The Point of No Return

Why I Stepped Down as CEO of TalkTastic

There’s a scene in Gattaca: two brothers swimming out into the ocean, competing to see who can go the farthest. One was genetically engineered for greatness. The other was born “natural,” deemed inferior. Yet in these contests, he always won.

His secret?

"I never saved anything for the swim back."

That’s what building TalkTastic has been for me. For six years, I poured my heart and soul into this company. I loved it like a father loves a child. Total commitment.

We pivoted four times. Raised nearly $13 million. Burned through iPhones—literally—and built technology so far ahead of its time it burned Sam Altman’s hand. At the peak, in 2021, the company was valued at $100 million. We dreamed up interfaces that felt like telepathy—and we shipped a product that users genuinely love.

And in March 2025, I stepped down as CEO.

Yousif Astarabadi, my co-founder and friend, is taking over as CEO.

Why? As the company evolved, so did the codebase—layered, complex, and increasingly difficult for anyone to fully grasp. I saw the warning signs. I thought about making changes sooner. But I deferred, hoping we could grow through it.

By the time I made the call to fire the team, we were down to 90 days of cash. I threw everything I had at the problem—including building a multi-agent AI system to map the architecture, so I could vibe code it myself. It wasn’t enough.

That’s when I had to face the truth: it would be faster to start from scratch than to untangle what we’d built. And with time running out, I had a choice. I could spend god knows how long trying to fix a system I didn’t fully understand—or I could step aside, and let the person who built it carry it forward on his own terms.

That hurt. But it was the truth.

TalkTastic has a real community, strong retention, and—most importantly—user love. Some people record over 100 voice notes a day. I still get emails that stop me in my tracks. One user—paralyzed from the neck down—told me he uses TalkTastic with his feet. That it saves him hours. That it gives him freedom.

I designed the product. But Yousif built it. He understands the codebase inside and out. So I handed him the reins—because at that moment, the best way I could serve the mission was by stepping aside.

With full support from the board, I traded a chunk of salary for something more valuable: a perpetual license to the patents I created between 2019 and 2024. Nine issued. Four pending. Covering everything from context-aware voice interfaces to AI video avatars to decentralized biometric ID. Foundational technology that’s only now becoming technically feasible. Now I have the option to try again - with a clean slate.

TalkTastic isn’t dead. It’s evolving. And so am I.

I plan to tell the full story soon—from the phone melting prototypes of OASIS to the emergence of TalkTastic’s “dial up Neuralink” voice interface. It’s a wild tale of invention, stubbornness, and relentless belief in the future.

But for now, I just want to say thank you.

To the users who stuck with us.
To the engineers who made the impossible barely work.
And to the investors who backed me when backing me was not the obvious move:

Naval Ravikant
Cyan Banister & Founders Fund
Leo Polovets
Elizabeth Yin
Matt Ocko
Jesse Middleton & Flybridge
Chris Wake & Atypical
Rob Stavis
Packy McCormick
Ben Narasin
Siqi Chen

…and many others.

You didn’t just invest in a company. You invested in a vision of the future—one I still believe in with all my heart.

What’s next for me?

I’m stepping back. Taking stock. Trying to decide what lessons I want to learn from this crazy journey. Trying to see the world—and its many delicious problems—with a beginner’s mind again.

But I can promise you this: I left absolutely nothing for the swim back.