# Conlan Ma

> Conlan Ma is the founder and CEO of A5 Labs, a Bay Area gaming-technology company working on online game integrity and fairness. His career spans chip design, product management, sales and strategic partnerships. Alongside that business career, he contributed poker strategy podcasts and videos to Crush Live Poker, working with Bart Hanson and David Chan. John Andress describes Ma recruiting him to work with a data science team on poker bot detection after they met through an office game.

- **Role:** Founder and Chief Executive Officer at A5 Labs
- **Organizations:** A5 Labs, Variant Labs, Striiv Inc., Lyfeline Corp., CSR, SiRF Technology, Centrality, Genesis Microchip, Crush Live Poker
- **Education:** Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, M.S. in Electrical Engineering, Stanford University
- **Known for:** Founded A5 Labs, incorporated in California in January 2021., Contributed poker strategy education through the Top Section and Crush Live Poker podcasts., Recruited poker domain expert John Andress to collaborate with a data science team on bot detection, according to Andress.

## Career timeline

- **2001-2002** — ASIC Design Engineer at Genesis Microchip.
- **2002-2007** — Product marketing and China sales and marketing roles at Centrality.
- **2007** — Director of Customer Marketing, APAC, at SiRF Technology.
- **2007-2010** — Director of Product Management, Automotive Business Unit, at CSR.
- **2010-2013** — Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Striiv.
- **2013-2016** — CEO and co-founder of Lyfeline Corp.
- **2016** — Co-hosted Top Section poker strategy podcasts with David Chan; appeared on David Tuchman’s Under the Gun podcast.
- **2016-2019** — Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at Striiv.
- **2018** — According to John Andress, Ma joined an investor-backed poker operation and asked Andress to work with its data science team on bot detection.
- **2019** — Became General Manager at Variant Labs in December, according to public career directories.
- **2021** — Began his role as founder and CEO of A5 Labs in January.
- **2022** — Crush Live Poker republished an earlier preflop strategy discussion with Bart Hanson and Ma on January 18.

## Achievements

- Founded A5 Labs, incorporated in California in January 2021.
- Contributed poker strategy education through the Top Section and Crush Live Poker podcasts.
- Recruited poker domain expert John Andress to collaborate with a data science team on bot detection, according to Andress.

## Latest updates

- **2026-02** — The Org’s profile, updated February 17, lists Ma as Founder and Chief Executive Officer of A5 Labs.

## Links

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/conlan-ma-21899b12

---

Profile page: https://yespress.io/conlan-ma
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-14