# Carolynn Levy

> Carolynn Levy is Managing Director of Legal and Partner at Y Combinator, the world's most successful startup accelerator. She revolutionized early-stage venture capital by creating the SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) in 2013, a five-page document that replaced complex convertible notes and now powers roughly 90% of pre-seed deals. Before joining YC in 2012, she spent over a decade at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati representing Silicon Valley startups and investors. Working alongside her husband Jon Levy, YC co-founder Jessica Livingston, and CFO Kirsty Nathoo, she has guided thousands of founders through legal fundamentals and helped shape the modern startup funding landscape.

- **Role:** Managing Director of Legal & Partner at Y Combinator
- **Organizations:** Y Combinator, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, State Bar of California
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Juris Doctor (JD), University of San Francisco School of Law
- **Known for:** Invented the SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity), which revolutionized early-stage venture capital funding, Achieved 90% adoption rate for SAFE agreements in pre-seed deals by 2024, Helped thousands of startups through Y Combinator's legal and formation processes

## Career timeline

- **Early 2000s** — Joined Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati as corporate and securities lawyer
- **2006** — First encountered Y Combinator when Sam Altman (Loopt) reached out for legal help; introduced to Paul Graham and Jessica Livingston
- **2006-2012** — Served as outside counsel to Y Combinator while at Wilson Sonsini for approximately 6 years
- **2012** — Joined Y Combinator as in-house counsel and Partner (announced June 18, 2012)
- **Winter 2013** — Created the SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) at YC's San Francisco office
- **2014** — SAFE first implemented in Y Combinator's winter batch, including companies like Flexport and Cruise
- **2018** — Led team that developed the post-money SAFE variant to address ownership tracking concerns
- **2024** — SAFE reaches 90% adoption rate in pre-seed deals on Carta platform
- **2025** — Appeared on 'Law, disrupted' podcast as Chief Legal Officer of Y Combinator (October 2025)

## Achievements

- Invented the SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity), which revolutionized early-stage venture capital funding
- Achieved 90% adoption rate for SAFE agreements in pre-seed deals by 2024
- Helped thousands of startups through Y Combinator's legal and formation processes
- Developed the post-money SAFE variant in 2018 to improve ownership tracking
- Spent over a decade representing Silicon Valley startups and investors at one of the world's leading tech law firms
- Became Partner at Y Combinator after being actively recruited by Paul Graham and team
- Created a founder-friendly financial instrument that stripped out interest, maturity dates, and legal overhead
- Facilitated over $14.5 billion invested via SAFEs since 2020 on Carta's platform alone

## Latest updates

- **2025-10** — Appeared on 'Law, disrupted' podcast discussing how she leads a team of seven lawyers at YC handling everything from entity formation to founder breakups
- **2024-Q3** — SAFE adoption reached record high of 90% in pre-seed rounds on Carta platform
- **2024** — Post-money SAFEs reached 87% of all SAFEs issued, up from 43% at the start of 2020s

## Links

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolynn-levy-55a2578/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/cjoneslevy

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/carolynn-levy
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-02