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OUR TEAM

bridging the gap with experience and infrastructure

We are a group of engineers, designers and entrepreneurs brought together to support early stage startups working on hard tech. We have pulled together the people, resources and investment capital with the goal of enabling the next generation of hard tech startups.

Susan Schofer
Partner & CSO
Susan Schofer is a Partner at SOSV global venture capital firm and serves as Chief Science Officer at HAX, the world’s premier venture program accelerating early stage hard tech startups. She works with new startups via early stage investment, defining key milestones and go-to-market strategies, and is responsible for scientific oversight and building capabilities to support portfolio companies.
Leo Chen
Program Director
Leo is the program manager for HAX. He brings experience from his time working at Google’s Sidewalk Labs, where he envisioned how we can use technology to improve people’s quality of life in cities. He graduated with a Master’s of Science from MIT, published and built one of London’s first models for self-driving cars, and holds a Bachelors of Engineering from the University of Toronto. Raised in the suburbs of Toronto, Leo is a die-hard basketball and Raptor’s fan. Challenge him to a game of one-on-one!‍
Joe Oliveira
Workshop Manager
Andrew Gollach
Principal
Andy is on the investment team at HAX where he manages the teams deal flow and due diligence processes. Post investment he works closely with teams to help them think through paths to de-risk their technology, develop scalable go-to-market strategies, and get additional funding. He has a particular interest in the Climate and Industrial companies that HAX invests in. Prior to HAX Andy spent nearly 10 years as an engineer on large capital projects all around the globe. The first 5 years of his career were in the downstream Oil & Gas industry where he spent time in Asia, the Middle East and South America. In 2015 he transitioned over to a role at LanzaTech, a Climate Tech start-up that takes point source carbon emissions and upconverts them to a renewable fuel product. He spent 18 months in China working on the first commercial application of that technology where he saw the facility through initial site prep through first on-spec product. After his time traveling the globe Andy attended Carnegie Mellon where he earned his MBA. During that time he interned at ARPA-e and also launched his own Climate Tech venture. Andy also holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from Michigan Technological University. He is an avid follower of the Detroit sports teams and enjoys cooking in his free time.
Duncan Turner
SOSV General Partner
Duncan is General Partner at SOSV and Managing Director of HAX Shenzhen, where he oversee’s HAX, the world’s first and largest VC backed program for hardware. He is responsible for strategic direction of the program, operations and investments. Prior to joining HAX, he led design and consumer engagement strategy projects for Fortune 500 companies at global design and innovation firm IDEO. Duncan has a strong entrepreneurial background and deep experience of growing businesses in China, having taken numerous hardware products to market from first concepts through research, funding, design, development, manufacturing and assembly to final sales. He obtained his Master’s from Royal College of Art & Imperial College. His design work has won multiple awards and is included in the permanent collection at The Museum of Modern Art.
Jo-An Ho
IR & BD DIRECTOR
Passionate about the impact of science & tech on our daily life, Jo-An is the Business Development Director at HAX Shenzhen.
Sophie Helfend
Digital Media Lead
Cyril Ebersweiler
SOSV GENERAL PARTNER
Entrepreneur, venture capitalist. Vision is scary.
Ji Ke
PARTNER & PROGRAM DIRECTOR
As program director at HAX, Ji Ke is responsible for driving the content and delivery of the HAX Seed accelerator program in Shenzhen. He oversees all elements of recruitment, application review and due diligence, curriculum development, mentorship development and program execution. He also provides ongoing mentorship and support for teams in-program and HAX alumni.
Qiyu Wu
HAX CHINA PROGRAM DIRECTOR
With a focus on Asian markets and startups, Qiyu serves as the Operations Director at HAX and Program Director for HAX China – a HAX spin off conducted entirely in Chinese for Chinese startups.
Alan Clayton
PEOPLE & TALENT MENTOR
Alan Clayton serves as the SOSV Business Coach. Alan works directly with teams across all SOSV accelerators. He focuses much of his time on HAX Growth companies, growing hardware distribution and sales networks globally. Alan is also the creator of the “Wholebrain Startup” methodology, which focuses on fully utilizing the intellectual resources of startup founders and teams.
Maria O'Brien
SOSV General Counsel
As General Counsel for SOSV, Maria leads the SOSV legal team based in Cork, Ireland. In her role, Maria oversees all legal matters for the firm, including reviewing, co-ordinating and managing 150+ accelerator and follow-on investments annually, providing counsel to SOSV General Partners on investment and partnership issues, and actively mentoring SOSV startups and entrepreneurs on a variety of corporate and commercial matters. Maria holds a law degree from University College Cork, is a member of the Law Society of Ireland and an associate of the Irish Tax Institute. Maria previously worked in private practice as a commercial solicitor before joining SOSV as in-house counsel.
Dylan Crow
ASSOCIATE at HAX
Dylan is an Associate for HAX, based in New York. As Associate, Dylan assists with portfolio management and investment strategy, and works closely with the HAX China portfolio. Dylan is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.
Bunnie Huang
ADVISOR & HARDWARE GURU
Bunnie loves hardware.
Sean O'Sullivan
SOSV Managing General Partner
Siobhán Murphy
ASSISTANT GENERAL COUNSEL, SOSV
Siobhán works as Assistant General Counsel based in Cork, Ireland. Siobhán’s main responsibility includes managing legal issues for all of SOSV’s global accelerator programs. In this capacity, she executes over 150 contracts, founders agreements, and other legal documents annually to support the accelerator onboarding process, and supports founders with a wide range of legal queries. Siobhán’s educational background includes a degree in Corporate Law and a Postgraduate Degree in Civil Law from National University of Ireland Galway, and a Masters Degree in European and International Business Law from Trinity College Dublin. She has recently received a Diploma in Technology and Intellectual Property Law from the Law Society of Ireland. Siobhán has a love of technology, innovation and entrepreneurship and joined SOSV in 2016 from one of the worlds largest search engine providers.
Charles Peter
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING LEAD
As a Mechanical Lead at HAX Shenzhen, Charles is responsible for supporting HAX teams with their mechanical development over the course of the accelerator program and ensure that the team’s mechanical designs are production-ready and up to industrial standards
Jane Zhen
OPERATIONS MANAGER
As Operations Manager, Jane manages all logistics for HAX in Shenzhen.
Jenny Zhou
SOURCING ASSISTANT
Jenny Zhou is Purchasing Assistant at HAX in Shenzhen. In this role, Jenny assists HAX teams to negotiate with suppliers, specifically around stock requests for product packaging and shipping.
Joe Hurd
GLOBAL MANAGING DIRECTOR, CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT
Joe is currently responsible for SOSV’s COVID-19 response & commercialization efforts, working with SOSV portfolio companies, corporate partners, governments and academic institutions on diagnostic, therapeutic and preventive approaches to the novel coronavirus. Joe also leads marketing, business development and corporate engagement efforts for HAX and IndieBio in San Francisco, working with key companies, investors, academics and startups to benefit SOSV’s portfolio.
Michael Moon
DIRECTOR OF ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING
Michael is the Director of Electronic Engineering at Hax. He is responsible for assisting all Hax cohort teams in ensuring that their electronics are functional, safe, and efficient, and is also knowledgeable about firmware and embedded Linux.
Lisa Shcheglova
Communication Designer
As a member of communication design and video production team at HAX, Lisa helps startups with their branding, visual identity, visual storytelling, videography, and photography.
Sam Liao
MECHANICAL ENGINEER
Tyler Shi
MECHANICAL ENGINEER
As a mechanical engineer at HAX, Tyler works with HAX teams on new product mechanical design, research and development, and assists with old products’ mechanical improvement. He joined HAX full-time in September 2016 .
Vitaly Vyazovsky
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
As a head of design and video production team at HAX, Vitaly help startups with their branding, visual identity, visual storytelling, videography, and photography. Vitaly was born and raised in the USSR, and graduated from Saint Petersburg State University, faculty of journalism, in 2001. He's been studying photography and visual arts since 1998, and over past 20 years worked in a different areas, such as graphic design, web design, motion design, and video production. In his spare time Vitaly plays jazz music, composing soundtracks, flying drones, doing street photography, and studying game design.
Weichang Ge
ANALYST
Weichang (Grant) is an analyst for HAX, working directly with HAX General Partner Cyril Ebersweiler in San Francisco. His responsibilities include deal sourcing, portfolio management and database maintenance for the fund. In addition, Weichang also works with startups in the HAX program as well as the ones already graduated from the program to support their business needs and fundraising plans.

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