Aditya Rao
Co-Founder & CEO, YashOrbit
Leading YashOrbit's mission to bring senior-level engineering and applied AI expertise to businesses that need more than advice — they need something built.
Aditya Rao
Co-Founder & CEO
Engineer turned founder, still writing architecture reviews himself — Aditya leads YashOrbit's strategy while staying closer to the technical work than most CEOs do.
Professional biography
Aditya started his career as a backend engineer, spending over a decade shipping infrastructure at two mid-sized software companies before founding YashOrbit in 2026 with a simple frustration: too many good businesses were getting mediocre software because they couldn't access senior engineering talent.
Today he splits his time between company strategy and staying close to the technical work itself, reviewing architecture decisions on major client engagements and personally shaping the applied AI practice's technical direction alongside the Head of AI.
Leadership philosophy
How Aditya approaches leading a technical team.
Lead From the Technical Details
"I still review architecture decisions on our biggest engagements — you lose the ability to make good calls the moment you're too far from the actual work."
Default to Trust, Verify With Data
"I'd rather give someone real ownership and check outcomes than approve every decision along the way."
Say the Hard Thing Early
"Most project failures I've seen were visible six weeks before they became a crisis — nobody wanted to say it out loud."
Hire for Judgment, Not Just Skill
"Technical skill is teachable. Knowing when to push back on a bad requirement usually isn't."
Vision for the company
I want YashOrbit to be the team a founder or CTO calls before anyone else, not because we're the cheapest option, but because working with us removes a category of worry from their job entirely. That means staying senior-heavy as we grow, saying no to work that doesn't fit our strengths, and treating AI as a core engineering discipline rather than a marketing bullet point.
“Every business we work with is trusting us with something that matters to them — their product, their customers, their reputation. That's not a responsibility I take lightly, and it's the same standard I hold our entire team to, on every engagement, regardless of size.”
Professional journey
From backend engineer to founder, and the early days of building something new.
01. Backend Engineer, Early Career
2012–2025- Shipped infrastructure at two mid-sized software companies
- Learned the cost of poor architecture decisions firsthand
02. Founded YashOrbit
2026- Assembled the founding engineering team
- First client projects delivered
03. Building the Applied AI Practice
2026- Hired the first AI specialists
- Delivered first production ML engagement
04. Launching Industrial Training
2026- Built an early talent pipeline through cohort-based programs
05. Leading the Team Today
2026- Overseeing the founding team
- Personally involved in every client architecture review
Career milestones
A quick look at the numbers behind the journey.
Experience & expertise
Backend & Systems Architecture
14+ years designing systems that hold up under real production load, not just a demo.
Applied AI Strategy
Guiding where AI genuinely creates business value versus where it's just a trend to chase.
Startup Operations, From Scratch
Hands-on experience standing up a services company from the ground up, now building out the founding team.
Client Relationship Leadership
Personally involved in scoping and overseeing the company's most complex engagements.
Key achievements
A few of the milestones Aditya has led YashOrbit through.
Built the YashOrbit Founding Team
Assembled a small, senior founding team to deliver on day-one client commitments.
Launched the Applied AI Practice
Took the company from zero AI experience to an early practice delivering production ML and generative AI systems.
Built the Industrial Training Program
Created a cohort-based training initiative to build an early talent pipeline for the company.
Innovation & technology leadership
Personally Reviews AI Architecture
Stays hands-on with major AI implementation decisions rather than delegating strategy entirely.
Champions Internal R&D Time
Pushed to carve out dedicated prototyping time for engineers outside of billable client work.
Early Adopter, Careful Shipper
Evaluates emerging tools quickly but insists on production-readiness before client-facing use.
Business growth & strategy
Senior-heavy Hiring, By Design
Is prioritizing experienced hires over rapid headcount growth from day one, even when it means slower early expansion.
Diversifying Beyond Project Work
Led the move into Industrial Training as a second, complementary revenue line from the start.
Disciplined Client Selection
Has already turned down work that didn't fit the company's strengths, even when it was lucrative.
Long-term Relationships Over Short-term Margin
Prioritizes long-term client and employee relationships over maximizing any single quarter.
Core values
The personal operating principles behind how Aditya leads, distinct from YashOrbit's company-wide values.
Do the Unscalable Thing First
Personally involved in early client conversations and major technical decisions, even now.
Numbers Don't Replace Judgment
Uses data to inform decisions, not as a substitute for actually thinking them through.
Reputation Compounds
Treats every engagement as something that will be remembered, good or bad, long after it ends.
Stay a Practitioner
Still writes and reviews code personally, refusing to become purely a business-side executive.
Media mentions
Placeholder entries — replace with actual coverage once available.
[Publication Name] — Feature Interview
[Placeholder description — e.g. a discussion of applied AI adoption for mid-market companies.]
[Publication Name] — Founder Spotlight
[Placeholder description — replace with the actual publication and topic once available.]
Community & social impact
Mentoring Early-stage Founders
Regularly advises early-stage technical founders navigating their first engineering hires.
Supporting Local Tech Education
Contributes to community coding workshops in the regions where YashOrbit's team is based.
Diversity in Engineering Hiring
Champions hiring pipelines that reach beyond traditional, well-networked candidate pools.
Pro-bono Project Support
Occasionally allocates team time to nonprofit and community-organization projects.
Personal insights
On Work-life Balance
"I've learned the hard way that a tired team makes worse decisions than a well-rested one — sustainable pace isn't a nice-to-have."
On Continuous Learning
"I still spend a few hours most weeks reading code and papers outside of anything we're actively building — staying sharp isn't optional in this industry."
Outside of Work
Spends time mentoring, reading widely outside of tech, and staying involved in local community initiatives.
Advice to Aspiring Founders
"Get uncomfortably close to the actual work for longer than feels necessary before you delegate it away."
Frequently asked questions
He's not involved in every project, but he personally reviews architecture decisions on the company's most complex or highest-stakes engagements.
Want to talk with our leadership team?
For complex or high-stakes engagements, we're glad to bring Aditya directly into the conversation.