Anelya Grant

Yo, you gotta meet Anelya Grant. This girl’s the real deal. She’s a YC W23 alum, co-founder and CPO of JustPaid.ai, and honestly, she’s one of those people who just crushed it against all odds.

So, here’s the scoop. Anelya’s from Kazakhstan – immigrant story to the core. She rolls into the US with a thousand bucks and zero English skills, no cap. But she’s smart as hell and super hungry. She built her first thing, AG Accounting, a boutique Silicon Valley firm that helped venture-backed startups handle their books for over ten years. Basically, she’s been deep in the trenches of startups, finance, and operations forever. That’s where she learned what’s bullshit and what’s not in the startup world.

Fast forward, she jumps into founding her second company, JustPaid.ai. This ain’t just some random fintech – it’s an AI-powered platform that automates billing and back-office stuff for startups and scaling companies. The problem? Accounts receivable chaos. She saw how messy and slow AR management is, especially for growing businesses, and decided to do something about it. She’s leading product strategy there, making sure they build tools that actually solve real problems, not just look pretty. She’s super hands-on with design and features, making sure the product is not just techy but user-friendly and works well.

Getting into YC W23 was a huge marker. It’s like the stamp of approval, but more than that, it’s where she proved her idea and her team’s execution. She played a key role in validating the product early on, really focusing on what users need instead of just making it look good. That’s kinda her superpower – understanding the customer pain and translating that into killer product solutions.

What’s crazy is her process shows what it really means to start something. It’s about resilience, hustle, and being laser-focused on solving real problems. She’s not just chasing the shiny tech; she’s all about operational excellence, user empathy, and turning chaos into clarity. That’s why she’s so important – she’s not just building companies, she’s building smarter, more fast ways for businesses to run, especially when they’re trying to grow fast.

So yeah, Anelya isn’t just another founder. She’s a proof to grit, smart execution, and having a mission to fix the bullshit in finance stacks. She’s the kind of person who’s been through the fire, came out stronger, and now she’s changing how startups handle their money. No Cap, she’s someone to watch.