Refactor Labs

Refactor Labs is a modern leadership advisory firm helping outliers and organizations lead through hard pivots. We specialize in resilience and reinvention, delivering remarkable experiences that thrill participants and build their courage + capacity for change.

Services:

🧢 Executive Coaching: 1:1 + small group sessions that unlock transformational growth through extended partnership.

🛠️ Participatory Workshops: Interactive seminars designed to learn and practice crucial skills for navigating complex transitions—storytelling, emotional intelligence, experimentation and more.

🎤 Keynote Talks: High energy presentations that challenges audiences to dream bigger and act bolder in the pursuit of excellence.

Clients:

Meta
Nielsen
Pinterest
Grubhub
Contenda
Coeus Ventures
Proctor & Gamble
Harmonic Message
Cornell SC Johnson College of Business

Executive Coach

Lunar Accel

Board Member

Merit

Angel Investor, Mentor

Contenda

Angel Investor

13 Fund

Angel Philanthropist

Jason Shen

Write about business, technology, and culture for publications with numerous bylines in TechCrunch, Fast Company, and Vox. My posts on Medium have a combined 800k+ views.

Speak and teach at conferences and events on topics like gaming & esports, product management, entrepreneurship, talent development, and leadership. Since 2012, I've spoken on four separate continents (North Am, Europe, Asia, Australia) at places like Google, Pinterest, General Assembly, and Empower. My TED talk on the future of hiring has 4M views.

Support ambitious startup founders as an executive coach.

Resilience Expert

Facebook

Led product for public groups which connect 400M+ people everyday to the interests, people, and  communities they care most about, without barriers. Incubated a new product experience in FB Groups to millions of people.

Product Manager

Presidential Innovation Fellows Foundation

The Presidential Innovation Fellows (PIF) program was established by the White House in 2012 to attract top innovators into government, capable of tackling issues at the convergence of technology, policy, and process.

The PIF Foundation is a 501(c)3 organization established to support and advance the PIF program, drive innovation in the US government, and connect our 100+ alumni. Board members are elected by members to 2-year terms.

The Asian American Man Study

The Asian American Man Study a national survey of the experiences and beliefs of American men of East, Southeast, and South Asian descent. Our findings have appeared in The Atlantic, NBC Asian America, Vox, and Quartz, and has reached over 100,000 people on Medium. Over 1000 Asian men have been surveyed since our founding in 2015.

Jason has shared his research and personal experience as a first-generation Asian American at Amazon, Pinterest, Proctor & Gamble, and Nielsen.

Founder

Helping unconventional founders & execs lead through hard pivots · Author: THE PATH TO PIVOT · Uncle Iroh with a side of Genie · 3x venture-backed startup founder · 1st gen immigrant · ADHD · Meta + Etsy alum

Hi, I'm Jason. I'm an executive coach to outliers & organizations facing hard pivots.

But let's talk about you for a sec. I'm guessing you've landed your fair share of funding, promotions, and industry recognition.

But somewhere along that grind, you noticed you saw the world differently than your peers and those ahead of you. You discovered that achieving inside someone else's definition of success isn't a sweet as winning on your own terms.

But at the same time, you've realized that building a company, career, and creative life that's out of the ordinary can be daunting.

I get it.

As an executive coach and the founder of a leadership advisory firm Refactor Labs, I help outliers like you lead through hard pivots in business and life. 

Having built teams, products, and companies in consumer, B2B, and marketplaces from inception to post-IPO—I've probably seen the problems you're facing.

As a three time startup founder with two exits and one very humbling failure under my belt—I know the pressure of having to manage your psychology and lead your team in pressure-cooker moments.

And as an ADHD kid transplanted from Suzhou to Silicon Valley, I've felt the sting of rejection and the struggle to find community when you don't fit in.

That's why I do what I do.

My clients are VC-backed founders, agency owners, and senior executives. Outliers who want to express their unique talents in spite of a system that tells them to just fit in. Leaders who want to transform their organizations to navigate a new reality.

I work with you to power through those hard pivots to land that next big thing.

That's what I did for Kevin.

Kevin had a growing family and a successful career as a marketing leader, but was tired of feeling tired and burned out.

Together we charted a path for him to leave his pre-IPO startup and launch a successful agency that's quickly becoming the go-to messaging agency for B2B SaaS companies while supporting his family and his health.

And for Edmar.

Edmar was the founder and former CEO one of Brazil's most successful tech companies, but when we met, he was stuck in first gear without much momentum in any direction.

Together we helped him find joy in coding again, develop genuine relationships and a community of Bay Area technologists, and shaped his vision to launch an AI venture studio.

So that's what I do. Here are some ways I can help you:

1. The Outlier Advantage Email Course (free)
2. The Path to Pivot book ($)
3. 1:1 or Group Executive Coaching ($$)
4. Keynote presentation ($$$)

Shoot me a DM to learn more and explore further.

🌱 Jason Shen

You built the thing.

You wrote the first lines of code, made the first sale, hired the first employee. You were the company.

But now you're scaling. You have a team of 5, 25, 50.

The skills that got you here, the relentless doing, the hands-on control... they are becoming the bottleneck. You feel you "should" be more strategic, but you're uneasy letting go.

You look at your title:

CEO
CTO
COO

And you wonder if you're still the right person for the job.

Your challenge isn't to become a different person. It's to find your new point of leverage.

It's to graduate from being the best "doer" to being the most effective "enabler."

What's one task you're still holding onto that you know you need to hand off to scale your impact?

Jason 🧠 Shen

The Outlier Coach · Helping venture-backed founders build conviction and win *their* game. Author of 'The Path to Pivot' & 'Weirdly Brilliant' · Retired NCAA 🏆 gymnast

Jorian Hoover Startup Fundraising

Navigate your startup fundraise with confidence. Tailored strategies and expert guidance to help first-time and serial entrepreneurs maximize their fundraising potential.

Founder & Startup Fundraising Sparring Partner

Ethos

Early Advisor

Immersive Gamebox

In 2023, Immersive Gamebox was a Series A startup, with locations in the US and EMEA. My primary responsbility was leading fundraising and spearheading our strategic finance efforts.

Director of Fundraising + Strategic Finance

Harvard Business School

MBA Candidate

Morressier

In 2021, Morressier was a Series A startup with headquarters in the US and EMEA. I partnered closely with Sami Benchekroun, CEO of Morressier, as his Chief of Staff for the summer. I got connected with Morressier after reaching out as part of my sourcing responsibilities at Owl Ventures (Owl ended up leading the Morressier Series A in early 2021).

Chief of Staff to CEO

Owl Ventures

In 2020/2021, Owl Ventures was an EdTech-focused VC with over $1.2 billion AUM and investments in companies such as Labster, Masterclass, and Degreed. My main responsibilities were to source promising startups in the US & EMEA - one of the first startups I reached out to was Morressier, which Owl Ventures ended up leading the Series A in during 2021.

VC Fellow

Microsoft

Finance Manager on Microsoft's Corporate Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) team. Our team drove analysis and anticipation of consolidated results for Microsoft's Senior Leadership Team and Board of Directors. Additionally, I used Machine Learning to improve revenue forecasting capabilities across finance and sales functions.

Finance Manager - Corporate Finance

[on Civic Leave to African Leadership University]

4th Rotation: Corporate Financial Planning & Analysis (Mar 2017 to Sep 2017)
3rd Rotation: Skype for Business: Revenue and Business Planning (Jul 2016 to Mar 2017)
2nd Rotation: Corporate Accounting and Financial Compliance (Feb 2016 to Jul 2016)
1st Rotation: Cloud + Enterprise: Operational Expenses (Jul 2015 to Jan 2015)

Finance Rotation Analyst

The African Leadership University

In 2017/2018, African Leadership University (ALU) was a US venture-funded startup with bold ambitions to open 50 universities across the African continent. One of my primary responsibilities was to help lead efforts for ALU's $30M Series B.

Fundraising and Strategic Finance Lead

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Spearheaded the "Moneyball" analysis program for the 22-time National Champion UNC Women's Varsity Soccer Team

Team Manager and Performance Analyst, Women's Varsity Soccer Team

Internship: Office 365: Cost of Goods Sold (May 2014 to Aug 2014)

Finance Rotation Intern

After leading fundraising at multiple startups, I asked myself: "Why are only some founders great at fundraising?" …

For some founders, fundraising was a process they ran with high momentum and leverage, resulting in a deal & investor they were proud of.

But for others, fundraising was chaotic... a never-ending ordeal of chasing investors, requests, and extended timelines. Sometimes this resulted in a deal, but it often felt like the investor had won all the leverage.

I believed this was unfair, as I think every founder should have the know-how & tools they need to run a high-quality fundraise process.

And so a few years ago, I left my full-time job and embarked on a solopreneur journey - helping founders with their startup fundraising. I'd love to help you however I can - here are a few ways:

1) If you want to regularly receive my guides, how-to's, and insight, then subscribe to my newsletter "Into the Ring" at jorianhoover.com/newsletter

2) If you're a strong founder and would like to work with me directly on your fundraise, you can find more details & apply for a 1:1 call at jorianhoover.com

3) If you work at a startup conference, accelerator, university, service provider, etc. - and you'd like me to give a talk or workshop on startup fundraising, feel free to DM or email me

...


By the way, if you've made it this far and you're wondering "who in the world is Jorian?" then here's a very quick background:
→ I grew up a math nerd in the US, spending time on AoPS and MathCounts. I even went to a math camp for a whole summer!
→ I went to UNC (Go Heels) for undergrad, studying Economics and Education. Made some of my best friends for life there.
→ Started working at Microsoft - which was an amazing training ground - but I was often restless and looking for startup experiences. I helped build a startup with some friends, partnered with Msft engineers to build new products, and took a half-year leave lead a startup fundraise.
→ I studied at Harvard for my MBA. During this time, I made a full pivot to startups, and begun helping any startup I could with its fundraising. Also spent some time sourcing deals at Owl Ventures, the largest EdTech VC in the world.
→ Since becoming a Startup Fundraising Sparring Partner, I've coached 50+ founders who've raised over $190M. It brings me tremendous joy getting to work with great founders, day-in, day-out.

Jorian Hoover

These were the top 23 funding rounds by Tier 1 VCs last week (Nov 15-21). $2.21B raised with a $21M median check size:
 
[creator x fitness] Slow Ventures: led a $1.1M Seed into Tayla Cannon

[robotics] Pear VC: led a $4M Seed into Parallax Worlds
 
[AI x inference] Felicis: led a $5.3M Seed into Luminal
 
[AI x product sourcing] Susa Ventures & XYZ Venture Capital: co-led a $6.6M Seed into Cavela
 
[AI research tracking] Haystack & Menlo Ventures: co-led a $7M Seed into alphaXiv
 
[AI x file browser] Felicis: led an $8M Seed into Poly
 
[AI x compliance] Lightspeed & MMC Ventures: co-led a $10M Seed into Condukt
 
[AI x MCP security] Khosla Ventures: led an $11M Seed into Runlayer
 
[AI x cybersecurity] True Ventures & Preface Ventures: co-led a $14M Series A into Feroot Security
 
[AI x automations] Felicis: led a $15.5M Series A into Automat
 
[AI x insurance] Thrive Capital: led a $20M Series A into Modern Life
 
[AI x tax] Andreessen Horowitz (a16z): led a $21M Series A into Sphere
 
[cybersecurity] Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) & General Catalyst: co-led a $21.5M Series A into Method Security
 
[cybersecurity] Greylock: led a $25M Series A into Bedrock Data
 
[AI x customer support] Creandum: led a $26M Series A into GetVocal AI
 
[AI x accounts receivable] Andreessen Horowitz (a16z): led a $29.5M Series A into Stuut
 
[AI x accounting] Redpoint, Kleiner Perkins, & Audacious Ventures: co-led a $30M Series A into Maxima
 
[navigation] Khosla Ventures: led a $35M Series C into Point One Navigation
 
[AI x cybersecurity] Bessemer Venture Partners: led a $70M Series C into Doppel
 
[AI x music] Menlo Ventures: led a $250M Series C into Suno
 
[healthcare x lab tests] Redpoint: led a $298M Series B into Function Health
 
[fintech x corporate spending] Lightspeed: led a $300M round into Ramp
 
[trading exchange] Sequoia Capital & CapitalG: co-led a $1B round into Kalshi

If you want the full list of 23 deals with links to all the press releases, check that out here: https://lnkd.in/e9SQVXat

______________

Hi, I'm Jorian Hoover - I work 1:1 with founders to run high-quality fundraises and have helped 50+ founders raise over $190M. Every week, I share the latest top venture deals & tactics to raise from elite VCs. If you'd like to receive this weekly briefing, subscribe to my "Into the Ring" newsletter at https://lnkd.in/eAHNDAMQ

I help founders run high-quality fundraises | Harvard MBA | $190M+ raised

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Jorian Hoover

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The Battle

🌱 Jason Shen

Jorian Hoover

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Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}🌱 Jason Shen's LinkedIn Performance

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Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance Score🌱 Jason Shen's LinkedIn Performance