Philena Liu

Yo, you gotta hear about Philena Liu. She’s the real deal, straight up a tech whiz who jumped into startups and crushed it from day one. So, she’s part of YC W24 – that’s like the top-tier incubator, right? But what’s crazy is her background – she’s got legit tech creds. Studied computer science with a math minor at MIT, which is no joke, and she even won first place at HackMIT. That’s some serious hacker energy.

Back in the day, she was all about NLP and machine learning research, so she’s super deep in AI and data stuff. She’s also been a leader at MIT’s web.lab and was involved in Harvard-MIT Math Tournament, showing she’s got that competitive, problem-solving mindset. Oh, and she’s interned at Reddit, MathWorks, and Gem – big names in the software game – so she’s been around the block when it comes to building large-scale tech.

Then she co-founded Lumona, a YC-backed startup, which is basically her big shot. Lumona is all about product research in skincare, but not just your average reviews – they aggregate Reddit and YouTube reviews alongside product listings. Think of it as the ultimate cheat code for anyone trying to pick skincare products without wasting time or money. She’s been both CFO and CPO there, meaning she’s got her hands in the money side and the product side – no small feat. It’s like she’s juggling all the important parts of building a startup from scratch.

What’s cool is how her process shows her motivation. She’s always been about tech, data, and making stuff better. From hacking at MIT to working at Reddit, she’s been in the trenches of software and AI, then jumped into founding a company that’s actually changing how people research skincare – that’s no bullshit. It’s her way of taking her skills and passion and turning it into something real that helps people.

Basically, Philena Liu isn’t just some coder – she’s a builder, a problem-solver, and a total innovator. She’s proof that if you combine hardcore tech skills with hustle and a clear vision, you can really shake things up. No Cap, she’s someone to watch because she’s got that rare combo of smarts, drive, and the guts to start something from zero and make it work.