Mark Wen

System Builder · Founder · Cross-Border Bridge

You don't have to be famous to build for history. You just have to be faithful.

I design systems across technology, storytelling, education, and philosophy — with one goal: to help people build for meaning, not just scale.

I dropped out of college in China in my early 20s and founded a mobile-first vertical e-commerce platform that reached 20 million users. I raised $20M from Sequoia China and Tencent, building my first startup in Beijing.

Later, I co-founded a comic reading platform that became a unicorn, with 40 million monthly active users, reshaping how young people in China consume digital content.

I've built a bridge between China and the U.S. — connecting tech founders, business leaders, and rising young talent across Stanford, Harvard, and beyond. I focus on long-term collaboration, cultural depth, and system design across borders.

In 2023, I moved to the Bay Area. I overcame language and cultural barriers to join the AI wave, and began building:

  • Little Hero — an AI-native personalized storybook platform for early childhood imagination
  • Stanford AI Builder Club — a launchpad for AI-native student founders

What I Stand For

  • Lifelong ambition: Designing the next 50 years to contribute to civilization — through startups, policy, think tanks, philanthropy, and global collaboration.
  • Legacy mindset: Building a legendary family with a foundation focused on education and fighting inequality.
  • Community builder: Based in Menlo Park, growing ecosystems near Sand Hill Road and Stanford.

Projects

  • Little Hero — personalized storybooks powered by generative AI
  • Stanford AI Builder Club — accelerating the next generation of AI-native builders

Topics I Think About

  • Raising children for meaning, not just success
  • Designing institutions that heal, not extract
  • How AI reshapes identity, storytelling, and power
  • Diaspora builders as bridges, not orphans
  • The next chapter of human civilization — from scarcity to generative grace

Who I'm Looking to Meet

  • Builders with global ambition
  • Founders, educators, and creators shaping the future of AI, learning, and storytelling
  • Collaborators in fundraising, product, design, team-building, and personal growth
  • Thinkers who build — and builders who think