In this episode of Building With AI, host Haroon Choudery sits down with Rahul Sonwalkar, the founder and CEO of Julius.ai, an AI data analyst that helps users analyze datasets, create visualizations, and gain insights from structured data. They discuss Rahul's entrepreneurial journey, including his time at big tech companies like Facebook and Uber, the infamous "Ligma Johnson" prank, and the launch of his own venture.

During the conversation, they discuss:

The inspiration for creating Julius before the "ChatGPT moment,"
Julius's rapid growth to 500,000+ users,
How to think about competition in the AI space,
The importance of testing and user feedback,
And much more!

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[00:00] Up next

[00:54] Episode Introduction

[02:00] Autoblocks: AI Optimization Platform

[02:39] Rahul's Background & Introduction to Julius.ai

[04:29] Product Iterations before the "ChatGPT moment”

[05:58] Importance of User Testing & Feedback

[14:28] User Feedback Loop at Julius.ai

[17:58] How to think about competition in the AI space

[24:34] Specialization vs Super Apps

[28:42] Comparing Code Interpreter and Julius.ai

[33:57] The infamous "Ligma Johnson" prank

[35:59] Pitching Julius.ai’s vision to Jensen Huang

[37:28] Engineering & Infrastructure Challenges

[41:22] Product Design Challenges

[42:01] Future Milestones for Julius.ai

[43:11] Advice for Aspiring AI Founders

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Brought to you by Autoblocks (https://www.autoblocks.ai/) — how product teams deliver better AI experiences.

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Building with AI is a weekly podcast featuring conversations with top AI product builders and leaders. Through thoughtful dialogue, host Haroon Choudery (CEO and Co-founder of Autoblocks) uncovers tactical insights that help listeners build & scale world-class AI products.

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Subscribe to Building With AI:

Website: https://www.autoblocks.ai/bwai
X: https://twitter.com/buildingwith_ai

Where to find Rahul Sonwalkar:

Linkedln: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahulsonwalkar23/
X: https://x.com/0interestrates

Learn more about Julius.ai

Website: https://julius.ai
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/julius-ai/
X: https://x.com/juliusai_

Where to find Haroon Choudery:

Learn more about Autoblocks:

Website: https://www.autoblocks.ai/
X: https://x.com/AutoblocksAI

Simplifying complex data tasks with AI | Rahul “Ligma” Sonwalkar (CEO of Julius.ai)