Kunal Punera
About Kunal Punera
Kunal Punera is the Co-Founder and CTO of Bluebirds, having previously held significant roles at LinkedIn, Bento Labs, and Yahoo!. He earned a PhD from The University of Texas at Austin and has extensive experience in machine learning and engineering leadership.
Work at Bluebirds
Kunal Punera currently serves as the Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Bluebirds, a company that is part of Y Combinator's Winter 2023 batch. He has been in this role since 2023, contributing his expertise in technology and engineering to the company's mission. Based in San Francisco, California, Kunal plays a pivotal role in shaping the technological direction of Bluebirds.
Previous Experience at LinkedIn
Before joining Bluebirds, Kunal Punera worked at LinkedIn as the Director of Engineering from 2020 to 2023. During his tenure in Sunnyvale, he built and led three AI/Data teams that developed machine learning-powered features for LinkedIn's Recruiter, Premium, and Learning products. His contributions significantly impacted LinkedIn's revenue, which is in the multi-billion dollar range annually.
Education and Expertise
Kunal Punera earned his PhD from The University of Texas at Austin, where he specialized in machine learning and web mining. His academic journey spanned from 2002 to 2007. This educational background laid the foundation for his extensive career in technology and engineering, particularly in the fields of artificial intelligence and data science.
Career Background
Kunal has a diverse career history that includes significant roles at several prominent technology companies. He co-founded Bento Labs, where he served as CTO from 2014 to 2016, launching the Scout Launcher, an AI-enabled operating system for Android. Prior to that, he was a Senior Research Scientist at Yahoo! from 2007 to 2012, where he worked on various projects related to web search and online abuse prevention. He also held a position at Google as an Engineering Manager, focusing on social features for Android Messages.
Notable Achievements
Throughout his career, Kunal Punera has achieved several notable milestones. At Bento Labs, the Scout Launcher received over 4.5 stars on the Android Play Store and was actively used by users for over 30 minutes daily. His work at LinkedIn involved developing features that contributed to substantial revenue growth, demonstrating his impact on the technology landscape.