Meeting Title: Q2 plan review for Default Date: 2026-04-03 Meeting participants: Greg Stoutenburg, Uttam Kumaran
WEBVTT
1 00:01:32.800 ⇒ 00:01:34.350 Greg Stoutenburg: Thanks, Amber.
2 00:03:34.370 ⇒ 00:03:34.960 Uttam Kumaran: Aye.
3 00:03:35.260 ⇒ 00:03:35.830 Greg Stoutenburg: Yay.
4 00:03:38.040 ⇒ 00:03:39.150 Uttam Kumaran: How’s it going?
5 00:03:39.760 ⇒ 00:03:48.210 Greg Stoutenburg: Good. Couple of back-to-backs, brain’s a little scrambled. Let’s see if I can… Not that.
6 00:03:48.800 ⇒ 00:03:51.929 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, so I sort of just wanted to, like.
7 00:03:52.360 ⇒ 00:03:56.169 Greg Stoutenburg: chat through the second quarter plan. Sure.
8 00:03:56.360 ⇒ 00:04:00.260 Greg Stoutenburg: And I guess I realized, I don’t even know… have you had a chance to look at it?
9 00:04:00.930 ⇒ 00:04:03.589 Uttam Kumaran: Not really. So, we’re gonna book…
10 00:04:03.730 ⇒ 00:04:07.320 Uttam Kumaran: I think, like, formal project reviews.
11 00:04:07.440 ⇒ 00:04:11.460 Uttam Kumaran: I think next week. I think D is working on that right now. Yeah.
12 00:04:11.460 ⇒ 00:04:12.700 Greg Stoutenburg: Ping me about it.
13 00:04:12.700 ⇒ 00:04:14.620 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, yeah, so we’re gonna do, like.
14 00:04:14.840 ⇒ 00:04:23.939 Uttam Kumaran: more formal ones. But, like, again, I just want a guest to get in the habit, and, like, Garrett is gonna start… so Garrett is joining, kind of, also on the CSO track.
15 00:04:24.130 ⇒ 00:04:29.809 Uttam Kumaran: So, that should be awesome as well. So, I just want us to get in the habit of it.
16 00:04:30.120 ⇒ 00:04:35.789 Uttam Kumaran: But, yeah, talk me through what you’re, what you’re thinking. No? Yeah.
17 00:04:35.790 ⇒ 00:04:39.999 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, so, I mean, so, like, broadly, let me just pull it up here.
18 00:04:40.740 ⇒ 00:04:57.849 Greg Stoutenburg: What I did is I looked at… I mean, I looked at what I see for the work that I’ve been involved in, with PostHog for them, and their product analytics work, and then what’s happened so far for the warehouse stuff and reporting. And so,
19 00:04:57.880 ⇒ 00:05:11.110 Greg Stoutenburg: I mean, these are the three initiatives. So, PLG optimization, growth, and product experimentation. This is picking up directly with the goal of using any product analytics tool, right? It’s to make this stuff better. It’s not just.
20 00:05:11.110 ⇒ 00:05:11.560 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.
21 00:05:11.560 ⇒ 00:05:14.520 Greg Stoutenburg: reporting. So, this is to say, hey.
22 00:05:14.630 ⇒ 00:05:18.489 Greg Stoutenburg: let’s do work on that. Let’s do work on the strategy stuff.
23 00:05:18.920 ⇒ 00:05:20.170 Greg Stoutenburg: Second initiative.
24 00:05:20.820 ⇒ 00:05:39.720 Greg Stoutenburg: platform BI, we’ve got all these connectors pumped into Omni now, and, what we could do is just polish up all of that reporting and making sure that the, that the BI tool that they’re using now has everything that they want it to have.
25 00:05:39.720 ⇒ 00:05:43.389 Greg Stoutenburg: And, you know, we’re already on the path to do this. This is basically, like.
26 00:05:43.390 ⇒ 00:05:57.759 Greg Stoutenburg: continuing it and getting it done. And then, finally, self-serve analytics enablement. So, we’ve got these various dashboards, and what we… what we don’t have yet is a way for
27 00:05:57.760 ⇒ 00:06:09.340 Greg Stoutenburg: the folks at default to self-service with data. We’re heading in that direction because they now know what Blobby is, but we don’t have all this stuff done yet. We need to provide enablement.
28 00:06:09.340 ⇒ 00:06:29.299 Greg Stoutenburg: we need to be in a position where, you know, we’re not getting pinged, like, hey, Demi, you know, can you add this field, or whatever. Yeah. And so to empower them with their data. And, you know, as you noted this morning, like, Caitlin asked the question, you know, oh, you know, we can’t just assume Brainforge will always be here. That’s to, like, help them here with owning their data.
29 00:06:29.350 ⇒ 00:06:42.329 Greg Stoutenburg: So, those are the three big initiatives that I’m proposing here. This one, obviously, is most squarely, you know, my area, and then this is, like, picking up where Demi’s work has gone so far.
30 00:06:43.030 ⇒ 00:06:48.709 Uttam Kumaran: So on the first… on the product analy… so the middle two makes sense. On the product analytics side, like.
31 00:06:49.140 ⇒ 00:06:58.740 Uttam Kumaran: I mean, I don’t know, it just seems like it’s not the highlight because of how, like, this new product is going. Like, what is your gut instinct? I don’t… I… I feel like I’m…
32 00:06:59.160 ⇒ 00:07:07.219 Uttam Kumaran: Like, kind of… I don’t know, I’m wondering, like, if they really even care about… The product analytics on…
33 00:07:08.740 ⇒ 00:07:14.389 Uttam Kumaran: Audek, like, what’s your… what’s the perspective there? Because still, things are kind of not out yet.
34 00:07:15.050 ⇒ 00:07:19.809 Greg Stoutenburg: So, are you… so you’re talking about Initiative 1 here, like, you’re not sure that they really care about this that much?
35 00:07:20.350 ⇒ 00:07:35.939 Greg Stoutenburg: So, I think that… I mean, that is possible, that is not my interpretation of it. I think that… I… I think we could have waited to start on the product analytics workstream, because Phoenix was like.
36 00:07:36.160 ⇒ 00:07:45.089 Greg Stoutenburg: Fitness was, like, an idea when we started, you know what I mean? Yeah. They had so little ready to actually flesh out, and, like…
37 00:07:45.220 ⇒ 00:07:51.420 Greg Stoutenburg: you know, even just yesterday in the call, I asked how onboarding was going, and, like.
38 00:07:51.440 ⇒ 00:08:08.869 Greg Stoutenburg: Caitlin had just made a choice on one of the onboarding things that we talked about a month ago. My interpretation of this is that this is going to be strategically important to them, and they really care about the PLG motion, and that actually
39 00:08:08.910 ⇒ 00:08:11.229 Greg Stoutenburg: I think Halen herself has a…
40 00:08:11.540 ⇒ 00:08:17.640 Greg Stoutenburg: a kind of significant amount of uncertainty about how it’s going to work, or about how it should work.
41 00:08:18.050 ⇒ 00:08:32.590 Greg Stoutenburg: So, as evidence of that, when she wasn’t sure how onboarding should look, I gave a bunch of ideas. What she showed yesterday is one of the ideas that I suggested, which is pretty cool to actually see that come around.
42 00:08:32.740 ⇒ 00:08:35.690 Greg Stoutenburg: So I think that they do care about this.
43 00:08:37.429 ⇒ 00:08:44.930 Greg Stoutenburg: I think as of right now, the reporting on it has been less important, because, again, the data is just staging data, so…
44 00:08:45.230 ⇒ 00:08:50.640 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, I mean, my gut says that they will care about this,
45 00:08:51.830 ⇒ 00:08:53.999 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, my gut says that they will care about this.
46 00:08:55.350 ⇒ 00:08:56.669 Uttam Kumaran: So, I think…
47 00:08:56.670 ⇒ 00:08:57.899 Greg Stoutenburg: But I am open to being challenged on that.
48 00:08:57.900 ⇒ 00:08:58.730 Uttam Kumaran: We’re cut.
49 00:08:59.200 ⇒ 00:09:14.079 Uttam Kumaran: No, no, I think… so, like, let me… now let me go into my second point, because I think it sort of hits the same thing. So, the other thing that we’re missing is sort of, we have, like, yeah, the dashboards are self-service, but we don’t have anything on, like, hey, let us go find you the money.
50 00:09:14.230 ⇒ 00:09:15.840 Uttam Kumaran: Or find you the holes.
51 00:09:16.020 ⇒ 00:09:20.439 Uttam Kumaran: Right. Right? And one thing that we’re… that we’re seeing is…
52 00:09:21.310 ⇒ 00:09:30.299 Uttam Kumaran: you know, yes, I… it’s sort of like, overall, yes, I think we’re gonna develop the dashboards, yes, I think we’re going to…
53 00:09:34.130 ⇒ 00:09:39.530 Uttam Kumaran: Yes, I think we’re gonna develop the dashboards. Yes, I think we’re going to make
54 00:09:40.170 ⇒ 00:09:44.539 Uttam Kumaran: the topics, I’m gonna think we’re gonna make Bobby, but I don’t think they know how to fish.
55 00:09:45.160 ⇒ 00:09:45.620 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah.
56 00:09:45.620 ⇒ 00:09:47.419 Uttam Kumaran: That’s what I’m getting at, like.
57 00:09:47.420 ⇒ 00:09:48.190 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, yeah.
58 00:09:48.190 ⇒ 00:09:52.579 Uttam Kumaran: It’s, like, Ryan, Laura… like, these guys are, like, executing.
59 00:09:52.830 ⇒ 00:10:05.290 Uttam Kumaran: I don’t even think if you were to give them Blobby, they would go even… not only, like, have the time to, but they may not even know what question is being answered. And I don’t know whether…
60 00:10:05.460 ⇒ 00:10:09.260 Uttam Kumaran: they’re gonna admit it or not, but I also think that…
61 00:10:09.780 ⇒ 00:10:16.490 Uttam Kumaran: Your first point in showing that, like, hey, here’s a structured way to think about onboarding, you should do this, okay, we’ll do that.
62 00:10:16.870 ⇒ 00:10:24.300 Uttam Kumaran: I think we should do that on the data side, and I think that’s a much better way to embed us into the business, is, like.
63 00:10:24.890 ⇒ 00:10:30.149 Uttam Kumaran: We’re gonna bill this, but also we’re just gonna… Bake the cake for you.
64 00:10:30.250 ⇒ 00:10:32.949 Uttam Kumaran: Like, because one thing I’m seeing with them is.
65 00:10:33.140 ⇒ 00:10:42.509 Uttam Kumaran: like, I mean, Nandiga’s not, like, experienced enough to do that. I think she could turn into, like, kind of, like, oddvate somewhat, but…
66 00:10:42.510 ⇒ 00:10:42.910 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah.
67 00:10:42.910 ⇒ 00:10:50.400 Uttam Kumaran: No one is, like, somebody to go through and find traits about opportunities that have closed and help them with strategy.
68 00:10:50.710 ⇒ 00:10:51.200 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah.
69 00:10:51.650 ⇒ 00:10:55.599 Uttam Kumaran: Someone needs to go through and look at,
70 00:10:55.920 ⇒ 00:11:08.089 Uttam Kumaran: which, like, what customer behavior has led to expansion, and help Deanna, like, with that story. Like, and those guys are gonna execute it, but each of those folks needs, like.
71 00:11:08.190 ⇒ 00:11:15.070 Uttam Kumaran: an analyst, and that’s gonna be a way for us to, like, get deeper into the business.
72 00:11:15.530 ⇒ 00:11:26.210 Uttam Kumaran: Because what I can tell is, like, I think we’re doing the right things, but we’re falling into the trap that I’ve seen in our business a lot, is, like, we set everything up, and then we sort of hand it, and…
73 00:11:26.550 ⇒ 00:11:28.770 Uttam Kumaran: They’re not good enough to take it from there.
74 00:11:28.770 ⇒ 00:11:29.699 Greg Stoutenburg: Right, right. So we should do…
75 00:11:29.700 ⇒ 00:11:32.370 Uttam Kumaran: So we sh… yeah, so we should just do that.
76 00:11:32.650 ⇒ 00:11:35.139 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, I see what you’re saying. So…
77 00:11:35.520 ⇒ 00:11:39.279 Greg Stoutenburg: Okay, this is part of my Global VetLink pitch,
78 00:11:39.790 ⇒ 00:11:52.720 Greg Stoutenburg: is, like, here’s where I see opportunities. The trouble… yeah, so I agree with everything you just said. The trouble I have with quantifying that is… I feel like, you know, the data’s… the data’s still coming in.
79 00:11:52.720 ⇒ 00:11:53.270 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
80 00:11:53.480 ⇒ 00:12:01.990 Greg Stoutenburg: So on the PLG side, you know, I’m sort of, like, pointing to, you know, moving toward target ranges.
81 00:12:02.170 ⇒ 00:12:08.970 Greg Stoutenburg: I think what we’re saying here is something that kind of overlaps between, sort of, 1 and 2 here.
82 00:12:09.150 ⇒ 00:12:18.650 Greg Stoutenburg: And we say, like, I don’t know, what do you call that? Identifying opportunities for revenue growth
83 00:12:18.750 ⇒ 00:12:28.350 Greg Stoutenburg: by… One, preventing customer churn. Two, growing existing accounts. Three, identifying new accounts based on usage patterns.
84 00:12:29.580 ⇒ 00:12:30.220 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
85 00:12:30.400 ⇒ 00:12:39.589 Greg Stoutenburg: Something that cuts across I mean, essentially, it’s PLG-related, but I’m not hung up on the term.
86 00:12:40.430 ⇒ 00:12:45.109 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, I mean, identifying opportunities. I don’t know, I’ll find the terminology for it.
87 00:12:46.920 ⇒ 00:12:52.099 Uttam Kumaran: Well, it’s sort of like a growth… it’s a growth data analyst motion. Like, I think what you should do is say, like, look.
88 00:12:52.440 ⇒ 00:12:55.510 Uttam Kumaran: We’re gonna make sure the instrumentation across this whole thing is fine.
89 00:12:55.800 ⇒ 00:12:56.660 Greg Stoutenburg: Right. Yeah.
90 00:12:56.850 ⇒ 00:13:03.089 Uttam Kumaran: We’re gonna make sure that, like, if anyone has a question, they’re gonna be able to answer it within the time period.
91 00:13:03.250 ⇒ 00:13:15.900 Uttam Kumaran: But you should go to Caitlin and say, like, what I’m seeing is that I think people are… I don’t believe that people are… I mean, this is what you should kind of challenge her, is like, do you… does she feel like…
92 00:13:16.660 ⇒ 00:13:20.050 Uttam Kumaran: Peep, like, if we… let’s say in 2 months, that’s all done.
93 00:13:20.640 ⇒ 00:13:24.129 Uttam Kumaran: Like, what are… is money just gonna sort of grow on trees, or what’s gonna happen?
94 00:13:24.130 ⇒ 00:13:28.890 Greg Stoutenburg: Right. Great news! Hosthog will print money for you.
95 00:13:28.890 ⇒ 00:13:35.149 Uttam Kumaran: That’s exactly it, and so you should tell her, look, like, my team can go build all this, but this is where you have to frame it.
96 00:13:35.540 ⇒ 00:13:41.370 Uttam Kumaran: You can say, my team can go build all this, but I want to make you guys money right now.
97 00:13:41.510 ⇒ 00:13:44.119 Uttam Kumaran: And I feel like, based on…
98 00:13:44.290 ⇒ 00:13:48.230 Uttam Kumaran: My… based on our conversation around onboarding.
99 00:13:48.430 ⇒ 00:13:56.559 Uttam Kumaran: based on… we’re interacting with Lev, Deanna, this is where, again, when you… if you go call them, you can understand their schedules and their goals.
100 00:13:56.660 ⇒ 00:14:09.380 Uttam Kumaran: You can say the best way to spend your dollar with us is in actually having us going and finding, like, the changes to make, or coming up, basically presenting to you
101 00:14:09.470 ⇒ 00:14:17.399 Uttam Kumaran: like, what we find. You can still say, look, in a year, default grows, you guys should hire a data analyst to just go super deep.
102 00:14:17.560 ⇒ 00:14:25.400 Uttam Kumaran: But right now, you’re in a huge growth moment, and you’re sitting on these nuggets, and everybody is, like, 80% execution.
103 00:14:26.060 ⇒ 00:14:31.900 Uttam Kumaran: reflection, like… use us to balance. And, like, that’s… I think that’s the pitch.
104 00:14:32.040 ⇒ 00:14:33.429 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I think that’s…
105 00:14:33.760 ⇒ 00:14:46.020 Uttam Kumaran: And so what happens is, like, you get her to say yes to continue the infrastructure stuff, but then you can go to Robert and say, cool, like, I need to bring on another analyst here, like…
106 00:14:47.410 ⇒ 00:14:47.870 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah.
107 00:14:47.870 ⇒ 00:15:00.570 Uttam Kumaran: to basically somehow focus on, like, what are the growth levers you can meet, and now our conversations are less about what models and ETL and shit like that. It’s like, hey, we went and found that, like.
108 00:15:01.120 ⇒ 00:15:03.210 Uttam Kumaran: it takes X amount of time.
109 00:15:03.320 ⇒ 00:15:10.740 Uttam Kumaran: Like, this… this is the metric that, like, you need to start pushing, and if you guys can get customers to this point.
110 00:15:10.900 ⇒ 00:15:18.470 Uttam Kumaran: like, faster, it’ll result in money. How can I help engineering or your product team, like, ensure this is the boss, like.
111 00:15:18.610 ⇒ 00:15:20.130 Uttam Kumaran: the case. It’s tougher.
112 00:15:20.130 ⇒ 00:15:20.560 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah.
113 00:15:20.560 ⇒ 00:15:32.759 Uttam Kumaran: like, this is the tougher problem, but it’s also, like, they should have us do that. Like, that is the more fun, interesting problem for us. And, like, I think… I don’t know how… why would she say no to that? Like, you know?
114 00:15:32.900 ⇒ 00:15:38.479 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah. No, I agree. And I think… I think looking at this, the way it’s laid out,
115 00:15:39.460 ⇒ 00:15:43.959 Greg Stoutenburg: I don’t think we need this Initiative 3. I think Initiative 3 should be, like.
116 00:15:45.090 ⇒ 00:15:55.419 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, yeah, growth analyst, opportunity… identifying opportunities and, road mapping toward achieving them.
117 00:15:55.550 ⇒ 00:15:56.640 Greg Stoutenburg: And…
118 00:15:57.800 ⇒ 00:16:02.369 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, I mean, driving the motion that achieves them. I don’t… I don’t think… I don’t know that that.
119 00:16:02.370 ⇒ 00:16:12.420 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, and I think you… I think you… you… and this is where you collaborate with Caitlin, you’d say, hey, do you want us to, like, deliver these to your… to those leaders? Yeah. Do you want us to, like.
120 00:16:12.920 ⇒ 00:16:15.060 Uttam Kumaran: Meet with them and help them.
121 00:16:15.400 ⇒ 00:16:20.729 Uttam Kumaran: achieve their OKRs, like… What do you want? Like, what are you looking for?
122 00:16:21.050 ⇒ 00:16:25.810 Uttam Kumaran: And also mention to her, like, look, we’re gonna get this all stood up, but… But, like…
123 00:16:26.450 ⇒ 00:16:29.929 Uttam Kumaran: We… we want… we think you’re sitting on this stuff right now.
124 00:16:30.130 ⇒ 00:16:30.710 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah.
125 00:16:30.710 ⇒ 00:16:41.960 Uttam Kumaran: And that we can be more helpful right now. Yeah. So I think the first two are fine, and then I think, look, I think you try to weasel our stuff into, like, actually helping with strategy.
126 00:16:42.270 ⇒ 00:16:43.720 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
127 00:16:43.890 ⇒ 00:16:52.670 Uttam Kumaran: like, okay, so there’s… they mentioned, like, this guy Sid is thinking about customer segmentation. What’s taking so long? Like, that’s… we should just lock that down, right?
128 00:16:52.810 ⇒ 00:16:59.479 Uttam Kumaran: Like, I can… we spend 2 hours, decide on, like, what the segmentation strategy is, lock in the definitions.
129 00:16:59.880 ⇒ 00:17:00.700 Uttam Kumaran: like.
130 00:17:01.280 ⇒ 00:17:10.819 Uttam Kumaran: You know, and those are things that are fundamental, and we can be really helpful in doing that. And you should mention there that, like, look, I think
131 00:17:11.060 ⇒ 00:17:16.660 Uttam Kumaran: We want to move from just being, like, a support Structure to, like, actually finding
132 00:17:17.140 ⇒ 00:17:20.779 Uttam Kumaran: Like, showing that there’s, like, positive business value.
133 00:17:21.270 ⇒ 00:17:21.630 Greg Stoutenburg: You’re like.
134 00:17:21.630 ⇒ 00:17:30.550 Uttam Kumaran: of the impact of our work, and I… again, I think the story is, like, look, we’re gonna set this all up, and maybe in a year, people at default start using it, but, like.
135 00:17:30.760 ⇒ 00:17:34.119 Uttam Kumaran: It’s there now, and you guys should take advantage of it right now.
136 00:17:34.570 ⇒ 00:17:35.410 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah.
137 00:17:36.100 ⇒ 00:17:39.279 Uttam Kumaran: The thing is, with a startup, right, it’s considered an element.
138 00:17:39.380 ⇒ 00:17:54.600 Uttam Kumaran: with a startup, time is money. Like, it’s really, like, yesterday, we should have had this done. So, you have an ability to tap into this urgency, which is not often the case at larger clients, because they’re like, just wait, do it right.
139 00:17:54.720 ⇒ 00:17:59.170 Uttam Kumaran: These guys are like, yo, every day really matters.
140 00:17:59.170 ⇒ 00:18:00.730 Greg Stoutenburg: Every day we’re not growing, yeah.
141 00:18:00.730 ⇒ 00:18:08.719 Uttam Kumaran: They have… they raised a bunch of money, they will spend it just… just the lead.
142 00:18:08.930 ⇒ 00:18:23.420 Uttam Kumaran: And so, that’s… that’s what I think. But again, like, as you can tell, I think this is gonna… this is gonna require some time with Caitlin. I can… I can, of course, come on top of this and help from the side, but I want, like, I think you can lead this.
143 00:18:23.880 ⇒ 00:18:29.030 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I think so. Yeah, I think… so, we’re gonna do these,
144 00:18:29.180 ⇒ 00:18:31.769 Greg Stoutenburg: These, grill sessions next week.
145 00:18:31.770 ⇒ 00:18:32.310 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
146 00:18:32.310 ⇒ 00:18:35.219 Greg Stoutenburg: I think I’ll be in a better position to…
147 00:18:35.970 ⇒ 00:18:41.569 Greg Stoutenburg: take this on, and then, yeah, then I guess it’ll be a matter of talking to Caitlin about it.
148 00:18:42.350 ⇒ 00:18:48.809 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, cool. No, I like that. I feel good about that. And, you know, honestly, that’s the kind of work I’d rather do anyway. Like, that’s…
149 00:18:48.810 ⇒ 00:18:55.160 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, no, that’s more fun, and like… Yeah, and this is also where, like, look, if you make that pitch, and then it’s like.
150 00:18:55.930 ⇒ 00:19:09.509 Uttam Kumaran: cool. Do you have the team? Do we need… who do we need to bring on? Like, again, that’s why I keep saying, like, the strategy team is the number one team, right? It’s just gonna become the team that moves us from
151 00:19:09.790 ⇒ 00:19:15.979 Uttam Kumaran: becoming, like, just tech support to, like… Right. Okay, we’re, like, driving these businesses, you know?
152 00:19:15.980 ⇒ 00:19:19.270 Greg Stoutenburg: Yes, for sure. Yeah, for sure. Cool.
153 00:19:19.830 ⇒ 00:19:20.359 Uttam Kumaran: So, like…
154 00:19:20.360 ⇒ 00:19:21.390 Greg Stoutenburg: Look, on one hand.
155 00:19:21.390 ⇒ 00:19:35.299 Uttam Kumaran: And on one hand, I think they’re comfortable with the fact that we can do all these things. There’s some hiccups on the way we were structured, I think we solved that. I think now the biggest piece is, like, okay, can you rotate our engagement with them?
156 00:19:35.440 ⇒ 00:19:38.999 Uttam Kumaran: Into something where we affect revenue more directly.
157 00:19:39.220 ⇒ 00:19:39.960 Uttam Kumaran: You know.
158 00:19:39.960 ⇒ 00:19:48.679 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I… yeah, I hope so. That was the pivot… I mean, that was the pivot I was trying to make with README.
159 00:19:48.860 ⇒ 00:19:51.200 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah.
160 00:19:51.200 ⇒ 00:19:52.590 Uttam Kumaran: Alright, you’re gonna turn soon.
161 00:19:52.780 ⇒ 00:19:54.100 Greg Stoutenburg: Hope we can do it, so…
162 00:19:54.100 ⇒ 00:19:54.690 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
163 00:19:55.000 ⇒ 00:19:56.749 Greg Stoutenburg: I think so.
164 00:19:57.070 ⇒ 00:19:57.700 Greg Stoutenburg: trust.
165 00:19:57.700 ⇒ 00:20:07.080 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, we have a lot of trust. I have the relationship with Caitlin. I think it’s also… but again, like, this is where both of us need… like, I can’t go… I don’t have the time to go build a relationship with
166 00:20:07.260 ⇒ 00:20:09.450 Uttam Kumaran: Ryan and all the other folks?
167 00:20:09.450 ⇒ 00:20:09.830 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah.
168 00:20:09.830 ⇒ 00:20:17.059 Uttam Kumaran: but I can put the word in for Caitlin, and she’ll trust, and she’ll do it. And so, as long as we have a story.
169 00:20:17.240 ⇒ 00:20:20.890 Uttam Kumaran: Like, I feel really good about getting… I feel really good about…
170 00:20:21.710 ⇒ 00:20:28.910 Uttam Kumaran: her green-lighting it and for us to move resources there. It’s gonna require a different team, but, like, I think it’s…
171 00:20:29.170 ⇒ 00:20:31.340 Uttam Kumaran: I think it’s where we need to go, you know?
172 00:20:31.710 ⇒ 00:20:33.230 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
173 00:20:33.940 ⇒ 00:20:34.810 Greg Stoutenburg: Okay.
174 00:20:35.390 ⇒ 00:20:44.110 Greg Stoutenburg: Cool, yeah, I’ll make some revisions to this, pressure test it with Grill Me a little, and yeah, we’ll review next week, and I think go from there.
175 00:20:44.380 ⇒ 00:20:45.670 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, okay, cool.
176 00:20:45.670 ⇒ 00:20:51.149 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, and in the meantime, I will reach out to Ryan, Lauren, Deanna separately, and say, like, hey, you know.
177 00:20:51.310 ⇒ 00:20:57.639 Greg Stoutenburg: on this project, leaving this thing. Haven’t really had a chance to talk with you, so… let’s get some time on the calendar.
178 00:20:59.440 ⇒ 00:21:13.930 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, and, like, I think, I think Ryan and Deanna will be good. With Laura, like, you could tell she’s, like, a little curmudgeon-y, so see how, like, see what she wants, like, try to deliver something. For each of these folks, try to come to the meeting with, like, something, some nugget, they can be like, holy shit, okay, cool. Yeah. You know?
179 00:21:13.930 ⇒ 00:21:14.290 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, yeah.
180 00:21:14.290 ⇒ 00:21:22.879 Uttam Kumaran: And so tell me how to… tell me if you’re, like, if you want to help prepping for any of those, just let me know, I’ll tell you exactly, like.
181 00:21:23.080 ⇒ 00:21:34.579 Uttam Kumaran: what I think, you know, each of them cares about, but ultimately, again, in a startup, and you kind of know this, like, people are also fighting their own game, so the goal is for us to figure out, like.
182 00:21:34.720 ⇒ 00:21:37.080 Uttam Kumaran: What’s in it for these folks, you know?
183 00:21:37.080 ⇒ 00:21:37.540 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah.
184 00:21:37.540 ⇒ 00:21:38.030 Uttam Kumaran: Like.
185 00:21:38.030 ⇒ 00:21:38.390 Greg Stoutenburg: Get up.
186 00:21:38.800 ⇒ 00:21:45.310 Uttam Kumaran: I kind of know what Caitlin’s in it for. I think it’s just figuring out, like, okay, is Ryan thinking about, like.
187 00:21:46.040 ⇒ 00:21:50.199 Uttam Kumaran: Like, yeah, what are each of those… their individual goals?
188 00:21:50.530 ⇒ 00:22:01.209 Uttam Kumaran: how do we make sure they’re happy? How do we make sure, like… and then how do we show Caitlin that, like, she’ll get credit for making them happy, and, like, that’s it, you know?
189 00:22:01.380 ⇒ 00:22:02.930 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, yeah.
190 00:22:03.270 ⇒ 00:22:04.080 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah?
191 00:22:05.150 ⇒ 00:22:06.929 Greg Stoutenburg: Cool. Alright.
192 00:22:07.810 ⇒ 00:22:09.020 Greg Stoutenburg: Sounds fun.
193 00:22:10.040 ⇒ 00:22:12.489 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, great.
194 00:22:12.600 ⇒ 00:22:16.019 Uttam Kumaran: Cool. This is great. I love this conversation, I love these.
195 00:22:16.020 ⇒ 00:22:16.450 Greg Stoutenburg: That’s a comment.
196 00:22:16.450 ⇒ 00:22:19.509 Uttam Kumaran: It’s just helpful to think through… through the strategy.
197 00:22:20.600 ⇒ 00:22:23.160 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, no, totally.
198 00:22:23.160 ⇒ 00:22:27.200 Uttam Kumaran: Making sure just, like, the car is running, like, safely.
199 00:22:27.560 ⇒ 00:22:28.010 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah.
200 00:22:28.010 ⇒ 00:22:30.040 Uttam Kumaran: You’ll be able to tap space, you know?
201 00:22:30.420 ⇒ 00:22:32.929 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, totally, yeah.
202 00:22:33.930 ⇒ 00:22:39.120 Greg Stoutenburg: Alright, cool. I’ll, I’ll action this, and then,
203 00:22:39.340 ⇒ 00:22:55.719 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, I mean, the main thing I need to wrap before end of week is, just, you know, sort of say hello, check in with Element and Default, and, clarify where some things are at with Element, but on a conversation yesterday, Shivani called me yesterday.
204 00:22:56.040 ⇒ 00:22:58.549 Greg Stoutenburg: And despite… despite it being rust and…
205 00:22:58.630 ⇒ 00:23:09.819 Greg Stoutenburg: Recovery Week, and she said her plan is that, like, that they will sign with Omni. And so, she’s just thinking of this thing as something that
206 00:23:09.870 ⇒ 00:23:27.319 Greg Stoutenburg: we need to nail the pilot, but also, like, let’s just go ahead and, you know, build, and just keep making progress. So… and she said it in this way that was so confident, like, there’s just no doubt at all they’re gonna sign with Omni. Like, something would have to go disastrously wrong. So, wanted to feed that back.
207 00:23:27.580 ⇒ 00:23:34.729 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I mean, because the one thing you’re gonna… one thing you’re gonna realize about Element, and I think next on Monday, we’ll do a big, like, team…
208 00:23:34.840 ⇒ 00:23:41.719 Uttam Kumaran: internal thing on… on Element, is our… we’re… we’re right about the things.
209 00:23:42.100 ⇒ 00:23:42.970 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
210 00:23:43.780 ⇒ 00:23:44.320 Uttam Kumaran: like.
211 00:23:44.320 ⇒ 00:23:45.880 Greg Stoutenburg: Can I say that again?
212 00:23:46.110 ⇒ 00:23:47.069 Greg Stoutenburg: Say that again?
213 00:23:47.280 ⇒ 00:23:51.559 Uttam Kumaran: I said, we just have… we’re right about what we’re pitching, we just have to make it her idea.
214 00:23:52.070 ⇒ 00:23:53.569 Greg Stoutenburg: I see, got it.
215 00:23:54.430 ⇒ 00:23:55.240 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah.
216 00:23:55.690 ⇒ 00:23:57.420 Uttam Kumaran: like,
217 00:23:59.470 ⇒ 00:24:06.110 Uttam Kumaran: Like, if we succeed, we… we do the things that we know are right, but it just has to be, like…
218 00:24:07.110 ⇒ 00:24:18.019 Uttam Kumaran: she has to come up with it, or it has to be, like, super, like, in line with what she needs, or we have to get her there. If it’s an idea that she isn’t fully aware of or understanding of, it’s… it’s… it’s not gonna work.
219 00:24:18.160 ⇒ 00:24:20.979 Uttam Kumaran: So, Omni is the right move. I mean, it’s a great product.
220 00:24:20.980 ⇒ 00:24:21.430 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah.
221 00:24:21.430 ⇒ 00:24:27.219 Uttam Kumaran: I don’t think there’s a better product. They’re… they’re not, like, they’re not, like, starved for cash that can afford anything.
222 00:24:27.690 ⇒ 00:24:28.070 Greg Stoutenburg: Right?
223 00:24:28.070 ⇒ 00:24:29.680 Uttam Kumaran: So… but they’re also, like.
224 00:24:29.990 ⇒ 00:24:34.489 Uttam Kumaran: They’re cut… you know they’re gonna just keep Omni internally for, like, 2 or 3 people for, like, 6 months?
225 00:24:34.640 ⇒ 00:24:37.960 Uttam Kumaran: Not really gonna release it, broadly, which is insane to me, I’m like…
226 00:24:38.670 ⇒ 00:24:44.049 Uttam Kumaran: I’m like, okay, that’s actually, like, great for us, I guess, because the stakes get way lower.
227 00:24:44.050 ⇒ 00:24:46.419 Greg Stoutenburg: The tanks go way down.
228 00:24:46.420 ⇒ 00:24:55.459 Uttam Kumaran: But I’m also kind of frustrated. I’m like… I’m like, what? But, sure. So she basically wants us to, like, work on it and make it super, super strong for, like.
229 00:24:56.290 ⇒ 00:24:58.480 Uttam Kumaran: 4 or 5 months?
230 00:24:58.670 ⇒ 00:24:59.930 Greg Stoutenburg: God, that’s what it sounds like.
231 00:25:00.520 ⇒ 00:25:02.390 Uttam Kumaran: Then ship it out. Yeah.
232 00:25:02.390 ⇒ 00:25:02.990 Greg Stoutenburg: Yup.
233 00:25:03.510 ⇒ 00:25:04.260 Greg Stoutenburg: Yup.
234 00:25:04.850 ⇒ 00:25:06.749 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, well, lucky us.
235 00:25:10.440 ⇒ 00:25:12.570 Greg Stoutenburg: Ugh. Alright, I’m gonna go.
236 00:25:12.570 ⇒ 00:25:20.409 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I think that’s actually probably… that’s probably good news… that’s probably good news to deliver to Max as well. I think he’s, like, chomping at the bit to try to get back on the phone with them soon, so…
237 00:25:20.730 ⇒ 00:25:28.090 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, I bet. Yeah, and I’ll tell him not to, until we have… until we have something that really knocks your fine socks off.
238 00:25:28.220 ⇒ 00:25:30.270 Greg Stoutenburg: I’ll say, please leave her alone.
239 00:25:30.270 ⇒ 00:25:30.830 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
240 00:25:31.340 ⇒ 00:25:36.420 Greg Stoutenburg: Because then she’ll start asking questions, he won’t know the answer, and then she’s gonna tell us that he didn’t know.
241 00:25:36.420 ⇒ 00:25:36.890 Uttam Kumaran: So…
242 00:25:36.890 ⇒ 00:25:40.540 Greg Stoutenburg: He also didn’t say that he didn’t know, and so now we can’t trust anyone.
243 00:25:40.540 ⇒ 00:25:41.140 Uttam Kumaran: Dash.
244 00:25:41.140 ⇒ 00:25:41.560 Greg Stoutenburg: I.
245 00:25:41.560 ⇒ 00:25:42.489 Uttam Kumaran: It’s a one-way.
246 00:25:42.730 ⇒ 00:25:43.799 Greg Stoutenburg: That’s… that’s…
247 00:25:43.800 ⇒ 00:25:44.380 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
248 00:25:44.380 ⇒ 00:25:45.499 Greg Stoutenburg: This is how this goes.
249 00:25:45.760 ⇒ 00:25:46.650 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah.
250 00:25:46.650 ⇒ 00:25:47.060 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
251 00:25:47.060 ⇒ 00:25:49.769 Greg Stoutenburg: Alright. Yeah. You got any, fun plans this weekend?
252 00:25:52.780 ⇒ 00:25:55.489 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, we’re going camping, actually, tonight, so…
253 00:25:55.490 ⇒ 00:25:56.100 Greg Stoutenburg: What is…
254 00:25:57.000 ⇒ 00:25:59.649 Uttam Kumaran: In California, yeah, on the coast here.
255 00:26:00.250 ⇒ 00:26:00.950 Greg Stoutenburg: Nice!
256 00:26:01.070 ⇒ 00:26:01.990 Greg Stoutenburg: That’s awesome.
257 00:26:02.800 ⇒ 00:26:03.470 Greg Stoutenburg: Cool.
258 00:26:03.470 ⇒ 00:26:04.979 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, so it should be good.
259 00:26:05.140 ⇒ 00:26:06.749 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah. Yeah, how many…
260 00:26:07.710 ⇒ 00:26:12.129 Greg Stoutenburg: I’m, I’m doing one of the phases of… I’m, I’m moving.
261 00:26:12.420 ⇒ 00:26:13.920 Greg Stoutenburg: So.
262 00:26:14.200 ⇒ 00:26:14.950 Uttam Kumaran: Really?
263 00:26:14.950 ⇒ 00:26:21.630 Greg Stoutenburg: working on moving-related stuff, yeah, yeah. It’s, it’s actually, I mean, it’s a great thing, so…
264 00:26:21.840 ⇒ 00:26:37.429 Greg Stoutenburg: My girlfriend and I had planned that we would, you know, I mean, we both got kids, and both divorced, and planned to… had planned to move in together this summer. I’ve been renting a house for the last few years, and then I got this notice
265 00:26:37.720 ⇒ 00:26:52.340 Greg Stoutenburg: 3 weeks ago, that I need to… that they sold this house, and I need to get out in 30 days. So… so the timeline got sped way up. And so, one of the things I’ll be doing this weekend is just, like.
266 00:26:52.340 ⇒ 00:27:03.120 Greg Stoutenburg: I got a storage unit, moving a bunch of stuff into it, got a renovator working on her house starting Monday to make some bedrooms for my boys, and so, I’m gonna execute on part of that plan.
267 00:27:08.240 ⇒ 00:27:14.109 Greg Stoutenburg: Moving is the least fun thing that there is, but… Anyway… It’s gotta be done, so…
268 00:27:14.490 ⇒ 00:27:15.780 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, amazing.
269 00:27:15.780 ⇒ 00:27:16.500 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah.
270 00:27:16.820 ⇒ 00:27:20.360 Uttam Kumaran: That’s awesome. Where… just, like, near… near where your current place is?
271 00:27:20.380 ⇒ 00:27:24.190 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, it’s only, like, 12 minutes away. It’s real close.
272 00:27:24.190 ⇒ 00:27:26.009 Uttam Kumaran: But, yeah.
273 00:27:26.010 ⇒ 00:27:30.579 Greg Stoutenburg: The main thing is just the challenge of doing the moves. So, yeah.
274 00:27:32.010 ⇒ 00:27:32.970 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah.
275 00:27:33.180 ⇒ 00:27:39.200 Greg Stoutenburg: So… Anyway, cool. Alright, well, I’m gonna go deliver some stuff.
276 00:27:41.100 ⇒ 00:27:42.320 Greg Stoutenburg: Have fun camping!
277 00:27:42.320 ⇒ 00:27:45.789 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, perfect. Alright. Thank you. Alright, talk to you soon, man.
278 00:27:45.790 ⇒ 00:27:47.439 Greg Stoutenburg: Alright, talk later. Alright, bye.