Logan Yonavjak is the Co-Founder and CEO of Readiness Engine, a leadership analytics platform that applies adult developmental psychology and AI to measure the inner operating system of founders and executives. Rising to prominence in the mid-2020s, she became known for bringing rigorous behavioral science to a problem historically left to gut instinct — evaluating whether a leader will perform when complexity and pressure peak. At Readiness Engine, she and co-founder Benji Whitehurst built a platform that assesses six psychological constructs correlated with positive startup outcomes, using transcript analysis of video interviews and existing meeting recordings rather than easily-gamed forced-choice assessments.
Previously, Yonavjak spent nearly two decades directing capital toward impact-driven companies as an investor and sell-side advisor, channeling hundreds of millions of dollars into natural capital, agtech, foodtech, and conservation infrastructure. She co-founded a sell-side advisory firm in that era, advising on capital raises and go-to-market strategy for high-growth impact businesses. Her FINRA Series 63, 65, and SIE certifications — earned in 2021 — reflect the formal finance infrastructure she built beneath that work.
Her academic foundation spans two graduate degrees from Yale: an MBA in Asset Management from Yale School of Management and a Master of Forestry, supplemented by a BA from UNC Chapel Hill. At Yale, she co-founded the Responsible Investing Group, the Low Carbon Business Plan Case Competition, and Restituo Advisors — a student venture focused on low-carbon ETF development — demonstrating an early pattern of institution-building alongside technical study.
As a contributor to Impact Entrepreneur and author of more than eleven publications on environmental finance and conservation investing, she has long worked to translate complex capital allocation frameworks into actionable guidance for practitioners building businesses where financial returns and positive impact are inseparable goals.
Hey, Thanks for reading this. I mean that. There’s a lot of content out there competing for your attention, and you spent some of it here. I hope it was worth it. Even better, I hope it prompted you to think about something differently enough that you’d share it with someone who’d get something out of it too.I started this podcast because tactics never stuck with me. What stuck were stories — business biographies, autobiographies, the decisions people made and why they made them. The principle only clicks once you know the story behind it.
So I built the thing I wanted to listen to. Every week I have two conversations with people who build in technology and product. Then I write the essay in my premium newsletter (Taste Maker) to distill the principles and reflect on the narrative — one that puts you inside the conversation, through my eyes. What caught me off guard. What I kept thinking about after we hung up. Where the principle actually lives once you strip away the jargon.
I make this for myself first. If you read the way I do, you’ll want it too.
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