Both new partners built consumer products used by millions of people and spent the previous year mentoring entrepreneurs in the W26 and S26 cohorts. Shen is now focusing on the diffusion of AI across various business scales and collaborating with the U.S. government to support the startup industrial base. The appointments continue YC's practice of appointing general partners who were previously founders within its own ecosystem.
Wednesday, October 21, 2026
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Y Combinator Appoints Vivian Shen and Raphael Schaad General Partners
Startups19 days ago
The creators of Notion Calendar and Juni Learning have taken over permanent leadership roles at the world's most prominent startup accelerator to manage investment and mentorship. Vivian Shen and Raphael Schaad joined Y Combinator as General Partners after previously serving as Visiting Partners. Shen co-founded the coding platform Juni Learning during the W18 batch and later established Acely, an AI tutor, while Schaad launched the calendar app Cron in 2020.
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