u/ctrlCandV

I'm a 23yo Software Engineer who recently built a startup and made it to the Antler residency finals. While we didn't secure funding and I took an MNC role, I've realized my true satisfaction comes from product strategy, user discovery, and owning the "why" behind what we build.

I have a strong technical foundation, but my brain is wired for product execution. If any early-to-mid stage startups are looking for a high-ownership PM, Technical PM, or Founder's Office operator who can speak fluent engineering and business, I'd love to connect and help you build.

My co-founder and I just hit a wall. We built an Al-native PoC for embedded systems, made it to the final round of a top residency, but didn't get the investment.

Now that the "finalist" hype has died down, the reality is hitting hard:

Zero Traction: Cold outreach is getting buried.

Zero Budget: Bootstrapping is making progress feel agonizingly slow.

The Mental Game: It's hard to stay motivated when you are this close to a "yes." I'm not here to complain I want to learn. For those who didn't get funded on the first try:

1. How did you get your first 5-10 users with literally $O?

2. How do you keep the engine running when you're effectively back to square one?

3. Has anyone else been in this "limbo" phase? How did you break out?

I've spent the last year realizing a hard truth: Development is the "easy" part. As engineers, we have the tools to build anything. We understand the architecture, the models, and the code. But building a product is entirely different from writing code.

I've seen and I've experienced firsthand how ideas fail.....not because the tech wasn't there, but because the product lifecycle and execution were missing.

In India, we have world-class engineering talent, but there is a massive gap in Product Mindset. When an engineer finally "gets" the product side the "why" before the "how"

it creates a specific kind of restlessness. It's the realisation that tech alone doesn't impact lives; execution does.

I'm currently in that phase of restlessness obsessed with bridging the gap between deep technical knowledge and the strategic execution required to ship products that actually matter.

To the founders and builders in my network: How did you navigate the shift from "How do we build this?" to "How do we make this indispensable?"

I'm looking to connect with people who are currently in the trenches of this execution phase.

Let's talk.