Apoorva Govind.
Some things about me:
- Grew up in Bangalore. Moved to the US at 21.
- I currently live in SF.
- Earned my graduate degree at Carnegie Mellon.
- Spent 10+ years in engineering, including at Apple and Uber.
- Was CEO and founder of Bestever AI, acquired by Samba in February 2026.
- Now a product leader at Samba, building agentic workflows for advertising.
- Have strong opinions about mangoes.
- I enjoy books about human society, the evolution of civilizations, and history.
Some things I believe:
- Good product judgment is knowing what deserves engineering time—and what doesn’t.
- A beautiful product is still the wrong product if it ignores what users need.
- Product and go-to-market are inseparable. Who buys, why they buy, and how you reach them should shape what you build.
- Don’t stay in a job you’ve outgrown just because it pays well.
- Great startup engineers ship quickly, care about users, and take ownership.
- AI amplifies the quality of your thinking. Talented people do better work faster; mediocre thinkers produce slop at scale.
Some books that I've enjoyed recently:
- The Selfish Gene
- Dominion
- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
- The Ancient City
- The Mom Test
- The Man Who Knew Infinity
- High Fidelity
Some things I’ve written: