Wesley Chan facts for kids

Chan in 2021

Wesley Chan (born in 1978) is an American investor who helps new companies grow. He is the co-founder of a company called FPV. Wesley studied computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He first became well-known for his work at Google when it was just starting.

At Google, Wesley helped create important tools like Google Analytics and Google Voice. He also helped build Google's first advertising system, which is how Google makes money. Later, he became an expert in venture capital. This means he invests money in new and promising companies called startups.

Wesley was one of the first people to work at Google Ventures, which is Google's own investment group. After that, he moved to another investment firm called Felicis Ventures. In 2022, he started his own company, FPV. Over the years, he has invested early in many famous tech companies. These include Canva, Flexport, Guild Education, RobinHood, AngelList, Plaid, and Ring.

Early Life and Education

Wesley Chan went to the MIT Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department. He earned his first college degree (B.S.) and then a master's degree (S.M.) in 2001. While working on his master's, he did research at the MIT Media Lab. This lab is famous for exploring new technologies.

Career Highlights

After finishing his studies in 2001, Wesley started his career as a software engineer at Microsoft. He then worked at Fujitsu and HP Labs. By early 2002, he joined Google. At that time, Google was a small company.

During his first eight years at Google, Wesley helped create many important services. These include:

• Google Analytics: He founded and launched this tool. It helps websites understand who visits them.
• Google Toolbar: He helped design a tool that blocked annoying popup ads. His work also helped lead to the creation of Google Chrome, a popular web browser.
• Google Voice: He helped create this service. It lets people make calls and send messages over the internet. Google bought two companies, GrandCentral Communications and Gizmo5, to make Google Voice.
• Google AdWords and Google AdSense: These are Google's advertising programs. Wesley built the system that showed ads online. He holds many patents for this work.
• Google Talk and Google Hangouts: These were communication apps.
• Google WiFi: A service for internet access.

Investing in New Companies

In 2009, Wesley started working in venture capital at Google Ventures. He was one of the first people to lead investments there. He invested in and joined the boards of many software and biotech startups. Some of these companies include Gusto, Plaid, and RobinHood.

In 2014, Wesley left Google Ventures to explore starting his own investment firm. Later that year, he joined Felicis Ventures. There, he helped manage the fund and invested in many successful startups. These included "unicorn" companies like Canva, Guild Education, and Culture Amp. A "unicorn" company is a startup valued at over a billion dollars. He also invested in Flexport and Ring. Ring, which makes smart doorbells, was later bought by Amazon.com.

In 2022, Wesley left Felicis to start his own firm called FPV. He co-founded it with Pegah Ebrahimi, whom he knew from MIT. FPV invests in new companies in life sciences and technology. Their first fund raised $450 million, mostly from charities and universities.

Awards and Recognition

Wesley Chan holds 17 US patents for his work on building Google's early advertising system.

In 2010, he received a Google Founders' Award. This was for his work on the Google Toolbar and making it very popular. That same year, MIT Technology Review magazine named him one of the top 35 Innovators Under 35. This award recognized his work on founding Google Voice and Google Analytics.

Wesley's story as an early product creator at Google is also shared in a 2011 book called In the Plex by Steven Levy.

In 2021, an organization called Gold House named Wesley one of the 100 Most Impactful Asians of the Year. Also in 2021 and 2022, Business Insider magazine listed him as one of the top 100 Seed Investors. Seed investors are those who put money into companies very early on.

Other Interests

While at MIT, Wesley wrote for the student newspaper, The Tech. He was also the Chief Photographer Emeritus for Google, meaning he was a lead photographer there.

Wesley supports the arts. He is on the board of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.

As of 2022, Wesley lives in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He is known for appreciating the beautiful scenery and the independent spirit of the area.