Jay Khatri

We’re about to simp for Jay Khatri – the guy’s a straight-up tech ninja with a wild story. He’s the kind of founder who’s been everywhere and crushed it in every gig, and now he’s running the show with Highlight.io, but it didn’t happen overnight.

So, Jay’s from Texas A&M – got his comp sci degree, right? Dude’s been grinding since day one. He kicked off his career doing stints at big names like Blackstone and Stryder, even was a Microsoft Student Partner – that’s when you start rubbing elbows with the big leagues. Then he jumped into Google, working on metadata stuff to make search smarter and fighting bad actors in the system – pretty key stuff, shows he’s got a nose for real-world problems.

But the real magic happened when he landed at DeepMind as a Research Engineer. Holy shit, that’s some serious AI cred. He was building ML training infrastructure for AlphaGo and AlphaStar – basically teaching machines to learn and play at superhuman levels. That’s advanced tech, and it shows he’s got the brain for modern stuff. You don’t just do that without being a total beast in machine learning and infrastructure.

In 2020, he jumped into Y Combinator’s S20 batch. That’s the real deal – a sign he’s not just playing around but serious about building something big. Then, in 2021, he co-founded Highlight.io, and by April 2025, he was running it as CEO. Highlight’s all about open source observability, making life easier for engineers who need full-stack monitoring and debugging tools. Think about it – when engineers are stuck and can’t figure out what’s wrong, Highlight is the lifeline. That’s a huge problem, and Jay saw it, jumped in, and built a platform that’s now catching fire.

What’s dope about Jay is that his process screams one thing: he’s obsessed with solving real problems with tech. From AI infrastructure at DeepMind to search and abuse prevention at Google, and now to developer tools that actually help engineers work smarter – he’s all about pushing tech forward and making it more accessible.

He’s also an angel investor, throwing cash into killer startups like OpenMeter, MagicPatterns, and Trigger.dev. He’s not just about building his own empire-he’s all in on lifting the whole system. He’s got his finger on the pulse of the future and is actively shaping it.

Bottom line? Jay’s not just some tech guy who got lucky. He’s a builder who’s been in the trenches, working on some of the coolest, most complex problems out there. His story’s about relentless hustle, deep technical chops, and a genuine passion for making tools that actually matter. That’s what makes him a total big change – a guy who’s been around, crushed it everywhere, and now is just getting started.