Joanne Chen

Joanne’s passion for technology developed early, when her mathematician dad and computer scientist mom taught her how to program. By the time she was nine years old, she had turned her skills into a business and made her first webpage for a client.

Joanne began her career as an engineer at Cisco Systems and later co-founded a mobile gaming company. She also spent many years working on Wall Street at Jefferies & Company, helping tech companies go through the IPO and M&A processes, and at Probitas Partners, advising venture firms on their own fundraising process. She was an angel investor for two years at Hyde Park Angels prior to joining Foundation in 2014.

Joanne is on the board of TubiTV, Mya, Tonkean, SafelyYou, and FoxEye. She has also invested in Oasis Labs, Brightback, CaptivateIQ, and others.

Joanne works with gritty entrepreneurs who build and leverage proprietary data assets to disrupt business functions. She studies the impact of AI on the enterprise and invests in AI-first B2B applications and data platforms that are the building blocks of the automated enterprise.

Joanne has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from University of California at Berkeley and an MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.

Joanne is a food fanatic, music lover, and travel addict. She grew up in Canada and considers North Carolina her second home (after the Bay Area). She loves to play video games, in particular Soul Calibur, and is entertaining challenges from brave souls.