ARSUM CHAUDHARY
AI Engineer & Product Builder
Current Role: Founding Engineer at Pyq AI (YC W23)
Featured Engineering Work
Founding (AI Product) Engineer - Pyq AI (YC W23)
Drove Pyq AI's transition from enterprise sales to Product-Led Growth by designing the pre-launch strategy for Mulligan, an integrated insurance automation platform. Pyq has raised $1.4M and automates the back offices of insurance brokerages.
Key Impact
Software Engineering Intern – Learning Economy Foundation
Built an AI-powered credential generation tool called 'Boost Automation' that automated the creation of digital credentials using OpenAI's GPT and DALL-E 3 APIs.
Key Impact
Data Engineering Intern – Inabia Software & Consulting
Enabled pharmaceutical clients to ensure data integrity for compliance audits and boost processing efficiency by 20% by building ETL pipelines to ingest/normalize 1 TB of sensitive health data.
Key Impact
S E L E C T E D M O M E N T S
First Day as an AI Engineer
Thesis Talk
Intern - Silicon Valley
Networked a Multimillionaire
TechCrunch SF 2023
Talking AI @ Headstarter
A B O U T
About
Arsum Chaudhary is an AI Engineer and Product Builder transforming ideas into production-grade systems that scale. He is the founding engineer at Pyq AI (YC W23), building AI-powered workflow automation that automates the back offices of insurance brokerages. His expertise spans machine learning, full-stack development, and infrastructure — shipping features from concept to production with measurable business impact.
Early Life
Arsum was born on April 5, 2002, in Lahore, Pakistan. At 11, he taught himself Python by building 2D fighting games and Flappy Bird clones, developing an early understanding of systems.
At 18, he applied to US colleges seeking a scholarship as an international student. He was rejected from all. A year later, he reapplied, earning a scholarship to Pomona College and moving to America at 19. During college, he joined the Silicon Valley Program, experiencing Bay Area startups firsthand. That led him to become the founding engineer at Pyq AI (YC W23).
"Failing to prepare is preparing to fail"
How I Operate as an Engineer
Product-minded engineer
Ship features users love
I bridge engineering and product thinking - shipping production systems that solve real problems while staying technically excellent. Every line of code connects to user impact and business outcomes.
High-performance systems thinker
Design for scale and reliability
I architect systems that handle complexity gracefully - from API design to database optimization to infrastructure. I think in abstractions, design patterns, and performance trade-offs to build software that lasts.
Builder who communicates
Share knowledge openly
I believe great engineers teach what they learn. Through writing, videos, and open-source contributions, I document technical insights and help others level up - from system design to career growth.
"You give 3x of what you receive"
Lead College Application Coach
Empowering Underrepresented Students at Pomona
Arsum led a team of coaches through Pomona's intensive equity mentorship program, guiding underrepresented high-school students through their college journeys. He created a Math and Music module that taught critical thinking through an unconventional lens.
He considers building these long-term mentoring relationships and teaching students high-performance habits as some of his most fulfilling work. The impact continues as these students pursue paths that once seemed impossible.
Founder, Mukhtar Mai Library
Building Educational Resources in Pakistan
Inspired by Mukhtar Mai's courageous struggle to build schools after surviving a brutal attack—a story she shared in her book "In the Name of Honor"—Arsum raised and shipped books to establish a library at her remote girls' school in rural Pakistan.
What started as a book drive became a mission to support Mai's vision of creating educational opportunities where they were once denied. This library stands as a gateway to knowledge for young women pursuing paths that seemed impossible.
Let's Work Together
Building something at the intersection of AI & product? Let's talk.
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