Cat
Perez
Pronouns: they / she
Founder of Hey Famm. Building products that feel like the future but work for the present. Product, design, strategy, marketing — I get shit done.
Who?
Catherine "Cat" Perez — founder, product leader, designer, and strategist based in Sacramento, California. I build companies end-to-end: zero-to-one product, brand, team, culture, scale.
Today I'm the founder of Hey Famm. Previously Co-Founder & CPO at HealthSherpa — 15M enrollments, 32% of the Federal Marketplace in 2023. First place + $1M at the Salesforce Dreamforce Hackathon, 2013.
Superpowers
Currently building
Hey Famm
A directory, a network, a movement. Hey Famm connects queer professionals and queer-owned businesses so they can find each other, hire each other, buy from each other, and build with each other. Nearly 13,000 members, 2,200+ businesses, 60,000 connections, 45,000 messages, thousands of events — and growing every day.
Ventures &
Milestones
Hey Famm
Largest professional network for the LGBTQ+ community. ~13K members, 2.2K businesses, 60K connections, 45K messages, thousands of events.
HealthSherpa
Built the largest private ACA enrollment platform in the U.S. 15M+ enrollments — 32% of the Federal Marketplace in 2023. Led product and design end-to-end.
Speaker & Thought Leader
Panel speaker at industry events including SOCAP. Writes and speaks on product leadership, founder journey, and building inclusive teams.
Salesforce Hackathon Winner
First-place team, $1 million prize. One of the earliest high-profile milestones of Cat's product career.
Receipts
What colleagues say
"As Cofounder and Chief Product Officer at HealthSherpa for eight years, Catherine has consistently demonstrated remarkable leadership — steering complex projects to success, championing the growth of multidisciplinary teams, and promoting a culture of diversity, inclusion, and continuous learning."
"Learning from Cat was transformative. She taught me how to effectively engage with users and devise solutions quickly. Her unwavering persistence showcased the importance of resilience, quick iterations, and the exploration of varied solutions."
"I experienced the epitome of inclusivity, and much of that credit goes to Cat's leadership. She navigated tough conversations with grace. She is hands-on, leads by example, and never expects from others what she wouldn't do herself."
"HealthSherpa's success and unique culture bear Cat's indelible mark. Collaborating with her has been transformative — she showed me the ropes of startup dynamics, and the lessons are invaluable."
Core
Values
The AI Stack & Tools
How Cat
ships fast.
Vibe coding, prompt-driven prototyping, and a modern product stack that lets a small team move like a big one. From idea to production without the drag.
AI-native code editor — where the vibe coding happens
Prompt-to-product prototyping and shipping
Source of truth, version control, CI
Preview deploys and production hosting on the edge
Postgres, auth, storage — the backend backbone
Product analytics, session replay, feature flags
BI dashboards and stakeholder-friendly reporting
Design system, wireframes, collaborative UI
Roadmap, sprints, and shipping cadence
Docs, specs, and company knowledge
LLM copilots for research, writing, and prototyping
Payments, subscriptions, revenue plumbing
The toolbox
What Cat brings
20+ years shipping products across D2C, B2C, B2B2C, and SaaS. Moves seamlessly between hands-on IC craft, executive leadership, and founder mode.
FAQ
Who is Cat Perez?+
Cat Perez is a founder, product leader, designer, and strategist based in Sacramento, California. She's the founder of Hey Famm, the largest professional network for the LGBTQ+ community, and Co-Founder and former Chief Product Officer of HealthSherpa.
What is Hey Famm?+
Hey Famm is the largest professional networking platform and business directory for the LGBTQ+ community — nearly 13,000 members, 2,200+ queer-owned businesses, 60,000 connections, 45,000 messages, and thousands of community events and counting. Founded by Cat Perez.
What did Cat Perez do at HealthSherpa?+
Cat co-founded HealthSherpa and served as Chief Product Officer for eight years. Under her product leadership the company grew into the largest private ACA marketplace in the U.S., driving 15 million enrollments — roughly 32% of the Federal Marketplace for plan year 2023.
What does Cat Perez do?+
She builds and leads companies end-to-end: product management, product strategy, product and UX design, user research, marketing, brand, community, and team operations. 20+ years across D2C, B2C, B2B2C, and SaaS.
How can I reach Cat?+
Cat is open to press, speaking, partnership, and investor conversations. Reach her via LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/catperez, her site whoiscatperez.com, or Hey Famm at heyfamm.com.
Say hi
Get in
Touch
