Varun Kandula

Co-Founder, Kinect (YC P26) | Building adaptive storefronts for the AI era

San Francisco, California, United States

About

Brands are losing their customer relationships to third-party AI. I'm building Kinect to fix that – giving D2C and e-commerce brands their own AI Native layer so they control the transaction, the data, and the experience. Before Kinect, I was an early engineer at Reevo (Series A, $80M, Khosla + Kleiner) where I helped ship the first AI-native GTM platform. Before that: MongoDB, Ford, and a bit of consulting with Ralph Lauren + Sephora to build AI native workflows. If you're a brand leader or operator thinking about what AI commerce looks like for your business, let's talk. Also an angel investor on the side so hmu if you are building something cool :) Check it out --> trykinect.ai

Experience

  • Founder at Kinect
    Dec 2025 - Present · 7 mos

    Building the adaptive storefront for D2C brands. Kinect turns static storefronts into intelligent brand surfaces – storefronts that adapt in real time, product pages that hold conversations, and a commerce experience built for a world where every shopper arrives with different intent. Backed by Y Combinator (P26)

  • Builder at Reevo
    2025 - Mar 2026 · 1 yr 3 mos

    Context Graphs

  • Engineering at MongoDB
    2024 - 2024 · Less than a year

    Cloud Insights & Telemetry

  • NextGen Consulting at Berkeley (1 yr 1 mo)
    • President
      2023 - Dec 2023 · 1 yr

    • Vice President of External Affairs
      Dec 2022 - Jun 2023 · 7 mos

      Sourced Spring 2023 clients: NVIDIA, Abbott Laboratories, Ralph Lauren, Remote (Series C – $3B+ Valuation) Worked with Sephora to design and optimize both their in-store and online shopping experiences, including the development of their website’s AI-powered shopping assistant (“Ask AI”).

  • Engineering at Ford Motor Company
    2023 - 2023 · Less than a year

    MTD