Aman Gottumukkala, a Texas-based software engineer known for building the AI coding startup Firebender, has announced that he is joining xAI, the artificial intelligence company founded by Elon Musk. The Indian-origin techie built Firebender, an AI coding assistant designed especially for Android developers. With a team of just three people, the startup generated millions in revenue.
Aman Gottumukkala announces move to xAI
Sharing the update himself on social media, Aman said he will now work on building advanced coding AI systems. He also mentioned working alongside teams connected to SpaceX.
In a post on X, Aman wrote, “I’m joining @SpaceX and @xai to build the best coding AI. For the last couple of years, I founded the most widely used coding agent for Android, scaling it to millions in revenue with a team of 3.
I’ve watched model capabilities compound at a staggering rate, and we’re clearly on the brink of recursive superintelligence. This is the most important problem to solve in history and requires an immense amount of resources to realise.
xAI is the place to build the future. Frontier compute, extraordinary talent, and a strong hold on physical intelligence and space.
If you want to focus on executing towards the most important problems of our time, DM me. We’re in challenger mode, and we are building the winning team.”
The small startup that made millions
Aman founded Firebender as an AI coding assistant designed specifically for Android developers. The tool helps programmers write, manage and organise their code more efficiently.
The software runs directly within popular development platforms such as Android Studio and JetBrains IDEs, allowing developers to automate routine coding tasks and speed up their work.
Firebender instantly got popular in the developer community. Engineering teams began using it to improve productivity and reduce the time spent on repetitive coding work. What made the story stand out was how small the team behind it was. With just three people working on it, the startup reportedly scaled to millions in revenue.
By joining xAI, he is becoming part of a growing group of engineers building the next generation of artificial intelligence systems. His work there will focus on creating coding AI tools that can help developers write programs, solve complex problems, and automate parts of software development.
Who is Aman Gottumukkala?
Aman studied computer science at Texas A&M University, where he completed his bachelor’s degree between 2017 and 2021. Before college, he attended the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science.
According to his LinkedIn, before starting Firebender, Aman worked as a software engineer at Paradigm. There, he worked on technical projects linked to the technology and crypto ecosystem. He was also chosen as a KP Fellow through the Kleiner Perkins Fellowship, a highly competitive programme that connects promising engineers and founders with top venture capital firms in Silicon Valley. Many startup founders have come out of this fellowship.