Learn From Leaders With Greg Chang

Greg Chang

Angel Investor

Head of Games and Mobile at The Walt Disney Company China

Greg Chang’s career spans across mobile, gaming, and education across the Asia Pacific region. Greg is an Angel investor in startups mostly focused in the technology space and a fan of hyper-growth companies.

Greg Chang was most recently the Head of Games, Greater China at The Walt Disney Company. Before that, he was the VP of Asia at Glu Mobile, Director of Business at NCSoft, and VP at the Ivy Group. Greg has published 20+ mobile games worldwide; co-produced 5+ games either with Disney or original brands. He has run marketing campaigns from web search, social media campaigns, offline events, TV advertising, mobile user acquisitions; digital product planning, design, and management. Greg has signed multi-million dollar partnerships with leading technology companies and has managed teams of up to 100+ people. Also, Greg has run a family business and was also an entrepreneur.

Greg holds a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley and an MBA from Columbia Business School

I’ve had a very complex, but fascinating career so far and I would say it’s a combination of targeted hard work, high quality network, and tons and tons of luck.  I’ve worked for the world’s biggest entertainment company, packaged chairs in an assembly line, write code for a mobile website in year 2000, and assist toddlers at a kindergarten chain.  At every career junction, I’ve always set very ambitious goals and go after them which lead to where I stand today.

I’ve made a very big career change recently going from working at a big corporate to entrepreneurship. I started out after college growing startups while dreaming about the perks of a corporate job. After going up the bumpy corporate ladder, I realized that I’ve always wanted to be involved in startups. Along the way, I made a few angel investments and also constantly help entrepreneurs around me connect with each other.  I am now juggling quite a handful of startups and I find it both challenging and exciting.

At every job position, I strive to think big. My goal is always first and foremost what’s best for the company (for a startup) or team (for a corporate) 2 or 5 years down the line. The goals may change, but the direction to go big is consistent.  This habit allows me to really focus, put things into perspective and make quick adjustments on the go.

In the mobile/Internet and gaming space, it’s easy to get down to the details while building a product. However, after you spend months or years completing it, you may find it suitable only for a limited audience. Especially in gaming, I often stress having a clear direction from the beginning and build a testable concept ASAP. Only your target users can tell you if you are building the product in the right way.

History and biography can help you learn business.  One very wise CEO once told me that he read over 100 biographies in a very short time span to help him manage a billion-dollar company. Reading history and biographies is like learning for previous leaders. Sometimes these leaders’ action and reaction will inspire you the next time when you run into a difficult situation, which we face very often in a startup.