Benjamin Chen
Benjamin Chen has more than 30 years of experience as a business leader, board member, investor, technologist, and mentor. He has built and led high-performance teams across a wide range of industries—including consumer electronics, lighting, wireless controls, online marketing, enterprise software, networking, and cloud computing. He has deep expertise in business plan validation, product development, supply chain management, venture capital, and corporate fundraising. Over the course of his career, he has secured more than $500 million in investment capital and led investor due diligence efforts for firms such as iXL and GE Capital. He has served as an external entrepreneur-in-residence for both JP Morgan and Mission Ventures, and has held board and senior leadership positions in four companies that went public in the U.S.
After graduating from the University of Southern California, Benjamin began his career at CBS Studio Center, where he led one of the first initiatives to bring prime time television content to the internet. He later founded Ironlight Digital in San Francisco, an early internet design firm that launched projects for Sony, Walt Disney, and Toyota.
He then served as Global CTO and CIO of iXL Enterprises in Atlanta, where he oversaw due diligence and IT infrastructure consolidation for over 30 acquisitions worldwide, helping the company grow from 100 to over 3,000 employees. He also led the development of the company's technical operations center, centralizing services such as telecom, WAN, messaging, intranet, accounting, and back-office applications.
Benjamin went on to become the CEO and founder of AppGenesys in San Jose, raising $50 million from investors including Flatiron Partners, SoftBank, and Intel. He formed key strategic partnerships, led multiple acquisitions, and grew the company to over 160 employees. He later launched and served as Chairman and CEO of Mochila in New York, building custom advertising solutions for publishers and forming partnerships with Yahoo and major ad networks.
He has also served on the Board of Directors and in the Office of the Chairman for Viggle Inc., where he provided strategic oversight of marketing, sales, business development, and operations, working directly with major clients and partners such as Best Buy, Verizon, and Mercedes-Benz.
From 2017 to 2023, Benjamin served as SVP and General Manager of RAB Lighting in New York and Shanghai, where he oversaw one of the largest electrical product launches in U.S. history. He created five new business lines, launched more than 1,000 SKUs, managed supply chains across Cambodia, China, Thailand, and Vietnam, and filed patents for UV disinfection and high-speed wireless provisioning.
A longtime martial artist, Benjamin holds black belts in Tae Kwon Do, Hapkido, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He has trained throughout the U.S. and internationally—in countries including Cambodia, China, Costa Rica, Germany, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam—and has studied with a wide range of renowned instructors, including Jun Chong, Moo Young Kang, Ely Leon, Nick Stefan, Dave Kama, Jack Taufer, Chris Saunders, Scott Burr, Chris Burns, Henry Akins, Matt Thornton, John Frankl, Chang Hwang, David Ruiz, and Cindy Omatsu. In recent years, he has had the privilege of training privately with Master Rickson Gracie. He currently teaches Jiu-Jitsu at Freedom Jiu-Jitsu in Carlsbad, California.
Benjamin lives on a small plumeria farm in San Diego with his wife and daughter, along with their horse, goat, three chickens, two dogs, and two cats.
Benjamin Chen &
The Mayn Idea Podcast
Benjamin shares insights from his journey as a 3x black belt and corporate entrepreneur—covering leadership, mindset, and raising $500M+ in capital.