Meeting Title: Uttam <> Mariane Date: 2025-05-02 Meeting participants: Mariane Cequina, Uttam Kumaran
WEBVTT
1 00:11:23.910 ⇒ 00:11:25.030 Uttam Kumaran: Hi! Marianne!
2 00:11:28.260 ⇒ 00:11:29.870 Uttam Kumaran: Hello! Hey!
3 00:11:29.870 ⇒ 00:11:32.940 Uttam Kumaran: It’s Hi! How are you?
4 00:11:33.470 ⇒ 00:11:34.859 Mariane Cequina: Yeah, I’m doing fine.
5 00:11:35.800 ⇒ 00:11:37.140 Uttam Kumaran: How’s the week going.
6 00:11:38.321 ⇒ 00:11:50.250 Mariane Cequina: Just go up pretty much busy, I’d say, because I’ve been helping Amber as well in sales, and I’ve been coordinating with Luke, as well as with Ryan.
7 00:11:50.250 ⇒ 00:11:51.090 Uttam Kumaran: Nice.
8 00:11:51.210 ⇒ 00:11:52.879 Uttam Kumaran: How do you feel about that work?
9 00:11:53.610 ⇒ 00:11:58.989 Mariane Cequina: It’s actually yeah. It’s at the beginning. All of us are actually a little bit confused. But
10 00:11:59.350 ⇒ 00:12:04.250 Mariane Cequina: Amber is helping us know. Yeah, amber is actually helping us. So we can just like create the structure.
11 00:12:04.250 ⇒ 00:12:07.610 Uttam Kumaran: But what do you think about it like? Do you find it interesting.
12 00:12:08.210 ⇒ 00:12:09.810 Mariane Cequina: Yeah, yeah, definitely.
13 00:12:09.810 ⇒ 00:12:22.599 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, cool. Yeah, I just want to know, because I know I like the reason why I suggested you is because there’s a lot of tools and a lot of process. And it’s actually helpful for people with fresh eyes to come onto that project
14 00:12:24.040 ⇒ 00:12:26.520 Uttam Kumaran: because, like.
15 00:12:27.380 ⇒ 00:12:47.739 Uttam Kumaran: then otherwise, if if if someone who knows sales really well does it? Then they’ll take a lot of shortcuts. They won’t really understand the problem. So I’m actually very thankful that you guys wanted to hop on there and are, you know, sort of curious about that. And hopefully, it’ll help inform your work on the operation side as well about like how we’re going after clients. What kind of clients like.
16 00:12:47.900 ⇒ 00:12:51.463 Uttam Kumaran: you know. So just trying to make everything as transparent as possible.
17 00:12:52.410 ⇒ 00:12:57.559 Mariane Cequina: Yeah, yeah, definitely. And also, since you’re, you guys are also planning to move in Hubspot.
18 00:12:57.900 ⇒ 00:12:58.340 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.
19 00:12:58.340 ⇒ 00:13:02.440 Mariane Cequina: So I get to have introduction on that as well.
20 00:13:02.560 ⇒ 00:13:03.900 Uttam Kumaran: What do you think about that.
21 00:13:04.790 ⇒ 00:13:17.779 Mariane Cequina: Yeah, cause cause, I understand that there are some problems in notion and keeping it. And so, yeah, I think how that will be great because Hubspot like, that’s the main purpose of hotspot.
22 00:13:17.950 ⇒ 00:13:22.320 Mariane Cequina: Crm. So yeah, so I think it’s way more powerful.
23 00:13:22.440 ⇒ 00:13:45.570 Uttam Kumaran: And you know, the number of integrations. And Hubspot is really really high, and they have a great Api. For example, we can in notion. It’s really hard right now to say like, Hey, this client needs a contract right? But in Hubspot, as soon as we move something we can automatically trigger like a request to you. For like, create a contract all these things. And so yeah, I think, basically, we’re gonna end up moving from
24 00:13:46.090 ⇒ 00:14:00.729 Uttam Kumaran: moving from Hubspot to moving from notion to Hubspot. So that’s what you know. I think we’re gonna end up doing. But this is where like it’s it was too much for me to do. So. I was like, Okay, we need a team sort of helping around this.
25 00:14:01.386 ⇒ 00:14:03.489 Uttam Kumaran: That would be ideal.
26 00:14:05.210 ⇒ 00:14:13.959 Mariane Cequina: Yeah. So I actually had fun on it. But I think I think it will be beneficial to talk to Casey. But I’m not quite sure if he had a lot of time.
27 00:14:14.130 ⇒ 00:14:15.560 Uttam Kumaran: You should call them. Why not?
28 00:14:15.560 ⇒ 00:14:17.020 Mariane Cequina: Yeah. Okay, okay? Good
29 00:14:18.290 ⇒ 00:14:24.660 Mariane Cequina: cause. Cause I was really a a bit curious. Why? Why? There is no AI team for that project. It’s just the data, and then.
30 00:14:24.660 ⇒ 00:14:26.579 Uttam Kumaran: Oh, the no operations.
31 00:14:26.580 ⇒ 00:14:40.150 Uttam Kumaran: Well, well, I think I mean you. That’s a good, probably good question for amber, too. But yeah, you should. I mean, the reason why I moved the 3 of you is just because you guys have, I think, some a little bit more bandwidth. The AI team is working on a bunch of things, but you should totally.
32 00:14:40.150 ⇒ 00:14:40.570 Mariane Cequina: Okay.
33 00:14:40.570 ⇒ 00:14:59.238 Uttam Kumaran: Call him. And even in today’s Friday meeting I don’t know what amber amber is, gonna be, you know, planning the meeting today. But it would be really interesting to share some of the work that you guys have learned from that project but also just overall, like, I’m I’m really curious about how you guys are learning about Crm and and
34 00:14:59.740 ⇒ 00:15:10.999 Uttam Kumaran: you know, things like that because it’s not. It’s not like, you know, very easy work. But it is really, really, you know, it is very. It is very cool. So I’m I’m glad to see that you guys are.
35 00:15:11.110 ⇒ 00:15:13.480 Uttam Kumaran: We’re having a like some.
36 00:15:13.600 ⇒ 00:15:17.640 Uttam Kumaran: I’m not not struggling, but it’s it’s I’m glad to see that it’s challenging.
37 00:15:18.500 ⇒ 00:15:28.089 Mariane Cequina: Yeah, yeah, it’s a little bit challenging, because because we don’t know as of this moment, we’re not quite sure about like the exact idea that Robert.
38 00:15:28.090 ⇒ 00:15:28.540 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.
39 00:15:28.540 ⇒ 00:15:39.030 Mariane Cequina: For that project. So yeah, so it’s more like the like the information, or where we’re heading to. But we’re trying to figure it all out with the help of amber. Specifically.
40 00:15:39.030 ⇒ 00:15:43.789 Uttam Kumaran: I think one piece there also is that definitely ask questions like.
41 00:15:43.820 ⇒ 00:16:13.379 Uttam Kumaran: I think, you know, one thing, I’m trying to get everybody to to be more comfortable with is just raising your hand and saying, Hey, I don’t know what’s going on. You guys did actually a good job of that when we started the project, which, as you can tell, helped a lot because the team was, everyone was like, Okay, actually, yeah, I I didn’t explain it. Well, let me. Let’s explain it again. So certainly, like as you have questions, I think you you do a good job of saying like, Hey, what’s this, and it’s really helpful, and nobody takes offense to it, or nobody’s like annoyed. In fact, like.
42 00:16:13.380 ⇒ 00:16:13.840 Mariane Cequina: Okay.
43 00:16:13.840 ⇒ 00:16:34.720 Uttam Kumaran: I think a lot of things we do. We don’t. We don’t explain very well, because we move very fast. So it’s actually like very important to ask questions, because the way the process of which we do things need cannot live with just me and Robert, it needs to scale beyond us. And so that’s where I’m like, actually, very, very invested in in you guys learning these things like
44 00:16:34.840 ⇒ 00:16:58.939 Uttam Kumaran: for me, I don’t. I don’t want to be the only person the company that knows how to do things like. That’s why I’m now that you’re involved in our contract process. It was very easy for me to tell Leo Luna that hey? Marianne is leading that like, please go talk to her, you know, and and that’s that’s what it is. A lot of other companies. I think they they want to sort of keep that all to themselves. And yeah, that’s not at all what we want to do.
45 00:16:59.950 ⇒ 00:17:08.230 Mariane Cequina: Yeah. Okay? And also speaking of the the contract for client, I’ll be creating like the template. Later, like today, for request.
46 00:17:08.230 ⇒ 00:17:08.599 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
47 00:17:08.609 ⇒ 00:17:16.019 Mariane Cequina: As well as if there’s any problem. Should I always contact you first, st or can I like contact the Liduna.
48 00:17:17.250 ⇒ 00:17:33.503 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I would. I would contact that I would contact them. I mean, you can also put it in that external finance channel. And we can talk there if you want to. That’s totally fine. I don’t mind. I don’t mind discussing stuff in there with them, and I’ll be making some changes to the default contract. I know you sent that to me.
49 00:17:33.750 ⇒ 00:17:34.220 Mariane Cequina: Any.
50 00:17:34.220 ⇒ 00:17:48.833 Uttam Kumaran: Just a couple of like small things here and there. But overall, I feel like I feel like we’re we’re on a right track. I mean, we had a couple of new contracts, of course, that we’re gonna get signed, I think hopefully, at least one more today. And then maybe one more next week.
51 00:17:49.090 ⇒ 00:17:49.620 Mariane Cequina: I mean.
52 00:17:49.620 ⇒ 00:17:53.789 Uttam Kumaran: So I know we’re we’re working towards it. And yeah, I just
53 00:17:54.270 ⇒ 00:17:59.430 Uttam Kumaran: I think it’s it’s all sort of getting better. I mean? How are you doing on like your timing.
54 00:18:00.420 ⇒ 00:18:02.891 Mariane Cequina: Yeah, actually good. We’re
55 00:18:03.860 ⇒ 00:18:14.140 Mariane Cequina: I’m doing more work now, but I think I think my my another concern now, since Nico is rolling off like he’s work like is
56 00:18:14.370 ⇒ 00:18:21.590 Mariane Cequina: his maximum hours per week is 10. Is that correct? Is that the that’s correct?
57 00:18:22.040 ⇒ 00:18:23.210 Mariane Cequina: Is that correct? So.
58 00:18:23.210 ⇒ 00:18:25.770 Uttam Kumaran: He’s basically, that’s what he’s he’s working on is like
59 00:18:26.020 ⇒ 00:18:27.460 Uttam Kumaran: 5 or 10 HA week.
60 00:18:28.210 ⇒ 00:18:40.660 Mariane Cequina: Yeah, but we actually don’t contact a lot recently. So, for example, if they’re concerned operating AI I don’t know much of of like the answers on that. So I think
61 00:18:40.860 ⇒ 00:18:43.619 Mariane Cequina: I think, would it be
62 00:18:44.410 ⇒ 00:18:50.510 Mariane Cequina: did he? Mention to you, like like the time that he will be like, for example, available.
63 00:18:51.545 ⇒ 00:19:18.450 Uttam Kumaran: He didn’t mention, although I would just I would just message him directly. I think he also he documented a lot of it. But if you have questions on how to do things, I would ask him to to spend a moment and document those things. I mean, I mean, for now, for now it’s gonna be for now it’s gonna be just us, really. So I wouldn’t like I wouldn’t really. I wanna I wanna sort of move as many things from his his plate as possible. So.
64 00:19:18.450 ⇒ 00:19:19.110 Mariane Cequina: Yeah.
65 00:19:19.310 ⇒ 00:19:23.999 Uttam Kumaran: That’s sort of a that’s sort of the goal. But yeah, I think
66 00:19:24.970 ⇒ 00:19:32.670 Uttam Kumaran: I would try to just learn from him about operating. I mean, there haven’t been too many questions, I think. Basically, amber and the Pm’s are going to be the highest priority there.
67 00:19:33.633 ⇒ 00:19:38.200 Uttam Kumaran: So yeah, that’s what I’m like, really more interested in.
68 00:19:38.800 ⇒ 00:19:40.070 Mariane Cequina: Okay, got it?
69 00:19:44.030 ⇒ 00:19:46.530 Uttam Kumaran: Great. Okay? And then how is stuff going for the Mba.
70 00:19:48.120 ⇒ 00:20:14.979 Mariane Cequina: Yeah, actually was really excited for that one. But yeah, so I was planning to enroll this. I just, I just admitted my my application, but I’m waiting for their response on it. They’re they’re actually like they’re not pretty like really strict on it, but I think they might give me like opinion or advising since yeah, since I shifted career. And then we need a lot of
71 00:20:15.060 ⇒ 00:20:27.349 Mariane Cequina: they were saying that it will be more beneficial if I had a lot more like experience, because it’s more on like, if you will enroll in the Nba, they’re not gonna spoon feed you of information.
72 00:20:27.350 ⇒ 00:20:27.810 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.
73 00:20:28.260 ⇒ 00:20:37.470 Mariane Cequina: Like sharing your experience. So yeah, so like some of the people that I know advised me to. What if you gain more experience for now on like.
74 00:20:37.470 ⇒ 00:20:40.650 Uttam Kumaran: I mean, you have a lot of experience. I don’t know. Like you’re fine. I mean.
75 00:20:41.030 ⇒ 00:21:07.170 Uttam Kumaran: what if you want the experience in this company to like you can totally have it. I mean, this is where, like I wanted you to be able to see. You’ve seen the operations of the company. I think there’s tons of opportunity to go see the strategy and see other pieces. So it’s sort of up to you where you want to go. I mean, I think you’re doing a really great job owning operations. I think probably sometime soon we’ll we’ll end up, you know, maybe having one more person that’s more junior. Come on to take on some of the easy stuff from you.
76 00:21:07.960 ⇒ 00:21:08.500 Mariane Cequina: Again.
77 00:21:08.500 ⇒ 00:21:14.940 Uttam Kumaran: And then, basically, I I want to see you sort of transform more into a leader wherever you want to go, you know. So
78 00:21:15.487 ⇒ 00:21:27.979 Uttam Kumaran: you know. Maybe think a little bit more about like, Hey, I’m going to get this Mba. But, like, what are things I want to go, you know, maybe focus on. And what can I? Is there any way I can do that here within Brainforge, you know, because I want to make sure that
79 00:21:28.180 ⇒ 00:21:33.500 Uttam Kumaran: that that you’re able to use the stuff you’re learning from the Mba. Even your job, you know. And so
80 00:21:33.670 ⇒ 00:21:49.840 Uttam Kumaran: that’s what I’m I’m really curious about. And and of course, like, I want to see you grow. And I, wanna, you know, be able to get more money your way. And so definitely, I think we can start thinking about a plan for how to how you can sort of stretch and and increase your leverage.
81 00:21:50.370 ⇒ 00:21:51.060 Mariane Cequina: Yeah.
82 00:21:57.060 ⇒ 00:21:57.920 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
83 00:21:59.500 ⇒ 00:22:01.630 Uttam Kumaran: Cool any thoughts there.
84 00:22:03.335 ⇒ 00:22:07.299 Mariane Cequina: Actually don’t have a lot of questions, but.
85 00:22:07.300 ⇒ 00:22:07.720 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
86 00:22:07.720 ⇒ 00:22:19.709 Mariane Cequina: I think I think I will just for now I just gonna contact amber as well for the client onboarding process so we can, so she can like share her insight as well. But she’s pretty busy this week as well.
87 00:22:19.710 ⇒ 00:22:21.599 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, okay, perfect.
88 00:22:22.690 ⇒ 00:22:26.959 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah. And you know, shared anything in slack. Or if you want to record a zoom, send it. People will answer so.
89 00:22:27.900 ⇒ 00:22:31.659 Mariane Cequina: Yeah, okay, thank you so much for your time, I really appreciate them. Thank you.
90 00:22:31.660 ⇒ 00:22:33.230 Uttam Kumaran: Thank you. Talk soon. Bye.
91 00:22:33.810 ⇒ 00:22:34.360 Mariane Cequina: Bye-bye.