May 11A Home on the National Mall“History is not the past. It is the stories we tell about the past. How we tell these stories — triumphantly or self-critically, metaphysically or dialectally — has a lot to do with whether we cut short or advance our evolution as human beings.” - Grace Lee Boggs I vividly remember visiting Washington DC during sweltering summers as a young boy, and always looking forward to consuming all that the Smithsonian museums on the National Mall had to offer. It was like being a kid in a knowledge candy shop. As an adult, I appreciated these museums even…Asian American5 min read
Apr 26We Don’t Need Permission to DanceThere’s always something that’s standing in the way But if you don’t let it faze ya, you’ll know just how to break Just keep the right vibe, yeah, ’cause there’s no looking back “Permission to Dance” by BTS Growing up in New Jersey in the 80s and early 90s, I…Asian American13 min read
Oct 12, 2021The Asian American Myth: Effort Leads to OutcomesGrowing up as a child of Asian immigrants, I was raised to believe that if you work hard in America, you can succeed. That this country is all about “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps” and “keeping your nose to the grindstone” because anything is possible. Our parents came here…Asian American11 min read
Sep 7, 2021Crossover Network EffectsAs I’ve spent more time building marketplaces and advising other marketplace founders, I’ve observed a phenomenon that isn’t common across all marketplaces. I’ve tried searching for any existing writing and thus far have been unable to find a definition for it so I decided to take a stab at defining…Marketplaces13 min read
Published in Hyphen Capital Blog·May 19, 2021Our Investment in ItalicEveryone loves Costco. Knowing that you are probably getting the best price available on a product (15% over cost) and that it was selected by the Costco team as the best in category, gives you peace of mind as a consumer. The cost savings and peace of mind alone are…Investing3 min read
Published in Hyphen Capital Blog·May 18, 2021Our Investment in Hyphen MediaOne of the main reasons I started Hyphen Capital was to change the narrative around Asian American founders. Representation matters. Whether it’s on the big movie screen or in a children’s book, being able to see yourself as part of a story is so impactful for a young person. But…Asian American3 min read
Published in Hyphen Capital Blog·May 14, 2021Our Investment in MascotTeens today are spending more of their time with online friends vs. offline friends. Over half consider only the people they’ve known online as friends. As the first generation to be digitally native, Gen-Z uses multiple online identities in pursuit of self-discovery. Over half identify as non-heterosexual (25% gender fluid…Startup2 min read
Published in Hyphen Capital Blog·May 14, 2021Our Investment in ModernLoopAnyone who has had to manage a hiring process knows how painful coordinating interviews can be. From coordinating schedules with your team to coordinating schedules with your candidate, it can be such a mess. ModernLoop is changing all of that. …Investment2 min read
Published in Hyphen Capital Blog·May 5, 2021Our Investment in PersonaI first connected with Persona cofounder and CEO Rick Song after their Series A in February 2020 before COVID. Our VP of Engineering at Pared had talked to him about verifying identities on our platform. It was something that was challenging but critical to our business and many other businesses…Announcements3 min read
Published in Hyphen Capital Blog·Apr 20, 2021Our Investment in Viva TranslateWhen Belinda Mo shared with me the origin story of Viva Translate coming out of one of her Stanford classes as a real world challenge that faced legal organizations, I knew that this was a big opportunity. Most of us go through our daily lives in the U.S. not thinking…Startup3 min read