I’m Vivek, Co-founder and CEO at HackerRank (YC S11). We’re launching a new product - Chakra: an AI Interviewer that actually helps hiring teams screen candidates faster with evidence-backed interview reports.

The problem we see

We’re seeing recruiters and hiring managers are dealing with:

• Too many applicants and too much scheduling overhead for early rounds.
• Lower signal-to-noise because many applications are polished by AI or outright fabricated .
• Rising interview integrity issues — including tools marketed to “cheat” during interviews.

Teams spend tons of valuable human time on the wrong candidates - and hiring managers don’t trust early-round signals.

What Is Chakra

Chakra is an AI Interviewer by HackerRank that runs structured, voice/video screening interviews based on your rubric and delivers decision-ready reports backed by evidence.

Demo video - https://youtu.be/6v5h-7Q4O2c

How it works

1. Configure the role, competencies, and rubric in a chat-based setup.
2. Invite candidates easily via email, a simple link, or directly through your ATS
3. Chakra conducts a voice/video based interview on your behalf, intelligently adapting to get the signals you need.
4. You get an instant report with an actionable recommendation, skill-level feedback aligned with your rubric, transcript references, and full session replay.

What makes it different

There are a lot of “AI interviewers” right now, but most fall into one of two buckets:

1. Niche / single-skill evaluators, or
2. Single-modal experiences that don’t generate robust, trustworthy signal

Chakra is designed to be multi-modal (voice, video, IDE, whiteboard etc.) and versatile across roles, while still producing grounded, auditable evidence in the report.

YC community asks / offers

• If you’re hiring right now, you can try this sample FDE interview, I’d love feedback on:
  • Rubric setup (does it match how you actually hire?)
  • Candidate experience (does it feel fair and natural?)
  • Report quality (is it truly decision-ready?)
• You can request access at chakra.sh
• Or simply reach me at @rvivek on X or via email at vivek@hackerrank.com