# Co-founder and CEO, Stytch

Source: https://startwithidentity.com/experts/reed-mcginley-stempel/
Last updated: 2026-09-20
License: content by Start with Identity. Cite the source URL.

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## Bio

Reed McGinley-Stempel co-founded Stytch in 2020 with Julianna Lamb, its CTO. The two met at Plaid working on bank-account authentication, where they saw how much engineering time went into authentication flows that were never the product. Stytch launched with email magic links and grew into a full B2C and B2B identity platform.

Profile built from public company and press records.

## Where their work shows up

Most identity platforms added [passwordless](https://startwithidentity.com/guides/fundamentals/what-is-passwordless/) to a password-first product. Stytch started from the other end, which changes the defaults: [passkeys](https://startwithidentity.com/standards/webauthn-fido2/), magic links, and device fingerprinting as the primary path, with fraud and bot detection treated as part of authentication rather than a separate purchase. See the [Stytch profile](https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/ciam/stytch/), the [best passwordless CIAM providers](https://startwithidentity.com/rankings/best-passwordless-ciam-providers/) ranking, and [Auth0 vs Stytch](https://startwithidentity.com/compare/auth0-vs-stytch/).