Essays on building, focus, leadership, and AI, written in the first person by Nikhil Jathar.https://www.nikhilj.com/enhttps://www.nikhilj.com/rcb-back-to-back-ipl-2026/https://www.nikhilj.com/rcb-back-to-back-ipl-2026/RCB won the IPL again on May 31, back-to-back after eighteen years of winning nothing. On the encore, Kohli loyalty, and what the IPL became.Tue, 02 Jun 2026 14:30:00 GMTlifehttps://www.nikhilj.com/what-we-chose-to-patent-erpclaw-and-tailtest/https://www.nikhilj.com/what-we-chose-to-patent-erpclaw-and-tailtest/We filed patents on two products and not the rest. What was novel enough to protect, how a small studio thinks about IP, and what a patent really buys you.Mon, 01 Jun 2026 14:30:00 GMTaihttps://www.nikhilj.com/ai-on-top-of-fifty-year-old-systems/https://www.nikhilj.com/ai-on-top-of-fifty-year-old-systems/The real frontier of enterprise AI is layering assistants onto legacy utility systems without ripping them out. Why that unglamorous work matters most.Tue, 12 May 2026 14:30:00 GMTaihttps://www.nikhilj.com/how-my-co-founder-and-i-split-a-company/https://www.nikhilj.com/how-my-co-founder-and-i-split-a-company/Ten years in, how Varun and I divide a company between a CEO and a CTO, where we overlap, and how we settle the arguments we cannot avoid.Tue, 14 Apr 2026 14:30:00 GMTleadershiphttps://www.nikhilj.com/what-seven-days-of-ai-assisted-coding-changed/https://www.nikhilj.com/what-seven-days-of-ai-assisted-coding-changed/I built a server tool in a week with an AI pair. The build was the easy part. What it permanently changed about how I scope, delegate, and review.Tue, 17 Mar 2026 14:30:00 GMTbuildinghttps://www.nikhilj.com/why-we-build-and-run-the-ai-we-recommend/https://www.nikhilj.com/why-we-build-and-run-the-ai-we-recommend/I am a founder who ships, not an advisor with slides. Why AvanSaber runs the AI it sells, and what operating our own software actually teaches us.Wed, 18 Feb 2026 15:30:00 GMTbuildinghttps://www.nikhilj.com/i-built-a-laravel-forge-alternative-in-7-days-using-ai-assisted-coding/https://www.nikhilj.com/i-built-a-laravel-forge-alternative-in-7-days-using-ai-assisted-coding/I paid rent for two years on a tool I could build. So one December I gave myself seven days and an AI pair to make my own. Here is the honest version.Sun, 04 Jan 2026 08:06:00 GMTbuildinghttps://www.nikhilj.com/the-deep-work-ritual-how-i-structure-my-week-for-code-strategy-and-leadership/https://www.nikhilj.com/the-deep-work-ritual-how-i-structure-my-week-for-code-strategy-and-leadership/I run engineering, strategy and leadership across several products. My only sane response is a deep-work ritual I defend with real stubbornness.Wed, 10 Dec 2025 16:22:46 GMTfocushttps://www.nikhilj.com/5-non-negotiable-productivity-rules-for-juggling-multiple-saas-platforms/https://www.nikhilj.com/5-non-negotiable-productivity-rules-for-juggling-multiple-saas-platforms/I run eight products with a team of fifteen. Not with dashboards, with five simple rules that survive contact with a real, overloaded week.Sat, 15 Nov 2025 21:33:38 GMTfocushttps://www.nikhilj.com/work-life-integration-vs-balance-a-serial-entrepreneurs-philosophy/https://www.nikhilj.com/work-life-integration-vs-balance-a-serial-entrepreneurs-philosophy/Balance assumes two opposing weights and a virtuous person keeping them level. After a decade of running companies, I stopped believing in the scale.Wed, 22 Oct 2025 23:45:34 GMTleadershiphttps://www.nikhilj.com/inbox-zero-is-a-myth-inbox-intentional-is-my-reality/https://www.nikhilj.com/inbox-zero-is-a-myth-inbox-intentional-is-my-reality/I chased inbox zero like it was a moral state, and produced almost nothing. Here is the messier, more useful habit I replaced it with.Fri, 12 Sep 2025 16:44:34 GMTfocushttps://www.nikhilj.com/how-i-use-productive-downtime-to-prevent-burnout/https://www.nikhilj.com/how-i-use-productive-downtime-to-prevent-burnout/The most productive thing I did last year was a week of near-nothing. Why rest is an input to the work, not a reward for it, and how I structure it.Fri, 22 Aug 2025 23:43:37 GMTfocushttps://www.nikhilj.com/beyond-the-hype-the-3-emerging-technologies-im-genuinely-excited-about/https://www.nikhilj.com/beyond-the-hype-the-3-emerging-technologies-im-genuinely-excited-about/The louder a technology is hyped, the more wrong I tend to be about it. Three emerging technologies that survived my own skepticism, and why they last.Wed, 30 Jul 2025 00:43:22 GMTaihttps://www.nikhilj.com/the-best-leadership-lesson-i-learned/https://www.nikhilj.com/the-best-leadership-lesson-i-learned/I learned it by getting it badly wrong during a scary week. Your team does not mirror what you say. It mirrors how you are, and managing that is the job.Tue, 01 Jul 2025 06:00:25 GMTleadershiphttps://www.nikhilj.com/my-home-office-tech-stack-the-gadgets-i-actually-use/https://www.nikhilj.com/my-home-office-tech-stack-the-gadgets-i-actually-use/People want a list of exciting gadgets. The honest one is short and boring: the few tools I use every day, and the expensive lessons left in the drawer.Tue, 17 Jun 2025 05:42:24 GMTbuildinghttps://www.nikhilj.com/the-read-to-lead-habit-5-books-that-arent-about-business-but-made-me-a-better-leader/https://www.nikhilj.com/the-read-to-lead-habit-5-books-that-arent-about-business-but-made-me-a-better-leader/The worst leadership advice I ever read came from a leadership book. Why the books that actually made me a better leader were never about business at all.Wed, 21 May 2025 01:00:43 GMTleadershiphttps://www.nikhilj.com/why-i-ask-whats-the-why-before-starting-any-new-project/https://www.nikhilj.com/why-i-ask-whats-the-why-before-starting-any-new-project/One question has killed more of my bad ideas than any plan or strategy session. Why I make every new project answer it clearly before we start building.Sun, 30 Mar 2025 22:17:32 GMTbuildinghttps://www.nikhilj.com/mentorship-is-a-two-way-street-what-i-learn-from-young-founders/https://www.nikhilj.com/mentorship-is-a-two-way-street-what-i-learn-from-young-founders/I mentor younger founders and quietly get the better end of the deal. What they teach me that I could not learn any other way, and what I try to give back.Thu, 13 Feb 2025 18:24:38 GMTleadershiphttps://www.nikhilj.com/deepseek-r1-the-underdog-thats-shaking-up-the-ai-world/https://www.nikhilj.com/deepseek-r1-the-underdog-thats-shaking-up-the-ai-world/A model from a team nobody was watching broke the comfortable story that the AI race was already decided. Why the underdog mattered more than its scores.Mon, 27 Jan 2025 23:27:27 GMTaihttps://www.nikhilj.com/the-future-of-work-embracing-human-creativity-in-an-ai-dominated-world-part-2/https://www.nikhilj.com/the-future-of-work-embracing-human-creativity-in-an-ai-dominated-world-part-2/As AI gets better at the mechanical parts of work, it does not make human creativity less valuable. It quietly makes it the main thing worth paying for.Tue, 05 Nov 2024 15:50:00 GMTaihttps://www.nikhilj.com/the-future-of-work/https://www.nikhilj.com/the-future-of-work/The future of work is not the vendor utopia or the headline apocalypse. It is a new reality to navigate carefully, by the people actually living it.Wed, 25 Sep 2024 03:49:00 GMTaihttps://www.nikhilj.com/top-funny-tv-shows-post-2000-laugh-out-loud/https://www.nikhilj.com/top-funny-tv-shows-post-2000-laugh-out-loud/I switch off with comedy that is actually funny, not clever or important. My opinionated take on the best TV comedy since 2000, and why funny is so hard.Tue, 16 Apr 2024 15:33:35 GMTlifehttps://www.nikhilj.com/why-its-always-sunny-in-philadelphia-is-tvs-best-comedy/https://www.nikhilj.com/why-its-always-sunny-in-philadelphia-is-tvs-best-comedy/An extreme position, defended sincerely: Its Always Sunny is the best comedy on television, and the cruelty that puts people off is exactly the point.Tue, 16 Apr 2024 15:33:12 GMTlifehttps://www.nikhilj.com/the-social-media-dopamine-dilemma-how-social-media-affects-our-brain-chemistry/https://www.nikhilj.com/the-social-media-dopamine-dilemma-how-social-media-affects-our-brain-chemistry/Social apps are engineered to hijack your attention with the same chemistry as a slot machine. Why willpower is the wrong tool, and what actually helps.Fri, 12 Jan 2024 04:19:02 GMTlifehttps://www.nikhilj.com/my-top-5-fun-movies-to-watch-on-your-next-movie-night/https://www.nikhilj.com/my-top-5-fun-movies-to-watch-on-your-next-movie-night/Some nights you do not want a film that changes you, you want one that is reliably fun. A small defense of rewatchable, low-stakes movie nights.Mon, 08 Jan 2024 01:20:07 GMTlifehttps://www.nikhilj.com/discover-the-power-of-chatgpt-plugins/https://www.nikhilj.com/discover-the-power-of-chatgpt-plugins/ChatGPT plugins look like a small feature. They are a glimpse of where AI is heading: out of the chat window, into the world, doing rather than knowing.Fri, 12 May 2023 05:11:00 GMTaihttps://www.nikhilj.com/rebellion-on-mars-the-fight-for-freedom-and-independence/https://www.nikhilj.com/rebellion-on-mars-the-fight-for-freedom-and-independence/The Mars rebellion is one of sci-fis oldest stories. Underneath the spaceships, it is a builders story about earning the right to set your own terms.Tue, 18 Apr 2023 12:22:44 GMTlifehttps://www.nikhilj.com/maximizing-mens-health-in-their-30s-and-40s-with-vitamin-supplements/https://www.nikhilj.com/maximizing-mens-health-in-their-30s-and-40s-with-vitamin-supplements/Most of what is sold to men my age about health is noise. The three boring things that beat the supplement aisle, and where the pills actually fit.Wed, 28 Dec 2022 10:20:05 GMTlifehttps://www.nikhilj.com/5-reasons-why-70s-was-the-best-period-for-humanity/https://www.nikhilj.com/5-reasons-why-70s-was-the-best-period-for-humanity/A slightly ridiculous argument, made sincerely: the 1970s sat at a rare balance of modern tools and unclaimed attention that we have since optimized away.Sun, 25 Dec 2022 00:12:19 GMTlifehttps://www.nikhilj.com/top-5-underrated-comedy-tv-shows/https://www.nikhilj.com/top-5-underrated-comedy-tv-shows/The comedies that were brilliant and never got their due. Why great shows get overlooked, and the quiet joy of rescuing one for a friend.Mon, 19 Dec 2022 23:59:42 GMTlifehttps://www.nikhilj.com/in-defense-of-sachin-tendulkar/https://www.nikhilj.com/in-defense-of-sachin-tendulkar/The oldest thing I ever published online, from 2007: a young man defending Sachin Tendulkar against his critics, grammar fixed and argument intact.Fri, 16 Nov 2007 15:04:00 GMTlife