# Michael Narea

> Michael Narea is the San Francisco Bay Area co-founder, CEO and General Partner of Transcend Network, which supports early-stage founders building the future of learning and work through programs, community and investment. A Northwestern engineering graduate, he previously worked in education technology and helped build bootstrapped ventures. His public work connects human-centered design, founder coaching, long-term partnerships and ocean conservation.

- **Role:** Co-founder, CEO and General Partner at Transcend Network
- **Organizations:** Transcend Network, Transcend Fund, Northwestern EPIC, GSVlabs, Moringa School, Sunlight Technologies, Moonshot Partners, FlightCX, Nareatech, Sea Turtles Forever, Surfani, Muyu Education
- **Education:** Undergraduate engineering degree, Northwestern University, McCormick School of Engineering
- **Known for:** Helped form Northwestern’s initial EPIC entrepreneurship team., Co-founded Transcend Network and serves as a General Partner of Transcend Fund., Co-founded bootstrapped businesses Moonshot Partners, FlightCX and Nareatech, according to his instructor biography.

## Career timeline

- **2013** — Named as a Pura Playa project manager alongside Megan Scherich in Northwestern’s account of its plastic reduction and research work.
- **2014** — Graduated from Northwestern’s McCormick engineering school; helped form the initial EPIC entrepreneurship team.
- **2017** — Published an account of visiting Song Jeong Surf Club in South Korea and described his work with Luminition and Surfani.
- **2018** — Co-founded Transcend Network; his public co-founder record begins in November.
- **2020** — Became a founding partner at Moonshot Partners, according to an archived professional biography.
- **2025** — Discussed human-centered design and education entrepreneurship on DisruptED on June 20.
- **2026** — Appeared with Alberto Arenaza on Learning Can’t Wait on January 6; continued publishing on founder partnerships and co-building.

## Achievements

- Helped form Northwestern’s initial EPIC entrepreneurship team.
- Co-founded Transcend Network and serves as a General Partner of Transcend Fund.
- Co-founded bootstrapped businesses Moonshot Partners, FlightCX and Nareatech, according to his instructor biography.
- Led Pura Playa work linking campus plastic reduction, research and a Costa Rican conservation partnership.
- Muyu Education announced his appointment as chair of its board.
- Received the Dow Sustainability Innovation Student Challenge Grand Prize in June 2013 for a small anaerobic digestion reactor design and business model, according to his public professional profile.

## Latest updates

- **2026-10** — Published a founder reflection describing his October 2 early-morning conversation with a former principal.
- **2026-10** — Published “How one vision aligned partner changes everything for Ashleigh and Jonathan” on October 1.
- **2026-09** — Published a story about Kevin’s founder journey and a partnership with an industrial company on September 10.
- **2026-02** — Published “Co-Building: The end of the lonely cliff” on February 25.
- **2026-01** — Appeared with Alberto Arenaza on Learning Can’t Wait on January 6.

## Links

- Website: https://transcend-network.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mnarea
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/mnarea

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/michael-narea
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-09