# Danielle Pensack

> Danielle 'Dani' Pensack is the San Francisco-based CEO and co-founder of Rightfoot, a financial infrastructure company that grew from debt-repayment APIs into consumer-permissioned bank and credit data for lenders. A former IBM banking technology consultant in Southeast Asia and Stanford MBA, she has built her company through unusually literal fieldwork, measurable operating rules, and repeated willingness to change the product while holding onto its financial-inclusion mission.

- **Role:** CEO and Co-Founder at Rightfoot
- **Organizations:** Rightfoot, IBM, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Empresas Penta, Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Tulane University
- **Education:** Master of Business Administration; Certificate in Public Management and Social Innovation, Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Bachelor of Arts, Tulane University
- **Known for:** Co-founded and leads Rightfoot, which announced more than $21 million in total funding by August 2023., Led Rightfoot through its evolution from student-debt repayment infrastructure to zero-login consumer-permissioned financial data., Built a majority-female seed-round cap table and used a diversity rider reserving outside allocation for underrepresented investors.

## Career timeline

- **2009-2010** — Competed for Tulane in indoor and outdoor track, including the 400- and 600-meter events; earned Conference USA Commissioner's Honor Roll recognition.
- **2012** — Worked as a private equity intern at Empresas Penta in Santiago, Chile.
- **2013-2017** — Worked at IBM in Southeast Asia, progressing through consulting roles focused on cloud platforms, banking API strategy, and digital transformation.
- **2017** — Participated in IBM's Corporate Service Corps assignment in Ecuador with a local nonprofit.
- **2017-2019** — Completed an MBA at Stanford Graduate School of Business and met co-founder Deirdre Clute.
- **2018** — Moved into a Bay Area retirement community with Clute to test an intergenerational college-savings concept, then pivoted toward student-debt infrastructure.
- **2019** — Co-founded Rightfoot and completed a Lightspeed Entrepreneur Fellowship.
- **2021** — Rightfoot announced a $5 million seed round led by Bain Capital Ventures and was named a Forbes Cloud 100 Rising Star.
- **2023** — Rightfoot launched Connect Magic, announced a $15 million Series A, and was named to the CB Insights Fintech 100.
- **2026** — Reported that Rightfoot's recurring revenue grew 6x during 2025 and described a shift toward agent-driven software feedback loops.

## Achievements

- Co-founded and leads Rightfoot, which announced more than $21 million in total funding by August 2023.
- Led Rightfoot through its evolution from student-debt repayment infrastructure to zero-login consumer-permissioned financial data.
- Built a majority-female seed-round cap table and used a diversity rider reserving outside allocation for underrepresented investors.
- Rightfoot was named a 2021 Forbes Cloud 100 Rising Star and a 2023 CB Insights Fintech 100 company.
- Won $30,000 in an IBM internal competition to develop a digital interviewing application.
- Received IBM's Asia Pacific 'Show Personal Interest' service-line award and a Manager's Choice award for original ideas.
- Earned high-school track All-American honors and later competed for Tulane University.

## Latest updates

- **2026-03** — Pensack wrote that agentic software development is collapsing the feedback loop by allowing systems to implement, inspect logs, test behavior, and iterate, shifting the bottleneck toward specifications and system design.
- **2026-01** — Pensack reported that Rightfoot grew recurring revenue 6x in 2025, launched self-serve onboarding through a PCI-compliant portal, and was hiring early sales teammates.
- **2025-09** — Pensack was listed as a Rightfoot speaker on the LEND360 2025 working agenda.
- **2024-10** — Pensack was listed for LEND360's data and analytics track on changes in the fintech landscape.
- **2023-08** — Rightfoot announced Connect Magic and a $15 million Series A led by Blue Lion Global and Renegade Partners, with participation from existing and new investors.

## Links

- Website: https://rightfoot.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-pensack
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/DPensack
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhqpBhqWWKs

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/danielle-pensack
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-18