Wesley Chan

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For the Wong Fu Productions member, see Wong Fu Productions.

Wesley Chan is an early product innovator at Google Inc., best known for founding Google Analytics and Google Voice, and for building Google’s early advertising system.[1]

He is currently an early investor in many well known biotech, technology, and software startups, including Canva, Flexport, Guild Education, RobinHood, Plaid, Culture Amp, , Dialpad, and Ring.[2][3]

Early life and education[]

Chan holds bachelor's and master's degrees in computer science and electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He completed his graduate research at the MIT Media Lab.[4]

Career[]

Chan is a well known investor. He previously worked at Felicis Ventures as a Managing Director for seven years and joined in December 2014. He co-managed the fund with Aydin Senkut, whom he met when they were both early employees at Google.[5] While at Felicis, Wesley invested in and sat on the board of directors of several "unicorn" startups, including Canva, Guild Education, and Culture Amp. He also led investments in Gusto, Flexport, Ring (exited to Amazon.com), Orca Bio, Astranis, and HyperScience.[6]

Chan started his career in Venture Capital as one of the first General Partners at GV (formerly Google Ventures) from 2009 to 2014.[7] He led investments in and sat on the Board of Directors of software and enterprise startups, and biotech firms, including Gusto, Plaid, , Vungle (exited to BlackStone), AngelList, iPierian (exited to Bristol Myers-Squibb), Dialpad, The Climate Corporation (exited to Monsanto), Parse (exited to Facebook), and Optimizely.[8]

Prior to joining GV, Chan helped to build and launch Google AdWords and AdSense. He also founded and launched Google Analytics and Google Voice where he led the acquisitions of Urchin Software Corporation and GrandCentral Communications.

Among the projects he built, led, or founded while at Google include:

Chan was a software engineer and research lead at HP Labs[14] in Palo Alto, CA and started his career as a software engineer at Microsoft and Fujitsu.

Chan is an Industrial Advisor to private equity firm EQT Partners and sat on the board of directors for FocusVision, Inc.[15]

As a supporter of the arts, Chan also sits on the board of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. [16]

Awards and recognition[]

Chan holds 17 US patents from his work building Google's early advertising system.[17]

Business Insider named Chan as one of their top 100 Seed Investors in 2021. [18]

He is a recipient of a Google Founders' Award for his work on building the Google Toolbar and growing it into one of the most installed client products in the world.[19]

Chan was selected by Variety Magazine as one one of Gold House's 100 Most Impactful Asians in 2021.[20]

Chan was selected by Technology Review Magazine as one of their top "35 under 35" TR35 innovators in 2010 for his work on founding Google Voice and Google Analytics.[21]

His story as an early product founder at Google is featured in Steven Levy's book In the Plex.[22]

Other interests and positions[]

While at MIT, Chan was an opinion writer and on the editorial staff at The Tech.[23] He was also the Chief Photographer Emeritus for Google.[24]

He is a resident of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where he is well-known for his articulation of the area's scenic beauty and "cowboy self-reliance" according to a 2022 profile from The Information.[25]

Notes[]

  1. ^ "EARLY GOOGLE EMPLOYEE REFLECTS ON CAREER". Retrieved 2012-04-16.
  2. ^ "Former Google Ventures General Partner Wesley Chan Joins Felicis Ventures As Managing Director | TechCrunch". Retrieved 2015-01-20.
  3. ^ "Wesley Chan - Felicis Ventures". www.felicis.com. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
  4. ^ "Project Voyager MIT Media Lab". Retrieved 2010-10-12.
  5. ^ Konrad, Alex. "Felicis Ventures Adds Google Veteran Wesley Chan, Expands 'Founder Friendly' Fund". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-05-06.
  6. ^ "Wesley Chan - Felicis Ventures". www.felicis.com. Retrieved 2020-05-06.
  7. ^ "Google Ventures' Wesley Chan Steps Down As General Partner To Work On His Own Startup". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
  8. ^ "Wesley Chan's Investment Profile". Retrieved 2012-04-15.
  9. ^ Albanesius, Chloe (2007-07-03). "PC Magazine: Google's GrandCentral Buy Anticipates Web Voice Mail". Retrieved 2009-12-16.
  10. ^ "Google Voice Blog: Google Welcomes Gizmo5". Retrieved 2009-12-16.
  11. ^ "USPTO Patent Search: Wesley Chan". Retrieved 2014-04-16.
  12. ^ "Google Talk Blog". Retrieved 2010-04-03.
  13. ^ "CNET - Google employees' wireless patents published". Archived from the original on 2012-07-15. Retrieved 2008-07-01.
  14. ^ "Chan HP Labs Publications" (PDF). Retrieved 2010-10-08.
  15. ^ "EQT Portfolio: FocusVision". Retrieved 2019-11-09.
  16. ^ "Metropolitan Opera: Board of Directors". Retrieved 2022-01-15.
  17. ^ "USPTO Patent Search: Wesley Chan". Retrieved 2018-12-02.
  18. ^ "Insider: Wesley Chan Top Seed Investor". Retrieved 2022-01-15.
  19. ^ "VentureBeat: New DEMO Speakers Announced". Retrieved 2010-03-18.
  20. ^ "Variety Magazine Gold House 100 Most Impactful Asians". Retrieved 2022-01-15.
  21. ^ "Technology Review TR35 Profile: Wesley Chan". Retrieved 2010-10-11.
  22. ^ Levy, Steven (2011-05-10). "Why Google Does Not Own Skype". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2020-05-06.
  23. ^ "The Tech".
  24. ^ "Chan TED Biography". Retrieved 2010-09-01.
  25. ^ "The Information Wyoming Profile: Wesley Chan". Retrieved 2022-01-14.
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