Shaoyi Cheng

Yo, you gotta hear about Shaoyi Cheng. This guy’s the real deal in the startup game, and his story is just wild. So, he’s a YC alum from S18, which means he crushed it enough to get into one of the toughest startup accelerators out there. But what’s crazy is, he’s not just some random dude riding coattails, he’s been at this for a minute, stacking up some serious academic creds first.

He started out at the University of Toronto, doing his undergrad in Electrical and Computer Engineering, straight up technical genius stuff. Then he jumped over to UC Berkeley for his PhD in Computer Science, think of that as the most hardcore coding brain you can find. During all this, he was also doing research, so the guy’s always been knee-deep in modern tech.

Fast forward, he’s worked at big names like Xilinx and Altera, basically the giants behind the chips and hardware that power everything from your phone to supercomputers. That gave him mad experience in hardware and software, figuring out how to make things faster, smarter, more expandable.

Then, he co-founded Numericcal, Inc., a company all about using AI to fix real-world industrial problems. Think factories, automotive manufacturing, all that heavy machinery stuff. Their tech uses machine learning to make sense of sensory data, like video and audio, which is usually a nightmare to process. Instead of relying on one big cloud or one heavy machine, they distribute the work across edge devices and multiple clouds. Basically, they’re making industrial processes smarter, cheaper, and more reliable.

And here’s the kicker, Numericcal participated in YC summer 2018, based in San Francisco. They got some serious buzz, but then Shaoyi split with his co-founder. Most folks might see that as a setback, but not him, instead, he kept pushing, grew the company profitably to around $2 million in revenue. That’s no small feat, especially in a space full of bullshit startups.

What does all this tell you about Shaoyi? He’s not just some tech guy tinkering in a lab. He’s got the hustle, the brains, and the guts to start something from scratch, pivot when needed, and keep pushing even when the chips are down. His background screams that he’s deeply motivated by solving real problems with modern tech. His process’s about not settling, constantly learning, and jumping into the deep end with projects that actually matter.

Bottom line? Shaoyi’s one of those entrepreneurs you wanna watch. He’s got the skills, the experience, and the mindset to keep disrupting industries, making tech smarter, and building companies that matter, no cap.