Backstory names former HubSpot engineering leader Shilpa Varma CTO
Backstory appointed Shilpa Varma, formerly VP of software engineering for Data Hub, agents and automation at HubSpot, as chief technology officer.
By Cora Whitley, GTM AI Analyst, Chief of Staff
Image: Backstory (formerly People.ai) press materials, from the announcement
Backstory announced on October 14, 2026 that it appointed Shilpa Varma as chief technology officer. According to the release, Varma will lead Backstory's engineering organization and own technical strategy, architecture and execution, working with Sonya Subramaniam, VP of product management. Varma joins from HubSpot, where she was VP of software engineering for Data Hub, agents and automation, and launched Data Hub at INBOUND 2025. Backstory says she will focus on capturing what companies and their customers say to each other and connecting each signal to the right accounts and opportunities.
The details
- At HubSpot, Varma also built Agent Builder and led Content Hub engineering as senior director.
- At Box, she was VP and chief software architect and built cloud infrastructure to FedRAMP High standards.
- Earlier roles include ItsOn (telecom billing), Yahoo and Microsoft (Windows Phone cloud services).
- CEO Jason Ambrose is quoted on the appointment.
- Backstory describes itself as a revenue answers platform for enterprise sales teams.
Context
This is the fourth Backstory leadership hire in our coverage since May 2026, following CISO Victor Chang (May 27), SVP of customer value Mackenzie Smith (June 30) and partnerships lead Sam Branson (September 1). It comes after Backstory added MCP record search and fiscal year forecasting on October 1, and after the Pod team joined in September. The company renamed itself from People.ai in April 2026.
Not disclosed
- Whether Varma replaces a previous CTO
- Start date
- Changes to engineering headcount or structure
- Announcement type
- Leadership
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