John Rytel

John Rytel
Occupation	Co-founder and CTO of Alex
Known for	Co-founding Alex (formerly Apriora), an AI recruiting platform
Education	Brown University (BA, Computer Science and Applied Mathematics) American School of Warsaw

John Rytel is an American technology entrepreneur and software engineer. He is the co-founder and chief technology officer (CTO) of Alex (formerly known as Apriora), a San Francisco-based company that develops an artificial intelligence-powered recruiting platform designed to conduct video interviews with job candidates.

Early life and education

Rytel attended the American School of Warsaw. He subsequently earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in computer science and applied mathematics from Brown University. While at Brown, he participated in the Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship's Breakthrough Lab program, which supports student ventures through an intensive summer accelerator.

Career

Rytel co-founded the company, originally named Apriora, in 2023 alongside Aaron Wang. The company was accepted into Y Combinator's Winter 2024 batch and later rebranded as Alex. Rytel serves as the company's CTO, overseeing its technical development. He has been described as having a background working across the full technology stack.

Alex operates as a software as a service (SaaS) platform in the human resources technology and recruiting space. The company's core product is an AI-powered recruiter that conducts live video call interviews with job candidates. The system generates personalized follow-up questions in real time based on candidates' responses and can be configured for specific roles using either custom interview questions or questions recommended based on a job description. The platform has been used across multiple industries, including engineering, information technology, retail, and hospitality, and has conducted thousands of interviews.

The company raised $20 million in funding to support its growth. As of available reports, Alex employs approximately 20 people and is based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Alex's AI interviewing approach has attracted both commercial interest and public scrutiny. In September 2025, a report highlighted concerns from a job applicant who encountered the AI interviewer during a job application process, raising questions about transparency in AI-mediated hiring.