Fake fired Twitter worker ‘Rahul Ligma’ is a real engineer with an AI data startup used by Harvard

The greeting aft Elon Musk’s 2022 acquisition of Twitter (now X), reporters encountered 2 men with boxes extracurricular the company’s headquarters. One introduced himself arsenic precocious laid-off Twitter technologist “Rahul Ligma.” 

His existent sanction is Rahul Sonwalker but the prank went viral. He piled connected his character’s notoriety erstwhile helium went to the Bahamas to play a laid-off FTX worker close aft that cryptocurrency speech imploded.

While helium ne'er worked for X oregon FTX, helium is really precise overmuch a techy. He spent respective years moving arsenic an technologist astatine Uber. 

He  adjacent went done Y Combinator astatine that clip moving connected a logistics startup that helium aboriginal scrapped earlier pivoting.  

The present 27-year-old wants to gully attraction to his much superior endeavor: Julius, the AI information expert startup helium founded astir 2 years ago. 

The tool, which tin analyse and visualize extended datasets and execute predictive modeling from earthy connection prompts, has attracted implicit 2 cardinal registered users.

“I wanted to physique thing that would marque information subject precise accessible to everyone,” Sonwalker told TechCrunch.

While immoderate of Julius’ functionality is besides disposable connected ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude and Google’s Gemini, Iavor Bojinov, an adjunct prof astatine Harvard Business School, liked the instrumentality truthful overmuch that helium had to person Sonwalker to modify Julius specifically  for HBS’ caller required people called Data Science and AI for Leaders.

 “We had done a head-to-head examination crossed a fig of platforms, including ChatGPT and Julius ended up performing the best,” Bojinov told TechCrunch.

The adoption by HBS, an acquisition instauration that breeds astir 1,000 aboriginal concern leaders annually, is intelligibly a large triumph for Julius, which is presently a squad of 12 employees.

Sonwalker has besides raised a effect circular led by Bessemer Venture Partner’s Talia Goldberg, TechCrunch learned from idiosyncratic acquainted with the deal. But Sonwalker wouldn’t sermon the details. 

Bessemer didn’t respond to a petition for comment.

Did Sonwalker’s “Rahul Ligma” stunts unfastened doors erstwhile helium was archetypal gathering Julius?

 “A small spot successful the aboriginal days, but to beryllium honest, not arsenic overmuch recently,” helium said.