Illegible

Kuber just turned 19 and works on foundational models on the central AI team at Razorpay, one of the biggest fintech in India, and the first Indian company YC has ever invested in. He directly reports to Harshil Mathur, its CEO.

Before this, he had built 53 projects, spanning from a fly brain simulation learning English to a native macOS driver for a printer HP never supported, which hit 3.5M views.

Before that, he almost went to culinary school at 17 because he was bad at math.

He writes MindDump, a blog read with 100,000 visits a month.

Today we sit together to talk about his journey and all things building.

Watch on YouTube, listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Timestamps

(00:00:00) - How he almost ended up in culinary school instead of computer science

(00:03:02) - Building, obsession, and why he still went to university

(00:10:43) - Nobody around him builds, so he found them on Twitter and Discord, and how to start posting at 16

(00:17:33) - LinkedIn vs X, and what each platform is actually for

(00:20:13) - 40 projects, and how to start building at 17 with no background

(00:27:48) - Building for money vs building to make something

(00:33:51) - Urgency, ambition, and comparing yourself to people further ahead

(00:38:31) - What school does not teach, and building cultural infrastructure instead

(00:43:22) - The blog, writing to think, and 80,000 readers a month

We need more stories.

If you're under 21 and you're building cool things in whatever disciplines (or know somebody who does) I'd love to tell your story; reach out to [email protected].

Find Kuber

X / Twitter: https://x.com/Kuberwastaken

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kubermehta/

Blog: https://kuber.studio/blog/

GitHub: https://github.com/Kuberwastaken

Find Brando

X / Twitter: https://x.com/Lucabrando_

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucabrandosanfilippo/

Substack: https://notsureifobvious.substack.com/

Not Sure If Obvious YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NotSureIfObvious

Personal YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@finallybrando/videos

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/finallybrando/

Find Illegible

Website: https://www.illegible.world/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/illegibleworld/

X / Twitter: https://x.com/illegibleHQ

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit illegibleworld.substack.com

Samuel recently turned 18 and has been working for a YC-backed startup from his Italian high school for some time now.

In this interview, we dive into his journey so that you can take practical inspiration and start working on things that you consider fun, interesting, and-or important.

I tell these stories because I think the distance between you and the person in them is smaller than it looks, and the only way to prove that is to show the whole path instead of the endpoint.

Watch on YouTube, listen on Apple Podcast or Spotify.

𝐅riends of Illegible

Chaotica, a VC founded by Michelangelo Valtancoli.

Michelangelo is a friend and inspiration in understanding and going deep with people, as well as putting together tech, arts, and soul in a way that’s rarely seen in the industry. If you’re building something you’ve thought of very deeply about, you should get in touch.

The world needs more stories

If you're under 21 and you're building cool things in whatever disciplines (or know somebody who does) I'd love to tell your story, reach out to [email protected].

Timestamps

(00:00:00) - San Francisco, and what Europe still has that it doesn’t

(00:05:56) - A week with no plan, and not giving up his teenage years

(00:12:05) - Learning to code at 10: Telegram bots, Discord, Fortnite mods

(00:18:38) - Cybersecurity at 15, and a school register full of holes

(00:22:30) - Finding startups on Twitter, and the bug that became a job

(00:30:05) - His method: cold outreach, and how he hunts a vulnerability

(00:37:30) - Why his classmates aren’t doing any of this

(00:43:22) - What he still hasn’t figured out

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit illegibleworld.substack.com