utkarsh.
IST

git log --graph --reverse life

How I got here.

From taking software apart to running hosting ventures and a publication, and now college on top. Every commit changed what came next.

utkarsh@samdani~/life
git log --oneline | wc -l
9
git branch
* main
  writing
git describe --tags
college-1-g43f0155

48f02f4 early

Curiosity first

I cared more about how things worked than about using them. I pulled software apart, read how websites were built, and chased questions that didn’t have easy answers.

45fcb44 2022 tag: age-14

Launch DynaCore

At 14 I launched DynaCore, hosting for websites and Discord bots. It was my first real attempt at an internet venture, and it taught me fast about billing, support, servers and what infrastructure actually costs.

b9499c4 2022–25

Learn by shipping

Running DynaCore for three years was my real education. I learned how uptime pressure changes decisions, why pricing matters, and what it takes to keep servers working when something breaks without warning.

509688f 2025

Retire DynaCore

Shutting it down felt more like finishing a chapter than failing. What stayed was everything I’d learned about building and running a product.

b2222e7 2025

Launch Qixla Cloud

Qixla came straight out of those lessons: hosting that was fast, affordable and built to keep going.

66a0f84 2025 branch: writing

Start conflict.asia

Alongside the infrastructure work, I started a defence and geopolitics publication with a team of OSINT analysts. It’s the research side of what I care about, the way servers are the technical side.

26a6395 2026

Start Helstify, fold Qixla in

With JEE behind me, I started Helstify: hosting with mail built in, where AI agents like Claude and Codex can work on the server directly. Qixla stopped being a separate product, and its infrastructure became what Helstify runs on.

80dc566 2026 tag: college

Start at MIT Bengaluru

I moved into my first year at MIT Bengaluru. Helstify and conflict.asia came with me; they get the time around classes now.

43f0155 now HEAD -> main

Keep building

College during the week, Helstify and conflict.asia around it. Still running servers, still writing from public evidence, still reading about aircraft.

cat ~/school.txt

School, then college.

2026 – now MIT Bengaluru

First year at Manipal Institute of Technology, Bengaluru.

Grades 11 – 12 Sri Chaitanya

Where I prepared for JEE while building Helstify and conflict.asia on the side.

Grades 8 – 10 FIITJEE

A much more intense place, built around discipline and structured problem-solving.

Grades 1 – 7 CHIREC International School

An international school in Hyderabad, where I got my basics and a wider view of the world.

ls ~/courses

What I learned on my own.

Courses I took outside school, in networking, security, programming, investing and, for some reason, French.