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James Dong
Startup operator, advisor, founder & business owner, ex-Bain
James Dong is an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at ICA Fund, helping to build new products that ICA can deploy to assist its growing community of business owners.3 He has a diverse background in business and sustainability:
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Professional Experience:
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Education:
- Graduated from the University of California, Berkeley - Walter A. Haas School of Business with degrees in Business Administration, Environmental Economics & Policy, Chinese, and City & Regional Planning1
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Entrepreneurial Achievements:
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Sustainability Initiatives:
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Recent Activities:
- As of February 19, 2025, James announced that he is giving away his small business (Last Minute Gear) for free, seeking eager outdoor founders to take it over2
James Dong is known for his commitment to sustainability, entrepreneurship, and making the outdoors more accessible while reducing waste and unnecessary overconsumption.1
Highlights
Really awesome first day at #LeadDevWestCoast! Highlights include:
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Amanda Sopkin's awesome insight about it's important for managers to remember that people's ambitions (and preferences) may change, they may bounce from "rockstars" to "popstars" (see picture)
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Shelly Stuart reminding us that vacation time does NOT cure burnout, and that "toil" doesn't decrease along with team size
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Lexi Galantino talking about the importance of asking "when do you need this by" rather than "is this important" (because everything is!)
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Hywel Carver saying that as we move a world where AI does writes more "easy code", we need to upskill by ensuring we're deeply understanding the why and how of code, not resting on the laurels of "best practice" and "it just works"
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Plum Ertz dropping the mic on reframing the need for accessibility in web design: 1 out of 4 people have some kind of disability, which means however you're thinking about your users, you will build in an automatic 25% margin of error if you don't bring in accessibility early!
Really amazing event LeadDev, as blown away as I thought I'd be Meri Williams!!
