Investor · Operator · Business Builder

Will Yan

Building businesses and developing long-term ideas across education, technology, business building and emerging markets.

Building for the long term.

Profile

A concise record of what I work on and how I think.

Open a section only when you want the detail.

01

About

Operator first. Long-term by design.

I am an investor, operator and business builder working across business development, investment, operations and new venture creation.

My work sits at the intersection of business, capital, technology and institution-building, with much of my thinking connected to Asia and emerging markets.

OperatingDirectorshipsBusiness DevelopmentInvestmentAcquisitionsNew Ventures
02

Current Focus

Education leads; technology, business building and emerging markets support the wider thesis.

Education. I am developing a long-term education concept around a central question: what should children learn when knowledge and intelligence are becoming increasingly abundant?

The model keeps strong academic foundations while placing greater emphasis on judgment, adaptability, agency, communication, creation, character and real-world experience. The work is in research and development, with smaller prototypes intended before a full institution.

Academic MasteryAdaptive CapabilityCreationCharacterReal-world Experience
01

Technology

How AI changes what small teams can build and operate.

02

Business Building

Need, economics, repeatability and organizational endurance.

03

Emerging Markets

How constraints alter what should be built—and can create opportunity.

03

Principles

Working rules for evaluating ideas, businesses and technology.

01

Long-term over fashionable

Prefer ideas that remain useful after the current cycle.

02

Reality before narrative

Economics and execution eventually outrun the story.

03

Build before optimize

Understanding improves when something meets the real world.

04

Technology as leverage

Use technology to increase human capability.

05

Capital is one input

People, incentives, culture and judgment matter as much.

06

Keep learning

Consequential changes often happen at the boundaries between fields.

04

Timeline

An evolving focus, not a résumé.

Earlier

Learn to operate

Operations, commercial decisions, finance, people and execution.

Then

Build and allocate

New ventures, investments, acquisitions, partnerships and capital allocation.

2020s

Technology & markets

AI, organizational design, emerging markets and new business models.

2026

Education

Education becomes a major long-term focus.

2026–27

Research & prototype

Develop the learning architecture and test individual components.

Longer term

Build an institution

An educational institution designed to evolve with technology and society.

Notes

What I am thinking about.

A working archive for essays, short notes and links worth keeping. Topics are tags rather than separate sections.

Contact

Thoughtful conversations are welcome.

Education, technology, business building and long-term investment.