Richard Yen

Richard Yen is a Principal at Blueprint Ventures. Richard brings over 11 years of experience in high-tech entrepreneurial operations, having built, advised, and invested in early-stage ventures over the course of his career.

Richard's current investment focus includes digital media, web technologies, infrastructure software, and mobile applications.

Prior to joining Blueprint, Richard was at Rustic Canyon Partners, an early-stage technology venture capital firm. Richard focused on investment opportunities in the open source software, infrastructure software, and wireless spaces. In his prior operating roles, Richard was Director of Technology at ShockMarket, an Internet software startup that raised $6 million in venture funding. As the fourth employee, Richard owned multiple product lines, closed sales of first-generation products, and oversaw software development. Previously, Richard was an early employee at D. E. Shaw & Co.'s Internet incubator, where he served as the technical liaison to Fortune 100 business partners. Richard was promoted from Senior Software Engineer to Vice-President in a four-year span, during which the business unit grew from 10 to 80 employees and was acquired by Merrill Lynch.

Richard's current board responsibilities include Akimbo Systems, Astoria Software, and Kiptronic. Richard also serves on the board of the UC Berkeley Engineering Alumni Society.

Richard holds a BS in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from UC Berkeley and an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management, both with high honors. Richard is a Kauffman Fellow.