Kunal Abichandani

twitter noob.

prev. Head of Product / Founding Eng + Design @ Rilla, @Facebook, @JoinAtomic, CS + Design @Penn

[Kunal Abichandani @kunalabcdani]

The point at which you graduate from college is when you're done with freshman year of life.

1/4 (college years) ≈ 21/80 (avg. lifespan)

[Kunal Abichandani @kunalabcdani]

@shardul_mane @supermemory Curious - what are use cases for companies using this?

[Kunal Abichandani @kunalabcdani]

@tommaxxing Unblock works on the phone because the server returns an isBlocked value on every LogAppOpen run which is used to decide whether the user should be allowed to enter the app (handled by the shortcut from before)

(3/3)

[Kunal Abichandani @kunalabcdani]

I built an agent that makes me justify my distractions.

- Texts me when I open distracting apps
- Gets firmer the more I use them, personalized to my motivations
- Blocks apps when I hit the limit
- Unblock requests only get approved if I can explain how they align with my goals

[Kunal Abichandani @kunalabcdani]

@tommaxxing Wired up a generic shortcut (Shortcuts app) using those intents and created automations that trigger on specific app opens and closes.

The server has an agent which monitors app usage events + inbound texts and handles all the logic for interventions, blocks, unblocks.

(2/3)

[Kunal Abichandani @kunalabcdani]

@Winterrose Nokia did! Back in the late 2000s apparently

https://t.co/RgUmIUAH6f

[Kunal Abichandani @kunalabcdani]

@victorcardenas Any examples of use cases you can share where this has been impactful?

[Kunal Abichandani @kunalabcdani]

@gokulr As a startup eng turned designer/PM:

Imo this take assumes product design = UI design.

Sure, a lot of basic UI design can be reduced to systems and patterns. But design is also about “how it works” (Steve Jobs), which is arguably the most relevant skill in the AI age.

[Kunal Abichandani @kunalabcdani]

@theBhulawat @southpkcommons 🐰

[Naman Jain @theBhulawat]

Introducing Bunny - world's first curiosity device for kids

It’s screenfree..it’s portable..

We raised $1M from @southpkcommons to reimagine how kids thrive in the age of AI, safely.

Comment 'Bunny'. Our nephew will pick 50 families that get it for free this holiday season…

[Kunal Abichandani @kunalabcdani]

@cory @reply 👋

[Kunal Abichandani @kunalabcdani]

@danmall @webflow 👋

[Kunal Abichandani @kunalabcdani]

@santiecam @FonsMans @Cron Would also love an invite if you have any left! 🙏

[Kunal Abichandani @kunalabcdani]

@_dominiclau @TextsHQ gotchu - just dm'd!

[Kunal Abichandani @kunalabcdani]

@startupsearch Shoe dog :)

@shackburgirl @thetenx @matthewkhann @Amyguoo @jtlieb

[Kunal Abichandani @kunalabcdani]

@_dominiclau @ripplexfellow Congrats Dom and all the folks in the new cohort! Excited to see the RippleX family grow :)

Can't say enough good things about the program and Dom's mentorship - it's been super influential in getting to where I am today 🚀

[Kunal Abichandani @kunalabcdani]

@anmolm_ @sriramk @KishanBagaria First time I'm hearing about Texts - this is so sick! Is there a tweet or blog post about how he built it?

[Kunal Abichandani @kunalabcdani]

@peer_rich big Pied Piper energy

[Kunal Abichandani @kunalabcdani]

@itsjonnymak This article sorta touches on this:
https://t.co/MqFEasdXFi

"It turns out there is a sweet spot at big tech companies ... I reckon it’s somewhere around the tenth most important project at the company"

"It was the perfect balance of important but not in the line of fire."