# Dan Ribbens

> Dan Ribbens is co-founder, Payload CMS of Inc. (Figma). Payload on Anchor Terminal, with grades, an about and public profiles.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/people/dan-ribbens/
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/people/dan-ribbens/index.md (~1,000 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/people/dan-ribbens/index.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/people/dan-ribbens/index.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-10-28

Co-founder, Payload CMS, Inc. (Figma).

Dan Ribbens is co-founder and COO of Payload, a developer-first headless CMS from Y Combinator's Summer 2022 batch, where he has focused on database engineering and developer experience. Before Payload he worked as a freelance consultant and as a senior developer, team lead and architect. He holds a master's in computer science from GVSU.

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danribbens/
- X: https://x.com/DanielRibbens

## What Dan builds

- [Payload](https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/payload.md), graded C, 55.5/100, in CMS & website publishing. Payload is an open-source, code-first headless CMS and application framework for Node.js and Next.js, now part of Figma. Agents manage content, drafts, versions and locales through generated REST and GraphQL APIs or an official MCP plugin. Co-founder, Payload CMS, Inc. (Figma), researched 2026-10-26.

## Works with

- [Elliot DeNolf](https://www.anchorterminal.com/people/elliot-denolf/), Co-founder, Payload CMS, Inc. (Figma)
- [James Mikrut](https://www.anchorterminal.com/people/james-mikrut/), Co-founder, Payload CMS, Inc. (Figma)

## Backed by

- [Y Combinator](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/y-combinator/)
- [Gradient Ventures](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/gradient-ventures/)
- [MongoDB](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/mongodb/)
- [SV Angel](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/sv-angel/)
- [Grand Ventures](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/grand-ventures/)
- [Exceptional Capital](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/exceptional-capital/)

## Questions

### Who is Dan Ribbens?

Dan Ribbens is co-founder and COO of Payload, a developer-first headless CMS from Y Combinator's Summer 2022 batch, where he has focused on database engineering and developer experience. Before Payload he worked as a freelance consultant and as a senior developer, team lead and architect. He holds a master's in computer science from GVSU.

### What does Payload CMS, Inc. (Figma) make?

Anchor Terminal lists Payload from Payload CMS, Inc. (Figma). Payload is an open-source, code-first headless CMS and application framework for Node.js and Next.js, now part of Figma. Agents manage content, drafts, versions and locales through generated REST and GraphQL APIs or an official MCP plugin.

### Who has invested in Payload CMS, Inc. (Figma)?

The sources our research read name Y Combinator, Gradient Ventures, MongoDB, SV Angel, Grand Ventures and Exceptional Capital.

### How are Dan's tools graded?

Payload is graded C, 55.5 out of 100, on Anchor Terminal's benchmark, which scores every listing against the same checklist.

## Sources

- https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/payload
- https://payloadcms.com/
- https://payloadcms.com/contact

These are the people building the tools we list, named for their public role in the company or project behind a listing, from public pages, with the date it was researched. They don't work for Anchor Terminal (our own team is on the about page, /about/#author). We show public roles, public profiles and what the listing pages show, nothing private. To correct something, send an about or a photo, or have a page removed, write to privacy@anchorterminal.com.

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