Pranav Kashyap
| Pranav Kashyap | |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur, co-founder and COO of Central |
|---|---|
| Known for | Co-founding Central, an AI-driven payroll and HR platform for startups |
| Education | MBA, The Wharton School; B.Tech in Computer Science, IIT Bombay |
Pranav Kashyap is an Indian-American entrepreneur and technologist who is the co-founder and chief operating officer (COO) of Central, a San Francisco-based company that uses artificial intelligence and human experts to handle payroll, benefits, compliance, and other back-office operations for startups. Central was part of the Y Combinator Summer 2024 batch.[1]
Career
Before founding Central, Kashyap worked as a product manager at Stripe, the financial technology company, where he gained experience in fintech product development. He also worked as a software engineer at Meta. Additionally, he held roles at Sequoia Capital and Mixpanel, gaining experience across venture capital and analytics.[2]
Kashyap holds an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay).
Kashyap co-founded Central in 2023 alongside Josh Wymer. The company aims to eliminate back-office administrative work for startups by combining AI agents with human HR experts. Unlike traditional HR and payroll software platforms that provide tools for users to manage tasks themselves, Central's model involves performing the work on behalf of its clients, covering payroll processing, benefits administration, state compliance, accounting, and taxes. The company states that this approach saves founders more than ten hours per month.[3]
Central raised $8.6 million in funding from First Round Capital and Y Combinator. The company reports that over 500 startups use its platform. Central operates in the fintech, B2B, HR tech, and AI sectors.
Kashyap has also contributed to Forbes Tech Council, where he has written about product-led growth pricing strategies.
References
- ↑ "Central – Y Combinator". 'Y Combinator}'. Retrieved 2026-03-18.
- ↑ "Pranav Kashyap – Forbes Councils". 'Forbes}'. Retrieved 2026-03-18.
- ↑ "Central – AI-Native Payroll, HR, Benefits and Compliance". 'Central}'. Retrieved 2026-03-18.