KHM·09
Keerthan HMCTO · Systems Architect

Everything starts with systems.

I don't build websites — I build technology companies.

Explore the architectureRésumé
Bengaluru, India
01THESIS

I think in systems.

I architect, secure, and scale the systems real companies run on — the interface at the edge, the services behind it, the data underneath, and the people who keep it all moving.

I learned to build them by first learning to break them. A background in penetration testing taught me exactly where systems fail — so I design ones that hold.

Keerthan HM
LEAD FULL-STACK ARCHITECT & AI/ML

Keerthan HM

CTO · Full-Stack Engineer · AI Developer

  • Next.js / TypeScript
  • Django / Node
  • PostgreSQL / MySQL
  • AEO
  • Pentesting
  • Leadership
LAST EDITEDFeb 2026

02OPERATING METRICS

30,000+Customers served

Global e-commerce customer base built at TheDesiFood.

₹8 Cr (~$1M)Annual revenue

Annual revenue of the TheDesiFood platform.

10Engineers led

Engineering team built and led as CTO.

2024CTO since

Founding CTO of TheDesiFood, building the tech foundation from scratch.

03SYSTEMS

04ARCHITECTURE

The system explains itself.

useredgeVercelNginxDjangoPostgreSQL
Open the Architecture Explorer

05SELECTED WORK

  • TheDesiFood

    A global commerce platform, architected from zero to ~$1M ARR.

    • infrastructure
    • ai
    • security
    • leadership
    30,000+ customers

  • AI Engine Optimisation

    Products that surface inside ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude.

    • ai
    Indexed across 3 AI engines

  • SecureSpace

    ML-generated IDS/IPS rules wired into a live SIEM.

    • security
    IIITB Hackathon, 2023

  • Automated PR Review

    First-line code-quality enforcement on every pull request.

    • leadership
    • infrastructure

  • The Architecture of Keerthan HM

    RESERVED

    This site, documenting itself — reserved as the meta case study.

    • infrastructure

06CAREER

  1. 2024 — Present

    Chief Technology Officer

    TheDesiFood

    Founding CTO of a global e-commerce company serving 30,000+ customers at ₹8 Cr (~$1M) annual revenue. Built the entire tech foundation from scratch — Next.js/React/TypeScript frontends on a Node.js and Django backend over PostgreSQL and MySQL — and lead a team of 10 engineers. Pioneered AI Engine Optimisation (AEO) so products index inside ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude, shipped LLM-powered chat and a WhatsApp Business API channel with GEO-based localization, and ran the production Linux/Nginx/Gunicorn stack with CI/CD and an automated PR-review framework.

  2. Nov 2023 — Apr 2024

    Junior Penetration Tester

    HaxSploit

    Selected as 1 of 2 from 20 candidates. Hunted prototype pollution, OWASP Top 10, and business-logic flaws; automated fuzzing in Python; and reported findings through HackerOne with proof-of-concept writeups.

  3. Jun — Nov 2023

    Penetration Testing Trainee

    HaxSploit @ BMS College of Engineering

    Selected into the top 20 of 50 trainees. Practiced SQLi, XSS, CSRF, and auth-bypass testing with Burp Suite, Nmap, FFUF, Nikto, and Shodan, grounded in TCP/IP, Wireshark traffic analysis, and OSINT.

  4. Nov 2022 — Present

    Technical Head, ISE Student Club

    BMS College of Engineering

    Lead technical initiatives and events for the Information Science & Engineering Student Club. Previously served as Student Activity Coordinator for IEEE at BMSCE (Aug 2022 — Feb 2023).

  5. 2021 — 2025

    B.E., Information Science & Engineering

    BMS College of Engineering (VTU)

    Bachelor of Engineering in Information Science & Engineering, CGPA 8.6/10. Certifications: PJPT (TCM Security) and the Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate.

07VISION

Next, I'm building systems that operate themselves — AI agents that reason and act, on infrastructure engineered to scale quietly. The companies of the next decade won't just use software; they'll run on it.

The next system →
08CONTACTSTATUS — available for new work

Let's build something that lasts.

keerthanhm12@gmail.comStart a conversation