Meet Chandrahasa Mutyala | Founder and CTO, Backstory AI

We had the good fortune of connecting with Chandrahasa Mutyala and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Chandrahasa, can you talk to us a bit about the social impact of your business?
I’m the founder of Backstory AI, an end-to-end AI recruiting platform revolutionizing how companies find top technical talent. My journey began with a personal observation that deeply troubled me: hundreds of my highly skilled classmates from Arizona State University struggled to land software engineering interviews despite applying to hundreds of positions after graduation in May 2024.

What I discovered was eye-opening—AI isn’t simply replacing tech jobs; rather, those who leverage AI effectively are replacing those who don’t. This insight came at a critical moment when I was developing AI prototypes to streamline job applications. Unexpectedly, I started receiving messages from recruiters at elite Silicon Valley AI startups, often late into the evening hours. These after-hours communications revealed something significant: recruiter burnout is real and pervasive.
After speaking with hundreds of recruiters, I identified their core challenge: finding engineers with cutting-edge AI skills who can rapidly deploy products. The scale of this problem is enormous—North America alone has approximately 500,000 recruiters and 20,000 recruiting agencies. The top five tech recruiting companies generate tens of billions in revenue and employ around 100,000 recruiters.

Employment remains a fundamental human need regardless of economic conditions. While specific roles evolve with technology, people will always seek meaningful work. This realization drove me to create Backstory AI—a platform that transforms the recruiting process by deploying AI agents to handle everything from sourcing candidates to conducting preliminary interviews and managing communications.

As a technical founder, I saw an opportunity where my challenges could become others’ solutions—”Chips on my shoulder = Chips in their pockets.” I understood firsthand the frustration of the hiring process from both sides, and realized that building an AI-first recruiter product could help bridge the gap between exceptional talent and the companies desperate to find them.
The concept is straightforward yet powerful: recruiters enter job requirements, and our system deploys a swarm of AI assistants that search millions of profiles to find ideal matches. These assistants craft personalized communications, conduct initial screenings, coordinate with hiring managers, and even help candidates prepare for interviews. This allows recruiters to focus on relationship-building and strategic initiatives rather than tedious administrative work.

Backstory AI aims to compress tech hiring timelines from months to days, benefiting the entire ecosystem—recruiters become more efficient, candidates find suitable positions faster, and companies accelerate their growth by quickly securing the talent they need. When implemented at scale across the industry, this technology could help generate over $40 billion in economic value.

Beyond the business opportunity, Backstory AI represents a strategic asset for America’s technological leadership. By accelerating the placement of technical talent, we’re enabling faster company building, product development, and innovation—all crucial components of maintaining U.S. competitive advantage in the global AI race. Our technology addresses specific industry pain points including irregular working hours, high competition, and candidate retention challenges by providing a comprehensive solution that enhances the entire recruitment journey.

As AI increasingly becomes a cornerstone of national economic security and technological sovereignty, Backstory AI contributes directly to America’s “full-stack” competitiveness by ensuring the right technical talent reaches the right opportunities with unprecedented speed and precision. This isn’t just about making recruitment more efficient—it’s about strengthening the foundation of America’s innovation ecosystem at a time when technological leadership has profound implications for our future prosperity.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I have 7+ years of work experience and I have worked in 4 countries – India, China, Singapore and US. I worked on my first startup at the age 19 during my undergrad – made rookie mistakes with no mentorship and failed it. I joined SAP Labs, an ERP leader with 20B+ revenue in late 2016 as a Software Engineer and worked on 7+ 0-1 products and scaled them. Working in corporate taught me to think at global scale and not to fret about small issues. SAP cares about its employees – If employees are happy, they take care of customers. SAP has a strong entrepreneurship ecosystem internally and they allow their employees to take a startup sabbatical for 2 years. Through hackathons and leadership talks, my curiosity for solving large problems through technology intensified. I eventually got accepted to Antler Venture Capital’s incubator in Singapore (<5% acceptance globally) and worked on a fintech idea. During this journey, I met many successful people and learnt the different perspectives.

I am mostly excited about the world in the next 10-20 years. With the evolution of technology, quality of lives improve – An average person today has more facilities than an ultra rich person 100 years ago.

What sets me apart from others is that I don’t give up and the tolerance to arduous journey is significantly high. Getting to where I am today was definitely not easy. As someone who was brought up in a small industrial town in a remote corner of India, it was hard to get the best mentors and actionable advice. I am the first person in my family to move abroad for work/education. The cold emails, books, friends, mentors at later stages of my career have all helped me to reach where I am today.
Over the years, I have learnt that there are many ways to achieve a goal and there are different challenges at every stage of life. So, it is important to enjoy the journey because results are just fleeting. A lot of people live in fear which robs you from enjoying your present moment. You should stay curious and keep trying out new things to get the clarity. It is better to be confident and wrong than being confused and right.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I’d love to take my friends to Sedona and explore the stunning rock formations. Sedona has the best sunsets in my opinion. Sedona is considered to have spiritual and meditative effects that makes you feel recharged. I also love the Saguaro lake which is so serene. Within the city, I love Scottsdale waterfront and the restaurants nearby. My top favorite is Olive and Ivy followed by Barrio Queen that has the best dessert – “Flan”. I’m not a fan of working from Cafe – I prefer to relax in these places.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I owe everything to my parents and sister—their sacrifices and support have been my anchor.

I’m also grateful to Antler Venture Capital for shaping my entrepreneurial mindset and surrounding me with inspiring mentors. Two books have guided me deeply: “The Mom Test” by Rob Fitzpatrick taught me how to ask questions that reveal what customers really need, while “Hooked” by Nir Eyal opened my eyes to building products people love and come back to.

Whenever the path gets tough, I’m reminded of Michael Phelps’ perspective: “I think goals should never be easy; they should force you to work, even if they are uncomfortable at the time.” It’s a powerful reminder to stay resilient and embrace the discomfort that drives growth.

Website: https://backstoryai.framer.website/ (https://backstoryai.xyz/)

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chandrahas_mutyala

Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/chandrahasM1

Twitter: https://x.com/chandrahasM1