Meeting Title: Uttam <> Megan Date: 2025-05-19 Meeting participants: Megan Murray, Uttam Kumaran


WEBVTT

1 00:00:16.870 00:00:17.820 Uttam Kumaran: Hey! Megan!

2 00:00:27.550 00:00:29.230 Megan Murray: Oh, I was muted.

3 00:00:29.487 00:00:31.029 Uttam Kumaran: Okay. I thought that was me.

4 00:00:31.590 00:00:32.180 Megan Murray: Oh no!

5 00:00:32.180 00:00:33.000 Uttam Kumaran: How are you?

6 00:00:33.000 00:00:34.440 Megan Murray: Good! How are you?

7 00:00:34.440 00:00:48.589 Uttam Kumaran: Good. I’m just sitting outside. So I may not turn my video on. But how was, how was, how was a break and everything, I guess. Tell, tell me about where I know you’re like at a couple of conferences, and like.

8 00:00:49.460 00:00:49.960 Megan Murray: Like just the one.

9 00:00:49.960 00:00:51.050 Uttam Kumaran: The last few weeks.

10 00:00:51.050 00:01:00.810 Megan Murray: Yeah, things have just been wild. Well, I was in DC last week meeting with Regulators and like Congress, representatives of.

11 00:01:00.810 00:01:01.640 Uttam Kumaran: Wow!

12 00:01:01.640 00:01:17.139 Megan Murray: Or Texas and Florida. So yeah, it was just kind of with all of my various different like community. Nonprofit stuff. I do. I just got this invitation. They brought in

13 00:01:17.532 00:01:42.630 Megan Murray: a team at Coinbase. Actually, they wanted to bring in founders from all across the country to just like talk with representatives about, like, you know why we need regulation just to keep bad actors out. But you know the importance of not over regulating, so that we don’t like, you know. Send people outside of the Us, you know, like, keep innovation here.

14 00:01:43.030 00:01:44.160 Megan Murray: So.

15 00:01:44.760 00:01:47.360 Uttam Kumaran: That’s great. Wow, to get involved.

16 00:01:47.360 00:01:48.430 Uttam Kumaran: So like.

17 00:01:48.430 00:01:48.790 Megan Murray: Yeah.

18 00:01:48.790 00:01:53.509 Uttam Kumaran: How did you? Yeah. How did you find like the opportunity to do that?

19 00:01:54.260 00:02:12.019 Megan Murray: They reached out to me. So yeah, it just was one of those things. It was like, well, this seems like an invite that I need to keep, but just through different people that I know just over the years, I’ve done a lot of conferences and things, too. So

20 00:02:12.310 00:02:13.967 Megan Murray: yeah, but I’ve

21 00:02:14.900 00:02:26.470 Megan Murray: also. And then I got I got sick during all of that, too, just with like travel. So I’m still not like a hundred percent, but at least was able to rest yesterday. So.

22 00:02:26.470 00:02:26.910 Uttam Kumaran: Wow!

23 00:02:27.370 00:02:28.789 Megan Murray: But how are you doing.

24 00:02:29.110 00:02:37.024 Uttam Kumaran: I’m good. I feel like this month has been. Every month is up and down. I feel like this month has. We’ve had a lot of good ups, I think. We

25 00:02:38.780 00:02:46.499 Uttam Kumaran: you know, it’s kind of it’s kind of interesting, because I always feel like we’re moving very slow. But we have actually, the company changes

26 00:02:46.650 00:02:48.779 Uttam Kumaran: pretty frequently. And you know, we

27 00:02:48.970 00:02:56.909 Uttam Kumaran: we went from about like 6 or 7 people to like 15 people, and we promoted. And people are taking on more ownership. And so

28 00:02:57.250 00:03:18.450 Uttam Kumaran: I I would say, like, if if I was external to the company, I would be like, Wow, okay, we’re moving. I internally, I’m still like, okay, there’s still ways for us to move faster. Every day sort of matters. But yeah, we’ve you know, we promoted a few people amber away, Hannah, and they’re they’re taking on more leadership roles which is took taking me and Robert out of a lot of

29 00:03:18.962 00:03:24.930 Uttam Kumaran: you know, just like anxiety during the day, and that has been tremendous. And so

30 00:03:25.560 00:03:30.559 Uttam Kumaran: I’ve over the last 2 weeks of you know. One of the big directives was just to move

31 00:03:30.810 00:03:44.240 Uttam Kumaran: like 50% of our time towards sales. And I think we’ve we’ve been able to accomplish that pretty seriously. And we’re seeing that in the amount of proposals we’re sending out and the amount of meetings we’re having. And

32 00:03:44.380 00:03:54.779 Uttam Kumaran: you know our renewals are closing faster. We have 2 more deals that are closing. I’m able to spend more time with partnerships. So again, I think

33 00:03:54.970 00:04:01.849 Uttam Kumaran: for me, I’m really honest with like, if my calendar doesn’t reflect the priorities, then we’re sort of lying to each other. So

34 00:04:02.700 00:04:03.399 Uttam Kumaran: it’s

35 00:04:03.580 00:04:09.889 Uttam Kumaran: everything is focused on growing top line revenue right now, and I’ve handed off a lot of the stuff regarding

36 00:04:10.040 00:04:16.470 Uttam Kumaran: internal execution. And of course, I’m I’m still involved in a couple of like really high priority projects. But

37 00:04:17.084 00:04:18.779 Uttam Kumaran: yeah, it’s getting better.

38 00:04:19.959 00:04:21.026 Megan Murray: Yeah, that’s

39 00:04:22.019 00:04:27.393 Megan Murray: That’s great. Yeah. And sometimes it’s like you have to let those things kind of play out.

40 00:04:27.870 00:04:28.430 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.

41 00:04:28.770 00:04:42.470 Megan Murray: Just to. You don’t really always know where the holes are, especially when you’re trying to figure out like just allocating time, which is what most of business ownership and management is. So

42 00:04:42.720 00:04:44.069 Megan Murray: yeah, but

43 00:04:44.610 00:04:56.090 Megan Murray: well, that’s that’s good, though, and I know we’ve had some like operational hiccups. But the the revenue that’s coming in is looking pretty solid. So I think that

44 00:04:56.350 00:04:59.750 Megan Murray: hopefully we’ve got, you know, kind of these like

45 00:05:00.070 00:05:06.628 Megan Murray: touch and go kind of weeks with timing hopefully. That will be kind of behind us soon.

46 00:05:07.580 00:05:08.540 Megan Murray: and I,

47 00:05:08.650 00:05:16.649 Megan Murray: yeah, I just didn’t have as much time to like, keep up to speed with that, but definitely, just want to see

48 00:05:17.122 00:05:23.447 Megan Murray: yeah, like what we can do. I know that. I know Tina was going to. Well.

49 00:05:23.940 00:05:52.149 Megan Murray: well, gosh, I’m all over the place. But with like this gusto thing kind of throws a wrench in things. But Tina, as of a couple of days ago, she was like, I think I like, Tina definitely wants to take ownership of the onboarding of the contractors. So she was right up like a a workflow, just to say, Okay, here’s what we need. Here’s who does what? Just what the process is. But now, like, I haven’t.

50 00:05:52.320 00:05:55.351 Megan Murray: I’m kind of surprised at this gusto thing.

51 00:05:55.730 00:06:00.920 Uttam Kumaran: So the gusto thing I called I I messaged them, and they said it should be actually fine. After like

52 00:06:01.480 00:06:05.210 Uttam Kumaran: this, the payment goes through which should have been today.

53 00:06:06.390 00:06:09.469 Megan Murray: Okay, and how much is in the bank account. Now.

54 00:06:10.068 00:06:11.459 Uttam Kumaran: I think there is like

55 00:06:11.620 00:06:17.649 Uttam Kumaran: 10 grand in there. But I saw this. This payment got cleared

56 00:06:18.089 00:06:26.780 Uttam Kumaran: but like there’s a couple of things. So one is, yeah, we’re I. We have like a couple we have. We probably have, like another 30 or 40 grand

57 00:06:26.900 00:06:32.600 Uttam Kumaran: of waiting on coming in. So we have, like 3 outstanding.

58 00:06:33.500 00:06:38.929 Uttam Kumaran: 2 or 3 outstanding urban stems payment, and they’re about to sign for a renewal. That’s hopefully

59 00:06:39.350 00:06:44.050 Uttam Kumaran: 5, th either it’s I mean I I think it may come in at 20 KA month for 6 months.

60 00:06:46.380 00:06:52.779 Uttam Kumaran: You know we can. We can, bill for that we have. And then we have another 3 K engagement that just has to be billed

61 00:06:54.500 00:06:59.699 Uttam Kumaran: And so yeah, I mean we. And then a couple of things are due in the next like, 7 days. So

62 00:07:01.560 00:07:06.260 Uttam Kumaran: yeah, we’re just waiting on that, and then and then we have the month month end coming up.

63 00:07:08.020 00:07:08.840 Megan Murray: Except

64 00:07:09.890 00:07:20.190 Megan Murray: Well, definitely let me know if you want to send over the contracts. I know Kelly had jumped in when I was out last week to.

65 00:07:20.190 00:07:20.750 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.

66 00:07:20.750 00:07:23.291 Megan Murray: Set up that last one.

67 00:07:24.110 00:07:40.149 Megan Murray: But yeah, with what’s the best way to kind of manage all of that going forward because we can. I? Just wanna make sure we can figure out a good process of like, okay, contract signed. You know, like, who does what on my.

68 00:07:40.150 00:07:40.560 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.

69 00:07:41.060 00:07:41.560 Megan Murray: So.

70 00:07:41.560 00:07:53.190 Uttam Kumaran: So on. So on our side, we, I mean, we’re using like we, we use just project management like we’re using linear on our side to create things. So when I, when a new contract gets signed.

71 00:07:53.400 00:08:07.289 Uttam Kumaran: sales, submits a request to operations on our side, and then Marianne creates draft contracts, and then we approve it, and then it goes to signing at that point like I mean to date. I’ve just sent it into slack

72 00:08:07.896 00:08:12.659 Uttam Kumaran: but let me know what’s what’s best, or what’s better,

73 00:08:14.130 00:08:14.569 Megan Murray: If that’s fine.

74 00:08:14.570 00:08:15.000 Uttam Kumaran: Your end.

75 00:08:15.000 00:08:19.479 Megan Murray: Signed in not docusign, but document.

76 00:08:19.480 00:08:20.499 Uttam Kumaran: So, yeah, yeah.

77 00:08:20.500 00:08:49.729 Megan Murray: Yeah, I mean, like a lot of times. What we’ll just ask is just to be copied on the final executed one. I’m not as familiar with documents them, but like, I know, on docusign, at least like if they set up a template for you know, a new one. Then once it’s signed, then we just get a copy of that in the the finance team inbox.

78 00:08:49.940 00:08:50.900 Megan Murray: That’s fine.

79 00:08:51.280 00:09:08.130 Megan Murray: So yeah. And then that just kinda like a I mean that that would be ideal cause. Then you wouldn’t have to like do anything different, right? And so if we could just get the team box copied. Then we can go ahead and get that set up.

80 00:09:09.910 00:09:11.220 Megan Murray: So so yeah.

81 00:09:11.220 00:09:21.919 Uttam Kumaran: We can also like we can include you guys in our linear board if you want to as well. Because for me, I’m I’m sort of just I we I’m just measuring sort of all tasks.

82 00:09:22.140 00:09:26.550 Uttam Kumaran: We’re trying to do our best just to measure all tasks that are happening that way. I can. At some point.

83 00:09:26.680 00:09:31.440 Uttam Kumaran: I’ll know. Okay, is is like, is operations taking on too much or like, who’s taking on what.

84 00:09:31.850 00:09:41.500 Uttam Kumaran: If if that’s easy, too, I I know it’s another tool. But like we’re like our contract lifecycle tracking happens there. So we would just add

85 00:09:41.630 00:09:44.410 Uttam Kumaran: the billing is another step, and then it would just get

86 00:09:44.790 00:09:46.950 Uttam Kumaran: assigned to whoever from your side.

87 00:09:48.670 00:09:57.510 Megan Murray: Yeah, well and and like. And for example, too, like the I think it was the ABC one, where it’s a flat rate like it’s fixed per.

88 00:09:57.510 00:09:57.980 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.

89 00:09:57.980 00:10:12.109 Megan Murray: Time. Right? So those are the easiest, because we can just set up a recurring invoice. And then it just, you know, goes out automatically. It’s got all the info on it that that’s needed. And then we just have to monitor that it gets paid.

90 00:10:12.110 00:10:21.619 Uttam Kumaran: Agree. Yeah, I I think the biggest thing is like, instead of putting it in slack, we will send a slack message and then just have like a a ticket attached.

91 00:10:21.720 00:10:29.279 Uttam Kumaran: And then you can just close that out that way. It’s there. Cause cause then, otherwise it’s floating. And it’s basically just gonna float in my brain.

92 00:10:29.560 00:10:30.349 Uttam Kumaran: and then, yeah.

93 00:10:30.350 00:10:49.250 Uttam Kumaran: Marianne can also help push. Push that through because she’s she’s managing all of the she’s the one that’s most knowledgeable about new new contractor onboarding, and she handles all the steps of adding them to the time, tracking all of our systems, getting the contracts out gusto. So she’s she’s

94 00:10:49.570 00:11:09.310 Uttam Kumaran: handling that right now. So as soon as we we decide to make an offer, I loop her in, and she she has this execution steps, and then, similarly, for clients, we have a new client contract request, form that I submit, and then she handles it from there, so it would be pretty easy to just loop you you guys in and add an extra step, and then that way also

95 00:11:09.450 00:11:14.080 Uttam Kumaran: she will be like this. She can be the stakeholder from our end. Who’s like moving that forward.

96 00:11:15.210 00:11:16.549 Megan Murray: Yeah, yeah, okay.

97 00:11:16.550 00:11:17.160 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.

98 00:11:18.050 00:11:19.720 Megan Murray: That works for me.

99 00:11:20.000 00:11:26.300 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, yeah. And then for for the

100 00:11:26.940 00:11:31.129 Uttam Kumaran: yeah, for for I guess for 2 things. So for one, for the contractor,

101 00:11:32.610 00:11:35.620 Uttam Kumaran: payments, currently, the basically, the process is like

102 00:11:35.740 00:11:41.319 Uttam Kumaran: going into clock for the folks that are hourly. It’s it’s like going into clockify

103 00:11:42.045 00:11:44.820 Uttam Kumaran: selecting the timeframe and then

104 00:11:45.040 00:11:48.980 Uttam Kumaran: putting those hours in. And then basically just submitting.

105 00:11:50.310 00:11:52.910 Uttam Kumaran: that’s that’s really what it is. Now.

106 00:11:53.700 00:11:56.233 Megan Murray: Okay, yeah, we can get

107 00:11:57.560 00:11:59.810 Megan Murray: we can get Tina. I mean, we can.

108 00:11:59.810 00:12:02.470 Uttam Kumaran: If Tina’s the one to own that, then I can. Just

109 00:12:02.590 00:12:07.790 Uttam Kumaran: I’ll I can basically have Mary Ann meet with her, or 3 of us can meet, and I can

110 00:12:08.060 00:12:09.950 Uttam Kumaran: just facilitate a handoff.

111 00:12:11.510 00:12:15.690 Megan Murray: Think about this, too, like just strategically like

112 00:12:16.284 00:12:21.500 Megan Murray: cause, I think, is Marianne’s rate. She’s only $8 an hour.

113 00:12:22.372 00:12:24.179 Uttam Kumaran: I think she.

114 00:12:24.300 00:12:28.050 Uttam Kumaran: I think I have to double check. But yeah, I think she’s somewhere in that range.

115 00:12:28.610 00:12:31.830 Megan Murray: That’s a lot less than Tina. So I wonder if.

116 00:12:32.320 00:12:37.139 Uttam Kumaran: That’s why I don’t, and and I don’t mind Marianne also handling it. And then.

117 00:12:37.280 00:12:41.012 Uttam Kumaran: either having Tina as like a review step, or I I don’t know

118 00:12:41.300 00:12:41.840 Megan Murray: Yeah.

119 00:12:42.100 00:12:44.190 Uttam Kumaran: Marion has capacity so.

120 00:12:45.780 00:12:55.750 Megan Murray: I think that I mean, that might be better overall. Especially. She’s already familiar, I mean, like, like, trust me, I have no problem. Saying, Yeah, Tina can.

121 00:12:56.225 00:12:56.700 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.

122 00:12:56.700 00:12:58.004 Megan Murray: Into that but

123 00:12:58.440 00:13:02.140 Uttam Kumaran: But I would rather have Tina be used for Marianne to ask like questions about

124 00:13:02.740 00:13:06.220 Uttam Kumaran: what else should we add to this process, or what am I missing

125 00:13:06.960 00:13:09.880 Uttam Kumaran: like? That’s what I that’s what I would prefer.

126 00:13:11.170 00:13:13.809 Megan Murray: Yeah, yeah, totally. That’s

127 00:13:13.970 00:13:19.669 Megan Murray: that makes a lot of sense. And I can share that with Tina, too, just to, you know. Say, like.

128 00:13:19.880 00:13:27.719 Megan Murray: hey, this is just like we’ll have her more as like the Hr manager. You know, or approver.

129 00:13:27.720 00:13:28.230 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.

130 00:13:28.230 00:13:31.640 Megan Murray: Like more of that. Like, yeah.

131 00:13:31.640 00:13:40.079 Uttam Kumaran: There’s a senior role there, because exactly, I just want to have redundancy. So I would. It would be great for Tina to just know how the process works, so that.

132 00:13:40.370 00:14:03.249 Uttam Kumaran: of course, like end of the day, I can handle it. But between her and Mary Ann I’m we sort of have some layer of redundancy. And then, yeah, if I would love to enable Mary Ann to do that, to do, to take as much of that on as possible. And you know she’s doing a lot of it. The only thing I want to give her is just if she has questions, or I know we want to enable.

133 00:14:03.280 00:14:17.040 Uttam Kumaran: We wanted to try enabling time tracking and gusto. I I added a few of the managers there, so they’re able to to do a couple of things there. So if she has questions, then she can go to Tina, and they can conversate, and that way it gets

134 00:14:17.560 00:14:19.701 Uttam Kumaran: it just like gets done.

135 00:14:20.130 00:14:22.430 Megan Murray: Yeah, yeah, exactly.

136 00:14:23.010 00:14:23.860 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.

137 00:14:24.110 00:14:30.440 Megan Murray: Yeah, I think that makes sense. I just wanna make sure that these in progress

138 00:14:31.264 00:14:36.119 Megan Murray: payments. I just wanna make sure we don’t bounce the account again.

139 00:14:38.850 00:14:46.139 Megan Murray: But yeah, I mean, if you’re if you’re comfortable or confident that so it looks like semi.

140 00:14:46.140 00:14:52.629 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah. The other thing is, I can, I can get. Yeah. The other thing I could do is I can get the invoice advances on

141 00:14:53.430 00:14:56.969 Uttam Kumaran: the some of the invoices that are in progress.

142 00:15:00.630 00:15:07.800 Megan Murray: Well, yeah, I wanna I wanna be careful because we’re gonna end up paying for that way more in the long run.

143 00:15:09.290 00:15:16.812 Uttam Kumaran: Cause. As long as those get paid within the period of time there’s no interest expense. So I you know, I feel like.

144 00:15:17.650 00:15:22.740 Uttam Kumaran: especially for the folks that I know that pay on time like ABC. Will will pay on time.

145 00:15:25.160 00:15:26.020 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.

146 00:15:26.590 00:15:29.510 Megan Murray: And where are you getting those advances from? Then.

147 00:15:29.510 00:15:31.370 Uttam Kumaran: It’s in quickbooks.

148 00:15:31.990 00:15:32.330 Megan Murray: Yeah.

149 00:15:32.330 00:15:35.819 Uttam Kumaran: It just says, like, Hey, you can get, you can get an advance on this.

150 00:15:35.950 00:15:40.270 Uttam Kumaran: and if they pay within the due date, then there’s no.

151 00:15:40.890 00:15:43.220 Uttam Kumaran: there’s actually no, it just clears it.

152 00:15:44.580 00:15:49.160 Megan Murray: Okay, got it. I wasn’t aware of that. It’s like, within 30 days or so.

153 00:15:49.450 00:15:53.850 Uttam Kumaran: It’s basically yeah, ex- exactly. It’s like, yeah, it’s that’s exactly it.

154 00:15:54.110 00:15:59.180 Megan Murray: Okay, yeah, interesting. So.

155 00:15:59.750 00:16:07.040 Uttam Kumaran: And then there’s also an auto pay feature I saw, which I think is new, which maybe we should turn on as well for clients that they can just

156 00:16:09.030 00:16:10.439 Uttam Kumaran: have it. Auto pay.

157 00:16:10.690 00:16:12.445 Megan Murray: Yeah, I’ve been

158 00:16:13.410 00:16:22.001 Megan Murray: yeah, I’ve been interested to test that out because it’s new, just as of the first.st It’s just as of a couple months ago.

159 00:16:22.845 00:16:23.330 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.

160 00:16:23.720 00:16:28.660 Megan Murray: Yeah. So it’s it’s pretty new feature you do have to get them to opt in.

161 00:16:28.880 00:16:29.790 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.

162 00:16:29.790 00:16:33.180 Megan Murray: And at least my experience is like.

163 00:16:33.330 00:16:40.439 Megan Murray: people tend to be okay with that. If it’s like a recurring amount, or if it’s a couple 100 bucks. But when we’re talking.

164 00:16:40.440 00:16:41.420 Megan Murray: yeah, yeah.

165 00:16:41.420 00:16:46.660 Megan Murray: the tens of thousands. They tend to want to control that a little bit more through like an.

166 00:16:46.660 00:16:53.549 Uttam Kumaran: You never know I have some. We I we work with some people who don’t blink, and I’m like.

167 00:16:54.690 00:16:56.023 Uttam Kumaran: alright, great.

168 00:16:56.690 00:17:06.680 Megan Murray: It’s yeah. I think the ones that would be it would be a tough sell on are the ones that are using Bill, or they’ve got like their own Ap. Process.

169 00:17:07.079 00:17:07.879 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.

170 00:17:08.040 00:17:21.109 Megan Murray: So those might say like, No, send us an invoice, but we can. We can certainly try like I’d I’d love to do that. I think it. I think it is

171 00:17:21.349 00:17:29.969 Megan Murray: easier to do with the fixed rates versus the variable ones. I don’t know. At least, when I looked into it

172 00:17:30.190 00:17:58.189 Megan Murray: it. It seemed like it was better suited for like those fixed, recurring payments. But but yeah, and then I think the way again, I haven’t haven’t like, done it full circle, but at least, when I looked into it, it was like, it’ll send them the invoice. It sends them the request to save their payment. We have to get them to opt in and approve it, and if they don’t, then it just reverts back to a recurring invoice.

173 00:17:58.990 00:18:04.289 Megan Murray: So it’s kind of like we give it one try. See what they.

174 00:18:04.290 00:18:04.830 Uttam Kumaran: Bye.

175 00:18:04.830 00:18:11.339 Megan Murray: Except and then worst case, it just continues the same process we already have.

176 00:18:11.450 00:18:16.160 Megan Murray: So but yeah, it’s a it’s worth a shot, though, if you’re down for that.

177 00:18:16.560 00:18:17.250 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.

178 00:18:18.800 00:18:23.659 Uttam Kumaran: So yeah, I think that’s I think that’s the biggest I’ll I’ll have. I’ll have Marianne start to take on

179 00:18:23.870 00:18:29.579 Uttam Kumaran: the contractor stuff. And then, yeah, I guess I was gonna ask about the

180 00:18:29.690 00:18:34.050 Uttam Kumaran: the C Corp work. So I guess, like for me, it’s

181 00:18:34.770 00:18:42.480 Uttam Kumaran: I guess I wanted to understand responsibilities between y’all’s team and the legal team, and then like how we should like

182 00:18:42.810 00:18:47.397 Uttam Kumaran: coordinate stuff. I mean. Also, I know we considered Atlas. I haven’t like

183 00:18:48.010 00:18:55.930 Uttam Kumaran: put more thought into that, although, like I could, the the legal teams sort of onboarding docs implies that

184 00:18:56.190 00:19:00.550 Uttam Kumaran: like, there’s some more complications. So I was like, maybe I should just use them

185 00:19:02.620 00:19:03.489 Uttam Kumaran: but I don’t know.

186 00:19:04.280 00:19:06.750 Megan Murray: But it did. They indicate what like.

187 00:19:07.070 00:19:10.279 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I can send you like their onboarding form. And

188 00:19:12.270 00:19:14.696 Uttam Kumaran: they just had a bunch of questions that

189 00:19:17.820 00:19:25.789 Megan Murray: Yeah, send it over. I’m happy to take a look because these things can get complicated.

190 00:19:26.090 00:19:31.213 Megan Murray: you know, depending how we do them. So let’s see

191 00:19:32.300 00:19:43.660 Megan Murray: But but yeah, I mean, we can cause we’re just gonna we’re gonna set up a new ein like, pretty much from the ground up? Right? Is the plan.

192 00:19:43.660 00:19:44.480 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.

193 00:19:44.740 00:19:51.580 Megan Murray: So. So yeah, I mean, we’ll like we would. We would need to.

194 00:19:52.170 00:19:53.900 Megan Murray: Well, there’s

195 00:19:54.710 00:20:00.860 Megan Murray: I guess there’s there’s quite a bit that would need to be Redone, like all of the active contractor

196 00:20:00.980 00:20:01.935 Megan Murray: payments.

197 00:20:03.500 00:20:25.762 Megan Murray: like. If we’re setting up a new ein, then we’re pretty much like setting up a brand new entity. So all the history that’s in gusto right now, for example, is gonna be still attached to the current ein. So people are gonna have, like, you know, their Brainforge, Llc, info. But then it’s it’s pretty much gonna be a brand new setup. So

198 00:20:26.230 00:20:30.190 Megan Murray: yeah, even down to like like.

199 00:20:30.320 00:20:34.780 Megan Murray: well, I guess we could probably I mean, but like we’ll wanna open.

200 00:20:34.780 00:20:40.030 Uttam Kumaran: Because a lot of the a lot of the places it’s like, I’m it’s build towards Brainforge. AI.

201 00:20:40.030 00:20:40.480 Megan Murray: Which is just.

202 00:20:40.480 00:20:41.510 Uttam Kumaran: Dba.

203 00:20:43.390 00:20:53.639 Megan Murray: Yeah, yeah, that’s true. That’s true. But I think the way to kind of make sure that there isn’t any tax impact to you would be.

204 00:20:53.640 00:20:53.960 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.

205 00:20:53.960 00:21:00.123 Megan Murray: Pretty much to wind down the S. Corp, and then,

206 00:21:01.220 00:21:03.620 Megan Murray: yeah, make sure that we’re moving

207 00:21:03.720 00:21:26.319 Megan Murray: any sort of assets into the new ein. But yeah, we’ll need to make sure that the bank is updated to reflect the correct ein I know there’s a bunch of accounts, too, that, like our old accounts, and there’s various different ones. So maybe it’s not a bad idea to kind of like just set up new accounts and

208 00:21:26.420 00:21:30.699 Megan Murray: literally rebuild it. But to answer your question on the legal side.

209 00:21:30.990 00:21:36.648 Megan Murray: and all the filings like typically the legal team would handle that

210 00:21:37.120 00:21:37.490 Uttam Kumaran: Sure.

211 00:21:37.490 00:21:43.810 Megan Murray: We? We can certainly do like state registrations. Like.

212 00:21:44.340 00:21:55.610 Megan Murray: yeah, there’s Tina’s. Tina’s really good at those forms like, especially with Texas. But typically with, like the actual Delaware C Corp spin up

213 00:21:55.830 00:22:03.510 Megan Murray: typically, the legal team would do that. And then we just want to make sure that you know somebody’s doing something.

214 00:22:03.510 00:22:19.560 Uttam Kumaran: Yes, that’s it. So that’s exactly what I want to know is just like, Okay, there’s gonna be 2 teams working on it. Then I just wanna, I’ll basically just have a doc which is like, who’s taking care of what? And then, because there’s also there’s also things that they’re proposing that I would love to get your

215 00:22:19.930 00:22:27.790 Uttam Kumaran: eyes on the other way around. I’m I’m like not. They’re they’re not going to be much help on. So that’s that’s mainly like

216 00:22:27.890 00:22:29.670 Uttam Kumaran: that’s that’s from my side.

217 00:22:30.540 00:22:54.310 Megan Murray: Yeah, yeah, it’s some like, I’ve been surprised over the years, like, you know, finding I I just always thought the legal teams they just handle all the state registrations and stuff. But there’s been a few times where I’ve worked with you know, newer companies and the legal teams that they’re working with don’t do the state filings. And like, Okay, so you just stop at the Delaware C Corp, that’s interesting.

218 00:22:54.640 00:22:59.960 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, the past folks I work with. We we went all the way. We did all this. Texas related stuff.

219 00:23:00.630 00:23:03.479 Megan Murray: Yeah, that’s how it. That’s how it should be.

220 00:23:03.780 00:23:11.300 Uttam Kumaran: It’s commonly, I think, because they need it. They need someone here. And so that firm I worked with they. They referred me to someone here. And then I,

221 00:23:11.660 00:23:15.400 Uttam Kumaran: yeah, I was able to work with them to do it. But.

222 00:23:16.680 00:23:18.160 Megan Murray: Yeah, so

223 00:23:19.570 00:23:29.560 Megan Murray: okay. But yeah, we can. I mean, if we need to just even schedule a joint call just to make sure that we’ve got everything kind of ticked and tied. That would be fine.

224 00:23:29.670 00:23:30.550 Megan Murray: So

225 00:23:31.430 00:23:45.739 Uttam Kumaran: And I guess my other question for you is like I’ve been getting some I mean, Scott in particular, told me, but I would. I don’t know. People are suggesting to just incorporate it here in Texas. I mean, really the feedback that I’ve

226 00:23:46.080 00:23:50.790 Uttam Kumaran: seen when debating, it is just like if we’re gonna raise funding

227 00:23:50.950 00:23:53.369 Uttam Kumaran: than to do it in Delaware. Otherwise

228 00:23:54.180 00:23:56.700 Uttam Kumaran: we may be able to save someone taxes. I guess, like

229 00:23:56.820 00:24:05.640 Uttam Kumaran: I don’t. I don’t like market to over complicate things, although we do have a point to make a decision. So would love like your

230 00:24:05.870 00:24:08.249 Uttam Kumaran: your feedback. We could go either way.

231 00:24:09.650 00:24:24.470 Megan Murray: Yeah, I I don’t. I don’t really have a great opinion on that. I mean, I tend to see Delaware, C. Corp. But to your point. I don’t know if that’s just like what we’ve all kind of been trained, as is the standard and is.

232 00:24:24.470 00:24:26.990 Uttam Kumaran: That’s my feeling. Yeah.

233 00:24:27.200 00:24:30.489 Megan Murray: But then you’ve even got people like like Elon, who are like.

234 00:24:30.490 00:24:31.160 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.

235 00:24:31.160 00:24:37.210 Megan Murray: Delaware and move to Texas. So I don’t. There must be reasons for it. I just don’t really know what they are.

236 00:24:37.830 00:24:45.519 Uttam Kumaran: Is there any? So I guess if minus like, you know, let’s say I don’t have like the big I mean, you know. Knock on wood. Don’t have the huge

237 00:24:45.910 00:24:57.409 Uttam Kumaran: shareholder governance disputes that they’re probably gonna have as a public company. But, like, can you talk about? The tax implications of like Delaware versus

238 00:24:57.530 00:24:58.979 Uttam Kumaran: just doing it here.

239 00:24:59.740 00:25:05.260 Megan Murray: Well, there’s I mean, the headquarters is still gonna be in Texas. So they’ll like

240 00:25:05.870 00:25:14.430 Megan Murray: we already follow the income tax. You know, rules of of the State, which is.

241 00:25:14.430 00:25:14.950 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.

242 00:25:14.950 00:25:34.065 Megan Murray: Very favorable in Texas. So that’s where I’m like I don’t. I don’t really understand, because, like there’s no there, I guess if we’re if we’re not incorporated in Delaware, then we don’t have the annual franchise filing that needs to be paid there, which

243 00:25:35.180 00:25:41.449 Megan Murray: which is basically like they calculate your annual rate based on your assets

244 00:25:41.610 00:25:46.680 Megan Murray: that you have. It’s pretty much how it’s structured. And so it’s like

245 00:25:47.270 00:26:00.280 Megan Murray: pretty much the second that you’ve got more than a million dollars in assets like that’s really where the fees start to add up, because it can be like thousands and thousands of dollars to the State of Delaware.

246 00:26:00.690 00:26:01.390 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.

247 00:26:01.650 00:26:07.220 Megan Murray: Versus. You know, we don’t really have that in Texas. So

248 00:26:08.210 00:26:19.900 Megan Murray: yeah, I I don’t know. I can do some research and see like what like, what trends people might be following, cause I I don’t know. And it it does raise

249 00:26:20.160 00:26:31.639 Megan Murray: some good questions just because it’s like, it seems like there’s becoming more of a thing like I mean, Texas is like opening its own like stock market, too. So.

250 00:26:31.640 00:26:36.859 Uttam Kumaran: Yes. Well, also, like I don’t know for me, like I’m here. I I like.

251 00:26:37.080 00:26:42.819 Uttam Kumaran: If if it was, if if they were the same. Then I would open it here 10 out of 10 times like

252 00:26:43.530 00:27:10.530 Uttam Kumaran: I. This is just where, like there are certain things in this journey that I don’t touch. And I thought, sort of Delaware C. Corp. Was gonna be one of those. But if there is a question to that, and it’s it’s and I I did some research with Chat Gpt, I’ll send you that, and it’ll give you some good starting point. But if if there’s if it’s no better or worse than I’m I’m gonna do. I’m happy to do it here and

253 00:27:10.580 00:27:21.303 Uttam Kumaran: again. It’s just like supports the state where we’re doing business in anyways. And the alternative where Robert he’s in New York. So there’s like, you know, there’s there’s no option there, anyway. So I

254 00:27:21.930 00:27:25.190 Uttam Kumaran: yeah, I I may just go with that. So

255 00:27:25.540 00:27:36.979 Uttam Kumaran: you can just come make it. We could just make a joint decision there. And I I guess I gonna I’m gonna they. They also the lawyers assume it’s gonna be Delaware. So I wanna give them give the tell them that before they

256 00:27:37.450 00:27:40.956 Uttam Kumaran: start working on everything or understand whether they can support that or not, you know.

257 00:27:42.090 00:27:43.650 Megan Murray: I don’t see why not

258 00:27:43.650 00:28:08.639 Megan Murray: they should be able to weigh in on the structure, cause it’s like from from my perspective, though, like not much changes from one way to another cause. Like Roberts in New York, he’ll continue to be in New York when he’s an employee. Then we’ll have to follow all of the labor laws for New York and Texas, anyway. So there’s not like you know, there’s there’s just really not that much like operational difference

259 00:28:08.920 00:28:10.470 Megan Murray: for me. So.

260 00:28:10.470 00:28:10.970 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.

261 00:28:10.970 00:28:11.370 Megan Murray: Yeah.

262 00:28:11.370 00:28:19.390 Uttam Kumaran: I asked. I asked them to, and they gave a they gave a kind of vague like. If you think about raising money, it’s usually this versus that, and I was like, well.

263 00:28:20.190 00:28:24.499 Uttam Kumaran: if nothing here sounds like it’s required. This sounds more of like.

264 00:28:25.340 00:28:27.012 Megan Murray: Yeah, I don’t know.

265 00:28:27.430 00:28:30.439 Megan Murray: So this is just because that’s how we’ve always done it, like, I don’t.

266 00:28:30.440 00:28:33.790 Uttam Kumaran: Sounded like it sounded like a lot like that. Yeah.

267 00:28:33.790 00:28:41.129 Megan Murray: Yeah, yeah, so well, that’s interesting. But

268 00:28:42.320 00:28:49.710 Megan Murray: yeah, I mean, I’m pretty in tune with the differences, though, between, like, why investors want a C. Corp. Versus an Llc.

269 00:28:49.710 00:28:50.450 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.

270 00:28:50.450 00:28:52.050 Megan Murray: So that makes more sense to me.

271 00:28:52.050 00:29:02.560 Uttam Kumaran: And I sort of I get the at the Elon level like they were just. They just ruled against him in a few ways that people didn’t think were possible, and so

272 00:29:02.750 00:29:11.479 Uttam Kumaran: I think it turned people off to that. But again I listen to like there, I’m not in that realm, so I I know those stories. But like.

273 00:29:11.760 00:29:23.690 Uttam Kumaran: and maybe again, maybe this is sort of how things change. But if it’s not, you know, much crazier then, and that’s that’s the feedback I got from from Vixel as well.

274 00:29:23.850 00:29:25.940 Uttam Kumaran: That like it just doesn’t seem like

275 00:29:26.690 00:29:30.725 Uttam Kumaran: I don’t know it. It’s like it seems like this is just the way it’s been done, so

276 00:29:31.400 00:29:33.750 Uttam Kumaran: nobody really knows why. Why not?

277 00:29:33.750 00:29:34.300 Megan Murray: Off.

278 00:29:35.720 00:29:42.940 Uttam Kumaran: And like, yeah, if we were, if we were raising like, if if this is like a Saas company, and we were raising significant rounds of funding. This probably wouldn’t be something that I would.

279 00:29:43.150 00:29:44.410 Uttam Kumaran: I would touch.

280 00:29:44.830 00:29:46.890 Megan Murray: Yeah, yeah, that makes sense.

281 00:29:48.160 00:29:50.290 Megan Murray: So, okay.

282 00:29:50.930 00:29:51.720 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.

283 00:29:51.720 00:30:00.229 Megan Murray: Well, yeah. So I guess most timely, definitely. Send me over. Anything that needs to be action as far as invoices.

284 00:30:01.003 00:30:27.459 Megan Murray: Send it to the the finance team box, but then also just copy me just so I can jump in and take care of it. And then, once you’ve got like that next kind of round. Then I’ll map out with my team sort of who should be doing what? But I think if we can just start to manage it through the, you know. Be a copied on executed contracts. Then we’ll know what to do at that point.

285 00:30:27.700 00:30:34.489 Megan Murray: Okay, yeah. So just send me whatever whatever needs to be done.

286 00:30:34.890 00:30:39.579 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, perfect. So yeah, I’ll I’ll have Marion add up to that process, and then I’ll just

287 00:30:40.170 00:30:49.689 Uttam Kumaran: I’ll send some notes in in slack. And then, yeah, any, I’ll have her basically forward any existing contracts. And to get executed on today.

288 00:30:52.470 00:30:54.289 Megan Murray: That sounds good.

289 00:30:59.130 00:30:59.740 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.

290 00:31:01.415 00:31:03.889 Uttam Kumaran: Perfect anything else for me?

291 00:31:06.030 00:31:10.189 Megan Murray: Oh, no, I think that should do it.

292 00:31:11.770 00:31:14.332 Megan Murray: I’m still getting caught up on

293 00:31:15.040 00:31:21.870 Megan Murray: just from last week. But yeah, think.

294 00:31:22.980 00:31:30.379 Megan Murray: is there anything else that I owe you that we need to prioritize? And and you said, you’re out starting tomorrow afternoon.

295 00:31:30.580 00:31:33.999 Uttam Kumaran: Yes, I’ll be out starting tomorrow afternoon, but, like, you know.

296 00:31:34.270 00:31:42.210 Uttam Kumaran: I’ll check my phone and make sure stuff is moving. But again on our side. Marianne is the most familiar with everything. So

297 00:31:44.260 00:31:48.230 Uttam Kumaran: I’m just gonna have her sort of own logistics and

298 00:31:48.753 00:31:55.840 Uttam Kumaran: more people are in gusto. So we’re gonna start to try to use more of the features there like expenses and things like that.

299 00:31:56.560 00:32:00.459 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, we cut. We cut up, cut a bunch of stuff this past month. So

300 00:32:01.245 00:32:02.669 Uttam Kumaran: just really good.

301 00:32:03.630 00:32:10.159 Megan Murray: Good. Good. So we can definitely, yeah, we’re definitely moving in the right direction. So.

302 00:32:11.340 00:32:19.629 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I’m just continue to spend as much of our time on on sales as possible. But it’s getting better, like we’re seeing the results in the amount of conversations, and

303 00:32:21.020 00:32:27.209 Megan Murray: Well, these are good contracts. You’re booking to like 20 K. For like a month or 6 months.

304 00:32:27.210 00:32:30.640 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, this is gonna be 20 case, I mean, let’s.

305 00:32:31.020 00:32:34.520 Uttam Kumaran: I mean, it’s gonna be. It’s gonna be at the low end. It’ll be 15.

306 00:32:35.274 00:32:37.760 Uttam Kumaran: But we’ll see. Yeah, these are

307 00:32:38.140 00:32:45.839 Uttam Kumaran: these are not, yeah. These are substantial. And and ABC was the longest contract we’ve signed to date like 6 months at.

308 00:32:46.640 00:32:51.478 Uttam Kumaran: I mean, it’s a tier based pricing. So we’ll see our job is to kind of move them up. But

309 00:32:52.300 00:32:55.330 Uttam Kumaran: and then yeah, the urban stems once you come in, and then

310 00:32:55.630 00:33:03.310 Uttam Kumaran: we’re also like again, I think amber on our side is is now getting more acutely involved with project level profitability.

311 00:33:03.420 00:33:12.216 Uttam Kumaran: which is nice, because I I’m sort of think the only one thinking about that now. So I think she’ll be a good liaison to start working on that and

312 00:33:13.190 00:33:16.339 Uttam Kumaran: there’s 3 of us that are, yeah. Go ahead.

313 00:33:16.530 00:33:33.189 Megan Murray: That was, that was one other thing that I needed on that spreadsheet. Just that kind of summary of like, who do we have active like, what are their pay rates like? I still I’ve got the financials. I’ll I’ll have those to you within the next couple of days.

314 00:33:33.530 00:33:59.921 Megan Murray: you know, we’re still doing cleanup from like flow fi, and just their mess their messy structure. But but at least like I, I think that at least starting with May, we’ll want to be able to distinguish. Okay? Well, who who was booked as internal time versus, who is rebuild so that we can look at how the revenues structured between

315 00:34:00.420 00:34:03.140 Megan Murray: just across the board that way.

316 00:34:03.330 00:34:04.630 Megan Murray: So

317 00:34:04.770 00:34:11.210 Megan Murray: but yeah, I looked and didn’t. I don’t know who’s supposed to own this, maybe. Actually, this is a Marianne thing, right?

318 00:34:11.210 00:34:16.650 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, she she was gonna do it. And then I can just follow up with her.

319 00:34:17.570 00:34:17.920 Megan Murray: Okay.

320 00:34:22.999 00:34:25.659 Uttam Kumaran: yeah, I will find that thread. And

321 00:34:29.829 00:34:32.209 Uttam Kumaran: okay, yeah, I’ll just bump. I’ll just pop this.

322 00:34:32.790 00:34:34.870 Megan Murray: Payroll changes. Was that the right.

323 00:34:34.870 00:34:35.960 Uttam Kumaran: Yes, yes.

324 00:34:35.969 00:34:36.669 Megan Murray: Okay.

325 00:34:37.679 00:34:39.859 Megan Murray: The other one was looking a little

326 00:34:40.100 00:34:45.916 Megan Murray: worst. I’m I’m gonna I’ll worst case. I’m gonna work on. This would be my plane work. So

327 00:34:46.530 00:34:47.419 Megan Murray: where are you heading?

328 00:34:47.850 00:34:51.200 Uttam Kumaran: I’m going to Argentina for a wedding.

329 00:34:51.670 00:34:54.780 Megan Murray: That’s super that’ll be so much fun. Oh, my God!

330 00:34:54.780 00:34:59.789 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, we’re we’re gonna spend a few days in Mendoza, which is like wine country.

331 00:34:59.790 00:35:00.279 Megan Murray: Oh, yeah.

332 00:35:00.745 00:35:04.000 Uttam Kumaran: So we’re going there. Oh, really, wow!

333 00:35:04.000 00:35:12.110 Megan Murray: Yeah, we went for our honeymoon. We went to Chile and and Mendoza. That was the only place we went in Argentina. But yeah, it was super cool.

334 00:35:12.990 00:35:13.930 Uttam Kumaran: How was it?

335 00:35:14.380 00:35:30.620 Megan Murray: The weather’s great, I mean, there’s like we did. We pretty much just had a couple of days there, and did the like wine tasting and just sort of walking around the town. It was just it was just really nice. So

336 00:35:30.940 00:35:35.110 Megan Murray: good food, I mean, yeah, you’ll have a great time.

337 00:35:35.943 00:35:41.550 Uttam Kumaran: And then we’re gonna so we’re there for a few days, and then we’re going to Buenos Aires for the wedding on Saturday. So.

338 00:35:41.940 00:35:42.490 Megan Murray: Yeah.

339 00:35:42.490 00:35:53.049 Uttam Kumaran: A good break. Actually, I I feel like I don’t know in the in doing this business I never feel like it’s a good time to take a break, although this is the best time there’s ever been. I feel like we actually have.

340 00:35:53.300 00:35:58.249 Uttam Kumaran: There’s a lot of stuff going on without my involvement, which is like so so so amazing.

341 00:35:58.824 00:36:04.310 Uttam Kumaran: And I feel like, now that y’all are here, I I feel a lot better on the finance side. And

342 00:36:04.650 00:36:06.860 Uttam Kumaran: alright, yeah, so.

343 00:36:07.320 00:36:08.120 Megan Murray: Yeah.

344 00:36:08.680 00:36:14.879 Megan Murray: Well, yeah, let’s we’ll make sure that we don’t bounce anything else from gusto. So.

345 00:36:14.880 00:36:15.550 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.

346 00:36:15.550 00:36:25.120 Megan Murray: Yeah, yeah, that was scary. But so if if you’re good with that, then it sounds like things are just sort of in flight, and we’ll let them

347 00:36:26.090 00:36:27.320 Megan Murray: go.

348 00:36:28.500 00:36:29.210 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.

349 00:36:29.690 00:36:36.089 Megan Murray: Okay, yeah. This one. Okay.

350 00:36:37.000 00:36:50.149 Megan Murray: Well, cool. Well, I’ll get you the financials. I’m also I’m out tomorrow afternoon just for a doctor thing. But I’ll yeah, definitely get you something. And we can just work on

351 00:36:50.480 00:36:59.280 Megan Murray: just how, how do we want to structure things? So that we’re actually getting good data out of the financials as opposed to just trying to check a box.

352 00:36:59.600 00:37:00.390 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.

353 00:37:01.090 00:37:03.080 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, okay, perfect.

354 00:37:04.940 00:37:07.030 Uttam Kumaran: Okay. Thank you. Megan. Appreciate the time.

355 00:37:07.390 00:37:10.829 Megan Murray: Yeah, yeah, thanks for reaching out. And I was

356 00:37:10.970 00:37:19.959 Megan Murray: feeling like I needed to do a lot more catch up. But I think yeah, other than those invoices we’re in pretty good shape for now, at least so.

357 00:37:20.280 00:37:21.440 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I agree.

358 00:37:22.250 00:37:30.320 Megan Murray: Awesome. We’ll have so much fun, and I’ll just ping me. I’m around I’m around this week and happy to take care of whatever we need.

359 00:37:30.720 00:37:32.889 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, okay, perfect. Thank you so much.

360 00:37:33.240 00:37:34.649 Megan Murray: Talk to you soon.

361 00:37:34.880 00:37:35.295 Uttam Kumaran: Thanks.

362 00:37:35.710 00:37:36.350 Megan Murray: I.