This AI Helps Engineers With API Testing – Kushoai Startup Review

Staring at lines of code all day? Building the next big thing? Awesome. But then reality hits. APIs need testing.

Right now, your engineers are probably deep in test scripts, going through each scenario step-by-step. It’s a must-do, but let’s be honest, it’s not the most exciting part of their day, is it?

What if there was a way to cut down on this manual grind? What if AI could step in and handle the API test writing itself? That’s exactly what KushoAI is doing. They’ve built an AI agent that gets APIs and writes test plans in minutes. Curious to know how they are giving engineers their time back? We interviewed Akshay Sethi from KushoAI to get the inside scoop.

What is KushoAI?

KushoAI is an AI agent tailored for software engineers to streamline API testing. It drastically reduces the manual grind of writing and executing test scripts. It autonomously generates comprehensive test scenarios. Your tech team can then focus on more creative tasks, knowing that API testing is covered.

The target audience predominantly includes CTOs and Heads of Engineering at mid-sized technology firms. They face the challenge of limited engineering bandwidth. Engineers spend precious hours on repetitive tasks. KushoAI aims to reclaim that lost time, ensuring more resources for innovation and growth. For you, it means quicker deployments and fewer bottlenecks.

How does KushoAI achieve this? The AI understands APIs deeply, planning for every scenario and crafting test cases swiftly. Think of it as having an extra team member who excels at ensuring APIs are bug-free. This saves hundreds of hours otherwise spent on manual testing processes.

What sets KushoAI apart is its ability to generate test scenarios autonomously. Unlike competitors who only execute predefined workflows, KushoAI writes its own test cases. This is a significant advantage for any team looking to boost efficiency.

KushoAI Founders

Abhishek Saikia is the Co-Founder and CEO of KushoAI. His journey began with almost ten years of hands-on experience at tech giants. There, he confronted software engineers’ common challenge: precious work hours wasted on testing code and system maintenance. Rather than creating new ones, this time was spent checking and rechecking.

Sourabh Gawande, Co-Founder and CTO, teamed up with Abhishek. They both shared a close-up view of the industry’s inefficiencies. Their time at these large firms uncovered a stark reality: repetitive tasks were draining engineering resources, blocking innovation. This mutual understanding birthed the idea of KushoAI.

In the early days, building KushoAI was no walk in the park. The real challenge was constructing a reliable AI that efficiently uses large language models. They tried multiple methods, documenting every trade-off. Beta testing with actual users was vital. It was about getting the desired result each time and delivering true value.

The inspiration for KushoAI wasn’t just about tech for its own sake. Abhishek and Sourabh saw a gap. Competitors executed manually written tests; KushoAI aimed to generate its own scenarios. Their vision was clear: an AI that doesn’t just assist but actively shapes efficient testing processes.

Interview with Akshay Sethi, Head, Strategy & Growth of KushoAI

We had the chance to sit down with Akshay Sethi, the founder of KushoAI, to understand more about how they are changing the game for software engineers. Here’s how our chat went.


Q: For those who are just hearing about KushoAI, can you explain what your startup actually does?
A: KushoAI is an AI agent designed to help software engineers release bug-free code. It does this by autonomously writing and running tests for APIs.

Q: And who is your ideal customer? Who benefits most from KushoAI?
A: We are really focused on CTOs and Heads of Engineering at mid-sized tech companies with their own tech product.

Q: What is the main problem you are trying to fix for these customers?
A: The big issue is reclaiming engineering bandwidth that is lost on manual and repetitive tasks in the software development cycle. Engineers are spending too much time on things that could be automated.

Q: How does KushoAI solve this problem in practice?
A: KushoAI lets tech teams cut down on the time spent on manual, repetitive tasks. Our AI agent handles API testing from start to finish. It understands what the API is meant to do, plans for all the possible scenarios, and then writes the actual test code in minutes. This means software engineers and QA teams can save hundreds of hours that they currently spend manually testing APIs. This speeds up their deployment process significantly.

Q: Who are the people behind KushoAI? Can you tell us about your founding team?
A: The company was co-founded by Abhishek Saikia, who is our CEO, and Sourabh Gawande, who is our CTO.

Q: What was the spark that led you to start KushoAI? What inspired you to get into this industry?
A: Both Abhishek and Sourabh have worked for almost ten years at huge tech companies. They saw first-hand how much time software engineers were spending on testing code, system maintenance, and on-call duties, instead of actually writing new code. They realised there had to be a better way.

Q: What were the early days of building KushoAI like? What were some of the challenges you faced?
A: Building a reliable AI application on top of large language models that consistently gives the right result and real value was a key challenge. We went through a lot of trial and error, documented everything, and had many users test out our beta version before we officially launched.

Q: What makes KushoAI different from other API testing solutions out there?
A: The key difference is that KushoAI can autonomously create test scenarios for APIs exhaustively. Other solutions can only run tests that have been written manually. KushoAI actually writes its own test cases and code. This is a huge advantage for teams wanting to be more efficient.

Q: Can you share any details about funding or valuation?
A: We can’t disclose our current valuation. However, we did raise $600,000 in pre-seed funding in 2023.

Q: What are your plans for the future of KushoAI?
A: We plan to expand and develop AI agents that can autonomously manage all aspects of system maintenance and software testing.

Q: Moving on to revenue, can you give us an idea of your startup’s financial performance?
A: We can’t disclose our exact monthly revenue at this stage.

Q: How many customers are using KushoAI?
A: We have over 5000 customers live on our platform as of October 2024.

Q: What kind of growth are you experiencing?
A: It’s not applicable to give a year-on-year growth percentage right now because KushoAI publicly launched only four months ago.

Q: Finally, what advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs?
A: Be prepared to learn from experiments rather than assuming you know everything the market wants. Be ready to adapt your strategy based on what you learn.

Q: Are there any industry statistics that highlight the problem KushoAI is addressing?
A: Yes, there are around 30 million software engineers globally, and they are a very expensive resource for companies. Studies show that software engineers spend less than 20% of their time actually writing new code or improving existing code. Most of their time is spent on manual and repetitive tasks like system maintenance and software testing. We believe AI agents can automate these tasks and free up engineers for more strategic work

Feedough’s Take on KushoAI

This feels like a smart move in the software world. Engineers are gold dust, and wasting their time on repetitive tasks is just bad business. KushoAI tackles a real pain point – API testing. The fact it writes its own test scenarios, not just runs pre-written ones, is a genuine step forward. That’s where the disruption lies.

Looking ahead, this kind of AI has the potential to reshape how software teams work. The challenge for KushoAI will be staying ahead of the curve and continuously improving their AI. The tech landscape moves fast, but if they keep delivering on this promise of efficiency, expect to see them make a significant impact. It’s about giving engineers their time back, and that’s a powerful proposition.