Wan Li Zhu, Early Stage VC & Angel Investor, Co-founder of MIT Angels, "Wise VC" Ep. 19

The family of Wan Li Zhu did not see a future in China. His parents, persecuted by the one-party state, came to America when Wan Li was ten years old. China’s great loss became America’s brilliant gain.

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, MS’ 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 VC.

Here is a list of some of the topics broached:

• Wan Li Zhu Bio
• From Persecution in Communist China to Bronx High School of Science
• 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