AI on the actual codebase.
What engineering teams need beyond subscriptions: practical workflows, sandboxes, review gates, and personalized guidance.
Press & speaking
From the build
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Ivan on building companies, making technical decisions, and keeping people at the center of the work.
At a glance · October 2026
Ivan Smirnov
Founder, Smirnov Labs
- 5 years in engineering at Google
- Co-founder & CTO of Elude, acquired by Going
- 11 fractional CTO roles since founding Smirnov Labs
A short bio to copy
Ivan Smirnov spent five years as an engineer at Google and was co-founder and CTO of Elude, a venture-backed travel startup later acquired by Going (formerly Scott’s Cheap Flights). Since starting Smirnov Labs in 2024, he has held 11 fractional CTO roles.
Conversations worth having
From real work
to useful lessons.
AI on your own data.
When custom software and private infrastructure fit the business, and how to start with a useful first milestone.
Getting a stalled build moving.
How technical assessment, clear ownership, and a smaller delivery target help a team make progress.
On the mic
Listen in.
Take something away.
Around the Coin · Episode 317
Ivan Smirnov, CTO & Co-founder of Elude
A conversation about building Elude from the ground up — architecting a high-performance distributed microservices platform, raising venture capital, and the realities of being a founding CTO in travel-tech.
Founding CTO experienceDistributed systemsVenture-backed startupsTravel-tech
Listen on Around the Coin The Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur Show · Episode 1023
The future of tech and human-centric solutions
Ivan joins the show to discuss where technology is headed, how founders should think about building products people actually love, and the lessons from years inside Google and at the helm of early-stage startups.
Product philosophyFounder mindsetAI & emerging techCareer lessons
Listen on The Wantrepreneur Show For podcasts, panels & interviews
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