Meeting Title: Brainforge x Hussein Diab Informal Chat Date: 2026-04-13 Meeting participants: Robert Tseng, Hussein Diab
WEBVTT
1 00:00:10.520 ⇒ 00:00:11.849 Hussein Diab: Oh, hello?
2 00:00:11.850 ⇒ 00:00:13.869 Robert Tseng: Hey, is it Hussein?
3 00:00:13.870 ⇒ 00:00:15.870 Hussein Diab: Sam? How you doing, Robert?
4 00:00:15.870 ⇒ 00:00:17.040 Robert Tseng: Good, how are you?
5 00:00:17.040 ⇒ 00:00:18.350 Hussein Diab: Doing well.
6 00:00:18.830 ⇒ 00:00:20.110 Hussein Diab: Thanks for having me. How was your weekend?
7 00:00:20.110 ⇒ 00:00:28.750 Robert Tseng: Yeah, weekend was good. I mean, I’m in New York, it actually feels like spring now, the sun was out, the flowers are blooming, so can’t complain.
8 00:00:28.750 ⇒ 00:00:30.500 Hussein Diab: That’s awesome, that’s awesome.
9 00:00:30.500 ⇒ 00:00:32.849 Robert Tseng: And you’re in… Texas?
10 00:00:32.990 ⇒ 00:00:34.650 Hussein Diab: Yes, I’m in Dallas.
11 00:00:35.040 ⇒ 00:00:37.169 Hussein Diab: Pretty hot, it’s already in the 80s.
12 00:00:37.170 ⇒ 00:00:37.780 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
13 00:00:37.780 ⇒ 00:00:38.820 Hussein Diab: Okay.
14 00:00:38.980 ⇒ 00:00:48.289 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I was just in Dallas, like, a month ago. I have good friends out there, and yeah, I can… I know the weather is pretty extreme, extreme out there, so…
15 00:00:48.310 ⇒ 00:00:49.520 Hussein Diab: Envy, yeah.
16 00:00:49.730 ⇒ 00:01:05.870 Robert Tseng: Yeah. Well, I know we don’t have too much time, so I mean, thank you for taking the call on such short notice. I think the team has been really, you know, raving about you and saying I should talk to you. So, yeah, I mean, this is just, like, a pretty informal kind of chat. I mean, I think…
17 00:01:07.340 ⇒ 00:01:25.840 Robert Tseng: Well, maybe I’d love to kind of… kind of hear from you, based on what you’ve talked to the team about so far, your understanding of, kind of, the role of Brainforge, and then I can maybe help fill in some of the blanks, and also just kind of share, like, my piece that I feel like might be something for you to consider as well.
18 00:01:26.490 ⇒ 00:01:36.249 Hussein Diab: Definitely, yeah. Well, I’ve had good experience so far from the recording process when Kayla reached out to me.
19 00:01:36.250 ⇒ 00:01:36.840 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
20 00:01:37.070 ⇒ 00:01:43.860 Hussein Diab: Really grateful with the whole, exercise and thoughtful questions.
21 00:01:44.340 ⇒ 00:01:49.219 Hussein Diab: I’ve had good experience with the Arash, with Demi, with Okamp.
22 00:01:49.710 ⇒ 00:01:55.189 Hussein Diab: I like what the company stands for, I like how…
23 00:01:56.690 ⇒ 00:02:08.659 Hussein Diab: serving small to medium-sized clients. I like the intentionality behind making sure people on the team, they’re growing and learning and serving others.
24 00:02:09.259 ⇒ 00:02:13.849 Hussein Diab: I’m really excited that the companies
25 00:02:14.030 ⇒ 00:02:28.339 Hussein Diab: some kind of startup, so we can all grow together, and we can flourish together. So that’s really a great time, I feel like, for me to join and help expand and make it better.
26 00:02:28.770 ⇒ 00:02:36.449 Hussein Diab: To tell you a little bit about myself, I… well, let me share this really fast with you. I shared with them,
27 00:02:36.780 ⇒ 00:02:41.189 Robert Tseng: Yeah, they said that you had a deck on yourself. Yeah, I just…
28 00:02:41.490 ⇒ 00:02:44.359 Hussein Diab: It’s nothing, nothing fancy, just,
29 00:02:44.530 ⇒ 00:02:50.589 Hussein Diab: It will, it will help putting, A face behind the resume.
30 00:02:51.190 ⇒ 00:02:54.050 Hussein Diab: Can you see my screen well?
31 00:02:54.050 ⇒ 00:02:54.650 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
32 00:02:54.950 ⇒ 00:03:01.279 Hussein Diab: Awesome. Alright, so I’m from Lebanon originally. I’ve been in Dallas for the past 20 years.
33 00:03:01.610 ⇒ 00:03:13.039 Hussein Diab: My background started in biomedical engineering. I have a master’s from UTA, UT Southwestern. I published some papers at UT Southwestern.
34 00:03:13.120 ⇒ 00:03:26.219 Hussein Diab: And then I joined Abbott Laboratory, medical devices, data engineering, data visualization, working on production for a new blood analyzer.
35 00:03:26.570 ⇒ 00:03:41.020 Hussein Diab: And we took it from a concept all the way to product and multi-nationality, multi-countries. And then after that, I joined Analytic Vision as a consultant.
36 00:03:42.720 ⇒ 00:03:57.269 Hussein Diab: I’m a family man, I’m married, I have two kids, I love soccer. I actually was playing soccer Friday night, and I injured my back pretty bad, so…
37 00:03:57.270 ⇒ 00:03:57.890 Robert Tseng: Oh, no.
38 00:03:59.620 ⇒ 00:04:02.070 Robert Tseng: That’s such a dad story.
39 00:04:02.620 ⇒ 00:04:03.160 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
40 00:04:03.280 ⇒ 00:04:14.849 Hussein Diab: Yeah. I like video games, I play video games, I design video games, I love AC Milan, I love coffee, I did some jiu-jitsu before.
41 00:04:15.030 ⇒ 00:04:24.540 Hussein Diab: And, I love the mountains and the beach, and, these calf erasers, I’ve built them myself from scratch, I enjoy building them.
42 00:04:26.320 ⇒ 00:04:27.420 Hussein Diab: Yeah.
43 00:04:27.650 ⇒ 00:04:28.900 Hussein Diab: In a nutshell.
44 00:04:29.050 ⇒ 00:04:42.679 Robert Tseng: Nice! Yeah, we have a lot of… we have some in common. I lived in Milan for 2 years, so, I mean, I’m not a big soccer fan, but went to a few AC Milano games, and also like motorcycles, and it’s crazy that you build them, so…
45 00:04:43.070 ⇒ 00:04:43.780 Hussein Diab: over.
46 00:04:44.060 ⇒ 00:04:49.340 Robert Tseng: Yeah, no, it’s awesome. Appreciate you putting this together and sharing it with me.
47 00:04:49.340 ⇒ 00:04:49.920 Hussein Diab: Yeah.
48 00:04:50.050 ⇒ 00:04:51.039 Hussein Diab: Yeah, of course.
49 00:04:51.040 ⇒ 00:05:03.100 Robert Tseng: Yeah, well, I think, like, it’s clear that, you know, you’ve been in consulting roles, like, you have good poise, from the team says, and I think, like, the type of data engineering leader we’re looking for at this point.
50 00:05:03.100 ⇒ 00:05:14.680 Robert Tseng: is to really, you know, Awashi’s, like, our lead data engineer, technically very competent. Not U.S.-based, so that’s kind of, like, a little bit of a tricky thing for some of the clients we work with. We’re…
51 00:05:14.680 ⇒ 00:05:25.169 Robert Tseng: we… yeah, we’re… probably half our business is in healthcare currently, and sometimes they want, like, a U.S.-based data engineer, which is kind of one of the driving forces for
52 00:05:25.170 ⇒ 00:05:37.260 Robert Tseng: for the hire, for this role… for this role now. And then we’re also, like, trying to get in on some government contracts as well. So, yeah, I think you being U.S.-based, being client-facing.
53 00:05:37.260 ⇒ 00:05:42.260 Robert Tseng: Seems like you’ve worked in big enterprises, and also as a consultant, which is all…
54 00:05:42.320 ⇒ 00:05:51.209 Robert Tseng: great, because there are a lot of soft skills, I think, required working with healthcare government clients. So, yeah, I mean, I think it’s…
55 00:05:51.510 ⇒ 00:06:05.809 Robert Tseng: I’m not gonna, like… you already went through, kind of, our interview process, so I don’t have any more… I don’t have another assessment for you or anything. You know, I just wanted to better understand your motivations. Like, I know you’re not, like, actively, like, looking to…
56 00:06:05.810 ⇒ 00:06:21.720 Robert Tseng: it’s not like you’re unemployed and, like, need a job desperately, right? You know, we’re trying to pursue you and, you know, convince you to come work with us. So, I think that’s why, the team told me that I should give you a call and try to just kind of be real with you about, like, what the opportunity is, you know?
57 00:06:21.720 ⇒ 00:06:39.889 Robert Tseng: you’ve talked to Uten, he’s the CEO, he’s the visionary, he can really hype up Brainforge. I’m functionally, like, the COO, or by title, the president, which means, you know, I kind of… I run sales, I look at our margins, I kind of look at what the lifeline is for the company. So, yeah, I think, like.
58 00:06:39.890 ⇒ 00:06:57.499 Robert Tseng: your assessment is more or less right. We are a small, like, startup, about 25 people, in this, like, really critical growth stage where, yeah, it feels like, you know, the… doubling our business seems like it can happen every quarter, and so things are very fast-moving, and…
59 00:06:57.500 ⇒ 00:07:09.240 Robert Tseng: Even the job that you would come in on is probably not the job you would have, you know, 3, 6 months from now, because there will be more clients, and, you know, if our data engineering practice keeps getting bigger.
60 00:07:09.240 ⇒ 00:07:21.130 Robert Tseng: the goal is not for you to be staffed on so many clients, but you would pretty much be, you know, leading a team yourself, functionally being like a… like a GM in our consultancy.
61 00:07:21.440 ⇒ 00:07:36.780 Robert Tseng: or a partner, and, you know, if you want to use that mental model and other, like, bigger, bigger firms, where, like, now there are, like, other associates or other data engineers under you, and, yeah, I think that’s, that’s, like, kind of…
62 00:07:36.780 ⇒ 00:07:46.589 Robert Tseng: you know, where this could be even, like, 6 months from now. So, I mean, with that said, just wanted to kind of understand, like.
63 00:07:46.590 ⇒ 00:08:06.309 Robert Tseng: your appetite for that, because I understand it can be very dynamic, and especially, you know, yeah, with your career experience, like, you could pretty much comfortably work anywhere. So, like, I’m… I’m always kind of like, you know, what’s… what’s, like, the… what’s the motivation for you to kind of come in to a team at this stage?
64 00:08:06.950 ⇒ 00:08:12.239 Hussein Diab: You know, the motivation is always, for me, relationships.
65 00:08:12.810 ⇒ 00:08:17.039 Hussein Diab: It’s meeting people, building this relationship,
66 00:08:17.630 ⇒ 00:08:23.319 Hussein Diab: I feel like this is the number one. It’s the people behind all of this work.
67 00:08:23.570 ⇒ 00:08:26.680 Hussein Diab: It’s not the tools, it’s not,
68 00:08:27.410 ⇒ 00:08:37.029 Hussein Diab: it’s not whether you know how to code in Python or SQL or, you know, Snowflake, or Databricks, all of that, you can teach it to anyone.
69 00:08:37.309 ⇒ 00:08:46.950 Hussein Diab: But the relationship, what we’re really after. And that’s what really excites me, and that’s what I want to…
70 00:08:47.220 ⇒ 00:08:48.610 Hussein Diab: Get better at.
71 00:08:49.270 ⇒ 00:09:00.890 Hussein Diab: I see a lot of opportunity, and especially whenever I’m chatting with you guys, I feel like there’s a lot, you can pour into me, and I can pour into you.
72 00:09:01.280 ⇒ 00:09:06.860 Hussein Diab: There’s a lot of cultural that we can implement to,
73 00:09:07.090 ⇒ 00:09:10.650 Hussein Diab: Make sure to win-win. Make sure everyone is happy.
74 00:09:11.630 ⇒ 00:09:14.959 Hussein Diab: Whether it’s us or the client side.
75 00:09:17.530 ⇒ 00:09:26.260 Hussein Diab: And, as I said, because it is startup, because it is a newer company, there is more opportunity for growth.
76 00:09:26.370 ⇒ 00:09:31.830 Hussein Diab: And… I want to make sure that nothing is left on the table.
77 00:09:32.220 ⇒ 00:09:36.699 Hussein Diab: That we’re, you know, we’re taking advantage of everything we have.
78 00:09:39.590 ⇒ 00:09:48.519 Robert Tseng: Got it. Cool. Yeah, no, thank you for sharing that. I mean, in your current consultancy, you know, do you feel like there… those opportunities are…
79 00:09:48.520 ⇒ 00:10:00.679 Robert Tseng: are kind of limited? Like, and if so, like, what are… what’s the limiting factor there? And I mean, I would like to, you know, just be real with you about, like, you know, how I feel like we are, how we fare in those… in those areas that you described as well.
80 00:10:00.880 ⇒ 00:10:01.510 Hussein Diab: Yeah.
81 00:10:01.880 ⇒ 00:10:08.830 Hussein Diab: My current organization, it’s actually pretty good. There’s a lot of,
82 00:10:08.980 ⇒ 00:10:14.789 Hussein Diab: Opportunity to move up, the money is good, the people is really good.
83 00:10:14.950 ⇒ 00:10:22.769 Hussein Diab: There is some… I wouldn’t say negative, but there is no opportunity to go beyond what you can do.
84 00:10:23.100 ⇒ 00:10:29.869 Hussein Diab: Something like the hours, or the number of clients, or the type of work.
85 00:10:30.990 ⇒ 00:10:39.420 Hussein Diab: It’s really limited to the skill set of the team, or… Doesn’t really expend more.
86 00:10:40.010 ⇒ 00:10:49.020 Hussein Diab: The other thing is, my company doesn’t like to hire anyone from outside the US, so everyone is US-based.
87 00:10:49.340 ⇒ 00:10:53.900 Hussein Diab: And… This is not always…
88 00:10:54.170 ⇒ 00:11:00.689 Hussein Diab: good. I think it’s really important to expand beyond, because guess what?
89 00:11:01.110 ⇒ 00:11:04.750 Hussein Diab: If you are outside, you can even get clients from outside.
90 00:11:05.650 ⇒ 00:11:07.439 Hussein Diab: We are all US-based.
91 00:11:08.020 ⇒ 00:11:12.460 Hussein Diab: It’s gonna limit, really, the type of work that you can do.
92 00:11:13.030 ⇒ 00:11:18.120 Hussein Diab: The other limitation is the…
93 00:11:18.310 ⇒ 00:11:26.939 Hussein Diab: location, or the marketing aspect, I want to say. So, I currently save… I currently serve,
94 00:11:27.670 ⇒ 00:11:37.769 Hussein Diab: Fortune 500 companies, really big companies. Yeah. I see a lot of small to medium-sized companies that they need help.
95 00:11:38.780 ⇒ 00:11:44.569 Hussein Diab: And… We don’t go there because the rates are not, you know.
96 00:11:44.710 ⇒ 00:11:46.499 Hussein Diab: They can’t afford us, pretty much.
97 00:11:47.830 ⇒ 00:11:51.729 Hussein Diab: Doesn’t make me feel good, because I already…
98 00:11:51.970 ⇒ 00:11:54.000 Hussein Diab: feel like I can’t hold them.
99 00:11:54.630 ⇒ 00:11:57.370 Hussein Diab: even if I put a…
100 00:11:58.070 ⇒ 00:12:05.580 Hussein Diab: I structure the deal differently, where it wouldn’t be, like, hour-based, it would be more of…
101 00:12:05.690 ⇒ 00:12:09.499 Hussein Diab: A deal structure, or retainer, or something like that.
102 00:12:11.680 ⇒ 00:12:20.209 Hussein Diab: So this is money left on the table, and a missed opportunity is that we couldn’t serve them due to these consequences.
103 00:12:21.700 ⇒ 00:12:22.260 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
104 00:12:22.980 ⇒ 00:12:33.650 Robert Tseng: Okay. Well, I mean, that’s… I mean, that makes sense. I think, just to respond to a couple of those things, like, as far as, like, target… like, the clients we serve, I think…
105 00:12:33.850 ⇒ 00:12:37.540 Robert Tseng: We are pretty broad right now. We do want to get more narrow.
106 00:12:37.920 ⇒ 00:12:45.580 Robert Tseng: you know, I mentioned healthcare is kind of like a… I won’t even say it’s emerging, but like, you know, it’s just a discipline that we’ve been developing over the past.
107 00:12:45.580 ⇒ 00:13:03.889 Robert Tseng: couple years, unexpectedly, because neither Utah nor I really came from that world. Like, my experience is supply chain logistics, CPG, and these more traditional, like, B2B SaaS software. But, yeah, I think, like, you know, as we were getting started, we just needed to kind of figure out who we could help, and
108 00:13:03.890 ⇒ 00:13:19.409 Robert Tseng: healthcare is… was just, like, an area that there were… there was a lot of need. I think we do… we do continue to move upmarket. We’re not working with Fortune 500 companies right now. We work with some household CBG brands that you probably have heard of.
109 00:13:19.470 ⇒ 00:13:37.170 Robert Tseng: you know, the healthcare side, like, we’re… we’re pretty well connected in that, so a lot of telehealth, companies, like, you know, modern tech pla… modern health tech platforms, like, pretty much anything Series C’s… sorry, Series B and later was, like, kind of in the range for us to work with.
110 00:13:37.230 ⇒ 00:13:40.940 Robert Tseng: So, still relatively small teams, usually under 500 people.
111 00:13:41.120 ⇒ 00:13:58.550 Robert Tseng: And yeah, I mean, our rates are pretty, like, standard in the market. Like, we’re not… we’re not expensive, we’re not cheap, we do, like, our blended rate is, like, pretty, like, mid in the… in the market. So, yeah, I think, like, the growth strategy right now is just to…
112 00:13:58.550 ⇒ 00:14:03.580 Robert Tseng: continue to expand, by getting more logos. I don’t really think I’m gonna
113 00:14:03.770 ⇒ 00:14:11.629 Robert Tseng: go much higher in terms of price. Like, I feel like we’ve come to a ceiling that I don’t really want to, kind of…
114 00:14:11.630 ⇒ 00:14:34.079 Robert Tseng: I mean, we… maybe we will get in on some big Fortune 500 company deals, and that… the deal structure there is very different. I’m sure you’ve… you’ve experienced it in your current org, but typically, we are pricing 3-6 month engagements, with either, like, a fixed fee, fixed sprints, because it’s, like, a very predictable outcome for us, or we’re doing it off retainer. So.
115 00:14:34.080 ⇒ 00:14:38.539 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I think that’s… that’s typically our delivery model. I’m sure that
116 00:14:39.080 ⇒ 00:15:03.940 Robert Tseng: the other guys have kind of shared more about, like, how we staff and, you know, how people do those roles, but on the commercial side, like, I think that’s, you know, that’s the perspective that I’m trying to give you here. So, yeah, I think if you came to Brainforge, you would work with a wide range of clients. We try not to staff anybody on more than, like, 3 clients at a time, just because there’s too much context switching, and for somebody at your level.
117 00:15:04.200 ⇒ 00:15:21.419 Robert Tseng: we want you to really kind of go beyond just doing client work as well, which maybe goes back to your first point of, like, where else is the opportunity? Well, we are really, like, an AI-enabled company, and I’m sure Utam has shared a lot about that.
118 00:15:21.420 ⇒ 00:15:33.259 Robert Tseng: And so on the delivery side, every senior person, part of their performance, compensation is… performance-based compensation is tied to how much they leverage, AI in their work.
119 00:15:33.260 ⇒ 00:15:57.770 Robert Tseng: In terms of being able to break down certain work streams into things that, like, you know, agents can run automatically, or also, like, on the commercial side, if you’re able to help me, like, close deals, either through your bringing in referrals, or also, like, if you’re just, like, a sales engineer for… with me, like, as I’m… as I’m trying to go after a deal, those are, you know, the upside is… is much higher.
120 00:15:57.770 ⇒ 00:16:14.699 Robert Tseng: even, yeah, I think, like, being able to work in an environment like ours. So, yeah, I think those are a few of the thoughts that, like, you know, I felt like I should share with you based on what you, you know, based on what you said. Yeah, any questions on any of that?
121 00:16:16.460 ⇒ 00:16:23.569 Hussein Diab: Where do you see the biggest growth, of opportunities at Brain Forge for the next, like, year or two?
122 00:16:24.120 ⇒ 00:16:27.600 Robert Tseng: For the business, or for your… for you, for your role?
123 00:16:27.600 ⇒ 00:16:28.740 Hussein Diab: For the business.
124 00:16:28.970 ⇒ 00:16:29.950 Robert Tseng: For the business?
125 00:16:30.360 ⇒ 00:16:37.490 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I think the biggest opportunity for growth right now is, really on, like, our AI,
126 00:16:37.890 ⇒ 00:16:49.840 Robert Tseng: services, so we’re… we’re in the business of doing digital transformation, as many consultancies are. Like, data engineering is a core part, of our… of our, of our core competency.
127 00:16:49.840 ⇒ 00:17:10.700 Robert Tseng: And so, like, I think as far as, like, solidifying that in the market, we want to go deeper into the Snowflake ecosystem. We already have good relationships there. They refer us business, like, we’re gonna… I’m hiring a partnerships manager right now whose only job is to kind of make Brainforge more known in Snowflake. So, that’s definitely a big commercial bet that I’m making there.
128 00:17:10.700 ⇒ 00:17:15.310 Robert Tseng: But as far as, like, our capabilities that we’re expanding.
129 00:17:15.310 ⇒ 00:17:31.720 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I think, like, you know, with all the hype around, kind of, AI development, one of our offerings that’s picking up a lot of traction right now is, we’re basically building, like, cloud open… like, basically cloud co-work for enterprises, built on the open work
130 00:17:31.730 ⇒ 00:17:34.659 Robert Tseng: Platform, which is an open-source alternative.
131 00:17:34.670 ⇒ 00:17:49.679 Robert Tseng: And at the enterprise level, that’s become more attractive because, yeah, organizations don’t want to, like, sign these exclusive agreements with the big model providers. There’s, like, a fear of the security risk.
132 00:17:49.680 ⇒ 00:18:01.669 Robert Tseng: And so, yeah, I think, like, that’s… that’s a… that’s an offering that I’m pushing pretty hard right now, and trying to use that to go upmarket. So yeah, I think those are probably the two, like.
133 00:18:01.690 ⇒ 00:18:06.350 Robert Tseng: more stretch bets that I’m making. But also just, like.
134 00:18:06.350 ⇒ 00:18:22.740 Robert Tseng: conservatively, I think we will continue to grow in our CPG and our healthcare practices. Like, we… that’s where our… most of our clients are, probably, like, 70% of the business is in those two sectors. And so I think there’s still plenty of range to go after more brands there.
135 00:18:22.970 ⇒ 00:18:27.570 Robert Tseng: And yeah, I think that’s… those are probably the more, like.
136 00:18:28.110 ⇒ 00:18:38.250 Robert Tseng: reachable opportunities for the rest of the delivery team, to really help… help expand on, because I think the other ones are pretty much bigger.
137 00:18:38.310 ⇒ 00:18:50.709 Robert Tseng: more sales bets than they are, like, really something I would expect, you know, like, someone like you to be able to kind of come in and help us expand there. Unless you, unless that’s, you know, you feel strongly about it, of course.
138 00:18:51.060 ⇒ 00:18:51.680 Hussein Diab: No.
139 00:18:52.040 ⇒ 00:18:52.570 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
140 00:18:53.110 ⇒ 00:18:55.940 Hussein Diab: No, thank you for the answer, I…
141 00:18:56.490 ⇒ 00:18:59.990 Hussein Diab: I like how you’re thinking about it. This is…
142 00:19:00.390 ⇒ 00:19:04.730 Hussein Diab: we share the same vision. This is… this is how I see it.
143 00:19:05.360 ⇒ 00:19:14.800 Hussein Diab: I feel like AI is changing crazy day to day, that I can’t even keep up with
144 00:19:15.510 ⇒ 00:19:28.880 Hussein Diab: all the advancement that’s happening, and all the tools. So what I’ve been trying to do is, build some proof of concepts using my own data, my own, like,
145 00:19:29.520 ⇒ 00:19:38.070 Hussein Diab: fake data, or mock data, or even real data. I was using my data from my telemetric data from my.
146 00:19:38.070 ⇒ 00:19:38.450 Robert Tseng: Oh, yeah.
147 00:19:39.090 ⇒ 00:19:44.369 Hussein Diab: To build, like, a streaming model, and build on top of it some kind of
148 00:19:44.550 ⇒ 00:19:52.569 Hussein Diab: data science to show you how ready you are for the next workout. Yeah. I mean, apparently it didn’t work because I hurt myself, but…
149 00:19:53.530 ⇒ 00:20:02.330 Robert Tseng: Yeah, it, it, over… it over… it encouraged you too much to try… to push yourself too much. That’s also a very AI thing.
150 00:20:02.330 ⇒ 00:20:08.579 Hussein Diab: Some feedback loop is needed there. But I try to build…
151 00:20:09.010 ⇒ 00:20:23.789 Hussein Diab: over the weekend, or whenever I have a chance, like, some apps or tools or pipelines, just to have a proof of concept. Yeah. This way, if I am on a discovery call, or if I am meeting a new client.
152 00:20:23.790 ⇒ 00:20:33.019 Hussein Diab: at a conference, at a coffee shop, I will be able to speak their language. I can already have a vision of how I can help them.
153 00:20:33.090 ⇒ 00:20:34.010 Hussein Diab: Yep.
154 00:20:35.040 ⇒ 00:20:35.920 Hussein Diab: Yeah.
155 00:20:37.210 ⇒ 00:20:41.459 Robert Tseng: It’s great that you do that. I think everybody in Bay Forge is expected to
156 00:20:42.090 ⇒ 00:20:54.939 Robert Tseng: use the tools that we build internally to kind of, like, dog food what we’re doing, but also, like, you know, I think it helps if you’re kind of trying to keep up. We invest a lot in learning and development on our team,
157 00:20:55.500 ⇒ 00:21:02.859 Robert Tseng: Yeah, probably more than we should, but I think it’s something that Ujem and I feel very strongly about, that we want to…
158 00:21:02.860 ⇒ 00:21:17.489 Robert Tseng: we want our, our, yeah, the folks on our team to be able to walk into any situation, doesn’t… yeah, and believe that they have, a point of view to share on data and AI and the advancements in these spaces. So,
159 00:21:17.490 ⇒ 00:21:20.929 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I think that’s… that’s… that’s an important value for us as well.
160 00:21:21.610 ⇒ 00:21:30.630 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I guess maybe the last question for me, kind of knowing that… yeah, I mean, I, I did take a look at your, your, your, your,
161 00:21:30.970 ⇒ 00:21:33.999 Robert Tseng: I mean, the consultancy that you currently work at, like.
162 00:21:34.240 ⇒ 00:21:36.579 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I mean, I feel like,
163 00:21:36.920 ⇒ 00:21:54.410 Robert Tseng: in some sense, like, having a narrow positioning, like theirs, I’m just playing the other side, is good. You know, they say no to a lot of things, and they just focus on what they know that they’re good at. Whereas, like, for here, we’re taking a lot more bets, like, we’re trying to really carve out something that doesn’t really exist yet. You know, where I think we’re in the first wave.
164 00:21:54.470 ⇒ 00:22:11.710 Robert Tseng: of, of agencies, of consultancies, like, actually using, like, being an AI-native agency, right? And so, yeah, in that sense, like, the benchmarks aren’t super clear all the time. I mean, we do have, like, a good advisory board that’s, like, kind of helping us to
165 00:22:11.710 ⇒ 00:22:14.500 Robert Tseng: To kind of keep up with how the market perceives us.
166 00:22:14.500 ⇒ 00:22:22.649 Robert Tseng: you know, Utam and I are going on a few conferences the next couple weeks. I know you’re traveling as well, otherwise we’d love to have seen you at the one in Austin.
167 00:22:22.650 ⇒ 00:22:40.190 Robert Tseng: But, yeah, I think we… we are trying to… yeah, the goal is really to… to position ourselves for, like, for an exit, you know, over the next few years. And the goal is… this is not, like, a lifestyle business where we plan to keep clients for life, like, we want to really, like.
168 00:22:40.730 ⇒ 00:22:56.630 Robert Tseng: show that we’re doing things in a very net new, a very attractive way, and for the right situation, like, we would want to make a move on that. So, yeah, I guess if… knowing that, you know, there could be a meaningful, like,
169 00:22:56.640 ⇒ 00:23:16.409 Robert Tseng: like, exit in the next 3 years? How does that kind of sit with you? Because I know not everybody wants to join an organization like that. Sometimes you just want to… you want it to stay the same for… or, like, you know, the organization should be there for the next 10 years, and I mean, I don’t… I don’t really think that’s… that’s kind of what we’re… what we’re aiming for.
170 00:23:18.380 ⇒ 00:23:22.359 Hussein Diab: How do I feel about it?
171 00:23:22.360 ⇒ 00:23:22.770 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
172 00:23:22.770 ⇒ 00:23:25.989 Hussein Diab: This can be good.
173 00:23:27.190 ⇒ 00:23:33.260 Hussein Diab: So right now, I don’t have a set…
174 00:23:33.980 ⇒ 00:23:43.320 Hussein Diab: I really don’t have a set feeling, because it can be good, but at least within this time, I feel like it will be worth it to explore.
175 00:23:46.410 ⇒ 00:23:52.469 Hussein Diab: Now, whether that aligned with my vision after 3 years, I don’t know yet.
176 00:23:52.720 ⇒ 00:23:55.829 Hussein Diab: But… I guess the journey will tell us.
177 00:23:56.300 ⇒ 00:23:56.870 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
178 00:23:57.890 ⇒ 00:24:07.040 Robert Tseng: Yeah, yeah, I mean, nobody’s signing up to… we don’t even know, but I think it’s just that we build with an end in sight, you know.
179 00:24:07.270 ⇒ 00:24:13.459 Robert Tseng: Yeah, so I think that’s… that’s really kind of just… just the point of it, so… Yeah.
180 00:24:14.840 ⇒ 00:24:22.650 Hussein Diab: I appreciate you sharing that with me. This is… this is one of the core principles of the seven habits, right? Start with the end in mind.
181 00:24:22.950 ⇒ 00:24:37.559 Robert Tseng: Yeah, yeah, I mean, I think that’s… that’s, that’s what’s really held us accountable to continuing to push the… push the team through these different changes, like, but yeah, it’s also hard, hard, hard decisions. Like, I think not every…
182 00:24:37.950 ⇒ 00:24:44.950 Robert Tseng: Like, we… it’s always uncomfortable to kind of keep pushing towards that goal, you know, rather than…
183 00:24:45.060 ⇒ 00:24:50.380 Robert Tseng: you know, we could just lock down and hold on to what we have, like, you know, I think we…
184 00:24:50.700 ⇒ 00:25:05.610 Robert Tseng: I mean, I would say that the team and where we’re at now is further than I thought it would be when I first started this journey. But yeah, I think it’s only kind of continued to feed,
185 00:25:05.710 ⇒ 00:25:21.640 Robert Tseng: just fire in the journey, and, like, we’re excited about where things can go. So, I think, the energy, hopefully you felt it from the rest of the team, but, like, I think that’s why, you know, that’s what keeps people going here. So, yeah.
186 00:25:22.040 ⇒ 00:25:22.800 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
187 00:25:26.840 ⇒ 00:25:39.440 Robert Tseng: Cool. Well, that’s pretty much all I wanted to cover with you. I think… I know this is… this will be the last chat that you have with us, I think, in terms of, you know, we’re not expecting you to go through any more hoops and hurdles.
188 00:25:39.440 ⇒ 00:25:57.100 Robert Tseng: I know you’re off for the next few days. We are interviewing a couple other people, so I expect all those to close out this week, and basically we will be able to get back to you with a clear answer and timeline. Yeah, obviously want to respect that, like, you know, even if we extend you an offer, it’s not like you can start right away.
189 00:25:57.260 ⇒ 00:26:07.599 Robert Tseng: And so, I think there are… there are definitely some of these considerations that, like, I’ll… I’ll pass through Kayla, and she’ll… she’ll keep… she’ll keep, keep those conversations with you.
190 00:26:07.620 ⇒ 00:26:23.029 Robert Tseng: But I will… I will tell her to give you my number, and, you know, you can contact me directly, or you can email me if that’s the boundary that you have for yourself, whatever you prefer. Just wanna, you know, let you know there’s an open line, you can reach out to me with anything that… any concerns you have directly.
191 00:26:23.260 ⇒ 00:26:28.330 Robert Tseng: Otherwise, yeah, look forward to, to, kind of reconnecting soon.
192 00:26:29.010 ⇒ 00:26:32.670 Hussein Diab: Awesome. It was nice meeting you, Robert. Thank you for the chat.
193 00:26:33.010 ⇒ 00:26:37.020 Robert Tseng: Of course! Alright, thanks, Hussein. Enjoy your travels, and yeah, talk soon.
194 00:26:37.400 ⇒ 00:26:38.170 Hussein Diab: Right? Bye.
195 00:26:38.170 ⇒ 00:26:38.710 Robert Tseng: Yep.