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Vivian Midha Shen and Raphael Schaad Join YC as General Partners
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Y Combinator announced that Vivian Midha Shen and Raphael Schaad are joining as General Partners. The two had spent the last two batches as Visiting Partners, working closely with YC founders. Their promotions signal YCâs continued focus on founder-led, product-minded leadership.
Both bring founder experience to the role. Vivian co-founded Juni Learning (YC W18), an online academy for kidsâ coding and math. She later founded Acely, an AI tutor for college readiness. Together, the companies generated more than $50 million in revenue and served millions of users.
Acely grew from zero to $10 million in run rate with a lean team, YC said. Vivian has held roles across engineering, product, design, and marketing. Before founding, she was a software engineer at Google, a consultant at McKinsey, and Director of Product at Operator. She studied computer science and creative writing at Stanford.
Raphael founded Cron (YC W20), a calendar known for craft and speed. Notion acquired Cron in 2022, and he grew Notion Calendar to millions of users. He later served as Head of Design for Growth and new products.
Before Cron, he worked on Flipboard and the Markdown editor iA Writer. He holds a BS in Computer Science from Bern University of Applied Sciences and an MS in Media Arts and Sciences from MIT. YC praised his Swiss eye for design and ability to make complex software simple.
YC said the pair combine deep technical experience with strong product judgment. As General Partners, they will support companies from their first weeks in the batch through years of building. Their appointment reflects YCâs emphasis on helping ambitious founders turn early ideas into products users love.
Garry Tan, YCâs President and CEO, welcomed them. He previously co-founded Initialized Capital and Posterous (YC S08), which Twitter acquired. Vivian and Raphaelâs first batch as General Partners will test how their operational lessons translate to broader mentorship.
