Portrait No. 001
Dani Pensack
Founder
Rightfoot
Raised — $21M
I started Rightfoot after seeing, again and again, how the people who could least afford financial friction were asked to give up the most, ie their bank usernames and passwords, just to access basic financial products and credit. That always felt backwards, unsafe, and deeply unfair. The turning point came while working closely with lenders and borrowers in distress. Lenders were flying blind, and consumers were paying the price through failed payments, fees, and unnecessary collections — all because the system relied on broken, invasive data rails. I believed there had to be a better way. So we built one. At Rightfoot, we pioneered the first credential-less way to verify real-time financial data, giving lenders clarity while protecting consumers’ dignity and security. The technology finally exists. The need has never been greater. And I’ve lived the problem from both sides.
In her words
“The next generation of financial infrastructure won’t be built on friction – it will be built on intelligence that works effortlessly in the background. At Rightfoot, we’ve proven that real-time financial context drives 10x better outcomes for businesses, and better experiences for the people they serve.”
Chapter I
The toughest challenges you've faced as a founder.
Building Rightfoot has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done. As a female CEO and founder, I’ve learned that the same directness praised in male CEOs is often labeled “abrasive” when it comes from me. I’ve had teammates expect me to hold them like a mother, then criticize my leadership when I held a high bar. I’ve read Glassdoor reviews saying “the CEO yells” simply because I asked for accountability. We’ve pivoted multiple times to find real product-market fit. One of the hardest decisions I made was walking away from our first Fortune 500 customer, against investor advice, because they were slowing us down. That call unlocked focus and drove 6× revenue growth in a single year. Through a brutal fundraising market, I raised $21M to date, and kept the company moving forward. Along the way, Rightfoot was named a Forbes Cloud 100 Rising Star, a CB Insights Fintech 100 company, and recognized by Will Reed as a top place to work. Over seven years as a founder and CEO, I’ve fallen, scraped, and rebuilt — often while doubting myself and attempting to tune out loud external voices. The climb taught me the hardest skill of all: trusting my gut, even when it’s lonely.
Chapter II
Your vision.
I’m obsessed with fixing the moment when financial systems fail people — when lenders are forced to guess, and consumers are punished for that guess with fees, retries, and collections that never should have happened. Today, too much of finance runs on blind spots and invasive shortcuts. People are asked to overshare sensitive information, while businesses still lack the clarity they need to act responsibly. That gap creates friction, distrust, and unnecessary harm. Rightfoot exists to change that dynamic. We believe financial data should be secure by default, permissioned by the consumer, and useful in real time: not brittle, invasive, or outdated. The world I’m working toward is one where financial decisions are better timed, less punitive, and more humane. Where companies can act with precision instead of pressure, and consumers don’t have to trade dignity for access. When that happens, finance stops being adversarial, and starts working as it should.
Chapter III
The impact you want to leave behind — for your industry, your community, and the women who come next.
Thirty years from now, I want to have helped shift finance from something people fear into something that works quietly and fairly in the background of their lives. I want Rightfoot to be remembered as the company that proved you don’t need surveillance, coercion, or intimidation to run a successful financial business - just better data and better judgment. For the industry, I hope we raised the bar for what “responsible” actually means. For future women founders, I want my legacy to be proof that you can lead with conviction and care, be unapologetically your authentic self, trust your instincts, and still overcome the odds. If that door feels even a little more open, it was all worth it.