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Joanne Chen
General Partner at Foundation Capital
Joanne Chen
Joanne Chen is a General Partner at Foundation Capital, where she has been investing in AI-first B2B applications and data platforms since 2014.12 She is currently on the board and is an investor in several companies, including Jasper.AI, SafelyYou, Tonkean, Tennr, Arcade, CaptivateIQ, and others.1
Early Life and Career
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.1
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 2014.1
Investments and Board Memberships
Joanne is currently on the board and is an investor in Jasper.AI, SafelyYou, Tonkean, Tennr, Arcade, CaptivateIQ and others. She was on the boards of TubiTV (acquired by Fox for $500m), Mya (acquired by Stepstone), and EraDB (acquired by Servicenow).1
In March 2024, Joanne led a $3.25M seed round in Tennr (YC W23) as a seed investor.345 She is also a Board Member and Investor (seed lead) at Tonkean.167
Education and Personal Life
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.1
Joanne is a food fanatic, animal 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.1
Highlights
@joon_s_pk, a computer science PhD candidate at Stanford, recommends AI builders focus their efforts on soft-edged AI.
Soft-edged solutions offer the opportunity for iterative improvement. There is no perfection to reach, just perpetual adaptation.
AI problems come in two flavors: hard-edged and soft-edged.
Hard-edged problems demand perfection. Flight bookings, medical diagnoses—there's no room for error. It's success or failure, period.
They’re super high-risk (but high-reward).
