Jason Shen

About Jason Shen

You’ve been avoiding a hard conversation with your cofounder. You know the one. Years ago, I was you. Started a company with two close friends, raised money, hit every milestone. And watched the partnership fall apart in slow motion because none of us could speak honestly about how we felt. We were “conflict-avoidant,” which sounds peaceful but actually meant unspoken tension and resentment built up silently. By the time we tried to address it it was too late. That company didn’t survive. The friendship eventually recovered. I became obsessed with understanding why. I studied with the Gottman Institute and poured over partnership dynamics research. What I found: most cofounder conflicts follow patterns. And they respond to specific interventions if you know what they are. Now I coach founders through the same thorny problems that took years off my life. Hi, I’m Jason Shen - executive coach, author, and ice cream fiend. As a 3x founder, YC alum, and former product leader at Meta and Etsy, I’ve lived both early-stage chaos and operational discipline at scale. I bring both to my work. More on what I do: COFOUNDER CONFLICT COACHING I help cofounders repair their working relationship before they ruin their company. In a 13 week partnership intensive, you will reconnect with your most crucial ally, find common ground, and gain the skills needed to collaborate at full strength. Learn more: https://cofounder.repair 1:1 EXEC COACHING Not every founder problem is a partnership problem. I also work 1:1 with founders facing pivots, transitions, and the kind of decisions where the stakes are high and the right answer isn’t obvious. Same in-the-trenches perspective, focused on you. Discovery call: https://calendly.com/jason-shen/discovery

Experience

1. Angel Investor

   Scout

   May 2022 — Present

   Finding great engineers for your startup is hard enough.Finding ones who are smart, emotionally intelligent, AND can mentor your junior team?That\'s like finding a unicorn riding another unicorn.Here\'s what most companies do- Post on job boards. Wait. Hope- Pay recruiters 15-20% of salary- Interview dozens of candidates- Still end up with someone who does nothing more than ship average code- Rinse and repeat in 6 monthsI would know, I founded a company to address this gap nearly a decade ago.Scout is continuing that vision, in a smarter way.That\'s why I invested =)Kirk and Randy have built a private network of remarkable software engineers.A community built on mentoring early-career talent.Drawn from some of the most successful tech companies in the world, big and small.Not just coders. Scrappy, thoughtful technical leaders.The best part for you? No double-digit recruiter fees eating your budget.Scout\'s model means you get top-tier talent without the traditional markup.Need engineers who can actually lead?Want to build a team that grows together?Ready to stop gambling on hires?Check out Scout and see the difference a curated network makes.

Education

• Y Combinator

  Ridejoy (Summer 2011)

• Stanford University

  Bachelors & Masters of Science

Skills

• Management
• Strategic Partnerships
• Blogging
• Winning
• Beast
• Strategy
• Start-Ups
• Community Building
• Leadership
• Entrepreneurship
• Nonprofits
• Product Management
• Product Development
• Email Marketing
• Digital Media
• Program Management
• User Experience
• Advertising