Hiring faster, smarter: Zappyhire brings AI to recruitment

What problem does your startup solve in one sentence?

Zappyhire uses AI to automate and streamline recruitment, enabling companies to hire faster, smarter, and more fairly. Zappyhire offers intelligent, automated video interviews that make first-round screening agentic, efficient, consistent, and bias-free.

When did the Zappyhire idea hit you? What was the first thing you did next?

Both Jyothis (my co-founder) and I have been working with large organizations, product companies, and startups since 2005 across India, the US, and Europe.

Everywhere we went, we saw the same issues—hiring inefficiencies, information loss, communication gaps, and tons of manual, mundane work. That’s when we decided to automate whatever we could in the hiring landscape.

How did you fund the early days—bootstrapped, borrowed, or begged?

We were completely bootstrapped in the beginning—relying on personal savings and late nights for the first year. Later, we raised a small round from Dr. Vineeth Abraham (director of Baby Memorial Hospital, Kozhikode), followed by another from Alex K. Babu (managing director, Hedge Equities Ltd) and Kerala Angel Network.

What's your current revenue model in simple words?

For Zappyhire, we follow a subscription-based model where enterprises pay based on the number of recruiters using the platform. ZappyVue is priced based on the number of interview minutes consumed.

One thing you thought would work but totally flopped?

Initially, we believed the platform could be sold to anyone in the industry. That didn’t work. We soon realized the importance of defining our Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). Once we did that, everything changed messaging, targeting, conversions.

One business myth you want to bust right now

It’s not just about building a great product and selling it—it’s about placing it in front of the right Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), positioning it effectively, and backing it with strong post-sales support. The shift is from “what we have” to “what the customer gains” in terms of real ROI.

Team strength today—and the first person you ever hired? / What’s one hiring lesson you’ve learned?

We’re now a 40+ member team. Our first hires were frontend and backend developers—both of whom are still with us, now leading major initiatives from the front. The biggest hiring lesson? Prioritize learnability, attitude, and adaptability over just skills.

If someone invests ₹10 crore right now, where would you spend it first?

We’d immediately ramp up sales and marketing. We’ve spent the last few years building and fine-tuning the product—we’ve found our product–market fit. Now it’s time to take it global.

Your first-ever pitch deck—how different was it from where you are now?

Our first deck focused on what we had built and the features we were excited about. Today, our pitch is entirely customer-centric—highlighting real problems, clear value propositions, and measurable benefits. We flipped the narrative from "what we have" to "what it solves."

Biggest milestone so far—something that made you feel “we’re onto something”

When one of India’s top NBFCs chose us over globally established players—it was a moment of validation for both our product and our long-term vision.

{To get featured, please contact: vijay@dhanam.in}