# Vivian Midha Shen

> Vivian Midha Shen is a General Partner at Y Combinator and the founder of education businesses Juni Learning and Acely. A Stanford computer science graduate with a creative writing minor, she previously worked at Google, McKinsey and Operator. Her work connects personalized teaching, practical projects and AI-assisted college preparation; YC reports that her companies generated more than $50 million in combined revenue and reached millions of users.

- **Role:** General Partner at Y Combinator
- **Organizations:** Y Combinator, Juni Learning, Acely, Operator, McKinsey & Company, Google
- **Education:** B.S. in Computer Science; Human-Computer Interaction concentration; minor in Creative Writing, Stanford University, Study abroad in creative writing, University of Oxford
- **Known for:** Co-founded Juni Learning, a YC Winter 2018 company., Recognized in Forbes 30 Under 30 for 2019 alongside co-founder Ruby Lee., Built Juni Learning and Acely to more than $50 million in combined revenue and millions of users, as reported by YC in October 2026.

## Career timeline

- **2014** — Graduated from Stanford University; worked in consulting at McKinsey after college.
- **Before 2017** — Worked in software engineering at Google and became Director of Product at Operator, launching products in the US and China.
- **2017** — Co-founded Juni Learning with Ruby Lee; taught initial students in Palo Alto.
- **2018** — Juni Learning participated in Y Combinator Winter 2018.
- **2019** — Recognized with Ruby Lee in Forbes 30 Under 30.
- **2020** — Juni raised a $10.5 million Series A led by Forerunner Ventures and expanded beyond coding into math and English.
- **2024** — Acely launched out of beta in January as a spinout product from Juni.
- **2025** — Acely announced Ron Schneidermann as its next leader.
- **2026-10** — Named General Partner at Y Combinator after two batches as a Visiting Partner.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Juni Learning, a YC Winter 2018 company.
- Recognized in Forbes 30 Under 30 for 2019 alongside co-founder Ruby Lee.
- Built Juni Learning and Acely to more than $50 million in combined revenue and millions of users, as reported by YC in October 2026.
- Grew Acely from zero to a $10 million run rate with a lean team, according to YC.
- Acely received the 2025 EdTech Breakthrough Overall College Prep Company of the Year award.

## Latest updates

- **2026-10** — Y Combinator announced her appointment as General Partner on October 1, alongside Raphael Schaad, after two batches as Visiting Partners.
- **2025-06** — Acely received the EdTech Breakthrough Overall College Prep Company of the Year award; Shen was quoted as founder and CEO.

## Links

- Website: https://vivianmshen.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vivianmshen
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/vivianmshen
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@vivianmshen
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vivianmshen/
- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@vivianmshen

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/vivian-midha-shen
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-24