# Anna-Katrina Shedletsky

> Anna-Katrina Shedletsky is the CEO and co-founder of Instrumental Inc., a Palo Alto-based AI manufacturing software company she founded in 2015 after six years at Apple—where she spent 300+ days in Chinese factories debugging manufacturing issues for the iPod and led product design for the original Apple Watch. At Instrumental, she is converting those factory-floor battle scars into software that uses AI and cameras to find defects and eliminate waste on electronics assembly lines, with customers including Cisco, Honeywell, Bose, Meta, and Lenovo. The company has raised $80.3M in total funding and was named Fast Company's #2 Most Innovative Manufacturing Company in 2021. She also founded the Women in STEM Mentorship Program (WISMP) at Stanford in 2013, which now spans multiple universities.

- **Role:** CEO and Founder at Instrumental Inc.
- **Organizations:** Instrumental Inc., Women in STEM Mentorship Program (WISMP), Apple (former), Stanford University (alumni)
- **From:** Brewster, New York, United States
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** High School Diploma (Valedictorian), Brewster High School, BS with Distinction, Mechanical Engineering (minor in English, 3.95 GPA), Stanford University, MS, Mechanical Engineering (3.99 GPA), Stanford University
- **Known for:** Led product design for Apple Watch Series 1 (original Apple Watch), Filed 23 patents in electronics and mechanical engineering applications during Apple tenure, Spent 300+ days in Chinese factories debugging manufacturing issues for Apple

## Career timeline

- **2004** — Graduated valedictorian from Brewster High School; won Davidson Fellow Scholarship; semi-finalist in Intel Science Talent Search
- **2004-2008** — BS in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford, graduating with Distinction (3.95 GPA)
- **2008-2009** — MS in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford (3.99 GPA); researched gecko-inspired glass-climbing robots at Biomimetics Lab
- **2009** — Mechanical Engineer intern at D2M
- **2009-2015** — Product Design Engineer at Apple; designed mechanical components for three iPods, spent 300+ days in Chinese factories, led product design for Apple Watch Series 1, filed 23 patents
- **2013** — Founded the Women in STEM Mentorship Program (WISMP) at Stanford with Apple sponsorship
- **2015** — Left Apple to co-found Instrumental Inc. with Samuel Weiss (CTO); continued WISMP independently
- **2017** — Raised $7.5M seed from First Round Capital, then $10.3M Series A from Eclipse Ventures and Root Ventures
- **2019** — Named Top Woman in Cloud (CloudNOW annual awards); WISMP expanded to UC Berkeley and San Jose State
- **2020** — Raised $20M Series B led by Canaan Partners; TechCrunch coverage of Instrumental's AI manufacturing platform
- **2021** — Named Fast Company's #2 Most Innovative Manufacturing Company; made Inc. Magazine's Top 5000 Fastest-Growing Companies; received DAC Under 40 Innovators Award; tripled bookings; achieved 150% net revenue retention
- **2022** — Raised $50M Series C led by BAM Elevate; expanded manufacturing optimization solutions globally
- **2024** — Appeared on The BOM podcast (March 2024); continued expanding enterprise customer base
- **2025** — Appeared on AI and manufacturing interview (February 2025); Instrumental powering server manufacturing for AI data centers
- **2026-01** — Speaker at CES 2026
- **2026-03** — Raised Series D from Root Ventures and NVentures (NVIDIA's VC arm) to accelerate server and rack manufacturing for data centers; exhibited at NVIDIA GTC 2026

## Achievements

- Led product design for Apple Watch Series 1 (original Apple Watch)
- Filed 23 patents in electronics and mechanical engineering applications during Apple tenure
- Spent 300+ days in Chinese factories debugging manufacturing issues for Apple
- Founded Instrumental Inc. in 2015; raised $80.3M+ total funding
- Fast Company #2 Most Innovative Manufacturing Company (2021)
- Inc. Magazine Top 5000 Fastest-Growing Companies (2021)
- Design Automation Conference (DAC) Under 40 Innovators Award (2021)
- Named Top Woman in Cloud Innovation (CloudNOW, 2019)
- Founded WISMP in 2013 - expanded to Stanford, UC Berkeley, San Jose State, and remote global program
- Davidson Fellow Scholarship winner (2004) - $10,000 award
- Semi-finalist, Intel Science Talent Search (2004)
- Third place, National Finals of Young Epidemiology Scholars Competition ($20,000 scholarship)
- Valedictorian, Brewster High School (2004)
- Stanford BS with Distinction (3.95 GPA) and MS (3.99 GPA) in Mechanical Engineering
- Instrumental tripled bookings in 2021 with 150% net revenue retention
- Secured NVIDIA (NVentures) as Series D investor in 2026

## Latest updates

- **2026-03** — Instrumental closes Series D from Root Ventures and NVIDIA's NVentures to accelerate server and rack manufacturing for AI data centers
- **2026-03** — Instrumental exhibits at NVIDIA GTC 2026 in San Jose, showcasing partnership with NVIDIA for server manufacturing
- **2026-01** — Anna-Katrina speaks at CES 2026
- **2025-02** — Featured in 'Exclusive Tech Talk: How AI is Transforming Manufacturing' video interview
- **2024-03** — Appeared on The BOM podcast Episode 42 - 'Anna-Katrina Shedletsky Teaches How To Adapt To A Changing Problem'

## Links

- Website: https://instrumental.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annakatrinashedletsky
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/anna_shedletsky

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/anna-katrina-shedletsky
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-13