Operon's Anderson Chen plans to leave college to build industrial AI
Chen, 22, says he funded Operon with $80,000 from businesses he started as a teenager before a $700,000 pre-seed that closed in three days.
By RuntimeWire Staff · Published
Primary source: Business Insider
Why it matters
Chen's choice tests a claim now common among young AI founders: that a working business with customers teaches faster than a degree. Operon's roughly 20 client projects include an undisclosed mix of proofs of concept and full contracts, and Chen has not disclosed the split or contract values.
Anderson Chen is planning not to return to college at 22 to run Operon Solutions, the San Francisco industrial AI business he started during a gap year from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.…
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