thoughts.

Okay, so I’ve been telling myself I’d start writing stuff down for months, but life’s been a blur. It’s finals season, which means I’m buried in problem sets, cramming for exams, and trying not to lose my mind over group projects where half the team ghosts. I’m stealing a couple hours to write this, mostly to figure out what I’m even doing. Here’s the deal. A few weeks ago, I closed out Apparatus.ai, this startup I’ve been hacking away at for months. It got acquired, which is still kind of nuts to think about. Apparatus wasn’t some big flashy thing—it was me and a couple friends building AI tools to help small businesses, automate boring stuff like scheduling and business forecasting. we coded it, powered by instant noodles and playlists on repeat. The acquisition’s not like I’m buying a million dollar mansion, but it’s enough to give me some space to plan what’s next. It was messy, but we did it. Now, I’m in the middle of finals, working as an SDE at my job, and starting to poke at something new I’m calling Nexora. The job’s intense. I’m writing code that’s part of actual AI systems—stuff that’s out there doing real things, not just toy projects. It’s wild to see how much work goes into making AI reliable, and I’m soaking it all up. as for Nexora, don’t have it all figured out—it’s mostly me messing with Python and TS and some ML ideas on my laptop. But it feels like there’s something there. Being a student and a founder at the same time is brutal, especially now. I’m in the library until they shut the lights off, grinding through coursework or debugging code for work. Then I’m back at my place, SSH-ing into my linux box to tinker with Nexora or fix something I broke. I’ve got a million browser tabs open atp—stack overflow, gpt, lecture slides, ML papers, random startup blogs and what not geez. I’m barely sleeping, but I don’t care. When I’m coding or sketching out what Nexora could be, it’s like everything else fades out, and I’m just in it. That’s the good stuff. I keep thinking about why I’m doing this. Apparatus was cool because it was ours—we built something from nothing, and it helped people. but it also showed me how much potential gets stuck because the system’s not built for everyone. Nexora’s my shot at changing that, even if it’s just a little. i’m not delusional; i know it might flop. Most things do. But I learned more from crashing and fixing Apparatus than I have from any class. If Nexora doesn’t work, I’ll learn something else and try again. Finals are killing me, so i’m not sure when I’ll write next; hopefully soon, when I’ve got a clearer picture of what Nexora’s becoming. For now, I’m just taking it one day at a time, coding when I can, and trying not to flunk out. — ciao, basab