Bo Ren

Bo is a director of Early-Stage Startups at Silicon Valley Bank in New York City. In this role, she mentors and advises startups at the beginning stages of their journey, connecting them to the larger SVB ecosystem and accelerating them to Series A via company building and fundraising strategies.

Before joining SVB, Bo invested in and led ecosystem strategy at Samsung Next. There, she specialized in AI/ML, data privacy and deep tech and helped entrepreneurs and innovators build, grow and scale their software and services ideas and businesses. Bo also spent a decade building engaging consumer products at such companies as Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr. She began her career in cleantech, scaling the companies Sunrun and Opower to IPO.

In addition to her work with early-stage startups at SVB, Bo writes about technology and culture, behavioral science, product thinking and responsible technology. She’s been published in The Atlantic, The New York Times, Bloomberg Businessweek and Fast Company. In 2017, she gave a TED Talk about how “Curiosity Drives Career Paths.”

Bo loves meeting and helping brilliant and inspiring minds in the innovation economy and holding conversations with founders that leave them with an enhanced sense of possibility. She’s excited to leverage her operating experience as a product leader, investor and advisor to help the next generation of founders.

Bo is on the board of QTBIPOC Design, a nonprofit empowering LGBTQ+ BIPOC designers with free education, mentorship and networking opportunities. She’s also a mentor and angel member of Gold House, a nonprofit advancing Asian Americans in society. In addition, she mentors diverse and underrepresented founders and operators through First Round’s Fast Track program.

Outside of work, Bo practices transcendental meditation, yoga and ikebana. Her father named her “Bo” after a semiprecious metal on his circuit board. Bo means white gold in Chinese.