In this episode of Conductive Conversations, Conductive Ventures founding member and managing director Paul Yeh speaks with Steven Hong, the co-founder and CEO of Oculii, about his fascinating story growing up an “accidental entrepreneur” from Ohio, building a company with his father and his “oh crap” moment before he sold Oculii to Ambarella for $400M.

00:00 Introduction to Conductive Conversations

02:33 Growing up in Ohio: Steven's Early Life and Inspirations

04:28 The Accidental Entrepreneur: Stanford and Kumu Networks

15:44 How Oculii was Started

24:32 Working with His Father as a Co-Founder

29:18 Joining Kleiner Perkins and the Road Ahead

34:24 Going Back to Oculii and Learning from Mistakes

37:36 One of His Toughest Times

42:49 Getting a Second Wind

43:46 Going through the "Oh Crap" Moment

46:51 Out of the Darkness and Into the Light - Selling to Ambarella

50:25 I Learned You Have to Play Through the Whistle

53:02 Making the Decision to Sell

01:01:03 VCs are Here to Serve Our Entrepreneurs

01:02:08 The Future of Autonomous Driving

01:08:00 It's the Golden Age of Building Technology

Steven Hong is currently VP/GM at Ambarella (NASDAQ: AMBA), one of the market leaders in Multi Modal AI Inference Silicon. Steven joined Ambarella through its $400M All Cash acquisition of Oculii, where he was the CEO and Co-Founder, growing the company to become the leading provider of AI Software for Radar Perception. Prior to founding Oculii, Steven was a partner at Kleiner Perkins where he invested in early stage HardTech companies pioneering Autonomous Systems, AI + Machine Learning, Space, IoT, 3D Printing, Robotics, and Cloud Infrastructure. Before KP, Steven co-founded Kumu Networks. Steven started his career as a management/strategy consultant at McKinsey and Uber, where he specialized in M&A diligence and expansion strategy. Steven holds a PhD and MS in EECS from Stanford University where he won several best paper awards for his research in AI + Wireless Communications, and graduated at age 23 – completing both degrees in 3 years. Prior to Stanford, he received a B.S. in EECS from the University of Michigan.

Paul Yeh is a Founding Member and Managing Director at Conductive Ventures with $450M in AUM focused on investments in the areas of software, hardware, and technology-enabled services. Paul has over 20 years of venture capital, technology, product, and operations experience. Prior to Conductive Ventures, Paul was a Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), where he focused on KPCB’s hardware and sustainability investments. Paul has worked as a board director/observer with entrepreneurs at Ambiq Micro, Beyond Meat (BYND), Desktop Metal (DM), DJI, Gen.G esports, LuxVue (acquired by Apple), Oculii (acquired by Ambarella), Self Financial, Tripalink, among others. Before joining KPCB, Paul served as Director of Strategy & Business Development at Fisker Automotive, the manufacturer of premium plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. He worked directly with CEO Tom LaSorda (former President and CEO of Chrysler Group) and founder Henrik Fisker in setting the company’s short and long-term strategies. Paul also led joint-venture discussions with other automotive manufacturers across the world, where he managed team members from powertrain and vehicle engineering, manufacturing, purchasing, logistics, and sales. Paul has also worked at Next Autoworks as Director of Marketing & Finance. He began his career as an investment banking analyst focused on technology M&A at RBC Capital Markets. Paul also spent time at Ford Motor Company, McKinsey & Company, and Tesla Motors in various product development and operating roles. Paul earned an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. He also graduated with a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of California Berkeley.

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