:25:41.499 Bo Yoon: Yeah, that’s and that’s I think that’s pretty low as well. I mean.
276 00:25:41.840 ⇒ 00:25:50.799 Uttam Kumaran: It’s also low. Let me come back with Robert. I think we can. We can definitely do that. I’m gonna see how far up we can move because definitely like
277 00:25:51.410 ⇒ 00:25:56.900 Uttam Kumaran: for me, I want to make sure that you’re that. You prioritize us and you grow with us.
278 00:25:58.330 ⇒ 00:26:09.050 Uttam Kumaran: we have some analysts also that are at different ranges. But for us like this hire is really key. So let me go see what I can do, and I’ll get back to you. I’m I think. I think you’ll be happy with it. So.
279 00:26:09.770 ⇒ 00:26:14.319 Bo Yoon: Okay, yeah, yeah, that’ll be great. So payment. Wise, will you.
280 00:26:14.320 ⇒ 00:26:32.909 Uttam Kumaran: We do everything on gusto and then we have an accounting team, so I’ll I can loop you in there. So we have a whole onboarding flow. I’ll try to get you an email today with sort of all the details. And then if you’re good with that, then I will tell our operations team to sort of start kicking off onboarding and then
281 00:26:33.170 ⇒ 00:26:39.739 Uttam Kumaran: that’ll include like getting you a brain for Gmail getting you in slack notion meetings like
282 00:26:40.430 ⇒ 00:26:42.013 Uttam Kumaran: the whole, the whole thing.
283 00:26:42.842 ⇒ 00:26:54.149 Uttam Kumaran: Luckily, like I’m an engineer. So we were trying to engineer the company to be very seamless. We have a long way to go. But we’re getting way better. So yeah, I would just try to toss you there and then.
284 00:26:54.520 ⇒ 00:27:00.379 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, basically, we have clockify for time tracking. And then we we basically close things out end of month.
285 00:27:01.920 ⇒ 00:27:09.349 Uttam Kumaran: if you need to, we can. We can aim to do monthly payments as well. But I can get back to you on that
286 00:27:09.780 ⇒ 00:27:19.099 Uttam Kumaran: and then, yeah, so that may this, this like sort of turning on process may require a day, but at least we’ll get you in slack and notion and Google.
287 00:27:19.640 ⇒ 00:27:20.533 Uttam Kumaran: And then
288 00:27:21.470 ⇒ 00:27:25.150 Uttam Kumaran: we can do a kickoff meeting for the other client. Of course, you know, eat and stuff. So.
289 00:27:25.750 ⇒ 00:27:29.240 Bo Yoon: You know. Stuff as well. Okay, sure.
290 00:27:29.550 ⇒ 00:27:30.510 Bo Yoon: So.
291 00:27:30.820 ⇒ 00:27:42.453 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, cool. So let me how about? I know Robert is also talking with Eden about like sort of contract and everything. So let me inform, let me inform him, and and just say like, Hey, you know Bo is
292 00:27:43.120 ⇒ 00:27:53.070 Uttam Kumaran: is on board I’ll discuss with him the rate and get back to you on that, and then I’ll have him go ahead and sort of if we’re if we’re all good on our side, I’ll have him go ahead and inform them that
293 00:27:53.210 ⇒ 00:27:57.550 Uttam Kumaran: you’ll start to sort of start to work in our pod, and then
294 00:27:57.770 ⇒ 00:28:00.460 Uttam Kumaran: we’ll get payments and everything set up within the next
295 00:28:00.740 ⇒ 00:28:09.630 Uttam Kumaran: few days, if not early next week. But of course you can start tracking and everything if you end up. If you, if you spend time you can go ahead and start tracking, and we’ll make sure you get paid for everything. So
296 00:28:09.880 ⇒ 00:28:13.817 Uttam Kumaran: and that includes like internal meetings and stuff. So we just wanna make sure that.
297 00:28:14.360 ⇒ 00:28:16.339 Uttam Kumaran: yeah, you’re getting paid appropriately. So.
298 00:28:17.320 ⇒ 00:28:19.750 Bo Yoon: Okay, yeah, yeah, that would be great.
299 00:28:20.260 ⇒ 00:28:29.350 Uttam Kumaran: Cool. Yeah, I appreciate it, man. I think I’m impressed by your background. And I do think that we want to start doing more complicated work for clients
300 00:28:29.730 ⇒ 00:28:36.410 Uttam Kumaran: we’re we’re unfortunately stuck with some clients in this like reactive sort of waiting for them to be like. Tell us.
301 00:28:36.770 ⇒ 00:28:38.930 Bo Yoon: We want to move towards this like.
302 00:28:39.050 ⇒ 00:28:47.090 Uttam Kumaran: We cool. We know your business. Here’s what you should do, and I think I think bringing you on could be a really big part of that. So I’m really excited.
303 00:28:47.710 ⇒ 00:28:52.059 Bo Yoon: Okay, yeah, that’ll be it. Just just one question. So when I do the analysis.
304 00:28:52.750 ⇒ 00:28:55.890 Bo Yoon: how? How would I be getting the data like is that is that.
305 00:28:55.890 ⇒ 00:29:03.700 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah. So we we would give you access to everything. So the data warehouse, basically and if you’re familiar with like writing sequel.
306 00:29:04.800 ⇒ 00:29:08.069 Bo Yoon: Yeah, enough to like pull data.
307 00:29:08.070 ⇒ 00:29:20.280 Uttam Kumaran: Cool. Yeah. So either the bi tool we have or you would use sequel in the data warehouse. We’ll get all that. All those credentials we would give you access to, and then we also have one password. So if we need any shared credentials, we would get that to you.
308 00:29:20.860 ⇒ 00:29:27.589 Uttam Kumaran: And then we also have slack channels for every single client. So you can go in there and meet everybody there, and sort of ask questions as well.
309 00:29:28.270 ⇒ 00:29:30.500 Bo Yoon: Okay, yeah, that would be great.
310 00:29:31.050 ⇒ 00:29:37.960 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, cool. I know I threw a lot at you. So I appreciate listening. And and for the questions, and then, yeah, let me see how fast I can get back to you.
311 00:29:38.300 ⇒ 00:29:40.259 Bo Yoon: Yeah, alright. Thank you so much.
312 00:29:40.260 ⇒ 00:29:42.340 Uttam Kumaran: Alright thanks, Paul, looking forward to it.
313 00:29:42.750 ⇒ 00:29:43.530 Bo Yoon: Okay.