We're so excited to announce that Cecilia Ziniti will be joining the Replit executive team as General Counsel and Head of Business Development.
What does that mean? Who is she? Take a minute to get to know Cecilia in her own words!
So...who are you?
Hello! I’m a tech and startup business gal and general counsel. My passions include technology that changes the world and working with great founders like Amjad and Haya. Tech has been my professional home since my first job as an Internet chat moderator for the Manchester United soccer team from my dorm room in London in the early 2000s. Today I live in the San Francisco area with my family and am a major foodie who loves a good internet meme.
What will you be doing at Replit?
I’ll be running legal and business development. Each focuses on helping Replit grow and continue to be an amazing place to code and create, but how they do that differs.
Legal helps the company navigate risks, build user trust, and operate and develop products in ways that meet legal and regulatory needs globally.
Business development is about identifying and working with strategic partners to reach more users, make Replit available everywhere and to everyone, or improve our products by incorporating others’ tech.
What were you doing before you joined us?
I led legal and business teams at two venture-backed companies, BloomTech (fka Lambda School) and Anki, which made a consumer robot. In 2021, I took some time to advise startup and tech companies and take classes from people that I admire on topics I enjoy, like investing, cooking, and writing online. I even took a foraging class in the Santa Cruz mountains.
What made you want to join Replit?
Three reasons I am so excited to join Replit:
Empowering Creators Globally. Replit is a cloud-based place to code, in just about any programming language you can think of, with zero set-up, collaboratively. 10 million+ people use Replit today. Replit users have made 20+ million apps. I joined to help with what they make next. What’s more - over 75% of Replit users are from outside the US and 50% are under 18. The company is lighting up the next-gen of software engineers, and they look more like the world than the current-gen largely concentrated in California and at a select few companies. That’s exciting.
Software and intellectual property are the future. As Marc Andreessen predicted, software continues to eat the world. Unlike land or physical assets, the IP of the world is infinite, and so too is the economic opportunity. The percentage of assets of the S&P 500 that are intangible and intellectual property went from 32% in 1975 to 90% today and growing. Airbnb is the world’s largest hotel network, without owning any land; Uber is the biggest provider of ground transportation but doesn’t own cars. Software and its power are real, and Replit allows anyone to harness it.
Customer trust matters. I’ve been drawn to businesses that hinge on their customers' strong trust. At Amazon, I worked on Alexa, at Cruise I worked on autonomous vehicles. Here at Replit, empowering customers with the engineering primitives (fancy word for tools and basic building blocks) and giving them a high bar for what they can achieve reflects that Replit views our users as paramount. For Replers to keep coming back, versus other things they might do, and to build and stay in our community means they must trust that Replit is giving them what they need, cares about their privacy and their work, and will do that right thing. For a lawyer in internet businesses, that is exhilerating.
What are you most excited to accomplish at Replit?
We’re bringing the next billion software creators online. At our current rate of growth, that will be in 10 years. Replit has the chance to give everyone the same power to create apps and software, as YouTube gave everyone the power to broadcast video or podcasts gave everyone the ability to report.
I am most excited to play a key role in enabling such an end-to-end software marketplace - with BD partnerships paving the way for magical experiences for Replers and important legal/trust issues as we scale.
What is your favorite repl?
I’ve been enjoying this retro Microsoft Paint-like paint and canvas program.
Where can users find you online?
Are you hiring?
Yes! Roles go live soon for both legal and business development. Check back here for updates!
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