# Aakar Khanna

> Aakar Khanna is the co-founder and CEO of Marble (formerly Truffle), a Y Combinator S26 startup building an AI-native operating system for the restaurant back-of-house. He grew up inside his family's multi-unit restaurant business, cut his teeth as a Goldman Sachs analyst covering restaurants and food & beverage, then spent years in operations roles at venture-backed startups AtoB and Kouper before building software to tackle the two costs that quietly sink restaurants: inventory and labor.

- **Role:** Co-founder & CEO at Marble (formerly Truffle), YC S26
- **Organizations:** Marble (formerly Truffle), Kouper, AtoB, Goldman Sachs, Play it Forward Academy
- **Education:** Undergraduate, Business (minor in Computer Science), University of Michigan, Ross School of Business
- **Known for:** Co-founded and leads Marble (formerly Truffle), a Y Combinator Summer 2026 company, Raised a seed round (reported ~$130K, YC-associated) in 2026, Signed early customers including A&W Restaurants, The Kati Roll Company, Sophie's Cuban, Kokomo NYC, HolyShred, and Dead Letter No. 9

## Career timeline

- **2016** — Founded Play it Forward Academy, a pro-bono soccer training academy in the Greater Toronto Area, leading a team of 16 (through 2023)
- **early career** — Investment Banking Analyst at Goldman Sachs, covering Restaurants and Food & Beverage
- **post-Goldman** — Early business operations hire at AtoB (YC S20)
- **later** — Head of Strategy & Operations at Kouper, an applied AI company
- **2026** — Co-founded Truffle (later renamed Marble), an AI-native operating system for the restaurant back-of-house; joined Y Combinator's Summer 2026 batch as CEO

## Achievements

- Co-founded and leads Marble (formerly Truffle), a Y Combinator Summer 2026 company
- Raised a seed round (reported ~$130K, YC-associated) in 2026
- Signed early customers including A&W Restaurants, The Kati Roll Company, Sophie's Cuban, Kokomo NYC, HolyShred, and Dead Letter No. 9
- Product reports 40% food waste reduction and 30+ labor hours saved per week for operators
- Founded and ran a pro-bono youth soccer academy for seven years

## Latest updates

- **2026-06** — Reported seed funding (~$130K) associated with the company
- **2026** — Joined Y Combinator's Summer 2026 batch; company rebranded from Truffle to Marble

## Links

- Website: https://www.joinmarble.ai
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/aakarkhanna

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/aakar-khanna
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-03