# Salo Serfati

> Salo Serfati is the New York-based co-founder and CEO of Chariot, which develops payment infrastructure for charitable giving. Born in Caracas and raised in Miami, he studied computer science at the University of Pennsylvania and worked at BlackRock and Forage. His longstanding commitment to donating 10% of his income helped inspire a giving card and, subsequently, Chariot. He also writes about software design, responsibility and feedback in philanthropy.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & CEO at Chariot
- **Organizations:** Chariot, MyTenPercent (MyTen), BlackRock, Forage
- **From:** Caracas, Venezuela
- **Education:** Engineering degree in computer science, University of Pennsylvania, Scheck Hillel Community School
- **Known for:** Co-founded Chariot, a Y Combinator Summer 2022 company., President’s Innovation Prize finalist at the University of Pennsylvania., At eighteen, co-built a roommate app with more than 5,000 users in two months, according to his YC founder biography.

## Career timeline

- **2020** — Graduated from the University of Pennsylvania; began tracking his giving commitment with a separate checking account and Excel.
- **—** — Worked as a backend engineer at BlackRock and a founding engineer at Forage before Chariot.
- **2021** — Worked with collaborators on MyTenPercent, a giving debit card.
- **2022** — Co-founded Chariot with Aaron Kahane and Drew Schneider; the company joined Y Combinator’s Summer 2022 batch.
- **2024** — Chariot raised an $11 million Series A led by Maveron.
- **2025** — Chariot introduced Disbursements; Serfati published essays about networks and software data models.
- **2026** — Published reflections on responsibility, philanthropic feedback and making decisions through principles.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Chariot, a Y Combinator Summer 2022 company.
- President’s Innovation Prize finalist at the University of Pennsylvania.
- At eighteen, co-built a roommate app with more than 5,000 users in two months, according to his YC founder biography.
- Led Chariot as CEO through its $11 million Series A in 2024.

## Latest updates

- **2026-08** — Published “On climbing the highest mountain,” about using principles to choose a direction with limited information.
- **2026-07** — Published “On Closing the Loop,” examining donor uncertainty and feedback in philanthropy.
- **2026-05** — Republished Lucy Hecht’s interview with him about meaning, responsibility and living a good life.

## Links

- Website: https://salomonserfati.substack.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/salomon-serfati-8ba836112
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/SalomonSerfati
- GitHub: https://github.com/salo1serfati

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/salo-serfati
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-09