NEWSROOM
Alumni profile: Bowen Pan
Product Manager, New Video Products | Facebook
Studying towards a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) and Bachelor of Property, Pan was inspired when listening to a discussion on changing the future of New Zealand at the University of Auckland Business School: “For the first time, I felt empowered through entrepreneurship, and that life was as big as you dream it to be.”
“Being an entrepreneur is like having superpowers that empower ordinary people with the extraordinary will, mental fortitude and audacity to create things that have not been envisioned before nor accepted by the status quo.”
Pan, who came to New Zealand from China at the age of nine, became one of the most promising figures to emerge from New Zealand’s start-up scene. While at university, he founded uniFriend, New Zealand’s first social networking site for students, winning the 2006 runner-up prize at Velocity’s $100k Challenge.
After graduating in 2008, Pan worked at a number of high-profile tech start-ups: he was an entrepreneur-in-residence at Trade Me (where he helped launch Treat Me), and then at Shanghai company MyLuxBox; he was product consultant for Turkish e-commerce site Anne Luften, and product manager intern at Dropbox. He co-founded LawSpot, one of the world’s first websites to provide free legal advice through a Q&A platform, with his wife, Maya.
After completing his MBA through a fellowship at Stanford Graduate School of Business, Pan is now based in Silicon Valley, where he is a product manager leading many of Facebook’s commerce efforts. His aim is to devote his life to creating products that have meaning and value to billions of people around the world.
Bowen graduated from the University of Auckland with a Bachelor of Property (conjoint) and a Bachelor of Engineering (conjoint) with First Class Honours.
Product Manager, New Video Products | Facebook
Studying towards a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) and Bachelor of Property, Pan was inspired when listening to a discussion on changing the future of New Zealand at the University of Auckland Business School: “For the first time, I felt empowered through entrepreneurship, and that life was as big as you dream it to be.”
“Being an entrepreneur is like having superpowers that empower ordinary people with the extraordinary will, mental fortitude and audacity to create things that have not been envisioned before nor accepted by the status quo.”
Pan, who came to New Zealand from China at the age of nine, became one of the most promising figures to emerge from New Zealand’s start-up scene. While at university, he founded uniFriend, New Zealand’s first social networking site for students, winning the 2006 runner-up prize at Velocity’s $100k Challenge.
After graduating in 2008, Pan worked at a number of high-profile tech start-ups: he was an entrepreneur-in-residence at Trade Me (where he helped launch Treat Me), and then at Shanghai company MyLuxBox; he was product consultant for Turkish e-commerce site Anne Luften, and product manager intern at Dropbox. He co-founded LawSpot, one of the world’s first websites to provide free legal advice through a Q&A platform, with his wife, Maya.
After completing his MBA through a fellowship at Stanford Graduate School of Business, Pan is now based in Silicon Valley, where he is a product manager leading many of Facebook’s commerce efforts. His aim is to devote his life to creating products that have meaning and value to billions of people around the world.
Bowen graduated from the University of Auckland with a Bachelor of Property (conjoint) and a Bachelor of Engineering (conjoint) with First Class Honours.
EMAIL
CIE@AUCKLAND.AC.NZ
POSTAL ADDRESS
THE UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND BUSINESS SCHOOL
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