Product Manager · 2 PM internships in 2024 · Duke Commencement program
New York, New York, United States
Work formatOfficeHybridRemoteEverything above is an outside read of where you've been. This is the one block you write yourself — the direction you're steering toward.
Education signal via Duke MEM (’24 listing) plus self‑reported PM internships at Lenovo and Toshiba GC Solutions, and PM roles at Sparc and Simplify, point to early‑career PM/applied‑AI product roles. Org‑level pages corroborate the employers’ products, though person‑level confirmations are pending.
Career trajectory
Read purely by the companies on record — the same shortcut a recruiter takes.
PM intern (AI)
UNCONFIRMED
PM intern (commerce)
UNCONFIRMED
student consultant
UNCONFIRMED
product manager
UNCONFIRMED
technical product manager
UNCONFIRMED
Slope progresses from internships and student consulting (2024) to product manager roles at startups (2025–26), indicating increasing scope and responsibility.
↗ Ascending⚠Every role is self‑reported with no independent confirmations; verify titles/dates to lock the slope.
I’m most useful on early product execution: turning ambiguous requirements into concrete user stories, wireframes, and lightweight PRDs, and coordinating engineers and stakeholders to ship iteratively. I’ve worked across AI‑enabled device analytics, retail commerce microservices, and an AI talent marketplace, so I can help teams reason about where AI genuinely adds value vs. where heuristics suffice.
I can also support diligence and market mapping for new product bets, drawing on structured discovery from academic consulting and internships.
›Drafting a lean PRD and sprint plan in a week
›Mapping AI features to measurable user outcomes
›Setting up a basic analytics funnel for PMs
Duke’s official 2025 Commencement program lists an “Akshat Kumar” among engineering management graduates, consistent with a Dec 2024 MEM completion. The subject reports 2024 product internships at Lenovo (device orchestration/LDI portfolio) and Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions (commerce microservices GTM). In 2025, he self‑reports PM work at Sparc, an AI talent marketplace that appears in a 2024 Techstars update (employer existence corroborated), and 2025–26 PM work at Simplify (simplifypi.ai), a “Hybrid Intelligence” operational‑insights startup. A brand‑collision risk exists between Simplify (simplifypi.ai) and SimplifyPI (simplifypi.com), the latter being a trademarked legal‑tech product — they are distinct entities. Overall, this reads as an early, low‑press public footprint with education corroboration and employment claims that are pending verification.
An outside read of the profile based on available evidence — what's strong, the one thing to tighten, and what else surfaced.
Reads as an early‑career product manager with a credible Duke MEM signal and a set of self‑reported roles across AI marketplace, device analytics and retail commerce. Employer existence is corroborated at the org level (Sparc, Lenovo, TGCS, Simplify) but there’s little third‑party, person‑level confirmation. A brand collision between Simplify (simplifypi.ai) and SimplifyPI (.com) is a notable diligence point.
Duke’s 2025 Commencement program lists an “Akshat Kumar” aligned with a Dec ’24 MEM, providing the clearest external signal in the record.
Official program listing
Duke’s 2025 Commencement PDF includes the name among engineering management graduates.
Consistent timeline
LinkedIn and WayUp list Aug 2023–Dec 2024 for the MEM, aligning with the 2025 program appearance.
Every role is self‑reported with no independent mentions; confirm with employer references or artifacts before relying on scope/impact claims.
Simplify vs SimplifyPI name collision Two distinct companies share similar names; one is a trademarked PI case‑management SaaS, the other a Hybrid Intelligence platform.
Sparc shows up in Techstars updates Org‑level presence for the AI marketplace; confirms employer existence, not the subject’s role.
Namesake at VIT with different email/employer A VIT author named Akshat Kumar lists Fiserv and a different email, indicating a likely namesake.
NYC location is self‑reported LinkedIn lists New York, NY; no civil‑record corroborator located in scope.
Web sources + resume claims · 5 roles need confirmation
SimplifyPI.ai — Technical Product Manager (Execution)
0 of 1 · Ask →Dec 2025 — Jun 2026
LinkedIn claims ownership of a healthcare referral‑intelligence product; Simplify positions itself as a Hybrid Intelligence platform for operational insights.
Sparc — Product Manager — AI Hiring Marketplace
0 of 1 · Ask →Jan 2025 — Nov 2025
Self‑reported recommender‑system and analytics work; public sites show Sparc as an AI‑powered talent marketplace included in a 2024 Techstars update.
Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions — Product Manager — Commerce Platform (Intern)
0 of 1 · Ask →Aug 2024 — Dec 2024
LinkedIn cites GTM for a microservices retail platform; TGCS publicly lists internship programs (no person‑level roster found).
Duke University School of Medicine — Student Consultant — Healthcare Strategy
0 of 1 · Ask →Aug 2024 — Dec 2024
LinkedIn claims work on commercialization strategy for a chronic pain therapeutic; no external confirmation located.
Lenovo — AI Product Manager — Device Orchestration (Intern)
0 of 1 · Ask →Jun 2024 — Aug 2024
Self‑reported contributions to AI‑generated scripts and platform strategy; Lenovo documents the LDI portfolio’s AI/ML capabilities (org‑level).
Operational‑insights platform using Hybrid Intelligence; subject reports ownership of a healthcare referral‑intelligence product.
AI job marketplace; subject reports recommender/matching and analytics work; public sites confirm product exists.
LDI portfolio provides AI/ML‑driven device health analytics and proactive remediation; subject reports intern contributions.
Retail commerce microservices GTM focus; TGCS lists internship programs (org‑level).
Commercialization strategy for a chronic pain therapeutic (Fibromyalgia), per LinkedIn.
Sparc appears in Techstars’ June 2024 update (corroborates employer’s existence, not this role).
Duke I&E 2025 Graduation Flip Book includes “Akshat Kumar ’24” in a templated testimonials layout (plausible but weak attribution).
Each read carries a compliment and a tension, with its proof right beside it. It gets sharper as you go.
Duke University
Master of Engineering Management · Engineering Management · 2023–2024
Listed in Duke’s 2025 Commencement program; common‑name linkage is plausible but not definitive.
Vellore Institute of Technology
B.Tech · Computer Science and Engineering · 2017–2021
PRESS & INTERVIEWS (3)
CORPORATE & PRODUCT (9)
VERIFICATION CHECKS — RAN CLEAN (2)
SOCIAL & DIRECTORIES (2)
Controlled by Akshat Kumar
A registered account is linked to this profile — a living profile a real person maintains, not a passive scrape.
