Irina Kukuyeva, PhD
AI diligence
at Kukuyeva Consulting
Dr. Irina Kukuyeva is a business operations-focused technology leader who helps companies understand and unlock customer behavior and feedback loops to build scalable, profitable companies with market fit.
She has collaborated with over 100 companies and is a frequent speaker on the topic of building and scaling companies with product-led growth and AI, most recently for Slauson & Co.
She’s invented and implemented algorithms on a global scale, led global data and AI teams, and taught graduate students best practices for developing real-time AI algorithms.
Irina mentors over 100 start-ups a year at many accelerators, including Techstars, the Founder Institute, and the UCLA Venture Accelerator.
She is an advisory board member for a pediatric MedTech accelerator (CTIP) and the UCLA Master of Data Science program.
She holds a PhD in Statistics from UCLA, where she invented a novel image compression algorithm for her PhD thesis — and found similarities between two storms on Jupiter, a finding confirmed by NASA Juno’s mission years later. It is now a special case of the many popular AI models today.
Articles by Irina Kukuyeva, PhD
Sales Comp Kick Start: Keys to Getting It Right as You Begin to Build Your Sales Team
Webinar Recap featuring Donya Rose, Managing Principal from The Cygnal Group Sales compensation is one of the most critical aspects of building a successful sales organization. Many early-stage founders stumble...
Austin Tech Week 2025 Recap
Mucker Capital hosted two powerful days of programming during Austin Tech Week, bringing together founders, operators, and growth leaders to share real-world insights from the startup trenches. Across four sessions,...
LA Tech Week 2025 Day 3 Recap: AI Search – Wednesday Oct 15
After two packed days exploring AI startup building and go-to-market growth, Day 3 of LA Tech Week shifted focus to the evolving world of AI Search, how new AI technologies...
LA Tech Week 2025 Day 2 Recap: Startup Growth – Tuesday Oct 14
After a packed AI Building Day, we continued LA Tech Week with Startup Growth Day, a full schedule of sessions focused on go-to-market strategy, founder journeys, and scaling startups in...
LA Tech Week 2025 Day 1 Recap: AI Building – Monday Oct 13
We hosted three full days of events during LA Tech Week, each one focused on helping founders learn, connect, and build with the latest in AI and startup growth. Day...
Using Customer Feedback to Build a Product that Customers Will Love
Customer feedback is the lifeblood of successful product development, but many startups struggle with collecting, validating, and prioritizing the constant stream of input from users, advisors, and internal teams. In...