Operators with a gate worth protecting, and the appetite to be early. One effect, one boundary, written results.
About
Coexisting with AGI is an infrastructure problem.
Keelson Labs was founded on a single bet: that the durable defense against adversaries operating at machine speed is not smarter software, but explicit, bounded, independently enforced authority, and that physical devices are what make presence and independence real.
The name
Why “keelson”
A keelson is the structural timber bolted on top of the keel, tying the hull to it. It is unseen, load-bearing, and the reason a vessel holds its course as the wind rises. That is the role we want in someone else’s system: not the thing you look at, the thing that keeps it from coming apart.
Where we are
Building the prototype
The first card-and-controller prototype is in development against one fully specified effect, and the milestone that matters is an external red team holding root on the host. We are recruiting a technical cofounder, four advisors, and the first design partners.
Founder
John Kanalakis
Founder & Chief Executive
Builds software products against incumbents by finding the gap they cannot fill. Shipped TrendsSpotter.
[Placeholder: two or three lines of background on prior companies, domain, and why this problem. Replace before launch.]
Open roles
Hired in the order the prototype needs them.
Remote-first, with quarterly onsites. Senior compensation and real equity; founders take below-market cash. If the open specification is the reason you are reading this, say so.
CTO & cofounder
seL4, capability systems or formal methods. Owns the authority model (accounting, authorization, safety) and the assurance case.
First hire
Founding secure-element engineer
JavaCard or secure-element firmware, PUF, card personalization. Builds the card.
Early
Founding systems engineer
Rust, microkernels, embedded. Builds the controller on seL4.
Early
Cryptography engineer
Challenge-response protocols, leases, post-quantum. Owns the token and lease protocol and the ledger’s commit path.
Following
OT / ICS security engineer
Has run a utility or plant network. IEC 62443 fluent, and customer-facing.
Following
Government & defense BD lead
Ex-DoD, DHS or CISA, with an active clearance and a DIU or AFWERX track record.
Following
Advisors. We are recruiting four: one from the seL4 or Trustworthy Systems community, one former bank CISO, one former utility or ISO operations leader, and one former DoD or DHS S&T program manager.
Contact
Get in touch.
Design partners
Engineers
Especially the technical cofounder. Bring an opinion about where our enforcement boundary is in the wrong place.
Investors and programs
The design brief and company build plan are available on request.
Keelson Labs · keelsonlabs.com