Shuo Chen, General Partner of IOVC & Agile VC, CEO of Shinect (Silicon Valley-based non-profit community of 5,000+ engineers passionate about entrepreneurship), and Advisory Board Member of Yale School of Medicine’s Center for Digital Health & Innovation. She is also a Lecturer at UC Berkeley.
In her venture role, Shuo has invested in companies now acquired by Goldman Sachs, Ford, Caterpillar, Binance and Dialpad. She has also helped 50+ startups globalize and expand into new markets, providing software for clients including Amazon, Apple, Google, Mercedes-Benz, NASA and Unilever among others.
Prior, Shuo worked at Goldman Sachs in investment banking, where she worked with clients including Alibaba and Tencent, as well as represented the firm on the Board of Women in Finance. Before that, Shuo was at PwC, where she worked on Google’s $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola and LinkedIn’s $119 million acquisition of SlideShare. Shuo has also co-authored a book on the use of technology in financial regulations published by Cambridge University Press in 2019.
Sample Topics
How to Think Like an Entrepreneur: The Unspoken Rules for Thriving in the Workplace of the Future
The workplace is changing—and changing rapidly. What separates those who will get ahead in this uncertain future from those who get left behind? Individuals with the ability to think like an entrepreneur and navigate the unspoken rules of innovation in both work and life will have a competitive advantage in a future where change will be the only constant, and success will be determined by the ability to quickly learn and adapt to new environments.
Workplace transformation has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, and companies are rapidly adopting emerging technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence and blockchain to gain an edge. Meanwhile, the massive competition for talent in fields such as cybersecurity and data science will decide which individuals and companies will succeed in the future – and which will fail. What will the future workplace look like? How can companies compete for talent by creating innovative workplaces that prioritize workers’ happiness by empowering them with autonomy, the ability to master skills, and purpose to make an impact in their field?
In this session you will learn about the hottest—and most under-looked—trends in the workplace that will shape your future, learn about those who are leading transformation in their firms, and develop practical professional skills that will help you go further, faster in your career.
Equipping Future Generations of Leaders for Success
The future generation of leaders will be internet native, AI fluent and blockchain savvy influencers. With exponential technologies including AI, AR/VR and blockchain that rapidly change our work, our workforce and our workplace, the future of work will be shaped by entrepreneurial minds who can effectively leverage these exponential technologies and its value drivers to bring the most innovative solutions. As the world comes back together in-person, companies and startups alike are building the new normal for how to better foster connections. This session covers top challenges and opportunities in equipping the future generations of leaders for success in the new normal of work, exponential technologies driving innovative solutions for better bringing people together, as well as case studies from the most renowned global corporates and startups for developing the best work culture for this new normal.
DeFi and Web 3
The rise of DeFi (decentralized finance) has accelerated unprecedented changes in the financial industry, changing the way everyone from startups to traditional banks do business, making this discussion around the DeFi and web 3 more relevant than ever. With these changes, we are on the verge of one of the most significant technological transformations in modern history – with vast implications for financial institutions and banking, including both tremendous challenges as well as great opportunities. It is important to understand how blockchain in particular augments and empowers financial services. This talk covers 1) how blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies enable decentralized finance and web 3, 2) how these applications have been leveraged by some of the largest financial institutions as well as most promising fintech startups around the world (with a focus on the US and China) to bring exponential change to their respective businesses, and 3) future opportunities for financial services professionals and organizations from payments and lending to capital markets and asset management, especially in a world post-COVID.
Responsible AI and blockchain for good
Coronavirus as well as recent market volatility has accelerated technological changes and adoption of exponential technologies like AI and blockchain, making this discussion around the responsible and ethical use of technology for good more relevant than ever before. With these changes, we are on the verge of one of the most significant technological transformations in modern history – with vast implications for all institutions, including both tremendous challenges and opportunities. It is important to understand how exponential technologies, including AI and blockchain, augment and empower companies. This talk covers 1) how AI and blockchain can impact the future of business, with a focus on why responsible AI, blockchain for good and ethical design are important, 2) how these exponential technologies have been leveraged by some of the largest institutions and startups around the world to bring exponential change to their respective businesses, and 3) future opportunities personally and professionally for executives and organizations.
Future of Finance: Blockchain and DeFi
The explosion of coronavirus as well as recent market volatility has accelerated changes in every industry. With these changes, we are on the verge of one of the most significant technological transformations in modern history – with vast implications for all businesses, including both tremendous challenges as well as great opportunities. This is particularly the case for blockchain and DeFi, especially after Elon Musk led Tesla’s $1.5 billion investment into bitcoin early 2021 and generated $1 billion in profits from that investment. It is important to understand how exponential technologies, particularly blockchain, augment and empower the way all companies do business. This talk covers 1) why blockchain and DeFi (decentralized finance) revolutionizes how all businesses transact anything of value, 2) how blockchain has been leveraged by some of the largest corporates and most promising startups around the world to bring exponential change to their respective businesses, and 3) future opportunities for executives and organizations leveraging blockchain and DeFi, particularly in a world post-COVID.
Entrepreneurship / Future of Work
The explosion of coronavirus has accelerated changes in the way people work around the world, making this discussion around the future of work more relevant than ever. Entrepreneurship is the most efficient way of solving a problem–one can be entrepreneurial whether it is running a startup or working inside a large corporation. With exponential technologies including AI, AR/VR and blockchain that rapidly change how we do business as well as how we recruit and retain talent, the future of work will be shaped by entrepreneurial minds who can effectively leverage these exponential technologies and its value drivers to bring the most innovative solutions. This talk covers: How entrepreneurship drives value creation in the workplace for financial institutions How one can be more entrepreneurial in their current role regardless of job title Case studies of how entrepreneurship and exponential technologies are shaping how we work, where we work, and the skills we need to work for some of the most renowned fintech startups and financial corporates across the world, with a focus on the US and China
Future of Finance
The explosion of coronavirus has accelerated changes in every industry, particularly financial services and banking. With these changes, we are on the verge of one of the most significant technological transformations in modern history – with vast implications for financial institutions and banking, including both tremendous challenges as well as great opportunities. It is important to understand how exponential technologies, including AI, blockchain and cloud computing augment and empower financial services. This talk covers: Top exponential technologies impacting the future of finance, with a focus on AI/big data, blockchain and cloud computing How these exponential technologies have been leveraged by some of the largest financial institutions as well as most promising fintech startups around the world (with a focus on the US and China) to bring exponential change to their respective businesses Future opportunities for financial services professionals and organizations from payments and lending to capital markets and asset management, especially given the impact of COVID-19
Artificial Intelligence
AI is not just a future possibility, it is here now, and in use all around us. With AI, we are on the verge of one of the most significant technological transformations in human history – with vast implications for all industries. As we approach the age of AI – with all the tremendous challenges and opportunities that it will unleash – it is important to understand how AI systems augment and empower future products and services. This talk covers: What AI is How AI has been leveraged by some of the largest corporations as well as most promising startups around the world (with a focus on the US and China) to bring exponential change to their respective businesses Future opportunities in AI for professionals and organizations, especially given the impact of COVID-19
Blockchain
Our world faces key problems of fraud, cybercrime, as well as identity and asset management. This session will include an overview of how blockchain technology works and the radical new opportunities blockchain technology represents to solve these problems.
