# Wes Kao

> Wes Kao is an executive coach, co-founder of Maven (the cohort-based learning platform backed by a16z and First Round), and co-creator of the altMBA with Seth Godin. She pioneered the cohort-based course category, scaled altMBA to 550 cities in 45 countries, and now helps senior tech operators at companies like Google, Amazon, and Shopify sharpen their executive communication and influence. Her biweekly newsletter reaches 300,000+ readers across platforms.

- **Role:** Executive Coach & Co-founder at Maven
- **Organizations:** Maven, altMBA, Seth Godin's altMBA
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** B.S. in Business Administration, UC Berkeley, Haas School of Business, Global Solutions Program Fellowship, Singularity University
- **Known for:** Co-founded altMBA with Seth Godin; scaled to 550 cities in 45 countries in three years, Co-founded Maven, which raised $25M from Andreessen Horowitz and First Round Capital, Fast Company: Maven named #1 most innovative company in education (2022)

## Career timeline

- **2014** — Co-founded altMBA with Seth Godin; served as Director of altMBA
- **2017** — Singularity University Global Solutions Program Fellowship at NASA Ames
- **2020** — Co-founded Maven with Gagan Biyani and Shreyans Bhansali
- **2021** — Named to Entrepreneur Magazine 100 Women of Impact List; Maven raised $25M from a16z and First Round Capital
- **2022** — Fast Company named Maven #1 most innovative company in education
- **2023** — Left Maven in August 2023 to focus on executive coaching and writing
- **2024** — Continued executive communication coaching; altMBA wound down
- **2025** — Executive Communication & Influence course reached cohort 75+ with 1,000+ graduates; newsletter at 300,000+ readers

## Achievements

- Co-founded altMBA with Seth Godin; scaled to 550 cities in 45 countries in three years
- Co-founded Maven, which raised $25M from Andreessen Horowitz and First Round Capital
- Fast Company: Maven named #1 most innovative company in education (2022)
- Entrepreneur Magazine 100 Women of Impact List (2021)
- Pioneer of the cohort-based course category - now a mainstream business model
- Taught 25,000+ students across platforms; generated $14M+ in Maven instructor earnings
- Newsletter reaches 300,000+ readers across Substack, LinkedIn, and Twitter/X
- Executive Communication & Influence course has 1,000+ graduates from Google, Amazon, Apple, Meta, etc.
- Speaker at SXSW; guest lecturer at UC Berkeley and Harvard Business School
- 144,600+ Twitter/X followers

## Latest updates

- **2025-02** — Executive Communication & Influence course cohort kicking off February 20-21, 75% full at launch
- **2024-12** — Published Holiday Gift Guide edition of her biweekly newsletter
- **2024-01** — altMBA announced wind-down after a decade of operation
- **2023-08** — Left Maven co-founder role to focus full-time on executive coaching and writing

## Links

- Website: https://www.weskao.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/weskao/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/wes_kao
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wes_kao/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/wes-kao
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-04-22