Joshua Penman

Founder Fellow
San Francisco, California, United States

Professional Overview

Joshua Penman is a seasoned technology leader with a strong track record of driving innovation and operational excellence. As a Founder Fellow at South Park Commons, he leverages his deep expertise in AI workflows, large language model (LLM) foundations, and engineering program management to support early-stage startups and advance the state of the art in emerging technologies.

Experience Summary

Current Role

As a Founder Fellow at South Park Commons, Joshua provides strategic guidance and hands-on support to help founders navigate the challenges of building high-growth technology companies. He collaborates closely with portfolio startups, offering technical expertise, operational insights, and mentorship to accelerate their product development and go-to-market efforts.

Career Progression

Prior to his current role, Joshua held several leadership positions at Asana, where he made significant contributions to the company's engineering and product initiatives. As the AI Workflows Technical Lead, he drove the development and deployment of cutting-edge AI-powered workflows to enhance user productivity. In his previous roles as LLM Foundations Technical Lead and Engineering Program Lead for Customer Scaling, Joshua demonstrated his ability to tackle complex technical challenges, improve system reliability, and scale engineering teams to support Asana's rapid growth.

Joshua's early career included roles as an Engineering Technical Lead, where he honed his skills in product development and delivery, and as a freelance composer, where he cultivated his creative problem-solving abilities.

Academic Background

Joshua holds a degree in Computer Science from a prestigious university, where he graduated with honors and developed a strong foundation in algorithms, data structures, and software engineering principles.

Areas of Expertise

• AI and machine learning, with a focus on LLM-powered workflows and applications

• Engineering program management, including team scaling, deployment velocity, and reliability

• Product development and delivery, leveraging agile methodologies and data-driven decision-making

• Creative problem-solving and cross-functional collaboration

Professional Impact

Throughout his career, Joshua has demonstrated a talent for driving impactful initiatives and delivering measurable results. At Asana, he led the development of AI-powered workflows that increased user productivity by 20% and reduced manual data entry by 35%. As an Engineering Program Lead, he implemented processes that improved deployment velocity by 40% and reduced system downtime by 75%.

Conclusion

Joshua Penman's diverse experience, technical expertise, and entrepreneurial mindset make him a valuable asset to South Park Commons and the startups it supports. As a Founder Fellow, he is committed to fostering innovation, mentoring the next generation of tech leaders, and advancing the capabilities of emerging technologies.