Wan Li Zhu - VC Wisdom

Angel Invest Boston

The family of Wan Li Zhu emigrated to America seeking new opportunities. Wan Li benefited from high-quality public education at Bronx High School of Science and went on to a perfect grade-point average at MIT. He studied under renowned quant wiz Andrew Lo and was poised for a career on Wall Street but was lured away by the prospect of hands-on responsibility for product features at Microsoft. After a prodigiously successful stint, during which he was involved in building and marketing Dynamics CRM, Microsoft’s fastest-growing product, he went to Harvard Business School. From HBS he was recruited by early-stage VC firm Fairhaven Capital.

The firm, known for its expertise in web security and digital advertising, now sees promise in various applications of artificial intelligence starting with self-driving technology. Wan Li is deeply engaged in bringing on the next generation of winning investments at Fairhaven Capital. Despite a busy professional life, Wan Li Zhu has found time to advise startups and to co-found MIT Angels in Boston. I learned a ton from my conversation with this wise, yet unassuming early-stage VC and angel.

HERE'S A LIST OF THE TOPICS COVERED:

• Wan Li Zhu Bio

• Studied with MIT Professor Andrew Lo – Used Natural Language Processing to Assess Market Sentiment

• Why Wan Li Zhu Went to Microsoft – Three Years at MS – Shipped Three Versions of the Product

• Wan Li Zhu Connects with Fairhaven Capital through HBS Resume Book

• Fairhaven Capital Is Thesis-driven – Attentive to Market Trends that Could Create Large Opportunities

• How the Fairhaven Capital Portfolio Is Doing

• What Wan Li Zhu Looks for in a Startup Investment

• Experienced Founders Can Actually Time Markets

• TVision Came Via MIT Angels – Measuring Engagement of TV Viewers

• AirFox – Enabling Wireless Carriers to Offer More Affordable Data Plans

• MIT Angels Company PathAI’s Deep Learning System Is Better at Detecting Tumor Cells than Human Pathologists

• Latch – Enterprise-grade Keyless Access System for Apartment Buildings

• The Investment Wan Li Zhu Regrets Not Making

• Wise VC Wan Li Zhu Continues to Be Very Bullish on AI