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Long before Calvin Chin began deploying venture capital into frontier technology startups, he was peeling snow peas and washing dishes in the back of his family’s Chinese restaurant in downtown Detroit. Today, as Managing Partner at E14 Fund, Chin draws a direct line between the quiet discipline of small-business stewardship and the high-stakes world of deep tech investing. In a wide-ranging conversation with Asian Tech Collective, Chin walks us through his kinetic path from

Mark Lee’s entrepreneurial journey began long before his first startup. Born in Taipei and raised between Taiwan and Los Angeles, Mark grew up watching his father build a manufacturing business from the ground up, an experience that shaped his belief in innovation, hard work, and building companies with a family-first culture. After meeting his co-founders at MIT more than 30 years ago, Mark went on to launch two successful startups and help build Splashtop into one of the l

In this interview, Claire Chang, Founder and Managing Partner of igniteXL, shares her journey from immigrant young mom to founding a successful venture capital firm. Driven by a conviction that diverse perspectives yield superior returns, Claire turned her non-traditional background into her biggest advantage. She discusses how igniteXL targets the intersection of consumer behavior, technology, and health—investing in breakout companies like Bubble Skincare and Musely—and why

David Aung is an Investment Officer at the City of San José's Office of Retirement Services, which manages the retirement assets of the city's employees and retirees. He leads real assets, venture capital, and absolute return, and was the principal architect of the City's venture program. David joined the City in July 2018 as the plans' Risk Officer before assuming investment coverage. He spent six and a half years at KKR, most recently as a Principal in the Risk and Analyti

From rural Virginia to Seoul to Silicon Valley, Sung Cho's journey is a story of navigating identity, opportunity, and conviction across vastly different worlds. Now as Founding GP of Fortitude Ventures, he’s applying that unique lens to backing deeply technical, mission-driven founders, often before the rest of the market fully sees it. In this conversation, Sung shares how early experiences shaped his worldview, why he optimizes for outsized outcomes over downside protec

Keven Wang, CEO of UnitX, shares his journey from arriving in the U.S. as a high school exchange student to building AI vision systems for factories around the world. In this conversation, he reflects on the influence of his parents, the lessons he learned from early startup attempts, and why ambition, persistence, and respect for the people who make physical products continue to shape his work.

Richard Chau has served as Chief Investment Officer of Tulane University since May 2021, the culmination of a career he had been building at the university since 2013. He oversees Tulane's Investment Management Office, which manages the university's endowment and related long-term investment assets. These assets play a critical role in providing perpetual support for students and professors across generations.

In this conversation with Homan Yuen, Managing Partner at Keymaker, he reflects on the long movement from science to startups to investing, and on what he learned along the way about building companies, evaluating technology, and navigating a career that did not unfold in a straight line. What emerges is a career shaped not by a single leap but by a series of thoughtful recalibrations.

We sit down with Hana Yang, co‑founder of Allocate, whose remarkable journey spans three continents and a career shaped by impact, resilience, and deep purpose. From her upbringing in Argentina to building intelligent infrastructure for private markets, Hana shares how her tri‑cultural identity, entrepreneurial family roots, and passion for access have informed her leadership. She opens up about the realities of startup life and the mindset shifts that helped her thrive. A

On March 12, Asian Tech Collective hosted our Lunar New Year Banquet at Palette Tea Garden in San Mateo, bringing together 70 VCs, LPs, and founders for a night of great food and even better conversation. The dinner featured a banquet-style spread of refined dim sum, standout seafood and wok dishes, and signature dishes like shaking beef, millionaire fried rice, and Peking duck.

We sit down with Steven Hong — co-founder of Kumu and Oculii, the AI radar and perception company acquired by Ambarella for $400 million — for a candid look at the path that took him from an academic childhood in Ohio to building and exiting deep-tech companies at the frontier of AI and autonomous systems. Hong reflects on the early influence of growing up as the son of an electrical engineering professor, the pivotal moments that pulled

Wendy Li is Co-founder and Chief Investment Officer of Ivy Invest, where she leads portfolio construction and investment strategy for an endowment-style platform designed for individual investors. Prior to founding Ivy Invest, Wendy spent nearly two decades as an institutional investor stewarding multi-billion-dollar portfolios for some of New York’s most prominent mission-driven organizations.

What shapes a venture capitalist long before they ever write a check? In this ATC interview, we sat down with Sophia Zhao, Partner at Alumni Ventures, to trace the throughline from her childhood in Chengdu and Vancouver to her work backing founders across AI, Web3, and women-led ventures.

Japanese manga now commands roughly 50% of the $2 billion US comics market and a staggering 76% of trade bookstore sales. While Marvel and DC doubled down on the “legacy code” of infinite, circular superhero narratives, Japanese creators captured Gen Z with a superior product architecture: linear, finite narratives defined by moral complexity and permanent consequence. This is a masterclass in market disruption, where a patient, 20-year customer acquisition strategy finally t

Pasy Wang is the Chief Investment Officer of Cedars-Sinai, where she leads one of the highest-performing endowment teams in the country. Born and raised in Culver City, she began her journey studying electrical engineering at UCLA before discovering a love for travel and problem-solving that carried her into the consulting world during the first tech boom.

For more than fifty years, the Asian Law Caucus (ALC) has been a national leader in protecting the civil and legal rights of Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. In this interview, Aarti Kohli, Executive Director of the Asian Law Caucus, reflects on the organization’s roots and its mission to ensure that every person—regardless of language, status, or income—has access to safety, stability, and a sense of belonging in the place they call home.

What does it take to build a company that challenges industry giants and a venture firm at the same time? In this exclusive ATC interview, Judy Canalin sits down with David Zhu, CEO and co-founder of Reevo and founding partner of Zhu Ventures, for a candid conversation on entrepreneurship, resilience, and the power of lifelong relationships.

A look back at ATC’s Moon Festival Banquet—an evening of community, Korean BBQ, and keynote insights from Aarti Kohli of the Asian Law Caucus.