Takkn
A private, couple-first space where two people talk, remember, plan, and grow closer — with nobody else watching.
Founder of Takkn & Ghotala.wtf · 12+ Years in Engineering
I build technology with emotional purpose.
I’m Piyush Chandra. For over a decade I engineered systems the world relies on — from aircraft certification to platforms built for millions. I now build full-time on two products of my own: Takkn, a private space for couples, and Ghotala.wtf, which helps people work out whether something is a scam.
Piyush Chandra
Founder · Engineer
Current Status
Building Takkn and Ghotala.wtf full-time — leading product strategy, design, mobile, backend, AI, security and cloud across both.
Overview
Core Career Highlights
12+ Years
Engineering, architecture, product delivery, and technology leadership
Founder-Built
Takkn independently conceived, designed, engineered, secured, and operated
42% Faster
I brought AI into my engineers' everyday workflow — and they shipped about 42% faster.
1M+ Concurrent
Enterprise career-platform architecture designed to support more than one million concurrent users.
25+ Engineers Led
Managed and led more than 25 team members across global software-delivery teams at Korn Ferry.
6 Pride@Boeing
Recognised repeatedly for delivery, innovation, and customer focus
Founder & Leader
Why I’m building Takkn
Takkn began with a simple belief: technology for relationships should help two people feel closer, not turn their private lives into public content.
I wanted to create a private space where couples could communicate, preserve meaningful moments, plan experiences, and better understand their relationship without the noise, comparison, or performance pressure of a traditional social network.
Building Takkn has allowed me to bring together everything I have learned across product design, mobile engineering, enterprise architecture, AI, security, infrastructure, and engineering leadership - and apply it to one product from the first decision onward.
I have spent more than 12 years moving between the responsibilities of developer, architect, engineering manager, product thinker, and team leader.
My career has included banking systems, aerospace-certification software, identity-document intelligence, enterprise analytics, high-scale career platforms, AI-assisted engineering transformation, and production automation. I care about products that are technically ambitious, thoughtfully designed, operationally dependable, and genuinely useful to the people they serve.
Private by design
Personal relationship moments should remain between partners, not become public content or advertising data.
Built for two
Takkn is designed around a couple’s shared space rather than public feeds, follower counts, or social performance.
Technology with emotional purpose
Every feature should help couples communicate, remember, plan, understand, or connect more meaningfully.
What I’m building
My Ventures
Two products I design, build, and run full-time.
Ghotala.wtf
Scam detection for everyday people. Check a suspicious message, screenshot or document, understand why it looks like a scam, and find out what to do next — including if you have already paid.
Founder-built product
Takkn - technology for stronger relationships
Social media turns love into content. Takkn is the opposite — a private, couple-first space where two people talk, remember, plan, call, and grow closer, with nobody else watching.
Founder and independent builder of Takkn, now working on the product full-time across product, design, engineering, security, infrastructure, and growth.
Visit TakknOne product. Every layer. Built solo.
01
Product Strategy
Product vision, problem definition, feature prioritisation, and premium usage model.
02
Product Design
Information architecture, mobile UX, interaction design, adaptive iOS/Android states.
03
Mobile Engineering
React Native mobile client, offline capabilities, native integrations, and App Lock security.
04
Backend & Data
NestJS APIs, PostgreSQL databases, Drizzle ORM schemas, and Redis cache layer.
05
Communication
E2E encrypted messaging, media delivery, push notifications, and WebRTC calls.
06
AI & Intelligence
Relationship DNA metrics, daily rituals, and constraint-based AI Date Planner.
07
Security & Privacy
PIN encryption, biometrics, refresh-token rotation, and secure local storage.
08
Infrastructure
AWS, ECS container services, CI/CD automation pipelines, and monitoring.
Product Visual Journey
A private relationship overview bringing shared moments, rituals, and what matters next into one place.
Private conversations, encrypted media, and communication designed for two.
A shared memory space for preserving and revisiting meaningful moments together.
Relationship DNA metrics tracking milestones, streaks, and shared progress at a glance.
Conversational date planning grounded in real places, schedules, travel constraints, and couple preferences.
Private encrypted video and audio calling with screenshot and recording protection.
Case Studies
Selected Engineering Stories
Takkn
Taking a private relationship product from idea to production architecture
Taking a private relationship product from idea to production architecture
Problem
Create a secure and emotionally thoughtful relationship product that combines communication, memories, calls, intelligent insights, and planning without compromising privacy or mobile usability.
Decisions
Structured the platform as a couple-first relational model rather than standard broadcast-oriented feeds. Adopted end-to-end encrypted messaging, React Native with custom native bindings, NestJS, PostgreSQL, Redis, WebRTC calling networks, and structured LLM constraints for localized data integrity.
Execution
Executed across the complete development lifecycle: designed core wireframes and high-fidelity screens; coded mobile clients utilizing Expo native hooks; built backend API layers; setup signaling/TURN architectures for voice/video; developed local SQL caches for offline availability; built secure biometric locks; and automated deployments using containerized AWS services and CI/CD pipelines.
Result
Created a production-oriented product platform spanning the complete product-development lifecycle, demonstrating the ability to move between founder strategy, experience design, detailed engineering, architecture, security, delivery, and operations.
Tandym Group
Replacing a commercial resume parser in a focused one-month delivery cycle
Replacing a commercial resume parser in a focused one-month delivery cycle
Problem
Replace the commercial Daxtra resume-parsing dependency with an internal AI-assisted candidate-ingestion platform while preserving data integrity, operational visibility, and human oversight. The project required moving away from high per-parse vendor licensing costs and eliminating third-party lock-in.
Leadership Context
Managed five software developers and led the focused one-month delivery of an AI-assisted candidate-ingestion platform that replaced Daxtra. The system automated candidate ingestion into Mercury CRM and PostgreSQL while preserving data integrity with confidence-scored human-in-the-loop reviews.
Production metrics as of July 20, 2026, recorded during my tenure
~2,500
Distinct resumes & attachments processed during first 4 production weeks
~2,270
Successfully Ingested into Mercury CRM and PostgreSQL
~96%
Final-state success rate on resolved resumes
~86%
Processed straight-through without human intervention
~14%
Routed to human review
88 / 88
Apply and replay jobs completed successfully (100% completion)
Methodology Note: Success rate is based on each resume’s final resolved state and excludes transient retry-stage failures. Straight-through automation compares the human-review queue with distinct resumes processed. Lifecycle log rows are not counted as separate resumes.
Review & Validation Categories
- Identity or impersonation conflicts
- Ambiguous phone matching
- Duplicate-contact detection
- Email conflicts
- Phone conflicts
- Low parsing confidence
- Exhausted LLM retries
- Exhausted computer-vision retries
Apply & Replay System Jobs
- 88 of 88 total jobs completed successfully (100% completion)
- 62 Merges
- 7 New contacts
- 14 Retries
- 5 LLM re-parses
Decisions & Execution
Designed an asynchronous pipeline where files (PDF, DOCX, DOC, RTF) are extracted and read. Used custom pre-processing OCR models for image scans. Implemented structured OpenAI schema outputs validated against database schemas. Introduced confidence metrics that trigger routing flags to a unified Salesforce/Mercury CRM human review panel.
Result
Directed the replacement of a commercial resume-parsing vendor with an in-house AI platform that processed approximately 2,500 distinct resumes and attachments during its first four production weeks, achieving approximately 96% final-state success and 86% straight-through automation.
Korn Ferry
Leading enterprise platforms, cloud architecture, and AI-assisted engineering
Leading enterprise platforms, cloud architecture, and AI-assisted engineering
Problem
Support global digital career transformation platforms requiring unified applications (KF One), Assessment Analytics tools, high concurrent scalability, and modern automated CI/CD practices across global cross-functional scrum teams.
Decisions
Selected cloud-agnostic architectures (supportable across Azure, AWS, PCF) and centralized data warehousing to consolidate analytics across distinct candidate platforms. Pushed the early adoption of AI-augmented engineering workflows (Cursor, custom MCP servers) to solve performance bottlenecks and speed up local feature rollouts.
Leadership Scope
Managed more than 25 team members across global software-delivery teams while continuing to guide architecture, engineering practices, Agile execution, and AI-assisted development adoption.
Key Outcomes
- AI-Driven Efficiency: Improved developer efficiency by approximately 42% through AI-assisted engineering workflows across multiple engineering divisions.
- Scalable SaaS Platform: Architected and delivered an enterprise career-platform designed to support more than one million concurrent users (career assessments, path mapping, and skill building).
- Multi-Scrum Leadership: Guided three global engineering teams in delivery of KF Intelligence Cloud and Career for Technology (KFCT) Teams application on schedule.
- Analytics Engine: Oversaw multiple feature deliveries for the Assessment Analytics platform, serving over 500 enterprise clients.
Timeline
Professional Experience
Independently building a private relationship platform across product strategy, UX, mobile applications, backend services, real-time communication, artificial intelligence, cloud infrastructure, security, and release engineering.
- Product vision and roadmap: Conceived and defined couple-first product value proposition and roadmap.
- React Native mobile application: Built responsive cross-platform mobile client optimized for iOS and Android.
- Secure messaging and media: Engineered secure delivery pipelines and end-to-end encrypted messaging.
- Voice and video calls: Implemented real-time communication framework utilizing WebRTC and custom TURN infrastructure.
- AI Date Planner: Created a conversational date planner grounding GPT recommendations in verified opening hours and route constraints.
Building a scam-detection platform that helps people check whether a suspicious message, screenshot or document is a scam — and understand what to do next.
- Designed for low-friction checking: share something suspicious and get a clear answer, without first having to learn a tool.
- Explains rather than scores: the product sets out why something looks like a scam in plain language, instead of returning a bare risk number.
- Covers the aftermath: guidance for people who have already replied to or paid a scammer, not only those still deciding.
- Designed to make scam checking understandable and low-friction — especially for people who may not know what warning signs to look for.
April 2026–August 16, 2026
Director, Software Engineering
Tandym Group
Managed five software developers and led the focused one-month delivery of an AI-assisted candidate-ingestion platform that replaced Daxtra.
- Delivered the Daxtra replacement through a focused one-month execution cycle with production launch on June 23, 2026.
- Achieved ~96% final-state success rate and ~86% straight-through automation on resolved resumes.
- Oversaw confidence scoring, human-in-the-loop review, and duplicate conflict resolution queues.
- Replaced recurring commercial per-parse licensing exposure, eliminating vendor lock-in.
August 2021–April 2026
Director, Software Engineering
Promoted from Associate Director
Korn Ferry
Led global engineering teams of more than 25 team members across career intelligence, assessment analytics, application integration, AI adoption, and centralised data architecture.
- Promoted from Associate Director (August 2021–January 2026) to Director, Software Engineering (January 2026–April 2026).
- Managed and led more than 25 team members across multiple global software-delivery teams.
- Improved developer efficiency by approximately 42% through AI-assisted engineering workflows.
- Architected an enterprise career-platform designed to support more than one million concurrent users.
- Led three scrum teams working on Korn Ferry Intelligence Cloud, Career for Technology, and Teams integration.
- Directed analytics platform enhancements for Assessments, utilized by over 500 global clients.
October 2019–August 2021
Senior Software Engineer
01 Systems
Independently developed identity-document intelligence APIs using .NET Core, OpenCV, OCR, custom-trained models, MRZ parsing, and structured information extraction.
- Created Imagery Intelligence API to scan, pre-process, and extract fields from multi-country government-ID cards.
- Trained custom OCR models for specialized fonts (OCRB) and integrated OpenCVSharp filters for skew correction.
- Created Android eKYC mobile app integration for Arab Bank.
April 2018–October 2019
Programmer Analyst II
Boeing
Built regulated engineering and certification applications while improving Agile delivery, release processes, branching strategy, and team capability.
- Automated FAA commercial airplane certification workflows (Forms 8130-1, 8130-6, checklist engine).
- Created a digital and electronic signature engine (certificate-based signature validation for PDFs).
- Completed 2 stretch projects from scratch independently, winning 6 Pride@Boeing awards in one year.
January 2014–January 2018
Application Development Senior Analyst
Accenture
Delivered and supported enterprise banking applications across service-oriented architecture, web platforms, integration services, responsive interfaces, and production operations.
- Developed Santander Consumer Bank Sweden web portal using EPiServer CMS, WCF, and .NET MVC.
- Maintained 25+ finance applications with strict SLAs, providing incident resolution and feature enhancements.
- Created responsive dealer location services using Google Maps API integration.
- Won ACE Alchemist Award for engineering three time-saving automation tools, saving $1,500 annually.
View Earlier Experience (Internships)
Summer Intern - Simplex Castings Limited (Jun 2012-Jul 2012)
Studied metal casting processes and crit critiques of die-making steps.
Summer Intern - ACC Cement, Jamul (Jun 2012-Jul 2012)
Analyzed cement manufacturing machinery and the mechanics of Stacker & Reclaimer systems.
Summer Intern - Bhilai Steel Plant (Jul 2011-Aug 2011)
Reviewed rolling mills, work precautions, and steel product distribution methods.
Capabilities
Technical Expertise & Core Competency
Categorized areas of focus compiled from 12+ years of hands-on delivery and team direction.
Founder & Product Leadership
- Product vision
- Product strategy
- Roadmaps
- Feature prioritisation
- User journeys
- Experience design
- Monetisation systems
- Product policies
- Release planning
- Founder-led execution
Engineering Leadership
- Team management
- Technical direction
- Architecture governance
- Agile delivery
- Mentoring
- Cross-functional execution
- AI-assisted engineering adoption
- Delivery transformation
- Risk management
- Stakeholder communication
Mobile & Product Engineering
- React Native
- Expo
- React
- JavaScript
- TypeScript
- iOS
- Android
- Native mobile integrations
- Notifications
- Background processing
- Offline behaviour
- Local databases
- Mobile security
- WebRTC
Backend, Data & Cloud
- NestJS
- .NET
- C#
- Python
- PostgreSQL
- Redis
- AWS
- Azure
- Docker
- ECS
- CI/CD
- Kafka
- RabbitMQ
- Flink
- NiFi
- Change Data Capture
- Event-driven architecture
- Distributed systems
AI, CV & Intelligent Systems
- Generative AI
- OpenAI APIs
- AI agents
- Prompt architecture
- Structured output validation
- Confidence scoring
- Human-in-the-loop systems
- AI-assisted development
- OpenCV
- OCR
- Document intelligence
- Image preprocessing
- MRZ parsing
- Structured extraction
Credentials
Certifications & Recognized Awards
Recognized Awards
6 Awards
Pride@Boeing Awards
Boeing (2018-2019) - Recognised repeatedly for delivery speed, innovation, and customer-focused software creation on critical projects.
1 Award
ACE Alchemist Award
Accenture (2014-2018) - Awarded for process innovation through engineering three distinct automation utilities, saving resources and effort.
Microsoft Certifications
MCSD: Web Applications
Microsoft
Issued Jun 2016
Developing Microsoft Azure Solutions
Microsoft
Issued Jun 2016
Programming in HTML5 with JavaScript and CSS3
Microsoft
Issued Jun 2016
MCTS: .NET Framework 4, Data Access
Microsoft
Issued Jul 2015
ID: F381-7871
MCTS: .NET Framework 4, Service Communication Applications
Microsoft
Issued Jul 2015
ID: F381-7398
MCTS: .NET Framework 4, Web Applications
Microsoft
Issued May 2014
ID: E829-3878
MCPS: Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft
Issued May 2014
ID: E929-6822
Education
Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering
Designed Fin Propulsion models. Finalist (top 10/100+) in IIT Kharagpur Hovercraft design event (Kshitij 2011).
Volunteering
Co-founder & Teacher
Led a volunteer group of 25 students, teaching under-resourced children in local government schools to improve educational interest.
Clients
Enterprise History & Clients
Select companies and industries where Piyush delivered software platforms.
Testimonials
LinkedIn Recommendations
“I had the pleasure of working with Piyush for over 6+ years across two organizations, and he is one of the most dependable and technically strong professionals I've worked with. Piyush brings a rare combination of strong technical expertise, logical thinking, and analytical problem-solving skills. He consistently keeps himself up to date with emerging technologies and is always eager to understand how new trends can be applied to solve real business problems. Over the years, I've also seen him grow from a strong individual contributor into a capable engineering manager, taking ownership of multiple teams and larger responsibilities. His strengths in hiring, mentoring, team building, and developing people have been particularly impressive. Beyond his technical capabilities, Piyush is someone you can always count on — reliable, accountable, and committed to delivering results. I highly recommend Piyush to any organization looking for a strong technical leader who combines engineering depth with people leadership and execution excellence.”
Balachandar Sangaiah
Senior Director, Product Engineering at Korn Ferry
August 24, 2026 — Balachandar managed Piyush directly
“I had the opportunity to work together with Piyush at ZOS Software. Piyush is a dynamic and studious personality, always willing to stretch and pick up new technologies. I wish him all the best for bigger challenges and for more success!”
Krishnan Rengasamy
Head Of Software Development - India Region at ZOS Software Development Pvt Ltd
“Piyush has been instrumental as part of a high visibility internal Boeing Project to support the 737 MAX. His technical skills and customer centered focus is a primary reason why the team has been successful. He is able to work with different skill sets and cultures to provide a product second to none. I have worked with many developers in past projects and few I would recommend as Piyush. He would be a huge asset to any development team.”
Corey Christensen
Senior Business Process Analyst at Boeing
“Piyush and I worked in one agile team in my earlier project. His solid technical knowledge, perfessional social and communication skills, customer-centered attitude, warm and open personality made him become one of the key technical developers in short period. I am honored to recommend Piyush as a professional developer and potential team lead or architect.”
He Huang
IoT DX Product Owner, PMP at Ericsson
“Piyush is a person I highly recommend! He has a professional attitude and very good technical and analytical skill. He is much self going in his work. As a senior developer in our team. Piyush gave us a great help in getting many critical delivery finished on time with quality. His work has been much appreciated. His positive style and attitude has made him a popular colleague.”
Meer Hassan
Full Stack Software Developer and Architect
“Piyush is very good at his work and is very social and nice.”
Joakim Siegers
Collaborator at Santander Consumer Bank project
Connect
Contact & Availability
Building Takkn and Ghotala.wtf full-time from Bengaluru, and open to conversations with early users, product collaborators, strategic partners, investors, and future team members.
Location: Bengaluru, India
Building from Bengaluru for a global audience.
Follow
Official product channels
Website, LinkedIn, Instagram, X, and YouTube.
Follow
Official product channels
Website, Instagram, and X.