Why I Teach Leadership

I didn't start teaching this because I had it all figured out. I started because I kept watching the same problems repeat across teams: feedback nobody wanted to give, goals nobody had actually agreed on, and one-on-ones that were really status updates in disguise.

Most of it wasn't a talent problem. It was a framework problem. Nobody had handed these managers a clear, practical way to think about the work.

Leadership often gets treated as innate or mystical. I don't buy either version. The leaders I've seen do this well use repeatable principles for listening, feedback, decisions, and building teams that don't fall apart when they look away. Those skills can be taught and practiced.

I'm David Khachatryan. I bring 15+ years of software engineering and leadership experience. At ServiceTitan, I progressed from Senior Software Engineer to Software Engineering Manager, leading teams and major platform initiatives. I later built and led an engineering organization serving international SaaS companies.

Today, through Octa Labs, I work as a fractional Head of Engineering, combining engineering leadership with hands-on product and engineering execution for seed and Series A startups that need experienced support but aren't ready for a full-time hire yet.

Leadership is the thread that runs through both halves of my work. This site is where I teach it directly (four cohorts and 80+ students so far) and write about it. (For the more technical side of what I build, that's davidsblueprint.com.)

Right now that means splitting time between hands-on engineering leadership at a handful of startups and running this curriculum with small cohorts, writing up what I'm learning on the blog as I go. If you want the full breakdown of what I actually teach, start with the Leadership page.