gaurav keerthi has packed several careers into one. he was a rescue helicopter pilot, made brigadier-general, became the air force's first chief innovation officer, then deputy chief executive of singapore's cyber security agency. then he started strongkeep, because he was tired of waiting for someone to build affordable cybersecurity for the small businesses everyone else overlooks. in this conversation we cover: - what growing up through a coup and political violence taught him about safety - the only four ways businesses actually get hacked, and how ai just makes them faster - why he rebuilds every ai "skill" from scratch instead of trusting one off the internet (and learns more doing it) - why the cost of building software dropped to zero, but the prices didn't - why he gave up top jobs in the air force and cyber to build affordable security for SMEs - the "brilliant intern with a drinking problem" rule for using ai agents without getting burned (Simon Chesterman quote) - how singapore's rigid system produces some of the world's best "oddball" founders - how he hires by reading ai chat transcripts chapters 0:00 cold open 2:34 coup, assassination, fall of the Berlin wall 10:08 security as a luxury good 16:52 SMEs and how security is often overlooked 20:50 the four ways things go wrong 27:30 emerging risks from personal claws 31:41 building a second brain, and why Gaurav built his own harness 36:15 rebuilding ai skills yourself (don't trust outside skills), vibecoding 40:55 StrongKeep demos - 7 min setup 46:20 building for when the cost of software drops to zero 50:07 ai as a "brilliant intern with a drinking problem" (quote by Simon Chesterman) 56:55 break 57:07 entrepreneurship in sg, principles of debate, hiring 1:06:40 rapid fire: books, fav place in sg, philosophy 1:15:37 thank you youtube: https://youtu.be/UNBkWOIw-IM?is=QOdIL2tB2JNZ428A spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/53wI41qQXVTiydVjN7i4uB?si=9g2gxyYDQeyow-YhxUC25Q apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/sg/podcast/cybersecurity-shouldnt-be-a-luxury-gaurav-keerthi/id1877603539?i=1000772983777 snipd: https://share.snipd.com/episode/921b3698-317f-4a8a-b302-b94262433805 how we met (the "group" mentioned) we met Gaurav through the agentic builders collective (abc), a local (Singapore-based) community for people building with ai. https://www.agenticbuilders.sg links - StrongKeep (affordable cybersecurity for smes): https://strongkeep.com - run a free cyberscan on your business: https://cyberscan.strongkeep.com - gaurav: gauravkeerthi.com books gaurav recommends: - sapiens, yuval noah harari - unspeak, steven poole - the wisdom of crowds, james surowiecki glossary (for the non-techies) a few terms from this episode: - ai agent: a program you hand a goal to, that then takes the steps itself (browsing, clicking, running code) instead of you doing each one. - harness: the setup an ai agent runs inside, which decides what it's allowed to touch. gaurav tried the off-the-shelf ones, then built his own. - personal claw (openclaw, nanoclaw): nicknames for personal ai agents people run on their own devices. - least privilege: giving a tool or person the smallest set of permissions they need, and nothing more. the "$5 to a teenager" rule. - credentials: your logins, passwords, keys, and tokens. the thing attackers want most. - clear text (plaintext): information saved as plain readable text with no encryption, so anyone who opens the file can read it. - vibe coding: building software mostly by describing what you want to an ai and running what it gives you, rather than writing the code yourself. - second brain: a personal system, often ai-powered now, that stores and connects your notes so you can recall everything you've saved. - sme: small and medium-sized business. the people gaurav built strongkeep for. code riff: a podcast hosted by Eric Tan and Yaohong Ch'ng. we interview experts so you can use ai to flourish and have fun. - youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@CodeRiffAI - spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/53wI41qQXVTiydVjN7i4uB whether you run a small business or just build with ai and worry you're missing something, we hope this one leaves you feeling more equipped, not more behind.
