Blog

Hi, I’m Akshay

I’m a technical founder-turned-product leader, focused
on sparking kinship between humans & nature.

Explore my work

WindBorne

Head of Product|2025–2026

Making weather forecasts actionable.
Developed “agentic weather” capabilities that transform raw forecast data into personalized outlooks and critical decision-making tools.

Focal

Product Lead|2023–2025

Heating people, not spaces.
Built an autonomous electric spot heating system for outdoor hospitality businesses, cutting CO2 emissions by 80%.

Tangible (Acquired)

Co-Founder & CEO|2019–2023

Bringing physical coziness to video calls.
Invented a “teleportation pillow” that enabled 19,000+ couples & families to share hugs & feel immersively present over distance.

Conefinder

Designer|2024–2026

Easily classify any coniferous tree.
Created a mobile-friendly web app that enables on-the-go classification of tree species, with Audubon-inspired visuals.

Stikato

Product Designer|2018–2020

A music stand that sticks to walls.
Launched on Kickstarter while in college, scaled distribution on Amazon, achieved 10x return on initial investment.

Moonwalk

Inventor|2019–2020

Restoring mobility through touch.
Designed an open-source haptic feedback device to help individuals with nerve damage improve sense of balance while walking.

Tangible Teleportation

Startland News

Shawnee Mission East grad re-envisions how humans feel present over distance.

Reinventing The Music Stand

Ponoko

By combining engineering and artistry, a designer and musician solves a critical problem – and revolutionizes an industry.

Stanford Spotlight

The Odyssey

A portrait of a designer who spreads joy in ways that are immeasurable by Silicon Valley standards.

NYO-USA Alum Spotlight

Carnegie Hall

Akshay Dinakar talks about how his experience in music informs his work as a designer and entrepreneur.

I’m a designer / entrepreneur, passionate about shaping a more caring & sustainable world. My work explores how connected technology can bring people and our planet closer together.

I studied Product Design Engineering + Psychology at Stanford, and have 8 years of product leadership experience across climate + consumer tech. My specialty is blending design thinking with lean startup methodology to craft outrageously remarkable ideas & rapidly drive diverse teams to achieve product-market-fit.

My technical experience spans both hardware + software (I’ve designed dozens of PCBs and pushed hundreds of PRs), and my business experience stretches from early-stage customer discovery (needfinding + monetization experimentation) to post-PMF scaling (managing roadmaps + optimizing CAC + hiring product/growth teams). I love switching headspaces between big-picture strategy and nitty-gritty design execution, and feel most energized in environments where I can wear several hats at once.

Outside of work, I’ve dedicated much of my free time to researching and accelerating cross-disciplinary solutions to climate change. This has drawn me into a diversity of life experiences, including:

  • Sustainability-focused volunteering with Sunrise Movement
  • Studying abroad in Copenhagen, where I researched electrification
  • WWOOFing on an organic farm
  • Sharing nature-inspired musings on my blog, Chasing Kinship

When I’m not in designer-mode, you’ll likely find me recording pop violin covers, writing mini-mysteries, hanging rim on the basketball court, vibecoding climate concept art, crafting data visualizations, or sharing tales from my unforgettable experience raising a flock of backyard chickens.

If you’re building a kinship-focused climate solution, I’d love to connect!