Pennie Li

Questioner
DISC Type : c

Co-Founder & CTO at A1Base (YCW25)

San Francisco, California, United States

Overview

Pennie Li is the Co-Founder and CTO of A1Base, a YC W25 company building identity and communication infrastructure for AI agents. She has a background in computer science and fintech from UNSW and previously served as CTO at Truffle after being an early software engineer and product manager at Forage.

Outside of her core technology focus, Pennie has a demonstrated interest in international education. She was a program leader for an empowerment program in Japanese middle schools, an experience complemented by receiving a Japanese MEXT Exchange Scholarship.

Interesting fact: Pennie was employee #3 at Forage, where she played a key role in helping the company grow to serve over 10 million students and secure a US$25m Series B.

Personality Overview

Systematic

Not Easily Convinced

Cautious & Analytical

They prefer to do thorough analysis of any situation.  While they don't hesitate to ask questions, they are generally risk-averse and tend to be late adopters. They generally do not appreciate an overfriendly approach and prefer to stay to-the-point.

Topics They Care About

AI Identity
Her company, A1Base, is building a verified digital identity layer for AI agents, and she recently announced the launch of a product called A1Verify.
AI Agent Infrastructure
A1Base is described as "Twilio for AI Agents, " focusing on providing the foundational APIs and tools for developers to build agentic applications.
Conversational AI
She has publicly shared her thoughts on the challenge of designing how AI agents should structure conversations and interact with people.

Media Appearances

Pennie has no verified media appearances

Work History

12-2024
Co-Founder & CTO at A1Base (YCW25)
11-2023 - 1-2024
CTO at Truffle
12-2020 - 7-2023
Product Manager (Student Growth & Enterprise Product) at Forage
12-2017 - 12-2020
Software Engineer at Forage
12-2018 - 12-2018
Program Leader at ISA-Australia

Education

1-2025 - 3-2025
W25 from Y Combinator
B. Computer Science/ B. Commerce (FinTech) from UNSW

More Information

Social Presence :

Prographics :

Exp : 4 Location : San Francisco, California, United States Job Level : Leadership Designation : Co-Founder & CTO at A1Base (YCW25)
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Insights For Selling To Pennie

During A Call Or A Meeting

DO's

  • Emphasise more on facts and measurable benefits
  • If you have a lower priced product compared to the competition, call out the same
  • Keep some extra margin in hand as they will likely negotiate the pricing

DONT's

  • Avoid rushing them, be polite and patient
  • Avoid phrases like ‘do not worry about’, ‘no one compares to’ etc.
  • Don’t overhype the product/pitch, keep it measured

When Cold Calling

When Writing An Email

While Negotiating & Closing

    The secret to closing fast with Pennie is

  • Confidence that the product provides ROI, effective pricing and process adherence matter the most to them.

  • Will you ever get a clear answer from Pennie

  • It doesn’t come naturally to them but they can say no if they are not convinced.

Insights For Deal Planning

    How fast (or slow) will Pennie move?

  • They can move at a reasonable pace while making their decisions if they have the necessary information.

  • Can Pennie take some risk or not?

  • They can take some risk if they are confident that they have analyzed the circumstances well.


You And Pennie

Personality Compatibility


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