Melissa Du

You absolutely need to hear the story of Melissa Du, she’s the real deal in the startup world. This girl’s been crushing it from the jump. Started out with a solid tech background, you know? She went to Stanford, did her thing in CS with a minor in History, classic combo for someone who’s into tech but also gets the bigger picture. Then she jumped into the deep end, doing stints at Microsoft as a Software Engineer Intern and Tesla as a Firmware Engineer Intern. That’s some serious pedigree right there, working at giants and soaking up the engineering hustle.

But here’s where it gets juicy. Instead of just riding the engineering wave, Melissa jumped into product roles, she’s worked at Dropbox, helping with product growth, which means she’s got that knack for scaling stuff fast. Then she also did gigs at Zumper, Voltage Park, and Eight Sleep, all about making cool tech products that solve real problems. She’s been there, done that, and learned how to make things grow.

Then, in 2019, she co-founded Cadence. That’s her baby now. It’s a company all about team-building events for remote teams, super timely, right? Especially with everyone going remote these days. She launched Cadence in SF and got into YC’s Winter 2020 batch. That’s no joke, YC is the gold standard for startups. It shows she’s got that hustle, that vision, and the guts to build something big.

So what does this tell us about her? Melissa’s process screams motivation. She’s all about creating value, building communities, and leveraging tech to make work and life better. She’s not just in it for the fame; she’s genuinely about solving problems and pushing boundaries. Her background in engineering and product shows she’s got the technical chops, but her move into founding her own company shows she’s also got the vision and leadership to take ideas from zero to one.

Bottom line? Melissa Du is a powerhouse. She’s the kind of founder who’s been through the trenches, learned what works, and now she’s building something that really hits home, making remote work more human, more connected. No Cap, she’s someone to watch.