Sizhao Yang

Sizhao Yang


Website: betterworks.com
San Francisco, California, United States
Member since September 30, 2009
Quote
I love startups and technology Quote_down
  • About
Investor interests
Type of investor Angel
Categories of interest
Credentials None
Activity
Investments made Kima Labs, Speak With Me, Openbucks, Identified, Cucumbertown, RedHotLabs, GroupMe, Lever, MyMiniLife, Bubble Gum Interactive
Exits
M&A
IPO
I am a(n):

Entrepreneur

If you're an entrepreneur or corporate innovator, why?

I want to invent something cool.

My favorite startups:

AirBnB, Square, Dropbox, Quora

What's most frustrating and rewarding about entrepreneurship/innovation?

Timing is key

What's the No. 1 mistake entrepreneurs/innovators make?

Product/market fit

What are the top three lessons you've learned as an entrepreneur?

1. Market first
2. Keep burn low
3. Understand design

Full bio

Zao is currently the COO/co-founder at BetterWorks, Inc., a perks platform for small medium businesses. Previously, he co-created Farmville, and was the CEO/co-founder of MyMiniLife, Inc. (sold to Zynga Game Networks, Inc.). MyMiniLife is the common technology platform at Zynga and powers 150M monthly users with Cityville, Farmville, and Frontierville. He also designed the Farmville iPhone application (top iPhone app), and worked on corporate development deals including Microsoft, Yahoo, Zynga Japan, and Zynga corporate strategy. He is also an active investor with stakes in companies like Hipmunk, GroupMe, Facebook, Zynga (acquisition stock), and SV Angels. 

Angel investments and exits:

Bubble Gum Interactive (funded)        
Cucumbertown (funded)        
GroupMe    (acquired by Skype $85M)
Hipmunk    (funded)        
Identified (funded)        
Kima Labs (acquired by Groupon)
Lever (funded)        
MyMiniLife (acquired by Zynga)
Openbucks (funded)        
RedHotLabs (funded)        
Speak With Me (funded)        
Zynga (IPO)