I build companies and online communities. I play poker & host home games for fun. I learn and I write.

I was born in China. (Chinese translation of this page) And I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area as a first generation immigrant.

Given my middle-class upbringing, I chose a very safe, very traditional way to start my career – at Goldman Sachs. (More context in: The privilege to take a risk)

Afterwards, I worked for 3 years at a hedge fund. After 20 years in the Bay Area, I moved to Boston in 2016 to pursue an MBA at MIT Sloan.

While at MIT, I co-founded DeepBench, which connects customers with experts on any topic in any industry.

In 2020, I transitioned away from the CEO role at DeepBench and moved to Los Angeles. (More context in: Learning to explore) In 2022, I moved back to San Francisco.

Now, I’m working on a couple of projects:

1. Modern Club – a social club for entrepreneurs and those who support us, centered around tiny stakes poker games
2. Bueno.fm – a start-up studio seeking partners at the idea stage (Bueno is also the first investor in Modern Club)

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Here is a list of my most popular articles.

The best way to reach me is by emailing: yz@yishizuo.com