Kian Katanforoosh

Kian Katanforoosh is the CEO and co-founder of Workera, an AI-powered skills intelligence platform that has raised $55.5M and serves enterprise clients including Samsung, Siemens Energy, and the U.S. Air Force. Born in France to Iranian immigrant parents, he came to Silicon Valley via Stanford, where he co-created the Deep Learning Specialization on Coursera with Andrew Ng, reaching over 4 million learners. He holds Stanford's Walter J. Gores Award (the university's highest teaching honor) and was named a Forbes 30 Under 30 and World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer in 2025. His mission: make elite mentorship - the kind he received from Andrew Ng - accessible to anyone through AI-powered skill assessment and personalized learning.