Aliyan - Student @ Boston University

Boston University finance student with hands-on experience running a business and building financial models and forecasts.

Work experience

Business Operations & Finance Intern at flows

Jan 2025 to Present, San Francisco Bay Area, Hybrid

• Helped engineering and design talent from Palantir, Meta, Google, DoorDash, and Harvey secure interviews at high-growth startups • Delivered qualified candidates to Seed–Series E clients backed by A16Z, Founders Fund, First Round, and Khosla, including companies with $800M+, $150M, and $100M raises • Collaborated with founder to develop AI-enabled sourcing infrastructure across 5,000+ candidate profiles • Built financial projections using AI-enabled modeling to evaluate revenue scenarios, cost structures, and unit economics

Business Development Representative at FinDash

Jan 2025 to Jan 2025, Remote

• Developed and maintained a pipeline of 200+ prospective financial advisory firms, conducting outreach and qualification to support the firm's go-to-market strategy. • Researched market trends and client needs in the wealth management sector, identifying patterns in advisor workflows and uncovering opportunities to position AI solutions effectively. • Collaborated with founder to refine pitch materials and client messaging, gaining exposure to sales strategy, financial product positioning, and relationship-driven business development.

Junior Analyst at BU Finance & Investment Club

Jan 2025 to Jan 2025, Boston, MA, United States

• Assessed industry competitiveness using Porter's Five Forces framework. • Performed financial analyses leveraging key performance indicators and ratios to evaluate retail and consumer sector performance. • Formulated investment recommendations utilizing IBISWorld and PitchBook research tools; collaborated with junior analysts on group projects.

Ecommerce Business Owner at eBay

Jan 2022 to Jan 2025

• Built and managed an online store focused on selling sports jerseys, clothing, and pre-owned goods through the eBay platform. • Handled day-to-day operations including listings, pricing, customer service, and fulfillment. • Researched market trends to optimize product selection and boost sales. • Created processes to improve efficiency and grow store performance over time.

Education

Boston University

Finance and Financial Management Services

Jan 2025 to Jan 2028, Boston, MA, United States

Enfield High School

Student

Jan 2020 to Jan 2024, Enfield, CT, United States

Projects

Mobile-first for Figma
A four-designer team explored what a mobile-first Figma experience could look like in a six-day design challenge. The concept, Live Comments, combines sketch annotations with voice recordings to help teams share asynchronous design feedback while preserving context. The team won the event and received valuable feedback from designers in NYC.
1Password macOS Autofill
A project to bring native macOS autofill to 1Password, helping users access their saved information in desktop apps while preserving trust in the product. Rachel explored Apple and Safari constraints, designed setup flows that guide users through conflicting autofill settings, and created suggested setup steps for new and existing users.
Tomo
Tomo is a proposed OpenAI wearable - a pin and pendant with a camera and microphone - designed to capture everyday context and power a memory feature called Moments in ChatGPT. The team explored the AI landscape and device form factors, then prototyped and tested concepts to shape an experience balancing useful recall, contextual assistance, hardware constraints, and privacy.
Alexa+
An exploratory collaboration with Amazon to imagine the future of consumer AI through Alexa+. The work spans research, strategy, design, and engineering, and is confidential.
PokerGPT
PokerGPT is an AI-powered poker coach designed to help beginner and intermediate players learn through tailored feedback and analysis. The project combined user research, market analysis, and interface design to create a familiar chat experience with poker-specific tools, including structured responses and game formation controls. The product is live and has gained traction in the Toronto poker community.
Earth
Earth is an all-in-one platform for Onova to host large-scale hybrid hackathons, bringing registration, team formation, submissions, and judging into one experience. Rachel Chen contributed to the product’s design system, participant dashboard, navigation, and user testing; the platform supported more than 8,000 users across seven events and launched at a Capgemini and Google Cloud hackathon.
heyHR
A patent-pending generative AI solution developed for RBC’s Global HR Advice Centre through the RBC Amplify internship program. Rachel’s team designed, built, and deployed the solution in four months, contributing to reduced call times and volumes and projected annual cost savings.