FOUNDER & CEO · AI SYSTEMS ARCHITECT
Founder of SISTA AI, the company behind Sistava
Why I founded Sistava
I’m Mahmoud Zalt, founder and CEO of SISTA AI, the company behind Sistava. For more than 16 years, I have worked across business, product, and technology, turning ambitious ideas into reliable software, helping startups build and scale, and leading the architecture of complex systems. During that time, I have built over 100 projects, supported tens of startups, and mentored hundreds of engineers.
My track record is public
My open-source work includes Laradock, which has surpassed 5 million downloads worldwide, and Apiato, used by agencies and engineering teams to build modular API platforms. I also created Porto SAP, a software architecture methodology for designing large systems that remain maintainable as they grow.
The system I needed
Sistava began with a problem I experienced firsthand: I had more products, ideas, and responsibilities than one person could keep moving forward. From my earliest AI products, the vision was to build a persistent, context-aware assistant that could understand goals, work alongside people, and make progress with less direction. Over time, that vision evolved into Sistava: AI employees that retain context, integrate with every tool, execute complete workflows, and take responsibility for measurable work. It is the system I needed for myself, built for other founders and businesses facing the same limits.
Building responsibly
Building this responsibly requires more than access to AI models. It requires a deep understanding of product development, software architecture, infrastructure, reliability, security, governance, and how businesses actually operate. Sistava is where my experience across all of those areas comes together.
SISTA AI
SISTA AI has been independently operated and bootstrapped since December 2022 and is registered in the Netherlands under KvK 90724933. In January 2026, I began building Sistava as the company’s next major product and the clearest expression of the vision I had been working toward for years. As the solo founder, I lead the company’s strategy, product, technology, and long-term direction, supported by a team of my own AI employees across development, research, marketing, customer support, and internal operations. In that sense, Sistava is not only the product we offer customers, but also the operating model behind the company itself. My AI employees take on an increasing share of the work, while I remain accountable for every decision, commitment, and outcome.
Transparency
Transparency is central to how I operate the company. Through Sistava’s open company, I publicly share our progress, metrics, decisions, and lessons. I publish insights and research on how AI employees work in practice, personal articles on my blog, and ongoing updates and perspectives on LinkedIn. I also create practical courses and learning material through the AI Academy and documented my approach to building reliable software with AI in Vibe Coding with Confidence. The goal is to demonstrate, through a real operating business, what AI employees can responsibly accomplish before asking other companies to trust them with their own work.