Meeting Title: Jesse Program Fit Discussion Date: 2025-08-08 Meeting participants: Fireflies.ai Notetaker Lea, chirag kulkarni, Robert Tseng
WEBVTT
1 00:01:30.210 ⇒ 00:01:31.210 Robert Tseng: Hey! Gerard?
2 00:01:37.190 ⇒ 00:01:39.340 chirag kulkarni: Hey, Robert, how are you?
3 00:01:39.640 ⇒ 00:01:40.690 Robert Tseng: Good! How are you?
4 00:01:40.690 ⇒ 00:01:44.180 chirag kulkarni: I’m good. I’m good. I’m just in the city. So I’m just
5 00:01:44.440 ⇒ 00:01:47.709 chirag kulkarni: New York City. So I’m just gonna be off camera just walking around.
6 00:01:48.070 ⇒ 00:01:48.860 Robert Tseng: No worries.
7 00:01:49.170 ⇒ 00:01:50.590 Robert Tseng: Welcome to the city.
8 00:01:53.360 ⇒ 00:01:54.240 chirag kulkarni: Say again.
9 00:01:54.530 ⇒ 00:01:55.959 Robert Tseng: I said, Welcome to the city.
10 00:01:55.960 ⇒ 00:01:57.199 chirag kulkarni: Are you in New York, too.
11 00:01:57.390 ⇒ 00:01:58.680 Robert Tseng: I live in New York. Yep.
12 00:01:58.680 ⇒ 00:01:59.939 chirag kulkarni: Oh, sweet! We’re in New York.
13 00:02:01.210 ⇒ 00:02:03.049 Robert Tseng: I’m in Columbus Circle.
14 00:02:03.470 ⇒ 00:02:04.600 chirag kulkarni: Oh, cool!
15 00:02:04.870 ⇒ 00:02:06.860 chirag kulkarni: I’m in downtown, Brooklyn.
16 00:02:07.740 ⇒ 00:02:11.269 Robert Tseng: Okay, yeah. I mean, it’s a it’s a beautiful day to be here.
17 00:02:11.280 ⇒ 00:02:19.829 chirag kulkarni: Oh, I know I was just thinking that I came to Tribeca for a meeting and just heading back home. But I was like man. Today is nice.
18 00:02:20.150 ⇒ 00:02:23.929 Robert Tseng: Yeah, yeah. You picked a good time to come. We’re we’re usually made.
19 00:02:23.930 ⇒ 00:02:26.029 chirag kulkarni: Oh, no, I’m based in New York usually.
20 00:02:26.030 ⇒ 00:02:27.269 Robert Tseng: Oh, okay, okay. Got it.
21 00:02:27.380 ⇒ 00:02:29.450 chirag kulkarni: Yeah, yeah. But it’s beautiful today.
22 00:02:30.640 ⇒ 00:02:31.170 Robert Tseng: Nice.
23 00:02:31.790 ⇒ 00:02:52.269 Robert Tseng: Well, thanks for taking the time to jump on call I mean I guess. I don’t know what Vernon mentioned to you. But I basically just asked to connect with another. I guess. Alumni Jesse program. And yeah, I think just deciding whether or not this program is the right right fit for us. So.
24 00:02:52.270 ⇒ 00:02:53.010 chirag kulkarni: Yeah. Yeah.
25 00:02:54.230 ⇒ 00:02:56.209 chirag kulkarni: Happy to be resource in any way.
26 00:02:56.670 ⇒ 00:03:15.760 Robert Tseng: Okay, yeah, I mean, feel free to share as well as much as you want. But I mean, I’m just. I think I was just being real Vernon like, hey? It felt like most of the people that he was talking to. They’re not where we’re at, you know. We, you know, we do more than a million in revenue a year. And yeah, I’m just looking to see. Like, how do people? Actually, I mean, I’m not.
27 00:03:15.840 ⇒ 00:03:30.116 Robert Tseng: I don’t know. Just based on some of the early calls that I jumped on with. The folks that were in the cohort. It seemed like a lot of them were just very early in their journey and didn’t really feel like there was much
28 00:03:30.800 ⇒ 00:03:53.729 Robert Tseng: I I didn’t really identify with a lot of the stuff that people were asking about. So I think he just pointed out that you were somebody who had found a lot of success with the program brought a lot of business. And so yeah, I mean, I think we’re in like a trying to grow from one to 10 phase, not necessarily 0 to one phase and just wanted to know specifically how you felt like Jesse program, help your you and your business.
29 00:03:55.000 ⇒ 00:03:58.010 chirag kulkarni: Yeah, and tell me more about the company. Just so I have some context.
30 00:03:58.200 ⇒ 00:04:20.750 Robert Tseng: Yeah, so we’re a data. And AI consultancy. Yeah, we work with mostly, or it’s a mix Cpg businesses, but at least doing 10 million in revenue and then usually venture back Saas companies that are trying to stand up their data function. So we basically operate as a fractional data team for these types of brands.
31 00:04:21.100 ⇒ 00:04:24.450 chirag kulkarni: Oh, that’s amazing! And and what types of brands! Maybe you said that I missed it.
32 00:04:25.080 ⇒ 00:04:33.516 Robert Tseng: Yeah. So on the Cpg side, we work with brands that are doing 10 million a year or more in revenue that are trying to grow to that 100 million plus
33 00:04:34.250 ⇒ 00:04:52.529 Robert Tseng: I think we’ve we’ve had a few good case studies of clients that are that we still work with where we are their data team. And they don’t. Yeah, that’s I think that’s like one Icp for us. And then on the software side usually better backed companies that are
34 00:04:52.790 ⇒ 00:04:59.290 Robert Tseng: just trying to build out their their data function. So yeah, I think we’ve we’ve been able to
35 00:04:59.820 ⇒ 00:05:02.080 Robert Tseng: be there to help them make
36 00:05:02.190 ⇒ 00:05:08.802 Robert Tseng: decisions to to hire their data like, just you build it, build a data infrastructure for them. So
37 00:05:09.150 ⇒ 00:05:09.740 chirag kulkarni: Cool.
38 00:05:09.740 ⇒ 00:05:14.650 Robert Tseng: Yeah, it’s more of an engineering, very engineering, heavy tech services company.
39 00:05:14.880 ⇒ 00:05:21.400 Robert Tseng: right? Like our average like deal size is, you know, like 50 k plus. So like it’s, it’s not like, yeah.
40 00:05:22.140 ⇒ 00:05:29.524 chirag kulkarni: Oh, that’s awesome. And, by the way, we are very similar. Ish icps. So hopefully, some of the stuff that I share will be helpful.
41 00:05:29.820 ⇒ 00:05:30.230 Robert Tseng: Okay.
42 00:05:30.230 ⇒ 00:05:42.319 chirag kulkarni: That’s good contact. So a little background about me, and how I got introduced. And, by the way, happy to take this, however, you think is most helpful to you. I you know I had started Taco
43 00:05:43.380 ⇒ 00:05:47.600 chirag kulkarni: since joining the program, maybe a year or so ago.
44 00:05:48.010 ⇒ 00:05:52.449 chirag kulkarni: and it’s been about 2 years for us a little bit over 2 years now, and.
45 00:05:52.450 ⇒ 00:05:53.130 Robert Tseng: Okay.
46 00:05:53.580 ⇒ 00:06:08.920 chirag kulkarni: You know, I I was like, Hey, like, I wanna basically help companies in the AI search space, right? So helping them optimize for Google chat Gpt type products, right? So that they show up and that drives visibility and conversions. Right? So
47 00:06:10.560 ⇒ 00:06:18.980 chirag kulkarni: you know, I had worked with a handful of businesses. Some of them was like through cold email. But like I, you know, I’d been a Cmo before. So I had a little bit of
48 00:06:19.140 ⇒ 00:06:26.479 chirag kulkarni: something like some network, some reputation, right? And I had some friends, etc, right? But that was the extent. Yeah. And
49 00:06:26.720 ⇒ 00:06:38.639 chirag kulkarni: I was like, look like, I need to figure out a scalable, repeatable way for me to actually get customers. And I ran across Jesse’s like mutual intro process over email.
50 00:06:39.150 ⇒ 00:06:41.139 chirag kulkarni: And I was like, you know.
51 00:06:41.580 ⇒ 00:06:53.890 chirag kulkarni: I think this is interesting, and I just tried it myself. I ended up hiring a Va. And I kind of ran a little bit of it on my own. And I actually got a sale through the mutual intro process, which for like 6 grand a month.
52 00:06:54.020 ⇒ 00:07:05.399 chirag kulkarni: And that was like, Okay, interesting. And then they they came out and they launched this this program. So I was like, I even asked them, I was like, Why would I do this if I already got a sale from it, and I already know what to do.
53 00:07:05.935 ⇒ 00:07:06.470 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
54 00:07:06.470 ⇒ 00:07:10.979 chirag kulkarni: Right like I’m not a fool right? And they’re like, Look
55 00:07:12.430 ⇒ 00:07:16.050 chirag kulkarni: They didn’t say this, but I’ll tell you. My my answer back is like.
56 00:07:16.240 ⇒ 00:07:19.849 chirag kulkarni: it’s 1 thing to know how to do things at an elementary level.
57 00:07:20.390 ⇒ 00:07:24.950 chirag kulkarni: It’s another thing to know how to actually execute it and scale it right.
58 00:07:24.950 ⇒ 00:07:25.310 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
59 00:07:25.310 ⇒ 00:07:27.810 chirag kulkarni: And my rationale was okay.
60 00:07:28.260 ⇒ 00:07:44.070 chirag kulkarni: 5. Grand to learn. This is a drop in the bucket for the Acvs that I’m going after. And at the time my acvs were maybe like 36 to 40 KA year, and now my acvs is about 2 50 to 300 KA year.
61 00:07:44.870 ⇒ 00:07:45.990 Robert Tseng: Wow, yeah.
62 00:07:45.990 ⇒ 00:07:53.330 chirag kulkarni: And I mean, part of that part of that movement of market is because we’ve grown right. We’ve more than doubled since last year.
63 00:07:55.542 ⇒ 00:08:07.140 chirag kulkarni: But you know, I learned a lot also through this program, and I was very aggressive about taking advantage of every potential lesson or person in a in a hopefully, in a
64 00:08:07.200 ⇒ 00:08:22.859 chirag kulkarni: New York way that you’ll hopefully take that not in a mischievous way, but like I was just like man like if I’m paying 5 grand. I better get a hundred grand worth of value, or at least get my money back right is the way that I thought about it. And I figured, Hey, I already done this, and I got one sale.
65 00:08:22.860 ⇒ 00:08:37.650 chirag kulkarni: What? What’s gonna be so bad? Right like you’re you have a business. You have a profitable company, sure that you know the margin. I think at that time like maybe we were doing. I can’t. I honestly don’t know, and don’t remember. But maybe 30 KA month in profit.
66 00:08:37.860 ⇒ 00:08:42.340 chirag kulkarni: Sounds like, you know, 5 K. It’s a lot of money, but it’s okay.
67 00:08:42.500 ⇒ 00:08:46.410 chirag kulkarni: But I was like, if this can teach me what needs to be done.
68 00:08:46.890 ⇒ 00:08:49.279 chirag kulkarni: It’s well worth me doing it.
69 00:08:49.780 ⇒ 00:08:50.420 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
70 00:08:50.780 ⇒ 00:08:52.250 chirag kulkarni: That was my, that was my thinking.
71 00:08:53.040 ⇒ 00:09:20.439 Robert Tseng: Okay, yeah, no. I think I resonate with a lot of what you’re saying. Like, I feel like, Yeah, sure, I got a lot of the bases covered, and maybe I don’t execute them at like the expert level that that you were kind of describing, but like everything that was kind of mentioned in the program. We’ve at least tried or like have something for it. We’re not starting from nothing. But yeah, you know, I think if you really being able to scale it up and execute a higher level has big, big impact. I think that’s that’s big
72 00:09:20.830 ⇒ 00:09:28.541 Robert Tseng: for you, like, what do you think was like the I’m sure there wasn’t like a Matt silver bullet like. But like, what? What do you feel like? Really? Kind of
73 00:09:29.160 ⇒ 00:09:34.869 Robert Tseng: what? What was that like moment for you where you were like, yeah, I’m definitely getting the value I want from this.
74 00:09:35.160 ⇒ 00:09:37.959 chirag kulkarni: I think, you know, like I said, it’s 1 thing to
75 00:09:38.720 ⇒ 00:09:59.950 chirag kulkarni: be doing this at a smaller scale. Ish, it’s another thing to like, create the sheet. What’s the outreach process? What messages resonate, what messages don’t resonate like, you know, and even like maybe smaller, like things that don’t really matter like, you know, this this thing has kind of completely changed me. Where I’m like, man.
76 00:10:02.280 ⇒ 00:10:07.719 chirag kulkarni: I was like, man. How can I ask people that I don’t really know if I can be introduced to someone.
77 00:10:07.990 ⇒ 00:10:08.690 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
78 00:10:09.220 ⇒ 00:10:15.130 chirag kulkarni: And you know, Jesse, at the time was like, look if
79 00:10:15.820 ⇒ 00:10:18.629 chirag kulkarni: if you’re my friend, I’m gonna help you.
80 00:10:18.930 ⇒ 00:10:20.809 chirag kulkarni: and if you’re not my friend
81 00:10:20.930 ⇒ 00:10:34.489 chirag kulkarni: like. It’s not that I’m not gonna help you, but like, I’m not really gonna care what your thought or opinion is, in some sense, and I’m re, I’m paraphrasing what you’re saying. But that was kind of like, Wow, like some people that have attained like some level of success.
82 00:10:34.700 ⇒ 00:10:55.310 chirag kulkarni: They’re they’re just out there getting it done, and they don’t really think too much about what is this going to be perceived as and whatnot? And you just you kind of have to test and learn and make mistakes. And so you know, I’ve kind of taken that to a lot of different areas. But like, that’s something I just learned through osmosis just by going through stuff and just seeing how
83 00:10:56.060 ⇒ 00:11:06.229 chirag kulkarni: somebody who executes at a at a different level than I do, kind of thinks and behaves, and that, I mean is the reason I don’t share that. The 1st thing is because I frankly
84 00:11:06.500 ⇒ 00:11:20.659 chirag kulkarni: didn’t care to learn that or know what that even was. But those are some of the things that I learned as a result that are less tangible, but have completely changed the way that I pursue things or view things. And there, that’s 1 of many such
85 00:11:20.940 ⇒ 00:11:26.829 chirag kulkarni: things or other aspects that I’ve I’ve learned. And then there’s like other software elements. I don’t think
86 00:11:27.000 ⇒ 00:11:39.879 chirag kulkarni: these are like the reasons to join, but, like, you know, you do have other cohort members. There’s like a level of like helping each other out. That’s there like you get to know, Andrew, you get to know Jesse, like I mean, that is of its value, too. Outside of.
87 00:11:40.010 ⇒ 00:11:41.930 chirag kulkarni: you know, this stuff. So.
88 00:11:42.160 ⇒ 00:11:42.610 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
89 00:11:42.610 ⇒ 00:11:45.800 chirag kulkarni: But I think if you’re like, look, man, I’m trying to get to
90 00:11:46.210 ⇒ 00:11:49.259 chirag kulkarni: 200 5,300 KA month in profit.
91 00:11:49.500 ⇒ 00:11:59.991 chirag kulkarni: What are. What’s the way that I do this? I I don’t know if there’s a real better way than this, and there’s other things that will help you get there, in my opinion. From what I’ve learned,
92 00:12:00.800 ⇒ 00:12:04.420 chirag kulkarni: But I just, I just think, like the cost of value is so
93 00:12:04.840 ⇒ 00:12:10.660 chirag kulkarni: obvious. If this is a channel that you want to run, and my hunch is in businesses like ours.
94 00:12:11.080 ⇒ 00:12:16.450 chirag kulkarni: like it is foolish not to try to run this and get good at this, because this is just such an unlock
95 00:12:16.580 ⇒ 00:12:19.629 chirag kulkarni: in general. Yeah, it’s your network. I mean, there’s nothing more
96 00:12:20.050 ⇒ 00:12:22.859 chirag kulkarni: that that I need to say them that you know.
97 00:12:23.240 ⇒ 00:12:23.950 Robert Tseng: For sure.
98 00:12:24.170 ⇒ 00:12:30.410 Robert Tseng: Okay, yeah, no. I think. That’s that’s that’s reassuring to kind of hear that. That’s I mean.
99 00:12:30.780 ⇒ 00:12:38.190 Robert Tseng: yeah, I’m I feel like I’m I’m I’m glad to hear that. That’s that that work that worked for you and yeah, you you felt like
100 00:12:38.920 ⇒ 00:12:49.969 Robert Tseng: you were able to. It just brought you to a higher level of like things that you were doing. And and you could see, see that value. Yeah, I think I think you’re right. Sometimes as entrepreneurs, we kind of
101 00:12:50.160 ⇒ 00:12:56.029 Robert Tseng: too scrappy for our own good. We feel like, Yeah, we can figure it out and like, maybe it would like. Maybe it would just take some time.
102 00:12:56.030 ⇒ 00:12:56.440 chirag kulkarni: Yeah.
103 00:12:56.560 ⇒ 00:12:59.191 Robert Tseng: But if you can really accelerate it, and
104 00:12:59.520 ⇒ 00:13:00.150 chirag kulkarni: Yeah.
105 00:13:00.150 ⇒ 00:13:01.759 Robert Tseng: Yeah. Not have to go through.
106 00:13:01.900 ⇒ 00:13:03.489 Robert Tseng: you know, as many of the
107 00:13:03.910 ⇒ 00:13:07.650 Robert Tseng: hoops and hurdles to like get to the same outcome. Then, you know, maybe.
108 00:13:07.650 ⇒ 00:13:09.079 chirag kulkarni: Yeah, it is worth it. Yeah.
109 00:13:09.080 ⇒ 00:13:19.459 chirag kulkarni: exactly. And my perspective was just like, if I can pay somebody 5 grand to teach me everything there is to know about this one strategy that has generated somebody else a hundred 1 million dollars.
110 00:13:19.620 ⇒ 00:13:31.179 chirag kulkarni: and it’s relevant to my business, and I’ve had success with it. Wouldn’t I be a fool not to do that now, of course, like there’s all kinds of courses out there, and I’ve done maybe one of them.
111 00:13:31.290 ⇒ 00:13:34.910 chirag kulkarni: and it’s not that it doesn’t work, but it’s very different.
112 00:13:35.050 ⇒ 00:13:38.920 chirag kulkarni: It’s not selling like I’ve I’ve done, you know. One thing.
113 00:13:39.060 ⇒ 00:13:46.299 chirag kulkarni: it’s a while ago, just for exploration purposes, and perhaps, like I didn’t put in my full all here. But, like.
114 00:13:46.420 ⇒ 00:13:55.329 chirag kulkarni: you know, it’s like, Hey, how do you get customers through Facebook ads? I don’t think a Cpg founder that’s doing 50 million a year in revenue is gonna find you on Facebook.
115 00:13:56.210 ⇒ 00:14:08.280 chirag kulkarni: Yeah. The the answer is, they probably 99% of the time will not. But they will find you through mutual intro, because you’re going to get a direct. It’s just it’s just very structurally clear how this ends up, turning into revenue.
116 00:14:08.830 ⇒ 00:14:11.900 Robert Tseng: Yeah, okay.
117 00:14:12.320 ⇒ 00:14:17.700 Robert Tseng: yeah, that’s great. I mean, if you if you have one more time for one more question, I’d love to know, like at your stage like.
118 00:14:17.880 ⇒ 00:14:26.699 Robert Tseng: Yeah, how do you select? Like? I mean, I don’t know if you have a board, or like other advisors like, you know, there’s a kind of like wanting to find people to coach you like.
119 00:14:26.700 ⇒ 00:14:27.240 Robert Tseng: yeah
120 00:14:27.240 ⇒ 00:14:32.830 Robert Tseng: stage that you’re in sounds like, you’re probably a couple of steps ahead of us, and I’m curious. What does that look like for you now?
121 00:14:32.830 ⇒ 00:14:37.580 chirag kulkarni: Can I ask, where? Where are you guys from? Like, whatever you’re comfortable sharing.
122 00:14:37.580 ⇒ 00:14:41.310 Robert Tseng: Yeah, we do 100 KA month in revenue. That’s kind of where we’re at right now.
123 00:14:41.310 ⇒ 00:14:43.690 chirag kulkarni: A month in row, and what’s profit on that.
124 00:14:44.060 ⇒ 00:14:47.530 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I mean, our margins are like 50 to 60%. Yeah.
125 00:14:47.530 ⇒ 00:14:47.989 chirag kulkarni: It is cool.
126 00:14:47.990 ⇒ 00:14:49.420 Robert Tseng: Month. So, yeah.
127 00:14:49.420 ⇒ 00:14:53.965 chirag kulkarni: So you were in a similar position to where I was. It sounds like
128 00:14:54.690 ⇒ 00:14:56.380 Robert Tseng: Yeah, the business. So.
129 00:14:56.690 ⇒ 00:14:59.239 chirag kulkarni: How do I surround myself? I mean dude? Honestly.
130 00:14:59.730 ⇒ 00:15:13.730 chirag kulkarni: it’s people through the cohort. It’s people like you that are a similar place in their business right? Like, you know, the business for us. Just to give you context, we’re probably doing a little bit over 130 KA month in profit today.
131 00:15:16.620 ⇒ 00:15:18.980 chirag kulkarni: So net net profit. Right? So yeah, yeah,
132 00:15:22.150 ⇒ 00:15:25.970 chirag kulkarni: you know, it’s it’s like having other like minded people that are
133 00:15:26.200 ⇒ 00:15:32.379 chirag kulkarni: in that range, and I don’t think the problems that we have at 130 KA month in profit.
134 00:15:32.540 ⇒ 00:15:47.329 chirag kulkarni: They can be dissimilar to the problems that happen at 20 KA month. But it depends what you’re trying to build and what you’re trying to run at right like this concept of like, Hey, you need to hire ahead from a pod structure perspective. 1st of all, I didn’t even know what the hell a pod was.
135 00:15:47.530 ⇒ 00:16:01.369 chirag kulkarni: let alone what what is, what is even hiring. I would never think hiring ahead makes sense. Because I’m like, why would you spend money that you don’t absolutely need to spend? But well, I’ll tell you why, and maybe maybe this is obvious to you. But
136 00:16:02.120 ⇒ 00:16:03.949 chirag kulkarni: because when you start growing
137 00:16:04.170 ⇒ 00:16:16.540 chirag kulkarni: and you start getting customers, and you don’t have the right people on board, even though you have to kind of like, eat the cost for a little bit. The problem that happens is then you end up bringing on the wrong people, and then you gotta fire them in weeks
138 00:16:16.980 ⇒ 00:16:20.750 chirag kulkarni: because doesn’t work out like I’m just like sharing.
139 00:16:21.110 ⇒ 00:16:21.760 Robert Tseng: Yeah, from our.
140 00:16:21.760 ⇒ 00:16:22.170 chirag kulkarni: Like.
141 00:16:22.170 ⇒ 00:16:28.919 Robert Tseng: We’ve been. We’ve been going through that cycle. It’s it’s yeah. It’s it’s been rough trying to find. Yeah.
142 00:16:29.310 ⇒ 00:16:32.639 chirag kulkarni: But like, that’s something I learned from the from the course.
143 00:16:32.920 ⇒ 00:16:33.450 Robert Tseng: Hmm.
144 00:16:33.690 ⇒ 00:16:36.700 chirag kulkarni: I didn’t believe it, which is why I didn’t do it. But I’m just
145 00:16:36.870 ⇒ 00:16:48.840 chirag kulkarni: reflecting now as you’re asking me like, what did you learn like dude. I learned that, actually. And I’m now went through it. And now I’m hiring for one extra pod and putting them on payroll ahead of time.
146 00:16:49.330 ⇒ 00:16:55.700 chirag kulkarni: because we’re growing quickly. And I know if I look at last last quarter, you know. Q. 4 Q. 3 for us is
147 00:16:55.960 ⇒ 00:16:59.299 chirag kulkarni: they’re they definitely swing up relative to Q. 2.
148 00:17:00.300 ⇒ 00:17:16.420 chirag kulkarni: I don’t know. Like, how would you know that? I think by talking to people that have done things ahead of you, and still not listening to them, but then doing it so long, long, winded way of me to answer, this is like, I’ve gotten to know some great bootstrap founders through this program
149 00:17:16.579 ⇒ 00:17:29.370 chirag kulkarni: that I’ve just gotten to know. Like in New York City, I have like 3 friends. One of them runs an E-com business. So it’s like, not really that relevant but self funded. I talked to him a lot. Another guy runs a services business, Bootstrap. I talked to him quite a bit
150 00:17:29.959 ⇒ 00:17:39.459 chirag kulkarni: and then I talked to another guy who also runs a Bootstrap founder he was our founder. He probably does 70 KA month in revenue so a little less than you. But
151 00:17:40.100 ⇒ 00:17:47.940 chirag kulkarni: you know, like he’s running through problems if he’s doing all the fulfillment. But the thing is, there’s still relatability there and then I can say, Hey, man, like
152 00:17:48.090 ⇒ 00:17:50.750 chirag kulkarni: I’m trying to give a good example like I had to.
153 00:17:50.930 ⇒ 00:17:57.390 chirag kulkarni: This is me being very honest and raw with you, but like I have to fire someone after 3 weeks
154 00:17:57.660 ⇒ 00:17:59.030 chirag kulkarni: like this week.
155 00:17:59.580 ⇒ 00:18:08.539 chirag kulkarni: So what do you do? Do you do you give them something to be like, hey, man, I’m sorry this didn’t work. You’re supposed to join full time on September one.
156 00:18:08.850 ⇒ 00:18:25.080 chirag kulkarni: or do you? Do you just say no man like it didn’t work. This is a business like, goodbye. The end. Yeah. And then what do you do for the recruiter that placed them? You pay them something, do you? Not? Because they technically didn’t start, you know, stuff like this like, I don’t have a board
157 00:18:25.680 ⇒ 00:18:34.439 chirag kulkarni: so, and I don’t have co-founders. So I have to talk to other founders that are in similar positions to me. Now my venture funded founders who are living in a different planet, so.
158 00:18:34.440 ⇒ 00:18:39.530 Robert Tseng: Yeah, it’s a totally different game. Yeah, no, I I feel that. Yeah.
159 00:18:39.990 ⇒ 00:18:44.299 Robert Tseng: okay, no. I mean, that’s I mean, I I didn’t know you were in New York, I mean I would love to.
160 00:18:44.300 ⇒ 00:18:46.749 chirag kulkarni: We should totally chill. I’d love to.
161 00:18:46.750 ⇒ 00:18:49.329 chirag kulkarni: I’d love to to meet you and pick your brain a bit more.
162 00:18:49.330 ⇒ 00:18:51.250 chirag kulkarni: Yeah, it looks good. I’m more than down.
163 00:18:51.770 ⇒ 00:18:52.460 Robert Tseng: Okay.
164 00:18:52.720 ⇒ 00:19:07.560 Robert Tseng: yeah, I appreciate. I appreciate your time, though. Yeah, I I think I mean, I’m gonna give give you guys an answer. I, I do have a business partner, actually. But yeah, we’re bootstrapped. You know, we’ve we’ve been running this for a little a little over 2 years at this point. And
165 00:19:08.027 ⇒ 00:19:10.179 Robert Tseng: yeah, I mean, it just sounds like
166 00:19:10.340 ⇒ 00:19:13.259 Robert Tseng: it’s it’s great that you found people that you can
167 00:19:13.630 ⇒ 00:19:22.350 Robert Tseng: kind of view as as peers, or just kind of thought partners like, I don’t really feel like we’ve met too many people doing what we’re doing, or, you know, something adjacent to that. So.
168 00:19:22.670 ⇒ 00:19:39.130 chirag kulkarni: Dude. It’s it’s hard, too, right, because, like not many people are self funded, at least in the pools that I run in statistically. Most of them have raised something, I think now it’s changing a little bit, but like again, like, I think that’s like a side benefit of this, too, like. I don’t think it’s the reason you do this. But
169 00:19:39.520 ⇒ 00:19:45.229 chirag kulkarni: 5 grand for all of this, and the some of the tangible things I mentioned to me
170 00:19:45.520 ⇒ 00:19:49.110 chirag kulkarni: was like. It was a little hard in the beginning, but like
171 00:19:49.420 ⇒ 00:20:02.069 chirag kulkarni: I think my mindset has just changed a little bit where I’m just like man to grow. Not only do you have to spend, but you have to spend in places that you just don’t have the time to then learn on your own. You’re just gonna waste your own time if you do that. So.
172 00:20:03.670 ⇒ 00:20:09.030 Robert Tseng: Yeah, you’re right. I think. That’s that’s totally fair. Yeah.
173 00:20:10.250 ⇒ 00:20:12.694 Robert Tseng: Okay. Well, thanks for thanks for your time.
174 00:20:13.000 ⇒ 00:20:13.660 chirag kulkarni: Yeah.
175 00:20:13.970 ⇒ 00:20:18.490 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I I’ll I guess I got your email now. So hopefully, we can set up time.
176 00:20:18.490 ⇒ 00:20:20.810 Robert Tseng: Yeah, let’s do it. I’d love that.
177 00:20:20.810 ⇒ 00:20:22.469 chirag kulkarni: Enjoy it. Enjoy the rest of the day.
178 00:20:22.470 ⇒ 00:20:24.860 chirag kulkarni: You, too, man, get out there. It’s really nice outside.
179 00:20:25.100 ⇒ 00:20:28.189 Robert Tseng: I will alright take care! Bye, bye.