Lake Dai

Partner, LDV Partners

Lake Dai is an Entrepreneur, Venture Capitalist and an Adjunct Professor at Carnegie Mellon University. She is a partner at the venture capital firm, LDV Partners. For 20 years she has led product and engineering teams globally at Alibaba, Apple, Yahoo!, and Overture. She is a recognized expert in Search Engine, Ad Platform, Marketplace, Analytics, and Mobile Platforms and Applications, holding several US patents in search algorithm, search tokenization, mobile data analytics, and mobile monetization. In China, Lake was employee #84 at Alibaba, launching the first generation of profitable marketplace and travel products. At Yahoo! China, her team launched the first generation of web and vertical search products, tripling Yahoo!’s market share within one quarter. In the US, as a co-founder Shinect, a non-profit acceleration program designed to connect Silicon Valley’s entrepreneurs to China’s market, she has been helping companies build successful products and profitable businesses. She also mentors start-ups at various incubators including 500 Startups, Muckerlab, Lab360 and Shinect. As Adjunct Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, she teaches Product Management of master’s degree programs at Integrated Innovation Institute. She is on the Advisory Board of Women In Technology International (WITI), the premiere global organization empowering women in business and technology. She is also a Board Governor and Chairwoman of the US Chapter of QianChengHui, a non-profit organization which fosters entrepreneurship for Alibaba alumni worldwide. Lake earned her MBA from the USC Marshall School of Business and her B.S. from Beijing International Studies University.

Articles by Lake Dai

Build Alignment Before You Burn Out

Everything Feels Urgent At early-stage companies, everything feels urgent: shipping product, closing customers, raising money. In that environment, planning can feel like a luxury, or even a liability. In my...

Colin Belyea - How To Use Reddit To Scale Organic Growth For Your Startup.

How To Use Reddit To Scale Organic Growth For Your Startup

In this Mucker Growth Series session, Colin Belyea, founder of Karmic and an expert in Reddit organic growth, breaks down how Reddit has become one of the most influential discovery...

Sales Comp Kick Start: Keys to Getting It Right as You Begin to Build Your Sales Team

Webinar Recap featuring Donya Rose, Managing Principal from The Cygnal Group Sales compensation is one of the most critical aspects of building a successful sales organization. Many early-stage founders stumble...

Austin Tech Week 2025 Recap

Mucker Capital hosted two powerful days of programming during Austin Tech Week, bringing together founders, operators, and growth leaders to share real-world insights from the startup trenches. Across four sessions,...

LA Tech Week 2025 Day 3 Recap: AI Search – Wednesday Oct 15

After two packed days exploring AI startup building and go-to-market growth, Day 3 of LA Tech Week shifted focus to the evolving world of AI Search, how new AI technologies...

LA Tech Week 2025 Day 2 Recap: Startup Growth – Tuesday Oct 14

After a packed AI Building Day, we continued LA Tech Week with Startup Growth Day, a full schedule of sessions focused on go-to-market strategy, founder journeys, and scaling startups in...

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