# Jaisen Mathai

> Personal site of Jaisen Mathai — entrepreneur and software engineer writing about faith, generosity, and building software. Previously led product at Google and founded multiple startups (including OpenPhoto/Trovebox). Author of Elodie, an open-source photo management tool.

## About
- [About this site](https://jaisenmathai.com/about/)
- [Generosity](https://jaisenmathai.com/generosity/): Systematizing radical generosity, inspired by Luke 12:13-21.
- [Startup journey (OpenPhoto/Trovebox)](https://jaisenmathai.com/openphoto-trovebox/)
- [Download Elodie](https://jaisenmathai.com/download-elodie/): Open-source photo management.

## Articles
- [Letters To My Kids](https://jaisenmathai.com/articles/letters-to-my-kids/): I’ve been writing letters to my kids for over a decade and will soon be handing them over. (2026-09-29)
- [Sojourn for iOS Was 45 One-Shot Prompts](https://jaisenmathai.com/articles/sojourn-for-ios-was-45-one-shot-prompts/): Sojourn was built as 45 closed GitHub issues, each one a single cold-start prompt. Here's what that process is good at, and where it falls apart. (2026-09-10)
- [Big Tech Wants To Be Your Bible Translator](https://jaisenmathai.com/faith-and-ai/big-tech-wants-to-be-your-bible-translator/): The most powerful seat in scripture has always been the one between you and the text. The engagement economy is quietly claiming it. (2026-09-01)
- [Getting People Out Of Chat And Into Scripture](https://jaisenmathai.com/faith-and-ai/getting-people-out-of-chat-and-into-scripture/): Sojourn's goal is to get you out of the chat and into scripture. AI should point you to something better than itself. (2026-08-25)
- [The Risk and Opportunity of AI for Faith](https://jaisenmathai.com/faith-and-ai/the-risk-and-opportunity-of-ai-for-faith/): AI is simultaneously the most powerful and most dangerous technology to reach our faith. Here's where it helps, where it hurts, and what research on screens and scripture can teach us. (2026-08-12)
- [Giving In To Generosity](https://jaisenmathai.com/generosity/giving-in-to-generosity/): Internalizing what the Bible says about sacrificial generosity. (2026-03-04)
- [My Ridiculously Robust Photo Management System (Immich Edition)](https://jaisenmathai.com/articles/my-ridiculously-robust-photo-management-system-immich-edition/): How I added Immich to my already robust photo management system to make it ridiculously robust. (2026-01-16)
- [Latent Product Development](https://jaisenmathai.com/articles/latent-product-development/): The best product ideas surface from a restful mind, not a 24-month roadmap. What makes room for latent thinking. (2025-01-05)
- [Life of a Blockchain Transaction - (Proof of Work)](https://jaisenmathai.com/articles/life-of-a-blockchain-transaction-proof-of-work/): The life and journey of a blockchain transaction. (2021-10-29)
- [How To Protect Your Photos From Bit Rot](https://jaisenmathai.com/articles/how-to-protect-your-photos-from-bit-rot/): Bit rot flips a bit silently, and you only find out when the photo won’t open. How checksums let you detect and repair it across a whole library. (2016-12-19)
- [One Year of Using an Automated Photo Organization and Archiving Workflow](https://jaisenmathai.com/articles/one-year-of-using-an-automated-photo-organization-and-archiving-workflow/): A year after putting every photo on autopilot: AirDrop it, and it gets de-duplicated, organized, and archived automatically. (2016-12-13)
- [My Automated Photo Workflow using Google Photos and Elodie](https://jaisenmathai.com/articles/my-automated-photo-workflow-using-google-photos-and-elodie/): How I pair Google Photos with Elodie to import, organize, and back up every photo and video without touching a folder. (2015-12-07)
- [Understanding My Need for an Automated Photo Workflow](https://jaisenmathai.com/articles/understanding-my-need-for-an-automated-photo-workflow/): Preserve, unify, experience — the three goals behind building a workflow for tens of thousands of photos and videos. (2015-12-01)
- [Introducing Elodie; Your Personal EXIF-based Photo and Video Assistant](https://jaisenmathai.com/articles/introducing-elodie-your-personal-exif-based-photo-and-video-assistant/): Elodie is an EXIF-based assistant that files your photos and videos into a predictable structure automatically. (2015-12-01)
- [Startup Acquisition Video Log](https://jaisenmathai.com/openphoto-trovebox/video-log/): Video log of the 6 months leading up to our startup being acquired. (2014-09-15)
- [My Shuttleworth Fellowship](https://jaisenmathai.com/articles/shuttleworth/): Thoughts on my 2 year Shuttleworth Fellowship (2014-09-11)
- [Timeline](https://jaisenmathai.com/openphoto-trovebox/timeline/): A timeline of my 3 year startup journey. (2014-09-10)
- [The Struggle](https://jaisenmathai.com/openphoto-trovebox/the-struggle/): Saying a startup is hard is generally a broad understatement. (2014-08-07)
- [My Support System](https://jaisenmathai.com/openphoto-trovebox/support/): Startup life isn't something you want to do alone. (2014-06-05)
- [UX Nirvana ~ Elegant Pagination with Infinite Scrolling](https://jaisenmathai.com/articles/ux-nirvana-elegant-pagination-with-infinite-scrolling/): Infinite scrolling usually breaks deep links and the back button. How we shipped it with pagination that actually works. (2014-04-04)
- [Hello 2014, Goodbye Consumer Photo Internet Service](https://jaisenmathai.com/articles/hello-2014-goodbye-consumer-photo-internet-service/): After spending 7 of the last 10 years founding startups in the consumer photo internet space, I’m saying goodbye. (2013-12-31)
- [The little known ($1,000,000) Shuttleworth Fellowship](https://jaisenmathai.com/articles/the-little-known-1-000-000-shuttleworth-fellowship/): The Shuttleworth Foundation funds people doing open, innovative work — the least known and most generous fellowship I know of. (2013-10-28)
- [Pivoting](https://jaisenmathai.com/openphoto-trovebox/the-pivot/): I knew sales would be important but didn't realize how important until I met a good sales person. (2013-05-02)
- [Road To Funding](https://jaisenmathai.com/openphoto-trovebox/fundraising/): Our path to fundraising took many detours and caused a lot more stress than I imagined. (2012-08-01)
- [My Best Day](https://jaisenmathai.com/openphoto-trovebox/best-day/): 15 months in the making. (2012-07-31)
- [My Worst Day](https://jaisenmathai.com/openphoto-trovebox/worst-day/): Our path to fundraising took many detours and caused a lot more stress than I imagined. (2012-03-02)
- [In The Beginning](https://jaisenmathai.com/openphoto-trovebox/beginning/): Filled with naivety and excitement I dove in head first. (2011-07-01)


## Links
- GitHub: https://github.com/jmathai
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/jmathai
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaisenmathai
- RSS/Atom feed: https://jaisenmathai.com/feed.xml