the Golden Section logo
Team

Don’t go at it alone.

With a focus on B2B software, we’ve spent the last two decades becoming experts in ideation, development, investing, and growth strategies that scale across industry.

Join us on our journey to help founders build great companies

Offices across 4 continents

Years operating
as a team

Team members and growing
a headshot of Adam Day

Adam Day

Position: General Partner
Categories: Investing, Venture
Location: Houston, Texas, USA
Favorite food: Hot Tamales (the candy)
I’m an investor and operator with a moderate amount of experience, but most of all I really love helping other people succeed. I’ve raised money as an entrepreneur and fund manager, and I’ve worked with some wonderful people along the way.
General Partner

Adam Day

General Partner

a headshot of Adam Wells

Adam Wells

Position: Executive Director
Categories: Leadership, Product
Location: Houston, Texas, USA
Favorite Food: Pizza

I am an Executive Director at Golden Section. I contribute to our financial and legal strategy as well as have oversight OVER four of Golden Section’s business units.

Prior to my tenure at Golden Section, I founded two companies in both the real estate development and architectural professional services industries.

I graduated from Texas A&M University with focus in Linguistics & Business. I also attended Dallas Theological Seminary.

What is one thing people should know about you? I bring an insatiable appetite for learning to my role at Golden Section; it’s borderline obsessive…ok-it’s solidly obsessive; I’m working on setting proper boundaries in this area for better balance.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? Even though I appear to be a bit of a ‘square,’ I’ve spent a ton of time growing up rock climbing, cliff jumping and skydiving.

What are you most passionate about professionally? Context: Every consideration & strategy in business needs to be held within the appropriate context. Doing so allows the stakeholders to properly appraise consequences & second order effects of their decisions.

What are you most passionate about personally? Kindness and Reconciliation: I’m definitely far from perfect in each of these, but having been both the culprit and on the other side of each of these virtues, I can say that the enjoyment of life is enhanced when you have a humble & kind posture, one that seeks out reconciliation when things go awry.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? Rosemary Beach – it’s family tradition for almost two decades.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? A good day includes time with my family, working with my team, playing tennis and reading.

Executive Director

Adam Wells

Executive Director

Alicia Hernandez

Position: UX Designer
Categories: UX Design
Favorite food: Japanese

I’m a UX Designer with background in architecture. I got interested in UX Design to solve new design challenges, getting involved in how people interact with digital products. I strongly believe the digital products are our day to day tools, so we are shaping the design of the future.

What is one thing people should know about you? I’m always trying to explore my artistic side. I’ve done oil pantings, digital art, watercolor and 3D rendering. A new design challenge appears, you can count me in!

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I once lived in Quebec to practice my French. I have only been studying for a year, but it was a fulfilling experience to get to practice a new language in another country. I would definitely do it again.

What are you most passionate about professionally? Designing for the future. Knowing the products we are making now can work for now and future generations.

What are you most passionate about personally? I’m passionate about learning something new every day. It doesn’t have to be on some topic in particular, but to get to experience something new. I get really excited when someone gets to teach something they are passionate about.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? Japan. Two years ago I traveled there with my sister. I would love to repeat that trip, since it was an extraordinary way to bond with her and we both love asian food. Also, it was such a nice trip to analyze the esthetic of the Japanese cities.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? Through meditation.

UX Designer

Alicia Hernandez

UX Designer

Andrés Moncivais

Position: Accountant
Categories: G&A
Location: Guadalajara, Mexico
Favorite Food: Definitely Mexican 🙂

I’ve been working since I was on college, working for treasury positions and also in sales force for other companies, but I noticed that I wanted to apply the knowledge I got at college and my other jobs, so I looked for a company that can offer me all this, plus a nice environment to grow as a person and as an accountant.

What is one thing people should know about you? I am a big fan of all Boston teams, Red Sox, Celtics and NE Patriots, this as a familiar tradition since my grandparent and my dad studied at Boston. If you want to talk all day about sports, you can find on me the right person.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I hate spiders, even though Spider-Man is one of my favorite Marvel Superheroes.

What are you most passionate about professionally? The most passionate about professionally for me is being part of the financial team, taking care of the company in the numbers part, and also giving my best to get the better results.

What are you most passionate about personally? Spending time with my family at the woods, resting and having good time is something I enjoy a lot, also to play and watching team sports.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? To the woods, the fresh air you get out there is something I really enjoy a lot, riding horses and walking during hours, is something I won’t change.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? To always know that there is time for everything, to work, to relax, to party, to thank, I think that if you respect your time and the others, the rest will come by it own.

Accountant

Andrés Moncivais

Accountant

a headshot of Andrew Smith

Andrew T. Smith

Position: Executive Director
Categories: Investing, Leadership, Venture
Location: Houston, Texas, USA
Favorite food: Chips and Salsa

Experienced Executive with a demonstrated history of working in the venture capital and private equity industry. Skilled in Revenue & Profit Growth, Management, Business Development, Variance Analysis, and Financial Analysis. Strong professional with a BS focused in Accounting from Texas A&M University.

Executive Director

Andrew T. Smith

Executive Director

Bing Che

Position: Technical Team Lead
Categories: Product, R&D
Location: China, Hiwin
Favorite food: Sweet and sour tenderloin

I had worked on several big systems from the scratch. I have learned a lot from these systems. Now I can help the client to build a stable system with scalability. I would not have been able to achieve these if I didn’t belong to a great team.

What is one thing people should know about you? I enjoy programming very much.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I like music, but I can’t sing.

What are you most passionate about professionally? I am passionate about technical challenges, especially resolving those wired issues.

What are you most passionate about personally? I am passionate about playing badminton.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? San Francisco. A lot of fun things happened there.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? Take a break, and prioritize things.

Technical Team Lead

Bing Che

Technical Team Lead

a headshot of Brian Bogus

Brian Bogus

Position: Chief Operating Officer
Categories: G&A, Leadership, Product
Location: Houston, Texas, USA
Favorite food: Seafood

My entire career has been the start-up journey. I have started 4 different start-ups that all had some amazing rides. Through my failures and successes, I learned valuable lessons that have led me to where I am today. The start-up life had me face many challenges that can spike stress and pressure to levels most people can’t begin to understand. It is hard, fun, stressful, and magical all at the same time. After failing a few times, I spent 10 years working on my last start-up before it was acquired in 2021. I joined Golden Section as COO, where I always take my founder’s perspective into almost every decision I make.

What is one thing people should know about you? I am very competitive and have been this way my entire life. From playing competitive tennis to my career, it has driven and pushed me. The biggest change is early on I was competitive with others and now I am competitive with myself.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I ran my first marathon just before turning 40 years old.

What are you most passionate about professionally? I am most passionate about people. I believe in people and love building an amazing work culture. People are always the primary key factor in success, not processes.

What are you most passionate about personally? I am most passionate about challenging myself. I love finding new challenges both physically and mentally to push myself as much as possible.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? I love Europe because you can experience so many countries with all different cultures within one trip.

Chief Operating Officer

Brian Bogus

Chief Operating Officer

Chunru Liang

Position: Business Analyst
Categories: Product
Location: China, Fangying
Favorite food: Chinese food

I had servered a German company for 7 years upon my graduation from university in the position of Project Management. And I really enjoy team work and also providing strong support from various aspectives to the team.

What is one thing people should know about you? I am always responsible to my work, company, colleagues and also myself. That is to say, you can rely on me for work!

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? Frankly speaking, I am a little introvert though it is not easy to tell.

What are you most passionate about professionally? The honor and value you can bring to the job and also the team and yourself.

What are you most passionate about personally? Hiking and time with family and friends

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? Hometown, where I have my big family.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? Focus on work at work time and focus on life at offwork time.

Business Analyst

Chunru Liang

Business Analyst

Claire Peters

Position: Director of Human Capital
Categories: G&A, Leadership
Location: Houston, Texas, USA
Favorite Food: TexMex, especially chips and queso.

I have nearly 15 years of HR experience spanning across many different industries. Most of my professional experience has been supporting business leaders and their employees, both in day to day scenarios and targeted projects and initiatives. I have worked for predominantly larger corporations, but as my family grew I realized I needed to find better balance. This opportunity at Golden Section allows me to prioritize my family while simultaneously build a department to drive internal and external people initiatives. I’m thrilled to be in a place where I can lead and develop our internal employees as well as support and provide human capital expertise to our founders and portfolio companies.

What is one thing people should know about you? HR professionals are not “the rules police” or a fun sponge, but we’re here to support everyone at our companies. I came into this line of work to work with and help people at work. We’re really nice, fun people!

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I tore my ACL at mascot camp in high school.

What are you most passionate about professionally? I love working with people and coaching them through uncomfortable or unfamiliar situations. It brings me a lot of joy to see someone gain confidence working through a situation they were initially nervous about. I love that my role adds value across all levels of my organization, and I can be a true business partner to the teams I support.

What are you most passionate about personally? My family. I have two young children, and have realized my work should compliment my family and not the other way around.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? Estes Park, CO has been my family’s favorite vacation spot since I was a kid. We love to hike and be out in the Rockies, and it doesn’t hurt to have limited cell service either.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? Ask myself whatever it is I’m doing will support my family and align to my goals – both professionally and personally.

Director of Human Capital

Claire Peters

Director of Human Capital

Cooper Loposer

Position: Product Services Lead
Categories: Studios
Location: Houston, Texas, USA
Favorite food: Chinese

I studied engineering in my university days, and growing up I was always drawn to trying to solve difficult problems. When I graduated, I learned about B2B SaaS as a consultant & solution architect at a Houston-based B2B Fintech company. This experience gave me insights into the potential pitfalls startups and mature companies alike may experience as they build & scale their organizations. This experience led me to Golden Section where I hope to help founders to avoid such pitfalls.

What is one thing people should know about you? I have a passion for helping others, whether that is in a personal or professional setting.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? Growing up, I wanted to be an astronaut. I am still holding out hope that I get selected for the first manned mission to Mars.

What are you most passionate about professionally? Finding creative solutions to difficult problems.

What are you most passionate about personally? Spending time with friends and family.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? Italy. For the pasta, wine & beautiful scenery.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? I try to stay active – both physically & mentally.

Product Services Lead

Cooper Loposer

Product Services Lead

David Stagg

Position: Director, Looking Glass
Categories: Looking Glass, Product
Location: Houston, Texas, USA
Favorite Food: The answer is pizza. It was its own row on the original USDA food pyramid. Look it up.

When I started my career, “product design” and “user experience” didn’t exist as disciplines. I had grown up designing and building websites, and, as the field evolved, so did the job philosophically. It led me to cofounding an esports technology company, which I worked on for over five years. The opportunity to lead a product that has the potential to be critical infrastructure to technologists and venture capitalists was too much to pass up. That, and the free fruit jerky.

What is one thing people should know about you? I most likely know the spread in that random college football game on late tonight.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I’m a dual citizen; I hold both American and British passports.

What are you most passionate about professionally? Solving difficult problems.

What are you most passionate about personally? Most of my passion is consumed with living for now and not the future and not the past.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? If I had to recommend any city in the world not named Paris or London, I would say try Florence.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? In the estimable words of Faith Hill, “Just breathe.”

Director, Looking Glass

David Stagg

Director, Looking Glass

a headshot of Dougal Cameron

Dougal Cameron

Position: CEO and General Partner
Categories: Leadership, Venture
Location: Houston, Texas, USA
Favorite Food: Fried egg, habanero, serano, jalapeno and sourdough sandwiches.

I started my career at the Federal Reserve as an analyst and quickly snapped into entrepreneurial management through several endeavors including an industrial manufacturing and tech-enabled service company as well as founding Golden Section. My journey is one of mistakes, trials, lessons and… hopefully… learning.

What is one thing people should know about you? I do TSA pre-check so that I don’t have to walk on the airport floor without shoes.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I have gone from no running at all to a half marathon in under 1 hr 52 min in 8 months… my knees hurt.

What are you most passionate about professionally? I am passionate about people operating in their gifting and considering their whole person instead of just their career.

What are you most passionate about personally? I am passionate about using my gifts in all my areas of responsibility. This starts with my marriage and flows through my family and ultimately into my economic engine and world changing idea (Golden Section).

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? Guadalajara… why not?

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? Prayer.

CEO and General Partner

Dougal Cameron

CEO and General Partner

Fang Song

Position: Software Developer
Categories: Product
Location: China, Fangying
Favorite food: Hairtail.

I have nine years of development experience with good object-oriented programming ideas, I’m proficient in using C#, java, Vue, and I’m familiar with SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, Sqlite and other common relational databases. I have development experience with an AR interactive Digestive system that can translate, jump, squat, and rotate at a small angle with the figure.

What is one thing people should know about you? I’m afraid of dreaming about snakes.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I always double check for everything I do.

What are you most passionate about professionally? I love my current major.

What are you most passionate about personally? Passionate about animals, plants, and other natural things.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? Dali, I want to enjoy the scenery there.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? I do proper exercise, and go outside to view the natural scenery.

Software Developer

Fang Song

Software Developer

Feifei Yang

Position: Technical Team Lead
Categories: Product
Location: China, Hiwin
Favorite Food: China's Shandong cuisine

From an inexperienced beginner, through constant learning, I have grown into a qualified programmer who can independently complete developing functional modules and have slowly formed a systematic architecture from scattered knowledge points.

What is one thing people should know about you? I am constantly learning every day, and trying to improve myself in the process of learning.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I am an optimistic and dedicated person.

What are you most passionate about professionally? I like communicating with people, make new friends, and am willing to teach and help others.

What are you most passionate about personally? Exchange and learn from each other.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? I like the way of pastoral travel, and I can relax in a quiet environment.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? Work happily and live happily.

Technical Team Lead

Feifei Yang

Technical Team Lead

Fengjiao Bi

Position: BA & QA
Categories: Product, R&D
Location: China, Hiwin
Favorite food: Seafood.

I have ten years of experience in software testing, and I have worked on lots of projects. The most meaningful projects are Kbuuk, SHR and Kare. Kbuuk is my first project, which taught me how to be a good QA. When I worked on SHR, I learned a lot from my colleague, like analyzing customer’s requirements, conveying requirements to developers, etc. My proudest project is Kare. I can make agreement with customer about requirements, and split them into different features in words, and make sure our development can satisfy all requirements.

What is one thing people should know about you? I have no sense of direction. Like I should have learned some skill that I never learned.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I have learned UI automated testing by myself, but not much of work experience with it. Now I’m learning interface testing and performance testing.

What are you most passionate about professionally? Get satisfaction from customer when all requirements are done. It gives me a sense of achievement.

What are you most passionate about personally? Keep learning.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? Seaside. It can detach me from the busy life.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? Watch TV series, like Friends, Broke Girls and The Big Bang Theory.

BA & QA

Fengjiao Bi

BA & QA

Guoliang Zhang

Position: TTL & Senior Developer
Categories: Product
Location: China, Hiwin
Favorite Food: Pizza.

Having more than 10 years of working experience, I used to act as a TTL role in an online contract management project with good customer reviews and continued with a new financial related project

What is one thing people should know about you? I’m captivated about react is recently.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I used to think I would never ride a bike with 2 wheels. Because only when it is in motion can it maintain its balance, not stand still.

What are you most passionate about professionally? Technologies can help people free their hands.

What are you most passionate about personally? Learn new things & meet new people.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? Lakeside. I like swimming.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? Specify goals, combine work and rest.

TTL & Senior Developer

Guoliang Zhang

TTL & Senior Developer

Hai Zhang

Position: Senior Software Developer
Categories: Product, R&D
Location: China, Fangying
Favorite Food: Dumplings

I have more than ten years of experience in software development. The programming languages I am good at are PHP, NodeJs, Java, and JavaScript. I have joined Golden Section for more than three years. ”

What is one thing people should know about you? I like music.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I like to stay at home.

What are you most passionate about professionally? Research and learn new technologies.

What are you most passionate about personally? I am very keen on watching dramas and movies.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? I’d like to travel anywhere with beautiful natural scenery.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? I like to go for a walk to relax myself.

Senior Software Developer

Hai Zhang

Senior Software Developer

Hiedra Castillo

Position: Director of Product Operations
Categories: Product, Project Management
Location: Seville, Spain

Results oriented professional with extensive international project management experience in a wide variety of industries and multicultural environments. Proven track record of leading teams and collaborating with stakeholders at different levels. Focused on objective-based performance with experience both in start-ups and multi-national corporations

Director of Product Operations

Hiedra Castillo

Director of Product Operations

Hourong Qi

Position: QA
Categories: Product, R&D
Location: China, Fangying
Favorite food: Dumplings, seafood, barbecue

I have more than 15 years of testing experience. I used to do software testing and quality management in Japanese enterprises. After I came to Fangying, I also participated in the testing work of many projects, which can be said to accumulate considerable testing experience.

What is one thing people should know about you? As a tester, I am most proud of the fact that my colleagues are satisfied with the projects I test.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I’m afraid of cats.

What are you most passionate about professionally? Eliminate as many software bugs as I can.

What are you most passionate about personally? Traveling

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? I like traveling to the seaside best because the sea can make people feel better.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? I am energetic at work, enjoy family life after work, and accompany my children to grow up together.

QA

Hourong Qi

QA

Huixian Deng

Position: QA
Categories: Product, R&D
Location: China, Fangying
Favorite food: Spicy food. So as long as it is a spicy dish, I like it.

I have 3 years of experience as a developer and another 3 year’s experience in testing. The great joy of witnessing the polishing of the product under my test drives me forward in the role of QA.

What is one thing people should know about you? I am cautious and responsible for my work, and you can trust me to complete the work.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I hate durian because it smells bad, but many people do like to eat it.

What are you most passionate about professionally? I like to find bugs during testing, and I will have a great sense of achievement when I find them.

What are you most passionate about personally? I enjoy taking a walk with family, however, I am fond of being alone sometimes as well.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? Yunnan, China. You can find so many stunning natural scenes there.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? Keep happy both in life and at work.

QA

Huixian Deng

QA

Huiying Wang

Position: QA
Categories: Product, R&D
Location: China, Fangying
Favorite food: Sweet and sour pork slice with garlic.

After graduating as the Bachelor of Engineering, I chose to work in an IT company, and from there, I slowly grew an interest in software testing. I studied in specialized testing courses and passed the testing vocational examination. After working 4 years in the software testing area, I transformed from an inexperienced beginner to a skillful and professional QA.
My passion for software testing wouldn’t stop there, I would learn from my every project and climb for the new goal.

What is one thing people should know about you? I love to work in a peaceful and creative environment where everyone’s ideas can be heard.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I’ve learned interface testing, performance testing, and automated testing by myself.

What are you most passionate about professionally? Finding a bug or logic loophole before anyone else notices it, it’s like a treasure hunt, and your whole team could benefit from it.

What are you most passionate about personally? Learning new things, meeting new people, and keeping in touch with old friends.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? Lakes and rivers. The sound of water gives me peace of mind.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? Crocheting, petting my cat, petting other dogs, and most touching everything that looks and feels fluffy (besides bugs).

QA

Huiying Wang

QA

Isaac Shi

Position: General Partner
Categories: Investing, Product, Venture
Location: Houston, Texas, USA
Favorite Food: Sichuan and Cantonese Foods

Over the last 22 years in the software development and investment profession, created lots of novel technical solutions in software development before there were official terminologies or acronyms for them. Software Engineer for iHotelier CTO and Software Architect for Prognosis Software Architect for many dozen mission-critical software systems Advisors to many CIOs and Software Engineers for tech companies at various stage Oversaw hundred of software projects, from inception to architectural design to implementation

What is one thing people should know about you? I speak Chinese

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I’m a bona fide Shrekologist

What are you most passionate about professionally? Helping founders to build strong tech foundations, avoid costly mistakes. Explaining technical details through the lens that business people will understand and appreciate. Build serious systems, but don’t take yourself too seriously

What are you most passionate about personally? Reading, History, arts. Helping people to help themselves

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? Munich, Germany. It has great Bavarian culture, architecture, history, music, BMW, and Oktoberfest

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? When I have the need for speed, I fly a Piston propeller plane on weekends.

General Partner

Isaac Shi

General Partner

Jacobo Vargas

Position: Sr. Project Manager
Categories: Product
Location: Guadalajara, Mexico
Favorite Food: Mexican

Passionate Industrial Engineer that went from production, logistic, and quality roles on some of the largest manufacturing companies in the world like P&G, to fall in love with project management and business consulting.

With 20 years of professional experience, a lot can be told but my highlights are the ones that guide me to be happy and realized that anything can be done if you plan, execute and improve every day, like:

Be one of the leaders of UNESCO international workcamps projects in Mexico and Canada. Manage to obtain the first Global Standard SQF certification with a perfect score for Food Manufactures in the whole world in the first attempt. Build one functional tunnel capable to freeze vegetables and fruits in seconds. Be leading part of the growth strategy for one company that now is about to IPO in the US. COO and lead of the organizational structure and strategic planning of the first Mexican GEN company (Generation Exchange Network). Being able to lead and manage the creation of the first ERP for Avocado Growers and processors from scratch. Build a proven system to lead teams and organizations to strategic planning, team building, development, and success paths. And you know what, all of the above did it by using project management skills, technics, and methodologies/frameworks (even when I didn’t know it was in the earlier days).

I think my path was a bit unusual because I took one courageous shoot once an opportunity to manage a project was presented to me where I was not supposed to be the one to do it but something makes me rise my hand, challenging as it was we thrive and became my passion, that feeling of being a key part of the success and how you can serve, guide, help, mentor, be taught, and learn from the best gives the sense of purpose that drives me to excel my self, knowledge, and attitude!

What is one thing people should know about you? That I’m happy, a big hugger, a friendly people person with a lot of willingness to help. Don’t get intimidated by my size or voice. Love to be taught, hear and if possible teach/mentor/guide.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? Love to do long road trips just to taste food or seek life experiences, what can be shocking is that regularly I can walk around 5-8 miles each day to get to know the city, sights, or environment better (always with one camera).

What are you most passionate about professionally? Work with persons! all the rewarding interaction and the knowledge around. The purpose and that feeling when something is happening and is going to be transcendent.

What are you most passionate about personally? Myself, my family, my friends, and the environment. I love being happy! and be part of the happiness of others too.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? Anywhere with woods and a nice road with a lot of places to eat on the way. Like to explore!

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? Drinking a tisana resuming my days! I love spend time with me, my family, and friends. Do home improvements (mine, relatives or friends), helping others, and don’t forget to laugh until some happy tears show. Cinemas and lately excercise. (let’s lose some pounds).

Sr. Project Manager

Jacobo Vargas

Sr. Project Manager

Jeff Page

Position: Product Manager
Categories: Product
Location: Houston, Texas, USA
Favorite Food: Tex-Mex, with Italian a close 2nd.

I took the professional scenic-route before I was blessed to find GST. I studied criminal justice in college and graduated during a market collapse. I gained retail and tech experience (more than anticipated) while awaiting the hiring markets to thaw. I entered law enforcement, only to pivot later when offered an opportunity in oil that I couldn’t refuse. Almost immediately after transitioning, I had to persevere through the oil market collapsing as well. While my resume may reflect a seemingly unrelated, even sporadic, work history, the aggregate of sixteen years excelling in results-driven environments with a focus on project management, process improvement, business analytics/development, and thriving under considerable pressure provided a skill set found to be beneficial for our Product Team. A former employer and long-time friend reached out to me about the open position. I have experienced companies offering monetary compensation in lieu of any work/life balance or personal empathy. I have found the best of it all in my current role. I could not be any happier with my choice and can now appreciate the (sometimes bumpy) path that led me here.

What is one thing people should know about you? I am extremely competitive and enjoy any challenge. I usually gear my hobbies toward those that I find entertaining but also very difficult to master; Brazilian jiu-jitsu, fishing, poker, shooting, etc.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I was once employed by the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, working inside the jail for a year while awaiting the academy to start. I was placed on a supermax floor, housing the most dangerous inmates in the system. I joined several different teams in an attempt to stand out for promotions (gang enforcement, emergency response, etc.). In turn, it provided more exposure to situations that (hopefully) most will never experience, hence some interesting stories and life experiences. What are you most passionate about professionally? Accomplishing any large task and reflecting on the work has always been extremely satisfying for me. While I am new to this role, I am also finding that journeying with Founders on turning their dreams into reality and growing ideas from theory to fruition is also immensely rewarding.

What are you most passionate about personally? Creating memories and strengthening bonds with family and friends. I was blessed with two extremely hard-working father figures who directly instilled their insatiable work ethic. However, they both inadvertently reaffirmed the lesson that “no amount of money ever bought a second’s worth of time” once they were gone. Loved ones won’t remember any work accolades and your presence is more rewarding than any paycheck.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? Lake Fork or Maroma Beach (Mexico). I spent a large chunk of time on Lake Fork growing up. It provides some of the best bass fishing in the country, is extremely tranquil, and holds numerous fond memories. I honeymooned at Maroma. The beach is one of the prettiest in the world and literally looks like heaven on earth.

Product Manager

Jeff Page

Product Manager

Jesus Peralta

Position: UX Designer
Categories: UX Design
Location: Guadalajara, Mexico
Favorite Food: I love Italian food!

Fresh out of high school, I studied Mechatronics Engineering for a year. I did that because I’ve always been great at math and coding, so I thought that career path would be good for me. However, even if I had good grades I just couldn’t picture myself as an engineer, fixing machines and doing paperwork all day in an industrial plant. That’s why I decided to change my degree and study “Interaction Design and Animation” at Universidad Iberoamericana Puebla. There I was able to explore my creative potential while at the same time taking advantage of my logical thinking skills. I’m so glad I decided to do that, I especially enjoyed learning about user centric methodologies, which is why I decided to pursue a career in UX Design

Before working for Golden Section, I worked as an intern in an American higher education software company (ellucian) where I was responsible for the UX / UI design of one of their products. During my time there, I learned to work in an agile scrum framework and to design following accessibility guidelines.

What is one thing people should know about you? I love languages, besides Spanish I am fluent in English and French. For the last year I’ve been learning Arabic on Duolingo, but I’m thinking on switching to Chinese since the company has many people who speak it.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I’m someone who prefers to stay indoors, so people are surprised to learn that when I was in college, I spent a summer working and living in the mountains alongside indigenous artisans. It was on a small town called Xochitlán, which in nahuatl means “the place of flowers”. It is located in the northern ridge of puebla (Sierra Norte de Puebla) a very humid and foggy area. Living in a place so different from what I was used to was a very transformative experience that made me grow and mature as a person. I’ll never forget the friends I made there, we still are in contact and visit each other regularly.

What are you most passionate about professionally? I am very passionate about helping people use technology, I think everyone should have access to technology and their benefits. I see it all the time with my parents, sometimes they struggle using their cellphones or computers because the design on the apps they use is not clear enough or not tailored to their needs. The job I do brings me great satisfaction since I feel like I’m making a positive impact on people’s lives, even if it’s a small one.

What are you most passionate about personally? I love animation, I love going to the movies and watching them on the big screen, as well as watching documentaries on the behind the scenes of how they are made I didn’t become an animator because I realized I prefer to watch movies rather than work on them, which are very different experiences.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? I love traveling to Mexico City because they have a lot of Musical Theatre shows, I try to go at least once a year. I am lucky of to have seen profesional productions of Wicked, Aladdin, The Prom, and many others I wouldn’t want to live in Mexico City though, it’s a very fun city as a tourist but a very stressful city as a habitant.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? I find balance on my dog, his name is Conan and he’s a chihuahua (the one in the picture). Taking care of him has made me a more responsible person. Also, thanks to him I get to do exercise every single day by taking him out for a walk, which is good for both of us.

UX Designer

Jesus Peralta

UX Designer

Jian Zhang

Position: Senior Software Developer
Categories: Product, R&D
Location: China, Fangying
Favorite food: Roast meat, hot pot

When I was in school, I was curious about mobile terminal development, and I got into this field by chance. Since then, I have been working in this field for five years and have developed more than a dozen of apps by myself. I like this position, which is full of interesting challenges. And I really enjoy the sense of satisfaction, especially when solving difficult problems.

What is one thing people should know about you? I love development.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I didn’t study Android development at school.

What are you most passionate about professionally? It is a great joy for me to learn new technologies and apply them to software development.

What are you most passionate about personally? I’m keen on climbing mountains and playing basketball.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? I love Hohhot because there is endless grassland.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? Climbing mountains and thinking along the way helps a lot to release pressure and balance my work and life.

 

 

Senior Software Developer

Jian Zhang

Senior Software Developer

Karen Arnoldi

Position: Product Manager\BA Manager
Categories: Product
Location: Houston, Texas, USA
Favorite Food: Italian

My first job out of college was working for a consulting firm which sent me all over the US to not so glamours cities and middle of nowhere towns but gave me great experience in various roles of software development. After 5 years of living out of suitcase I settled down in Houston and worked for Stewart Title as a Business Analyst. When my third child was born after working at Stewart for 10 years I decided to resign and stay at home with my children, a different but very rewarding time. After sending my last child off to start Kindergarten and having an empty house I had the urge to get back to work. I reached out to some old work colleagues and Kelly Moore reached back, telling me all about Golden Section and the role of Product Manager.

What is one thing people should know about you? My faith and my family mean everything to me. These days most of my personal stories revolve around my 3 busy and energetic children. I know their time as children is limited and I try to be there for all of the moments that I can.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I can be a reserved person but somehow found the courage to backpack across Europe by myself after I graduated from college. Something I will NEVER let my daughter do!!!

What are you most passionate about professionally? Seeing a feature work in a product that I helped to build. That is even more meaningful when working for a company like Golden Section where a product can represent a person’s dream.

What are you most passionate about personally? I love doing anything outdoors with my family – biking, hiking, swimming, we always have a blast together.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? Anywhere in the Caribbean. Nothing beats white sands, blue waters, and fun island vibes.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? Making sure I make time for my family and living a healthy lifestyle.

Product Manager\BA Manager

Karen Arnoldi

Product Manager\BA Manager

a headshot of Katie Gregory

Katie Gregory

Position: Director, Investments
Categories: Investing, Studios
Location: Houston, Texas, USA
Favorite food: Sign me up for anything in the Asia-Pacific region.

Katie is the Director of Investments at Golden Section where she leads the diligence process for all prospective investment opportunities across pre-seed, seed, series A, and credit level investment strategies. Under Katie’s management, the Golden Section investment committee evaluates more than 150 opportunities per year from a pipeline of thousands of potential deals. The Golden Section team manages $70M in assets under management and has an active portfolio of more than 25 rapidly growing software companies doing more than $140M in annual revenue.

Prior to her current role, Katie led the enterprise sales initiatives for Golden Section’s services arm which includes more than seventy software engineers and has served more than 350 B2B software companies.

Katie started her career in B2B software sales at a fast-growing hospitality-tech firm in Houston after graduating from the University of Texas with a degree in fine arts and business.

What is one thing people should know about you? I will never say no to any travel opportunity.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? My family has a famous Christmas Card and got to meet Taylor Swift because of it.

What are you most passionate about professionally? To my core I am a connector. I love meeting new people, hearing what drives them and discovering ways to better equip or help introduce them to someone or something that will help propel their idea / company forward.

What are you most passionate about personally? I am deeply involved in an International Studies and Seminary course called Perspectives. I am passionate about cross-cultural education and ministry. I absolutely love traveling the world, seeing new places, experiencing new cultures, and learning different worldviews.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? Hong Kong. The people, the food, the fashion, the architecture.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? My favorite way to pursue balance is spending time with my family. Outside of family time, I intentionally block off time in my calendar to exercise, be outside, read, and invest in friendships.

Director, Investments

Katie Gregory

Director, Investments

a headshot of Kelly Moore

Kelly Moore

Position: Senior Manager of Product Management
Categories: Product
Location: Houston, Texas, USA
Favorite food: If baked goods/sweets are a cuisine, then that is definitely it! Otherwise, Tex-Mex is my go-to favorite.

I started working in Product Development over 15 years ago and worked my way through the ranks from systems analyst to business analyst, to product manager, and have worn many other product hats over the years. I’ve worked on products in industries such as Title Services and Healthcare, and most recently, prior to my time at Golden Section, I led a Supplier Diversity Services team as a Product & Program Manager. This was an exciting opportunity which led me down the path of purpose-focused work. Finding my place at Golden Section allows me to continue my journey working with other purpose-driven people.

What is one thing people should know about you? I am a big-time planner. I don’t ‘wing it’ and I am not spontaneous. Being prepared is what keeps me calm, happy, and gives me peace. When I have something to plan, then I always have something to look forward to, and who doesn’t love that!

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I started out my career as a Pre-School Teacher. I thought I wanted to become an elementary school teacher but decided that wasn’t for me, so I shifted gears and decided to take a more technical/business educational approach which led me to where I am today.

What are you most passionate about professionally? I love the creative process of developing new products and making existing products better. Everything from ideation through to launch and the analysis of how people engage with a product to drive continuous improvement is all very exciting for me. Product Management is something I can do to help the entire team build things that fulfill the dreams of our founders, and that is what really drives me.

What are you most passionate about personally? I’m a helper. I love to help people. If there is something I can do to help make someone’s life better, I’m all in. I have used my passion in various ways personally… as a financial coach, a marriage counselor, a board member of my neighborhood HOA, a missionary, a youth organization board member volunteer, and a boy scout committee member.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? I’ve never fallen in love with a place like I did when I went to Maui. There is something magical about the Hawaiian islands.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? I intentionally block time in my calendar for daily walks, lunch away from my desk, and time with family and friends.

Senior Manager of Product Management

Kelly Moore

Senior Manager of Product Management

a headshot of Kristen Phillips

Kristen Phillips

Position: Executive Director
Categories: Leadership, Studios
Location: Houston, Texas, USA
Favorite Food: Seafood because it encompasses all countries and flavors.

While in college at Texas A&M I discovered a deep passion for startups while participating in a three-day-build-your-own-company boot camp and working at Startup Aggieland on campus. Post graduation, I joined a team at a new startup development organization and community as an Investment Analyst for a concept designed to syndicate investment into early stage companies from local angels. Throughout the evolution of strategy, my role evolved to manage all programs and networks within the ecosystem (AKA I focused on connecting the many players within a startup community and helped founders get investment ready). Through this experience, I developed a deep appreciation for the founders journey and in my creative spaces, I spent time ideating on new and unique ways to support founders in all lifecycle phases. Fast forward through some funny stories (for another time) and I got connected to the team at Golden Section Ventures, who were wanting to build out an offering based on previous success seen within the portfolio. Shortly after I hopped on board, accepting the challenge, we united all of our strategies under one name, Golden Section, made our first initial investments, built a team, and the rest, as they say, will one day soon be history….

What is one thing people should know about you? I find yelp in big cities to be lame so I started my own shared note called Houston Foodie with over 150+ restaurants that I have reviewed in the greater Houston area. You have to know someone to get access to the list (hint, you know me). Stay tuned for a Global Foodie list, coming soon…

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I like to hunt and fish and camp in remote areas.

What are you most passionate about professionally? Building something that greater than just one person or team. We get the privilege to do this through our business and hope our founders see partnering with us as an opportunity to do the same in theirs. We strive to be intentionally different in a way that equally aligns opportunities for flourishing on all sides.

What are you most passionate about personally? My faith – It’s something I will forever grow in and endlessly enjoy.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? Rockport, TX. Out of all of the exotic and fun new places, Rockport Texas will always hold a special place in my heart. My dad grew up going there so we grew up going there and it feels like a home away from home. Time seems to slow down when you get to hang out on the bay with family, friends, and lots of sunshine.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? Through living locally – enjoying community, farmers markets, and exploring neighborhood restaurants.

 

 

 

 

Executive Director

Kristen Phillips

Executive Director

Mauricio Mercado

Position: Product Manager
Categories: Product
Location: Guadalajara, Mexico
Favorite food: Bread, cheese and/or shrimp.

Trained as a Mechanical Engineer, I was involved in developing new products since very early in my career, I spent 16 years in manufacturing, 8 years in consulting and since 2014 I started transitioning into the digital realm. I’ve had over 100 successes and maybe just as many failures, and in everyone, I’ve strived to absorb and learn out of every bit of information I could get my head around, simply because I love solving product puzzles.

What is one thing people should know about you? You won’t get any BS from me. I am a deep, passionate, loving, and introvert person, and because of those same reasons, I tend to get bored rather easily.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I am shy and extremely curious. And I am a music lover. Because of the latter, and simply out of curiosity and spurious coincidence, I was involved for a short season of my life, in managing artists, and as an A&R.

What are you most passionate about professionally? Solving product puzzles. Seeing them transform from an ethereal idea into becoming alive.

What are you most passionate about personally? I am a passionate guy. If something is not sparkling my passionate self, it is likely it simply won’t happen. Having said that: traveling, reading, movies, music, swimming, scuba diving, small-scale model building, eating, trying new things, making new friends… and of course, solving puzzles.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? I’ve been kind of a nomad for a big chunk of my life. So (almost) wherever the compass shall be pointing next sounds like a good destination.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? Since I am a passionate guy, I go all in in whatever I may get myself involved in. For this reason I do keep myself on a high-pace for quite a long period, but after a while I will need a down time for a short period. it is here where I shall take a break, travel, change my scenery, and that simply happens whenever I may need them, so I charge myself fully and get on the high-paced horse again in no time.

Product Manager

Mauricio Mercado

Product Manager

Meimei Pang

Position: Technical Team Lead
Categories: Project Management
Location: China, Hiwin
Favorite Food: Dumplings

I have a total working experience of over 17 years, including nine years of working experience as a BA and QA, two years of working experience as an editor, one year’s working experience as a translator and five years of experience as a Project Manager.

What is one thing people should know about you? I have strong knowledge base and capabilities to establish/maintain a high level of customer trust and confidence.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? The only vehicle I can handle is bicycle.

What are you most passionate about professionally? “Provide strong requirements analysis for clients; Build robust test process for clients; Manage team efficiently to better serve our clients”

What are you most passionate about personally? Read more books to broaden my knowledge in as many aspects as possible.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? Anywhere in China because China is a very beautiful country.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? Spend more time staying with my family and friends.

Technical Team Lead

Meimei Pang

Technical Team Lead

Montana Meador

Position: Founder Success Analyst
Categories: Studios
Location: Houston, Texas, USA
Favorite Food: Mexican

I went to Baylor University where I attained degrees in both Marketing & Entrepreneurship. I began my career in the Recruiting Department of Kirkland & Ellis where learned all aspects of the recruiting process from the initial interview to planning a 10-week program for our summer associates. I switched to the Business Development Department which focused more on our client base. I planned a multitude of events as well as assisted in providing collateral to our attorneys in an effort to grow our cliental. I loved many aspects of my role but I began to seek opportunities at companies where there was an alignment with mission, values and culture. During my job search, I was connected to the recruiter of Golden Section. The more I learned about Golden Section’s mission and environment, the more confident that I became that this would be a great fit for me. Speaking with Katie Gregory and Kristen Phillips further affirmed this as they spoke to the incredible people, fast paced environment and many opportunities for growth at Golden Section all with the purpose of helping our founders achieve a meaningful exit.

What is one thing people should know about you? I have am obsessed (or addicted?) to Goldfish.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I have never been to the state of Montana.

What are you most passionate about professionally? I am passionate about continued opportunities to grow and learn. I believe that all work environments should be conducive to their employees growth and development. We should never stop looking for opportunities to advance our knowledge and grow our skill sets.

What are you most passionate about personally? I am passionate about helping people by investing time in building relationships with them. I believe that the most affective way to help someone (whether that is personally, spiritually or professionally – which I believe all are intertwined) is to do life with them. The people who have had the biggest impact in my life aren’t people who said something profound, but rather the people who took time out of their lives getting to know me and caring for me.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? Cinque Terre in Italy is my favorite place to travel. It is a chain of 5 towns that you can hike between along the coast. It is has both mountains and beach – double whammy!!

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? Being active (pickle ball!!) and spending time with friends and family.

Founder Success Analyst

Montana Meador

Founder Success Analyst

Nydia Diaz

Position: UX Designer
Categories: UX Design
Location: Guadalajara, Mexico
Favorite food: Mexican and Japanese

What brought me to UX Design is the need to create products people will love. UX is a broad field that essentially solves problems through design. And because of how we live now, I wanted to get into digital product design. It is a new face of design that really caught my attention.

What is one thing people should know about you? I have an entrepreneurial side. I’ve had a few small businesses in the past. I would love to have my own wine business someday. I don’t travel as much as I would like, but I’ll try to do it more often. I also like to illustrate and draw, watch anime and play video games.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I’m interested in learning different languages, and right now I’m learning Japanese and would like to continue with French.

What are you most passionate about professionally? Delivering a product or design that is functional and with great esthetic.

What are you most passionate about personally? Sharing knowledge or tools that helped professionally and personally so others can grow too.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? Japan, for the culture. The way it meets both an ancient and modern civilizations.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? I try to do something that makes me happy every day. I like to take care of myself, physically and mentally.

UX Designer

Nydia Diaz

UX Designer

a headshot of Oscar Kutch

Oscar Kutch

Position: Senior Associate, Ventures
Categories: Investing, Venture
Location: Houston, Texas, USA
Favorite food: Beef Fajitas

Oscar is currently a Senior Associate on the Ventures team with Golden Section. His role consists of analyzing investment opportunities for the fund, journeying with portfolio companies post-investment, tracking portfolio performance, and supporting the general partners in investment decisions. His experience ties closely to finance and technology, with specific focuses on financial management, equity analysis, venture capital, and B2B software.

Prior to Golden Section, Oscar earned his MBA at Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business. There, he was an equity analyst with the M.A. Wright Fund, an officer with the Jones Student Association for Professionals, and the president of Men As Allies. He was also an active member of the Finance Association and Beer Club, and a volunteer with Rice Business Gives Back. Prior to business school, Oscar was a Senior Finance Manager at DesignerAdvantage, where he managed financial operations for multiple small businesses, and led sales of the firm’s software offering to prospective clients. Prior to starting his career, Oscar earned his BA in Economics at Tufts University’s School of Arts and Sciences. There, he was a 4-year letterman on the Varsity Baseball team, a member of the Tufts Financial Group, a brother of the Delta Upsilon Fraternity, and a volunteer with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Massachusetts Bay.

What is one thing people should know about you? I am a big Astros fan… Go ‘Stros!

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I was the Safety Patrol Lieutenant in 5th Grade at Whitcomb Elementary.

What are you most passionate about professionally? Serving others… Whether it be supporting a founder’s passion by providing capital and guidance, stewarding our LPs capital through portfolio analysis, or training new hires on financial and market diligence… I enjoy my role the most when I am helping others.

What are you most passionate about personally? Traveling… I have been to 11 different countries and plan on visiting many more throughout my life. Thankfully, I also get to follow this passion through my role here at Golden Section. Visiting a new place involves learning more about other cultures and capturing new experiences, which I thoroughly enjoy.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? Paris, France… Delicious food, tons of art, beautiful architecture.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? Meeting up with friends for dinner at one of Houston’s many amazing restaurants.

Senior Associate, Ventures

Oscar Kutch

Senior Associate, Ventures

Peng Qin

Position: Software Developer
Categories: Product, R&D
Location: China, Fangying
Favorite food: Laoganma

I majored in software technology in college. I have done software development for Japan, regional e-commerce ERP system development, instant messaging, information security management and control system, etc. My previous work was on the back-end development of PHP and node, and now I am switching to front-end web development. I feel that the front-end is very interesting and learned a lot. A lot of new things. I am very interested in learning new technologies, hoping to do better.

What is one thing people should know about you? I’m an upright, kind-hearted, easy-going, non-verbal person.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I’m a lively man.

What are you most passionate about professionally? Programming. Code changes the world, programming creates the future. It filled my life with infinite joy.

What are you most passionate about personally? I like listening to music, working out and coding.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? I like my hometown. The blue sky, white clouds, mountains and fields, flowers and plants in my hometown make me feel at ease.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? Waking up early to plan my day is an easy way. Mornings can determine our overall attitude.

Software Developer

Peng Qin

Software Developer

Qingwen Wu

Position: QA
Categories: Product
Location: China, Hiwin
Favorite food: Chinese Dumplings.

As a QA, it’s enjoyable to find bugs and defects in software and confirm they’re fixed.

What is one thing people should know about you? Strong team spirit.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? Good Cooking.

What are you most passionate about professionally? Make software bug free as possible I can.

What are you most passionate about personally? Watching a comedy movie will make me relaxable.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? I like to travel to my hometown, a small countryside village. I can get together with my family and be away from the noise of the city for a moment.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? I put all my energy into work during the working time and do anything except work out of the working time.

QA

Qingwen Wu

QA

Robert Parker

Position: Founder Success Analyst
Categories: Studios
Location: Houston, Texas, USA
Favorite food: Shrimp.

I’ve always sought out roles where I set others up for success. After graduating from Texas A&M, I worked in education for two years as a Teach For America corps member. As a teacher I taught Algebra and enjoyed coaching the school’s baseball and basketball teams. My experience working with Teach For America in an underserved school district piqued my interest in organizations and how the best organizations set individuals up to thrive. This interest led me to graduate school at Cornell University, where I obtained a Masters in Organizational Behavior. Following this experience I spent time with Thermo Fisher Scientific in the Graduate Leadership Development Program. My time at Thermo Fisher allowed me to see business units throughout the globe offering diverse tools, products, and services to different end markets. This experience greatly developed my business acumen as I saw the day to day a Fortune 100 enterprise working to proverbially “keep the ball at the top of the hill”. However, I realized that I wanted to contribute to businesses working to get to the top of the hill, and not just to stay there. This led me to explore opportunities working close to startups and eventually to my role with Golden Section. I’m excited to leverage my experiences to support founders in solving problems and seeing around corners on the journey ahead!

What is one thing people should know about you? I love to read. You’ll never catch me without a book nearby. I aim to read 30 books every year and I am always down to talk books. Also, I was the runner up in the 2005 Regina Howell elementary spelling bee.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I care far too much about Texas A&M football.

What are you most passionate about professionally? Investing in others to help them see and become their best.

What are you most passionate about personally? Seeking truth, speaking truth, and showing up my friends and family. I am married to the most wonderful woman in the world and I will never not be working to make sure she knows it.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? A long walk with my wife to a coffee shop on a slow Saturday morning. I’ve had the privilege of living in several places in the US. There are wonders to be found everywhere, but a good walk with a good coffee and great company is a timeless vacation.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? Reading

Founder Success Analyst

Robert Parker

Founder Success Analyst

Shuqing Zheng

Position: Software Developer
Categories: Product
Location: China, Fangying
Favorite food: Chicken, beef and vegetables.

I have been woking as back end developer for 5 years. The passion for developing and the pursuit of a better life has brought me here.

What is one thing people should know about you? I am Chinese

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I can not drink alcohol as I am allergic to it.

What are you most passionate about professionally? Fixing bugs and helping others fix bugs.

What are you most passionate about personally? Music always goes well with coca cola(I don’t like coffee)

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? I wish to go to the steppe as it is so vast that you will forget all the bad things.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? Maintain a healthy lifestyle and work hard.

Software Developer

Shuqing Zheng

Software Developer

Sonia Quintanilla

Position: Project Manager
Categories: Product
Location: Seville, Spain
Favorite food: Mediterranean

It has been a wonderful journey full of discoveries and self-improvement, so far. I enjoy each time I realize that I’m growing not only as a professional but also as a person. To be able to feel so you have to learn to move from your comfort zone and embrace the change. My professional career journey is full of changes and challenges. Each one of them came at the appropriate moment (that is what I have chosen to believe) and all of them made me who I am now: a versatile, cross-functional senior professional with a solid IT background applied to business development and entrepreneurship, team management and development, training, coaching, and consulting. I began to work in the IT sector, which brought me to the IT Training area, which allowed me to reach the IT Consultancy, which let me know about other market areas, (f. e., the automotive industry). I became an entrepreneur, working as an executive coach for 9 years and this experience allowed me to become an HR Manager at my previous job … What brought me here has been another challenge: gain more balance in work-life while I enjoy growing as a person and professional.

What is one thing people should know about you? I’m good at people management. I’ve got many social skills. I’m convinced of the importance of giving to be able to receive.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I make a delicious carrot cake. I learned how to make it following a youtube video from one of the best cookers in Spain. I learned to make many desserts during the locking COVID. I’d dare to say that I’m good at making cakes.

What are you most passionate about professionally? What I’m most passionate about professionally is working with people. I love meeting people, much more if they come from different countries-cultures. People whom you can learn and let you grow. It’s very satisfying to share your knowledge and experience working with others. In my opinion, it’s one of the best ways to capacitate people and let them gain self-esteem.

What are you most passionate about personally? What I’m most passionate about personally is spending valuable time with my family and friends. I like to be present taking advantage of each moment that happens. There is no need to take a photo, I prefer to live in the moment. I enjoy walking, doing sports, playing table games, dancing,… (I’m very good at encouraging a party!)

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? I’d like to travel to Japan. I think it would be a very interesting country to discover in terms of traditions and people’s behavior and conducts. I think it might be a very enriching experience.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? It’s a very easy one. I gain balance in my life every time that I share my time with people that I appreciate and who appreciate me.

Project Manager

Sonia Quintanilla

Project Manager

a headshot of Taylor Stout

Taylor Stoute

Position: Founder Success Team Lead
Categories: Studios
Location: Houston, Texas, USA
Favorite food: Are desserts a cuisine? LOL

After graduating from the University of Oklahoma with degrees in both Energy Management and Finance, I began my career in oil and gas as a landman, but quickly transitioned into commercial real estate during the height of covid. Within a year of being a commercial real estate agent, I had built a book of business of around 40 clients and ran the entire sales cycle on my own, from client acquisition to lease/purchase contract execution. I knew that in order to grow my business quickly, I needed to connect with the companies feeling the most pain with their current real estate footprint and so I would research and call on the fastest growing companies in various industries and locations. These searches led me to discovering the emerging startup ecosystem in Houston and the role venture capital plays in supporting the community. After around six months of following the industry, I had decided that I wanted to get into venture capital because it closely resembled my interests – helping others reach their career goals and learning how various types of businesses operate. Shortly after determining that I wanted to work in venture capital, I was connected to Golden Section by a contact from another VC who is prolific in the Houston startup scene and the rest is history! When I met the GS team and saw the uniqueness of the model, I knew this was the place for me.

What is one thing people should know about you? I love music! (just not country music)

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I don’t watch TV or have any streaming accounts. I don’t own a television!

What are you most passionate about professionally? Professionally, I am most passionate about team alignment and working together to achieve a common goal. Part of being a team is being inclusive, which I am also super passionate about.

What are you most passionate about personally? Personally, I am most passionate about spreading positivity and bringing joy to others.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? My favorite place to travel to are the Exuma Islands which are in the Bahamas. I am a beach girl at heart and growing up I was fortunate enough to travel to a variety of Caribbean islands with my family during summer vacation.The Exumas are my favorite travel spot due to their remoteness, crystal clear water, and amazing sea life. Anyone who gets a chance should go!

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? My favorite way to pursue balance is through sweating it out! You’ll find me on weekends running at my local high school track – rain or shine, hot or cold! Contrary to most, I actually love the Houston weather!

Founder Success Team Lead

Taylor Stoute

Founder Success Team Lead

Tingting Song

Position: QA
Categories: Product
Location: China, Fangying
Favorite food: Asian Food

I majored in Business English at university. My previous job was in international trade which seems a suitable job for me. But I found it was not the job I want and I decided to change the industry. It is a challenge for me to be a QA in an Internet technology company. But it also makes me excited and I have the confidence to perform well. I have learned much in this position and I enjoy my daily work.

What is one thing people should know about you? I’m a shy girl if I’m not familiar with someone. And I always do more than say. I am a value-oriented person I’m strict with my work and I hope to be a valuable person who is helpful to my colleague.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I’m a lively and funny girl if I stay with my friend. I like working out and I want to be a stronger and more muscular girl.

What are you most passionate about professionally? In my opinion, making products for people is a fulfilling thing and it is also a job that makes people’s dreams come true.

What are you most passionate about personally? I always want to be a person who has real freedom and love and power.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? I think it must be Southeast Asian. I like traveling very much and I have been to Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore. The blue sky, the perfect beaches, the kind person there, and the delicious food let me linger and I want to go there again and again.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? Make a clear distinction between work time and life time, If deal with work during non-working hours, it will make my mind cluttered, I always deal with work during working hours.

QA

Tingting Song

QA

Tong Cui

Position: BA & QA
Categories: Product, R&D
Location: China, Fangying
Favorite food: Hot pot

My first work experience was about audit and operation for overseas applications in ByteDance since my internship, I spent over 2 years in ByteDance learning basic working skills such as concentration, efficiency, quick response, and open communication. Then I moved to Inspur Group as a lab administrator, after that I transferred to a consulting company as a recruiter with curiosity about consulting industry, this job improved my communication skills and broadened my horizons. Hope that my knowledge and experience can help me in this job as a BA/QA.

What is one thing people should know about you? I’m a dog person and I love golden retrievers the most.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? My favorite cartoon is Crayon Shin-chan.

What are you most passionate about professionally? Analyze the requirement clearly and try to avoid possible mistakes and bugs.

What are you most passionate about personally? Watching TV series and reading.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? I hope to travel to San Ya and Thailand for various kinds of delicious food and beautiful scenery.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? I’d like to watch reality shows and spend time with my family.

BA & QA

Tong Cui

BA/QA

Víctor Juárez

Position: Product Manager
Categories: Product
Location: Guadalajara, Mexico
Favorite food: Mexican and Italian

I’ve had the opportunity to work in different NGOs and Startups. Always in a high paced environment. While working for an NGO I worked closely with multiple departments and with products than required my A-game at problem solving and understanding users needs. From that point forward, I discovered that I enjoy solving problems and coordinating efforts to bring to reality the best possible solution.

What is one thing people should know about you? I am always willing to hear other people’s stories. You can learn a lot from everyone if you listen carefully!

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I’ve run a marathon and my goal is to one day run a dog shelter.

What are you most passionate about professionally? The process of understanding the root of a problem and finding the best solution to it. But overall, I am passionate about teaching and helping people to grow.

What are you most passionate about personally? I like to contribute to social causes such as, youth development, figthing inequality and racism, and encourage education.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? Any beach!

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? Taking time to do exercise, take my dogs for a walk and spending time with my family and friends

Product Manager

Víctor Juárez

Product Manager

Wenchao Chen

Position: Software Developer
Categories: Product
Location: China, Fangying

My major is electromechanical. After I graduated from college, I wanted to see a different world. I chose to go out to study (big data), so I entered the internet technology industry. With the accumulation of work, my skills and experience have been greatly improved, so I have achieved my current position in the company. This job is very challenging. I learned about a lot of third-party tools, and I learned how to coordinate teamwork.

What is one thing people should know about you? I’m a Chinese

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I haven’t blacked out so far.

What are you most passionate about professionally? Solve difficulties.

What are you most passionate about personally? Living in the moment.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? I like any land with a large area, I like this clean feeling.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? Anything I do is what I love, work and life, and I think my current job is part of my life because the job I am doing now is what I am currently passionate about.

Software Developer

Wenchao Chen

Software Developer

Will McCallum

Position: CFO, Director of Lending
Categories: Lending, Venture
Location: Houston, Texas, USA
Favorite Food: Italian cause carbs

Started my career at Amegy Bank in their Officer Development Program with a focus on Small Business Lending. After graduating from the program, I spent five years facilitating all types of debt structures for small businesses and start ups with revenue ranging from $0 to $15M. I then moved into Amegy’s Commercial Middle Market group, focusing on established companies with revenues between $25M and $250M and facilitating broader debt structuring including ABL, Factoring and Mezzanine lending. In my final year with Amegy, I continued with the Commercial Middle Market group and took on the role of building out the Bank’s Venture Debt policy and application for the Texas market, identifying the types of debt vehicles, underwriting metrics and portfolio management KPIs that would be deployed based on company stage and loan size. This involvement in the Venture space of Houston ultimately led me to Golden Section, where I’ve been working as the Director of Lending since October 2021.

What is one thing people should know about you? I’m an Eagle Scout but don’t ask me to tie knots.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I’m a borderline groupie for Billy Strings – https://open.spotify.com/artist/1ZN1c1qWEGZNX1pGeKCPpf – You’re Welcome

What are you most passionate about professionally? Same thing as it was while working for Amegy Bank – Getting to play a role in a founder’s journey towards achieving their success.

What are you most passionate about personally? Mezcal – I’ve currently got 73 different bottles and am already out of space to put them, but that isn’t stopping me from going to Oaxaca multiple times a year and bringing more back. Agave is Life. (Is it called a drinking problem if it’s something cool?)

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? Oaxaca for reasons mentioned previously.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? Hunting & Fishing a.ka. Cast’n & Blast’n

CFO, Director of Lending

Will McCallum

CFO, Director of Lending

Xiaohui Zhu

Position: Technical Team Lead
Categories: Product
Location: China, Hiwin
Favorite food: Seafood

I have over 10 years of software development experience. I’m experienced in Asp.net / Asp.net Core, react, and react-native and know Vue, Angular, Java, and microservice development well.

What is one thing people should know about you? I’m a lightweight at drinking.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? A bottle of beer can make me vomit.

What are you most passionate about professionally? Learn new technologies and solve problems encountered in my work.

What are you most passionate about personally? Watch marvel movies.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? I want to travel to Xinjiang because there are so many beautiful views there.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? Playing with my daughter can take my mind off my troubles.

Technical Team Lead

Xiaohui Zhu

TECHNICAL TEAM LEAD

Xingda Xu

Position: Software Developer
Categories: Product
Location: China, Hiwin
Favorite Food: Not particular, but everything about meat I guess.

I graduated from Qingdao University and chose an ERP company in Shenzhen to challenge myself for my first job, and it last for 3 years. Then I went back to hometown and joined a company which mainly serve the local government with environment data for about 5 years until it ran into economic disruption. I tried several companies but fed up with their chaotic management till I joined amazing Golden Section Team.

What is one thing people should know about you? Helpful and humble, friendly and fertile, these are my tags.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I love cats.

What are you most passionate about professionally? Learning new tech skills is fun and challenging.

What are you most passionate about personally? Work hard and play hard.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? Anywhere seaside. It’s cooler and making me feel happy.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? Don’t take it too seriously. Like I said, work hard and play hard, pedal to the metal. There is no best balance point.

Software Developer

Xingda Xu

Software Developer

YanHui Zhao

Position: Senior Software Developer
Categories: Product, R&D
Location: China, Fangying
Favorite food: Spinach.

I have been working as an Android developer upon graduation.
I found a great interest in application development since my childhood. Its feature of being enjoyable and explorable makes me firm to stay in this field.

What is one thing people should know about you? I personally like singing very much.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? Sometimes it occurs to me that I forgot what to do for a second.

What are you most passionate about professionally? I love challenges brought by difficult tasks and am fond of satisfaction in the process of exploring.

What are you most passionate about personally? Try and learn newly sprouted things, like new technology for development.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? I like to travel to historical sites best as they can give me a taste of the wisdom of the ancients or previous generations.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? Strike a balance between work and rest.

Senior Software Developer

YanHui Zhao

Senior Software Developer

Yanyan Li

Position: Senior Software Developer
Categories: Product, R&D
Location: China, Fangying
Favorite food: Chinese hot pot

I have been working for 13 years and have been working on full stack development. From an inexperienced beginner, through constant learning, I have grown into a qualified programmer. I have rich development experience and am confident in my development ability. Now I am a Technical Team Lead. I can give my team useful suggestions on development. I hope our team can meet the customer’s requirements without bugs.

What is one thing people should know about you? Learning new tech skills is fun. It is challenging to deal with teamwork.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I’m a mother, but I can’t cook well

What are you most passionate about professionally? Solving difficult problems.

What are you most passionate about personally? I am a fish lover. I will feel very calm when watching fish swimming in the water. I like peacock fish best. They breed very frequently. I like to watch small fish grow bigger.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? I want to go to Korea most because I like Korean dramas.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? Work hard and play hard.

Senior Software Developer

Yanyan Li

Senior Software Developer

Yanjun Yi

Position: Business Analyst
Categories: Product
Location: China, Fangying
Favorite Food: Steak with chips.

My previous work experience was from Singapore, I worked in fashion & beauty industry before, after that I transferred to Tiffany&Co under Operation department, Over the years, I have been focused on developing the right qualities and skills to work effectively, such as communication skill, organizational skill and multitasking, I’m sure I can apply what I learned to my current position, a BA requires effective communications, be proactive and plan all my projects meticulously to avoid possible mistakes, with my knowledge and experience, I can add value to this role.

What is one thing people should know about you? I’m passionate about work, a nice colleague to work with.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I’ve been practicing yoga for 4 years.

What are you most passionate about professionally? Simultaneous Interpreting.

What are you most passionate about personally? Travelling.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? Anywhere near the ocean. Maldives is my dream place, the water there have different layers of blue, like gems.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? Handle work with full of energy, relax and have fun after work, maintain a healthy lifestyle, do exercise once or twice a week.

Business Analyst

Yanjun Yi

Business Analyst

Yibin Yi

Position: Software Developer
Categories: Product, R&D
Location: China, Fangying
Favorite food: My mother's cooking.

At the beginning of his work, he participated in the design and development of an e-commerce system in China, and in the development and maintenance of large-scale application systems, and achieved excellent results, and won the excellent staff of the Group. At present, he is proficient in system development and system customization development in various industries. Have an unremitting determination to work hard and maintain an optimistic attitude, keep calm when things happen, actively and continuously study, and constantly break through.

What is one thing people should know about you? I used to be a professional ship hull designer. I participated in the design and work of LNG ships in a state-owned enterprise in Shanghai. Later, I loved the computer industry and entered the study of computer. Through continuous learning and exploration and trial in work, I became a qualified and professional developer.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? Why should I choose the computer industry? Because for love, computers are the most capable of executing my commands. I like this feeling.

What are you most passionate about professionally? I like the work I am doing now. Because it brings me happiness.

What are you most passionate about personally? I am most enthusiastic about what I like, such as chasing anime every week, and I know about anime in every country. I like cooking and can make my own taste.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? My hometown. Because there are my closest people.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? Combine work and rest, and be able to do something you like after work.

Software Developer

Yibin Yi

Software Developer

Yiwei Qin

Position: Business Analyst
Categories: Product, R&D
Location: China, Fangying
Favorite food: Nothing particularly.

Before Joining GST and becoming a business analyst, I was a professional accountant working at Mazar’s accounting firm for 5 years as a senior accounting consultant. And then, I came to realize that I can not enjoy my work due to many reasons, and I think it is important to find achievement in your work. And by chance, I am very lucky to join GST and started my career as BA.

What is one thing people should know about you? I don’t like waiting.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I am terrible at math.

What are you most passionate about professionally? Creating something that will save a lot of work.

What are you most passionate about personally? A good movie.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? Some places where you can get close to nature. It helps clear the mind.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? Doing something that you truly love.

Business Analyst

Yiwei Qin

Business Analyst

Yue Zhou

Position: Technical Team Lead
Categories: Product, R&D
Location: Fangying
Favorite food: Dessert

I have almost 17 years of experience in Software industry, that including 9 years of working experience as a developer/senior developer, and almost 8 years as a Project Manager. I believe that great teamwork makes perfect works.

What is one thing people should know about you? I have rich knowledge bases in development and working experience to establish/maintain high level of customer trust and confidence.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I’m afraid of heights.

What are you most passionate about professionally? I like requirements analysis and design, also like coding and learning new technologies.

What are you most passionate about personally? I like food, nature and binge-watch.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? All quiet places in China, I prefer quietness to noise.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? Stay with my family and friends.

Technical Team Lead

Yue Zhou

Technical Team Lead

Yunqi Zhang

Position: Senior Software Developer
Categories: Product
Location: China, Fangying
Favorite food: It's home cooking from my wife.

With more than 20 years of experience in software project development and outsourcing, I has extensive experience in software development, business analysis and project management.

What is one thing people should know about you? Friendly and helpful

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? Is a sports fan and good at drawing.

What are you most passionate about professionally? See individual and overall team growth within the development team. Included in terms of technique, competence and teamwork.

What are you most passionate about personally? watching movies and sport games.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? natural scenery around the world

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? I really like things related to Chinese traditional culture, and I also pursue inner peace by understanding the thoughts of Buddhism and Taoism in my life.

Senior Software Developer

Yunqi Zhang

Senior Software Developer

Yuqiang Jiao

Position: Technical Team Lead
Categories: Product, R&D
Location: China, Hiwin
Favorite food: Chinese food

I started off as an eager apprentice and everything was new. Through continually accumulating knowledge and experience, after a while, I became a self-sufficient developer, which has been an important turning point to me. I started helping junior developers, reviewing code, and attending more conferences. Continuous learning and help and support from my colleagues have helped me get to my current role.

What is one thing people should know about you? I’m keeping studying and working hard to continue to be a good helper for the team and the company.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? Maintain a strong interest and vitality in learning new knowledge.

What are you most passionate about professionally? Work with colleagues discussing and researching odd technical problems.

What are you most passionate about personally? I personally love watching technology news.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? I like to travel to the sea most, because the vastness of the sea makes people forget all the unhappiness.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? Develop healthy eating habits, keep a regular schedule, do exercise regularly, and be happy at work.

Technical Team Lead

Yuqiang Jiao

Technical Team Lead

Zehao Si

Position: Software Developer
Categories: Product
Location: China, Fangying
Favorite Food: Shandong cuisine

Through the accumulation and precipitation of time, he has become a qualified developer. With five years of developing experience, he’s keen on technology updates and visual experience and can listen and communicate well.

What is one thing people should know about you? like small animals.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? Get along well, sunshine, fun are my labels.

What are you most passionate about professionally? Brainstorming and Technical Drilling

What are you most passionate about personally? I like to travel and find beauty

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? Beijing is a city that enjoys a long history and rich culture.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? Be positive, be a good listener, and exercise regularly

Software Developer

Zehao Si

Software Developer

Zhang Yue

Position: Software Developer
Categories: Product
Location: China, Fangying
Favorite food: Hot Pot

Brought you to your current role with 5 years of front-end development experience, I have mastered Vue, react and other front-end development technologies, among which I like the most challenging technical functions such as dynamic large screen chart custom drag and drop function, voice communication and so on.

What is one thing people should know about you? I feel like a great friend when I get along

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I am actually Married and have a lovely son

What are you most passionate about professionally? Software development

What are you most passionate about personally? I like watching movies and skiing

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? I want to go to Dali, Yunnan. I think it’s a romantic place

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? Like challenging things and keep loving life

Software Developer

Zhang Yue

Software Developer

Zhen Wang

Position: Software Developer
Categories: Product, R&D
Location: China, Fangying
Favorite food: Xiaolongbao

I have five years of front-end development experience, during my previous job I have built the front end for several systems, and I’m very familiar with JavaScript, TypeScript, React, etc.

What is one thing people should know about you? I know the windmill lightsaber.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I am very skilled in windmill lightsaber.

What are you most passionate about professionally? I am most passionate about writing elegant code.

What are you most passionate about personally? I am most passionate about reading technical blogs.

What is your favorite place to travel to and why? I like Xi’an because it has long cultural history.

What is your favorite way to pursue balance in your life? Listen to some punk music.

Software Developer

Zhen Wang

Software Developer

Golden Section journeys together with early stage B2B founders to achieve meaningful exits through effective partnerships, flourishing communities and a commitment to balance.