Hardik Pandya is SVP of design, research and taste at Pocket FM. He writes about product design and leadership and builds small open-source experiments, including Stop Slop, a writing skill, and Solari, a browser recreation of a mechanical split-flap display.[1][2][3][4]
Start with Stop Slop →
X Career
Pandya began his design career at Instamojo after sharing redesigns online. His work later included Google Cloud and Search, leadership at Unacademy and Atlassian, and his current Pocket FM role. He describes progressing from director to VP and then SVP during his Unacademy tenure, while continuing to participate directly in design work.[2][6][7]
Contributions
Turn writing preferences into a reusable review skill
Stop Slop supplies instructions, reference lists and before-and-after examples for revising prose. It targets predictable phrasing and structures, including repeated contrasts, vague emphasis and formulaic rhythms. A scoring rubric asks the model to assess directness, rhythm, trust, authenticity and density. Pandya presents it as a skill usable with existing models, rather than a detector that can prove whether text was generated.[3]
Recreate the behavior of a physical display
Solari simulates a split-flap board with HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Each character cycles forward through intermediate symbols, decelerates toward its destination and produces a synthesized mechanical click. The code fits in a single HTML file, and the interface includes theme controls. His account describes building it with Claude after a friend shared a reference.[4]
Ideas
In his account of how he operates, Pandya emphasizes frequent design exchanges, preparation, detailed feedback and protecting focused work. He describes remaining hands-on through successive leadership roles. The approach connects responsibility for a team’s direction with attention to the small decisions that shape the product a person actually uses.[7]
Tools, writing & talks
Tools
Start here
Stop Slop
github.comA writing-revision skill with instructions, pattern references, examples and a scoring rubric.
Read the examples and rubric, then try the skill on a short draft whose voice you already know. Use the output as editing suggestions; decide which changes improve the intended reader’s experience instead of applying every rule mechanically.
Author[1][3]Original source
Apps
- Solari split-flaphvpandya.com
An open-source browser display with sequential character flips and synthesized mechanical sound.
Developer using Claude[4]
Writing, research & talks
- Proof of workhvpandya.com
Pandya’s account of design leadership and the working practices he expects from a team.
Author[7]