About
Wes Kao is an entrepreneur, speaker, coach, and advisor who writes at…
Courses by Wes
Activity
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Friend from Amazon: "I think it is almost comical that we get cited as a paragon for certain ways of working. My department, at least, is the biggest…
Friend from Amazon: "I think it is almost comical that we get cited as a paragon for certain ways of working. My department, at least, is the biggest…
Liked by Wes Kao
Experience
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weskao.com/newsletter
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Education
Volunteer Experience
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Creator
Lessons Learned: a storytelling event series
- 3 years 2 months
Lessons Learned was an invite-only storytelling event for women leaders. Past speakers include women from organizations like Apple, UCSF, Gap Inc, US Bank, Kickstarter, New York City Ballet, eBay, Deutsche Bank, Swarovski, Del Monte.
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Board member
SF Unified School District, Tech & Digital Media Advisory Board
- 3 years
Science and Technology
Along with the President/cofounder of Flite, I was nominated to join the San Francisco Unified School District Tech Advisory Board, which encourages at-risk youth to pursue careers in technology.
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Founder
Packs of Love
- 5 years
Raised backpacks filled with school supplies for disadvantaged children to generate excitement about the beginning of the school year and set them up for success. Founded the organization at age 16 and continued through college. Secured donations from Target, Walmart, Walgreen's, Jansport, Pentel. Featured on NBC News. Pictures: http://bit.ly/10mpKKi
Publications
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In Online Ed, Content Is No Longer King—Cohorts Are
a16z The Future
See publicationAndreessen Horowitz’s publication. Consumers pay for what’s scarce. And within the crowded, cheap, content-rich world of online education, what's scarce is community.
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How to Design an Online Course with a 96% Completion Rate
Steph Habif, Stanford d.school
See publicationQ&A interview by a behavioral scientist at the Stanford d.school.
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No one knows the right answer: The uncomfortable truth about running lean
Lean Startup
See publicationSpeaker at the Lean Startup Conference 2015 in SF. My talk and corresponding article were about how to make decisions despite ambiguity and uncertainty when launching a new product.
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The Academy's Tribute Tweet for Robin Williams Backfired. So Why Did People Forgive It?
The Huffington Post
See publicationAnalyzed the evolution of the Academy's controversial tweet on social media, and why good intentions only matter if the public believes you.
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Why Lululemon's "CEO Wanted" Ad Is Bad For The Brand
Fast Company
See publicationIn-depth marketing analysis of Lululemon's homepage that received widespread media attention. Identified lessons on using the right message for the right social media channel.
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Analysis of Kony 2012: Lying to Tell the Truth
The Huffington Post
See publicationAnalyzed the storytelling and marketing that made the Kony 2012 video campaign go viral and become one of the most downloaded videos in YouTube history.
Projects
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Ruth Bader Ginsburg "All Nine Women"
See projectAll Nine is a social commentary art project inspired by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. When RBG was asked when there will be enough women on the Supreme Court bench, she replied, “When there are nine.”
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Seth Godin's Freelancer Course on Udemy
See projectProduced Seth's Udemy course. 87 lectures and Q&A about doing remarkable work that matters.
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Ruckusmaker Workshop
See projectPlanned and led Ruckusmaker Workshop, an intensive 3-day seminar for a curated group of 80 innovators. Attendees included the CEO of an artisanal ice cream company, former Bollywood actress, and Pulitzer Prize nominated journalist.
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Good Morning Love
See projectI hacked MailChimp to do a drip email campaign that was a virtual Pinterest love note jar.
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SoundCloud reading: Dr. Martin Luther King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail
See projectThe project was organized by my friend Willie Jackson. 40 people around the country to recorded audio snippets of the letter - my section is the first track.
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Your Turn Challenge
See projectI designed and led the Your Turn Challenge, a 7-day blogging challenge inspired by the Your Turn book by Seth Godin. The project brought together participants from around the US and the world to create an 4,500 blog posts in 7 days.
yourturnchallenge.strikingly.com
yourturnchallenge.tumblr.com
Honors & Awards
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Fast Company’s #1 Most Innovative Company in Education
Fast Company
Ranked #1 in the education category and #48 out of a total of 528 companies. The only education company in the top 50, alongside organizations like Stripe, Shopify, and SpaceX.
fastcompany.com/90720370/most-innovative-companies-education-2022
fastcompany.com/most-innovative-companies/2022 -
100 Women of Impact
Entrepreneur magazine
Entrepreneur’s annual celebration of the women leading today's most influential, innovative companies.
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UC Berkeley Leadership Award
University of California, Berkeley - California Alumni Association
Earned the award from 2004-2008. One of the only students in the Class of 2008 to earn the award for all four years consecutively.
"Established in 1934, The Leadership Award is a one-year, merit-based scholarship that recognizes undergraduate students at UC Berkeley who demonstrate innovative, initiative-driven leadership impacting their academic, work, or community environments. Students compete for the scholarship every year, ensuring a diverse and dynamic annual cohort of leaders…Earned the award from 2004-2008. One of the only students in the Class of 2008 to earn the award for all four years consecutively.
"Established in 1934, The Leadership Award is a one-year, merit-based scholarship that recognizes undergraduate students at UC Berkeley who demonstrate innovative, initiative-driven leadership impacting their academic, work, or community environments. Students compete for the scholarship every year, ensuring a diverse and dynamic annual cohort of leaders whose work is relevant and newly inspiring." -
Haas School of Business Jerome Falk Award for Excellence in Marketing
Haas faculty
The award is nominated by Haas faculty. Awarded to one student per year.
Languages
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English
Native or bilingual proficiency
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Chinese
Native or bilingual proficiency
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Taiwanese
Professional working proficiency
Recommendations received
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LinkedIn User
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