karina

[karina @kguptz]

@afterimage @cursor_ai @turbopuffer @reve @every @pierrecomputer @avec @VoriHQ Me with afterimage

[Afterimage @afterimage]

In 2026, Afterimage has shipped brand campaigns for @cursor_ai, @turbopuffer, @reve, @every, @pierrecomputer, @avec, @vorihq & more coming soon.

This is a lot of work floating around. So we thought we’d put it in one place.

Our new site, now live ➡️ https://t.co/zfpPsZUJTY

[karina @kguptz]

Even a spot to hang his bag

[karina @kguptz]

It’s super hard to find good people! That’s why so many people’s first ever business idea is “an app to make friends” and probably why founders are so obsessed with “agency” and “conviction.” Friends, hiring, dating: having the right people is harder than we’d like to admit.

Working on The Network for @afterimage , a self-sustaining curated collection of artists, reminded me how meaningful it is when good people find each other despite the obstacles in our way. Thank you to the endlessly creative and generous @lee94josh and @cyrusduff_ for giving me the space to explore that, and too, in a culture tied to storytelling and expression.

The world is so big, and I’m so glad I got to make it a little more accessible for @afterimage :)

[josh @lee94josh]

🌐"THE NETWORK" by @afterimage

The Network is an Afterimage software project targeted at our biggest recurring internal pain point: finding new high quality creatives to work with, across many styles and roles, very quickly, on a project basis.

We work with startups on sprint timelines and often need to find specialists (eg VFX artist, drone op, animators with specific style) quickly based on approved creative directions. And we’re always looking to expand our stable of core collaborators (DPs, editors, producers, directors).

The talent pools exist, but it can be quite difficult + time intensive to source the right people. It's mainly a top of funnel problem. And nothing beats a trusted referral, but intros can’t always materialize in the order of hours or a day.

This summer, @kguptz joined Afterimage on Special Projects and pitched The Network to solve our problem.

The product blends human curation with automation. Creatives only get added to The Network if they’ve made something our team has reviewed and explicitly “liked”. But the product is also smart and self-sustaining. New projects are surfaced, based on our existing database, for us to review at our leisure, leading to a intentional expansion of creatives on our radar over time. This careful balance between slow curation based on our own taste and smart automation based on those inputs is at the heart of the product.

The Network can be searched colloquially in all the ways you’d hope and expect.

Not going to lie: we’ve spent more time this year than I’d like to admit building internal tools that went nowhere / died in usage after the novelty wore off.

The Network was different from the jump. People on our team were hacking their way into using it before Karina even officially pushed it “live”. Since having the product, we’ve hired people from The Network on every single project we’ve worked on.

"please check the network for that" is now a constantly repeated internal phrase

This is something we’d likely pay hundreds of dollars a month for if we needed to. The upside of finding the right creatives to work with on a given project can be worth thousands of dollars. And, if we stumble into someone we love who becomes an A+ collaborator of ours for years, that value is essentially unquantifiable.

@kguptz brought a level of initiative, creativity, and attention to detail on this project that inspired me. She is a star.

Building a utility that reached such immediate intense internal PMF has been fun. More Afterimage software projects of different kinds will likely come later this year.

We don’t have any immediately plans (aka the spare time or resources) to “productize” this in the near term. But if you (a) like hacking on creative software projects, or (b) would be interested in being a beta tester / design partner on The Network if we ever open it up a bit, pls DM us @afterimage!

[karina @kguptz]

@CeciStalls https://t.co/aHoUlYU99b

[karina @kguptz]

Still, we have to face it without going numb. If everything else collapses, the last thing we will have is each other and that must be enough to keep ringing the bell. So that when there is nothing more, we remain with nothing more between us.

[karina @kguptz]

As an 18 yo, I talked to Mark Cuban. He reminded us that humans are weird, infinite, unrepeatable. Looking back, the question was dumb. We will never lose the "notion of the individual."

[karina @kguptz]

We are, however, at risk of losing the instinct to keep seeking each other. We are waist-deep in an ocean we keep being told is shallow, trying to make sense of a future that looks nothing like the past, sensing a shift we do not yet have language for.

[karina @kguptz]

@armaangupt06 performative man final boss

[karina @kguptz]

lol self-care is like putting ur brain in rice

[karina @kguptz]

@saurabh_shah2 bros in a cage

[karina @kguptz]

@chrisargo_ now is this is a realization everyone realizes eventually? or do some just continue unquestioning their whole lives

[karina @kguptz]

“we are truly free in a universally sized playground”

[karina @kguptz]

@amypretzel Me

[karina @kguptz]

so much better to have too much faith than too little

[sui @birdabo]

software engineers should just quit and become farmers.

[karina @kguptz]

@3blue1brown our goat never would <3

[karina @kguptz]

check out @intheemargins on instagram !

[karina @kguptz]

been working on some fun videos :)