Iulian Serban

CV

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GenAI researcher turned technical leader and product builder with experience building AI products from concept to market. Founder and CEO of Korbit, a Khosla Ventures-backed startup, and former Senior Director of R&D at LawZero. Led R&D, ML, engineering, and product teams; published 40+ research papers, co-authored two books, won 5 awards, and helped raise over $15 million. PhD in AI from Mila / Université de Montréal with expertise in NLP, reinforcement learning, conversational systems, and applied GenAI.

Core skills

Experience

Korbit AI [Acquired by Boost Security] Founder, CEO

January 2019 – May 2026, Greater Montreal Metropolitan Area

  • Founded and led a Khosla Ventures-backed GenAI startup on a mission to empower and level up software engineers.
  • Managed 20+ full-time employees (FTs).
  • Built two AI products that impacted over 24,000 students and engineers.
  • Launched an AI Teacher platform, built pre-ChatGPT, delivering personalized learning to 20,000+ learners across 50+ countries.
  • The learning platform used 20+ ML components, including Socratic tutoring, generative educational content, and reinforcement-learning-based adaptive learning paths.
  • Published a dozen research papers on the technology and achieved 2.5× higher normalized learning scores than MOOCs using videos and static exercises.
  • Pivoted the business to developer tools and launched the Korbit Code Reviewer beta in early 2024.
  • Korbit Code Reviewer reviewed 100,000+ pull requests, helped 180+ paying customers fix 30,000 issues before production, and reached approximately $500,000 ARR with 110% NRR.

LawZero Senior Director of R&D

November 2025 – July 2026, Montreal, QC

  • Worked alongside Yoshua Bengio and Joumana Ghosh to co-lead research, engineering, and product efforts.
  • Managed 10+ full-time employees and contractors across applied research and product.
  • Built the organization's product strategy and roadmap from almost scratch and executed against it.
  • Redesigned the hiring pipeline, technical assessments, and organizational structure to strengthen the feedback loop between product and research.
  • Published 3 scientific papers and multiple blog posts; engaged collaborators, funders, journalists, and policy stakeholders.
  • Focused on bridging foundational research into real-world product delivery and practical use cases.

Dawson College DawsonAI Advisory Board Member

June 2019 – February 2026, Montreal, Canada Area

  • Served on the DawsonAI advisory board supporting the college's 3-year plan to become a Centre of Excellence in AI education.
  • Contributed to initiatives spanning curriculum, extra-curricular activities, professional development, and cross-disciplinary AI education.

Blue Analysis Founder & Owner

January 2007 – December 2018, Koege, Denmark

  • Founded a software company at age 16 focused on mathematical software for classification and time-series prediction.
  • Developed the core component 'Acid Library', distributed it online, and continued supporting the product and its customers over time.

IBM Research Internship (Machine Learning)

January 2016 – April 2016, IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, New York

  • Applied deep learning and reinforcement learning to large-scale natural language processing problems.

DigiCorpus Aps Software Engineer

August 2012 – September 2013, Copenhagen Area, Denmark

  • Conducted research and development of software systems for virtual physiotherapeutic rehabilitation.
  • Built an intelligent feedback system using Kinect motion tracking to guide users through exercises with correct posture.
  • Designed software interfaces for natural hands-free interaction.

Financys Aps Software Developer

March 2012 – October 2012, Copenhagen, Denmark

  • Designed and developed software for financial applications, focusing on portfolio optimization using mixed-integer linear programming.

Project Osiris Project Manager & Researcher

April 2010 – August 2011, Copenhagen, Denmark

  • Developed statistical models analyzing social and economic development in Denmark in partnership with Think Tank Cevea.
  • Contributed to public communication and to a working paper published through the Luxembourg Income Study.

Operation Dagsværk Board Member & Financial Executive (Unpaid)

January 2008 – January 2009, Copenhagen, Denmark

  • Served on the board of a high-school NGO supporting education in developing countries; acted as financial executive and international correspondent.

Operation Dagsværk Volunteer (Full-time, Unpaid)

June 2008 – December 2008, Copenhagen, Denmark

  • Helped design and execute a national campaign to raise funds for a school development project in Niger.
  • Organized seminars on poverty aid and African culture and politics, wrote articles, and provided IT support.

Education

Additional information