The Blog
Writing on AI, Web3, cybersecurity, and building startups - by a Technical Co-Founder who has shipped across all of them.
M.Tech · Cybersecurity
NIT Kurukshetra
10+
Years Shipping Code
Across All Topics
A startup CTO owns every technical decision the company cannot afford to get wrong: what to build, how to build it, who builds it, and how it stays secure. The job changes completely with stage. Here is what a CTO actually does at pre-seed, seed, Series A and beyond, the core responsibilities, how the role differs from a VP of Engineering, and when you need one.
·10 min read
You can build an MVP without a technical co-founder if your product is a well-understood build and the technology is not your moat. Here is the step-by-step path for non-technical founders: validate first, scope in screens, pick the right builder, rent technical judgment instead of giving away equity, and keep ownership of the code.
·10 min read
A tested setup for AirLLM 2.11.0 on an M-series Mac: the exact install, an ungated Llama 3.1 download to an external SSD, the four Apple Silicon fixes in one wrapper script, real speeds, and the errors you will hit.
·9 min read
A full-time startup CTO hired at seed to Series A typically earns $180,000 to $260,000 in salary plus 1 to 4 percent equity on a four-year vest. Here is how startup CTO compensation really moves with stage, salary, and timing, how much equity a CTO should get in each shape of the role, and where fractional CTO equity fits.
·10 min read
The Latest In
Timely takes on what's moving fast in tech, startups, and the industry: the conversations worth having right now.
AirLLM promises 70B language models on a 4GB GPU. I ran it on a base M4 Mac mini with an external SSD, fixed four bugs to get it working on Apple Silicon, and timed every token. Llama 3.1 8B took 19.6 seconds per word. Here are the real numbers and when AirLLM is worth it.
·9 min read
India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act is usually explained by lawyers as a consent law. Read it as a security engineer and it looks different: the biggest penalty in the Act is for failing to protect data, not for failing to ask permission. Here is why the law was needed, what the DPDP Rules actually require, and what to build before May 2027.
·13 min read
Five days ago a $40M startup launched a frontier model that cannot write a single word. Jev takes your program state and returns typed decisions with probabilities, in under a second, for almost nothing. Here's what it is, which claims hold up, and where I'd actually use it.
·11 min read
Apple just shipped its best chip, its first foldable, and a Siri that arrived two years late running on Google's models. Here is what is actually new, what the Duo gives up, why Apple is still this weak in AI, and how to not lose $300 on your old phone.
·12 min read
The Latest In
Practical writing on building with AI agents, LLMs, and modern security, from architecture decisions and inference costs to smart contract audits and zero-trust patterns.
A tested setup for AirLLM 2.11.0 on an M-series Mac: the exact install, an ungated Llama 3.1 download to an external SSD, the four Apple Silicon fixes in one wrapper script, real speeds, and the errors you will hit.
·9 min read
AirLLM promises 70B language models on a 4GB GPU. I ran it on a base M4 Mac mini with an external SSD, fixed four bugs to get it working on Apple Silicon, and timed every token. Llama 3.1 8B took 19.6 seconds per word. Here are the real numbers and when AirLLM is worth it.
·9 min read
India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act is usually explained by lawyers as a consent law. Read it as a security engineer and it looks different: the biggest penalty in the Act is for failing to protect data, not for failing to ask permission. Here is why the law was needed, what the DPDP Rules actually require, and what to build before May 2027.
·13 min read
Most startups don't get breached through a zero-day. They get breached through a shared admin login, a key in a repo, or one config line nobody reviewed. Here is the security checklist I work through in the first weeks of every engagement, including the AI-specific items most founders skip.
·12 min read
Five days ago a $40M startup launched a frontier model that cannot write a single word. Jev takes your program state and returns typed decisions with probabilities, in under a second, for almost nothing. Here's what it is, which claims hold up, and where I'd actually use it.
·11 min read
AI writes most of the code I ship. The 2019 junior developer role is gone and I don't hire for it. But 84% of developers use these tools and only 3% trust the output, and that gap is the job description I actually pay for now.
·5 min read
The Latest In
Hard-won lessons from co-founding 6+ startups across 3 continents, on co-founder dynamics, product decisions, hiring engineers, and going from 0 to paying customers.
A startup CTO owns every technical decision the company cannot afford to get wrong: what to build, how to build it, who builds it, and how it stays secure. The job changes completely with stage. Here is what a CTO actually does at pre-seed, seed, Series A and beyond, the core responsibilities, how the role differs from a VP of Engineering, and when you need one.
·10 min read
You can build an MVP without a technical co-founder if your product is a well-understood build and the technology is not your moat. Here is the step-by-step path for non-technical founders: validate first, scope in screens, pick the right builder, rent technical judgment instead of giving away equity, and keep ownership of the code.
·10 min read
A full-time startup CTO hired at seed to Series A typically earns $180,000 to $260,000 in salary plus 1 to 4 percent equity on a four-year vest. Here is how startup CTO compensation really moves with stage, salary, and timing, how much equity a CTO should get in each shape of the role, and where fractional CTO equity fits.
·10 min read
Hiring a CTO is the most expensive hire most founders ever make, and most of them make it in the wrong shape at the wrong time. Here is the whole process: deciding whether you need one, choosing between co-founder, full-time, fractional, and interim, finding candidates, evaluating them when you are non-technical, and paying them without giving away the company.
·11 min read
A fractional CTO gives you the same seniority for two or three days a week, no equity, and an exit. A full-time CTO gives you forty hours and total ownership, at roughly $260,000 a year plus equity. Here is the honest decision rule, from someone who has been both.
·9 min read
If a technical co-founder is building the entire product and you are pre-revenue, the defensible range is 40 to 50 percent of the founder pool. Here is what actually moves that number, why vesting matters more than the split, and the three patterns that turn a fair deal into resentment.
·10 min read
The Latest In
Personal stories, career reflections, and the unfiltered reality of building a life in tech, from JEE ranks to founding companies across three continents.
No hustle-porn, no 4am cold plunges. Here's what an honest day actually looks like when you write code, run companies, and try to stay a real person across three continents.
·4 min read
A bad JEE rank felt like a closed door at 18. Fourteen years later, here's what actually happened - and what I'd tell my younger self about the roads that don't show up on the map.
·7 min read
Open Invitation
I am always looking for people building or researching in AI and Security to swap ideas with. If you have an article you want to share, a topic you want me to write about, or just want to connect and talk shop, reach out.
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