CURRENTLY

CURRENTLY

Building & Learning…

Building & Learning…

Karan is currently the Founding Product Engineer at Pillar. He studied at Carnegie Mellon University, double majoring in Design and Human-Computer Interactions. He was previously leading product vision at Automat AI Automations ( Y-Combinator W23) and designed novel interfaces for crypto management at AscendEx (a series B centralised crypto exchange).

Karan is currently the Founding Product Engineer at Pillar. He studied at Carnegie Mellon University, double majoring in Design and Human-Computer Interactions. He was previously leading product vision at Automat AI Automations ( Y-Combinator W23) and designed novel interfaces for crypto management at AscendEx (a series B centralised crypto exchange).

Karan is currently the Founding Product Engineer at Pillar. He studied at Carnegie Mellon University, double majoring in Design and Human-Computer Interactions. He was previously leading product vision at Automat AI Automations ( Y-Combinator W23) and designed novel interfaces for crypto management at AscendEx (a series B centralised crypto exchange).

EXPERIENCE

2024

Built Penceive AI

Product Dev + Des

Web App Dev

LLM-Powered

UX Research

Teaching Assitant for Advanced Interaction Design

Carnegie Mellon University | Human-Computer Interactions Institute

Product Management Academy - Exec Board

Carnegie Mellon University | Student Org

2023

Product @ Automat AI Automations

Automat AI Automations is an Y-Combinator backed automations company (pre-seed $4.5M). I optimized sales processes, boosting lead acquisition by ~17% and conversion by ~6%. Developed a KPI reporting framework with the CEO and supported a web backend project using Python and FastAPI, enhancing capabilities and debugging software.

2022

Product Des & Dev @ AscendEX

AscendEX was a Series B centralized Crypto Exchange at the time I worked there ($50M Series B round). I co-engineered a 75-page website with the CEO, co-founders, and UX Head to support blockchain projects, collaborating with the engineering team on intricate user interfaces. I prototyped a graphical interface for modeling liquidity management effects on coin prices and volumes and created wireframes for investor pitch presentations.

Campus Ambassador for SideChat

Lead development, outreach, and implementation as a campus ambassador for a groundbreaking social media app through interactive presentations with large-scale introduction courses with >80 students each. Over saw a marketing campaign that lead to a record-breaking 43% market penetration within 3 Days, most across 50 Universities.

2021

Research Assitant | Cybernetics & AI

I researched with Dr. Paul Pangaro on using Cybernetic Systems to enhance AI-driven user experiences in Human-Machine Interactions, synthesizing data from 50+ papers. I developed a concept map showing how Cybernetic Systems can serve as an alternative to Big Data AI.

Co-Founded an NFT Project

Co-founded an art-based NFT project on the Solana blockchain, launching 5,000 pieces valued at ~$520,000. Managed an 8-person team across engineering, design, and product, leading strategy and design, developing the website, and creating marketing assets to grow a community of 3,000+ social media followers.

Co-researcher | Blockchains for Migration Equity

As part of a 10-member research team, I worked on designing pathways to migration equity, analyzing the application of blockchains to aid migrants and refugees. I participated in user research to develop a pathways concept and designed a visual narrative summarizing our findings to address migration equity.