Sivakumar Chelamuthu

Cofounder & CTO at

[Deedy @deedydas]

The vibes in SF feel pretty frenetic right now. The divide in outcomes is the worst I've ever seen.

Over the last 5yrs, a group of ~10k people - employees at Anthropic, OpenAI, xAI, Nvidia, Meta TBD, founders - have hit retirement wealth of well above $20M (back of the envelope AI estimation).

Everyone outside that group feels like they can work their well-paying (but <$500k) job for their whole life and never get there.

Worse yet, layoffs are in full swing. Many software engineers feel like their life's skill is no longer useful. The day to day role of most jobs has changed overnight with AI.

As a result,
1. The corporate ladder looks like the wrong building to climb.
Everyone's trying to align with a new set of career "paths": should I be a founder? Is it too late to join Anthropic / OpenAI? should I get into AI? what company stock will 10x next? People are demanding higher salaries and switching jobs more and more.

2. There’s a deep malaise about work (and its future).
Why even work at all for “peanuts”? Will my job even exist in a few years? Many feel helpless. You hear the “permanent underclass” conversation a lot, esp from young people. It's hard to focus on doing good work when you think "man, if I joined Anthropic 2yrs ago, I could retire"

3. The mid to late middle managers feel paralyzed.
Many have families and don't feel like they have the energy or network to just "start a company". They don't particularly have any AI skills. They see the writing on the wall: middle management is being hollowed out in many companies.

4. The rich aren’t particularly happy either.
No one is shedding tears for them (and rightfully so). But those who have "made it" experience a profound lack of purpose too. Some have gone from <$150k to >$50M in a few years with no ramp. It flips your life plans upside down. For some, comparison is the thief of joy. For some, they escape to NYC to "live life". For others still, they start companies "just cuz", often to win status points. They never imagined that by age 30, they'd be set. I once asked a post-economic founder friend why they didn't just sell the co and they said "and do what? right now, everyone wants to talk to me. if i sell, I will only have money."

I understand that many reading this scoff at the champagne problems of the valley. Society is warped in this tech bubble. What is often well-off anywhere else in the world is bang average here.

Unlike many other places, tenure, intelligence and hard work can be loosely correlated with outcomes in the Bay. Living through a societally transformative gold rush in that environment can be paralyzing. "Am I in the right place? Should I move? Is there time still left? Am I gonna make it?" It psychologically torments many who have moved here in search of "success".

Ironically, a frequent side effect of this torment is to spin up the very products making everyone rich in hopes that you too can vibecode your path to economic enlightenment.

[Sivakumar Chelamuthu @sivze]

If you're a nonprofit and want to see your funding universe, reply DEMO or DM.
#nonprofit #fundraising #grantwriting #nonprofittech

[Sivakumar Chelamuthu @sivze]

Most prospect research tools give you a search bar and a directory.
We built the opposite: put in your EIN → get a ranked funding universe back.
Today we're launching Funding Universe by @PosterChildAI. Here's what it does 🧵

[Sivakumar Chelamuthu @sivze]

Read more about the methodology behind it: https://t.co/PA1S47tpCZ

[Ben Tossell @bentossell]

https://t.co/Ref8GgkIR5

[Ian Nuttall @iannuttall]

I spent the last couple of days using Codex CLI exclusively to see how it compares to Claude Code and Factory

here is a brain dump of everything I learned:

TLDR;

I still prefer Factory because it just has more of the "must have" features I need, it's faster, the plan mode is very good and I don't really want to keep swapping my CLI tool to toggle between claude, gemini, and gpt-5.

Actual code output is probably on a par, mostly down to the fact that GPT-5 is a great model!

I rarely use Claude Code now (but do use Claude desktop app a lot)

Dump:

- codex is just an absolute workhorse. it gets shit done with no fanfare, no chattiness and just ruthlessly efficient. It really does go on and on (and on) churning through tasks

- that lack of chattiness can sometimes be a problem if you don't keep tabs on what it's doing and why. I like to understand exactly what is being built!

- the UI really speaks to my minimalist nature. it's very clean, very compact, it stacks tool calls in a neat little list and just gets out of the way

- because it's built in Rust, unlike other CLIs it NEVER has that annoying screen flicker than eventually crashes your terminal/vs code

- it sometimes has trouble running commands in the sandbox and will come back to say "i couldn't do that" and when pushed, it can ask for permission to do just that - this can slow your progress

- the ability to queue prompts as it's working is genuinely addictive and easy to get into a flow state, flicking back and forth with the app and queuing up more changes - no other CLI feels like this with queues messages, I dunno why

- the limits seem very, very generous. I did two days of solid, heavy coding using GPT-5 High and Codex High, and on the $20 only just hit the limit at ~6k lines of code over a bunch of sessions

- it is still not great at UI and maybe it is just me but it struggled with shadcn components even when giving it the llms.txt url and many docs URLs

- i don't mind too much that it struggled with UI because I do like to be able to grab links to components and pass it with some instructions on how to use it, GPT-5 really excels when you tell it exactly what to do

- in some ways it feels "too good" because there is always a little tweak or change or enhancement it suggests to improve the product. It never claims to be "production ready"

- the context window honestly feels like it goes on FOREVER. you can throw so much at it, iterate over and over and it barely goes down

- I would like the ability to ask it to use subagents to go and do a bunch of stuff and report back. I know i could do more tabs or use codex exec or whatever but so much easier to just ask the agents

- I really want background commands so it can run stuff like `npm run dev` in the background, see all outputs, and let me view/kill them from a shortcut later

- mcp servers are added to config.toml, which I actually quite like the syntax of, but it means I can't symlink or use existing mcp.json files from claude code or factory without porting them (although you can just ask the agent)

- lack of plan mode is a big thing to me. I use the factory cli plan mode a lot with gpt-5 high to plan and then codex medium/auto to implement it. I've seen PRs for this on github so it's prob coming soon.

- I'd also love to be able to quickly switch between models and thinking levels without going through the whole /model thing (just simple keyboard shortcuts)

- finally, when I hit my Plus plan limit, I upgraded to Pro, paid the $200 but it is still showing that I've hit my weekly limit and need to wait two days before I can cook again :(
(note: it just took ~10 mins and I was back in business!)

[Sivakumar Chelamuthu @sivze]

Generative AI just got a new twist! 🌟 Meet Napkin: a tool that transforms text into visuals, enhancing presentations and illustrations.

How could this innovation change the way you communicate? 🤔

#GenerativeAI #Innovation

[Sivakumar Chelamuthu @sivze]

Exciting news in robotics! 🤖 A new self-correcting humanoid robot backed by OpenAI is set to revolutionize industries like healthcare and logistics.

What possibilities could this open up for the future? 🤔 #Robotics #AI

[Sivakumar Chelamuthu @sivze]

Is AI the future of emotional support? 🤖✨ The new Friend AI Companion gadget aims to be just that, bridging tech and emotional well-being.

How could this change our interactions with technology? 🤔
https://t.co/TOej8v7VYz

#AI #EmotionalSupport

[Sivakumar Chelamuthu @sivze]

Elon Musk's Tesla Dojo aims to revolutionize AI with a groundbreaking supercomputer 🖥️ Experts believe its potential impact could reshape industries.

How will AI affect your business in the coming years? 🤔 #AI #Tesla

[Sivakumar Chelamuthu @sivze]

Exciting news for Chrome users! 🚀 Google has launched Gemini-powered Search History and Lens, promising a more personalized experience.

How will this change your browsing habits? 🤔
https://t.co/gqTdBDqAv2

#Google #TechUpdate

[Sivakumar Chelamuthu @sivze]

OpenAI just launched ChatGPT’s super-realistic voice feature! 🗣️ This advancement could transform how we communicate with AI, making interactions feel near-human.
https://t.co/pNPZ5YUBxj
How will this change your daily interactions with technology? 🤔 #AI #TechInnovation

[Sivakumar Chelamuthu @sivze]

Canva expands its creative toolkit by acquiring Leonardo AI! 🎨 This integration will offer users advanced AI-powered design tools for custom image creation.

How will this shape the future of design tools? 🤔 #Canva #AI

[Sivakumar Chelamuthu @sivze]

UK's CMA is probing Google's ties with AI rival Anthropic 🕵️‍♂️ The investigation aims to assess if this partnership stifles competition in the AI market.

What implications could this have for consumers and the industry? 🤔 #Antitrust #AI

[Sivakumar Chelamuthu @sivze]

Transforming still images into engaging AI videos is now a reality with Runway Gen 3 Alpha! 🎥 This innovative tool uses advanced machine learning to create realistic content quickly.

How will this change the landscape of video production? 🤔 #AI #VideoGeneration

[TikTokComms @TikTokComms]

/2 We hope that the TikTok community will use TikTok Notes to continue sharing their moments through photo posts. Whether documenting adventures, expressing creativity, or simply sharing snapshots of one's day, the TikTok Notes experience is designed for those who would like to share and engage through photo content.

[Neuralink @neuralink]

https://t.co/OMIeGGjYtG