Kyle Johnson

I'm a Richmond, Virginia-based founder and engineer who builds AI-powered products. With a background in data science at Meta and a CS + statistics degree from Columbia University, I run Monument Labs—shipping tools that turn hours of manual work into minutes. I believe in talking to users, rapid iteration, and building software to solve real problems.

Ventures

Monument Labs

A lean R&D lab and consulting firm focused on AI applications in real-world workflows. We rapidly test and ship AI-powered tools that turn hours of manual work into minutes.

Call Compass — AI-powered QA that reduces call evaluation time by 80%, helping call centers score conversations at scale.
Riff — A customer discovery engine that transforms user interviews into structured, searchable insights.
Daylight — AI-powered evidence platform for custody cases. Record voice notes, upload screenshots—automatically build court-ready timelines.
Takeout — Natural language analytics for data teams. Ask questions in plain English, get instant answers without SQL.
Daybreak Cleaning — Veteran-owned professional home cleaning service in Richmond, VA with eco-friendly products and online booking.

Ara

Ara is a platform that transforms data scientists' analyses into compelling visual stories, serving as a GitHub-like ecosystem for data professionals to showcase their work, build their reputation, and share insights.

Rock River Research (Exited)

A UK-based consulting firm specializing in AI integration for enterprise executives.

Experience

Meta (Facebook)

Senior Data Scientist (2018-2024)

Reality Labs Trust, Business Integrity, FAIR Machine Translation, Community Integrity Counter Terrorism, Marketplace Feed Performance

Columbia University

Full Stack Machine Learning Engineer (2016-2018)

Laboratory for Intergroup Relations and the Social Mind. Developed algorithms to identify unique linguistic traits in marginalized groups and built full stack web applications.

United States Marine Corps

Sergeant (2009-2014)

Served with 2nd Assault Amphibian Battalion and Combat Logistics Regiment 37 in Okinawa, Japan.

Education

Columbia University in the City of New York

Bachelor of Arts (2014-2018)

Computer Science + Statistics, Mandarin Chinese

Talks

Vibe Coding Jam

University of Richmond · Innovation Studio · 2 Hours

A hands-on workshop teaching software as a medium for expressing ideas. Build interactive web experiences using natural language and AI tools—no traditional coding experience required. Students learn to bridge from concept to implementation through live demos and building meaningful projects in their own domains.

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Vibe Coding Workshop

University of Richmond · October 21, 2025 · 12-2pm

A hands-on workshop teaching students how to build and deploy their first web app in just 2 hours. We'll transform the University of Richmond's SpiderBytes daily email into a modern, AI-powered event discovery platform. No coding experience required – if you can describe what you want, AI can help you build it.

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Vibe Coding Your MVP

Lighthouse Network Founder Summit · September 19, 2025

Presented at the inaugural Lighthouse Network Founder Summit in Richmond, VA. This talk explores how AI-powered development tools are transforming the startup landscape, enabling founders to build and validate MVPs faster than ever before. Learn the practical techniques and mindset shifts that allow non-technical founders to ship real products in days, not months.

Vibe Coding: Building Full Products Without Looking at Code

CarMax Richmond · June 25, 2024

Learn how AI-powered development tools are enabling solo founders to build profitable SaaS products in days for under $1,000—without writing code. Drawing from my journey from Meta to founding Monument Labs, I'll reveal the exact stack and techniques behind "vibe coding" and why Base44's $80M solo-founder exit is just the beginning. Whether you're a developer or someone with zero coding experience, you'll learn how to ship real products by next weekend.

Press

Virginia Business: Incubators help entrepreneurs determine viability

June 1, 2025

Featured article about how Mari and I refined the idea for Ara Platforms through Startup Virginia's Idea Factory incubator program. The piece highlights our customer discovery process and how we identified the problem data analyst teams face in organizing and sharing data across multiple sources.

Personal

I live in Richmond with my daughter Josie. Outside of tech, I'm into Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (purple belt), portrait photography, and reading my way through Cormac McCarthy's collection.