# David Haisha Chen

> David Haisha Chen is the co-founder and CEO of Strikingly, a Y Combinator-backed website builder that lets anyone publish a mobile-optimized site in minutes. He left the University of Chicago in 2012 to move to Silicon Valley with co-founders Dafeng Guo and Teng Bao, was rejected by Y Combinator on the first try, got in on the second, and built a company that became the first Chinese startup to graduate from YC. He runs Strikingly with a product-first, superfan-driven philosophy from offices split between Shanghai and San Francisco.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & CEO at Strikingly
- **Organizations:** Strikingly, Moneythink, ECSEL, Goldman Sachs
- **Nationality:** Chinese
- **Education:** B.A. Economics (left to start Strikingly), University of Chicago
- **Known for:** Co-founded and leads Strikingly, the first Chinese company to graduate from Y Combinator, Grew Strikingly 40% month-over-month for over a year through organic, word-of-mouth growth, Built a website builder used by millions of people worldwide

## Career timeline

- **2009** — Co-founded Moneythink, a White House-recognized nonprofit teaching financial literacy to urban high school students
- **2010** — Summer analyst at Goldman Sachs working on derivative analysis and financial modeling
- **2011** — Director at ECSEL, developing programs for Chinese social entrepreneurs
- **2012** — Left University of Chicago and moved to Silicon Valley to co-found Strikingly with Dafeng Guo and Teng Bao; launched beta in August
- **2013** — Accepted into Y Combinator's Winter batch after an initial rejection; raised $1.5M seed from 16 investors including Ron Conway / SV Angel
- **2014** — Launched one-click website builder integrating Facebook and LinkedIn data
- **2017** — Raised $6M Series A from CAS Holding, Infinity Venture Partners, Innovation Works, Kevin Hale and TEEC
- **2018** — Last reported funding round (Series B era); company scaled to hundreds of employees with offices in Shanghai and San Francisco

## Achievements

- Co-founded and leads Strikingly, the first Chinese company to graduate from Y Combinator
- Grew Strikingly 40% month-over-month for over a year through organic, word-of-mouth growth
- Built a website builder used by millions of people worldwide
- Co-founded Moneythink, recognized by the White House for financial literacy work

## Latest updates

- **2018-09** — Strikingly's most recent reported funding round; company operating at Series B stage with offices in Shanghai and San Francisco

## Links

- Website: https://www.haishachen.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/haishachen
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/haishachen
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/strikingly

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/david-chen
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-13