The day following Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter in 2022, media saw two people carrying boxes outside what is now known as X headquarters. Among them was a man who introduced himself as “Rahul Ligma,” a name which quickly gained online notoriety after the prank.
While he never held a position at X, the real person, Rahul Sonwalkar, is deeply rooted in the tech industry. His career includes years as an engineer at Uber and experience in Y Combinator, where he initially launched a logistics venture before changing course.
Now at age 27, Sonwalkar is highlighting his main project, Julius AI, an artificial intelligence powered data analyst platform he created nearly two years ago. Julius helps users examine large datasets, create visualizations, and carry out predictive modeling all through natural language commands, a solution that has gathered more than 2 million registered users.
The Tool That Caught Harvard’s Eye
Sonwalkar’s motivation behind Julius was to make data science simple and available to as many people as possible. Unlike numerous other platforms and chatbots offering similar features, Julius managed to capture the attention of Harvard Business School, thanks to its strong performance compared to alternatives like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.
The endorsement came from Iavor Bojinov, an assistant professor at the business school, who persuaded Sonwalkar to adapt Julius specifically for use in a new core class on Data Science and Artificial Intelligence for Leaders. Harvard’s decision to implement Julius in a required course, which could influence a thousand students every year, represents a significant milestone for the startup that operates with a 12-person staff.
Julius has also attracted investment led by Talia Goldberg from Bessemer Venture Partners, although Sonwalkar declined to share specifics and neither party commented on the details. While his infamous “Rahul Ligma” incident once helped pave the way when he was starting Julius, Sonwalkar now focuses firmly on the serious business of bringing advanced data analysis tools to a wider audience.
