# Kirti Shenoy

> Kirti Shenoy is the San Francisco-based co-founder and CEO of Zeal, an embedded payroll and workforce payments platform. She co-founded the business with Pranab Krishnan, joined Y Combinator’s Summer 2019 batch, and led it through announced $13 million Series A and $15 million Series B rounds. Her earlier work included Text-911 advocacy at Penn and banking products at BankMobile. She writes about payroll infrastructure and hosts the Great Work staffing podcast.

- **Role:** Co-founder and CEO at Zeal
- **Organizations:** Zeal, BankMobile, Text-911, American Payroll Association
- **Education:** The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
- **Known for:** Co-founded Zeal and participated in Y Combinator Summer 2019., Led Zeal through its announced $13 million Series A and $15 million Series B., Shared the 2019 Penn Wharton Entrepreneurship Startup Challenge Social Impact Award for Text-911.

## Career timeline

- **Before 2019** — Advocated for emergency texting in Dutchess County, New York.
- **Before Zeal** — Developed banking products at BankMobile for other organizations to offer under their brands.
- **2019** — Co-founded Text-911 with Anthony Scarpone-Lambert while studying at Penn; their project won the Penn Wharton Entrepreneurship Startup Challenge Social Impact Award.
- **2019** — Co-founded Zeal with Pranab Krishnan; the company participated in Y Combinator Summer 2019.
- **2021** — Zeal raised a $13 million Series A led by Spark Capital.
- **2024** — Announced a $15 million Series B backed by Portage with returning investors Spark Capital and Commerce Ventures.
- **2025** — Hosted Great Work conversations with staffing and recruiting founders.
- **2026** — Published an essay arguing that payroll needs better underlying infrastructure.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Zeal and participated in Y Combinator Summer 2019.
- Led Zeal through its announced $13 million Series A and $15 million Series B.
- Shared the 2019 Penn Wharton Entrepreneurship Startup Challenge Social Impact Award for Text-911.
- Helped secure emergency texting availability for 293,000 Dutchess County residents.

## Latest updates

- **2026-06** — Published Why Payroll Feels Broken For Millions of Americans on June 8, arguing for connected payroll infrastructure.
- **2025-09** — Published AI in Staffing: Hype or Real? on September 4; hosted Great Work’s Alex Atwood episode published September 16.
- **2025-06** — A June 2 product update under her byline described spreadsheet importing, onboarding checks and general availability of Instant Pay.

## Links

- Website: https://www.zeal.com/author/kirti-shenoy
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirti-shenoy-9501a8145/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/kirtishenoy

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/kirti-shenoy
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-22