In September 2026 I chronicled the deep‑tech residency sprint (Cohort 9) in Bangalore, highlighting defence‑driven quality, policy shifts, rapid resource mobilisation, storytelling workshops, and design‑partner strategies.
When building for the army, navy, or the air force -- the kind of quality, technologically and operationally, you aim to build for puts you in a great spot to diversify into commercial projects (because defence is the highest benchmark).
The policies have also been implemented in favour of the private/startup economy in the wake of our recent conflict with Pakistan.
one tweet from Yuvraj and thousands of $$$ of compute was sorted inside hours.
the maths that a VC runs on
why an IC never decides based on consensus
Enterprise Sales Cycles - The signs of a clear winner idea is how urgently the problem-solution that is presented by a startup is escalated up the hierarchy and how quickly it actually closes.
Design Partners - the most repeated pattern investors see in how early-stage startups acquire enterprise design partners is being an ex-employee of that company, where you faced that problem and starting building for it.
Storytelling is even more relevant when you are building in the frontier or deeptech.
In September 2026 I posted a series of updates on X (formerly Twitter) about the deep‑tech accelerator @residencyBLR in Bangalore, covering cohort launches, demo days, office‑hours, community meet‑ups and thoughts on AI‑driven writing.
Our first fully funded deep‑tech cohort starts tomorrow.
Hosted office hours @residencyBLR with vaibhav from @ElevCap yesterday.
Demo Day 1 @residencyBLR founders track with Sapna Goel, Principal @WBridgeVentures (AI and Deeptech).
I also shared a life‑update noting that I moved to Bangalore a month ago with no plan beyond "let's figure it out" and am now helping build the residency.
We just wrapped up orientation for founder cohort #9 @residencyBLR @theresidency.
Community engagement included asking for food recommendations ("Best hyd biryani in BLR???") and offering meet‑ups, coffee and dinner invites.
I reflected that for a long time I believed writing was dead, but after AI advancement I think it's more valuable.