TX Zhuo

TX Zhuo was born into a family of entrepreneurs in Singapore and moved to the U.S. to attend college at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.

When TX first stepped into the Wesleyan bookstore, he was astonished by how expensive textbooks were and decided to set up a service to help students gain access to affordable books. From his tiny dorm room, he and one of his close friends managed to scale this idea into a business that was grossing a couple million dollars a year.

TX and his partner successfully exited the business in 2007, and after earning a bachelor’s degree in economics and mathematics; he recognized his lack of business experience and decided to join McKinsey & Company to learn from the world’s best leaders.

TX still had an itch to get back into the entrepreneurial world, and the perfect opportunity came when he got accepted into the graduate program at Stanford. While at business school, TX immersed himself in the local startup community and simultaneously served as the CFO for an electric vehicle startup, Lit Motors. At the same time, TX was working for Innovation Endeavors, a seed-stage venture fund backed by Eric Schmidt.

TX enjoyed the intellectual stimulation he got from learning from entrepreneurs and the satisfaction he felt when he was able to help them tackle problems they faced. TX was about to continue his career in venture capital in Silicon Valley when he met David Cohen, CEO of Karlin Asset Management. David was impressed by TX’s background and passion and hired him to set up a venture investment platform for the $1.5 billion parent fund.

Since its inception in 2012, Karlin Ventures has made over 20 investments. It got its first exit in early 2014 and is now recognized as one of the top venture funds in Southern California.