Anand Chowdhary is a technology entrepreneur, engineer, designer, and GitHub Star. He is currently building FirstQuadrant, an all-in-one AI sales platform funded by Y Combinator.
He also makes angel investments and does some nonprofit work on the side. Previously, he founded rent-to-own furniture with interior design startup Pabio and accessibility technology company Oswald Labs.
Learn more on anandchowdhary.com →
README — A guide to work with me
/ɑnʌnð t͡ʃŏɖʱɹi/ (similar to Aah-nun'd Cho-dree).
- I made my first website and published it to the web when I was ten years old. I'm
26.62now. - I'm from New Delhi and have lived in Enschede, Groningen, San Francisco, and now Utrecht.
- I track all my habits, travel, and biomarkers, and they have an API (yes, really).
- Apart from my day (+night) job, I also advise early-stage startups and contribute to open source projects.
- When in long meetings, I tend to get distracted and often find myself ⌘+↹-ing to a different window (I used to previously catch myself using my phone, so I keep it away from me now). I'm working on this but please call me out if you notice I'm not paying attention.
- I typically work long hours, so you might receive an email or Slack message from me at unholy hours; you don't have to read or reply immediately if you're not working, and I don't expect you to work at the same times.
- I'm still learning how to transition from designer/developer/hacker/etc. to manager, so you'll likely have to bare with my lack of discipline when it comes to important managerial responsibilities like setting up projects well in advance and providing useful feedback.
- I tend to think and talk fast, so I might jump in while someone is still talking and try to finish their thought. This is also something I'm working on, so if you say "Let me finish", it'll make me feel like I'm a prick and make me much more conscious of this.
- My co-founder Carlo told me that I am "very good at things [I] want to do, and so bad at things I don't want to do". I want to do a better job at tasks that are important, but those I'm not particular excited about.
- Keeping things in the open: Just like this README, I keep my OKRs, life and health data, and everything else I can, public. If it's not public, it's shared internally with the team (e.g., my calendar, Pabio finance details, and life updates). I value transparency, even in the little things like posting in Slack channels rather than direct messages.
- Feed me back: I ask for feedback. If we have a one-on-one meeting, I highly value receiving feedback on how I can improve personally, do my job better, or help you do your job better. This also applies to my personal relationships.
This text is shared under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0). It was inspired by the READMEs of Quinn Slack and fellow YC founders Tim Glaser and Sid Sijbrandij.