Similar comments spread on TikTok, Reddit, and X as the video got millions of views. It\u2019s no surprise \u2014 the performance was a pure distillation of cringe founder culture.<\/p>\n
But the rapping CEO is unfazed. He\u2019s honestly \u2026 kind of stoked?<\/p>\n
Arun Saigal, founder of the AI app development company Thunkable, says a friend asked him to spit a few bars. Saigal, who has been freestyling since high school, was happy to oblige. But he stressed that he rhymes to have fun, not as part of some \u201c8 Mile\u201d fantasy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Saigal is in fact a multi-instrumentalist who conducts the San Francisco Civic Orchestra and has been involved in the local music scene since moving from Boston more than a decade ago. In that time, he has raised tens of millions for Thunkable and performed onstage with MC Hammer. Now, he says, he\u2019s rapping at tech events about once a month. He even has \u201crapper\u201d in his Instagram bio.<\/p>\n
Being The San Francisco Standard, we had to contact the 34-year-old founder to find the story behind the clip \u2014 and make sure he\u2019s OK after becoming a meme.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This conversation has been condensed and edited for lyrical sharpness.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/-S3840x4798-FPNG.png\"\/)
A video of Saigal freestyle rapping at a Tech Week event went viral. | Source: Morgan Ellis\/The Standard<\/p>\n
Would you rather go down in history as a founder or as a rapper?<\/p>\n
I would like to think of myself as a founder who\u2019s really trying to solve big problems. Rapping is something I love. It\u2019s a great hobby. You\u2019ve seen where my rap lies \u2014 it\u2019s fun, but maybe not the greatest thing ever. Right now, we have a big product launch coming \u2014 I\u2019m spending 20 hours a day working on the product. I have not spent 20 hours a day honing my rapping skills.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tell us about the video. How did you end up rapping in front of all those people?\u00a0<\/p>\n
I was among a bunch of friends. We were at an SF Tech Week event, and they were talking about music and AI. I rap a bunch, so they were like, \u201cCan you come up and freestyle a little?\u201d People were shouting out words at me, and I was rapping about what they were shouting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This was not a fancy stage. No one was paying for tickets to this. And then, of course, a perfect clip of me being pretty terrible was put on the internet, and it went wonderfully viral. Some of it landed, some of it missed, and that\u2019s the joy of having creative outlets. You win some, you lose some.<\/p>\n
I assume you read some of the comments. People came up with good nicknames for you: the Notorious GPT, Machine Learning Kelly, Aziz Imsorry.<\/p>\n
Notorious GPT was definitely a great one. Biggie was a huge, huge influence, also Eminem, Jay-Z, more recently, Kendrick. When I was a kid, I loved Nas as well. Even people like Bobby McFerrin who do super cool things with their voices, you know, being the human beatbox, making vocals. Bobby has a show every week in Berkeley.<\/p>\n
When did you start rapping?<\/p>\n
I started rapping in high school, and I\u2019ve been playing music since I was 5 years old. I conduct the San Francisco Civic Symphony. We put on free symphony concerts for the community. I play in a local band, the Wobbly World. We perform all around the Bay.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When I went to high school, I started writing a lot of poetry, and I\u2019m also an Indian drummer, so I was like, oh, poetry to a beat. This is rap. I grew up with rap, and I loved it, so I started doing it for fun with my friends. AI still can\u2019t freestyle rap for you.<\/p>\n
Have you ever used AI to write a verse?<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve definitely goofed around with that, but most of what I do is freestyling, so I\u2019m rarely writing in advance. I think what I really need to do is have a rap battle with ChatGPT. That\u2019s the most San Francisco tech thing I can come up with.<\/p>\n
Do you know any other founders and CEOs with bars? Do you guys ever get in a little CEO cypher?<\/p>\n
Oh, there\u2019s a whole community in the Bay Area. A buddy of mine is another [Y Combinator] founder, Vinith Johnson. We often perform together. This guy A\u2019niche (opens in new tab)<\/a> \u2014\u00a0he\u2019s a Bay Area tech guy who does it. Ben Horowitz talks about rap. We\u2019ll get together at parties and have fun. No one\u2019s taking themselves too seriously.\u00a0<\/p>\n Do you go to rap shows here?<\/p>\n In the last few months, I\u2019ve seen Jonah Melvon (opens in new tab)<\/a> in the East Bay. He\u2019s fantastic. Frak the Person (opens in new tab)<\/a>, he\u2019s been making it pretty big now as an SF guy. Shout out to my South Asians: Haji Springer (opens in new tab)<\/a>. MC Hammer did a thing a couple months ago, and I\u2019ve collaborated with him a bunch over the years and performed with him.<\/p>\n How did you meet MC Hammer?<\/p>\n We met at a music event. I was conducting and drumming and rapping. He came with a friend who said, \u201cHey, you should meet this guy.\u201d He does a lot of tech investing. We ended up staying in touch \u2014 that was 10-plus years ago.<\/p>\n We did a thing at August Hall last year, and we\u2019ve performed at all kinds of small things in the Bay.\u00a0<\/p>\n Is he an investor in Thunkable?<\/p>\n He\u2019s not, but I should probably hit him up for that. We have a bunch of other music investors, like Diplo.\u00a0<\/p>\n If you could collaborate with one producer and one rapper, who would it be?<\/p>\n In terms of rap, it\u2019s got to be Kendrick. He\u2019s got the lyrical wizardry. And then if I could work with any producer, I\u2019d go with Timbaland. He\u2019s a character who has worked with everybody.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1764967119_640_-S3840x4798-FPNG.png\"\/)
Saigal blessed our photographer with some bars off the dome. | Source: Morgan Ellis\/The Standard<\/p>\n