Aaron Wang, CEO of Alex AI, on how coaching helped him 5× ARR after YC
Two years ago Alex AI was two people in a living room. Now it is over 50 people, with revenue up 5× two years running. Aaron wanted a coach to replicate his YC partner experience, and he found one with Titan.
My bar for a coach was my YC partner. Someone who'd built a startup from nothing to billions. My Titan coach has been a great way to replicate that.
Aaron wrote about his experience working with a Titan Coach on LinkedIn
See it on LinkedIn →The founder and the company
Who is Aaron Wang?
Aaron Wang is the co-founder and CEO of Alex, the AI recruiter used by enterprise employers and staffing firms. He holds a BS and an MS from Brown University. Before Alex he was a quant engineer at Marshall Wace and an AI research engineer at Meta. He took the company through Y Combinator in Winter 2024.
Who founded Alex?
Alex was founded in 2023 by Aaron Wang and John Rytel. Aaron Wang is the CEO. The company is Apriora Inc., based in San Francisco; it launched as Apriora and rebranded to Alex.
What is Alex?
Alex is an AI recruiting platform at alex.com. It screens résumés, runs live two-way interviews by video, phone, SMS and WhatsApp, checks identity and schedules qualified candidates, while human recruiters keep oversight. It has interviewed more than one million candidates for customers such as EY, Chick-fil-A and Randstad.
How much funding has Alex raised?
Alex has raised $20 million. Peak XV Partners led the $17 million Series A in September 2025, and 1984 Ventures led the $3 million seed. Y Combinator and Uncorrelated Ventures are also investors.
Does Aaron Wang work with an executive coach?
Yes. Aaron Wang works with an executive coach from Titan, which matches Series A to C founders with coaches who have built or coached companies at scale. In his Titan interview he says his bar for a coach was his YC partner, and that Titan matched it. He reports 5× ARR growth and a team that grew from 2 to 50.
From the conversation
Why did you start looking for a coach?
It was pretty clear that there was a delta in the knowledge that I had and the knowledge that I needed to get to that next stage. I was an introverted coder just a couple of years ago, and to go from that to managing an org of 60 people is no simple delta to cover.
What was your bar for a coach?
My bar was a lot of what we try to repeat with Y Combinator, where you get this partner that's built this incredible startup from nothing to billions of dollars. My coach has been a great way to replicate that kind of phenomenon for me.
What do you use your coach for?
I use and abuse my coach. Some amount of it is founder therapy, and the other amount of it is just getting super tactical.
What changed for you?
Since starting coaching, my communication style has changed drastically. When you get to 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 people, you have to be a lot more intentional with your style of communication.
What is the mindset shift?
Pre-PMF, your product is what matters. Post-PMF, the company is the product, your people are your product. Having that mindset shift has been incredibly important for us.
Full transcript
Aaron Wang, Co-Founder and CEO of Alex AI, in conversation with Titan. Lightly edited for clarity.
Why he built Alex AI
Hey, I'm Aaron, co-founder and CEO of Alex AI. We build AI recruiting agents for some of the largest employers in the world.
My parents came to the United States with nothing but the English dictionary. My mom went overnight from being a doctor in China to a waitress busing here in a Chinese restaurant in San Francisco. And it wasn't until she had met a recruiter having a one-on-one conversation that that recruiter found out, wow, you're actually really well educated. And it was through that conversation that unlocked a whole new world of opportunity for her.
Our job at Alex AI is to give every candidate that same experience, to give everyone a voice and for employees to interview everyone and ultimately hire the best people.
How the company gained traction
We launched about two years ago out of YC in 2024. At the time, it was just me and my co-founder and our boxers in a living room in San Francisco, coding our butts off. And the last week or so of Y Combinator is when we signed our first deal. And the week after, we signed a 60K ARR deal. And the week after, 120K ARR deal. We just kept doubling and doubling until we realized we might have something here.
Why he sought a coach
I first started thinking about getting a coach when it was pretty clear that there was a delta in the knowledge that I had and the knowledge that I needed to get to that next stage. I was an introverted coder just a couple of years ago. And to go from that to managing an org of 60 people is no simple delta to cover.
What he expected from coaching
Before we started with Titan, my bar for what a coach would look like is a lot of what we try to repeat with Y Combinator, where you get this partner that's built this incredible startup from nothing to billions of dollars. My coach has been a great way to replicate that kind of phenomenon for me. I've got pretty high expectations, but Titan's met them. So that's great. I use and abuse my coach, I'd say. My coach and I talk pretty often. And I think some amount of it is founder therapy. And I think the other amount of it is just getting super tactical.
How coaching changed his leadership
Since starting coaching, my communication style has changed drastically. When you get to 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 people, you have to be a lot more intentional with your style of communication. Pre-PMF, your product is what matters. And post-PMF, the company is the product. Your people are your product. And so having that mindset shift has been incredibly important for us.
My coach has been super helpful in getting us from a small company in terms of revenue and employees to something quite sizable. In just the past two years since we've launched, we've grown employee base from two to over 50. We've increased revenue the first year, 5x. This past year, another 5x. We've still got six months to go left in the year. It's been a crazy, crazy fast two years. And there's a lot more road ahead of us than there is behind.
Aaron Wang and Alex AI: quick facts
| Role | Co-founder and CEO, Alex (formerly Apriora) |
|---|---|
| Company founded | 2023, San Francisco; Y Combinator W24 |
| Co-founder | John Rytel |
| Education | BS in computer science, applied mathematics and economics, and MS, Brown University (2023) |
| Previously | Quant engineer, Marshall Wace; AI research engineer, Meta; Arrowstreet Capital |
| Recognition | CB Insights AI 100 (2026) |
| Total raised | $20 million |
| Latest round | $17 million Series A (September 2025) |
| Investors | Peak XV Partners, 1984 Ventures, Y Combinator, Uncorrelated Ventures |
| Links | LinkedIn · alex.com · Crunchbase |