Lotanna Ezeike 💳

Inquirer
DISC Type : cd

Co-Founder, CEO at Grade (YC W26)

San Francisco, California, United States

Overview

Lotanna is the Co-Founder and CEO of Grade, a YC W26 company focused on helping brands scale user-generated content by simplifying performance-based payouts. With a background in Economics from the University of Leicester, he has a history of building and successfully exiting multiple consumer apps, generating over $500k from these ventures.

Originally from London, Lotanna relocated to San Francisco in 2025, a year that marked significant personal and professional milestones, including selling a company and getting into Y Combinator. He is a serial entrepreneur who has been building and scaling consumer applications for over five years.

Unique fact: He has successfully built and sold four different applications, starting from an idea and taking them through to acquisition.

Personality Overview

Demanding

Upfront

Judgemental

They focus on objectivity in a pitch and pay little attention to bells and whistles.  They care equally about the product and its potential impact. They can be nudged to make faster decisions by offering what they value.

Topics They Care About

UGC Monetization
His company and personal posts focus on helping brands scale UGC by solving the challenges of creator payouts and compliance.
Building Consumer Apps
He has over five years of experience building consumer apps, reaching over 1 million monthly active users and achieving multiple successful exits.
Performance-Based Payments
He advocates for performance-based payout models for creators, similar to platforms like YouTube and TikTok, which is a core concept for his current company, Grade.

Media Appearances

Lotanna has no verified media appearances

Work History

7-2025
Co-Founder, CEO at Grade (YC W26)
7-2024 - 6-2025
Principal Product Officer (Consumer AI) at Founders, Inc.
4-2023 - 1-2024
Senior Product Manager at Morressier
10-2022 - 3-2023
Product Manager at Accruent
9-2022 - 2-2023
Founder at TripVisa

Education

2016 - 2020
Economics from University of Leicester
2014 - 2016
Economics from Dartford Grammar School

More Information

Social Presence :

Prographics :

Exp : 2 Location : San Francisco, California, United States Job Level : Leadership Designation : Co-Founder, CEO at Grade (YC W26)
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Insights For Selling To Lotanna

During A Call Or A Meeting

DO's

  • Make sure that you you respond to any queries from them quickly
  • Be crisp while making the pitch
  • Ask them questions confidently while doing discovery, don’t be apologetic

DONT's

  • Don’t try to be an alpha salesperson, give them equal space
  • Avoid repeating yourself or making generalizations
  • Refrain from asking too many questions

When Cold Calling

When Writing An Email

While Negotiating & Closing

    The secret to closing fast with Lotanna is

  • Belief in the product plays an important role, followed by objective proof and testimonials.
  • Will you ever get a clear answer from Lotanna

  • They may hesitate slightly, but if they are not convinced, they will say no.

Insights For Deal Planning

    How fast (or slow) will Lotanna move?

  • Their decision making speed is somewhere in the middle.
  • Can Lotanna take some risk or not?

  • They can take risks only after they have analyzed the advantages and disadvantages.

You And Lotanna

Personality Compatibility


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