Karthik Krishnamourthy

Professionally: Analog IC Engineer |
Politically: What goes as Centre Right |
Personally: Tat Tvam Asi |
Tweets are personal

[Vineeth K @DealsDhamaka]

You cannot shake a person who has lived through failure, carried responsibilities beyond their age, lost people they loved, struggled financially, and still chose to move forward.

They have already faced the version of life that was meant to break them.

Everything after that is just another challenge, not the end of the story.

[Vineeth K @DealsDhamaka]

As the taxes I pay keep increasing every year, so does my disappointment with our infrastructure.

I never felt this strongly before. But now, when I see lakhs of rupees paid in taxes, it feels like they’re simply going down the drain.

[Aaditya Aanand @biased_human]

Please god, do it in India. I want to afford a home for my family. 🙏

[Robert Scoble @Scobleizer]

He was the first to show me AI running a voice system at Microsoft Research. Back in 2005. Interesting moves he is making.

CEOs should pay attention.

[Prakash Dadlani @prakdadlani]

If a salaried person wants to build a software application or digital services agency, the entry barrier is virtually zero.

They just need a laptop and an internet connection.

But if the same person wants to start manufacturing...

They need:
• Land
• Factory space
• Expensive machinery
• 6-12 months of approvals
• Huge upfront capital

My suggestion to the Government of India:

Build Manufacturing Parks for first-time entrepreneurs.

Instead of selling 10-acre plots, create buildings with 500-1,000 sq. ft. ready-to-use factory units.

Every unit should come with:
• 3-phase electricity already connected
• Pollution & fire approvals already cleared
• Shared CNC machines, injection moulding, testing labs & warehouses
• Common logistics and loading docks
• Month-to-month rentals instead of land purchases
• Single online portal to book a unit within 7 days

Let engineers keep their jobs while testing manufacturing on a small scale.

We built co-working spaces for software.

It's time we built co-factories for manufacturing.
@PMOIndia @PiyushGoyal @minmsme @NITIAayog

[CG @cgtwts]

The head of UC Berkeley EECS

worked at MIT, IAS, Princeton, Harvard, Berkeley.

Anthropic is on a mission right now.

[Kunal Shah @kunalb11]

It’s been a minute.

2015–2018
- Exited FreeCharge. Spent time learning and investing.
- Pondered about: Why can't trust be rewarded? Started with $1M of personal capital.
- Launched CRED to reward people for paying credit card bills on time.

2019–2025
- Built a system run by a team that values ownership, judgment, and craft.
- Grew from 0 to 17M members by aligning incentives with behaviour.
- Built several products during COVID lockdowns.
- Raised $900M+ from global investors. Did 4 ESOP buybacks.
- Made Indiranagar and IPL ads slightly more interesting.
- Received a full stack of regulatory licences.
- Lost 35 kilos.
- Scaled from 0 to ~$325M ( ~₹3,200 crore) in annual revenue across payments, lending, insurance, commerce, wealth, and credit cards.
2026
- First profitable quarter (yet occasionally asked what our business model is)
- Raised another $900M from Meta in primary and secondary capital.
- Announcing our 5th ESOP buyback.

Today

CRED is ready for its next phase. I am stepping back and @miten steps in as interim CEO, partnered with an incredibly talented team. He has been heading strategy and finance and suffering me since 2020. I’m stepping away from the operating role and will continue as a shareholder. My commitment doesn’t change. Just the role.

Extremely grateful to our members, partners, regulators, and investors who made this possible. And to our board, Shailendra, Micky, Saurabh for their extraordinary conviction.

Team CRED, I’ll still expect you to be a 10x version of yourselves.

As for me, I’ll be joining Meta to lead WhatsApp globally.

Meta comes in as a minority investor in CRED. No access to member data.

While it’s come very far, the delta between WhatsApp today and its full potential is massive. I look forward to working with Mark, Chris, and the leadership across Meta for the next step in WhatsApp’s journey. Will, thank you for scaling something the world relies on quietly, and for making this transition smooth.

Onwards.

[shyamal @shyamalanadkat]

after close to four years at @openai, i moved from the bay area to india earlier this year. i still believe deeply in ensuring true superintelligence accelerates science and remains accessible and beneficial to all. having grown up here, i've also always felt deeply connected to the ecosystem here.

over the past several weeks, i've been speaking with researchers, engineers, and thinkers across india and apac. it's become clear that there are many who want to build the future from here. moving back felt like the counterintuitive choice. i no longer think that's true.

what's been missing is the belief that you can build institutions of global consequence from anywhere. and more importantly, the ambition and the will to pursue ideas that seem impossibly large at first. this may be a once in a generation opportunity.

more to come soon. DMs open if this resonates.

[Sumanth Raman @sumanthraman]

It is not that temple money should not be used to build schools or hospitals. The issue is that such a decision must be made by the Temple trustees and NOT by the Government. So many here pointing out to the schools set up by missionaries. Yes they were set up by the Church itself, not by the Government using Chruch funds.
Why is this so difficult for people to understand?

I am all for opening schools, hospitals and even charitable marriage halls using temple funds. But that is a decison to be taken by the temple trustees and NOT by the Government.

[Karthik Krishnamourthy @itskarthihere]

This is excellent news!

Great job @RameshOffcl @CMOTamilnadu
Nice strategic political move

[TN HRCE @tnhrcedept]

திருக்கோயில்களின் நிதிச்சுமையினை கருத்திற் கொண்டு ஏற்கனவே அறிவிக்கப்பட்டு தொடங்கப்படாத ரூ.246 கோடி மதிப்பீட்டிலான திருமண மண்டபங்கள் மற்றும் வணிக வளாகங்களுக்கான  நிர்வாக அனுமதிகள் ரத்து. @CMOTamilnadu @RameshOffcl @TNDIPRNEWS #tnhrce #CMJosephVijay‌ #tndipr

[Karthik Krishnamourthy @itskarthihere]

MUST READ!!!

[Krishna Rao, K 🇮🇳 @krishnaraobsf]

India's Biggest Economic Challenge Is not Inflation, Oil, or War - It is an Unskilled Population Addicted to Distraction.

Every time oil prices rise, economists panic. Every time a war breaks out in the Middle East or Europe, television studios declare that India's economy is under threat. And yes, both matter. But neither represents India's greatest economic challenge. The real crisis is unfolding much closer to home.

It is a generation that spends more time consuming content than creating value. A workforce that debates geopolitics without mastering spreadsheets, artificial intelligence, coding, welding, precision manufacturing, sales, finance, communication, or even basic problem-solving. An economy where attention has become the most wasted national resource.

India is one of the youngest countries in the world. That should have been our greatest competitive advantage. Instead, we risk turning our demographic dividend into a demographic liability.

The Age of Endless Consumption

Never before has information been so accessible. Yet never before have so many people spent so much time learning so little. Hours disappear into political debates, celebrity gossip, cricket controversies, influencer reels, conspiracy theories, and outrage cycles that have absolutely no impact on an individual's earning potential. Ask someone how many hours they spent on social media last week. Then ask them how many hours they invested in acquiring a new professional skill. For many, the answer is uncomfortable. We have become experts at commenting on the economy while contributing very little to it.

Degrees Are Not Skills

India has no shortage of graduates. It has a shortage of employable graduates. Companies repeatedly report the same problem: vacancies exist, but suitable candidates are difficult to find. Not because people lack certificates. Because many lack practical skills. The world is rewarding competence, not credentials.
- Can you solve problems?
= Can you communicate effectively?
- Can you sell?
= Can you lead a team?
- Can you analyze data?
- Can you use AI to improve productivity instead of merely asking it amusing questions?
- Can you create something that another person is willing to pay for?
Those are the questions that determine economic success. Not the number of degrees hanging on a wall.

Attention Is the New Currency

The biggest theft today is not of money. It is of attention. Every notification fragments concentration. Every endless scroll delays mastery. Every hour spent consuming outrage is an hour not spent building expertise.

Modern economies reward deep work, specialized knowledge, creativity, and disciplined execution. Algorithms reward emotional reactions. Unfortunately, millions choose the algorithm.

The Coming Divide

Artificial intelligence is not replacing everyone. It is replacing people who refuse to learn. The future will belong to workers who continuously upgrade themselves. Those who combine human judgment with technological tools will become dramatically more productive. Those who stop learning will find themselves competing for fewer opportunities at lower wages. The divide will not be between rich and poor. It will increasingly be between skilled and unskilled.

National Growth Begins With Individual Discipline

Governments can build highways. Businesses can build factories. Universities can build campuses. But none of them can force an individual to develop skills. Economic transformation begins with personal responsibility. Spend one less hour arguing online. Spend one more hour learning. Read instead of scrolling. Build instead of complaining. Acquire one valuable skill every year. Become indispensable.

If millions of Indians made that simple choice, the country's economic trajectory would change more profoundly than any fiscal stimulus, any election promise, or any temporary fall in oil prices.

Wars will end. Oil prices will rise and fall. Markets will recover. But a nation that neglects skill development while surrendering its attention to endless distraction will struggle long after those headlines have disappeared.

The strongest economy is not built by the loudest voices. It is built by the most capable people.

#JaiHind

[Karthik Krishnamourthy @itskarthihere]

@annamalai_k Highly disappointment coming from you @annamalai_k

[Kalam Center @KalamCenter]

Next time you think of giving up, remember this photo of Elon in 2008.

[Karthik Krishnamourthy @itskarthihere]

When is @AnanthAyyasamy joining hands with @annamalai_k ?
@WTLFoundation

#WeTheLeader

[Karthik Krishnamourthy @itskarthihere]

DMK joining hands with BJP/NDA will be the perfect elevation pitch for @annamalai_k to grow his party!

[JVC Sreeram (Bulls Eye) @sreeramjvc]

I was excited when in 1999 Murasoli Maran announced his support to NDA on that night.

I expect the support now.

[Karthik Krishnamourthy @itskarthihere]

@U2Brutus_off hey you're right..

he didn't come to my home also. please ask him why

[Karthik Krishnamourthy @itskarthihere]

@U2Brutus_off எண்ணலாம் சொல்றான் பாரேன் 😂

[Karthik Krishnamourthy @itskarthihere]

@itisprashanth @chennaicorp only once or take care of it for a year?

[Krishnan @cvkrishnan]

Rajmohan is going to be a 10X virtue signaller of rural romanticism & Tamil exceptionalism. Will be reflected in his opposition for NEP, 3-language policy, PM SHRI Schools, Navodaya school and in the curriculum. RW ppl are stupid to hold hope that TVK will be different.