# Danny Castonguay

> Danny Castonguay is the Singapore-based co-founder and CEO of bld.ai, a software and AI services business. A McGill engineering graduate and MIT Sloan MBA, he previously worked at McKinsey and co-founded Kalibrr. His public writing connects product development, teaching, incentives and the responsibilities of ownership.

- **Role:** Co-founder and CEO at bld.ai
- **Organizations:** bld.ai, Kalibrr, McKinsey & Company, AntPortal, MIT Global Startup Labs
- **Education:** Undergraduate and master’s degrees in engineering, McGill University, MBA, MIT Sloan School of Management, Y Combinator
- **Known for:** Co-founded bld.ai and Kalibrr., Received a Legatum fellowship during his MIT MBA., Reported growing bld.ai to 500 members in 2022; the same retrospective reported 95% of members were contractors.

## Career timeline

- **2007-2010** — Worked at McKinsey & Company, according to his résumé.
- **2010** — Co-founded AntPortal before attending MIT Sloan; MIT later described its research-and-development accounting software.
- **2011-2013** — Studied for an MBA at MIT Sloan as a Legatum Fellow.
- **2012** — Taught entrepreneurship at the University of the Philippines Diliman through MIT’s AITI program.
- **2012-2013** — Co-founded Kalibrr and served as CTO.
- **2013-2017** — Returned to McKinsey; his résumé lists Expert Associate Partner as his title.
- **2018** — His résumé dates the start of his bld.ai founder and CEO role to 2018.
- **2023** — Published a retrospective reporting $14 million revenue and $3 million profit for bld.ai in 2022.
- **2025** — Discussed AI and teaching problem-solving with Coach Fegla at the ICPC World Finals in Baku.
- **2026** — Published essays on entrepreneurial education, accepting failure and organizational incentives.

## Achievements

- Co-founded bld.ai and Kalibrr.
- Received a Legatum fellowship during his MIT MBA.
- Reported growing bld.ai to 500 members in 2022; the same retrospective reported 95% of members were contractors.
- Helped recruit MIT students to support Kalibrr’s fundraising, market research and beta development in 2012.

## Latest updates

- **2026-09** — Published Letter to Ada on September 9, examining ownership, incentives and resistance to organizational change.
- **2026-08** — Published Rock Bottom on August 17, describing his practice of accepting possible failure before competitions and interviews.
- **2026-07** — Published part three of The Entrepreneurial Homeschool on July 12, focusing on creating things others want and judging their use.

## Links

- Website: https://dannycastonguay.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dannycastonguay/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/dannycast0nguay
- GitHub: https://github.com/dannycastonguay

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/danny-castonguay
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-27