About

About myself

I’m Serge Kotlyarov — a technologist, founder, and advisor with a long background in software, startups, and turning complex ideas into practical results.

Today I help founders, teams, and companies adopt AI in ways that are useful, commercially sensible, and grounded in reality.

I’m most interested in problems where technology, product, and execution meet: cutting through noise, solving hard problems, and building things that actually work.

I’m available for consulting, mentoring, contracting, and thoughtful conversations with anyone — from founders to corporates — who is genuinely ready for the changes AI is bringing.

About Grumpy CTO

This blog is where I write about technology, AI, engineering, science, space, and the future — with a bias for common sense and real progress.

We live in a time of extraordinary technical potential, but institutions often struggle to use it well. Governments can regulate innovation without understanding it. Bureaucracies can slow down change instead of enabling it. Corporates often speak the language of innovation while rewarding caution, process, and presentation over substance.

This blog is my attempt to look at those problems clearly — and constructively.

I write about what helps innovation happen in the real world, what gets in its way, and how technology can be managed better. Some posts are about software, AI, systems, startups, and engineering leadership. Others are about science, space, and the longer-term direction of civilization. The common thread is simple: less theatre, more substance.

I believe progress is possible. I like ambitious ideas, competent execution, working systems, and people who can distinguish between something genuinely new and something merely fashionable.

So while the tone here may be skeptical at times, the intention is optimistic: better technology, better decisions, and better institutions are all possible — if we are willing to think clearly and build seriously.