Dave Lu is a veteran in the technology industry, having worked for over two decades at big tech companies including Yahoo!, Apple Cisco and eBay and founding two startups. In 2005, he bootstrapped his first company Fanpop, a user-generated community site for entertainment fans, to over 40 million monthly users. After Fanpop, he ran marketing for Luxe, a two-sided marketplace for on-demand valets. He leveraged his experience to launch his second startup, Pared, a labor marketplace for the restaurant industry backed by CRV, Uncork Capital, and True Ventures.
In 2011, Dave created a community called Asian American Founders Circle which has grown to over 300 founders including Tony Xu (DoorDash), Steve Chen (YouTube), Kevin Lin (Twitch) and many others. AAFC inspired the launch of Hyphen Capital, a syndicate focused on investing in Asian American founders. He most recently started a movement with a letter condemning hate crimes against Asians which he wrote and was signed by over 1,000 prominent business leaders that was published as a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal. Dave received his bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.