Chuma
Kabaghe.

Building a better tomorrow, one line of code at a time.

A builder at heart, passionate about using technology to solve meaningful problems.

Inspired by AI's potential to level the playing field for entrepreneurs, I founded Nexel—an AI platform that gave small companies the same automation capabilities as tech giants, raising over $1M in venture funding.
With experience teaching AI at Stanford, leading engineering teams at Clockwise, and building scalable products at Microsoft, I excel at turning complex ideas into impactful solutions. My expertise lies in early-stage product development, artificial intelligence, and building systems that streamline complex operations.
I love playing soccer, listening to podcasts, and sipping tea while lost in thought. I've also bungee jumped off the Bloukrans Bridge (216 metres/ 709 ft) and Victoria Falls Bridge (111 metres/ 364 ft), performed in a flying trapeze show, and hit myself in the head many times trying to juggle clubs... I gave up on that.

experience

  • 2023 - Present

    Founder & CEO

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    Nexel

    San Francisco, CA

    I founded Nexel, an AI platform automating compliance and back-office tasks for small businesses, securing $1M+ in VC funding from Jeff Weiner's firm (Next Play Ventures), Westbound Equity, and a group of exceptional angel investors. I built and led a multidisciplinary team of four, developed the first product version, and refined the business strategy through market research and customer feedback.

  • 2020 - 2023

    Tech Lead/ Senior Software Engineer

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    Clockwise

    San Francisco, CA

    Clockwise is an AI-powered calendar assistant that helps teams by automatically scheduling meetings and protecting time for focused work.

    Joined when the company was 17 employees and helped it grow to ~100 employees by recruiting, interviewing and mentoring new teammates. I led teams and developed key features of Clockwise's product, including Clockwise Links, Flexible Calendar Holds, One-On-One Meeting Dashboard, and integrations with Asana and Slack, during a period of rapid user growth.

  • 2018 - 2020

    Course Assistant/ Research Assistant

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    Stanford University

    Stanford, CA

    Assisted in teaching CS 221 (AI) and CS 124 (NLP), supporting 300+ students per quarter by leading discussion sections, holding office hours, and designing/grading assignments and exams.
    Discovered and analyzed new examples of "polyperceivable" audio, revealing that over 2% of English words may exhibit this phenomenon, as detailed in our paper Beyond Laurel/Yanny: An Autoencoder-Enabled Search for Polyperceivable Audio.

  • 2015-2018

    Software Engineer

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    Microsoft

    Redmond, WA

    Developed prototypes to validate next generation Windows applications. Led technical strategy for Mixed Reality Avatar services, and implemented a cloud-based rendering service for Xbox avatars serving millions.

  • 2019

    Software Engineering Intern/ Kleiner Perkins Fellow

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    Coursera

    Mountain View, CA

    I spent the summer on the Learner team where I Implemented push notification infrastructure by migrating from long polling to webhooks and developed APIs for real-time course announcements.

  • 2014

    Software Engineering Intern

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    Microsoft

    Redmond, CA

    Wrote code, learnt a lot, and left prod intact.

  • 2013

    Software Engineering Intern

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    Microsoft

    Redmond, WA

    Rotated through PM, SWE, and SDET roles doing intern things.

projects

Subset of fun things I've built

Podcasts

A collection of podcasts I've enjoyed in no particular order.

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Black Box Down

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The Economics of Everyday Things

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Lateral

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The Lazarus Heist

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Where Should We Begin? with Esther Perel

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Dateline

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Against the Odds

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Cold Call

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50 Things That Define Zambia

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99% Invisible

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The Daily

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Hard Fork

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Modern Love

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Normal Gossip

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Nothing Much Happens: bedtime stories to help you sleep

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On the Media

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This is Uncomfortable

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The Women's Game

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Heavyweight

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Freakonomics Radio

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The RE-CAP Show

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Business Breakdowns

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Business Wars

education

Stanford University

master of science

Computer Science focus in Artificial Intelligence

Classes I enjoyed:

  • The Lean LaunchPad (ENGR 245)
  • Incentives in Computer Science (CS 269I)
  • The Modern Algorithmic Toolbox (CS 168)
  • Deep Learning (CS 230)

University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

bachelor of Science - honors

Computer Engineering

Classes I enjoyed:

  • Artificial Intelligence (ECE 448)
  • From Idea to Enterprise (TE 298)
  • Making Sense of Big Data (ECE 398BD)
  • Data Structures (CS 225)
  • Innovation and Engineering Design (ECE 398PSC)
  • Discrete Structures (CS 173)

Etcetera

A mix of projects, experiments, and proud moments.