Glory

Hyderabad, July 04

One thing that starting a company teaches you is that you are not that important — that reality is very much out there, not in your head. It’s been a little over 2 years now.

May 05, 2023 is when I truly started working on my own. I began with AI agents in Slack, when agents were still too early (tweet for emphasis). Spent the next 4 months building that while in New York. Then I built Taxtalk, while back home in Hyderabad for 5 months. Launched in Mumbai, then launched in the UK. That was a good product. Still is. Started working on consumer products in March 2024. Built Smoltalk (webapp link). Some people used that for relationship advice. So I made Redflagz — yes, I dislike the name also — in the second half of 2024, while spending my first few months ever in San Francisco. I realized “red, green flags” is just one frame with which to evaluate a situation, relationship or idea. Released v2 of Redflagz (app store link) in March 2025. Launching Instabook (testflight link) now, with a similar underlying idea. I'm also going to market with Frames as a creator platform in itself. My dedication to each of these products was hardly cavalier. Yet, there is no Glory before the elusive product-market fit.

Today I caught myself thinking that all of this searching has been worth it, since I now see the outlines of what looks like life’s work: the full realization of Frames. Then I reminded me, "It doesn’t matter." It’s probably a cool idea; nobody cares. Besides, a missing link is keeping me up. I still do not know how music will fit into so cerebral an endeavor. I doubt the best consumer technology companies can be built without accounting for this simple truth — there is something unique about music that cranks our meaning-making machinery and elevates lived experience. For better or for worse.