# Jay Karia — Full Content > Every published article, every collection piece, and the About page concatenated into a single document. For LLMs running deep-context queries on imjaykaria.com. > Last generated: 2026-05-24 > Curated overview lives at https://www.imjaykaria.com/llms.txt --- ## About Jay Karia Jay Karia is a GTM and Revenue Leader based in Mumbai. Currently Director of Growth at Fynd, where he leads the commercial layer for GlamAR — an AI-native commerce platform (AR try-on, AI skin analysis, 3D product viewers). He scales B2B products from 0→1 by combining technical fluency with enterprise sales chops. Born and raised in Mumbai. Studied IT at Jai Hind College, then international business at SDA Bocconi (2019–2021). Joined Fynd in 2021 — started on GoFynd (B2C fashion marketplace), moved to GlamAR in 2024 and took it from an internal ML experiment to a revenue-generating B2B product with 20+ paying clients. He sits at the intersection of technical and commercial: technical enough to earn trust in a room of engineers, commercial enough to close enterprise deals. Outside work: lifts 4 days a week, maps cities by food (will have a restaurant recommendation for anywhere he's been), plans trips with absurd Notion docs, watches thrillers and crime. Full bio: https://www.imjaykaria.com/about --- # Writing Essays on GTM, growth, enterprise sales, and AI-native commerce. Real notes from the work. ## The team that built this site doesn't exist *Published: 2026-05-20 · Tags: AI, Productivity, Team Building* *URL: https://www.imjaykaria.com/writing/the-team-that-built-this-site-doesnt-exist/* **Summary:** Strategy, design, marketing, writing. A full ten-skill team, entirely AI, built in one weekend. Here's how I briefed them, and what changed about how I think. I built a 10-person team this weekend. I didn't hire anyone. Ten specialists, three teams: strategy, marketing, design. They sit inside a folder on my laptop. Every one of them has a brief, a job description, a tone. I can call any of them in by name. Everything on this site (the home page, the about page, the article you're reading) went through one or more of them. I keep getting asked who designed the site, who writes the SEO, who runs the content strategy. The honest answer is: I do, and I don't. The longer answer is: I built a team of AI specialists, and the output looks nothing like what I'd ship alone. If you're using AI as a tool and wondering why your output still feels generic, this is the gap. You ask one general-purpose model to wear ten different hats in one conversation. It does all ten badly. Strategy bleeds into copywriting. SEO advice contradicts brand voice. The output is generic because the role is generic. The fix is the same fix every growing company makes when it scales past 5 people: specialists. Not one ten-armed generalist. Ten specialists, each with one job and one voice. I have ten of them. Each one is a separate `.md` file in a folder my AI agent can read. When I need a tagline, I call `/writing-style`. When I need a keyword strategy, I call `/seo`. When I need to know what to write next, I call `/content-pillars`. They don't bleed into each other. **Don't ask one AI to be ten things. Build ten AIs, each with one thing.** The shift: stop writing prompts. Start writing briefs. Every one of my specialists has the same structure as a job description. Who they are. What they care about. What they don't. How to brief them. Reference material with live examples of good and bad work. The `/writing-style` specialist isn't "tell me how to write." It's a structured doc: my writing voice, the 8 rules, 9 banned words, and a library of approved copy to reference. That's not a prompt. That's an employee handbook. The result: I don't have to re-explain context every conversation. The specialist already knows. **Write your AI a job description, not a query.** A list doesn't scale. I have ten specialists. If I had to remember which one to call for any given problem, I'd default to none of them. So I organized them like an actual org: **Strategy team (4 specialists):** Vision, GTM Plan, Market Research, Competitor Analysis. The ones I call when I'm asking *what* and *why*. **Marketing team (3 specialists):** Writing Style, Content Pillars, SEO. The ones I call when I'm asking *what to ship*. **Design team (3 specialists):** Design System, Graphic Design, Product Design. The ones I call when I'm asking *how to ship it*. Each team has a wrapper: `/strategy`, `/marketing`, `/design`. When I'm not sure who I need, I call the wrapper and it pulls the right specialist. This is the same logic any growing company uses. Pods, squads, teams. The point isn't the headcount. It's the mental shortcut. I think "I need marketing input" and I know exactly where to go. **Specialists need a chain of command. Even AI ones.** This is the move most people are missing. Tasks are downstream. Taste is upstream. The `/writing-style` specialist isn't told "write me a LinkedIn post." It's told what good output looks like, what bad output looks like, the exact rhythm I want, the words I never use, and examples of approved copy. When a task arrives, the specialist already knows what to aim for. Same for design. `/design-system` doesn't get told "design me a card." It gets told the color tokens, the typography scale, the spacing rhythm, the dark-mode rules. Then any card it designs respects the system without me having to micromanage. Same for strategy. `/vision` knows what the site is for, who it's serving, what success looks like in 6 months. So when I ask "should I write this?" it can answer in the context of the actual mission, not in the abstract. You can't shortcut this. Taste-first specialists take longer to build than task-first prompts. But they get sharper with every brief. That's how you use a tool. It's not how you run a team. Once I had ten specialists, my job changed. I stopped writing copy and started briefing. I stopped optimizing prompts and started giving feedback. When `/writing-style` gives me a draft I don't love, I don't rewrite the prompt. I tell it what's off, the same way I'd tell a copywriter, and ask for v2. When `/design` proposes a layout that fights the brand, I don't redesign. I point at the design system rule it broke and ask it to retry. The shift is small but the change is huge. I'm not the bottleneck on every output anymore. I'm the bottleneck only on decisions and direction. **Manage the team. Don't operate the tool.** The frame shift I didn't expect: I stopped thinking in tasks and started thinking in briefs. Tasks are small ("write a LinkedIn caption"). Briefs are big ("here's the context, here's what good looks like, here's the constraint"). Briefs take five minutes to write and produce ten times the output. Tasks take thirty seconds and produce one piece of work that's almost-but-not-quite right. I now write more briefs than I write content. The team produces the content. I direct. --- ## What I did when the B2B playbook backfired *Published: 2026-04-16 · Tags: GTM, Growth, Enterprise Sales* *URL: https://www.imjaykaria.com/writing/selling-ai-native-commerce-anti-playbook/* **Summary:** How I took GlamAR from one paying client to 20+ in twelve months by breaking the standard B2B SaaS playbook one rule at a time. I run growth at GlamAR, Fynd's AI-powered immersive commerce platform for retail. Brands embed us on their e-commerce sites to let shoppers try products virtually before buying: AR try-on, AI skin analysis, 3D product viewers. Under the hood: computer vision, ML pipelines, and 3D rendering that runs in a mobile browser. That's the product today. When I took over, it wasn't. It was an ML research experiment. One paying client. Near-zero MRR. Most categories didn't exist. Most pages on the site didn't exist. There was no GTM. The textbook move: build the product first, then go sell it. I ran it backwards. I spent the first three months writing: the website, the category pages, the solution pages, the positioning. Not because content was the goal. Because the only way to figure out what the product should become was to get buyers on calls, and the only way to get buyers on calls with no brand and no category was inbound. Leads trickled in. Mostly early-stage brands, the kind every other vendor in the space ignored. We didn't. We ran free trials. We built custom front-ends. We shipped whatever they needed, when they needed it. That's how the product got real. Eyewear try-on, virtual makeup, skin analysis: each one polished inside live deployments with brands honest enough to tell us what broke. From there we extended into every adjacent category, filled in every solution page, and built the GTM around what actually converted. If you're building a B2B product from scratch, no brand, no category clarity, no template, this is for you. **The category doesn't matter. The stage does.** This is the zero-to-one playbook: what unlocked the first 20+ logos at GlamAR, not the next 200. A year of getting it wrong gave me a name for what worked: **the Anti-Playbook.** Five moves, each breaking a rule that fits mature B2B SaaS, and broke GlamAR until I figured out why. For the first nine months at GlamAR, I was the only person doing sales calls. Not because I couldn't hire. Because sales calls were the most honest product research I had access to. When you're selling something this complex, your sales calls are the only place you'll hear the *real* objection. Customer interviews are too polite. Surveys never tell you what almost made them buy. You only learn what your product is actually missing when someone is *deciding whether to give you money*, and you watch them say no. The standard SDK demo doesn't close deals, because the buyer can't visualize their version of it. So we stopped showing the SDK. Two plays work better, both follow one rule: **don't pitch the technology, show the product.** **First: a universal demo store.** We built a public one at glamar.io/demo-store, a fake e-commerce site that mimics a real PDP/PLP flow. When a brand comes in cold, they don't see a "request a demo" form. They see what their product *could* look like, live. Same shape as a real store, just generic products. **Second: a custom front-end, built for the buyer, before the call.** This is what AI-assisted coding made cheap enough to do per prospect. For AI Skin Analysis, I started coding a front-end for each prospect: their colors, their fonts, a fake PDP with their actual products listed. A few hours of work per prospect, max. Here's one I built for a skincare brand I was pitching. This breaks once you're past founder-led sales. By then the demo store should be doing the same job at scale. When the call started, I didn't open with "let me explain virtual try-on." I opened with: *"Here's what your skin analysis flow looks like, embedded in your skincare PDP. Walk through it."* The buyer doesn't have to imagine. They're looking at it. When GlamAR was 6 months old, I put up a pricing page. Featured tiers, $250/month starting price, scan limits, the whole thing. Our competitors didn't have one. I figured "we're transparent, they're not" was a differentiator. What happened: every B2B inbound conversation started with the buyer trying to negotiate down from $250. We'd been selling custom enterprise deals at premium price points. The published price became the ceiling, not the floor. We removed the prices. Kept the page. Listed features per tier. Said "request quotation." Suddenly we had room to negotiate from a position of unknowns. A buyer who needed deep skin analysis integration with white-labeling and a custom front-end couldn't anchor against $250. They had to engage with what they actually needed. Second pricing lesson: we sold monthly when competitors were pushing annual contracts. Every B2B SaaS playbook tells you to chase ARR. These deals are long. The buyer has to convince three or four other stakeholders internally. Your job is to make sure when their CMO finally raises the topic in a quarterly review, **your name is the one that comes up.** You don't do that by emailing them more. For products this new, battlecards aren't enough. You need to physically use your competitor's product to know what to build. When that beauty retailer told us no, I didn't read about the skin-analysis incumbent's API. **I bought it.** Set up an account. Built test integrations. Took screenshots. Compared outputs scan-by-scan. I'm not talking about a competitive analysis exercise. I'm talking about *operating their product like a customer would*, to know what felt right and what didn't. Most of the meaningful improvements we shipped in 2025 traced back to buying and operating it: I knew exactly what the dominant product looked like at the layer the buyer experienced it. Not from a webinar. Not from a Gartner report. From spending money to use it. These moves work because when your category is still forming, you're not in a vendor selection. You're in a category argument: make the category obvious first, then be the obvious choice inside it. This is how I learned to do it. If you're at zero-to-one too, the one you're most resistant to is probably the one worth trying first. --- # Collections Lived experiences: trips across India, cities, food, gear used on the road. The personal pillar of the site. ## Rajasthan (Overview) *Year: 2026 · Dates: Mar 2024 · Mar 2026* *Cities: Udaipur, Jaipur, Pushkar, Bundi, Ranthambore* *URL: https://www.imjaykaria.com/collections/rajasthan/* *Status: Coming soon* **Summary:** A two-part love letter to Rajasthan. Udaipur and Jaipur in 2024. Pushkar, Bundi, and Ranthambore in 2026, timed for Holi. Same state, different energies. I didn't plan Rajasthan as a two-part thing. It just worked out that way. In **2024** I did **Udaipur and Jaipur**, the lake city and the pink one. The postcard version of Rajasthan: palaces, thalis, sunrises over Lake Pichola. I came back thinking I'd seen the state. I hadn't. In **2026** I went back for **Pushkar, Bundi, and Ranthambore**, timed so I'd be at the ghats of Pushkar Lake for Holi. Smaller towns, older streets, a tiger safari at the end. Less polished. Better. Here's the split: Part 1 is the 2024 leg. Part 2 is the 2026 one, the one I just got back from. --- ## Meghalaya & Assam (Overview) *Year: 2025 · Dates: Nov · Dec 2025* *Cities: Guwahati, Cherrapunji, Shillong, Dawki, Mawlynnong* *URL: https://www.imjaykaria.com/collections/meghalaya/* *Status: Coming soon* **Summary:** Wedding weekend in Guwahati, then Meghalaya. Cherrapunji's waterfalls and the double-decker root bridge, Dawki's glass-clear Umngot river, Mawlynnong, Shillong, and a Kamakhya send-off. Coming soon. Writing this one up. Check back soon. --- ## Pushkar, Bundi & Ranthambore (Part 2) *Year: 2026 · Dates: March 2–8, 2026* *Cities: Pushkar, Bundi, Ranthambore* *URL: https://www.imjaykaria.com/collections/rajasthan/part-2-pushkar-bundi-ranthambore/* **Summary:** A 7-day loop through Pushkar, Bundi, and Ranthambore. Holi at Pushkar Lake. Stepwells in Bundi. A tiger safari to close it out. ## The pitch Seven days. One state. Three towns most Rajasthan itineraries skip. The whole thing was built around one date: **3rd March, Holi at Pushkar Lake**. Once that anchor was set, everything else fell into place: fly into Jaipur the night before, drive straight to Pushkar at dawn, spend two days in the chaos of the festival, then work slowly east through Bundi and Ranthambore before looping back to Jaipur to fly home. If you've already done Udaipur–Jaipur–Jodhpur–Jaisalmer, this is the Rajasthan that's waiting behind it. Smaller towns. Fewer tour buses. Better food per rupee. ## The route **Mumbai → Jaipur → Pushkar → Bundi → Sawai Madhopur → Jaipur → Mumbai** 7 days, 6 nights, one private cab with driver from the morning of Day 2 onwards. Flights in and out of Jaipur on Air India: `AI 413` outbound (21:15 BOM → 23:15 JAI), `AI 622` return (19:55 JAI → 22:20 BOM). ## Day 1 – Mon, 2 Mar · Arrival Late-night landing in Jaipur. Flight touches down at 23:15, you're through the airport and in an Uber by midnight, at the hotel by half past. Nothing to do here except check in, eat something light, and sleep. You've got a 5:30 AM breakfast waiting. **Stay:** [Holiday Inn Express & Suites Jaipur Gopalpura](https://www.google.com/maps), functional, 4.6, near the highway you'll be on at dawn. One night only. Don't overthink it. ## Day 2 – Tue, 3 Mar · Holi at Pushkar Lake This is why you came. **5:30 AM**, breakfast at the hotel. **6:00 AM**, the cab picks you up and you're on the highway before the city wakes up. The drive is ~142 km and takes 2.5–3 hours through rural Rajasthan as the sun comes up. Check into **Sehdev Bagh** in Pushkar around 9 AM (early check-in was pre-arranged. Do this. You don't want to be scrambling for a room with colour already on your shirt). From 10 AM onwards, it's Holi. Put on white clothes. Oil your hair and skin beforehand so the colour washes out later. Put your phone in a waterproof pouch. Then walk down to the ghats of **Pushkar Lake** and give up control for the next six hours. > **What Holi at Pushkar actually is:** not the sanitised hotel-lawn version. The ghats are packed with locals, pilgrims, and a handful of travellers. Colour is thrown, not applied. Thandai is poured, not sipped. The energy is spiritual and chaotic in the same breath. Stick to the main tourist areas near the ghats. The back lanes get rowdy fast. Late afternoon, the intensity drops. Watch the sun set from one of the ghats. Evening prayers start. Walk back to the hotel, shower twice, eat something simple, sleep early. **Stay:** [Sehdev Bagh, Pushkar](https://www.google.com/maps), 2 nights, 4.2, garden setting walkable to the lake. ## Day 3 – Wed, 4 Mar · Brahma Temple, Savitri, Holipurim Day two in Pushkar is the temple day plus the festival. **Morning, Brahma Temple.** One of the only major temples to Lord Brahma in India. 4.6 on Google, ~36,000 reviews, and worth the crowds. 45 minutes is enough. **Late morning, Savitri Temple.** Hilltop. You can hike up or take the ropeway. Take the ropeway if the sun is already high. The view of Pushkar town and the surrounding desert is the best panoramic you'll get on this whole trip. Budget 1.5 hours. **Afternoon/evening, [Holipurim Festival](https://holipurim.com/).** A newer, more organised festival that overlaps with Holi some years: a blend of electronic music, art installations, and a modern cultural programming layer on top of the traditional Holi weekend. If the dates line up (they did for 2026), go. It's the opposite energy from the ghats the day before: curated, quieter, more international crowd. If you still have energy: an **evening camel ride into the dunes** or an ATV session. Or just walk the 52 ghats of Pushkar Lake slowly. Each one has its own story and you don't need a guide, just time. ### Where to eat in Pushkar Ranked by how confidently I'd send a friend: - **Kumawat Lassi** (4.6): Makhaniya lassi, rich and creamy, the local version. Non-negotiable. - **Sarvadia Sweet House** (4.5): Malpua. The Pushkar version is the benchmark. Get one hot. - **Ganga Laffa & Falafel** (4.3): Yes, Israeli food in Pushkar. Trust the process. Excellent falafel wraps. - **The Laughing Buddha Vegan Cafe** (4.3): Balcony seating, mixed India/Continental. Good for a slow breakfast. - **La Pizzeria** (4.1): Wood-fired pizza, authentic. Night-two dinner pick. - **Out Of The Blue** (4.2): Rooftop, international food, for when you want a view with your coffee. **Stay:** Sehdev Bagh again. ## Day 4 – Thu, 5 Mar · The drive to Bundi After breakfast, check out and get in the car. The drive to **Bundi is ~180 km and takes 4–5 hours** through the Aravalli hills, the most scenic stretch of the whole trip. ### The Ajmer detour (optional) On the way, you can stop at **Ajmer Sharif Dargah**, one of the most revered Sufi shrines in South Asia. It's a detour off the Pushkar–Bundi route, and it comes with serious crowds and security. Worth it if you want to see it; skippable if you want to protect your energy for Bundi. Arrive in Bundi around late morning (~11 AM with the Ajmer stop factored in or earlier without), check into **Dev Niwas**, and head out. ### Why Bundi Bundi is the Rajasthan of twenty years ago. Blue-painted houses. 50+ stepwells. A palace most tourists haven't heard of with murals that are arguably better than anything in Jaipur's City Palace. You're here for an afternoon and evening. Make it count. - **Taragarh Fort** (4.5): 14th-century, massive, rugged, panoramic views of the blue-hued city below. 2 hours. - **Garh Palace / Bundi Palace** (4.4): go for the **Chitrashala**. It's a gallery of turquoise-and-gold murals depicting mythological scenes. Easily the best room in Bundi. 1.5 hours. - **Raniji ki Baori**, the Queen's Stepwell. The most famous of Bundi's stepwells, absurd depth, intricate carvings. 45 minutes. - **Chaurasi Khambon ki Chhatri**, the 84-Pillared Cenotaph. Two-storied, quiet, nobody's there. 30 minutes. - **Nawal Sagar Lake** at sunset: there's a semi-submerged temple to Lord Varuna in the middle of it. Worth a slow hour. ### Where to eat in Bundi - **Krishna's Chai** (4.7): a local chai spot where travellers have been leaving art on the walls for decades. The chai is the excuse. The room is the point. - **Chotu Lal Namkeen Center**: local **kachori**, deep-fried, filled with spiced lentils or onions. Street food, no Google rating, ask anyone. - **Rainbow Restaurant** (4.1): rooftop with views of the palace and fort. Worth it for the view more than the food. - **Lake View Garden Restaurant** (4.0): authentic Rajasthani thali in a heritage setting. **Stay:** [Dev Niwas, Bundi](https://www.google.com/maps), 1 night, 4.4, heritage haveli in Sadar Bazaar. ## Day 5 – Fri, 6 Mar · Bundi → Sawai Madhopur · Ranthambore Fort Check out by 10, drive east to **Sawai Madhopur**, the gateway town for Ranthambore. 130 km, ~3 hours. Check into **Fateh's Retreat** around 1 PM and have lunch there (you'll eat most of your meals here. It's easily the best restaurant in town, more on that below). Afternoon is for the fort. - **Ranthambore Fort** (4.5): UNESCO World Heritage Site, *inside* Ranthambore National Park. Yes, you drive into the park to see it. Yes, you can sometimes see wildlife on the way. The views from the top are genuinely spectacular and most people who come to Ranthambore for the safari skip this. Don't. - **Trinetra Ganesh Temple** (4.4): inside the fort, ancient, highly revered. 30 minutes. - **Village Women Craft**: on the way back, a cooperative that empowers local women artisans. Textiles, pottery, handmade goods. If you want a souvenir that's actually from the place, here. Evening: early dinner, rest, set alarm. The safari is tomorrow. **Stay:** [Fateh's Retreat Cosy Rooms & Pool](https://www.google.com/maps), 2 nights, 4.8, the highest-rated place on this entire trip. ## Day 6 – Sat, 7 Mar · The tiger safari Leisurely morning. No hurry. The safari is **afternoon only**: pickup at 2 PM, you're in the jeep from **2:30 to 6:00 PM**. ### Safari notes - Wear **neutral colours**: khaki, olive, brown. Nothing bright. - Carry **binoculars**. You will be much happier with binoculars than without. - **Silence**: the guide will tell you this and you will forget. Tigers don't show up for loud jeeps. - Carry a **light jacket**: the park gets chilly as the sun sets. - **Tiger sightings are luck.** Even on a "good" safari you might not see one. But Ranthambore also has leopards, sloth bears, sambar deer, crocodiles, and something like 300 bird species. The park itself is the point, the tiger is the bonus. Back at the resort by sunset. Dinner. Sleep. Last full day was the one you came for. ### Where to eat in Sawai Madhopur - **Fateh's Retreat Restaurant** (4.8): where you're staying. Home-style Indian food, cozy, honestly better than you'd expect from a hotel restaurant. Eat most of your meals here. - **The Oberoi Vanyavilas** (4.7): if you want a *special occasion* dinner at Ranthambore, this is the move. Luxury property, full-spec dining experience. Not cheap. - **Dastarkhan Restaurant** (4.0): popular with the safari crowd, lively, more local Rajasthani fare. ## Day 7 – Sun, 8 Mar · The return drive + last stop in Jaipur Final Rajasthani breakfast at Fateh's, check out by 10. Drive back to Jaipur: 165 km, 3.5–4 hours, you'll be in the city by ~3 PM. Now you have three hours to kill before the 19:55 flight home. Use them well. ### Shopping (if you still have space in the bag) - **Bapu Bazaar**: textiles and leather goods - **Johari Bazaar**: jewellery and precious stones ### Eat one more thing - **Rawat Mishtan Bhandar** (4.2): legendary **Pyaaz Kachori**. If you only eat one thing in Jaipur on the way out, eat this. - **LMB / Laxmi Misthan Bhandar** (4.1): famous for sweets and chaat. Heritage spot on MI Road. - **Masala Chowk** (4.2): open-air food court, Jaipur's best street food under one roof. Use it if you want variety. Drop at **Jaipur International Airport** by 6 PM. Flight AI 622 leaves at 19:55, lands in Mumbai at 22:20. Done. ## What I'd change _(filling in once the photos are sorted and I've slept off the safari.)_ ## The numbers - **7 days, 6 nights** - **4 hotels**, ranging 4.2 to 4.8 on Google - **~617 km** of driving (142 + 180 + 130 + 165), all with a private driver - **2 flights**, Mumbai round-trip on Air India - **1 Holi festival**, at the right ghats, on the right day - **1 afternoon safari**, tigers optional ## Saved map Everything above, hotels, restaurants, forts, temples, ghats, lives on [this Google Maps list](https://maps.app.goo.gl/e4qu1RGwx344hdeR6). Save it before you go. It's the single most useful thing on this page. --- ## Nagaland (Overview) *Year: 2025 · Dates: Dec 2025* *Cities: Dimapur, Kohima, Khonoma, Kisama* *URL: https://www.imjaykaria.com/collections/nagaland/* *Status: Coming soon* **Summary:** Vivek Express from Guwahati to Dimapur, drive up to Kohima, four days at Hornbill Festival in Kisama, a day walking Khonoma, Asia's first green village, and a mid-night train back. Coming soon. Writing this one up. Check back soon. --- ## Goa (Overview) *Year: 2025 · Dates: Multiple trips* *Cities: North Goa, South Goa* *URL: https://www.imjaykaria.com/collections/goa/* *Status: Coming soon* **Summary:** Goa keeps pulling me back. A running collection of the spots worth returning to. Shacks, stays, sundowners, and the ones that deserve the hype. Coming soon. Writing this one up. Check back soon. --- ## Mumbai (Overview) *Year: 2026 · Dates: Home base* *URL: https://www.imjaykaria.com/collections/mumbai/* *Status: Coming soon* **Summary:** Mumbai is where I live. This is the honest, opinionated guide. Not the Top 10 lists, the actual ones. Best vada pav, best bar, best view, best hangover breakfast. Coming soon. Writing this one up. Check back soon. --- ## Delhi (Overview) *Year: 2026 · Dates: Multiple trips* *URL: https://www.imjaykaria.com/collections/delhi/* *Status: Coming soon* **Summary:** Delhi the way I use it. Not the monuments list, the night-out list. Best bars, best food, best after-hours. A running guide that grows every time I'm back. Coming soon. Writing this one up. Check back soon. --- # Gear What I actually use daily. No affiliates, no sponsorships. Recommendations I can't keep to myself. Browseable at https://www.imjaykaria.com/gear ## Fuel (supplements + nutrition) ### Deep Impact Raw Isolated Whey *Link: https://deepimpact.in/products/raw-isolated-whey-protein?variant=46939992719412* My coach Francesco put me on this. Haven't switched since. One of the few proteins that actually tastes good with just water. I take three scoops of protein a day, so taste matters more than most people think. Francesco, my coach, recommended Deep Impact and I haven't looked back. Most whey tastes awful with just water. This one genuinely doesn't. The Chocolate Chip flavour mixes clean, no clumps, no weird aftertaste. 25g protein per scoop, straightforward label. I've tried imported brands that cost twice as much and kept coming back to this. ### MuscleBlaze Creatine Monohydrate *Link: https://www.muscleblaze.com/sv/muscleblaze-creatine-monohydrate-creamp/SP-33852* 3g daily, that's it. The most researched supplement out there and it costs less than your coffee. I started creatine after reading how much research backs it. Not influencer posts, actual studies going back decades. It helps with strength, recovery, even cognitive function. 3g a day, no loading, no cycling, flavourless, mixes into anything. The real question isn't whether to take it. It's why you haven't started. This MuscleBlaze one is Trustified certified, affordable, and does exactly what it's supposed to. Nothing fancy needed here. ### Unived Men's Multivitamin *Link: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0987ST15B?ref=nb_sb_ss_w_as-reorder_k0_1_7&crid=2HXOJXL6TQRRH&sprefix=multivi* My diet has real gaps: B12, zinc, vitamin D. This fills what dal and sabzi can't. I realised my diet wasn't covering the basics (B12, zinc, vitamin D, iron), things you just don't get enough of from a vegetarian diet. A multivitamin doesn't replace eating well. It covers the gaps on days when my meals aren't perfect, which is most days honestly. I've been on Unived for over two years. Plant-based, no synthetic fillers, 23 vitamins and minerals. One capsule. Not exciting, but it's the boring stuff that compounds. ### Unived Ovegha Omega 3 *Link: https://www.amazon.in/Unived-Ovegha-Omega-3-Unflavoured-Capsules/dp/B00HH5GECE* Most omega 3 comes from fish. This one's from algae, where the fish get it from in the first place. I wanted omega 3 for the brain and heart health benefits but every supplement I found was fish oil. Unived sources theirs from algae, which is actually where fish get their omega 3 to begin with. So you're just skipping a step. 500mg DHA per capsule, no fishy aftertaste, no burps. I've been on this for about three years now. Unived as a brand has been solid across everything I've tried from them: clean formulations, transparent labeling. ### HealthyHey Magnesium Glycinate *Link: https://www.amazon.in/HealthyHey-Nutrition-Absorption-Magnesium-Glycinate/dp/B07H729BCJ* Started taking this before bed. Sleep quality went up within a week, noticeably. I wasn't sleeping well: falling asleep fine but waking up groggy, restless through the night. Read that most people are magnesium deficient without knowing it. Started taking this before bed and the difference showed up within a week. Deeper sleep, less tossing, actually feeling rested in the morning. The form matters: glycinate absorbs well and doesn't mess with your stomach like the cheap oxide versions. 550mg, one capsule, part of my night routine now. ### TruNativ Everyday Protein *Link: https://trunativ.co/products/everyday-protein* Not my daily protein, but I mix this into chapatis and parathas for the family. Clean way to add protein to meals. I don't use this as my daily protein shake. What I do is mix it into chapati dough, paratha batter, sometimes smoothies. It's a simple way to sneak protein into regular meals for the whole family. We use it maybe two or three times a month when we feel like it. No artificial sweeteners, no weird taste when cooked. Clean label, mixes into anything without changing the flavour. Good option when you want to add protein to your family's diet without making it a whole thing. ### Only What's Needed Whey Protein *Link: https://onlywhatsneeded.in/product/whey-protein-2* Three scoops a day gets expensive fast. This one's well-researched, transparent, and doesn't burn a hole. At three scoops a day, protein costs add up quickly. The premium brands are expensive as fuck and not always worth the markup. OWN is well-researched, backed by credible people, and significantly cheaper without cutting corners. The labeling is fully transparent. You can see exactly where every gram goes, no proprietary blends hiding behind fancy names. If you want solid whey that respects both your body and your wallet, this is the one. --- ## Kit (hardware + accessories) ### MacBook Pro 14 *Link: https://www.amazon.in/Apple-MacBook-Chip-14-inch-18GB/dp/B0CM5JV268* The M3 Pro handles everything I throw at it: Figma, Chrome with 47 tabs, and three Slack workspaces. Hasn't complained once. ### EarPods USB-C *Link: https://www.apple.com/in/shop/product/myqy3zm/a/earpods-usb-c* No noise cancellation, no battery anxiety, no case to lose. Plug in and go. Sometimes the simplest option is the best one. ### Apple Watch SE *Link: https://www.amazon.in/Apple-Midnight-Aluminium-Fitness-Resistant/dp/B0BDKSLQ1X* Notifications on the wrist, workout tracking, and Apple Pay. The SE does everything I actually need. No reason to pay for the Ultra. ### Morph Foldable Deskmat *Link: https://www.dailyobjects.com/morph-foldable-deskmat-with-laptop-stand/dp?f=pid~MRPH-FLDBL-DSKMT-LAPTOP-STND* Doubles as a laptop stand when you fold it up. Bought it on impulse, use it every single day. The angle is perfect for calls. ### Mount Phone Stand *Link: https://www.dailyobjects.com/mount-adjustable-phone-stand-black/dp?f=pid~MNT-ADJSTBLE-PHN-STND-BLK* Adjustable, minimal, keeps my phone at eye level during video calls. No more propping it against a coffee mug. ### Capsule Cleaning Kit *Link: https://www.dailyobjects.com/dailyobjects-capsule-gadget-cleaning-kit/dp?f=pid~CPSUL-GDGET-CLNING-KIT* Tiny capsule, surprisingly thorough. Keyboard crumbs, screen smudges, AirPods gunk: handles all the gross stuff. ### SURGE 4-in-1 Cable *Link: https://www.dailyobjects.com/dailyobjects-surge-kevlar-core-4-in-1-100w-charging-cable/dp?f=pid~KVLR-CORE-4IN1-CHRGNG-CABLE-100W* One cable for everything: USB-C, Lightning, whatever. 100W so it actually fast-charges the MacBook. Kevlar-wrapped, hasn't frayed yet. ### Sand Pivot Laptop Sleeve *Link: https://www.dailyobjects.com/sand-pivot-laptop-sleeve-large/dp?f=pid~SND-PVT-LAPTOP-SLEVE-LRG* Minimal, clean, fits the 14" MacBook perfectly. No unnecessary pockets or branding. Just protection that looks good. ### Carbon Stack Wallet Stand *Link: https://www.dailyobjects.com/carbon-stack-phone-wallet-stand/dp?f=pid~CRBN-STCK-PHN-WLET-STND* Phone wallet that doubles as a stand. Cards, phone, kickstand: three things I always need, now it's one thing. ### Loop MagSafe Power Bank *Link: https://www.dailyobjects.com/loop-qi2-certified-magsafe-compatible-aluminium-power-bank-20000-mah-black/dp?f=pid~BLK-LOP-MAGSF-QI2-PWR-BNK-20000MH* 20000 mAh, Qi2 MagSafe, snaps onto the iPhone and just works. No cables needed. The one thing I never leave home without. ### Moonbeam Velour WatchBand *Link: https://www.amazon.in/DailyObjects-Velour-Compatible-Series10-Included/dp/B0CQP1QQ2C* Swapped the default sport band for this. Velour snap-on, looks way better with a casual outfit. Comfortable enough for workouts too. --- ## Skin (skincare routine) ### CeraVe Hydrating Cleanser *Link: https://www.nykaa.com/cerave-hydrating-cleanser/p/5765955* Used to wash my face with whatever soap was in the shower. This was the intervention. ### The Ordinary Ascorbyl Glucoside 12% *Link: https://www.nykaa.com/the-ordinary-ascorbyl-glucoside-solution-12percent/p/5003157* Finishing this bottle, then switching to Niacinamide. Yes, I have opinions about serums now. ### Argireline Solution 10% *Link: https://www.nykaa.com/the-ordinary-argireline-solution-10/p/7846901* I pat this around my eyes every night. 29 and already fighting time. ### Neutrogena Hydro Boost *Link: https://www.nykaa.com/neutrogena-hydro-boost-hyaluronic-acid-water-gel/p/460498* I've changed serums six times. This moisturizer hasn't moved. That says everything. ### LRP UVMUNE 400 *Link: https://www.nykaa.com/la-roche-posay-uvmune-400-invisible-fluid-spf-50/p/15aborb005* SPF 50, every morning, rain or shine, WFH or not. The one skincare hill worth dying on. ### Sebamed Lip Defense SPF 30 *Link: https://www.nykaa.com/sebamed-lip-defense-spf-30/p/282612* Two years ago I didn't know lips could sunburn. Now I carry lip SPF everywhere. Character development. ### Glycolic Acid 7% Toner *Link: https://www.nykaa.com/the-ordinary-glycolic-acid-7-toning-solution/p/5765737* Sunday night ritual. Basically a weekly factory reset for your face. ### Vaseline Rosy Lips *Link: https://www.nykaa.com/vaseline-original-pure-skin-jelly/p/73891* Just petroleum jelly before bed like it's 1950. Still works better than everything else. ### The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% *Link: https://www.nykaa.com/the-ordinary-niacinamide-10percent-zinc-1percent/p/15707745* Less glamorous, more useful. The boring one that actually works. --- ## Apps (software I rely on) ### Claude *Link: https://claude.ai* The AI that built this website. Code, copy, agents, automation: my go-to for almost everything now. I was always a generalist, which really meant I was always dependent on other people to get things done. Need a quick script? Ask engineering. Landing page copy? Wait for the writer. Data pull? Get in line. Claude changed that. I run agents for research, automate workflows, write code, draft content, brainstorm strategy: all through one tool. This entire website was built in conversation with it. It didn't make me an expert at any one thing. It made me dangerous at all of them. ### Notion *Link: https://notion.so* Every plan, every doc, every trip itinerary that's way too detailed. My second brain, for better or worse. If it needs to be written down, it goes in Notion. Trip planning with an embarrassing level of detail, product docs, meeting notes archive, personal CRM, content calendar: all of it lives here. I've tried switching twice and came back both times within a week. It's not the fastest tool or the prettiest. But it bends to however my brain wants to organise things, and nothing else does that as well. ### Granola *Link: https://granola.ai* Records meetings, generates notes I actually use. Replaced the 'can someone take notes?' question from every standup. I'm in meetings for a big chunk of my day. Before Granola, I'd scribble three half-sentences in Apple Notes and never look at them again. Now every meeting gets recorded and I get a structured summary I can actually go back to. When someone says "didn't we discuss this last week?" I can pull up the exact transcript. That alone has saved me from enough miscommunication to justify the subscription ten times over. ### Wispr Flow *Link: https://wispr.ai* I hate typing. This is how I actually communicate: talking, not keyboard. I dictated this description. I dictated most of the content on this site, actually. Wispr sits in the background and turns speech into text wherever my cursor is: Slack, email, Notion, docs, everywhere. I've always thought faster than I type, and this closes that gap. It handles my half-English cadence surprisingly well. Once you start dictating, typing feels like writing with a chisel. ### Whimsical *Link: https://whimsical.com* When I need to think through a problem, I don't write, I draw it. Whimsical is where that happens. Before I write a doc or build a deck, I usually start on a Whimsical board. When a problem feels too messy to think through linearly, I open a blank canvas and start mapping it: trees, flowcharts, connections, whatever shape the thinking needs. It helps me see the structure before I commit to words. I use it for product strategy, GTM planning, even organising my own thoughts when something feels stuck. Thinking tool first, presentation tool second. ### Figma *Link: https://figma.com* Not a designer, but I live in Figma enough to have opinions about auto-layout. That's either a flex or a cry for help. Nobody hired me to design things. But when you're taking a product from 0 to 1, you end up in Figma whether you planned to or not. GlamAR wireframes, investor decks, quick mocks for the dev team, mood boards for brand direction: all Figma. I went from "can someone make this look decent?" to doing it myself at midnight. I use mood boards more than I'd like to admit. Growth people don't stay in spreadsheets forever. ### PostHog *Link: https://posthog.com* Product analytics without the enterprise sales call. One tool for everything I need to track. I've used analytics tools that require a three-week onboarding and a dedicated "analytics partner" from the vendor. PostHog is the opposite. Product analytics, session replays, feature flags: all in one place, all self-serve. I set it up in an afternoon for work and track everything I need without talking to a single salesperson. Open source, transparent pricing, and they don't hold your data hostage. The way analytics should work. ### GitHub *Link: https://github.com* Where all the code lives. Still learning, but everything I build starts here. I'm not an engineer. I'm a growth person who writes code. GitHub is where all of that lives. This site, GlamAR prototypes, automation scripts, random experiments. I'm still learning the finer points: branching strategies, Actions workflows, proper CI/CD. But the basics work: push code, open PRs, deploy. Every project I touch runs through here, even if my commit messages aren't always something I'd be proud to show a senior dev. ### Cursor *Link: https://cursor.com* AI-powered code editor. Still early in my journey with it, but the autocomplete alone changed how I write code. I started coding more seriously in the last year, and Cursor is what made that possible. The AI doesn't just autocomplete words. It reads the full codebase and suggests things that actually make sense in context. I'm still learning, still making mistakes, still Googling basic things. But Cursor closes the gap between "I know what I want to build" and "I can actually build it." Paired with Claude for the harder problems, it's what makes a non-engineer productive. ### Vercel *Link: https://vercel.com* Push to main, it's live. Still figuring out the edges, but deployment has never been this simple. This site runs on Vercel. The workflow is dead simple: push code to GitHub, Vercel picks it up, and it's live in thirty seconds. No Docker, no server config, no DevOps rabbit holes. I'm still learning the platform: edge functions, serverless stuff, the finer details. But for someone who just wants to ship and see it working, it removes every excuse. Preview deployments on every PR mean I can share a working link before anything goes live. That's powerful. --- ## Productivity (analog tools) ### Roda Tasknote *Link: https://rodanotes.com/products/tasknote* Distraction-free analog planning. 31 undated spreads in a pocket-sized notebook: one page per day, no app notifications. ### Roda Week Pad *Link: https://rodanotes.com/products/week-pad* 52 tear-off weekly spreads that last a full year. Quick overview of the week: events, deadlines, and priorities at a glance. --- # Connect - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/imjaykaria/ - X / Twitter: https://x.com/imjaykaria - GitHub: https://github.com/imjaykariaa - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imjaykaria/ Site root: https://www.imjaykaria.com