Meeting Title: Brainforge Team Introduction with Kaela Date: 2026-03-18 Meeting participants: Kaela Gallagher, shriramapte
WEBVTT
1 00:10:27.520 ⇒ 00:10:28.950 shriramapte: Hey, how’s it going?
2 00:10:29.450 ⇒ 00:10:31.540 Kaela Gallagher: Hey, doing well, how are you?
3 00:10:31.710 ⇒ 00:10:35.380 shriramapte: Doing well. Sorry I’m late. It’s been a hectic morning.
4 00:10:35.710 ⇒ 00:10:55.130 Kaela Gallagher: No worries, no worries. I just appreciate you taking some time. I, recently joined Brainforge, kind of on the people and recruiting side of things, so, wanted to take time to just meet the whole team, and, yeah, I guess just starting off, like, how long have you been with the company?
5 00:10:55.490 ⇒ 00:10:58.870 shriramapte: I have only…
6 00:10:59.740 ⇒ 00:11:17.810 shriramapte: been here for, like, a month or two. I’m not, like, employed by Brainforge fully or anything, I basically help out, whenever there’s, like, a finance component to the engagement. And so I’m kind of like a,
7 00:11:17.850 ⇒ 00:11:22.359 shriramapte: Role player slash contractor, whatever that kind of stuff comes up.
8 00:11:22.810 ⇒ 00:11:30.290 Kaela Gallagher: Okay, okay. And so, in terms of financial components, this is, like, with our clients that you’re assisting? Okay.
9 00:11:30.290 ⇒ 00:11:31.610 shriramapte: Exactly, yeah.
10 00:11:31.610 ⇒ 00:11:38.360 Kaela Gallagher: Okay, and is that in terms of, like, negotiating deals with them, or, like.
11 00:11:38.360 ⇒ 00:11:52.810 shriramapte: So, it’s more like, they want help getting their finances straightened out. So, like, they want help figuring out how they should raise money, they want help figuring out,
12 00:11:53.480 ⇒ 00:12:05.329 shriramapte: how much ARR they have by, like, certain definitions, and how that might translate to, like, accounting revenue. They might figure out,
13 00:12:05.370 ⇒ 00:12:22.609 shriramapte: they might want to think through, like, how much they can spend on marketing next year, so I help them answer, like, questions like that, where, like, the data team’s skill set might be, like, more focused on, like.
14 00:12:22.610 ⇒ 00:12:28.290 shriramapte: Infrastructure and, like, getting the data that, like, supports all of those things.
15 00:12:28.580 ⇒ 00:12:35.120 Kaela Gallagher: Okay, okay, super cool. How many, like, hours a week do you think you’re doing with Brain Forge?
16 00:12:35.620 ⇒ 00:12:54.379 shriramapte: I did, like, 5 for 2 weeks, and now, I haven’t done any for a few months. So, sorry, I should have said this at the beginning. Utam and I are, like, best friends. Like, we’ve known each other since we were both in 6th grade.
17 00:12:54.380 ⇒ 00:12:55.199 Kaela Gallagher: Oh my gosh.
18 00:12:55.200 ⇒ 00:13:05.160 shriramapte: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, like, I just, like, help him out whenever, and, like, we kind of, like, figure out the money later. So,
19 00:13:05.280 ⇒ 00:13:09.730 shriramapte: Yeah, that’s, that’s, like, why I’m in this, like, really loose category.
20 00:13:10.030 ⇒ 00:13:14.140 Kaela Gallagher: Okay, okay, got it. Are you in Austin as well, then?
21 00:13:14.440 ⇒ 00:13:15.989 shriramapte: No, I’m in San Francisco.
22 00:13:16.140 ⇒ 00:13:19.340 Kaela Gallagher: Oh, okay, cool. I’m in LA, so West Coast.
23 00:13:19.340 ⇒ 00:13:21.620 shriramapte: Oh, nice! How long have you been out there?
24 00:13:21.620 ⇒ 00:13:38.330 Kaela Gallagher: About 3 years now. I, like, grew up as a military kid, so I just moved around my whole life, and just kind of ended up here. I… who knows if it’ll be long-term, but it’s cool for the moment, so, yeah, enjoying it.
25 00:13:39.030 ⇒ 00:13:41.089 Kaela Gallagher: I guess, like.
26 00:13:41.630 ⇒ 00:13:50.759 Kaela Gallagher: Curious if you have any advice for me on anything like people, culture, or, like, recruiting related.
27 00:13:51.260 ⇒ 00:13:54.009 shriramapte: Yeah, I think, like, Uten…
28 00:13:54.690 ⇒ 00:14:11.019 shriramapte: is really focused on keeping, like, a very, like, results-driven culture. Like, we… you know, we all work hard, we all win, we all make money kind of, like, vibes. Yeah.
29 00:14:11.150 ⇒ 00:14:12.480 shriramapte: I think, like…
30 00:14:14.840 ⇒ 00:14:28.739 shriramapte: if I were in your shoes, like, I would just come up with, like, your own personal… like, on top of, like, what everyone says… I ran recruiting for a startup for, about a year.
31 00:14:28.740 ⇒ 00:14:29.440 Kaela Gallagher: Okay.
32 00:14:29.440 ⇒ 00:14:40.829 shriramapte: And so, no matter what people say about, like, here’s… here’s our, like, personal definition of,
33 00:14:41.210 ⇒ 00:14:43.929 shriramapte: What a good culture fit looks like.
34 00:14:44.060 ⇒ 00:14:58.909 shriramapte: they aren’t the ones who are interacting with, like, hundreds of candidates, or, like, all the candidates at all times in the funnel. But, like, you need to come up with, like, your own personal definition and feel, like, really convicted about it.
35 00:14:59.170 ⇒ 00:15:02.670 shriramapte: And so… and once you have that, like…
36 00:15:03.690 ⇒ 00:15:22.710 shriramapte: you can kind of, like, talk around other people’s objections, like, more effectively, and be more, like, discerning as a… as a recruiter. So that would be… that would be my advice, like, knowing UTAM and knowing, like, having done, the recruiting job before.
37 00:15:22.710 ⇒ 00:15:31.380 Kaela Gallagher: Okay, okay, that’s… that’s really helpful advice. I guess, like, knowing Utam for so long as well, do you have any advice, like.
38 00:15:31.560 ⇒ 00:15:39.020 Kaela Gallagher: Specific to partnering with him, or things that he, like, might like to see, or things that maybe frustrate him?
39 00:15:39.020 ⇒ 00:15:50.020 shriramapte: Right now, he’s, like, fully AI-pilled, so, like, he loves it when people are using that to become more efficient in their work.
40 00:15:51.140 ⇒ 00:15:53.099 shriramapte: I think,
41 00:15:55.430 ⇒ 00:16:12.110 shriramapte: if you’re ever, like, oh, I want to increase my compensation, or I want to ask for more responsibility, or, like, blah blah blah, like, as I mentioned before, like, just showing him concisely and consistently, like, here are the results I am delivering.
42 00:16:12.110 ⇒ 00:16:12.480 Kaela Gallagher: And…
43 00:16:12.480 ⇒ 00:16:31.820 shriramapte: like, have it be things that meet his bar of, like, tangible. So, like, I hired XYZ people, and those people went on to do these engagements, and these are… these are engagements we couldn’t have done with the people in-house, or these are engagements that, like.
44 00:16:31.820 ⇒ 00:16:32.370 Kaela Gallagher: Hmm.
45 00:16:32.370 ⇒ 00:16:38.860 shriramapte: would have been understaffed had I not, like, done this just-in-time staffing kind of thing.
46 00:16:40.070 ⇒ 00:16:45.240 shriramapte: And so, being able to… to do that will,
47 00:16:46.260 ⇒ 00:16:48.359 shriramapte: We’ll help you in a big way.
48 00:16:48.610 ⇒ 00:16:53.689 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, yeah, okay, that’s very good advice as well, appreciate that.
49 00:16:54.020 ⇒ 00:17:05.150 Kaela Gallagher: I think that’s all I have for you. It’s great, like, getting to know more about you, and hopefully we’ll get to partner together soon. Hopefully we’ll see a little bit more of you at Brainforge.
50 00:17:05.150 ⇒ 00:17:15.599 shriramapte: Yeah, yeah, that’ll, I’d look forward to that. I think I might come, if you guys ever do an off-site, I’ll certainly try to come as, like, a friend.
51 00:17:15.609 ⇒ 00:17:16.119 Kaela Gallagher: Okay.
52 00:17:16.599 ⇒ 00:17:18.619 shriramapte: But, yeah.
53 00:17:18.619 ⇒ 00:17:28.829 Kaela Gallagher: Awesome! Sounds like a plan, and if you’re ever in LA, like, our LA crew gets together and co-works a lot, so happy to arrange a session.
54 00:17:28.830 ⇒ 00:17:31.680 shriramapte: Nice, nice, yeah, I’ll definitely take you up on that.
55 00:17:31.680 ⇒ 00:17:34.550 Kaela Gallagher: Alright, cool. Well, thanks so much for your time.
56 00:17:34.550 ⇒ 00:17:36.489 shriramapte: Have a great one, sorry for being late again.
57 00:17:36.490 ⇒ 00:17:37.839 Kaela Gallagher: No worries, talk to you later.
58 00:17:37.840 ⇒ 00:17:38.670 shriramapte: years back.
59 00:17:38.670 ⇒ 00:17:39.220 Kaela Gallagher: Okay, bye.