Meeting Title: Brainforge Interview w- Kaela Date: 2026-04-09 Meeting participants: Kaela Gallagher, Jonathan Beltran
WEBVTT
1 00:04:03.410 ⇒ 00:04:09.000 Jonathan Beltran: Hey, Kayla, is that… am I saying that correctly? Sorry, I’m late.
2 00:04:09.000 ⇒ 00:04:11.929 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, no, no worries, it’s Kayla, how’s it going?
3 00:04:12.350 ⇒ 00:04:26.890 Jonathan Beltran: Good, good. Happy Friday Eve. Sorry if I sound a little under the weather, I think I… I’m catching a cold. I met… I was meeting with my girlfriend’s parents over the weekend, and one of them was, like, really sick, and I.
4 00:04:26.890 ⇒ 00:04:29.880 Kaela Gallagher: Oh, gosh. You caught it.
5 00:04:30.220 ⇒ 00:04:37.660 Jonathan Beltran: Yeah, unfortunately, but sorry that I’m late. A call went over, right before this, so I apologize.
6 00:04:37.660 ⇒ 00:04:45.619 Kaela Gallagher: No worries, no worries. Yeah, excited to get to know a little bit more about you. You used to work with Robert, right?
7 00:04:46.040 ⇒ 00:05:10.729 Jonathan Beltran: Yes, we both spent some time at Flexport together, way back when, I think in both of our beginning of our career. But yeah, it’s been a long time. He reached out to me regarding some coffee chat that he was hosting. I missed it, but then we got to talking. I mentioned that I was interested in leaving
8 00:05:10.730 ⇒ 00:05:24.849 Jonathan Beltran: the logistics space, and then that’s when he proposed, well, let’s see if the partnership’s role, here at Brainforge is a, is a fit. So, you know, I’m definitely interested, so here, here we are.
9 00:05:25.230 ⇒ 00:05:32.039 Kaela Gallagher: Okay, okay, cool. What is making you interested in leaving logistics?
10 00:05:32.890 ⇒ 00:05:41.860 Jonathan Beltran: Yeah, I mean, the industry as a whole has been shrinking since, like, you know, once things started opening up after COVID.
11 00:05:41.860 ⇒ 00:05:59.100 Jonathan Beltran: And it’s kind of just been, you know, how do we survive in this kind of environment? And I’ve been doing the most out of the situation at all my jobs that I’ve had, you know, really leading impact, improving. I’m coming from a CS account management background.
12 00:05:59.100 ⇒ 00:06:09.120 Jonathan Beltran: But I kinda wanna move away from that. I still love to be in an early-stage startup. Most of my career has been in
13 00:06:09.120 ⇒ 00:06:33.430 Jonathan Beltran: in those kinds of roles and companies, pre-C to Series A, Series B. So I think I str… I really am more successful in those roles, simply because I love to… to build out functions. So, at Shipable, and at OpenTrek, and even here currently at Blue Cargo, a lot of the work that I do is.
14 00:06:33.430 ⇒ 00:06:41.539 Jonathan Beltran: Building out frameworks, playbooks, how do we create iterable solutions, as we scale?
15 00:06:41.540 ⇒ 00:06:46.119 Jonathan Beltran: Because, you know, at these startups, you know, most of these teams are one person, or…
16 00:06:46.120 ⇒ 00:06:58.020 Jonathan Beltran: a couple things. So, how do I, like, I try to make things easy for me, to manage everything, but I think it seems, based on what Robert, shared with me.
17 00:06:58.270 ⇒ 00:07:05.590 Jonathan Beltran: is, you know, you guys are building out this function, and I think that’s some of the things that I’m really good at scaling.
18 00:07:06.030 ⇒ 00:07:15.480 Kaela Gallagher: Okay, okay. Yeah, I noticed your past couple roles have been, like, in the customer success kind of space. Can you tell me about what your day-to-day looked like?
19 00:07:15.670 ⇒ 00:07:26.210 Jonathan Beltran: Yeah, I guess I could just share with you, like, a higher overview of myself. So, yeah, I’ve been in CS account management, for a little over 6 years now.
20 00:07:26.210 ⇒ 00:07:42.859 Jonathan Beltran: mostly with B2B SaaS, and over that time, most of my work, you know, sits in the intersection of not just CS and my customers, but ops, partnerships, as well as, product. So there.
21 00:07:42.860 ⇒ 00:07:43.840 Jonathan Beltran: I’m…
22 00:07:43.840 ⇒ 00:08:08.800 Jonathan Beltran: really involved in what is implementations, onboardings, renewals, expansion identification, holding and hosting QBRs, things of that nature, in terms of the day-to-day. But going back to what I was mentioning before, of what I’m really proud of in my career is, you know, making sure I’m building scalable solutions.
23 00:08:08.840 ⇒ 00:08:27.049 Jonathan Beltran: At OpenTrack, for example, I was able to cut down implementation timeline from 3 months to just under 30 days. And just doing things like that have… is like a puzzle for me, and that I enjoy doing. And what brings me here, obviously, is,
24 00:08:27.050 ⇒ 00:08:32.059 Jonathan Beltran: my conversation with Robert, but that’s kind of a little bit about my background.
25 00:08:32.380 ⇒ 00:08:41.659 Kaela Gallagher: Okay, cool. Yeah, I can tell you, like, a little bit more about Brainforge and the role. I’m not sure… have you guys… have you and Robert, like, chatted, or just mostly messaging?
26 00:08:41.919 ⇒ 00:08:43.819 Jonathan Beltran: No, it was just quick messages.
27 00:08:43.820 ⇒ 00:08:44.220 Kaela Gallagher: Okay.
28 00:08:44.220 ⇒ 00:08:55.300 Jonathan Beltran: Not much of a… of a chat just yet. I did reach out to him to see if we could set up some time, but, you know, everyone’s busy around this time, so…
29 00:08:55.620 ⇒ 00:08:56.060 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah.
30 00:08:56.100 ⇒ 00:08:57.540 Jonathan Beltran: Hard to get them on the phone.
31 00:08:57.760 ⇒ 00:09:13.409 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, yeah, okay, cool. So yeah, I can give you an overview then. So, what we’re doing at Brainforge is we’re a data and AI consulting company, so working with a lot of, like, small and mid-sized organizations, to build solutions for them. We have 3 service lines.
32 00:09:13.410 ⇒ 00:09:22.329 Kaela Gallagher: One is data, one is AI, and one is strategy and analytics, and oftentimes we’re kind of using a combo of those three teams to build solutions for clients.
33 00:09:22.530 ⇒ 00:09:22.860 Jonathan Beltran: Okay.
34 00:09:22.860 ⇒ 00:09:37.999 Kaela Gallagher: We work with a variety of industries, currently, we have some brands that are, like, on the shelf at Target and Walmart that you might recognize, so, like, some CPG brands, finance, B2B, SaaS,
35 00:09:38.220 ⇒ 00:09:42.929 Kaela Gallagher: healthcare, just kind of across industries right now.
36 00:09:43.530 ⇒ 00:10:04.809 Kaela Gallagher: So far, 60% of our revenue has come from partnerships, so this is, like, a huge source of revenue for us, something that we’ve had a lot of success in so far, and that has all been driven by Robert and our other CEO, Utam, doing all of it themselves, which is kind of.
37 00:10:04.810 ⇒ 00:10:05.309 Jonathan Beltran: Kind of crazy.
38 00:10:05.310 ⇒ 00:10:17.269 Kaela Gallagher: Utam has, like, a few connections at Snowflake, I’m sure you’re familiar, and they’ve been able to, like, share some lead lists with us. We have a partnership with
39 00:10:17.280 ⇒ 00:10:40.029 Kaela Gallagher: Omni, which is kind of like a Tableau, or like a Power BI, and we’ve been able to implement them for some clients, and so they’ve given us leads, and so, these partnerships have been super valuable to us, but, you can imagine, like, Utam, the CEO, doesn’t have a ton of time to, like, really build relationships, like, he’s just trying his best to call people at Snowflake, even just once a week.
40 00:10:41.290 ⇒ 00:10:52.100 Kaela Gallagher: And then we have these lead lists to go after, but, like, not a lot of capacity to do that. And Robert right now is, like, running our entire sales and go-to-market efforts, and so we need somebody that, like.
41 00:10:52.100 ⇒ 00:11:16.640 Kaela Gallagher: has the hunger to track down these leads, someone that can take these initial calls and, like, qualify them, and then at that point, like, Robert can hop in and help move them through the rest of the process, but, just somebody that, like, really considers themselves a relationship builder, like, if you’re passionate about even just going to events in your area, like, just somebody that can build these connections for us is super important.
42 00:11:17.280 ⇒ 00:11:41.979 Jonathan Beltran: Yeah, that’s… that’s, cool context, and it’s insane to see the co-CEOs having to do, basically, SDR work, because it sounds like it’s partnership, but, like, SDR and partnerships. I haven’t, you know, I actually have a couple of stories, like, that sounds like what you guys are doing, and it’s really developing that network effect, so, you know, once you implement a
43 00:11:41.980 ⇒ 00:12:02.800 Jonathan Beltran: partner, now you can… that unlocks a customer base. For example, at OpenTrack, we supply a lot of data through APIs to our customers that have existing ERPs, but their ERPs need to be, you know, onboarded with us, and we need to be able to create
44 00:12:02.800 ⇒ 00:12:20.899 Jonathan Beltran: you know, endpoints and being able to communicate with their systems, and that required conversations with… you may not have heard of these, because these are logistics-specific, but a lot of customers use, like, things like Cargo-matic and, some of these legacy, platforms.
45 00:12:21.230 ⇒ 00:12:29.660 Jonathan Beltran: So I’ve had experience in, you know, talking to those folks and saying, hey, like, I actually have a customer list of, like.
46 00:12:29.660 ⇒ 00:12:54.270 Jonathan Beltran: 5, and I know one of them are one of your bigger customers, and they’re looking to work with us. You know, I’m excited to see if there’s an opportunity to create a partnership, and then, you know, head those conversations with my director of sales, or things like that, that I’ve been able to pass on. That’s been very successful at… when I was there at OpenTrek, we ended up, onboarding 3 partners while I was there.
47 00:12:54.270 ⇒ 00:13:05.810 Jonathan Beltran: And then, out of those three, we did generate over 10 customers, within, like, the first month of implementing those folks, which was great. I mean, 10 sounds a little, but, like…
48 00:13:05.940 ⇒ 00:13:06.860 Kaela Gallagher: You know, they weren’t…
49 00:13:06.860 ⇒ 00:13:17.890 Jonathan Beltran: hefty, hefty deals, so, like, it was, it was a great, I would say it was a great experience, because it’s the first time that I’ve handled something like that of that nature.
50 00:13:17.890 ⇒ 00:13:33.109 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, well, in the Brainforge world, 10, you know, would make a significant difference, so yeah, it doesn’t sound small at all. Cool, yeah, I think that experience is really relevant. Where… where are you located currently?
51 00:13:33.400 ⇒ 00:13:35.139 Jonathan Beltran: I am in New York right now.
52 00:13:35.300 ⇒ 00:13:41.559 Kaela Gallagher: Oh, okay, okay, cool. So, in theory, like, you and Robert could even meet up in person. Awesome.
53 00:13:41.560 ⇒ 00:13:41.930 Jonathan Beltran: Yeah.
54 00:13:41.930 ⇒ 00:13:45.930 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, I feel like for this role, so Robert is in…
55 00:13:46.070 ⇒ 00:14:00.829 Kaela Gallagher: New York, UTOM is in Austin, and then myself and 4 other team members are in LA, so we’re kind of starting to have hubs in these locations, so it’s definitely a plus for us if this partnerships person isn’t one of those places. So, that’s cool.
56 00:14:00.830 ⇒ 00:14:01.730 Jonathan Beltran: Definitely.
57 00:14:02.020 ⇒ 00:14:15.139 Jonathan Beltran: I think that’s where a lot of HQs are at here in New York, so, you know, as you mentioned, there’s always tons of events, regardless of industry, so it’s always been a huge plus to be based out here.
58 00:14:15.340 ⇒ 00:14:18.070 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, okay, how long have you been in New York?
59 00:14:18.250 ⇒ 00:14:25.150 Jonathan Beltran: So, I’ve actually been in and out last year, since I was at OpenTrek, that was a remote role, so…
60 00:14:25.150 ⇒ 00:14:25.500 Kaela Gallagher: Oh my gosh.
61 00:14:25.500 ⇒ 00:14:39.869 Jonathan Beltran: traveling a whole bunch, I would sublease my apartment and then just go travel for months at a time. So, I spent 6 months outside of New York, but outside of those 6 months, I’ve been in New York for around, like, 7 to 8 years now.
62 00:14:40.190 ⇒ 00:14:42.810 Kaela Gallagher: Okay, okay, cool. What part of the city?
63 00:14:42.870 ⇒ 00:14:50.309 Jonathan Beltran: I’m in Brooklyn. I’m kind of deep, but it’s because rent is cheaper, and I’m able to have my own apartment, which is nice.
64 00:14:50.310 ⇒ 00:14:50.960 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah.
65 00:14:51.250 ⇒ 00:14:52.380 Kaela Gallagher: That’s helpful.
66 00:14:52.380 ⇒ 00:14:53.949 Jonathan Beltran: That’s why I’m out here.
67 00:14:53.950 ⇒ 00:15:03.409 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, yeah, I’ve visited quite a few times, and my boyfriend is kind of nudging, like, hey, let’s consider a move there.
68 00:15:03.410 ⇒ 00:15:16.580 Jonathan Beltran: I’m not gonna lie, I feel like if I lived in LA, like, moving to New York is… I don’t know. I love visiting LA, I don’t know if I could live there, but I can see why people do. It’s gorgeous, the weather’s great.
69 00:15:16.660 ⇒ 00:15:24.900 Jonathan Beltran: But, you know, after this winter, I’m kind of like, yeah, I don’t know if I can do this much longer.
70 00:15:24.900 ⇒ 00:15:40.690 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, yeah, that’s definitely something I don’t think I would enjoy, although I’ve only been in LA for 3 years, and prior to this, I lived in places with just horrible weather, so it’s something I’m… I know I can handle, because I did it my whole life, but…
71 00:15:41.250 ⇒ 00:15:45.090 Kaela Gallagher: I don’t know, I like that LA’s, like, a little bit more relaxed, like, just the vibe.
72 00:15:45.090 ⇒ 00:15:46.540 Jonathan Beltran: Very relaxed.
73 00:15:46.540 ⇒ 00:15:46.970 Kaela Gallagher: is…
74 00:15:46.970 ⇒ 00:16:05.009 Jonathan Beltran: Yeah, because once you leave your apartment here, it’s like, go, go, go, go, like, get out of the way, make sure you’re not walking too slow, catch that train, because if you don’t catch that, you might miss your connection, and then you’re late when you would have been early, and it’s just, like, non-stop bust.
75 00:16:05.220 ⇒ 00:16:11.809 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah. Okay. Alright, cool. Well, yeah, maybe you and Robert can meet up… meet up sometime soon.
76 00:16:11.950 ⇒ 00:16:17.930 Kaela Gallagher: Just another, like, logistics question. Curious the pay range that you’d be targeting to make a move.
77 00:16:18.350 ⇒ 00:16:36.729 Jonathan Beltran: Yeah, so currently, I am open to other opportunities, and I am in 3 other recruitment processes, and it’s all still pretty early. Both… all three… not both, all 3 of them, I’m in second rounds, one this week, and then a couple next week.
78 00:16:36.730 ⇒ 00:16:59.659 Jonathan Beltran: And all of those OTE are, like, you know, they’re commission-based as well. They’re in CS account management. The OTE for those are 185, and that’s kind of what I’m looking at. What is the budget you guys are looking at? What is the pay range? I didn’t see one on your site, so I just wanted to maybe touch base with you as well on that.
79 00:17:00.050 ⇒ 00:17:12.649 Kaela Gallagher: Yes, yes, so we have not defined a pay range for this yet. I’m having, like, a lot of these initial conversations and just kind of asking people to get an understanding. This is our first, like.
80 00:17:13.089 ⇒ 00:17:30.279 Kaela Gallagher: partnerships position. That being said, Robert wants to target about 50% of the take-home to be commissioned, so it would be heavily commission-based. And I think the base… I think the base could definitely meet, like.
81 00:17:30.330 ⇒ 00:17:34.020 Kaela Gallagher: 100K, maybe even more.
82 00:17:34.360 ⇒ 00:17:43.210 Jonathan Beltran: Yeah, space would also be a factor for me. Like, I’m even willing to go, like, less on commission if…
83 00:17:43.340 ⇒ 00:17:54.980 Jonathan Beltran: you know, I could get a higher base, simply because, you know, New York is expensive, and all the roles that I’m looking at, their bases are around 125.
84 00:17:54.980 ⇒ 00:18:06.090 Jonathan Beltran: And my current role, like, candidly, I’ll be very candid, since, you know, Robert is someone that I do know, I don’t want to play any mind games or anything, I’m getting paid $115 base right now, with my.
85 00:18:06.090 ⇒ 00:18:06.540 Kaela Gallagher: Okay.
86 00:18:06.600 ⇒ 00:18:14.299 Jonathan Beltran: at 170. So, like, if I’m willing… gonna leave this role, I’d hope, like, it match, at least, at the.
87 00:18:14.300 ⇒ 00:18:14.740 Kaela Gallagher: Okay.
88 00:18:15.570 ⇒ 00:18:19.390 Jonathan Beltran: But yeah, I just wanted to just be upfront with that.
89 00:18:19.720 ⇒ 00:18:25.920 Kaela Gallagher: Okay, that’s good to know, like, where we would need to be in order for an offer to be, you know, exciting to you. So…
90 00:18:26.460 ⇒ 00:18:29.079 Kaela Gallagher: Thank you for sharing that, cool.
91 00:18:29.510 ⇒ 00:18:53.360 Jonathan Beltran: Of course, like, you know, depending on what else is offered in a comp plan, I’m all ears. Like, if there’s equity involved, you know, then that’s something different. I think that definitely could make something more enticing, because, you know, if the company’s doing well, we all do well, and I do like that model. I think most of the companies that I’ve worked at have offered that as well.
92 00:18:53.390 ⇒ 00:19:01.149 Jonathan Beltran: I think if that’s something that’s on the table, that would also be a good one for me.
93 00:19:01.150 ⇒ 00:19:04.520 Kaela Gallagher: Okay. Okay, cool. Awesome. That sounds good. I can give…
94 00:19:04.700 ⇒ 00:19:15.739 Kaela Gallagher: Robert, a heads up on that, like, ahead of you chatting with him, and he can go, like, into more detail on any sort of, like, pay and commission stuff as well.
95 00:19:15.960 ⇒ 00:19:31.690 Kaela Gallagher: Are there any other… oh, sorry, one more note on pay. So, our entire team right now is on a 1099 contracting basis. So, I did want to call that out. This would be either paid, like, hourly or monthly.
96 00:19:31.890 ⇒ 00:19:48.620 Kaela Gallagher: And then we are able, because we’re not offering benefits, we are able to do, like, a benefits reimbursement situation. So that’s something we could kind of, like, work into a potential offer as well. So just a heads up there.
97 00:19:48.620 ⇒ 00:20:06.849 Jonathan Beltran: Gotcha. So when you say benefit reimbursement, that means, like, there’s no health insurance as of right now, just yet, and then, you know, I pay for my own insurance, and then you guys pay the subsidized, or you guys cover? Like, what does that… what does that mean, I guess?
98 00:20:07.220 ⇒ 00:20:23.079 Kaela Gallagher: Yes. So, we don’t offer insurance currently, although we’re hoping to convert a good amount of our U.S. team to W-2, I would say, this calendar year, and then upon conversion, like, benefits would be offered as well, so that…
99 00:20:23.080 ⇒ 00:20:30.410 Kaela Gallagher: is on the horizon. Until then, we are able to do… what we do is, like, a 50%…
100 00:20:30.430 ⇒ 00:20:46.799 Kaela Gallagher: healthcare reimbursement up to $800, so you would submit… you would, you know, get COBRA, or either find, like, another kind of care, and then submit, like, reimbursement requests monthly, or however you’re paying that out.
101 00:20:47.260 ⇒ 00:20:53.649 Jonathan Beltran: Got it. Understood. Yeah, I mean, you guys are fairly new, right? When was Brainforge founded?
102 00:20:53.650 ⇒ 00:21:11.150 Kaela Gallagher: I think technically a couple years ago, but it might have just been, like, Utam and Robert for the first, like, 6 months or so. But we’re at 25 team members now, and I joined a month ago, and I’ve onboarded 4 people since I started, so we’re growing pretty quickly.
103 00:21:11.490 ⇒ 00:21:22.879 Jonathan Beltran: Wow, yeah, that’s amazing. And just quick question, maybe, like, more so on the team. Obviously, if you have any other questions for me, I’m happy to answer those.
104 00:21:22.880 ⇒ 00:21:24.799 Kaela Gallagher: No, go ahead.
105 00:21:24.800 ⇒ 00:21:39.819 Jonathan Beltran: I just wanted to ask, like, how big is the sales team currently? I know you said the CEOs are kind of doing partnerships and those kinds of sales. Is there an SDR or AEs currently, working at Brainforge?
106 00:21:39.950 ⇒ 00:21:44.109 Kaela Gallagher: So, I can tell you the structure of the team currently. We were actually almost
107 00:21:44.130 ⇒ 00:21:52.799 Kaela Gallagher: like, considering calling this role, like, a founding AE as well, because I do foresee some overlap, but
108 00:21:52.800 ⇒ 00:22:06.040 Kaela Gallagher: Currently, like, Utam is working with a lot of the partnerships. Robert is on the sales and go-to-market side, so he’s leading sales go-to-market strategy. We do have a go-to-market,
109 00:22:06.180 ⇒ 00:22:21.019 Kaela Gallagher: lead, so he’s, like, actively doing sales and trying to gain clients there. A lot of, like, net new work, and then we have a sales coordinator as well, so that’s the structure of the team.
110 00:22:21.370 ⇒ 00:22:30.790 Jonathan Beltran: Got it. And then I’m assuming, you know, this role is in go-to-market, and I would be working under that lead, correct?
111 00:22:31.440 ⇒ 00:22:39.240 Kaela Gallagher: You would actually be working with Robert most closely. I think you and that lead would be considered peers.
112 00:22:40.010 ⇒ 00:22:53.749 Jonathan Beltran: Understood. Gotcha. Okay. Sounds good. But 25 folks, that’s, pretty small, but not as, like, not too small for me. I mean, I’m in a company with 37 people, so it’s, like, not that.
113 00:22:53.750 ⇒ 00:22:58.889 Kaela Gallagher: Okay. Cool, cool, okay, yeah, nice.
114 00:22:59.490 ⇒ 00:23:00.939 Jonathan Beltran: Yeah. You’re used to it.
115 00:23:00.940 ⇒ 00:23:01.610 Kaela Gallagher: Used to paint.
116 00:23:01.610 ⇒ 00:23:12.869 Jonathan Beltran: The only other question I have for you, Kayla, is, is this a hybrid role? Do you guys have, like, a WeWork out here in New York, or what is that structure like?
117 00:23:13.100 ⇒ 00:23:17.329 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, so right now, it’s just Robert in New York, so… Okay, it’s gonna be me.
118 00:23:17.330 ⇒ 00:23:18.460 Jonathan Beltran: remote, I’m assuming?
119 00:23:18.460 ⇒ 00:23:21.220 Kaela Gallagher: Remote, yeah, if you guys wanna, like, meet up for a lunch.
120 00:23:21.220 ⇒ 00:23:24.420 Jonathan Beltran: Like, a coffee shop, and…
121 00:23:24.420 ⇒ 00:23:38.690 Kaela Gallagher: Exactly. There’s actually 5 of us in LA, and so just, like, on our own, we’ve taken initiative to just do lunch and, like, co-working once a week, but, like, we’re not being required to do that, we just do that because we like to…
122 00:23:39.090 ⇒ 00:24:01.590 Jonathan Beltran: Yeah, I mean, it’s nice to have that option. I mean, I think work gets done a little quicker. I’m a big fan of hybrid work. Like, 3 days max for me would be… is nice, but, you know, just wanted to get… get a sense of that, because, yeah, not commuting is also very nice here, because, for me, it’s 30 minutes just to get to downtown.
123 00:24:01.650 ⇒ 00:24:02.350 Jonathan Beltran: Oh, wow.
124 00:24:02.350 ⇒ 00:24:02.950 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah.
125 00:24:03.090 ⇒ 00:24:06.770 Jonathan Beltran: Which is not bad, but… I mean, people in LA have it worse.
126 00:24:07.830 ⇒ 00:24:13.219 Jonathan Beltran: Drive for an hour, and then to get home, it’s an hour and a half because of traffic.
127 00:24:13.470 ⇒ 00:24:15.810 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, yeah, I mean…
128 00:24:16.010 ⇒ 00:24:19.489 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, 30 minutes is still a good chunk of your day, though. That’s, like, a whole.
129 00:24:19.490 ⇒ 00:24:19.830 Jonathan Beltran: Yeah.
130 00:24:19.830 ⇒ 00:24:21.270 Kaela Gallagher: workout or something, so…
131 00:24:21.270 ⇒ 00:24:29.600 Jonathan Beltran: Exactly. And then another last question, is… do you guys…
132 00:24:30.150 ⇒ 00:24:36.189 Jonathan Beltran: I guess, do any offsites at all? Like, how do you guys, I guess,
133 00:24:36.430 ⇒ 00:24:46.869 Jonathan Beltran: try to cultivate culture. I know you said you kind of take it on yourselves to meet in person, but has there been anything like that yet? Or is it too early still?
134 00:24:47.100 ⇒ 00:25:02.089 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, so, in terms of, like, getting the team together, we do bi-weeklies on Fridays, which are really fun. We do, like, demos or, like, lab shares, like, everyone gets to kind of talk about what they’re working on, which is cool.
135 00:25:02.480 ⇒ 00:25:06.460 Kaela Gallagher: Our team is, like, across the globe, so we have team members and, like.
136 00:25:06.610 ⇒ 00:25:26.939 Kaela Gallagher: the Philippines and India and, Croatia and kind of all over. So, it is tougher to get the team together. However, one of my goals this quarter is to build a plan for an off-site. I think it would really include our US team, but hopefully that’s on the books, like, sometime this year.
137 00:25:27.840 ⇒ 00:25:38.390 Jonathan Beltran: That’s awesome. Yeah, because I think for me, I’ve worked at a, like, for example, I said OpenTrack, we only had one off-site while we were there, and it was only the sales team.
138 00:25:38.760 ⇒ 00:25:39.320 Kaela Gallagher: Mmm.
139 00:25:39.320 ⇒ 00:26:02.989 Jonathan Beltran: I started to feel really like, man, all my coworkers are just faces on screens, and I work so close with a lot of these folks, and I’ve never seen them in person. It’s just kind of like, how can I work here for over a year and a half and not have seen any of them? So, I think for me, having that, like, community sense where I work is important, so that’s why I wanted to ask.
140 00:26:03.600 ⇒ 00:26:05.739 Jonathan Beltran: But having Robert here is nice.
141 00:26:05.740 ⇒ 00:26:16.430 Kaela Gallagher: I’ve… so before coming to Brainforge, I only ever worked, like, hybrid or on-site positions, so I was definitely worried about that, too.
142 00:26:16.750 ⇒ 00:26:33.520 Kaela Gallagher: But, like, they’re flying me to Austin next week, and so, like, I’m gonna get to meet Utom in person for the first time. I’ve actually already met Robert, a couple times, and I’ll get to meet another engineer on the team, so I feel like being in a partnerships role, too, like, if you…
143 00:26:33.870 ⇒ 00:26:43.289 Kaela Gallagher: are traveling for a conference or anything like that, like, you’ll get opportunities to engage with the team outside of our potential off-site, too.
144 00:26:43.930 ⇒ 00:27:01.320 Jonathan Beltran: Got it. And I guess, like, that actually opens up another thing. You mentioned conferences. You know, if we were to make a percentage of, like, travel for this role, like, would that be, like, an 80-20, like, 20% travel, less or more than that?
145 00:27:01.830 ⇒ 00:27:05.239 Kaela Gallagher: I would think less than 20%. Okay.
146 00:27:05.240 ⇒ 00:27:05.560 Jonathan Beltran: Okay, cool.
147 00:27:06.180 ⇒ 00:27:07.100 Jonathan Beltran: I like that.
148 00:27:07.100 ⇒ 00:27:23.470 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, I don’t think it would be super frequent, but, like, the conference that’s coming up is, like, a really cool opportunity for us to even, like, gain new clients, and so, like, it makes sense why they’re having.
149 00:27:23.470 ⇒ 00:27:24.359 Jonathan Beltran: Yeah, that does make sense.
150 00:27:24.360 ⇒ 00:27:31.290 Kaela Gallagher: But, like, this is kind of a once-a-year thing, this conference. Like, I… I don’t… I don’t know. I don’t see travel being
151 00:27:31.910 ⇒ 00:27:33.290 Kaela Gallagher: Common.
152 00:27:33.500 ⇒ 00:27:44.669 Jonathan Beltran: Gotcha. Yeah, the reason I ask is because my current role, I’ve been on the road for, like, in the first 2 months, I think, like, almost a month of it, I’ve, like.
153 00:27:44.670 ⇒ 00:27:46.379 Kaela Gallagher: I’ve been traveling.
154 00:27:46.380 ⇒ 00:27:48.680 Jonathan Beltran: Not the whole time, but like…
155 00:27:48.820 ⇒ 00:27:56.649 Jonathan Beltran: one trip, like, here, there, like, two, three days, or one day, and I’m just like, this is a lot, guys.
156 00:27:56.650 ⇒ 00:27:57.100 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah.
157 00:27:57.100 ⇒ 00:27:58.380 Jonathan Beltran: Just fuck down.
158 00:27:58.460 ⇒ 00:27:59.590 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah.
159 00:27:59.590 ⇒ 00:28:09.479 Jonathan Beltran: So, I feel like… I thought travel would be cool, but then I realized, maybe this would have been cooler, like, 5 years ago for me, but not today, not in today’s.
160 00:28:09.480 ⇒ 00:28:16.509 Kaela Gallagher: Yes, yes. Once, yeah, once the work travel starts building up, it becomes a little less exciting, I understand that.
161 00:28:16.680 ⇒ 00:28:29.509 Jonathan Beltran: Yeah. Cool. Well, I did see you guys are looking to fill this soon. Is there a specific start date you guys have in mind, or you guys are still, like, kind of testing the waters to see what’s out there?
162 00:28:29.700 ⇒ 00:28:42.599 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, so we can move pretty quickly upon extending an offer. Like, we can have somebody walk in the door, I would say, like, less than a week later, if we really wanted to. Of course, like, we understand
163 00:28:42.810 ⇒ 00:28:48.370 Kaela Gallagher: people we’re chatting with are currently employed and might need to give 2 weeks, so,
164 00:28:48.680 ⇒ 00:28:52.739 Kaela Gallagher: We totally understand that. I would say sooner the better.
165 00:28:53.110 ⇒ 00:29:10.310 Kaela Gallagher: I’m chatting with quite a few candidates today and tomorrow, and then I’m gonna review all the profiles with Robert and see who he wants to talk to. Okay. And then there would be one other person to chat with outside of Robert, who’s kind of like a third-party, advisor to us.
166 00:29:10.610 ⇒ 00:29:14.009 Kaela Gallagher: So that’s what the process would look like going forward.
167 00:29:14.560 ⇒ 00:29:25.680 Jonathan Beltran: Gotcha. Alright, well that sounds great, and if it helps, I can also send along my resume, that way you have something in front of you, because I don’t think I shared that, yet.
168 00:29:25.860 ⇒ 00:29:30.010 Kaela Gallagher: Oh yeah, I only have your LinkedIn, so yes, if you’d be willing to send your resume, that would be great.
169 00:29:30.300 ⇒ 00:29:35.839 Jonathan Beltran: Perfect. Alright, well, thanks so much for making the time, and again, sorry that my call went over before this one.
170 00:29:35.840 ⇒ 00:29:39.229 Kaela Gallagher: All good, thanks for taking the time, great meeting you.
171 00:29:39.230 ⇒ 00:29:41.269 Jonathan Beltran: Alright, likewise. Have a good one. Bye.
172 00:29:41.270 ⇒ 00:29:42.120 Kaela Gallagher: Bye, Jonathan, bye.