She started with a hackathon, two engineers, and a wild idea. One week after launch, 200 million people had used it. That was just her warmup act at Meta.
There is a particular kind of person who treats every chapter of their life as a prototype. Not a detour. Not a mistake. A prototype - something you ship, learn from, and use to build the next version. Aigerim Shorman is this person, relentlessly.
She grew up in Kazakhstan. She transferred from community college to USC on a near-full scholarship. She spent two years as an investment analyst at UBS - long enough to understand how money moves, short enough not to get comfortable. Then she taught school in Los Angeles with Teach For America, because apparently finance and tech weren't enough categories to have opinions about. Then she co-founded a startup. Then she joined one of the largest technology companies on earth and built products used by billions of people.
The through-line is not obvious on a resume. But it becomes clear when you watch what she actually builds: things that connect people who shouldn't, by default, ever find each other. A travel community that linked strangers across 150 countries. Avatars that let people be present with each other in virtual space. Digital identity systems that work the same whether you're on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, or Meta Quest. She keeps solving the same problem: how do you make presence real across distance?
"Avatars are supercritical for our vision for the metaverse. You obviously cannot be present with others unless you have a way to embody yourself - and avatars is how you do that."
- Aigerim Shorman, MetaIn 2015, Aigerim showed up to a Facebook hackathon with two engineers and an idea for profile frames - decorative overlays that let users express something about themselves. The kind of thing that sounds obviously good in retrospect and obviously silly at pitch time. The team shipped it. One week after global rollout: 200 million users.
What came next is the kind of detail that doesn't show up in a press release: that same Profile Frames feature - the hackathon project - was later deployed by the CDC as part of the COVID-19 vaccine campaign. A thing built in a day became infrastructure for a public health emergency. That is the compressed version of how Aigerim works.
The Facebook Profile Frames feature Aigerim co-created at a hackathon with just 2 engineers reached 200 million users in one week. Years later, the CDC deployed it as part of the COVID-19 vaccine campaign. That's what happens when you build for connection instead of engagement.
Triptrotting was not an idea born in a VC meeting. It came from the fact that Aigerim personally loved traveling and couldn't find a good way to connect with people who actually lived in the places she was visiting. She co-founded the company with Shana Zheng - a fellow USC alumna - and built the matching algorithm with eHarmony's former chief scientist. Yes, the dating app people. Because connecting strangers well is connecting strangers well, regardless of whether the goal is romance or a local guide in Buenos Aires.
They raised $330K in seed funding, then pushed that to $1.8 million total - pulling in Google Ventures, 500 Startups, IdeaLab (Bill Gross), WI Harper, and Mark Suster at LaunchpadLA. By the time the app had matured (rebranding as Wist), it was featured as Apple's Best New App and Best Travel App. It reached 2,000+ cities across 150+ countries. Not bad for a couple of USC graduates who wanted to fix how travelers meet locals.
The interesting part about how Triptrotting evolved: users started spontaneously organizing activities through the platform. Instead of ignoring it, Aigerim watched, noted the behavior, and shipped a feature to support it. Customer-driven development before the terminology became a buzzword.
"I think every step of the way, you face different obstacles in entrepreneurship. Being able to keep the tenacity and keep on going is very, very important."
- Aigerim Shorman, Entrepreneur on Fire PodcastWhen Aigerim joined Facebook in 2015, she didn't arrive to manage someone else's vision. She arrived to build. Profile & Identity, the Camera Platform, and then - here's the one that surprises people - Facebook Dating. She was one of the first internal advocates for it, pitched it, secured the initial MVP funding, and shepherded it from an internal proposal to a product that launched in 2018. That's internal entrepreneurship at scale: finding the idea, arguing for it, funding it, shipping it.
By 2020 she was Senior Director over Ads Products. By 2021 she had moved to VP of Product Management with a mandate that sounds straightforward and is anything but: build a unified avatar system for the entire Meta ecosystem. Not just Facebook. Not just Instagram. The same avatar, working correctly, across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Meta Quest - for three billion potential users. Oh, and make it represent everyone: multiple skin tones, body types, face shapes, cochlear implants, wheelchairs.
She shipped it. In January 2022, Meta Avatars added hearing aids, wheelchairs, and significantly expanded skin tone and facial feature options. The press covered it. The users used it. And Aigerim kept going.
In June 2024, she was promoted to VP of Product Management for Horizon Product - the platform-level role that sits above specific apps or features and governs how the virtual worlds themselves work. At Meta Connect 2024, she presented GenAI-powered avatar customization tools: the next version of making your digital self real.
People who've built something tend to know what building feels like. Aigerim invests through First Round Capital's Angel Track, backing pre-seed to Series A startups in consumer and social - the categories she knows from the inside. Her portfolio includes ModernLoop, Parsagon, Tuned, Loona, and BrightUp, with check sizes between $10,000 and $25,000. Small bets, sharp conviction.
She also sits on the board of OneGoal Bay Area, a nonprofit focused on college access. This is not decorative board membership. She came up through community college on a scholarship, transferred to USC, and watched what access to education does for people who otherwise don't get the chance. The board seat connects to something real.
"You become part of this environment that's trying to make bold moves."
- Aigerim ShormanShe has visited 53+ countries. Her family is still mostly in Kazakhstan. She has lived in four or five different countries. She built a startup out of her own experience as a traveler. She built avatar inclusivity features because she understood, personally, what it means to not see yourself reflected in the default.
The career path looks nonlinear on paper. Banker. Teacher. Founder. Product Manager. VP. Investor. But every move was in service of the same thing: understanding how people actually experience the world so she could build something that worked for them. The 53 countries are not vacation. They are research.
The greatest failure in life is not to try. She heard this from a professor. She kept it. It shows.
Co-founded 2010 with Shana Zheng
Raised $1.8M from Google Ventures, 500 Startups, IdeaLab, WI Harper, LaunchpadLA
Grew to 2,000+ cities in 150+ countries
Apple's Best New App • Best Travel App
"Avatars are supercritical for our vision for the metaverse. You obviously cannot be present with others unless you have a way to embody yourself."
On Digital Identity"Being able to keep the tenacity and keep on going is very, very important."
On Entrepreneurship"The greatest failure in life is not to try."
Life PhilosophyThrough First Round Capital's Angel Track, Aigerim backs pre-seed to Series A founders building in consumer and social - the two categories she understands from both sides of the table. Check sizes run $10,000 to $25,000. These are not passive financial bets. They are the kind of early conviction that founders remember.
Her portfolio skews toward founders who have strong product instincts and are building social mechanics or operational infrastructure. The common thread: she invests in things she would have wanted to exist when she was building Triptrotting.