Jen Yang-Wong
@Jenyangwong
COO @contrary • building @contrary_res • angel @tryramp @zeptonow @stytchauth & more • prev @ubereats @hoyarowing
The secret to growing in your career: managing up. I thought it was BS but it’s critical to career growth. Your manager wants to you manage them so it’s easier for them to manage you. 5 things I’d tell my younger self:
From Day 1, Contrary's mission has been to identify and invest in the world's most exceptional people. It’s enabled us to be early backers of companies like Zepto, Ramp, Hallow, Anduril, and many others. Our student Venture Partners are a key part of this process, helping us…
Staying up-to-date on all things tech is time consuming. I don't have time to listen to every 45 mins+ podcast or to scroll Twitter indefinitely. Instead, this is how I start my day. 10 minute episodes that cover the most important stories in tech each day.
Join us & @Ramp on April 3rd for Undo. Undo. Redo. — a night of design lightning talks where senior designers share their unabridged stories of failure, iteration & triumph. Featuring: 📷 @ryanlyma, Contrary 📷 @diegozaks, Ramp 📷 @jenny_wen, Anthropic 📷 @randyjhunt , Notion
First Tech Talk of the year! Name a better lineup: @basetenco @codeiumdev @DecagonAI @usepatch @mercor_ai & Doss Register here to join us: lu.ma/SF-TechTalk
If you've never had a @PhilzCoffee hot chocolate you're missing out. wow
A great read on applying the efficiency formula in our government by the @Contrary_Res and @tryramp teams cc @DOGE
Imagine a company losing money for 20+ years and failing 7 audits—CFO fired, right? That’s our government, which spent half its budget deficit on INTEREST. It doesn’t have to be this way. Here’s how businesses balance profitability+growth—and how government can do the same.
The second angel check I ever wrote was into a company called Leland. Today, they're announcing their Series A led by @ForerunnerVC with participation from @Contrary. Couldn't be more excited to continue to cheer on @JohnKoelliker and the entire @joinLeland team. Onwards!
Announcing Leland's $12M Series A led by @ForerunnerVC! Forerunner has an incredible track record of backing iconic consumer brands and marketplaces like @WarbyParker, @Chime, @glossier, @ouraring, @faire_wholesale, @Zola, and others. We couldn't be more excited to welcome…
Just spent $9 on a matcha latte in Brooklyn. Came in a bamboo cup with a 20/35/30% tip prompt. This can’t be it.
Had a blast hosting Tech Talk with @tryramp, @warpdotdev, @Railway, @togethercompute on Tues night! Each Tech Talk, we've set a new record for sign-ups, and this one had over 600. Energized by the amazing engineers, PMs and designers that I met.
Reference checks are so underrated. Not because companies don't do them, but because they do them incorrectly. Most references will obviously say nice things. It's all about asking the right questions and deciphering the nuance in their answers. My favorite question: How…
There are so many <25 year olds who say they're ambitious and want to join an early stage startup to build. And also that they want work life balance and it's hard to leave big tech. Who's going to tell them that they can't have it all.