# Catheryn Li

> Catheryn Li is the co-founder and CEO of Simple AI, a San Francisco voice-AI startup building phone agents that sell. After four years at Y Combinator - where she led the software team behind Startup School, the YC Library, and Co-Founder Matching - she and Zach Kamran started Simple AI in the 2024 YC batch. Their agents are trained on top human reps, know every product SKU, and the company says they outperform trained live reps by 30% on conversion and upsell. Simple AI raised a $14M seed round led by First Harmonic with Y Combinator, True Ventures, and Massive Tech Ventures. Li holds degrees in computer science and mathematics from MIT.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & CEO at Simple AI
- **Organizations:** Simple AI, Y Combinator, Facebook, Quora, MIT Media Lab
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** B.S. in Computer Science and Mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
- **Known for:** Co-founded and leads Simple AI as CEO, Raised a $14M seed round led by First Harmonic with Y Combinator, True Ventures, and Massive Tech Ventures, Built and launched Y Combinator's Co-Founder Matching platform

## Career timeline

- **2014-2018** — Studied computer science and mathematics at MIT
- **early career** — Engineering and software roles at Facebook and Quora; experience with MIT Media Lab
- **~2020-2024** — Spent four years at Y Combinator leading the software team behind Startup School, the YC Library, and Co-Founder Matching
- **2024** — Co-founded Simple AI with Zach Kamran; joined Y Combinator's S24 batch
- **2026-02** — Announced a $14M seed round led by First Harmonic to build voice AI agents that sell

## Achievements

- Co-founded and leads Simple AI as CEO
- Raised a $14M seed round led by First Harmonic with Y Combinator, True Ventures, and Massive Tech Ventures
- Built and launched Y Combinator's Co-Founder Matching platform
- Led software for YC's Startup School and the YC Library
- Earned degrees in computer science and mathematics from MIT
- Built voice agents the company says outperform trained human reps by 30% on conversion and upsell

## Latest updates

- **2026-02** — Simple AI announced a $14M seed round led by First Harmonic, with Y Combinator, True Ventures, and Massive Tech Ventures participating, to build voice AI agents that sell.
- **2026-06** — Catheryn Li featured in a fireside chat at Customer Contact Week 2026 in Las Vegas.

## Links

- Website: https://usesimple.ai
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherynli/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/catheryn-li
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-25