$360 / month
2 calls per month (60min/call)
Unlimited Q&A via chat
Expect responses in 2 days
Hands-on support
No spots left, but you can save the mentor to your wishlist to get notified about their open spots!
I'm a technical co-founder building a B2C generative AI startup (currently in stealth). Before that, I spent 8 years at Google building the modern YouTube.com frontend and backend, serving on the core web committee, and shipping major product features. I then spent 4 years at Waymo as an L6 engineer focusing on ML/generative AI systems and was part of the San Francisco autonomous vehicle rollout.
I'm also the creator behind one of the most popular open-weight text-to-image models (300M+ generations, 1M+ downloads - I'll share which one when we chat).
Over my 12 years in big tech, I climbed from L3→L4→L5→L6 and conducted 100+ technical interviews.
🎯 What I Can Help You With
💼 If you're aiming for roles at top tech companies:
🦄 Breaking into FAANG/top-tier companies (L3 through L6)
🦄 Technical interview preparation (systems design, coding, behavioral)
🦄 Understanding what matters for leveling and promotions
🦄 Navigating culture and org dynamics at Google (YouTube vs. Cloud vs. Ads are very different internally)
🦄 Hiring strategy: getting hired at senior levels vs. how AI tools are changing junior expectations
🦄 Career pathing and strategic moves
🦄 International hiring and US immigration (directly hired from Russia to Google - happy to discuss recent H-1B changes)
🦄 Relocating to the Bay Area and navigating tech hubs
🦄 Direct referrals and introductions to FAANG companies and leading Gen AI/Robotics startups for strong candidates
🚀 If you're building an AI/ML startup:
🦄 Technical architecture for generative AI products at scale
🦄 Navigating the AI tech landscape: choosing models, APIs, hosting, and avoiding expensive mistakes
🦄 Training and deploying large models
🦄 Setting up technical foundations: infrastructure and tooling
🦄 Hiring your first technical team
🦄 Co-founder dynamics and division of responsibilities
🦄 Balancing product velocity with technical excellence
🦄 Fundraising preparation from a technical founder's perspective
✨ My Approach
I adapt to what you need - tactical interview prep, strategic career guidance, or technical architecture discussions. I'm direct when you need honest feedback, supportive when you need encouragement.
💡 Fun fact: If you use dark mode on YouTube, I built that. I also led the world's largest WebP rollout - as featured in Ars Technica https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/04/cheaper-bandwidth-or-bust-how-google-saved-youtube/
🎥 See me explain the YouTube.com rebuild: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4l86SKBtMs
5 out of 5 stars
I really enjoyed my resume session with Mikhail. His process is very thorough and collaborative, starting with understanding your background and career goals before creating a new version of the resume and incorporating your feedback along the way. Great care was taken with every line of the resume to clearly frame the impact employers are looking for. He also took the time to answer all of my questions while providing thoughtful feedback on my job search approach. Throughout the process, he remained fully invested in helping me succeed and consistently went above and beyond to ensure I’m in the best position to land my next role.
Session: Resume Feedback
Notify me when Mikhail has new spots
We will send you a quick email if Mikhail has new open spots for mentorship, and only in that case!
Book a free intro call with Mikhail
Connect with Mikhail in a quick call (usually under 30 minutes)
What's included in the trial?
Every trial is a little different–here's what Mikhail says about their trial:
We'll meet for a quick call (usually under 30 minutes) where we:
- Break the ice and introduce ourselves
- Discuss your goals and how I can support you
- Coordinate logistics like time zones, meeting frequency, and communication methods
