Lakshmi.
Portfolio 2026 / Vol. 01Trained to write code. Ended up rewiring organisations instead.
Computer Science graduate who took a gap year, got a call from Deliveroo, and that was that. Nine years later: 0 markets, €0M+ budgets, 0M+ customers, and a consistent pattern of ending up on the hardest problem available. Turns out what I actually love is breadth. Strategy, finance, operations, product. The whole org, not just a function. Now at Airalo, building Frank, and writing about all of it.
Dubai / Open to senior roles at AI-first companies
A Decade of
Scaling.
0 Markets ·
USD 7.4B GMV ·
Airalo to Talabat
Finance Business Partner · Growth · USD 70M Marketing Budget
USD 7.4B GMV · EUR 100M+ Budgets · 8 Markets · 65,000+ Partners
Market Expansion · Pricing Strategy · Operations Excellence
CMR Institute of Technology
2013 – 2016 · Bangalore, India
Bachelor of Engineering, Computer Science
“Where I learned the how. Still care more about the why.”
Building
in Public.
0 experiments.
One health scare.
Dubai, UAE.
Born from 0 failed experiments.
Two years ago, a health scare pushed me to start training seriously. I needed supplements to build strength and resistance, but every product on the market left me bloated, in pain, and covered in acne. The industry is full of influencer-led miracle cures with zero transparency.
So my husband and I started experimenting in the kitchen. 47 failures later, GUTSY was born. Science-first gut health supplements with zero proprietary blends. We're currently navigating Dubai municipality approvals before launch. For someone who spent a decade shipping at volume, the bureaucratic wait is a different kind of challenge entirely.
*0 experiments.
Zero proprietary blends.
The notebook
that talks back.
Frank is an AI sparring partner. It argues. It holds positions. It pushes on weak reasoning and doesn't let you stay comfortable inside a story that isn't holding up.
Live at talktofrank.app
More experiments in progress. Building in public.
What I'm into right now
The Hard Thing About Hard Things, Ben Horowitz
GUTSY, launching in Dubai 2026. Frank is live at talktofrank.app.
Finance Business Partner at Airalo. Building Frank and GUTSY on the side.
AI as a building tool, productivity apps, this portfolio, and a growing obsession with cultural anthropology
The
Arc.
Three chapters. One thread.
Software Engineer
The RootsBuilt systems and realized I cared more about the "why" than the "how". Trading technical debt for human logic.
“I thought I was going to spend my life writing code. Then Deliveroo called.”
Operations & Markets
The ScalingMoved from code to humans. Scaled operations across 8 markets with €100M+ budgets. Learned that businesses are just complex algorithms with more human variables, and the humans are the hardest part.
“Businesses are just complex algorithms. The humans are the hardest variable.”
AI & Public Building
The PivotQuit, took a break, had a health scare, and started building. Came back as Finance Business Partner at Airalo. Built Frank. Published essays. Turns out the engineering brain never left. It just found better problems.
“Trained to write code. Ended up here. Not a bad detour.”
Writing in public.
What kind of founder are you?
Let's build
something.
Finance operator who builds things on the side. If you're working on something in AI, operations, or growth and need someone who thinks in systems and actually builds things, let's talk.