# Karthick Aravindan

> I build software and AI products, explore financial systems, study how businesses work, and document what I learn along the way. Site statement: Building with intelligence. Thinking in systems.

This is a personal notebook. Published notes have a date and a body. Drafts are omitted from this file, the sitemap, search, and the public writing index.

Finance notes are a personal viewpoint. They are not investment advice, not a recommendation to buy or sell anything, and not a report of results.

## Start here
- [Home](https://karthickaravindan.com/): Building with intelligence. Thinking in systems.
- [About](https://karthickaravindan.com/about): Background in software engineering, and the current lines of work.
- [Work](https://karthickaravindan.com/work): Selected products and trading systems.
- [Writing](https://karthickaravindan.com/writing): Published essays on AI, finance, and building.
- [Principles](https://karthickaravindan.com/principles): Principles being tested, with the evidence kept separate from the claim.
- [Timeline](https://karthickaravindan.com/timeline): Public project record.
- [Books](https://karthickaravindan.com/books): Books read, with a personal note on each.
- [FAQ](https://karthickaravindan.com/faq): Short answers about the person, the notebook, and how to get in touch.
- [Search](https://karthickaravindan.com/search): Search published essays, books, principles, projects, influences, and tools.
- [Contact](https://karthickaravindan.com/contact): Contact form and a public 30-minute call link.

## Projects
- Focus20 Labs (Launched): Building practical AI solutions, agents, and workflow automation for real business problems. https://focus20labs.com/
- Restro20 (Launched): A restaurant POS for everyday operational workflows. https://restro20.com/
- GrabSaaS (Launched): A public site for finding SaaS products, offers, and tools aimed at founders and small teams. https://grabsaas.com/
- Own Research (Launched): Analytics and simulation tools. https://ownresearch.in/
- Finance and Trading Systems (In Progress): Building the trading systems and algorithmic market research for Treasure Capital. https://treasurecapital.in/

## Published notes
- [Why I Prefer Hedged Option-Selling Strategies Over Unhedged Directional Bets](https://karthickaravindan.com/writing/why-i-prefer-hedged-option-selling): Why I want the loss of a position understood before I enter, and why option selling, option buying, and intraday trading are not labels that settle the question. Published 2026-10-26.
- [Why I Build So Many Things](https://karthickaravindan.com/writing/why-i-build-so-many-things): On the tension between many experiments and the few products that show real demand. No invented outcomes. Published 2026-10-26.
- [Systems Over Motivation](https://karthickaravindan.com/writing/systems-over-motivation): On Atomic Habits and how I try to apply it to learning, building, and review. The book's ideas and my experience are kept apart. Published 2026-10-26.
- [Building to Learn](https://karthickaravindan.com/writing/building-to-learn): On prototypes, the Lean Startup, and the limit of what I can know before something runs. Published 2026-10-26.
- [First Principles in Product Development](https://karthickaravindan.com/writing/first-principles-in-product-development): On decomposing a problem, questioning the usual solution, and reading Zero to One without turning it into a guarantee. Published 2026-10-26.
- [What Trading Taught Me About Systems and Risk](https://karthickaravindan.com/writing/what-trading-taught-me-about-systems): On probability, position structure, backtests, and why I will not judge a strategy by a short winning streak. No private rules. Published 2026-10-26.
- [Building AI products beyond the demo](https://karthickaravindan.com/writing/building-ai-products-beyond-the-demo): On the distance between a demo that looks finished and a product that holds up in use. Published 2026-10-26.
- [Why distribution is harder than building](https://karthickaravindan.com/writing/why-distribution-is-harder-than-building): On finding the people a product is for, after the building has started. Published 2026-10-26.
- [What backtesting can and cannot tell you](https://karthickaravindan.com/writing/what-backtesting-can-and-cannot-tell-you): On the limits of historical tests when designing a systematic trading process. Published 2026-10-26.
- [Lessons from building products for real businesses](https://karthickaravindan.com/writing/lessons-from-building-products-for-real-businesses): On what changes when a product has to survive an actual business workflow. Published 2026-10-26.
- [Thinking about risk as an engineer](https://karthickaravindan.com/writing/thinking-about-risk-as-an-engineer): On treating risk as part of the system design, in products and in markets. Published 2026-10-26.

## Machine-readable
- [Sitemap](https://karthickaravindan.com/sitemap.xml)
- [RSS](https://karthickaravindan.com/feed.xml)
- [Full text for models](https://karthickaravindan.com/llms-full.txt)