About Me
Journey
Welcome to my corner of the web! I'm Gajesh Naik, a 15-year-old tech guy passionate about coding, data science, AI, ML, web and software development, and blockchain technology. I started this journey at the tender age of 7 and have been immersed in the world of technology ever since.
At 10, I completed my first internship at a multinational company, where I successfully built a chatbot. Just two years later, I became the youngest person to complete the prestigious Google Foobar challenge in just 6 hours. Although I was too young to be hired, the experience only fueled my enthusiasm.
At 13, I ventured into the exciting world of crypto and blockchain, freelancing for three months before launching my experimental DeFi project, Gaj Finance. This one-stop DeFi & NFT platform quickly amassed a total value locked of $7 million within two months.
In April 2022, I joined Solana Labs for a fun and enriching internship. My passion for creating innovative solutions led me to start Taksh, a gamified cross-chain yield aggregator, at 14. Taksh quickly gained attention from major venture capital firms, raising $1.3 million in pre-seed and seed rounds. It got acquired the startup in September 2022, and I temporarily relocated to the Bahamas to work with FTX.
I joined FTX Ventures as a Software Engineer, helping portfolio companies build high-quality dApps and grow their user base. Unfortunately, FTX went bankrupt in November 2022, and I left.
I am currently working as a Software Engineer at a company I am not at liberty to disclose.
As I continue on this exciting journey, I am eager to learn, grow, and explore the ever-evolving world of technology. Feel free to follow my adventures and insights on this website. Together, let's make the world a better, more connected place!
Associated Links:
March 2, 2023: Discussed about my journey & thoughts on web3 on Logan Jastremski Podcast
January 27, 2023: Launched Season 2 on The Gaj Show, sponsored by Zeta Markets
April 30, 2022: The Block published an article about my internship at Solana Labs
February 3, 2022: Went on NDTV (India's CNN) to discuss about Crypto Mining
December 18, 2021: Went on Ivan on Tech to discuss about Moralis
October 28, 2021: The Defiant Panel about "What makes DAO a DAO?"
October 19, 2021: Featured in Congratulatory Motion for our Achievers of Goa in Goa Legislative Assembly
August 26, 2021: Discussed about "How To Evaluate A Coin?" on Rohan Joshi's (Top 5 Indian Standup Comedians) Podcast
July 14, 2021: Chatted about Covalent and data availability on Crypto Slate.
July 2, 2021: Coindesk wrote an article about me building PolyGaj (my experiment DeFi project)
June 27, 2021: The article by Decrypt made every crypto biggie (from Balaji to Robert Leshner to i don't know a shit ton of people) talk about me.
Note: Some info in the Decrypt article is false.
September 15, 2020: Discussed my opinions about AI & automation stealing iterative jobs on Hackernoon Podcast