# Renee (Xiaoyu) Wang

> Renee (Xiaoyu) Wang is the founder and CEO of Castbox and founder and CEO of Guru Network. A Peking University psychology graduate who also studied statistics, she taught herself programming, worked at Umeng and Google, and launched Castbox in early 2016. Her work has since expanded from podcast discovery and monetization into a portfolio of entertainment and AI products.

- **Role:** Founder and CEO at Castbox; Founder and CEO at Guru Network
- **Organizations:** Castbox, Guru Network, Google, Umeng
- **Education:** Bachelor’s degree in psychology; additional statistics studies, Peking University, Executive MBA (Chinese) programme; enrolled in 2022, National University of Singapore Business School
- **Known for:** Founded Castbox, a podcast platform launched in early 2016., Castbox reached one million downloads in two months, as recalled in her NUS interview., Helped more than 4,000 developers during her Google career, according to NUS.

## Career timeline

- **2005–2009** — Studied psychology at Peking University and also studied statistics; taught herself programming during university.
- **Before Google** — Worked as a frontend engineer at mobile analytics startup Umeng.
- **Before 2015** — Spent four years at Google, working in China, Japan and Ireland and helping app developers with growth and monetization.
- **2015** — Founded Guru after leaving Google Japan.
- **2016** — Released the first Castbox app in early January; later said it reached one million downloads in two months.
- **2017** — Castbox introduced in-audio search; received Google Play Best Daily Helper and Best Hidden Gem recognition.
- **2018** — Castbox announced a $13.5 million Series B led by SIG China; Wang received an IWEC award.
- **2019** — Discussed social audio, international growth and a technology-focused strategy at RISE and TechCrunch Shenzhen.
- **2022** — Joined the NUS Executive MBA (Chinese) programme with an Overseas Entrepreneur Scholarship.
- **2024** — Discussed expansion into a portfolio of entertainment and AI products in a ZhenFund interview.
- **2025** — Opened the NUS–Guru Network AI Innovation Challenge finals; an NUS white paper described Guru’s multi-product and AI strategy.

## Achievements

- Founded Castbox, a podcast platform launched in early 2016.
- Castbox reached one million downloads in two months, as recalled in her NUS interview.
- Helped more than 4,000 developers during her Google career, according to NUS.
- Castbox received Google Play Best Daily Helper and Best Hidden Gem awards in 2017.
- 2018 IWEC award recipient, listed under Guru Beijing Network Limited.
- Received the NUS EMBA (Chinese) Overseas Entrepreneur Scholarship in 2022.
- Led the expansion of Guru Network beyond podcasting into entertainment and AI products.

## Latest updates

- **2025-10** — An NUS Business School white paper described Guru Network’s expansion into more than 50 entertainment and AI apps across 175 countries, with over one billion cumulative downloads across the portfolio.
- **2025-04** — Delivered opening remarks as Guru Network CEO at the NUS–Guru Network AI Innovation Challenge finals on April 12; NUS reported more than 200 registered teams.
- **2024-09** — A ZhenFund interview discussed Castbox’s monetization challenges, Guru’s product portfolio and AI adoption.

## Links

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/renee-wang-4a1b232a/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/renee-xiaoyu-wang
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-24