Call —
Transcript batch
0:00 Caller: Hey, Jed, this is Danji Furridge of our professional headhuners.
0:00 You: This call will be recorded.
0:07 You: Hello.
0:12 Caller: I noticed you were looking on LinkedIn at your resume and our database.
0:15 Caller: I'm really impressed here.
0:17 Caller: I want to reach out about a research engineer opportunity at Vamana AI seed state startup.
0:21 Caller: Do you have like three minutes here?
0:25 Caller: Well, Vamana is stealth right now.
0:28 Caller: There's not a lot of info that I'm able to share with you beyond that the problem statement
0:30 You: Thank you.
0:31 You: Thank you.
0:32 You: Thank you.
0:33 You: Thank you.
0:34 You: Thank you.
0:35 You: Thank you.
0:35 Caller: right now is building AI-native video infrastructure, so teams can turn, like, big video archives
0:36 You: Thank you.
0:37 You: Thank you.
0:38 You: Thank you.
0:39 You: Okay.
0:40 Caller: into more like searchable, actionable ones, like actual assets that aren't like re-indensing
0:48 Caller: storage and serving pipelines sort of thing.
0:51 Caller: It's a founding level research role, so you're going to be designing, training, large video
0:54 Caller: models, building distributed training and print systems.
0:58 Caller: uh their seed stage and once again it's a founding level like very heavy zero and one uh
1:05 Caller: role it's remote so it's not on site i'm not sure what you prefer but it's i mean they're
1:09 You: Understood.
1:15 Caller: based in san francisco um but it's remote role they're early on
1:22 You: Is this training from scratch or is this training from scratch or is there's more
1:28 You: lauras on top of existing models?
1:28 Caller: You know, I wish I had the answer to that.
1:34 Caller: I can send you some more information.
1:38 Caller: As far as I know, their architecting core system, designing and training models and turning
1:39 You: That kind of, that sounds like the something you tell an investor, not a, not a candidate.
1:42 Caller: research into like distributed training and inference pipelines.
1:46 Caller: So I'm not sure that answers your question directly, but an intro call could maybe clear it up a bit more with them too.
1:58 Caller: Well, once again, this company's, sure, yeah, they're stealth, this is brand new to my desk.
1:59 You: So happy to take the call.
2:04 Caller: Normally, I'm a little more well-versed in the exact market they're looking for.
2:07 Caller: I really like that you have the relevant computer vision experience, along with, obviously,
2:09 You: So the computer vision, to be clear, is using computer vision models at the application layer, not creating computer vision models.
2:14 Caller: the long tenure at Meta, I think, is really relevant here.
2:28 You: I get the impression from, okay, I get the impression this role is to create the model, or is it to use the model.
2:28 Caller: That's my understanding.
2:31 Caller: Yeah.
2:37 Caller: It's, uh, I think it's the earlier, yeah, yeah, you know, some of the ML stuff is a little beyond me as,
2:39 You: I guess I'll ask them on the call.
2:45 Caller: but, um, I, I can send you the, uh, run down that I have.
2:51 Caller: It's not much more than we've discussed.
2:53 Caller: Things are pretty under wraps, um, of what they're going into, it's top secret, right?
2:58 Caller: Um, but they want someone deeply technical.
3:00 Caller: They told me to find someone like you, and that's what I've done.
3:03 Caller: So I think the best next step is to get your resume over there right away.
3:07 Caller: Uh, they're hiring quickly.
3:08 Caller: They came as a referral to us, which is great.
3:09 You: Certainly. So how quickly can we can we speak? I don't know if you have their calendar.
3:10 Caller: We worked with, um, the founder, I've worked with one of his students at a different startup, uh,
3:15 Caller: getting him, uh, founding level researchers out of like Turing and, and deep mine and stuff.
3:20 Caller: So we have a good relationship with them.
3:22 Caller: They're a solid company.
3:23 Caller: Um, I think it'd be a no brainer for an intro call.
3:27 Caller: Okay.
3:28 Caller: Cool. Let me get your resume. The one I have latest is out of 2021, I think. So let me just send you an email right now.
3:39 You: Yes.
3:44 Caller: I'll just put it, I'll title it, uh, Vamana resume submit. And you can respond to that really quick. And then I'll have more feedback on my timing and stuff, but I'm sure they're going to want to interview you. I just need to like, totally make sure.
3:58 Caller: Is your email still Jed at Jeddardin.com?
4:04 Caller: Okay, cool. I just sent you that email. So just feel free to respond as soon as you can with your resume.
4:09 You: So for the roles that I'm
4:12 Caller: Really quickly, kind of while that's going through, what kind of comp are you looking for, just kind of ballpark base comp.
4:20 Caller: There's one other thing I have in mind for you too. So I just want to make sure we're like aligned here, generally speaking.
4:25 You: with presently, the framework that I'm interviewing with presently, the framework that I give them is 300,000 base.
4:28 Caller: Okay.
4:31 You: If it's liquid comp, so RSUs, bonus, that kind of stuff, 450,000 total comp.
4:38 You: If it's
4:39 You: liquid, so ISO, NSO, and the other paper that otherwise can't be converted to cash right
4:46 You: away, 600,000 total comp to adjust the risk premium, and then with diligence into the cap table,
4:53 Caller: Okay.
4:53 You: the preference stack, and the employee incentive plan.
4:58 Caller: Okay. So 300 base would be kind of your bottom if they're offering for like base, right?
5:04 You: That's the median of the roles where I'm currently interviewing, and part of the trouble. And part of the
5:08 Caller: Okay.
5:08 You: trouble is that it's P.E. funds and hedge funds and startups. So they both have
5:12 Caller: Yeah. Yeah. This is going to be an equity. I mean, this is going to be an equity. I mean, this is seed. I'm not sure if you're at any C companies. These guys are seed. They're early on. But, you know, the equities, you know, the equities where you
5:14 You: different comp structures. So it's a little hard to unify them.
5:28 Caller: make your money, obviously, in terms of a seat startup. They're not going to have super
5:32 Caller: high base. It might be a little under 300. So on the, on kind of the upper end of what they're
5:38 You: It's not a deal breaker, but I definitely would want to know what the cap table and the preference
5:39 Caller: telling me, as long as that's not a deal breaker, once again, I mean, I'm in for a call.
5:45 Caller: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
5:49 You: stack is.
5:50 You: Because you know what the preference stack is from in the VC funds, right?
5:54 You: Okay.
5:54 Caller: Yeah. Preference stack. Absolutely.
5:57 Caller: I'll find that out.
5:58 Caller: It's a new company. I have to figure out some more details. Once again, the stealth aspect makes it a little difficult,
6:04 Caller: especially when they're ramping up interview process, et cetera. Let me, for the intro chat,
6:08 You: Thank you.
6:11 Caller: you know, I think it's going to be more about culture fit. You know, talk about the role,
6:16 Caller: talk about the stack, talk about their initiatives and just see general personality alignment,
6:19 Caller: et cetera. For some of these questions, once again, as a headhunter, the more you make I make,
6:25 Caller: I get a percentage just fee.
6:28 Caller: based off of the candidates-based salary doesn't pull away from what you make at all. It's just like,
6:32 Caller: that's what I get paid. The more you make I make, so no worries on that. And if it comes down to
6:36 Caller: offer stage, I will be going to bat for you getting every possible question answered known to man.
6:38 You: Right. I'm also going to send over example
6:41 Caller: and if you want that after the first interview, I can do more digging. I just think, you know, if it's on topic
6:46 Caller: there with just talking about typical things, I think that's usually how they've been running those
6:52 Caller: intro chats. So once again, I'm happy to get more info.
6:58 Caller: especially after this first interview, once they know you, right?
7:04 Caller: Okay. Okay. No, I got that. I got that sense for sure, but that's very. But that's very helpful. Thank you.
7:08 You: computer vision space. So perhaps that may pique their interest and offer at least
7:15 You: a little more proof that I'm a practitioner in this space, not just someone who put it on a
7:20 You: resume.
7:21 You: I'm in a resume.
7:24 You: I'm in New York.
7:26 You: I'm in New York. My preference is New York.
7:28 Caller: In terms of being in New York versus San Francisco versus remote, how are we looking there?
7:33 Caller: What do you think?
7:36 You: My preference is New York, is remote, but can also pay a visit into that office if I need to.
7:48 You: No, I can't compete against the soon-to-be newly minted anthropic and open AI millionaires once the IPO for housing.
7:58 Caller: You mean in San Francisco, generally speaking?
7:58 You: Yes.
8:02 You: There are only, I think it's like 80,000 single-family homes.
8:03 Caller: Yeah, yeah.
8:06 You: well, against all of the, I think it's 15,000 combined AI IPO beneficiaries in California.
8:15 You: I can't compete.
8:18 Caller: Sure. No, no, no worries. I think.
8:20 Caller: Are you a U.S. Citizen? I think we have it logged. Yeah, we have it logged. Yeah, we have a logged in a citizen.
8:22 You: I am a, yep, I am a U.S. citizen. That hasn't changed.
8:28 Caller: Okay. And in terms of availability to interview, do you have any late stage happening? Are we needing to fast-track this? How does next week look sort of thing?
8:35 You: Fast track for sure. I've already received a verbal offer elsewhere, and then two finals are completing this week and one final next week. So I acknowledge the timeline is tight. But if that first conversation goes well, it may be worth foregoing an offer to pursue an offer here.
8:56 Caller: Okay.
8:58 Caller: me, I mean, do you have time? Like, no, that's the fourth. Tomorrow, what does tomorrow look like for you? Eastern time?
9:05 You: Tomorrow I can speak between, let's see, what is this?
9:12 You: Looks like between one and three.
9:14 You: Eastern.
9:16 You: And then if they will accept mornings between 845 and 9.30.
9:23 You: Yes, please.
9:28 Caller: They're all west coast. That one's a little less likely, but...
9:28 You: I don't know if the interviewer's...
9:30 You: Oh, if they're West Coast, I can speak after 6 p.m. Eastern.
9:34 You: On Thursday, yeah.
9:35 Caller: Okay. Okay. Cool. Tomorrow.
9:41 Caller: Okay. And then if you have a time, do you have anything you see Monday just as a backup?
9:45 Caller: Once again, I'm trying to fast track. You hear. It's just having all this edit time gives me leverage.
9:49 You: I understand.
9:51 You: So Monday, noon to 2 p.m. Eastern, and then 3 to 5.
9:58 Caller: Okay. Eastern. Great. If you get that resume over to me, I'll literally send it right now. I'll send it to the founder.
10:03 You: You have the resume, and I'm also sending supplemental web pages so you can see the kind of computer vision that I've done.
10:20 Caller: Okay. Got it. And computer vision, it's main focus. That's the industry you want to stay in more so.
10:23 You: It's an industry where I can work. I don't know how that will change with the advent of AI.
10:28 Caller: Okay. I have a couple remote machine learning roles. They're a little lower. They're a little lower on the computer vision, like, totem pole thing. They're more, like, like, cybersecurity is one of them.
10:31 You: So that's the discussion I'll have with the...
10:32 You: have with the, I assume the founding team or someone from the founding team, so I can understand what their intent is.
10:57 Caller: I'm not sure if that's, like, like, like, that's,
10:58 Caller: interest to you, but that's the only other thing I have on my desk right now, but my colleagues do have
11:02 You: Okay.
11:02 Caller: some other opportunities that might be suitable for you as well, that they can reach out. If I get
11:08 Caller: your resume and database here, they can just reach out to you.
11:13 You: You have the updated resume.
11:16 You: On it is my GitHub and my personal website.
11:16 Caller: Yeah.
11:19 You: So that includes a lot of the things I've done in the LLN space more recently,
11:25 You: especially wiring up my own harnesses.
11:28 Caller: Okay, you're a bit of a generalist. Well, if you're looking at a founding level AI full-stack engineer, once again, that's kind of an oxymoron in some way, but working with a company called Mainwave, they're looking for its remote founding-level AI engineer. They're really on top of things. The founder of Crew AI started it. My colleague, Matt Conover, worked with them, getting placements at Crew. He left Crew.
11:28 You: And then I'm not specifically married to computers.
11:31 You: to computer vision or machine learning, my skill set is quite broad across multiple disciplines.
11:58 Caller: So he started crew, left, you know, let his baby go, and now he started Mainwave.
12:01 You: Sure. I trust your judgment there. And then you have my availability to speak and you know the timeline.
12:03 Caller: I can get you some more details on that company, but I suggest we send your resume over there as well.
12:11 Caller: Yeah, Rob Bailey started it.
12:15 Caller: So data observability startup, yeah. If you have any interest in observability, you've done past work, let me know.
12:16 You: Do you know what class of observability?
12:24 You: Do you know what class of observability?
12:28 Caller: Let me see. Once again, another brand new company for us. Let me dive into this one more. I know this one and much less, but I just had it across my desk and I thought I'd mention it to you since I had you on the phone. Also needs more info once I find out more. But that one is preceded. They're working on formula and funding. So that one's going to be much earlier stage. They're looking for absolute killers. So I think that you could fall into this category. I don't have those. I'm not going to have a lot of answers for that, though. That's just going to have to have to be flying by the city.
12:30 You: Oh, whatever you can send over.
12:58 Caller: your pants. Yeah, that's going to be, yeah, that might be slightly more likely.
13:00 You: worst case get a call booked and then I can ask the questions directly.
13:07 You: Nothing specific.
13:09 Caller: They're beyond busy over there, too. But yeah, observability. I have a stack I can send you and dive into as well,
13:16 Caller: a little deeper. I won't take any more of your time here. I got everything I need. Let me know if you have any
13:21 Caller: any question before we hop off, though.
13:24 You: You have the right to represent for those roles.
13:27 You: In case, you have the right to represent for those roles in case you need a specific statement.
13:28 Caller: Absolutely. Yeah, looking forward discussing more. And I'll book you once I get approval and I'll just send you the invitation for either company. And we'll just send you the invitation for either company. And we'll just go from there.
13:29 You: statement. Otherwise, thank you for sending them over.
13:47 Caller: Great. Thank you very much.