Steve Chen is the co-founder and former Chief Technology Officer of YouTube.
Born in Taiwan, he immigrated to the United States with his family during childhood. He attended the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA) and later graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Steve has long been active in the startup and tech entrepreneurship ecosystem. Following YouTube’s success, he co-founded AVOS Systems with fellow YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley and Vijay Karunamurthy. AVOS began as a tech incubator, supporting startups and offering mentorship, and later pivoted to create MixBit, a video-sharing platform.
In 2014, Steve joined Google Ventures as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence, further contributing to the startup community. He also donated $1 million to his alma mater, IMSA, to establish an innovation center fund and has encouraged tech entrepreneurs to mentor students in entrepreneurship.
His most recent venture, Nom, is a live streaming platform focused on food, allowing users to create and share interactive cooking content in real time.
Steve Chen has been recognized as one of Business 2.0’s “Top 50 People Who Matter Now,” one of Fortune’s “Most Powerful Business People in the World,” and GQ’s “Man of the Year.”