Allen Yao

I'm currently a tech growth investor at HOF Capital, investing across AI, software and frontier technologies.

We are a multi-stage technology investment firm with over $3.0 billion in AUM. We've invested in category-defining companies including: OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, Databricks, Neuralink and more.

I've sat on both sides of the table. On the operating side, I led growth at AfterQuery (YC W25) where I grew our expert supply and help land our biggest clients. Before this, I was founding growth at Anara (YC S24) where I scaled and managed a team of 40 creators, added over $2m in ARR and generated over 200m impressions across our socials. I also founded my own venture-backed startup + started the largest venture club at Penn.

I also have fun stories creating content for over 15k followers and generated 20m+ views in a couple months.

On the finance side, I spent time working in investment banking at Bank of America. Before that, I worked in tech private equity doing investing and portfolio support.

I think a lot about technological disruptions and how it'll change our lives. I started writing weekly (or try to) short essays on my newsletter called Residual Thoughts. Feel free to give it a follow!

I like to think I'm a pretty chill person and would love to get to know people 1x1 or in small groups. Feel free to reach out at ayao@hofcapital.com if you think we should get to know each other :)

(Enjoy a photo of me in Iceland)