McKinsey & Company

Senior Advisor to McKinsey & Company. Areas of expertise: corporate innovation and launching new ventures, product management, technology, and eCommerce. Speaker at McKinsey events, CEO Academy etc.

Senior Advisor

Penguin Random House

NATIONAL BESTSELLER, Financial Times Business Book of the Month, #1 New Release and Bestseller on Amazon. THE VENTURE MINDSET is the playbook co-authored with Stanford professor Ilya Strebulaev on how to launch new ventures and transform traditional organizations into hubs for innovation.

Co-Author, THE VENTURE MINDSET

CancerCompass

During COVID built an oncology platform with personalized content, telehealth, second opinion, and virtual services (behavioral health, nutrition, DNA tests). Since 2021 is a part of CTCA.

Launched digital growth initiatives. (1) eCommerce acceleration (retail, industrials, pharma); (2) Agile operating model (banking, healthcare); (3) Customer experience redesign (data storage, real estate).

Partner, Digital

Amazon

Launched numerous new businesses with product, sales, engineering, and ops teams across 10 countries: (1) New eCom models: try before you buy, subscriptions, samples; (2) Local, same day, next day delivery; (3) Solutions for oversized and low-cost items; (4) AWS AI (computer vision) devices.

Product @ Marketplace and AWS Artificial Intelligence

Built a multimillion strategy and customer experience practice. Became the youngest equity partner globally. Helped clients to design, fund and execute growth strategies (tech, consumer, retail).

Partner, Strategy and Customer Experience

Served clients in Technology, Consumer Electronics and Venture Capital (Central Eastern Europe). Conducted due diligence projects for PE/VC deals (healthcare, tech, logistics) and led post-merger integration work.

Senior Manager, Deals Advisory

SYAC

SYAC (Italy) is a digital video security company (cameras, sensors, computer vision). Developed a regional go-to-market strategy, worked w/channel partners (dealers, integrators), supported a roll-out of new products.

Manager, Sales & Partnerships

I help organizations identify new growth engines, launch digital ventures, and embrace digital native company practices. 

At Amazon, designed and launched new ventures across numerous verticals (eCommerce, AWS Artificial Intelligence). 

As a Partner at McKinsey and EY, helped clients build new businesses and develop technology capabilities.

As a CEO/cofounder built a platform for cancer patients and their caregivers.

Co-author of a National Bestseller "The Venture Mindset".

Advisor to Alzheimer's disease startup Nuravax and art marketplace Globalart.ai

Areas of expertise: corporate innovation, product management, digital platforms, and ecommerce.

BRAZIL, HERE WE GO 💚💛💚 
This isn’t just another translation.
It’s an open door.

The Venture Mindset co-authored with Ilya is now available in Portuguese, and with it, an entire new wave of conversations, connections, and unexpected opportunities.

Like a message I got from Rodrigo Barros, CFA, CGA, investor, strategist, technologist. We connected over the book… and ended up deep in discussion about Brazil, AI, and the hard truths of risk in emerging markets.

That’s the magic of it.
A book is never just a book.
It’s a reason to connect. A reason to explore what’s POSSIBLE.

And that word POSSIBLE is what The Venture Mindset is all about.
Or should I say... Mentalidade de Risco? 😉 

Over a decade ago, I was in Brazil for New Year’s Eve on Copacabana beach. BEHIND me was a stable, prestigious partner role in consulting.

AHEAD of me? Uncertainty. Curiosity. A quiet but growing conviction that I needed to build something bigger 🚀 

A decade later, a book I co-authored is in Portuguese, reaching readers in Rio, São Paulo, and Belo Horizonte who are ready to take bold bets.

Emerging markets make risk feel heavier, the safety nets are thinner, but they are also where resilience and imagination turn the impossible into the POSSIBLE.

Some dreams don’t survive. But some do. And sometimes they turn into reality in ways you never expected. Like in my case.

If you’re in Brazil, get the book (link in the comments), share your thoughts, and let’s open more doors.

PS: AI helped with a few pictures; all humans stayed safe.

👉 ATTN my classmates from Stanford University Graduate School of Business MSx'14: Ivo Mósca, Saulo Ribeiro, Jonathan Cavallaro, Pedro Drummond, Bruno Teixeira, Marcelo Setubal Carramaschi - I can’t wait to see your pictures with "Mentalidade de Risco" one day! 💚💛💚

Alex Dang

AI, Venture & Product Innovation • Former Amazon Executive & McKinsey Partner • Bestselling Author: The Venture Mindset

TOGETHER. Great things are rarely built alone. They’re built together.

That’s why it felt deeply meaningful to celebrate the opening of Together Fund’s new office in Silicon Valley.

Girish Mathrubootham and I stood there, holding our books. ALL IN and THE VENTURE MINDSET. What better motto for this moment? The book is about entrepreneurs and leaders like Girish.

Girish is a legendary entrepreneur from India, now a venture capitalist building bridges across continents. But he’s not on this journey alone.

Lakshmi Shankar, my MSx fellow, a dear friend from Stanford University Graduate School of Business, and a former colleague from EY, is becoming a springboard for Indian entrepreneurs going global. He’s also someone who led strategic projects at Twitter and helped build the AI backbone at Google.

Together Fund isn’t just a name. It’s a mindset. A philosophy.

In the same room? Silicon Valley’s top investors. Founders who just raised tens of millions. Builders. Dreamers. The curious. The bold.

Together.

That’s what makes Silicon Valley magical. It’s not just geography. it’s the gravity of people getting in the same room, taking risks, and building the future.

Here’s to more rooms like this one. More bets on the future. And more magic. TOGETHER.

📍Silicon Valley
📚 All In x The Venture Mindset
🚀 #TogetherWeBuild

All you need is a hoodie to start coding. Seriously. And an ambition to reach one billion users...

That’s what Emergent is aiming for. Fresh off their Series A from Lightspeed and Together Fund. Naturally, I had to try it.

Met the CEO a few days ago. Got curious. Logged in. And before I knew it… I had built my own AI-powered innovation board.

Featuring Bezos. Musk. Jobs.
Yes, really.

🧠 Ask a question.
💬 Answer a few prompts.
⚡ Boom. The tool simulates how iconic disruptors would tackle your challenge.

One of my first questions?

“I’m the CEO of Emergent. Recent data suggests AI vibe-coding tools may be shifting from boom to bust. Should I see this as a threat?”

The responses? Bold. Contrarian. Thought-provoking.
Exactly what you’d want from a “fictional” board of tech legends.

"Remember, this isn't a bust. It's a shift. A chance to stand out with mind-blowing tech. Keep pushing boundaries."

🤯 Here’s what blew my mind:

It took me longer to FORMULATE the idea than to BUILD the actual tool.
From zero to prototype in record time. That’s the power of vibe-coding.

Even if you call it hype-coding, it's fun to see what’s possible now.

✨ So next time you need to pitch an idea, build a demo, or run an experiment, don’t wait. Build it! ✨

Huge congrats to Lakshmi Shankar, Mukund Jha and the entire Emergent team (which is really small!!!). The bar for fast prototyping has just been raised. I enjoy the tool a lot.

#VentureMindset #Emergent #Prototyping #InnovationBoard #Startups

🔍 Ever wondered how people actually use AI like ChatGPT? The latest research is in, and the trends are fascinating. Charts are eye-opening!

Here are the top 7 use cases as of today.

1️⃣ Asking factual or targeted questions (a new search engine!) 
2️⃣ Editing or critiquing writing – 10.6%
3️⃣ Tutoring or teaching – 10.2%
4️⃣ How-to advice – 8.5%
5️⃣ Personal communication writing – 8.0%
6️⃣ Health, fitness, or self-care guidance – 5.7%
7️⃣ Translation – 4.5%

So no, it’s not all coding and image generation. It’s:

✅ Writing better
✅ Asking smarter questions
✅ Learning faster
✅ Making decisions
✅ Managing daily life

This is AI as a coach.
As a collaborator.
As a second brain.
And we’re just getting started. 🚀

Note: Shares are calculated from a sample of approximately 1.1 million sampled conversations from May 15, 2024 through June 26, 2025.

Want a glimpse into the FUTURE OF WORK? OpenAI just handed us the playbook. They released a new benchmark called GDPval. What’s different about this one?

It doesn’t test trivia or puzzles. It tests real work.

Actual deliverables. Legal briefs, engineering specs, product docs, data and market analysis, trip itineraries etc. etc.

Here’s what’s wild: for a subset of these tasks, AI models are already being judged on par or better than human experts.

Of course, the real world still needs feedback loops, context, integration. 
But the signal is loud and clear:

If your job (or your team's work) involves repeatable, structured outputs AI isn’t just a tool. It’s a shift. So, what’s your next move?

👉 Skim the GDPval paper (don't miss the Appendix)
👉 See which tasks AI is already crushing
👉 Ask: What parts of your workflow feel repetitive and manual?
👉 Start there. Automate. Build. Reallocate your brainpower.

This isn’t just a benchmark. 
It’s a gut check.
A look at what’s quietly shifting under the surface

Jobs won’t disappear overnight.
But they will be reshaped. 
Task by task. Deliverable by deliverable.

Evaluating AI Model Performance on Real-World Tasks

Invisible AI agents are already here. Earlier this year, Amazon quietly rolled out a button labeled “Buy for me.” Just a button. I clicked it. And it made me pause.

What looked like a small UX tweak was actually something much bigger: an AI agent. One that browses, compares, and places orders NOT on Amazon, but across other websites.

Think about that.

Amazon just launched a shopping assistant that may act on your behalf across the web.

If it works like the agents from OpenAI or Manus, it mimics human behavior: opening tabs, clicking links, filling in forms, checking out. This isn’t product search. This is delegation.

Now close your eyes for a second.

🎈 Planning a party? Your agent could order balloons, book a clown, rent a minibus, hire a caterer, and grab last-minute gifts. All in one flow. Done.

🎯 Need quarterly team offsite logistics? Flights, hotels, restaurants, even team swag. Done.

🎁 Christmas shopping? One prompt. One click. Done.

We used to think of Amazon as the ultimate shopping mall. Endless aisles. Fast checkout. Everything under one digital roof. 

But could that be the old game? 

Not a store, BUT an aggregator. 
Not a marketplace, BUT an assistant.

The most powerful shopper on the internet… 
...might not be human.

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