# Jesse Li

> Jesse Li is the San Francisco-based co-founder and CEO of Cedar, an AI-native workspace for account executives and sales leaders. A Georgia Tech computer science graduate and former Intuit software engineer, Li spent years building side projects with co-founder Isabelle Ilyia before the pair entered Y Combinator's Winter 2025 batch. After an initial YC rejection, they built a new product in seven days, won a re-interview, and later pivoted Cedar toward sales workflows after extensive conversations with sellers. In 2026, Cedar announced $3 million in funding and a public launch.

- **Role:** Co-founder and CEO at Cedar
- **Organizations:** Cedar, Intuit, Georgia Institute of Technology, Y Combinator, Meetr
- **Education:** B.S. in Computer Science, specializations in People and Intelligence, Georgia Institute of Technology
- **Known for:** Co-founded Cedar and entered Y Combinator's Winter 2025 batch., Earned a second YC interview by building and testing a new product in seven days after the first pitch was rejected., Helped reposition Cedar from an in-product onboarding copilot to an AI-native workspace for B2B sales teams.

## Career timeline

- **2019-2023** — Studied computer science at Georgia Tech, graduating with a reported 3.93 GPA; met future Cedar co-founder Isabelle Ilyia during freshman year.
- **2021-2023** — Founded and built Meetr, a social coordination project, while continuing a series of side projects with Ilyia.
- **2023-2024** — Worked as a software engineer at Intuit on cloud tooling and software that matched customers with tax professionals.
- **2025** — Co-founded Cedar with Isabelle Ilyia and joined Y Combinator's Winter 2025 batch after an initial rejection and a one-week rebuild.
- **2025** — Launched Cedar initially as an in-product AI copilot and user-intent analytics product, then continued refining its focus.
- **2026** — Cedar launched publicly as an AI-native workspace for account executives and announced $3 million in funding.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Cedar and entered Y Combinator's Winter 2025 batch.
- Earned a second YC interview by building and testing a new product in seven days after the first pitch was rejected.
- Helped reposition Cedar from an in-product onboarding copilot to an AI-native workspace for B2B sales teams.
- Announced $3 million in funding for Cedar in 2026.
- Published commentary on AI and sales through Forbes Business Council and developer communities.

## Latest updates

- **2026-07** — Cedar announced $3 million in funding and launched its AI-native workspace for account executives to the public.
- **2026-07** — Li and Ilyia discussed their Georgia Tech partnership, YC rejection and seven-day rebuild in a founder profile published by Slash.
- **2026-06** — Li published a Forbes Business Council article about why AI had transformed coding faster than selling.

## Links

- Website: https://cedarcopilot.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesseli751
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/fish_in_a_pool
- GitHub: https://github.com/JesseLiii

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/jesse-li
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-09-27