UX Engineer, Head of Design - @scrutsocial , ex Founding team - @Spendflo, ex - thegeekslab. Painter, Filmmaker, Super Biker. prioritising mental health always
Bangalore
Joined February 2008
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Akta (Pronounced 'Ekta') retweeted
One thing that strikes me wrong at config is all the design leaders saying; hey we ship with AI, designers raise PRs, we built a code playground for designers, make templates.. ok but did the product make the users happy and meet your business goals / metrics
Akta (Pronounced 'Ekta') retweeted
When man looks for a tracker, give a man a tracker, and he can get back to work.
Teach him to build a tracker, and you’ve given him another project to track.
Akta (Pronounced 'Ekta') retweeted
We didn't become builders because we want more output, but to make something good.
To keep make something good, the learning for is needed as much the product you build.
Linear CEO @karrisaarinen: "Making products produces two things: the product, and the learning.
The effort you put into building and designing things teaches you something about what the problem is, what the customers want.
We're in this time now that there's this danger of losing that direct connection with the learning."
Akta (Pronounced 'Ekta') retweeted
Do one exercise today,
write 3 names who will be there with you the next moment if you say you are in need. Apart from your family.
If you are struggling to write those names, you probably need to spend less time with AI.
Akta (Pronounced 'Ekta') retweeted
Another year at @designupconf, this time as speaker! Super grateful for the opportunity to talk about @blrbloom 🌸 on a very tiny screen 😂
Thanks to all the speakers for mind-opening perspectives and all the volunteers for making it seamless as always! @DesignUpConf @jdallcaps @rasagy @benoteworthy_in
Akta (Pronounced 'Ekta') retweeted
There's been a lot of "design is dead" talk this year.
So at @DesignUpConf last week, @rasagy and I built our workshop around a better question: how does a designer actually navigate this landscape? and what value does a designer still bring to the table?
This was the workshop worth the hype! Came out with a lot of insights!
There's been a lot of "design is dead" talk this year.
So at @DesignUpConf last week, @rasagy and I built our workshop around a better question: how does a designer actually navigate this landscape? and what value does a designer still bring to the table?
Akta (Pronounced 'Ekta') retweeted
Linear CEO @karrisaarinen: "I took a break this summer from paying attention to AI. I thought that when I came back, I'd feel left behind. But when I came back, I realized that nothing has really changed.
There's new models, there's new techniques, there's new agents. But in the end, making great products, increasing revenue, and building the business—it's still hard.
It's clear the tools are getting better, you can do more, you can do it faster. But I think the more important question is: are we actually making better things with these tools? Are our teams getting better with these tools?
I don't think that answer is clearly yes.
There's a lot of emphasis now on toolmaking and using tools and building systems. But I think in the end, as product people, our job is to make something great."
Akta (Pronounced 'Ekta') retweeted
Building AI products for enterprises? We'd like to see what you're working on.
Join Lightspeed, Descope (@descopeinc), Amazon Web Services (@awscloud), and The Product Folks (@TheProductfolks) at First Light, a Demo Day for early-stage founders building AI tools that help companies operate, sell, secure, analyse, and scale.
If you're pre-revenue or early revenue, this is a space to pressure-test your thinking, sharpen your roadmap, and build meaningful connections within the ecosystem, with the top 3 teams receiving $25,000 in AWS Cloud credits*.
Apply here: tinyurl.com/AIBuildersDemoDa…
*T&C apply
@MotwaniSuhas @abhayjani4 @BaggaRohil
Akta (Pronounced 'Ekta') retweeted
Introducing @RampLabs brand identity.
When I first heard about our labs team, what they do, but more importantly their philosophy for how they approach their work, I knew we had to brand them.
Their work deserves a cohesive system and tools to scale their mission and endeavors.
When I met @shevchenkoaalex, I really admired his dedication to the mission of the labs team. I could feel that he had an important obligation to the industry and to the craft of research.
We extended our core brand system for this one and had a ton of fun making it.
Another fun five week sprint with @markweaver Nicholas Ano, and Roan Collum. Thank you to the @RampLabs for the partnership and trusting us to cook.
labs.ramp.com/
Akta (Pronounced 'Ekta') retweeted
Push your brain's neuroplasticity to its absolute limit.
Try different restaurants. Explore new cafés, or just sit at a different table. Listen to unfamiliar music. Switch up your workouts. Learn new languages, take up fresh hobbies, and travel to foreign countries.
Consistency is vital, but if you want to unlock fresh thinking and creativity, you must embrace novel experiences, and you must seek them often.
This hits so hard when every third sprint you bring ux fixes as a ticket and engg sighs a big fat sigh and you are a moment away from blurting that this wouldn’t even happen if things were done right the first time 😬
Akta (Pronounced 'Ekta') retweeted
We have a matchmaking problem
I believe there is sufficient talent that founders need - unfortunately they don’t look deep enough or reflect to articulate what they want. Or the word is not spread well.
That talent may be in companies that the founder may have never heard about. And that talent maybe really working at some obscure large company without knowing that an amazing startup opportunity exists.
And also that the talent doesn’t know how to apply well
Matchmaking.
India does not have an unemployment problem.
India has a mediocrity problem.
Every founder I know is always hiring. Always. There is not a single business owner in my circle who is not actively looking for good people right now.
What they are frustrated with is not a lack of candidates. It is mediocre applications. Mediocre interviews. Mediocre work.
The jobs exist. The standards to get them are not being met.
That is a very different problem. And it needs a very different conversation.
Akta (Pronounced 'Ekta') retweeted
I’m back with another job post! 🚨🚨
I am looking for an Associate Visual Designer (1–3 years) to join us at Rapido.
If you want to be part of my amazing team, do some great work, and design for India at scale, we’d love to hear from you.
Apply or refer someone who’d be a great fit!
Akta (Pronounced 'Ekta') retweeted
Silicon Valley keeps building me a husband when what I really want is a wife lol
I don't want an agent that only does one-off, random tasks that are nice but not life-changing: booking flights, making dinner reservations, or buying tickets
I want an AI wife who knows what’s on the family calendar, remembers there’s a birthday party Saturday and we haven’t bought a gift then sends me options, realizes we’re almost out of diapers and buys them, knows which bills are coming up, remembers someone needs a dentist appointment and books it, figures out what the hell we’re eating all week and what we need from the grocery store, and generally keeps track of the 47 things that need to happen before anyone else even realizes they need to happen.
So, who's building me an AI wife that carries the mental load instead of an AI husband that waits for me to give it a chore??
Akta (Pronounced 'Ekta') retweeted
10 years of @DesignUpConf = 3 days of inspiring ideas, curious conversations, and shirt twins. 😉
The talks give you ideas 💡and the hallways give you people 🫶
It has turned into a yearly reunion of sorts, and I'm not complaining – met old friends, made some new ones, and had a lot of fun. 🥳
Thank you to the team behind it. 👏
#DUp26 #DesignUp #DesignUp2026
Accessibility nerd alert: every photo here has alt text. 🤓
ALT Nine of us grinning in a row behind the #DUp26 letters, in front of a purple and orange DesignUp Decade backdrop.
ALT Four selfies of me with friends across the three days: in a green polo, in a Snoopy shirt twice, and in my blue Scooby Doo inspired shirt.
ALT Me and my shirt-twin in our matching blue-white Scooby Doo inspired shirts, posing outside with another pair of shirt twins in matching red and teal patterned shirts.
ALT The crowd facing the red and pink lit stage, light beams cutting through the haze, with "The DesignUp Decade" on the screen.
Akta (Pronounced 'Ekta') retweeted
Last year I attended DesignUp. This year I spoke at it.
One year. No engineering background. No team. ₹3,000. One weekend.
8,000+ garbage reports across all 369 wards of Bengaluru, mapped to the exact official responsible.
It happened because I stopped walking past something.
