ABOUT ME

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s jump into the good stuff. A little bit about myself, I am a Taiwanese-American and 19-year cancer (AML-M7) survivor. I am incredibly grateful to be here today and my north star is to create a positive impact in today's world. Growing up, something that my family did a lot was travel, and because of that, I developed an inquisitive mind and absolutely love exploring. Whether that was striking conversations with the person next to me, trying exotic foods, or adventuring in national parks, I’ve always enjoyed finding what’s out there and asking a ton of questions about it.

Trying a lot of things naturally led me find things I enjoy and things that I don’t. One of the things that really stuck from a young age is the game of basketball. Playing throughout my childhood and for my high school gave me simple joy, some life-long friends, an understanding of teamwork and work ethic, and has been one of my biggest sources of confidence. Beyond the court, many lessons from the game have translated into my daily life, and for that reason, it will always have a great influence on who I am.

Social impact is something else that I’ve enjoyed being involved in. In high school, I was a large part of Dell Children’s Survivorship Challenge, where I mentored young cancer survivors like myself through a running training program that culminated in races such as Race for the Cure or Run for the Water. In the summer of my junior year, I took part in this program in Taiwan called Assisting Individuals with Disadvantages (AID), where I had the opportunity to design & teach a curriculum about English to kids in rural communities. This remains one of my biggest life-changing experiences, and throughout the summer I developed a deep admiration for the joy they always had. 

That said, the characteristics I developed throughout my childhood eventually led into my passion for investing. To have the opportunity to constantly learn and understand how the world works while being able to see the returns on the things that I put effort into is quite rewarding. As such, when I got to UT, I joined a couple fantastic communities that have allowed me pursue my professional interests in every way imaginable. To me, each gave a unique taste of the quality of people that UT had to offer.

What has always been important to me is gaining experience. Yes, school can teach you a lot, but you never really understand something until you apply it, especially in business. I’ve found that I learn best primarily in three ways, as a: 1) kinesthetic learner (hands-on, experiential & through repetition) 2) visual learner (by example) and 3) through conversations and active discussion. My philosophy has always been that what you do outside of school will give you the highest ROI, and because of that, I’ve had the opportunity to intern and work for some of the most incredible firms and start-ups. I’ve tried almost everything I could, having an internship every semester in college besides my last.

Out of all my experiences in college, some stand out in particular. My freshman summer, I worked for a private equity firm based in Chicago. It was really my first experience understanding how investors empirically evaluate good v. mediocre industries and identify key, sustainable moats. Another memorable experience was my time at UTIMCO, the nation’s largest, and my university's endowment fund. The culture was the best I’d ever seen. My MD served as one of my biggest mentors and as the only intern on the team, the responsibility and ability to lead my own projects that I eventually presented helped me begin to flourish as an investor and understand things from an LP perspective. Perhaps my most eye-opening experience was my summer at boutique investment bank PJT Partners in New York City. For context, the firm originally started as a spin-off of Blackstone’s Advisory business back in 2015. I’ve always thrived best in tight-knit, entrepreneurial environments where I can learn from those around me, particularly the seniors – and that's precisely why I chose PJT. From the training program to the informal late night intern dinners & group outings to our community service week, my experience felt like a huge relief but also a feeling of incredible excitement as it opened my eyes to a whole other world of success, talent, and lifestyle. This short period was one of the greatest developments in my character and maturity - and the city of NYC was a big factor in it. That said, I’m so excited to be back in NYC.

When I got back to campus after that summer, I realized that I had all the time in the world to explore new passions — and that’s exactly what I did. I spent the 1.5 years I had left paying it forward, rekindling old friendships, and finding new hobbies. Professionally, I found a new passion that I hope to pursue for the long-term. With the time I had, I had as many conversations about as many different things as I could, and eventually found myself immersed in early-stage/growth investing and start-ups (especially infra, enterprise ai & fintech/blockchain). 

Why early-stage/growth investing? To keep it short, I'll break it down into two buckets. 1) The nature of the work: game-changing technologies and ideas are always on the horizon, and to be able to build, grow, and invest in ever-changing technologies to have a positive impact on the world is something that excites me. It’s the reason I got into investing in the first place – the opportunity to constantly learn what new solutions are arising and develop a strong thesis about them. That component of critical thinking, especially on a long-term horizon, is the thing I find most challenging yet rewarding. 2) The nature of the role: your job is to find, meet, and convince who I believe are the smartest people (aka founders) in the world in addition to other incredibly talented investors. If you’ve read anything about my advice, it’s surrounding yourself with those that are better than yourself, and being in venture is a perfect way for me to do so. It’s a game played at the highest-level, and I love to compete. Above all, I like to listen, ask questions, and learn from smart individuals who talk passionately about the problem they're solving and why they’re the person to do it. Energy in the industry is infectious and exciting, and it’s something that will keep me feeling young in the future. Working with numbers is also fun :)

In the past year or so, I’ve done a couple of things in this space. Some highlights include 1) Playing a large role in two startups, Dive Chat and Peep Connect 2) Working with the Bessemer Venture Partners and Foundation Capital teams on side projects 3) Co-hosting an accelerator backed by Polychain, Lightspeed, and Google, who held an in-person demo day in which the cohort’s start-ups raised over $5M 4) Spending the summer with Pantera Capital, the first institutional venture fund in blockchain started by the ex-CFO and Head of Macro Trading at Tiger. At Pantera, I largely focused on three things: 1) PortCo support 2) Research and Theses Creation (wrote papers on zero-knowledge machine learning & bitcoin programmability, see “A Word”) and 3) Investment Diligence. I loved my experience and am hungry to get back into the space.

Of course, though, I’m not all professional. After graduation, I completed a life-long dream of backpacking Asia & South America for 3.5 months (check out “My Adventures”)! I like to think of myself as an energetic guy who always loves to crack jokes and lighten the mood. That said, I am an avid national park fan (Red Rock is the most underrated), lover of innovative cuisines, any kind of sport (basketball, bouldering, spikeball, skiing, weightlifting), journaling, and jamming out to EDM (I’m always listening to music). Fun fact I also have a bartending license (notable stints include Formula 1, Ed Sheeran, The Rolling Stones, and Moto Grand Prix) and am an avid player of FIFA & 2K with my roommates. I’ve also been getting into nature photography. Enough about me now, I would love to get to know you!

With Much Love,

Justin