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Jul 28, 2022

Abnormal Engineering Stories, Episode #10: Examining the UK Startup Ecosystem

In episode 10 of Abnormal Engineering Stories, David Hagar, Director of Engineering and Abnormal Head of UK Engineering, sits down with Zehan Wang, co-founder of Magic Pony.

Key Insights

Magic Pony, co-founded by Zehan Wang, was acquired by Twitter after its ML visual processing tech gained attention at Nvidia GTC in 2016.

After the acquisition, Zehan Wang spent five years at Twitter, rising to Head of Cortex Applied Research before leaving in 2021.

Zehan Wang transitioned from founder to angel investor in 2021, reflecting a career pivot away from large tech company management.

In 2016, less than two years after co-founding Magic Pony, Zehan Wang and his partner found themselves signing an acquisition agreement with Twitter. Their machine learning-based visual processing technology caught Twitter’s eye during Nvidia GTC, and the rest, as they say, is history.

For the next five years, Zehan worked as a people manager at Twitter, first in charge of the machine learning software engineering team and then eventually as Head of Cortex Applied Research. In 2021, Zehan decided to change course and became an angel investor.

In part one of this two-part episode, David Hagar, Director of Engineering and Abnormal Head of UK Engineering, explores how Zehan started his career in tech and his entrepreneurship. They discuss:

  • The founding (and eventual acquisition) of Magic Pony

  • The startup ecosystem in the UK

  • How to choose your next role

We hope you enjoy it! Don’t forget to subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Google Podcasts.

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