Rahul Ligma: From Fake Twitter Firing to AI Startup Founder

The "Rahul Ligma" Prank and the Rise of Julius

Following Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter in 2022 (now known as X), news outlets were approached by two individuals carrying boxes near the company’s main office.

One of these men identified himself as “Rahul Ligma,” a purportedly recently dismissed Twitter engineer.

The Prankster Revealed

The individual’s actual name is Rahul Sonwalkar, and the incident quickly became a viral sensation.

Despite not having been employed by X, Sonwalkar possesses a strong technical background.

He previously spent several years as an engineer at Uber, and even participated in the Y Combinator program while developing a logistics startup.

Focus on Julius: An AI Data Analyst Startup

Now 27 years old, Sonwalkar aims to redirect attention towards his primary project: Julius, an AI-driven data analysis startup founded approximately two years ago.

This tool empowers users to analyze and visualize large datasets, and to conduct predictive modeling using simple natural language prompts.

Currently, Julius boasts a user base exceeding 2 million registered individuals.

Accessibility and Advanced Capabilities

“My goal was to create a platform that would democratize data science, making it accessible to a wider audience,” Sonwalkar explained to TechCrunch.

While some of Julius’ features overlap with those found in platforms like ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, and Google’s Gemini, its performance has garnered significant praise.

Harvard Business School Adoption

Iavor Bojinov, an assistant professor at Harvard Business School (HBS), was particularly impressed with Julius.

He successfully advocated for modifications to the tool to specifically support HBS’ new mandatory course, “Data Science and AI for Leaders.”

“Our comparative analysis of various platforms, including ChatGPT, revealed that Julius consistently outperformed the others,” Bojinov stated to TechCrunch.

A Significant Achievement for Julius

The adoption of Julius by HBS, an institution that educates roughly 1,000 future business leaders each year, represents a substantial accomplishment for the startup, which currently operates with a team of 12 employees.

Seed Funding and Future Growth

Sonwalkar has secured seed funding in a round led by Talia Goldberg of Bessemer Venture Partners, according to sources familiar with the transaction.

However, Sonwalkar declined to disclose specific details regarding the funding.

Bessemer Venture Partners did not respond to requests for comment.

The Impact of the Prank

When questioned about whether the “Rahul Ligma” stunt aided in the initial stages of building Julius, Sonwalkar offered a nuanced perspective.

“It provided a small boost in the beginning, but its impact has diminished considerably in recent times,” he admitted.