QUCOXX

At QUCOXX, I lead the technology vision and execution, driving innovation and engineering excellence to empower SMEs worldwide.

Key contributions:
Technology & Product Strategy → Align engineering execution with business goals, ensuring scalability, security, and long-term resilience.
Leadership & Culture → Build and mentor high-performing teams, fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, and delivery.
Innovation & Growth → Shape the product roadmap and technical architecture of QUCOXX’s AI-powered platform for SME performance improvement.
Executive Collaboration → Partner with the founding team on strategic direction, investor engagement, and market positioning.
Business Impact → Translate complex technical strategies into clear business outcomes for customers, stakeholders, and partners.

Head of Engineering

Sanjeev Thapa UG

Supported startups and scaleups with technology strategy, engineering leadership, and fundraising preparation. Helped founders design scalable engineering orgs, build MVPs, and navigate technical due diligence.

Fractional CTO & Startup Tech Advisor

Aximpro Labs GmbH

- Led product innovation and technology strategy while scaling engineering organization establishing efficient delivery structures and cross-team collaboration
- Spearheaded development of enterprise SaaS AI platform (PartnerValue), driving strategic decisions
across cloud architecture, compliance, and legal requirements while managing high-value client
relationships
- Established modern engineering, cloud-native and DevOps practices enabling rapid prototyping and continuous
delivery, resulting in accelerated time-to-market and improved development efficiency
- Drove business growth through technical innovation and strategic client partnerships, achieving revenue milestone within the first year while maintaining high client satisfaction

Co-Founder/CTO

NYALA

Led the technology vision and strategy for a regulated fintech/Web3 platform managing €100M+ in digital assets. Partnered with the executive team on product innovation, compliance, and platform scalability, while strengthening investor and client confidence through technical due diligence and strategic partnerships.
- Defined technology roadmap and architecture for digital asset custody and trading solutions.
- Guided cross-functional initiatives improving platform resilience and customer experience.
- Collaborated on fundraising strategy and investor engagement, help driving company growth.

Chief Technology Officer

Established the engineering foundation for a regulated digital asset custody and tokenization platform, achieving product-market fit while ensuring compliance and security incidents.
- Built & scaled engineering organization and introduced modern DevOps/security frameworks.
- Reduced development cycles by 30% and downtime by 40% through data-driven practices.
- Launched custody and tokenization platform, securing trust and adoption in regulated markets.
- Drove engineering culture focused on quality, automation, and resilience.

VP of Engineering

Aximpro Innovations - Soundchat

As founding CTO of Soundchat (Aximpro spin-off), I built, led & scaled engineering organization, delivering a global entertainment/sound platform/apps that scaled across different markets.
– Established engineering, DevOps, and QA functions from the ground up, implementing efficient delivery processes and high-performing teams.
– Designed and launched a cloud-native, event-driven platform with AWS data lake powering recommendation systems.
– Implemented modern CI/CD pipelines enabling frequent, reliable releases across app stores while ensuring platform stability.
– Spearheaded technical due diligence for financing rounds, aligning product and technology strategy with investor expectations.

Aximpro 

Led technology strategy and delivery for enterprise clients (Dell, HPE, Vertiv), maintaining high platform
availability/scalibility
Established scalable engineering processes, reducing critical bugs and improving release & delivery
quality
Spearheaded strategic technical decisions and architecture evolution, resulting in faster
deployment frequency and reduction in production incidents
Built and managed high-performing engineering teams across different countries

Director Of Technology Services

Led distributed engineering teams across Germany and Nepal, driving cloud migration and DevOps transformation.
Reduced deployment time through modern DevOps practices.
Increased test coverage cutting regression issues significantly.
Established CI/CD pipelines, enabling frequent releases with higher success rate.
Transformed engineering operations with automation, improving incident resolution.

Head Of Software

Architected scalable solutions for enterprise clients, reducing system downtime
Developed technical roadmaps and migration strategies that reduced legacy system dependencies
Led implementation of microservices architecture, improving feature delivery speed and
reducing deployment bottlenecks
Established architecture patterns that reduced average implementation time for new features
while maintaining enterprise-grade reliability

Chief Software Architect

Cloudyfox

Co-founded and scaled a technology consulting firm to 50+ engineers, building global delivery capabilities and serving clients across the US and Europe.

- Built the engineering organization from the ground up, implementing agile practices and quality frameworks that drove 95%+ client retention across 100+ projects.
- Established a Cloud & DevOps Center of Excellence, delivering consistent enterprise-grade solutions with high quality and reliability.
- Drove technical strategy and innovation initiatives, positioning the company as a trusted partner for digital transformation.
- Oversaw growth from startup to international consultancy, strengthening client relationships and delivery reputation.

Co Founder / CTO

Broadway Infosys Nepal

Instructor - Advance Web Development

neolinx

DevOps Manager

Senior Full Stack Software Engineer

Global College of web engineering

Instructor - Diploma in Web Engineering

Experienced Tech Leader Seeking Engineering Leadership Role | Expert in Scaling Technology, Team Building, and People Management | Hands-On and Results-Driven

I build technology that scales: products, teams, and companies.

For over 15 years, I’ve been a 3x founder, CTO, and engineering leader, leading engineering teams, launching SaaS and AI platforms, and developing digital asset solutions in FinTech and beyond. I understand the messy middle, when the product ships, the team grows, and clarity becomes essential.

Today I serve as Head of Engineering at QUCOXX, where we are building an AI-powered platform that helps SMEs perform at their best. My role spans technology vision, product development, and engineering strategy, ensuring that execution aligns with business goals, remains scalable, and fosters innovation.

What drives me is turning complex technical strategies into tangible business outcomes. Whether it’s scaling infrastructure, shaping product roadmaps, or enabling growth, I focus on building systems that last.

Beyond QUCOXX, I stay connected to the startup ecosystem, sharing lessons learned as a founder and supporting entrepreneurs as they navigate growth and fundraising.

Your technical co-founder might not be your CTO.

(Stop forcing the title.)

I see this constantly:
→ Technical co-founder who built the MVP
→ Gets "CTO" title by default
→ Struggles as company scales
→ Eventually leaves or gets replaced

Why this happens:
→ Building an MVP ≠ building an organization
→ Writing code ≠ technical strategy
→ Being first ≠ being right for the role

Technical co-founder strengths:
→ Deep product knowledge
→ Fast execution
→ Scrappy problem-solving
→ 0-to-1 building

CTO requirements:
→ Business strategy thinking
→ Team building and leadership
→ Cross-functional communication
→ Systems thinking at scale

The hard truth:
Your best builder might not be your best leader.

Better options:
→ Keep them as Principal Engineer/Architect
→ Let them own technical excellence
→ Hire a CTO who complements their strengths
→ Or give them time and support to grow into the role

Forcing the title creates problems for everyone.

Have you seen this play out?

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Sanjeev Thapa

3x Technical Founder | Engineering Leader | Scaling AI & SaaS Solutions for SMEs | Head of Engineering @ QUCOXX

The fractional CTO trend isn't going away.

(There is much value in it.)

What I'm seeing in 2025:
→ More startups choosing fractional over full-time
→ Series A companies keeping fractional CTOs longer
→ Even growth-stage companies using fractional for specific challenges

Why the shift:

Cost reality:
→ Full-time CTO: €130k-250k + equity
→ Fractional: €5k-15k/month, no equity dilution
→ Get 80% of value at 30% of cost

Flexibility:
→ Scale up/down based on needs
→ Access expertise you can't afford full-time
→ No hiring risk if fit isn't perfect

Stage-appropriate:
→ Pre-seed to seed: Don't need full-time yet
→ Series A: Might need specific expertise, not general leadership
→ Growth: Fractional for special projects (M&A, platform rebuild)

What's changing:
→ Fractional isn't just for "can't afford full-time"
→ It's a strategic choice for efficient scaling
→ Companies keeping fractional CTOs alongside VPs/Head of Engineering

The future:
More specialized, less generalized technical leadership.

Are you seeing this trend in your network?

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Are you coachable?

(This determines how fast you grow.)

I've worked with excellent people.
Engineers. Managers. CTOs. Founders.

One thing was common in those who grew fastest:

They stayed coachable.

What it looks like:

Listen without defending:
→ Hear feedback fully
→ Ask clarifying questions
→ Thank people for honesty

Act on it:
→ Try suggestions even if skeptical
→ Report back results
→ Adjust based on what works

Seek it actively:
→ Ask "What could I improve?"
→ Request specific examples
→ Make it safe to be honest

The uncoachable pattern:
→ "Yes, but..." to every suggestion
→ Never change behavior
→ Defensive when challenged

Growth stops when you stop being coachable.
Especially as you become more senior.

How do you stay coachable?

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Head of Engineering at QUCOXX | 3x Founder & CTO / VP Engineering | Scaling AI & SaaS for SMEs

AI can write. AI can speak. AI can direct.

In the age of AI doing more communication:
The most valuable leadership skill is listening.

What AI does well:
→ Generate clear instructions
→ Write articulate messages
→ Create frameworks
→ Produce directives

What AI cannot do:
→ Hear what's not being said
→ Read emotional context
→ Build trust through presence
→ Make people feel understood

Real leadership moments:
→ Engineer hesitates before answering
→ Team member mentions something "small" repeatedly
→ Energy shifts when certain topics come up
→ Someone agrees too quickly

These signals require human attention.

The shift:
From the leader who talks the most
To the leader who notices most

Ask more. Listen deeper. Speak less.

Your competitive advantage isn't what AI can replicate.

How do you practice listening as a leader?

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Startup job postings are creative fiction.

(Here's the translation guide.)

Description: "Flat hierarchy" 
Reality: Founders make every decision anyway

Description: "Collaborative environment" 
Reality: 30 Slack channels, nobody reads any of them

Description: "Flexible hours" 
Reality: Work whenever you want, as long as it's 60+ hours

Description: "Stock options" 
Reality: Worthless paper unless we somehow exit

Description: "Move fast and break things" 
Reality: Break production, move slowly to fix it

Description: "Be part of something big" 
Reality: Explaining what we do to confused relatives

Description: "Competitive salary" 
Reality: 40% below market with "growth opportunity"

Still love it though.
Still addicted to building/creating sth.

Respect to all who are building.
Even more for those helping others build.

What's your favorite startup job description vs reality?

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AI impact isn't hitting everyone equally.

(Entry-level workers feeling it first.)

Why entry-level is vulnerable:
→ Tasks are more repetitive and automatable
→ Less specialized knowledge required
→ Companies using AI for routine work
→ Junior roles often the "learning" positions

The problem this creates:
→ Fewer entry points into careers
→ No junior roles = no path to senior roles
→ Career ladder starts breaking from bottom
→ Where do people learn the basics?

This matters for companies too:
→ Who develops into your senior talent?
→ How do you build institutional knowledge?
→ What happens when current seniors leave?

Short-term cost savings.
Long-term talent pipeline problem.

How are you thinking about junior hiring?

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I once spent 6 weeks building a feature.

(Customers said they wanted it).

Multiple weeks of development.

Shipped proudly.

Months later:

Usage analytics:

3% of users touched it.

Most used it once, never again.

What actually happened:

I asked: 
"What features do you want?"

Should have asked: 
"What problem are you trying to solve?"

The lesson:
Customers tell you what they think the solution is.

Your job is to understand the problem.

Now I ask:
→ "What are you trying to accomplish?"
→ "What's frustrating about the current way?"
→ "Walk me through the last time this was a problem."
→ "What would success look like?"

Then I decide what to build.

Have you built features nobody uses?

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Every technical decision I make goes through 3 filters.

(Learned this after expensive mistakes.)

Filter 1: Business Impact
→ Does this move us toward revenue goals?
→ Does it unblock a sales/growth bottleneck?
→ What happens to the business if we don't do this?

If no clear business impact, it's a nice-to-have.

Filter 2: Risk Assessment
→ What breaks if this fails?
→ Can we reverse this decision?
→ What's the cost of being wrong?
→ Do we have the skills to execute this?

High risk + unclear business value = don't do it.

Filter 3: Opportunity Cost
→ What are we NOT doing by choosing this?
→ Could this time/money create more value elsewhere?
→ Is this the highest leverage use of resources?

The framework prevents:
→ Building for imaginary scale
→ Choosing "cool tech" over business value
→ Ignoring risks until they blow up

What framework do you use for technical decisions?

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You don't need a full-time CTO yet.

(But you need technical guidance.)

Here's how to structure a technical advisory board:

Who to include (3-5 people):

Strategic CTO: Someone who's scaled startups 0-100
Role: Overall technical strategy, hiring guidance

Domain Expert: Specific to your industry (fintech, healthcare, etc.)
Role: Regulatory, compliance, industry-specific challenges

Former Investor/Operator: Seen many tech stacks succeed/fail
Role: Pattern recognition, avoiding common mistakes

Specialists: Based on your needs (AI, mobile, infrastructure)
Role: Deep dive on specific technical challenges

How can one structure it:

Commitment:
→ 2-4 hours/month per advisor
→ Quarterly in-person/video sessions
→ Ad-hoc Slack/email for urgent questions

Compensation:
→ advisory equity with some vesting
→ Or small monthly cash
→ Or a mix of both

What you get:
→ Strategic technical decisions reviewed
→ Hiring plan validation
→ Architecture review before major builds
→ Vendor/technology selection guidance
→ Network access for key hires

When to do this:
→ Pre-seed to seed stage
→ Before hiring a full-time CTO
→ When technical decisions have high stakes
→ When the founder isn't technical

Red flags to avoid:
→ Too many advisors (noise, not signal)
→ All from the same background (echo chamber)
→ No clear meeting structure (wasted time)
→ Not acting on advice (why have them?)

This bridges the gap between "winging it" and "hiring a CTO."

Have you used technical advisors? How did it work?

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Hiring advice: Hire people better than you.

(But what does this actually mean?)

"Better than you" doesn't mean:
→ Better at everything
→ More years of experience
→ More prestigious background

"Better than you" means:
→ Better at specific skills you lack
→ Stronger in areas you're weak
→ Different perspective that challenges yours

The goal isn't to feel inferior.
It's to build a complete team.

If everyone you hire is "worse" than you, 
You've built a team of your weaknesses.

Hire for complement, not clone.

What skill are you missing on your team?

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New Brookings research checked the AI job loss predictions.

(Results might surprise you.)

Since ChatGPT launched (Nov 2022):
→ No significant shift in job categories
→ No wave of AI-displaced workers

Headlines predicted major disruption.

Data shows: Job mix unchanged

Why the gap?

Adoption is slower than expected:
→ Privacy and security concerns
→ Liability risks in regulated industries  
→ Companies testing, not fully deploying
→ What AI can do ≠ what companies actually use

History repeats:
Computers and internet took decades to reshape work.
AI following similar pattern.

Source: Brookings Institution analysis of labor market data

What AI changes are you seeing at your company?

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Release notes aren't just for customers.

(They're powerful internal tools.)

Most teams write release notes for:
→ External customers
→ Support teams
→ Product updates

What they're missing:
Internal recognition and visibility.

How to use release notes internally:

For the team:
→ Shows their work matters
→ Creates visible impact
→ Celebrates shipped features
→ Builds momentum

For the company:
→ Sales sees what's new to sell
→ Marketing knows what to promote
→ Leadership sees progress
→ Other teams discover capabilities

What to include:
→ Why we built it (business context)
→ What problem does it solve
→ Who worked on it (credit the team)
→ Impact metrics when available

The shift:
From "documentation requirement"
To "internal communication tool"

Your team's good work deserves visibility.
Not just bug fixes in a changelog.

Release notes can be that.

How do you share team wins internally?

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Everyone wants to remove middle management.

(But neither side is ready.)

The push:
→ Flat engineering organizations
→ Self-managing teams
→ Direct IC to executive communication

The reality check at the bottom:
Can your engineers:
→ Negotiate scope directly with product managers?
→ Translate technical constraints into business impact?
→ Prioritize between customer bugs and tech debt?

The reality check at the top:
Can your Heads, VPs, and directors:
→ Break down vision into executable tasks?
→ Communicate directly with individual engineers?
→ Understand ground-level technical constraints?
→ Make decisions without manager input?

Both ends rely on middle management.
Engineers need translation upward.
Executives need translation downward.

Neither were trained to work without that layer.

Remove middle management?

First train both ends for direct communication.

Otherwise, 
You've just created a gap nobody can bridge.

What skill is missing at your level?

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We started "Open Hours" at my previous company.

(Best thing we did.)

Simple concept:
→ Weekly session, open to everyone
→ Anyone can present any topic
→ Could be work-related or not
→ No agenda, no mandatory attendance
→ Share knowledge, ask questions, learn together

Recent topics:
→ How we solved a scaling challenge
→ Intro to machine learning basics
→ Lessons from a failed project
→ New tech stack someone is exploring
→ Even hobby projects that teach something

Why it works:
→ Not mandatory = people want to be there
→ Any topic = keeps it interesting
→ Open to all = breaks down silos
→ Regular timing = builds habit

The shift:
From forced presentations to organic learning.

Cost: 1 hour/week
Impact: Teams actually sharing knowledge

Try it. Keep it simple. Make it optional.

Do you have something similar?

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Management layers created the problem.

(But hear me out - removing them won't fix it.)

I've watched this happen at multiple companies.

Managers slowly became gatekeepers.
Engineers stopped talking to customers.
Context got filtered through too many people.
Teams just waited for orders.

The damage? Huge.

But the trendy solution - "product engineers" or going flat?
That's just not it either.

What actually works:
Better managers.

Not fewer managers.
Better ones.

Good managers do this:
→ They enable, don't block
→ They share context, don't hoard it
→ They coach decisions instead of making every call
→ They connect their people to customers

It's a shift.
From control to enablement.

Train your managers to make their teams stronger.
Not dependent on them.

The layer wasn't the problem.
How the layer worked was.

Simple question:
Are your managers enabling or gatekeeping?

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