# Nikil Viswanathan

> Nikil Viswanathan is the co-founder and CEO of Alchemy, a blockchain developer platform he started with Joe Lau in 2017. Raised in Lubbock, Texas, he earned computer science degrees at Stanford, built consumer apps including Down To Lunch, and developed tools ranging from an airline check-in service to home automation projects. His public talks emphasize co-founder compatibility, rapid feedback, and enjoying the work of building.

- **Role:** Co-founder and CEO at Alchemy
- **Organizations:** Alchemy, Down To Lunch, Fountainhop, Stanford University, Facebook, Google, Microsoft
- **From:** Chicago, United States
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** B.S., Computer Science; artificial intelligence focus, Stanford University, M.S., Computer Science; artificial intelligence focus, Stanford University, High school; valedictorian, Lubbock High School
- **Known for:** Co-founded Alchemy in 2017; its February 2022 equity round valued the company at $10.2 billion., Co-created Down To Lunch, which reached No. 1 in the App Store’s social category and No. 2 overall., Named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 class of 2017.

## Career timeline

- **2008** — Program management internship on Microsoft’s Exchange Server team.
- **2009** — Associate product management internship at Google; created Fountainhop in December.
- **2010** — Completed Stanford undergraduate studies and worked on Fountainhop as a company.
- **2011** — Product management internship on Facebook’s messaging team.
- **2012** — Completed Stanford master’s degree; launched Check In To My Flight and received a cease-and-desist letter from Southwest.
- **2015** — Built Down To Lunch with Joe Lau.
- **2017** — Named to Forbes 30 Under 30; co-founded Alchemy with Joe Lau.
- **2020** — Alchemy opened its developer platform to the public in August.
- **2022** — Alchemy announced $200 million in new equity investment at a $10.2 billion valuation on February 8.
- **2023** — Returned to Stanford’s Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders series to discuss his entrepreneurial journey.
- **2026** — Co-presented Alchemy’s CoBuild keynote in April, with announcements including AgentCard and AgentPay.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Alchemy in 2017; its February 2022 equity round valued the company at $10.2 billion.
- Co-created Down To Lunch, which reached No. 1 in the App Store’s social category and No. 2 overall.
- Named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 class of 2017.
- Earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in computer science at Stanford.

## Latest updates

- **2026-09** — Joined Robinhood’s Johann Kerbrat and Pantera’s Franklin Bi for the Stateful episode Giving the World Access to US Stocks, released September 24.
- **2026-06** — Alchemy was included in Fortune’s inaugural Crypto 100, according to its newsroom entry dated June 10.
- **2026-04** — At the April 28 CoBuild event in New York, Viswanathan and Lau presented a keynote including AgentCard and AgentPay announcements.
- **2026-02** — Published a LinkedIn article dated February 24 about an AI assistant taking more than 1,000 actions a day.

## Links

- Website: https://nikil.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikilster
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/nikil
- GitHub: https://github.com/nikilster
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikil/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nikilster

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/nikil-viswanathan
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-25