Podcast/Video Interviews by Stephen Ibaraki

A Chat with Ken Nguyen: Venture-builder, Investor, Advisor; Cofounder, Managing Partner at Pan Industrial Platforms

This week, Stephen Ibaraki has an exclusive interview with Ken Nguyen.

Ken Nguyen has 25 years of experience as a venture-builder, investor, and advisor, with a track record creating $1B+ in value. Ken is a versatile leader and thinker, successfully capitalizing on numerous technological and financial market disruptions. These include the dislocation of credit markets during the global financial crisis, growth of digital asset markets, transition of financial market infrastructure to blockchain, and advent of generative AI.

Ken is currently the Cofounder, Managing Partner at Pan Industrial Platforms, a venture studio building category defining companies that leverage generative AI and web3. Previously, he was a Partner leading AI and Web3 at Diagram, a $400M venture studio. Prior to that he was Founder, Managing Partner at Insight Capital, where he advised venture and hedge funds and early-stage startups focused on Web3 and AI.

Ken's earlier roles include serving as a Managing Director, Investments at McCourt Global, a multi-B family office, where he led new company incubations, early stage investments, and growth stage acquisitions at the intersection of technology, sports, media, and real estate. Prior to that, he was a VP of Restructuring at Blackstone, where he led the execution of 16 deals with $50B in transaction value during the global financial crisis. Ken started his career specializing in leveraged finance at Citigroup in NYC and in Vietnam where he was the first U.S.-born Vietnamese to work at the bank.

Ken received his MBA from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and a BS in Finance and Management from New York University's Leonard N. Stern School of Business. Ken lives in Los Angeles where he enjoys lifelong learning, practicing mindfulness, pushing physical limitations, and spending time with family.