New York holds a special place in my heart. I moved to NYC 2.5 years ago in search of cultural diversity, cognitive diversity, lifestyle diversity, and more interdisciplinary thinking. It was in New York where I learned building great products requires both heart and soul. This city has taught me so much about combining the cultural sensibility of a large metropolis with the analytical rigor of Silicon Valley. This city forces you to truly see yourself as a mirror onto yourself. New York has helped me reexamine my world views, values, biases, and mental models, which is why I want to invest in the startup fabric of this city. I’m so honored to be joining Samsung NEXT as Ecosystem Director to serve the next wave of diverse founders and expand NEXT’s footprint in the NYC tech ecosystem.
After working for six tech companies from seed to post IPO, I am ready to leverage my diverse operating experiences, network, and voice to help build a community offering to NYC founders and entrepreneurs. I found the most energy in advising and investing in pre-seed and seed stage startups in 2018 when I attempted my own microVC fund for product-minded founders. After a freelance project with New Lab, I realized I wanted to pivot my career from product to venture studios. In short, I want to generalize my product thinking toolkit to help founders ideate, grow, and incubate humane technology.
Samsung NEXT is an incredible opportunity because it has the agility of a startup with the support of the parent company Samsung Electronics. We are dedicated to bringing software and services innovation to Samsung through investing, incubating, and growing early stage startups. The New York NEXT office is uniquely positioned to focus on diversity and inclusion and tech for good initiatives, harnessing the cultural diversity of this city. DNI is not just lip service but a value that I get to help shape and institutionalize at NEXT. It is a true honor to align my personal values with my job. Unlike other agnostic big tech companies, Samsung believes in being on the right side of history. We want to invest and incubate companies that care about privacy and trust, user empowerment, serving an inclusive user base.
If you are a founder or entrepreneur who is interested in SamsungNEXT, please email me at bo.ren@samsungnext.com. I cannot wait to serve you and learn from you.
Cheers to what’s next,
— bo
