Data, Security, and Startups with Harish Chandramowli

My guest today is Harish Chandramowli, Co-founder & CTO of Flair software.

In this conversation, Harish talks about his journey from his early university days in India at Amrita University to leading roles in major companies like Bloomberg and MongoDB. He articulates his shift to a niche field combining software engineering with security, his experience at Johns Hopkins University, and his eventual move into cloud security engineering. 

Harish shares insightful narratives about his founding a small startup and the creation and development of Flair, a fashion tech platform, highlighting the challenges and triumphs he encountered. 

Topics include his approach to managing remote teams, dealing with the pressures of startup life, the challenges of prioritization, and maintaining a work-life balance. Harish also discusses the importance of understanding customer needs and integrating AI and security in product development.

Some of the topics covered are:

• Introduction and Early Career
• Graduate Studies and Early Professional Experience
• Career at Bloomberg and MongoDB
• Startup Journey and MongoDB Experience
• Transition to Flair and Early Challenges
• Insights on Security and AI
• Building Flair and Remote Team Management
• Empowering Engineers Through Customer Interaction
• Challenges of Managing Remote Teams
• Retention and Team Dynamics
• Balancing Startup Pressures and Personal Growth
• Navigating the Fashion Industry's Legal Landscape
• Building Global Products from India
• Staying Grounded Amidst Startup Challenges

Harish Chandramowli is a second-time founder who started his career in deeply technical roles—building cloud infrastructure and security at MongoDB. Over time, he evolved from shipping code to selling ideas—learning the language of customers, diving into sales-led discovery, and translating that into product strategy. Today, Harish blends technical depth with commercial instinct to build tools that solve real operational pain with clarity and impact