Tivan Amour is reinventing how urban bikes are designed and sold. This is a tall order. The competition is ferocious. Wise counsel is justifiably skeptical of the possibility of success in this endeavor. Yet, Tivan is gaining traction with his approach. He may be defying the odds. This young repeat founder bristles with energy but is also capable of contemplation. He is a growth hacker familiar with the Socratic Dialogue. He is hugely ambitious yet generous with the less fortunate. &nbsp;It was great fun interviewing him and he taught me a bunch of things. Among these were the real value of Techstars to founders and some pointers on growing a customer base. Here is a list of the topics covered:  Tivan Amour Bio What Effect Did Working for AT&amp;T While Still in College Have in Tivan’s Life? Tivan as a Product Manager at Abercrombie &amp; Fitch Tivan Starts His First Company Tivan Decides Boston Is Just Right for Him What Tivan Learned from Volunteering at BUILD How Tivan Structures His Day Tivan’s First Company Pivots Genesis of Fortified Bike – New Way to Market to Bike Shops – Cutting Out Distributors Fortified Bike Goes into Techstars The Real Value of Techstars to the Founder Changing Co-founders com Has Won Plaudits from Experts for Its Efficacy – Tivan’s Advice on Building a Website

Tivan Amour, Young Repeat Founder & Growth Hacker, "Growth Rider" Ep. 17

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

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

Through the Angel Invest Boston Podcast we seek to learn more about the creation of world-changing startups. Boston’s unique concentration of academic talent and entrepreneurial culture offer bountiful opportunities for conversations with people who have funded and built innovative companies. By recounting engaging stories, angels and founders convey lessons they have learned. These narratives illustrate the rewards of helping founders commercialize transformative technologies. We hope you too will find our dialogues entertaining and instructive. 
I’m Sal Daher, host of the Angel Invest Boston Podcast. After immigrating to Boston as a child and attending Belmont High School, I studied engineering at MIT and Stanford. Decades of work in international finance followed. During that time, I invested in a handful of ventures founded by friends and acquaintances. Now, I’m a member of Walnut Ventures and MIT Angels and spend most of my time as an angel investor taking stakes in about a dozen startups per year.

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

Angel Invest Boston Podcast

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