We Are the Product: Krish Jajoo on Social Media, Silicon Valley Pressure, and Why Human Connection Still Wins

Krish Jajoo grew up in Fremont. His high school produced Gary Tan, the CEO of Y Combinator. His friends' parents ran FAANG companies. He says the pressure was so baked in he didn't even notice it until high school, when the whole valley started competing for the same colleges, the same internships, the same air.

In this Still Human conversation, Krish talks through something most twenty-year-olds with a stacked LinkedIn don't admit: he didn't choose computer science because he loved it. He chose it because he was a self-described people person who knew his weakness was technical, and he wanted both. He wanted to be a double-edged sword. He's still working on it. He still has the mental block. He still feels like the wrong person in the room sometimes, and he uses that as the fuel.

"We Are the Product"

If you don't pay for the platform, the advertisers do — and you're not the customer, you're the inventory being sold. Krish's framing of the attention economy isn't theoretical, and it lands harder than the usual critique because he doesn't moralize about it. The fact that the platform makes money from your attention isn't outrage-worthy on its own. What's outrage-worthy is that we keep using it without naming the trade.

The Reels Test

Try this: ask any friend to name three Instagram Reels they watched yesterday. They can't. Krish does this regularly. The fact that the experience leaves no memory is the whole point — short-form video is engineered for engagement, not for retention. The platforms are getting better at this faster than we're getting better at noticing.

The Y-Combinator Effect

Krish grew up in Fremont. His high school produced Y Combinator's CEO. His friends' parents ran FAANG companies. He didn't notice the pressure until high school, by which point it had already shaped which questions he asked of himself and which paths felt acceptable. The "Y-Combinator Effect" is what he calls that invisible-until-too-late layer — when the environment shapes identity, not just ambition.

The People Person Who Chose CS

Most people sharpen their strengths and avoid their weaknesses. Krish did the opposite: he was already comfortable with people and chose computer science precisely because he wasn't comfortable with code. The goal from day one was a double-edged sword — technical depth and human depth carried at the same time. He's still working on the technical edge. He still gets the imposter feeling. He uses it as fuel rather than letting it freeze him.

Walk Into Rooms Where You're the Dumbest Person

Krish credits the JPMorgan healthcare conference as one of the rooms that compounded him fastest. The principle is simple and uncomfortable: choose to be the least-qualified person at the table, regularly. Most growth advice optimizes for being prepared. His version optimizes for being exposed to people who are years ahead, even when you can barely follow the conversation.

Selfless, But Not a Doormat

The line Krish's parents gave him: give selflessly, but don't be a doormat. It's a tighter rule than it sounds. "Selflessly" without the "not a doormat" clause becomes self-erasure. "Not a doormat" without "selflessly" becomes scorekeeping. The work is staying on the narrow path between the two ditches, especially when one side starts to feel safer than the other.

Show Notes

Krish Jajoo is a sophomore at Santa Clara University, the leader of AI Collaborate, and the co-founder of a financial literacy organization for special needs students and underserved kids. He grew up in Fremont — a high school that produced Gary Tan — and uses that backdrop to explain how the Silicon Valley pressure cooker actually shapes identity rather than just ambition. His sharpest moment in the conversation is on the attention economy: if we're not paying for it, we're the product. The advertisers are the customer. He has the receipts — he asks every friend to name three Instagram reels they watched yesterday, and nobody can. For the Still Human audience, Krish is the guest who reframes "people skills" as a moat in the AI era, and shows what selfless leadership looks like without becoming a doormat.

Articles & Research

No external research was cited in this episode.

Tools & Resources

Relevant to this episode:

• AI Collaborate (Santa Clara University) — The student community Krish leads; a hands-on testing ground for his ideas about technical depth and human leadership in equal measure
• Financial literacy outreach — Krish's co-founded org serving special needs students and underserved kids; the Patelco Credit Union moment he describes is the near-collapse and recovery
• Y Combinator (the cultural force, not the program) — How YC functions as a benchmark for "success" in the valley, and what it costs the people who measure themselves against it
• The attention economy / short-form video — Krish's framing for why social media platforms turned a generation into the product
• J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference — Referenced as an example of walking into rooms where you're the dumbest person and using that as fuel rather than fleeing it

Related Still Human Episodes

You might also enjoy:

• Execution Culture — Sean Wu on Raising $2M for Robotics & the Sim-to-Real Gap — Another conversation about high-stakes environments and what they actually build in you — oshenstudio.com/episode/execution-culture-sean-wu-synphony-robotics
• Build Before You're Ready — Andrey Marey on High-Agency, Discipline & Refusing AI With Friends — Andrey's high-agency framework and the line he won't let AI cross — oshenstudio.com/episode/high-agency-andrey-marey-student-founder

People Mentioned

• Gary Tan — CEO of Y Combinator; Krish references him as a graduate of the same Fremont high school, used as a marker for the ambient pressure of growing up in the valley

Key Takeaways

• "We are the product." If you're not paying for the platform, the advertisers are. Krish's framing for why the attention economy isn't neutral background — it's a market with you as inventory.
• The reels test. Ask a friend to name three Instagram reels they watched yesterday. Nobody can. The fact that the experience leaves no memory is the point.
• Choose CS to fix the weakness, not sharpen the strength. Krish picked computer science because he was already a people person and wanted the other side too. The double-edged sword was the goal from day one.
• Walk into rooms where you're the dumbest person. Krish credits JPMorgan's healthcare conference as the kind of room that compounds you fastest, even — especially — when you're not ready for it.
• Give selflessly, but don't be a doormat. The line his parents gave him; the philosophy he tries to run on without sliding into either ditch.
• The CS curriculum hasn't caught up to AI. Writing code on paper in 2026 is the symptom. The deeper question is what understanding code actually gives you that AI can't replace.
• Pressure becomes invisible when it's the water you swim in. Growing up in Fremont, Krish didn't notice the Silicon Valley pressure cooker until high school. By then it was already shaping every decision.

In This Episode

• "We are the product" — Krish's sharpest moment on social media, the attention economy, and why the advertiser is the customer
• The reels test — How three Instagram reels nobody can name reveals what the platforms are actually optimizing for
• The Y-Combinator Effect, from the inside — Growing up where the CEO of YC went to your high school, and how the ambient pressure shapes identity rather than just ambition
• The people person who chose CS — Why Krish picked computer science to fix his weakness rather than sharpen his strength, and the "double-edged sword" goal that came out of it
• Imposter syndrome and the wrong-person-in-the-room — A specific, honest conversation about the mental block, and why he uses that feeling as fuel
• Financial literacy for special needs and underserved kids — Why Krish co-founded the org, and the Patelco Credit Union moment that almost ended it
• Code on paper in 2026 — What it's actually like writing CS exams by hand in the AI era, and his honest take on a curriculum lag
• Walk into rooms where you're the dumbest person — JPMorgan's healthcare conference and what it taught him about compounding faster than you're comfortable with
• Selfless, but not a doormat — The philosophy Krish's parents instilled in him, and how he tries to run it without losing himself

About Krish Jajoo

Krish Jajoo is a sophomore at Santa Clara University, the leader of AI Collaborate, and the co-founder of a financial literacy organization that serves special needs students and underserved kids. He grew up in Fremont — same high school as Y Combinator CEO Gary Tan — which gave him an early, embodied view of how the Silicon Valley pressure cooker actually works on a person before it works on a career. He calls himself a people person and chose computer science to fix his weakness rather than sharpen his strength: the goal was a double-edged sword, technical depth and human depth carried at the same time. His sharpest moment in this conversation is on the attention economy — if we're not paying for it, we're the product — and his frame for the AI era is simple: walk into rooms where you're the dumbest person, give selflessly without being a doormat, and don't let the platforms run the operating system in your head. For the Still Human audience, Krish is the guest who turns "people skills" from a soft phrase into a moat.

Connect With Krish Jajoo

• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/krish-jajoo
• Watch the episode: youtube.com/watch?v=1jBZ1yflBgA

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