Kai Yen
Principal Entrepreneur-in-Residence and CTO-in-Residence
Kai is a tenacious learner, prolific prototyper, and serial entrepreneur with a remarkable ability to leverage cutting-edge technology in solving complex business challenges. As Principal Entrepreneur-in-Residence and CTO-in-Residence at Mach49, Kai plays a pivotal role in mentoring venture teams and spearheading the development of Shift AI's generative AI toolset.
A 10X engineer, Kai brings his exceptional speed and keen insights to crafting AI solutions for Shift AI. He excels at rapidly building value-added tools that propel ventures forward, consistently leveraging the newest, most cutting-edge, and most effective approaches in Generative AI. His unique talent lies in creating fast yet highly effective solutions to the idiosyncratic and novel problems that new venture teams encounter in their quest for product-market fit.
Within the Shift AI team, Kai's expertise is instrumental in developing and refining the platform's generative AI capabilities. He works tirelessly to ensure that Shift AI remains at the leading edge of AI technology, incorporating advanced techniques such as AI venture and risk identification and validation, vector search and advanced data retrieval, AI copilot services, synthetic data generation to accelerate the entire "0 to 1" process of venture building.
Kai's experience spans from small startups to large corporations, allowing him to adeptly navigate various business environments. At Mach49, he not only mentors teams but also works in the trenches with them, fostering self-sufficiency and driving rapid iteration of prototypes. His work with Shift AI amplifies this impact, providing venture teams with powerful AI-driven tools that streamline ideation, market analysis, and product development.
Before joining Mach49, Kai's entrepreneurial journey included serving as CTO and Managing Director, New York for JWT INSIDE, where he created world-class recruitment and employee communications programs for clients such as Comcast, Macy's, and the Department of Veterans Affairs. His startup experience is equally impressive, having co-founded and served as CTO for three venture-backed startups and one corporate innovation venture. Kai was a co-founder and the first engineer at Purple Squirrel, a two-sided marketplace for career mentorship. The team eventually pivoted to Scoutbound, an AI-based automated business development platform for HR recruiters. Following this, Kai co-founded Opus, a WhatsApp-based training platform that teaches English to restaurant workers. His entrepreneurial spirit then led him to join a corporate innovation team to build Radius, a mobile app for location discovery based on machine learning and personal interest graphs. These diverse experiences have honed Kai's ability to expertly and creatively use technology to pilot ideas, test hypotheses, and solve customer pain points – skills he now brings to bear in his roles at Mach49 and in the development of Shift AI.
These diverse experiences have honed Kai's ability to expertly and creatively use technology to pilot ideas, test hypotheses, and solve customer pain points – skills he now brings to bear in his roles at Mach49 and in the development of Shift AI.
Kai holds a BS in Business Administration from the University of California, Riverside and currently resides in New York City.
A 10X engineer, Kai brings his exceptional speed and keen insights to crafting AI solutions for Shift AI. He excels at rapidly building value-added tools that propel ventures forward, consistently leveraging the newest, most cutting-edge, and most effective approaches in Generative AI. His unique talent lies in creating fast yet highly effective solutions to the idiosyncratic and novel problems that new venture teams encounter in their quest for product-market fit.
Within the Shift AI team, Kai's expertise is instrumental in developing and refining the platform's generative AI capabilities. He works tirelessly to ensure that Shift AI remains at the leading edge of AI technology, incorporating advanced techniques such as AI venture and risk identification and validation, vector search and advanced data retrieval, AI copilot services, synthetic data generation to accelerate the entire "0 to 1" process of venture building.
Kai's experience spans from small startups to large corporations, allowing him to adeptly navigate various business environments. At Mach49, he not only mentors teams but also works in the trenches with them, fostering self-sufficiency and driving rapid iteration of prototypes. His work with Shift AI amplifies this impact, providing venture teams with powerful AI-driven tools that streamline ideation, market analysis, and product development.
Before joining Mach49, Kai's entrepreneurial journey included serving as CTO and Managing Director, New York for JWT INSIDE, where he created world-class recruitment and employee communications programs for clients such as Comcast, Macy's, and the Department of Veterans Affairs. His startup experience is equally impressive, having co-founded and served as CTO for three venture-backed startups and one corporate innovation venture. Kai was a co-founder and the first engineer at Purple Squirrel, a two-sided marketplace for career mentorship. The team eventually pivoted to Scoutbound, an AI-based automated business development platform for HR recruiters. Following this, Kai co-founded Opus, a WhatsApp-based training platform that teaches English to restaurant workers. His entrepreneurial spirit then led him to join a corporate innovation team to build Radius, a mobile app for location discovery based on machine learning and personal interest graphs. These diverse experiences have honed Kai's ability to expertly and creatively use technology to pilot ideas, test hypotheses, and solve customer pain points – skills he now brings to bear in his roles at Mach49 and in the development of Shift AI.
These diverse experiences have honed Kai's ability to expertly and creatively use technology to pilot ideas, test hypotheses, and solve customer pain points – skills he now brings to bear in his roles at Mach49 and in the development of Shift AI.
Kai holds a BS in Business Administration from the University of California, Riverside and currently resides in New York City.
Kai Yen
Principal Entrepreneur-in-Residence and CTO-in-Residence
Kai is a tenacious learner, prolific prototyper, and serial entrepreneur with a remarkable ability to leverage cutting-edge technology in solving complex business challenges. As Principal Entrepreneur-in-Residence and CTO-in-Residence at Mach49, Kai plays a pivotal role in mentoring venture teams and spearheading the development of Shift AI's generative AI toolset.
A 10X engineer, Kai brings his exceptional speed and keen insights to crafting AI solutions for Shift AI. He excels at rapidly building value-added tools that propel ventures forward, consistently leveraging the newest, most cutting-edge, and most effective approaches in Generative AI. His unique talent lies in creating fast yet highly effective solutions to the idiosyncratic and novel problems that new venture teams encounter in their quest for product-market fit.
Within the Shift AI team, Kai's expertise is instrumental in developing and refining the platform's generative AI capabilities. He works tirelessly to ensure that Shift AI remains at the leading edge of AI technology, incorporating advanced techniques such as AI venture and risk identification and validation, vector search and advanced data retrieval, AI copilot services, synthetic data generation to accelerate the entire "0 to 1" process of venture building.
Kai's experience spans from small startups to large corporations, allowing him to adeptly navigate various business environments. At Mach49, he not only mentors teams but also works in the trenches with them, fostering self-sufficiency and driving rapid iteration of prototypes. His work with Shift AI amplifies this impact, providing venture teams with powerful AI-driven tools that streamline ideation, market analysis, and product development.
Before joining Mach49, Kai's entrepreneurial journey included serving as CTO and Managing Director, New York for JWT INSIDE, where he created world-class recruitment and employee communications programs for clients such as Comcast, Macy's, and the Department of Veterans Affairs. His startup experience is equally impressive, having co-founded and served as CTO for three venture-backed startups and one corporate innovation venture. Kai was a co-founder and the first engineer at Purple Squirrel, a two-sided marketplace for career mentorship. The team eventually pivoted to Scoutbound, an AI-based automated business development platform for HR recruiters. Following this, Kai co-founded Opus, a WhatsApp-based training platform that teaches English to restaurant workers. His entrepreneurial spirit then led him to join a corporate innovation team to build Radius, a mobile app for location discovery based on machine learning and personal interest graphs. These diverse experiences have honed Kai's ability to expertly and creatively use technology to pilot ideas, test hypotheses, and solve customer pain points – skills he now brings to bear in his roles at Mach49 and in the development of Shift AI.
These diverse experiences have honed Kai's ability to expertly and creatively use technology to pilot ideas, test hypotheses, and solve customer pain points – skills he now brings to bear in his roles at Mach49 and in the development of Shift AI.
Kai holds a BS in Business Administration from the University of California, Riverside and currently resides in New York City.
A 10X engineer, Kai brings his exceptional speed and keen insights to crafting AI solutions for Shift AI. He excels at rapidly building value-added tools that propel ventures forward, consistently leveraging the newest, most cutting-edge, and most effective approaches in Generative AI. His unique talent lies in creating fast yet highly effective solutions to the idiosyncratic and novel problems that new venture teams encounter in their quest for product-market fit.
Within the Shift AI team, Kai's expertise is instrumental in developing and refining the platform's generative AI capabilities. He works tirelessly to ensure that Shift AI remains at the leading edge of AI technology, incorporating advanced techniques such as AI venture and risk identification and validation, vector search and advanced data retrieval, AI copilot services, synthetic data generation to accelerate the entire "0 to 1" process of venture building.
Kai's experience spans from small startups to large corporations, allowing him to adeptly navigate various business environments. At Mach49, he not only mentors teams but also works in the trenches with them, fostering self-sufficiency and driving rapid iteration of prototypes. His work with Shift AI amplifies this impact, providing venture teams with powerful AI-driven tools that streamline ideation, market analysis, and product development.
Before joining Mach49, Kai's entrepreneurial journey included serving as CTO and Managing Director, New York for JWT INSIDE, where he created world-class recruitment and employee communications programs for clients such as Comcast, Macy's, and the Department of Veterans Affairs. His startup experience is equally impressive, having co-founded and served as CTO for three venture-backed startups and one corporate innovation venture. Kai was a co-founder and the first engineer at Purple Squirrel, a two-sided marketplace for career mentorship. The team eventually pivoted to Scoutbound, an AI-based automated business development platform for HR recruiters. Following this, Kai co-founded Opus, a WhatsApp-based training platform that teaches English to restaurant workers. His entrepreneurial spirit then led him to join a corporate innovation team to build Radius, a mobile app for location discovery based on machine learning and personal interest graphs. These diverse experiences have honed Kai's ability to expertly and creatively use technology to pilot ideas, test hypotheses, and solve customer pain points – skills he now brings to bear in his roles at Mach49 and in the development of Shift AI.
These diverse experiences have honed Kai's ability to expertly and creatively use technology to pilot ideas, test hypotheses, and solve customer pain points – skills he now brings to bear in his roles at Mach49 and in the development of Shift AI.
Kai holds a BS in Business Administration from the University of California, Riverside and currently resides in New York City.
