Meeting Title: Brainforge Strategy Role Interview Date: 2026-03-11 Meeting participants: Fanu Sisay, Kaela Gallagher
WEBVTT
1 00:01:04.700 ⇒ 00:01:06.390 Kaela Gallagher: Hi, how’s it going?
2 00:01:06.650 ⇒ 00:01:08.279 Fanu Sisay: Kayla, hi, how are you?
3 00:01:08.660 ⇒ 00:01:19.130 Kaela Gallagher: Doing well, thanks for taking some time for me, and yeah, apologies if there’s noise in the background, but I’m, like, co-working with some brain-forged people right now, so we’re in an office.
4 00:01:19.130 ⇒ 00:01:21.599 Fanu Sisay: No, no worries, no worries. Where are you guys?
5 00:01:22.080 ⇒ 00:01:24.829 Kaela Gallagher: We’re in LA. What about you?
6 00:01:24.830 ⇒ 00:01:28.750 Fanu Sisay: Sweet. I’m, based out of New York, Brooklyn, to be specific.
7 00:01:29.160 ⇒ 00:01:34.799 Kaela Gallagher: Okay, okay, awesome. I’m curious how you found Brainforge.
8 00:01:35.650 ⇒ 00:01:38.540 Fanu Sisay: I wouldn’t say that I came across it on…
9 00:01:39.400 ⇒ 00:01:56.709 Fanu Sisay: Yeah, now that I think about it, no, it was LinkedIn. Okay. And I was going through the application interface, and I noticed that they request a video, which I was actually a big fan of, because I feel like, one, that, you know.
10 00:01:57.040 ⇒ 00:02:03.530 Fanu Sisay: Makes everyone unique, and makes an application, you know, not just, like, a bot process.
11 00:02:03.910 ⇒ 00:02:11.110 Fanu Sisay: And I was super excited to shoot a video and, you know, go through the process, and I saw that you can’t really,
12 00:02:11.230 ⇒ 00:02:29.429 Fanu Sisay: send through a video, or I didn’t have Loom, and I wanted to just take a video on my Mac, but there wasn’t an insert for a file. So I reached out to, I don’t know how to pronounce his name, but, I reached out to someone on the team and, you know, was able to…
13 00:02:29.570 ⇒ 00:02:31.250 Fanu Sisay: Get this, yeah, so, awesome.
14 00:02:31.250 ⇒ 00:02:41.510 Kaela Gallagher: Okay, awesome, cool. Well, glad, glad we’re here. And you’re… I’m assuming you were looking into, like, one of our, kind of, strategy positions, like, an analyst or associate role?
15 00:02:42.000 ⇒ 00:02:53.889 Fanu Sisay: 100%. Yeah, most of my background is in, data analytics. I did some project management work, but definitely consider myself, more on the analytical side. Yeah.
16 00:02:54.370 ⇒ 00:02:57.659 Kaela Gallagher: Okay, okay, cool. Yeah.
17 00:02:57.790 ⇒ 00:03:08.299 Kaela Gallagher: I guess just to tell you, like, a little bit about Brainforge first, and then kind of, like, the position that we’re hiring for right now. So we’re a data and AI consulting firm.
18 00:03:08.360 ⇒ 00:03:20.959 Kaela Gallagher: So work with clients across all industries, just kind of advising on data and AI, but then also, like, we have an engineering team that can actually do the implementations as well. So…
19 00:03:20.970 ⇒ 00:03:38.060 Kaela Gallagher: for the strategy role we’re hiring for right now, we’re looking for somebody, obviously, that’s familiar with, the data and AI side of the house and can speak that language, somebody that’s comfortable working with AI tools, we’re very, like, AI-native and using that as the brain of our company.
20 00:03:38.200 ⇒ 00:03:56.139 Kaela Gallagher: But then also somebody that’s, like, really, comfortable being client-facing, and somebody that can, yeah, just kind of present ideas to clients in a way that makes sense. So, yeah, that’s… that’s an overview. Just curious, I guess, first off, if you have any questions about Brainforge.
21 00:03:57.530 ⇒ 00:04:17.370 Fanu Sisay: Yeah, so, one, I just wanted to say, that sounds like a great role. I definitely see a lot of similarities with my background and that role. Even specifically, I know, just, like, snooping through the website, I saw that, Vita Coco is, one of your, clients, and I also work with,
22 00:04:17.610 ⇒ 00:04:23.239 Fanu Sisay: a beverage, client, PepsiCo specifically, and,
23 00:04:23.240 ⇒ 00:04:39.859 Fanu Sisay: we do a lot of data work in their, you know, sports marketing landscape, but also a lot of strategizing with partnerships and whatnot. So yeah, it feels very similar. I guess my main question, which I feel like you’re answering with your presence, is, like.
24 00:04:40.160 ⇒ 00:04:47.960 Fanu Sisay: I know that this job seemed remote online, and I was wondering, do you guys get together, is that a part of, you know.
25 00:04:48.230 ⇒ 00:04:49.590 Fanu Sisay: I don’t know, your team.
26 00:04:49.590 ⇒ 00:04:58.699 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, yeah, so fully remote, like, no pressure to ever, be in person, but there are, like.
27 00:04:58.700 ⇒ 00:05:17.420 Kaela Gallagher: four of us that happen to just randomly live within a mile of each other in LA, which is, like, so rare. So, we’ve been getting together just for fun, like, on our own, but, not a requirement. Actually, one of our CEOs is in New York, but I think right now that’s the only, like, other team member we have in that area.
28 00:05:18.090 ⇒ 00:05:37.060 Fanu Sisay: Sweet, yeah, that sounds super cool. Yeah, I’m in office, 4 days a week, but it’s definitely something I enjoy, and I go pretty much 5 days a week now, unless I’m traveling. You know, I take a Monday or Friday, to work from home or on the road, whatever it may be, but I definitely do
29 00:05:37.910 ⇒ 00:05:51.400 Fanu Sisay: heavily consider, you know, the team I’m working with, and the people I’m around, and I do like to be in front of, them physically. So, happy to see that Brinkforge is that, and, you know, you guys are… I don’t know.
30 00:05:51.500 ⇒ 00:05:53.060 Fanu Sisay: Around each other, specifically.
31 00:05:53.060 ⇒ 00:05:54.950 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah. Yeah.
32 00:05:55.280 ⇒ 00:06:07.990 Fanu Sisay: And yeah, so I guess, another question I had is specifically around coding. That’s something I, you know, have been doing since my college years, but, I feel like over the last,
33 00:06:07.990 ⇒ 00:06:18.420 Fanu Sisay: you know, two to two and a half years. I’ve really moved into AI, handling a lot of my code. I was just wondering, is there, you know, a public…
34 00:06:18.990 ⇒ 00:06:30.289 Fanu Sisay: number, percentage of, you know, code that you guys have that’s being used, or, like, done by AI? Or is it not really 100% solid? It was just something I was curious about.
35 00:06:30.500 ⇒ 00:06:39.799 Kaela Gallagher: That’s… that’s a really good question. I know we’re utilizing AI in basically everything we’re doing, so I would bet that…
36 00:06:40.380 ⇒ 00:06:46.419 Kaela Gallagher: most of what we’re producing has been touched by AI at some point in the process.
37 00:06:47.760 ⇒ 00:07:02.710 Kaela Gallagher: That would be a really good question for maybe somebody, like, more on… on the technical side of things. Like, I’m… I’m people in recruiting, so I’m not actually producing any code myself. So, yeah, I’m actually kind of curious about an answer to that as well.
38 00:07:03.140 ⇒ 00:07:04.110 Fanu Sisay: Yeah, cause…
39 00:07:04.570 ⇒ 00:07:17.540 Fanu Sisay: you know, I used to, especially in the beginning ages of AI, I was kind of like a self-prideful, like, I write all my code by myself. But, you know, in my personal projects, even outside of work.
40 00:07:17.980 ⇒ 00:07:28.089 Fanu Sisay: I see the value in someone else writing it. Specifically, I work with Cloud Code. Are you guys public at all about, you know, what LLMs you guys are using?
41 00:07:28.370 ⇒ 00:07:46.210 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, I think depending, like, in terms of client-facing stuff, it kind of depends on the client. We work with a lot of different, like, tools for them. But internally, like, our entire, like, company brain and processes are in GitHub and Cursor. Yeah.
42 00:07:46.500 ⇒ 00:07:58.259 Fanu Sisay: Lovely, awesome, yeah. I’m pretty familiar with Cursor, definitely moved over to Claude more recently, but I feel like, you know, once you learn one, you kind of understand most of them.
43 00:07:58.260 ⇒ 00:07:59.030 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah.
44 00:08:00.160 ⇒ 00:08:16.109 Fanu Sisay: Yeah, so I guess that also, in another sense of that question, is there, like, a tech stack? I think I saw Snowflake on, the website, which makes sense for me with a data company, but I was wondering what you guys use there.
45 00:08:16.500 ⇒ 00:08:27.239 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, in terms of what we’re using with our clients, again, it kind of depends, like, sometimes they already have something in place, and we’re, you know, adding layers to that, so…
46 00:08:27.240 ⇒ 00:08:43.109 Kaela Gallagher: We might just adapt to what they have. But, like, if we’re bringing in a new solution, I would say Snowflake is definitely our go-to, like, on the data warehousing side. And then, in terms of dashboarding, we’re using a tool called Omni quite a bit. I’m not sure if you’ve heard of it, but similar to, like, a Power BI.
47 00:08:43.520 ⇒ 00:08:45.610 Fanu Sisay: Yeah, no, I am familiar, yeah.
48 00:08:45.610 ⇒ 00:08:56.070 Kaela Gallagher: Okay, okay, yeah. So, yeah, I’m sure our technical team could go into even more detail there, but, I would say, yeah, those are two, like, main tools we’re using for our clients.
49 00:08:56.530 ⇒ 00:09:06.700 Fanu Sisay: Great, awesome. And yeah, I mentioned Vita Coco earlier, you know, are you… Is…
50 00:09:06.950 ⇒ 00:09:18.760 Fanu Sisay: the technical team working alongside, you know, multiple projects, or is… would someone be assigned to just one project? Or, you know, someone in this role? Are they assigned to just one project? I was curious about that extent.
51 00:09:19.460 ⇒ 00:09:36.090 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, so in this, like, senior strategy role, you would be managing one, maybe, like, two clients. It kind of depends on the size, like, we’re gonna be categorizing them as either, like, smaller or larger clients, and our clients, we also have, like, different
52 00:09:36.180 ⇒ 00:09:50.929 Kaela Gallagher: workstream’s kind of, like, reporting into it. So we might have a team working on, like, MarTech, and then another team working on, data and, you know, whatnot. So, as, like, a senior strategy person, you would be…
53 00:09:51.990 ⇒ 00:10:01.519 Kaela Gallagher: in between the client and then all of our different, like, work streams. So yeah, I would say, like, depending on the size of the clients, it could be, like, 1 to 3 at a time.
54 00:10:02.030 ⇒ 00:10:07.650 Fanu Sisay: Okay, yeah, no, it sounds good. That’s definitely something I value, I
55 00:10:07.880 ⇒ 00:10:11.630 Fanu Sisay: Currently… so, just to speak more about my current role,
56 00:10:11.630 ⇒ 00:10:12.190 Kaela Gallagher: Yes.
57 00:10:12.190 ⇒ 00:10:16.999 Fanu Sisay: It’s me and my boss in New York, and there’s a Dallas office as well, but,
58 00:10:17.200 ⇒ 00:10:24.549 Fanu Sisay: We really do pride ourselves in handling majority of our clients in New York, their research and insights. So…
59 00:10:24.780 ⇒ 00:10:31.259 Fanu Sisay: you know, I feel confident in my ability to handle multiple things at the same time, and I also think it’s where I…
60 00:10:31.730 ⇒ 00:10:41.989 Fanu Sisay: garner the most experience, and, you know, I feel as if I’m really utilizing all parts of my brain, you know, juggling all kinds of things, and I do enjoy it, so…
61 00:10:41.990 ⇒ 00:10:42.320 Kaela Gallagher: Awesome.
62 00:10:42.320 ⇒ 00:10:44.980 Fanu Sisay: I definitely want to continue that, moving forward.
63 00:10:45.210 ⇒ 00:10:48.830 Kaela Gallagher: Cool. What’s kind of, like, putting you on the market for something new?
64 00:10:50.150 ⇒ 00:10:51.480 Fanu Sisay: I mean…
65 00:10:51.810 ⇒ 00:10:59.950 Fanu Sisay: Yeah, to be honest, it’s, the AI boom, to be, you know, frank. My current shop, I’ve definitely…
66 00:11:00.150 ⇒ 00:11:08.500 Fanu Sisay: I’ve had presentations, I’ve definitely wanted to push it forward, and it seems like there’s just hesitation from above, and…
67 00:11:08.980 ⇒ 00:11:09.600 Kaela Gallagher: Mmm.
68 00:11:09.600 ⇒ 00:11:13.120 Fanu Sisay: it seems like they want to be more traditional, and I just feel like…
69 00:11:14.700 ⇒ 00:11:24.280 Fanu Sisay: that will get left behind quite soon. I definitely enjoy all the people I work with, and, yeah, I’ve really established great friendships here, but
70 00:11:24.910 ⇒ 00:11:33.589 Fanu Sisay: Yeah, I would never speak bad on them, but I just feel like I do want to make the step to a more AI-friendly and facing role.
71 00:11:33.980 ⇒ 00:11:42.830 Kaela Gallagher: Okay, okay, that makes sense. Your organization that you’re with right now, do you guys, like, specialize in data consulting?
72 00:11:43.170 ⇒ 00:11:44.719 Fanu Sisay: No, so…
73 00:11:45.100 ⇒ 00:11:52.359 Fanu Sisay: We consider ourselves a kind of all-hands-on sports marketing firm. They… there is a corporate consulting
74 00:11:52.460 ⇒ 00:12:03.410 Fanu Sisay: leg that I think handles is really the front-facing, aspect of the company, and I think me and my boss in New York, and we actually just hired someone, but…
75 00:12:03.670 ⇒ 00:12:06.170 Fanu Sisay: We are the research and insights, and we really…
76 00:12:06.270 ⇒ 00:12:16.920 Fanu Sisay: handle partnership measurement, so understanding how well a partnership is doing for different sports properties, from the league level all the way down to the athlete level.
77 00:12:17.180 ⇒ 00:12:35.160 Fanu Sisay: you know, running surveys and seeing, you know, just general public perception on specific brands. And yeah, we do this for all kinds of brands. I mentioned PepsiCo earlier, but we also work in the home improvement space with Lowe’s, Henkel in the CPG space,
78 00:12:36.270 ⇒ 00:12:42.180 Fanu Sisay: Yeah, top of mind. Anheuser-busch, in terms of, alcohol.
79 00:12:42.180 ⇒ 00:12:45.139 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, we really touch a lot of, but…
80 00:12:45.140 ⇒ 00:12:52.940 Fanu Sisay: we do focus mainly on their sports side. I think we dabble in entertainment and, you know, music, but that is very…
81 00:12:52.940 ⇒ 00:12:53.460 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah.
82 00:12:53.550 ⇒ 00:13:03.860 Kaela Gallagher: Okay, okay. I will say, like, a lot of our clients are going to be small to mid-sized. We definitely don’t have, like, large enterprises like the companies that you’re naming.
83 00:13:03.860 ⇒ 00:13:15.070 Kaela Gallagher: I’m curious if that’s something, like, you’re… you’re still interested in. I mean, for some of these clients, like, we… we almost serve as, like, an in-house data team for them, like, that’s how kind of small they are.
84 00:13:15.410 ⇒ 00:13:23.970 Fanu Sisay: Yeah, I think you’d find it funny how, prehistoric the companies I mentioned are, and how they probably…
85 00:13:24.460 ⇒ 00:13:38.499 Fanu Sisay: have the same, you know, traditional aspects of, you know, a smaller company. But I definitely don’t find that as an issue. I actually see it as an opportunity for growth, and that’s… so yeah, something I’m very interested in.
86 00:13:38.890 ⇒ 00:13:47.450 Kaela Gallagher: Okay, okay, cool. I guess, like, any… any other questions that you have for me? Anything else I can help… help answer?
87 00:13:49.730 ⇒ 00:13:53.599 Fanu Sisay: Yeah, wait, I’m sorry, I have a list, I don’t know why I’m…
88 00:13:54.390 ⇒ 00:13:56.530 Fanu Sisay: Hesitating looking up in the sky.
89 00:13:56.640 ⇒ 00:13:59.280 Fanu Sisay: yeah, so I guess…
90 00:14:00.370 ⇒ 00:14:10.129 Fanu Sisay: when I looked on the website, I saw, like, a list of multiple roles, and I know you mentioned the senior strategist role. I think that’s definitely something I’m interested in, but…
91 00:14:10.130 ⇒ 00:14:10.630 Kaela Gallagher: Yum.
92 00:14:10.630 ⇒ 00:14:23.150 Fanu Sisay: I was curious, are you guys just, like, in a, a hiring spree right now? Are you guys looking to, you know, bring on a lot of people, or are you just looking for the right person and then putting them in a role? I was curious about that.
93 00:14:23.520 ⇒ 00:14:27.430 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, yeah, so we definitely have, like, certain,
94 00:14:27.740 ⇒ 00:14:40.099 Kaela Gallagher: gaps on the team that we’re looking to fill right now, just because we’re growing a lot. We’ve identified these as, like, you know, we need an AI engineer, for example, and we need a senior… senior strategy person.
95 00:14:40.310 ⇒ 00:14:58.280 Kaela Gallagher: we would love to hire all four of our open positions in the next couple weeks, but we also, like, will wait as long as we need to to hire, like, the right person, and, you know, obviously, like, a quality team. So, trying to find that balance, as always.
96 00:14:58.520 ⇒ 00:15:07.100 Fanu Sisay: And, I know you guys are all based out in LA. I’m assuming you guys are looking all throughout, the United States, or,
97 00:15:07.360 ⇒ 00:15:10.820 Fanu Sisay: You know, are you looking LA, New York, or… yeah, I was curious about that.
98 00:15:11.020 ⇒ 00:15:20.689 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, we’re open to hiring anywhere. I would say, like, LA, New York, or Austin would be bonuses, because we already have team in those areas.
99 00:15:20.690 ⇒ 00:15:32.469 Kaela Gallagher: But we… we have team all over the US, and we actually have, like, technical talent outside of the U.S. as well. So, global team, but we’re all working, for the most part, like, Central or Eastern hours.
100 00:15:33.160 ⇒ 00:15:36.779 Fanu Sisay: Sweet. Yeah, I was gonna say,
101 00:15:37.060 ⇒ 00:15:42.679 Fanu Sisay: at my first stop out of college, I had a PM out in the West Coast, and was working 12 to 8, and.
102 00:15:43.200 ⇒ 00:15:53.879 Fanu Sisay: I feel like, you know, I’ve worked 12 to 8, I’ve worked 9 to 5, I’ve worked… now I’m pretty much, like, 8 to 6. So I feel flexible, but nice to hear that you guys are kind of Eastern Standard Time, for the most part.
103 00:15:53.880 ⇒ 00:15:58.850 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, yeah, and like, me being in LA, I usually log on around, like.
104 00:15:59.070 ⇒ 00:16:01.900 Kaela Gallagher: 8 AM, so there’s definitely flexibility.
105 00:16:02.480 ⇒ 00:16:06.240 Kaela Gallagher: But yeah, I would say most of the team is, like, aligned to those Eastern hours.
106 00:16:06.790 ⇒ 00:16:14.130 Fanu Sisay: Yep. Okay. Alright, next question… Yeah, I guess…
107 00:16:16.370 ⇒ 00:16:20.779 Fanu Sisay: I guess this is more about AI. I saw that,
108 00:16:21.050 ⇒ 00:16:37.560 Fanu Sisay: you guys have, like, listed, an AI engineering role. So, this senior strategist role is not necessarily that. It’s more of, like, a process, implementation, strategizing on… for clients and whatnot.
109 00:16:37.560 ⇒ 00:16:56.660 Kaela Gallagher: Super client-facing, yep, yeah, exactly. Our, like, engineering positions, that we have posted right now are definitely, like, a lot more… more technical. And, like, we have kind of… we function with, like, a few branches, so we have, like, a strategy team, a data team, and an AI team.
110 00:16:56.730 ⇒ 00:16:59.410 Kaela Gallagher: So strategy is obviously, like.
111 00:16:59.580 ⇒ 00:17:15.009 Kaela Gallagher: client-facing and analysis, and then data, like, our data team will usually go in first. Like, it’s really hard to implement AI if the data isn’t accurate and organized, so, that’s kind of why we have those two teams.
112 00:17:15.329 ⇒ 00:17:17.249 Fanu Sisay: Okay, yeah, and then…
113 00:17:17.829 ⇒ 00:17:29.859 Fanu Sisay: My final question is pretty high level. What does success look like in this role of, like, first 90 days? What is the, I don’t know, the main goal for someone onboarding them?
114 00:17:30.330 ⇒ 00:17:36.290 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, I am building out onboarding processes right now,
115 00:17:36.420 ⇒ 00:17:51.710 Kaela Gallagher: So, in terms of, like, what success would look like, I mean, I think it’s kind of hitting the ground running. We’re a startup, we move super quick, we don’t really have, like, a 30-day training window. Like, you could be on client calls week 2 or 3.
116 00:17:51.710 ⇒ 00:18:01.550 Kaela Gallagher: So, I think it’s just about, like, yeah, hitting the ground running, being confident, interacting with clients, and yeah, just being ready to go.
117 00:18:02.120 ⇒ 00:18:04.620 Fanu Sisay: Yeah, awesome, that sounds great.
118 00:18:05.130 ⇒ 00:18:11.219 Fanu Sisay: definitely a change of pace of what I do now. I feel like, you know, traditional sense. It’s, it’s, you know.
119 00:18:11.400 ⇒ 00:18:16.630 Fanu Sisay: a company based in Dallas, so a lot of old, traditional styles, and not to…
120 00:18:16.770 ⇒ 00:18:25.890 Fanu Sisay: like, hate on it in any sense, but I definitely want to get in that kind of space where it’s more fast-paced, more on my feet, and, you know, just feeling more like I’m…
121 00:18:26.100 ⇒ 00:18:33.179 Fanu Sisay: in the weeds of things. Yeah. But yeah, those are all the questions I had. Besides that, I really do appreciate you.
122 00:18:33.570 ⇒ 00:18:34.360 Kaela Gallagher: Yo!
123 00:18:34.360 ⇒ 00:18:35.659 Fanu Sisay: Yeah, this would be nice.
124 00:18:36.000 ⇒ 00:18:45.330 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much for your time. I’ll get with the team, kind of review our call and show them your profile, and then I’ll follow up with next steps.
125 00:18:45.650 ⇒ 00:18:46.880 Fanu Sisay: Sweet, thank you so much, appreciate it.
126 00:18:46.880 ⇒ 00:18:48.990 Kaela Gallagher: Alright, yeah, thanks for your time. Have a good one.
127 00:18:48.990 ⇒ 00:18:49.919 Fanu Sisay: Have a good day. Yep, casual.
128 00:18:49.920 ⇒ 00:18:50.420 Kaela Gallagher: Thank you.