Roksana Baleshzar
| Roksana Baleshzar | |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur, software engineer |
|---|---|
| Known for | Co-founder and CTO of TectoAI |
Roksana Baleshzar is an Iranian-American entrepreneur and software engineer who is the co-founder and chief technology officer (CTO) of TectoAI, a startup that provides an AI governance platform for regulated enterprises. The company was part of Y Combinator's Summer 2025 batch and is based in San Francisco, California.[1]
Education
Baleshzar studied at the Sharif University of Technology in Iran. She subsequently earned a Master of Science degree in Computer Science from Pennsylvania State University, where she conducted research in theoretical computer science. Her academic work appeared in the journal Theory of Computing.[2]
Career
Prior to founding TectoAI, Baleshzar worked at Google for approximately seven years. During her tenure there, she built AI systems at scale, including work on Gmail intelligence features.[3]
In 2025, Baleshzar co-founded TectoAI with Niosha Afsharikia. The company develops a governance platform designed to help enterprises manage their AI tools and agentic AI systems. TectoAI's platform provides centralized visibility into deployed AI tools and models, monitors agent behavior post-deployment, detects unauthorized actions or data exfiltration, and helps organizations maintain compliance with applicable regulations. A core product feature, called Tecto Detector, identifies, redacts, and replaces personally identifiable information (PII) and sensitive personal information (SPI) using pattern recognition and contextual inference, operating entirely on-premises so that no data leaves the customer's environment.[4]
The platform is aimed particularly at regulated industries, including the legal sector. Baleshzar has spoken publicly about the challenges law firms and enterprises face when deciding which AI capabilities to build internally versus outsource, a topic she discussed at the Legalweek conference in 2025.[5]
TectoAI was accepted into Y Combinator's Summer 2025 batch. Baleshzar has described her prior experience developing and launching AI-enabled tools for the U.S. government and private sector as formative in understanding the governance challenges that regulated organizations face when adopting AI.[6]
References
- ↑ "TectoAI – Y Combinator". 'Y Combinator}'. Retrieved 2026-03-19.
- ↑ "About the Authors". 'Theory of Computing}'. Retrieved 2026-03-19.
- ↑ "Roksana Baleshzar – LinkedIn post on Google and Y Combinator". 'LinkedIn}'. Retrieved 2026-03-19.
- ↑ "TectoAI". 'TectoAI}'. Retrieved 2026-03-19.
- ↑ "Roksana Baleshzar – LinkedIn post on Legalweek". 'LinkedIn}'. Retrieved 2026-03-19.
- ↑ "Jobs at TectoAI (S25)". 'Y Combinator – Work at a Startup}'. Retrieved 2026-03-19.