Empowering the masses with AI and Fintech
“So, what is next for you?” my colleagues wonder as they are congratulating me on the recent SmarterMe acquisition
For my next chapter, I am happy to announce that I will be an investor / venture capitalist
It is an all-too-familiar Silicon Valley career transition where an entrepreneur turns VC. And yes, the glamorous life of a VC that entails being the thought leader of technology trends, nurturing the next generation elite entrepreneurs, traveling across the world to speak at conferences while generating an extraordinary amount of wealth, has finally caught up with me.
Before getting too immersed in this fantasy, one should pause and read this dose of reality
While the perks of a successful VC career do play a part in my aspiration, I was largely drawn to this profession because of SoFi, a startup I invested back in 2013.
SoFi provides student loans via a marketplace. With a social mission to empowering its members to accomplish their financial goals and gain financial successes as a result, SoFi has ascended from a little-known Stanford-born startup to a $4 Billion unicorn in its latest round of financing. As an investor, I saw firsthand how my investment has made an impact on the students from my alma maters. As an entrepreneur, I also took great pride in some of these students who were able to launch successful companies because of the help they have received from SoFi.
Through such endearing experiences, I learned that companies with great mission can also be great businesses. Such experiences have also led me to believe that if there is only one thing I can do to bring lasting impact to the society, it needs to be centering upon improving the economic well-being of individuals. While technology advances such as autonomous driving or the ever-intelligent assistants — Alexa, Siri — has dominated the news headlines, I always wonder how these technologies can help factory workers in the midwest who are suffering from their job losses or the merchants in rural Africa who are just worrying about securing their capital for their businesses. To me, the answer lies in addressing business challenges with innovation in finances and technologies. And by being an investor in the area of AI and Fintech, and working with entrepreneurs to bring these innovations to the marketplace, my dream of bringing financial well-being to the masses can finally be reached.
With that said, if you are interested in learning more about how
- Predictive analytics can be used to cut cost for manufacturing,
- An crowdsourced AI hedge fund can beat the market,
- Blockchain can expedite a credit default swap transaction,
- Cell phones can be turned into loans for 110 million subscribers
- Machine vision can be used to help the blind
I would love to hear from you, and I would like you to join my journey in empowering the masses with AI and Fintech.
