Jonathan Wen

I was diagnosed with a rare bone disease.

Dozens of fractures and dislocations. Multiple surgeries. Weeks of missed school at a time.

I learned to make excuses. For why I couldn't do things. For why I wasn't keeping up. It became a habit.

Then one summer, I realized what people my age were capable of when they actually tried.

And I realized I hadn't been. The circumstances were real, but I'd let them become a crutch.

So I stopped.

When you can't move for weeks at a time, you gain weight and become weak.

Then an experimental treatment marginally increased my bone density. I took that chance and ran with it.

0 lbs lost

in four months.

Since then: a half marathon. Bodyweight OHP for reps. The "most miraculous bone density rebound" my specialist had ever seen.

The disease manifests through a collagen mutation. In high school, I was told I had a 50/50 chance of losing my hearing.

I decided to try debate anyway.

ranked by the National Speech and Debate Association. Out of 18,000+.

Only person to ever reach the International Public Policy Forum finals twice.

My junior year, I took my AP exams on oxycodone, in the days after a major surgery. All 5's.

I got into Stanford.

All of this taught me one thing:

Nothing worth doing is easy.

But that's why agency matters. Circumstances will always be hard. What you do with them is the one variable you actually control.

At Stanford I tried a bit of everything: consulting for F500s, PE megafunds, and startups. Prop trading at a firm backed by Mark Cuban. Investment committee at a VC fund. Research at Stanford Med and Children's National.

I dropped out my Senior year.

Raised from a16z with a friend.

Built in private equity.

A few months later, I returned the capital.

I learned two things.

Cofounder alignment isn't about skills. It's about whether you'd keep building together when everything goes wrong.

And more importantly, excitement isn't passion. Excitement fades. Passion is what keeps you going when it does.

All the while, healthcare kept pulling me back.

And once I stopped chasing opportunities and started paying attention, I saw what was broken.

Not just middlemen or misaligned incentives. Something deeper.

The system treats patients like passengers. You show up, you're told what to do, you wait. Nobody teaches you how to take control of your own health.

I spent years learning that agency is the one variable you actually control. I want to build tools that give patients that same realization.

Now I'm tinkering.

Back in healthcare.

If you're working on something in this space, I'd love to talk.

jonathanwen[at]stanford[dot]edu