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Gen Z founders you should know

TechCrunch was proud to host Techsetters at Disrupt 2023 in San Francisco. Here’s an overview of their breakout session.

 

What does it take to build a startup in the current landscape? How is Gen Z going to transform the industry? In this Disrupt 2023 breakout session, Techsetters interviewed two early-stage founders who are making waves.

 

SPEAKERS

Sam Wiener, Host, Techsetters

Sam Wiener co-founded Techsetters podcast with Jenny Wang and Karlie Kloss with the aim of inspiring the next generation of leaders in tech. She was head of product engineering at Saturn, a social calendar for high school, and prior to that, she led engineering for Reels at Instagram. She works with early-stage startups and helps them scale and build their engineering teams.

Weilyn Chong, Co-founder and COO, swsh

Weilyn Chong is the co-founder/COO of swsh, the social app that strengthens the relationships that matter to you. Weilyn was born in Singapore and raised in Singapore, Hong Kong, and The Netherlands. Weilyn studied economics and computer science at Princeton University. She co-founded the Entrepre女ers Network, a community and a network of six podcast shows supporting women entrepreneurs across the world. She is a board member at the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center and the host and producer of VEP podcast at the Center.

Alexandra Debow, Co-founder and CEO, swsh

Alexandra Debow is the co-founder/CEO of swsh, the social app that strengthens the relationships that matter to you. She is a Canadian born and raised in Hong Kong. Alexandra studied computer engineering at NYU Tandon and data science at NYU Shanghai. During COVID, she built Alive Vibe, a virtual events marketplace connecting 30,000+ Gen Zs. In Shanghai, she built Entrepreneurs in Action, a founders’ dinner series; the Entrepreneurs Network, a women entrepreneurs podcast network (six shows, 20,000+ audience); and the Why Wait? Collective, China’s first Gen Z–led women entrepreneurship conference. She worked at Alibaba’s Entrepreneurial Program in HangZhou. She also worked on GGV Capital’s infrastructure investment team.

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