Meeting Title: Brainforge Recruitment Chat Date: 2026-04-22 Meeting participants: Kaela Gallagher, Andrew Woelfel
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1 00:00:41.460 ⇒ 00:00:43.229 Kaela Gallagher: Andrew, how’s it going?
2 00:00:44.230 ⇒ 00:00:45.529 Andrew Woelfel: Pete, good, how are you?
3 00:00:45.800 ⇒ 00:00:51.539 Kaela Gallagher: Good! Thanks for taking some time for me, and for being so flexible, appreciate it.
4 00:00:52.620 ⇒ 00:01:02.579 Kaela Gallagher: Crazy week. I was actually in, Austin yesterday, and I’m going to Georgia tomorrow, so it’s been busy.
5 00:01:02.580 ⇒ 00:01:03.390 Andrew Woelfel: Sounds like it.
6 00:01:03.600 ⇒ 00:01:15.180 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, I appreciate you connecting, and yeah, I can tell you a little bit more about Brainforge, and would love to learn a little bit more about you as well.
7 00:01:15.370 ⇒ 00:01:22.880 Kaela Gallagher: I guess, first off, just curious if you are still with, Zommitry? Zomtree? Okay.
8 00:01:22.880 ⇒ 00:01:23.760 Andrew Woelfel: Yes, I am.
9 00:01:23.760 ⇒ 00:01:27.939 Kaela Gallagher: Okay, got it. What is kind of, like, making you open to something new?
10 00:01:28.830 ⇒ 00:01:41.039 Andrew Woelfel: Yeah, so I’ve been there over six and a half years, or been here, not, past sense, and I think need to change the scenery,
11 00:01:41.230 ⇒ 00:01:46.800 Andrew Woelfel: Over the last year, kind of some, leadership changes, and…
12 00:01:46.890 ⇒ 00:01:56.550 Andrew Woelfel: Currently have, and have been in the manager role for quite some time now, for the last few years, still hands-on.
13 00:01:56.640 ⇒ 00:02:12.930 Andrew Woelfel: manager, for sure. I like doing a lot of technical work, and I definitely just need something that, you know, where you wake up and you’re like, yes, let’s go, sort of thing, right? And, that’s not what I have today.
14 00:02:12.940 ⇒ 00:02:32.380 Andrew Woelfel: So, and it’s very much more, a corporate structure than it has been, and, you know, I’ve been there, you know, we were free IPO, went IPO, a lot of growth, still rapid growth, and that sort of thing, and so, still a fast-moving environment, and still love the fast-moving environment, it’s just…
15 00:02:32.380 ⇒ 00:02:43.959 Andrew Woelfel: I think I much rather enjoy working in slightly smaller companies, and being a little more hands-on, and yeah, just looking for other opportunities in general. So, yeah.
16 00:02:43.960 ⇒ 00:02:55.150 Kaela Gallagher: Okay, okay, that makes sense. I know you’ve probably been in quite a few roles in your time there, but, like, most recently, what kind of problems or projects have you been working on?
17 00:02:55.860 ⇒ 00:03:10.280 Andrew Woelfel: Yeah, so a lot recently has been focused on… I mean, one of the projects has been, like, more agentic analytics, right? Thinking about that, and implementing some of those agents, and so, you know, we’re…
18 00:03:10.280 ⇒ 00:03:18.230 Andrew Woelfel: you know, arguably, like, we’re probably a little bit behind Maple, but we’re at least releasing, more and more, you know, week over week.
19 00:03:18.770 ⇒ 00:03:29.480 Andrew Woelfel: And obviously it’s more, just more analytics, you know, agents is what we’re focused on, and building the semantic layer to support those agents and cleaning up those guardrails, right?
20 00:03:29.480 ⇒ 00:03:39.819 Andrew Woelfel: And so that has been one of the efforts, and then just the general, kind of, scale and scope of… of a growing, rapidly growing
21 00:03:39.820 ⇒ 00:03:44.360 Andrew Woelfel: company that’s at least 20% year-over-year, consistently, is that you
22 00:03:44.540 ⇒ 00:04:09.290 Andrew Woelfel: continuously add more people, and it’s like, okay, how do I make sure that permissions are, you know, right, that people have the right data access, that they, you know, all those sorts of, like, intricacies and a little more red tape and things like that, and how do we scale reporting through the company and make sure that margin is consistently reported, which we’ve obviously used dbt over the last 5 plus years or so, and so that’s been a very great tool
23 00:04:09.290 ⇒ 00:04:22.999 Andrew Woelfel: to use, and obviously, you know, and then what comes with that is, okay, well, there’s a cost to all this, right? So, how do we optimize our cost, right? And how do we make sure that we’re getting the most out of our money, right? We know that we’re going to have a cost of operating
24 00:04:23.100 ⇒ 00:04:28.919 Andrew Woelfel: And that sort of thing, so it’s been a lot… it’s been a lot of combination of cost, governance, and speed.
25 00:04:28.930 ⇒ 00:04:41.549 Andrew Woelfel: And developing, and day over day, changes in… with AI and everything consistently change, and, you know, our use of cursor is constantly increasing, it feels like, for better or worse.
26 00:04:41.550 ⇒ 00:04:49.900 Andrew Woelfel: And so, yeah, that’s kind of, like, some very brief highlights. Can get into some more details, but yeah, that’s been kind of some…
27 00:04:49.900 ⇒ 00:04:52.349 Andrew Woelfel: rough projects I’ve been working on recently, so…
28 00:04:52.680 ⇒ 00:05:13.680 Kaela Gallagher: Okay, okay, cool. Yeah, I guess just to tell you, like, a little bit more about Brainforge and what we do, so we do data and AI consulting, work with a variety of clients, small to mid-sized for the most part, but, also brands that are, like, on the shelf at Target and Walmart that you might recognize.
29 00:05:13.680 ⇒ 00:05:21.820 Kaela Gallagher: So, yeah, everything from, like, CPG to healthcare to, like, B2B kind of SaaS platforms.
30 00:05:21.820 ⇒ 00:05:35.609 Kaela Gallagher: Just a wide range of clients, and our engineers are probably supporting, like, 2 to 3 at a time, so that, like, context switching ability is really important to us, and then because we’re a smaller organization, we’re about 25 people right now.
31 00:05:35.710 ⇒ 00:05:43.690 Kaela Gallagher: Our engineers are actually still joining calls with clients, so the communication aspect is really important to us as well.
32 00:05:43.720 ⇒ 00:06:02.629 Kaela Gallagher: We’re fully, fully remote right now. We actually just… not intentionally, but we have quite a few team members between LA and Austin, so if people are willing to relocate to those areas, it’s a plus for us. I’m in LA, and we just get lunch once a week, and that’s been great.
33 00:06:02.680 ⇒ 00:06:04.270 Kaela Gallagher: And,
34 00:06:04.620 ⇒ 00:06:17.979 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, right now, everybody’s on a 1099 basis, so, on an independent contracting basis, so we have either, like, a monthly or an hourly setup for pay.
35 00:06:17.980 ⇒ 00:06:32.360 Kaela Gallagher: In terms of W-2, we definitely hope to be able to offer that, like, I would say within this calendar year, but, just want to preface, like, the initial onboarding would definitely be on a 1099 basis.
36 00:06:32.660 ⇒ 00:06:37.349 Kaela Gallagher: Trying to think if there’s anything else to mention. Any questions for me?
37 00:06:38.870 ⇒ 00:06:44.539 Andrew Woelfel: Yeah, I guess, like, are you all focused on, like.
38 00:06:44.690 ⇒ 00:06:51.080 Andrew Woelfel: Obviously, analytics and analytics engineering in general can be kind of a wide-range scope, you know, what, like.
39 00:06:51.300 ⇒ 00:07:02.700 Andrew Woelfel: Are… are there certain projects that you all are focused on, you know, being a consulting company, or is it just kind of, like, a wide range, like, everything data-related that you’re attacking right now?
40 00:07:02.880 ⇒ 00:07:18.189 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, I think we’re able to kind of adapt to clients and their needs, and that’s obviously something we want to maintain. At the same time, we’ve hired engineers that have certain skill sets. For example, we have
41 00:07:18.190 ⇒ 00:07:25.120 Kaela Gallagher: I guess an analytics engineer, but he’s very, like, specialized in MarTech, and we’ve been able to pitch
42 00:07:25.120 ⇒ 00:07:36.830 Kaela Gallagher: projects to specific clients, like, based on his skill sets and knowledge. So that’s been really cool, is to kind of, like, find engineers that maybe have a little bit of a niche.
43 00:07:36.880 ⇒ 00:07:41.010 Kaela Gallagher: And be able to use that to kind of propel business as well.
44 00:07:41.760 ⇒ 00:07:43.200 Andrew Woelfel: Got it. Got it.
45 00:07:43.470 ⇒ 00:07:55.229 Andrew Woelfel: And then, like, in general, like, what do you see? Obviously, like, it’s a pretty small company now, like, is there a general vision for the company in terms of what it wants to become?
46 00:07:55.710 ⇒ 00:08:09.860 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, I mean, we are growing fairly quickly. I’ve been here for 2 months now, and I think I’ve hired 6 people so far. Okay. So yeah, definitely growing, growing quickly, and, I think…
47 00:08:10.260 ⇒ 00:08:22.939 Kaela Gallagher: at least my focus on the people and recruiting side is to build really strong foundations, so that when we grow, we won’t, feel the growing pains too much, or as we’re growing currently.
48 00:08:22.940 ⇒ 00:08:23.540 Andrew Woelfel: Yeah.
49 00:08:23.930 ⇒ 00:08:24.770 Kaela Gallagher: So…
50 00:08:24.950 ⇒ 00:08:39.019 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, I think, another thing we’re focused on right now is we have gained a lot of business through partnerships. So, for example, like, Snowflake is a partner to us, and
51 00:08:39.159 ⇒ 00:08:57.530 Kaela Gallagher: If Snowflake has sold their platform to a company, but then they need help with implementation, Snowflake will send that company our way and say, Brainforge will help you with the implementation. So that’s been kind of a very successful business model for us, and so I think
52 00:08:57.530 ⇒ 00:09:08.040 Kaela Gallagher: continuing to develop partnerships at Snowflake, or we use, like, a platform called Omni quite a bit. Those have been, like, super helpful to us as well.
53 00:09:08.740 ⇒ 00:09:17.640 Andrew Woelfel: Got it. Okay, that makes sense. Yeah, just kind of curious, because obviously consulting can be quite, like, wide range of things, so just good to know, so…
54 00:09:17.640 ⇒ 00:09:31.749 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, yeah. I was actually just, in Austin for a conference, with a lot of other, like, tech services organizations, and, yeah, I think there’s a few that have been really successful in kind of
55 00:09:32.410 ⇒ 00:09:42.080 Kaela Gallagher: managing those partnerships and almost becoming, like, integrators for certain platforms. So I think we definitely, like, plan to utilize that as well.
56 00:09:42.720 ⇒ 00:09:43.379 Andrew Woelfel: Got it.
57 00:09:43.550 ⇒ 00:09:44.120 Kaela Gallagher: No.
58 00:09:44.360 ⇒ 00:09:45.130 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah.
59 00:09:45.630 ⇒ 00:09:48.940 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, anything else that I could help?
60 00:09:49.210 ⇒ 00:09:51.820 Kaela Gallagher: Answer or address?
61 00:09:53.450 ⇒ 00:10:08.019 Andrew Woelfel: No, I mean, it seems rather… not simple, but, like, seems rather straightforward. You’re… sounds like you’re looking for people to help with your, you know, contracts and just, general growth and…
62 00:10:08.240 ⇒ 00:10:19.570 Andrew Woelfel: Yeah, it could be a wide range of projects and things like that. So, yeah, nothing right now that sticks out that… from a high level, so…
63 00:10:19.990 ⇒ 00:10:21.269 Andrew Woelfel: But yeah.
64 00:10:21.660 ⇒ 00:10:29.589 Kaela Gallagher: Okay, cool, awesome. Well, I can keep you… I can keep you posted on next steps, and… Okay.
65 00:10:30.170 ⇒ 00:10:34.529 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, excited… excited to explore more about brainwash.
66 00:10:34.530 ⇒ 00:10:39.189 Andrew Woelfel: One… one question I do have is, like.
67 00:10:39.620 ⇒ 00:10:42.039 Andrew Woelfel: On the 1099 thing, and…
68 00:10:42.160 ⇒ 00:10:45.469 Andrew Woelfel: you know, eventually maybe getting to a W2, like.
69 00:10:45.470 ⇒ 00:10:45.820 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah.
70 00:10:45.820 ⇒ 00:10:50.469 Andrew Woelfel: Do you all see… As part of…
71 00:10:50.720 ⇒ 00:11:01.549 Andrew Woelfel: Compensation eventually, that there would be other incentives, like equity and things like that, or is it not necessarily part of the vision right now?
72 00:11:02.000 ⇒ 00:11:11.640 Kaela Gallagher: I don’t… think equity is on the table right now.
73 00:11:13.540 ⇒ 00:11:29.369 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, I think that’s all I have to say about that. Yeah, I don’t think that’s only good for right now. I’m reviewing, like, various, like, healthcare plans and 401K plans and that kind of stuff right now, so starting with those kinds of things, for sure.
74 00:11:29.970 ⇒ 00:11:32.370 Andrew Woelfel: Got it. Understood. Okay, that makes sense.
75 00:11:32.600 ⇒ 00:11:37.489 Kaela Gallagher: Cool. Awesome. Alright, well, thanks so much for your time. It was great getting to know you.
76 00:11:37.490 ⇒ 00:11:38.450 Andrew Woelfel: Yep, thanks, yeah.
77 00:11:38.450 ⇒ 00:11:38.860 Kaela Gallagher: Alright.
78 00:11:38.860 ⇒ 00:11:39.390 Andrew Woelfel: us.
79 00:11:39.390 ⇒ 00:11:41.330 Kaela Gallagher: Thanks, talk to you later. Bye.