Haroun A.
5.0
Studied at Stanford University
Works at Stealth Startup
Available Monday at 2:00 AM UTC
Usually responds within 11 hours
Questions? Start chatting with this coach before you get started.
About Haroun
Hi there! I’m Haroun, and I grew up in Washington DC with fantastic public education and the influence of two amazing grandmothers who were both teachers. From a young age, democratizing knowledge through teaching and mentorship has been close to my heart. I followed that tradition during my undergrad in Cognitive Science and Finance/Economics, where I loved mentoring peers in my scholarship program and serving as the head finance mentor for my business school. After graduating, I spent four incredible years at IBM Watson in New York City, working on applied AI projects for enterprise clients across sector and even internationally! I also helped create widely-used data science modules for technical upskilling as a data science mentor. My journey continued at my dream graduate program in Symbolic Systems (AI) at Stanford, where I conducted research on the applications of early transformer based language models like the ones that power ChatGPT. Teaching AI courses there was a special highlight, especially when I got to give a graduation speech and received a distinguished teaching award! After graduation, I joined Amazon Web Services (AWS) as the global product lead for AI/ML algorithms that power cloud cost forecasting. It was a great experience, but I wanted to make a more personal impact with closer ties to my grad school work, so I transitioned to AI consulting and began exploring building an applied AI business. I’m here to help you navigate the fascinating world of AI, drawing from my diverse experiences and passion for teaching. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to deepen your knowledge, let’s embark on this exciting journey together!
Why do I coach?
I found my absolute dream program in AI, Symbolic Systems at Stanford, when I was just 15 years old. Though I didn't get in for undergrad, I stayed determined and worked tirelessly over the next decade to build my education, research, and work experience. Eventually, I was accepted into the program for graduate school, a journey made possible by the incredible support from mentors and colleagues. I always felt fortunate to have so many incredibly supportive people in my circle and made it a consistent point to pay it forward. I've taught introductory classes, led the Symbolic Systems society, and always responded to inquiries about admissions and AI. Coaching allows me to pay forward the incredible opportunity I had to learn foundational AI at Stanford by democratizing that knowledge and some of my greater experiences there for a broader audience. I want to share my passion and expertise with those eager to learn and grow.
Work Experience
Founder
Stealth Startup
October 2023 - Present
Advisor
The GenAI Collective
February 2023 - Present
The GenAI Collective is a growing community of 10,000+ founders, funders, researchers, engineers, and thought leaders built around a shared curiosity for generative AI. Our tight-knit collective brings together visionaries with a diverse set of backgrounds and experiences to exchange ideas and perspectives, fostering friendship and community.
Machine Learning Product Manager
AWS
September 2022 - July 2023
- Defined priorities, requirements, and roadmap as sole owner of AWS cloud cost forecasting; scaled service to XM WAUs - Launched user segmentation feature based model differentiation, improving accuracy by ~60% - Drove ideation and architecting of internal causal inference tool and AWS cost planning service through user profiling Left to go (back) to exploring Generative AI, as I did in graduate school.
Graduate Teaching Assistant
Stanford University
December 2020 - June 2022
TA for SYMSYS 200: Minds and Machines with Professors John Mitchell (Computer Science, Electrical Engineering), Noah Goodman (Computer Science, Psychology) and Dan Lassiter (Linguistics) CS 152: Trust and Safety Engineering with Alex Stamos (Stanford Internet Observatory)
Technical Product Manager and Chief of Staff
MetaMap
April 2021 - August 2021
• Compiled metrics via python in jupyter notebooks and worked with C-suite to deliver pitch for Series B including follow due diligence: 10x valuation increase • Created Kibana dashboards to track company OKRs and set up company data analytics and pipeline with elastic ELK stack • Worked with CEO to develop quantitative internal 360 feedback reporting system for senior employees
Technical Architect
Slack
May 2020 - August 2020
• Created a customizable bot to unify Engineering Org tools; added features and cloud deployed, increasing reach by ~135% • Developed Incident Management(IM) client artifacts and runbook for TA IM demonstration, including prototype code • Served as a technical and strategy resource on APIs and Enterprise Grid implementation for clients and internal teams
Senior Consultant and Data Scientist
IBM Watson
July 2015 - July 2019
• Advised on and implemented AI and Data Solutions for financial, auto, pharma, and TMT clients across U.S. and Europe • Knowledge Engineered data syntactically and semantically to represent objects for artificial intelligence execution • Received multiple perfect NPS 10 scores from clients worldwide as a technical program manager and Watson consultant • Curated and taught technical enablement for 30+ employees- 100% of class passed IBM’s technical proficiency exam Select Project Examples: • Spearheaded Python automation as test lead and strategy consultant for $450M deal, among largest in IBM services history • Created a novel quantitative index to gauge state readiness for autonomous cars through Python code and web scraping • Engineered back end and algorithms as principal engineer on customer facing chat bot for a Fortune 500 auto client • Developed an AWS powered web service to integrate streamed content into a Mobile App for a large TMT company • Overhauled delivery as onsite US tech leader for a previously distressed European project; client re-signed for next phase • Catalogued evolving playbook and strategy for global multichannel marketing campaign for a fortune 100 pharma firm
Education
Stanford University
Master of Science - MS, Symbolic Systems (Artificial Intelligence)
Admissions Committee Experience
Activities and societies: Stanford Symbolic Systems Society Executive Board (President), CS+Social Good, Graduate Life Community Associate Program, Graduation Speaker
University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Bachelor’s Degree, Cognitive Science (Neuroscience and Cognitive Psychology)
Activities and societies: Jefferson Literary and Debating Society (1825), Society for Cognitive Science, International Relations Organization, Nu Rho Psi, Echols Scholarship, Echols Mentor Program
McIntire School of Commerce - University of Virginia
Bachelor's Degree, Finance
Entrepreneurship Group (Chief Financial Officer), Investment Banking Group(CoFounder and Vice President), McIntire Mentor Program
Haroun was also personally admitted to
Harvard University
University of California, Berkeley
6 Reviews
Overall Rating
5.0
Haroun has helped Leland clients get into Stanford University
Haroun has helped clients get into these companies: