Priya Khandelwal
| Priya Khandelwal | |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur, software engineer |
|---|---|
| Known for | Founder and CEO of Nixo |
Priya Khandelwal is an American entrepreneur and software engineer who is the founder and CEO of Nixo, an operations platform designed for forward deployed engineering (FDE) teams. Nixo was part of the Y Combinator Summer 2025 (S25) batch.[1][2]
Career
Khandelwal began her career in forward deployed engineering, working as a machine learning forward deployed engineer at Kumo.AI in 2023. She subsequently conducted research at Stanford University's AI Lab and at Scale AI.[3] Her educational background includes study at Stanford University, though the specific degree and graduation year have not been publicly confirmed in available sources.
Drawing on her firsthand experience as a forward deployed engineer, Khandelwal founded Nixo to address operational challenges faced by FDE teams. Forward deployed engineering is a growing discipline within the technology industry, typically involving engineers who embed directly within client organizations to implement and customize software products. Khandelwal has described the role's operational difficulties in interviews, including the need to repeatedly gather context from customers and the tendency to duplicate work across different client accounts.[4]
Nixo positions itself as "the intelligent management layer for forward deployed teams," providing tools to streamline the workflow from discovery to deployment. The platform aggregates customer requests, tracks team workload, surfaces relevant prior work across accounts, and routes tasks to engineers with applicable experience. Features visible in the product include a digest and actions interface that categorizes incoming issues by type — such as support and build requests — identifies team members with relevant expertise, and highlights unassigned work.[5] Khandelwal has also noted publicly that Nixo itself underwent a consolidation of its own software subscriptions as part of its operational approach, canceling approximately half of the tools the company had been using.[6]
The company went through Y Combinator's S25 batch, receiving backing from the accelerator.[7] As of early 2026, Nixo operates on a request-access model, though product access policies are subject to change.
Khandelwal has spoken publicly about the forward deployed engineer role and its growth within the AI industry. In a February 2026 interview with FDE Hub, she discussed how new graduates can be well-suited to forward deployed engineering positions, drawing on her own trajectory from an early-career FDE to startup founder. The interview was noted by industry observers as a useful illustration of how the FDE role has grown in prominence alongside the broader expansion of AI deployment at enterprise clients.[8][9]
References
- ↑ "Nixo". 'Nixo}'. Retrieved 2026-03-19.
- ↑ "Nixo – Y Combinator". 'Y Combinator}'. Retrieved 2026-03-19.
- ↑ "New Grads Make Great FDEs: A Conversation with Priya Khandelwal". 'FDE Hub}'. Retrieved 2026-03-19.
- ↑ "New Grads Make Great FDEs: A Conversation with Priya Khandelwal". 'FDE Hub}'. Retrieved 2026-03-19.
- ↑ "Nixo". 'Nixo}'. Retrieved 2026-03-19.
- ↑ "Nixo cancels half software subscriptions". 'LinkedIn}'. Retrieved 2026-03-19.
- ↑ "Nixo – Y Combinator". 'Y Combinator}'. Retrieved 2026-03-19.
- ↑ "New Grads Make Great FDEs: A Conversation with Priya Khandelwal". 'FDE Hub}'. Retrieved 2026-03-19.
- ↑ "New Grads Make Great FDEs". 'LinkedIn}'. Retrieved 2026-03-19.