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  "markdown": "Co-founder and CTO, Payload.\n\nElliot DeNolf is co-founder and CTO of Payload, a developer-first headless CMS from Y Combinator's Summer 2022 batch. He has worked on the design, development and delivery of large distributed back-end services, with a focus on high-availability web services, containers and CI/CD pipelines.\n\n- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/elliotdenolf\n- X: https://x.com/elliothimself\n\n## What Elliot builds\n\n- [Payload](https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/payload.md), graded C, 55.5/100, in CMS \u0026 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 and CTO, Payload, researched 2026-10-28.\n\n## Works with\n\n- [Dan Ribbens](https://www.anchorterminal.com/people/dan-ribbens/), Co-founder and COO, Payload\n- [James Mikrut](https://www.anchorterminal.com/people/james-mikrut/), Co-founder and CEO, Payload\n\n## Backed by\n\n- [Y Combinator](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/y-combinator/)\n- [Gradient Ventures](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/gradient-ventures/)\n- [MongoDB](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/mongodb/)\n- [SV Angel](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/sv-angel/)\n- [Grand Ventures](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/grand-ventures/)\n- [Exceptional Capital](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/exceptional-capital/)\n\n## Questions\n\n### Who is Elliot DeNolf?\n\nElliot DeNolf is co-founder and CTO of Payload, a developer-first headless CMS from Y Combinator's Summer 2022 batch. He has worked on the design, development and delivery of large distributed back-end services, with a focus on high-availability web services, containers and CI/CD pipelines.\n\n### What does Payload CMS, Inc. (Figma) make?\n\nAnchor 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.\n\n### Who has invested in Payload CMS, Inc. (Figma)?\n\nThe sources our research read name Y Combinator, Gradient Ventures, MongoDB, SV Angel, Grand Ventures and Exceptional Capital.\n\n### How are Elliot's tools graded?\n\nPayload is graded C, 55.5 out of 100, on Anchor Terminal's benchmark, which scores every listing against the same checklist.\n\n## Sources\n\n- https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/payload\n- https://payloadcms.com/\n- https://payloadcms.com/contact\n\nThese 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.\n",
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