Alexey Kaledzenkov

Product & Ops. Automating real-world factories. Building in SF 🌁

[Alexey Kaledzenkov @kaledzenkov]

I'm in SF and looking for people to build with!

Quick intro: Alexey. Background in product, then 2 years deep in the operations of a real-world manufacturing business: setting up systems and automating the work that ate people's days.

That taught me one thing: most of the real-world economy still runs on spreadsheets and duct tape. The room to fix it with AI + automation is huge.

🔥 And I've got direct access to two factories to test real ideas with real users.

I don't have it all figured out yet, I'm exploring what to build, and I'd rather do it with good people than alone.

So if you're someone who likes to build: builders, tinkerers, anyone itching to make something → let's talk.

Coffee, sparring, or actually building something together.

Drop a comment or DM. Repost to help me find them 🙏

[Alexey Kaledzenkov @kaledzenkov]

Euro Midsommar in SF last night with @gera7799

Rooms full of European founders who packed up and moved here to build.

[Alexey Kaledzenkov @kaledzenkov]

@pmitu soup kitchen

[Alexey Kaledzenkov @kaledzenkov]

The "AI will eat software" panic misses the point. AI can write code, but it can't replace a founder who understands a hard industry better than anyone alive.

Categories don't win. founders who live inside the problem do.

[Paul Graham @paulg]

I was talking to a YC partner about how well all the hard tech startups are doing. He said investors are hot to fund them because they're afraid AI will eat all software. I'm glad hardware startups are getting funded, but this is a mistake. Good founders are what wins.

[Alexey Kaledzenkov @kaledzenkov]

I find factories beautiful. not in a cute way. brutalist, heavy, loud.

you can feel the power, the money, the energy moving through them.

this is what I'm building for.

(shot from the factory where I'm testing the product)

[Alexey Kaledzenkov @kaledzenkov]

everyone wants to build the next sexy AI app.
meanwhile the boring industries are wide open.

who's building in an unsexy one?

[Alexey Kaledzenkov @kaledzenkov]

@AdekanyeMichea6 @DanielSmidstrup normally a quote takes anywhere from an hour to a couple days if it's complex.

with my system the request comes in and you get the answer instantly + recommendations on top.

[Alexey Kaledzenkov @kaledzenkov]

Factory brain

[Daniel Smidstrup @DanielSmidstrup]

sell me your startup

in two words max.

[Alexey Kaledzenkov @kaledzenkov]

@TTrimoreau Factory brain

[Alexey Kaledzenkov @kaledzenkov]

@AdekanyeMichea6 @DanielSmidstrup packaging converters (flexible & shrink film) first.

I've built quoting systems inside two of these factories myself, that's where the edge and the real data come from.

[Alexey Kaledzenkov @kaledzenkov]

there are segment of factories which are stuck in the middle: too big for Excel, too small for Salesforce/Zoho.

result: chaos across a dozen spreadsheets.

I'm building the lightweight ERP that fits.

entry point is quoting: the most painful daily task, and the easiest wedge in.

earn that, then become the system they run the whole shop on.

[Alexey Kaledzenkov @kaledzenkov]

Same factory.

Owner says "we need more machines."

Machinists say "we screwed up every quote."

I keep running into this.

Which side do you pick?

[Alexey Kaledzenkov @kaledzenkov]

Babylon

[Sammy @sammysintech]

How do you explain SF to people who have never been? (Tech edition)

[Alexey Kaledzenkov @kaledzenkov]

pick one problem and commit. (this dog gets it)

[Alexey Kaledzenkov @kaledzenkov]

@ivanburazin a lot of the economy still runs on Excel, take factories: real revenue every year on nothing but spreadsheets. they're not dead, just primitive. and that gap is the opportunity.

[Alexey Kaledzenkov @kaledzenkov]

5-year answer: a company brain for factories.

but start at the most painful problem they have today - quoting an order takes days.

fix the painful thing first, become the brain later.

[max @maxkolysh]

a common question investors will ask you when you're fundraising is "what does this look like in 5 years?"

these days, the honest answer is often "nobody knows."

investors aren't grading you on prophecy. they're grading you on thoughtfulness.

show them you're at the frontier. they should leave the meeting thinking that if anyone is going to figure it out, it'll be you.

[Alexey Kaledzenkov @kaledzenkov]

oooh nooo, they took Fable 5 away from me 😭

[Alexey Kaledzenkov @kaledzenkov]

AI for old industries doesn't fail at the model.
It fails because the data was never written down.

I'm building one inside a real factory.
The numbers that run the place live on paper, in heads, or nowhere.

☠️ You can't train on what nobody ever recorded.

The winners here won't have the best model, they'll have data nobody else can reach.

[Alexey Kaledzenkov @kaledzenkov]

@16vchq 🇺🇸🌁

[Alexey Kaledzenkov @kaledzenkov]

@duhahigginson La Boulangerie is nice one!

[Alexey Kaledzenkov @kaledzenkov]

@skull8888888888 let's go! 😀