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Welcoming Our Newest Consumer Investor, C.C. Gong

June 06, 2024
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C.C. Gong with Shawn Carolan and Amy Wu
C.C. with Shawn and Amy

We are very excited to announce the newest member of our consumer investment team, C.C. Gong! C.C. joins us as a principal, focused on AI applications for consumer and enterprise and broader consumer tech.

We first met C.C. over a year ago when she became a scout for Menlo Ventures. At the time, she was the co-founder of a startup in the video AI space and was actively organizing AI hackathons with Cerebral Valley, some of which our partners Tim Tully and Naomi Ionita also attended. Even then, we were impressed by C.C.’s broad network in addition to experience in product management at Microsoft and Meta, venture roles at Bain Capital and NFX, and serving as a White House Presidential Innovation Fellow in between.

We were on the hunt for an investor to join our consumer investment team and in reaching out to some of the entrepreneurs C.C. teamed up with, a recurrent theme kept popping up:  Every founder we spoke to said C.C. stands out as the most engaged, well-connected, and generous person in their network. And, when we explored her theses around the consumer technology space, her taste in companies resonated with us. We knew she’d be a great addition. 

When she’s not helping founders and connecting people, C.C. loves performing standup comedy, dancing salsa, and hosting poker nights. An adventure aficionado, she’s traveled to 80+ countries and has countless travel hacks to share. Fun fact: She grew up next to Disneyland in Anaheim, CA, and went to Disney Elementary School, so theme parks have a special space in her heart.

Welcome to Menlo Ventures, C.C.!

As an early-stage investor, Shawn focuses on companies that serve the “utilitarian consumer”—the individual seeking better, faster, and cheaper ways to move through life. Because basic human needs are persistent, he looks at how people are spending their money and time to assess the value and utility of a product…

Amy came to Menlo Ventures to grow the firm’s consumer technology and gaming practice and back founders building new products at the forefront of emerging platform shifts. As an investor, Amy seeks founders who share her obsession with products that define how people work, live, and play. She believes that emerging…