Jerry Yao is Co-Founder at Saffron, a Y Combinator-backed AI platform that helps companies identify and hire 10x software engineers in the age of AI-assisted coding.

Jerry studied Computer Science at Stanford University and gained industry experience at Jane Street, one of the world's most selective quantitative trading firms.

Jerry and his co-founders recognized firsthand that traditional coding interviews no longer reflect how engineers actually work, as AI tools have fundamentally transformed the software development process.

Saffron is backed by Y Combinator (P26) and Afore Capital, and gives candidates a real codebase with full AI tooling while capturing every prompt, diff, and decision for automated scoring.

Saffron is addressing a critical gap in technical hiring by giving teams structured, deterministic metrics on how candidates build with AI, shifting evaluation from LeetCode-style tests to real-world engineering judgment.