We’re thrilled to shine a spotlight on JZ (pronounced “J-Z like the rapper”), our dynamic Marketing Director at Stanford Entrepreneurs. Alongside the entire board, J-Z is instrumental in orchestrating the incredible events that define our community.

MEET JZ

🇺🇸 / 🇨🇳 Hometown: Grew up in New York City, with family roots in Shanghai
🚀 Claim to fame: AI video coder/creator/marketer who helps founders turn services and data into software, run AI design sprints, and grow through content and no-code. Marketing Director for Stanford Entrepreneurs; known for rapping about AI product management.
💼 Previous gigs: Senior PM at Snap Finance (fintech/B/MPL app); Senior AI Product Manager at Capital One (AI/ML for call transcripts and e-commerce); UX/UI Design Lead at Offerpop/Wyng; earlier roles in ad/trends agencies and as an ethnographic shopper.
🎓 Stanford degree: B.A. in Anthropology (self-designed path blending art and anthropology).
💡 Biggest lesson as a founder:  Keep going—have a Plan B and Plan C, focus on the next step, and talk to users (rather than peers who aren’t your users).
😎 Fun fact: She literally raps about AI product management and hosts/publishes a steady stream of AI product content and podcasts.
🧠 On productivity: Reserves Mondays as “strategy days” with no meetings; proactively schedules downtime (e.g., no email after 5 p.m.) to stay healthy, creative and focused.
📣 Startup advice: Build your niche community before quitting your job; be cautious “building in public” with the wrong audience; validate with paying users early (aim for the first 100 customers); buy/borrow AI before building heavy custom stacks.
⛑️ Surprising hobby: Calm-water sports—swimming, paddleboarding, and kayaking.

Entrepreneurial Journey

From Stuyvesant to Stanford: A Path of Exploration

J-Z’s journey to Stanford began in New York City, where she attended Stuyvesant, a magnet high school. While applying to numerous Ivy League institutions, her decision to choose Stanford was significantly influenced by a memorable summer high school session during her junior year. This experience allowed her to “run away from her tiger mom for a summer” and provided a “great opportunity to branch out,” ultimately leading her to the Farm.

Crafting a Unique Academic Journey: Art, Anthropology, and Entrepreneurship

At Stanford, JZ took an unconventional path, designing her own major with a primary focus on anthropology and art. This interdisciplinary background directly informs her current work in AI and video.

A pivotal experience during her junior year was receiving a research grant to shop with women in Shanghai, her family’s hometown. Her research delved into luxury and the symbolic meanings of high-end apparel for professionals. This was particularly relevant as many young people in Shanghai were transitioning from government roles to private corporations. Her findings highlighted the concept of “elitism” in luxury, emphasizing the desire to demonstrate internationalism – such as speaking multiple languages for leading multinational teams. This also revealed the complexities of communication, or miscommunication, within these international teams.

The Entrepreneurial Bug: From Ethnography to Solopreneurship in AI

After graduating, J-Z seamlessly translated her research into a unique career, becoming an ethnographic shopper for a direct-to-consumer brand – a role she “didn’t even know existed”. Her career further evolved, including stints at ad agencies and trends consulting agencies, working with brands likeMarc Jacobs and the Coca-Cola Company.

J-Z’s move into technology saw her as a user experience designer at a social media startup in New York City and later as a product manager at an enterprise credit card company. She continues to work in technology, noting that many board directors at Stanford Entrepreneurs are software founders themselves.

She describes her “entrepreneurial bug” as a desire to pursue niche ideas that might be “de-prioritized” in larger enterprise settings, where strategies are often long-term and risk-averse. Entrepreneurship, for her, is about bringing those “hackathon” ideas to life to a dedicated following.

Currently, J-Z operates as a solopreneur, assisting other founders in software development and helping non-technical creators prototype AI models. Her work involves training AI with custom images and videos, from dermatologists’ patient skin analyses to lighting designers’ drafts for convention centers. Her goal as a solopreneur is not to build a massive team, but to leverage automation to handle “boring work,” freeing up time for more creative endeavors. The rapid advancements in AI, especially in video generation, make it an “amazing time to be creative”.

Key Insights & Advice for Aspiring Founders

• Best Entrepreneurial Advice: “Keep going.” JZ emphasizes the importance of having a Plan B and Plan C, focusing on the next steps rather than dwelling on setbacks. This philosophy is rooted in the Lean Startup method and advice from Silicon Valley mentors.
• Worst Entrepreneurial Advice: “Building in public” with the wrong audience. She cautions against sharing ideas primarily with peers in product and tech who are unlikely to be customers, rather than engaging with actual potential users. The success move is to talk to users and protect secrets from competitors, even if the user feedback is still public.
• Pre-Launch Strategy: For those transitioning from a job to start a company, she advises  to “build that niche community before you take such a drastic move”. She highlights that achieving product market fit often requires many pivots and can take a year or more.
• Productivity as a Solopreneur: J-Z embraces a proactive approach. She dedicates Mondays as “strategy days” without meetings to reflect on her direction, priorities, and any underlying fears. She also stresses the challenge and importance of taking breaks and disconnecting, such as avoiding emails after 5 PM.
• Finding Motivation in Hard Times: To navigate the inevitable highs and lows, J-Z relies on founder communities. These communities provide a safe space to discuss unique “founder problems” that friends or family might not understand, such as misaligned co-founders or prospects who don’t follow through. She recommends groups like Ben Lang’s Substack (Cursor) and apps like Two Degrees (a speaker on a feedback panel she hosted at Stanford Entrepreneurs.
• First 100 Customers: J-Z admires Kevin Kelly’s concept of getting your first 100 customers to pay $100, as this $10,000 revenue can be a stepping stone to quitting a job. She emphasizes that customers need to have a lifetime value higher than just $1.

Unique Experiences & Hidden Passions

J-Z’s most unique entrepreneurial experience has been advising companies that found unexpected product market fit. These companies often succeeded by selling “boring” products or even those that didn’t work perfectly, but they excelled due to strong customer relationships and a clear roadmap based on what customers needed.

Beyond her professional life, J-Z has embraced the outdoors. Once a self-described “nerd” focused on e-commerce in New York City, she learned to swim, paddleboard, and kayak after Stanford, thanks to friends who introduced her to an “outdoorsy” lifestyle. She now enjoys these calm water sports during vacations.

Connect with J-Z

You can learn more about J-Z’s ventures and insights through her LinkedIn profile. She also maintains a Substack where she posts a monthly unique video.

J-Z extends her gratitude to her parents and family for their unwavering support and for serving as mentors, even when the advice was “unwanted”. She believes in the importance of delivering “radical candor” as a mentor, echoing Kim Scott’s framework.

Finally, J-Z is always keen to receive feedback on how Stanford Entrepreneurs can better serve its community, especially “something you don’t think I want to hear”.