About
Ed Soo Hoo is an asymmetrical thinker capable of crossing the intellectual and practical…
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Ed Soo Hoo shared thisOver the last few years we have had a ton of fanfare and excitement over Ai. We are just getting past the Terrible Two's of Ai... Let's be clear...Ai Sucks. It sucks power, water and cooling like you would not believe. then it sucks time, money and resources you wish you had. at the end of the day, Ai should only give you two things; time and choice. Choice like - Red Pill, Blue Pill with Morpheus and Neo in the Matrix. Choice like - the five year mission of the Starship Enterprise in Star Trek. Which algorithm do you want - Spock (live long and prosper) or Kirk (clenched fist). both referred to the LLM of the Federation. both had choice on how they saw the challenges with their bias and prompts using logic and action. Both had to make choices at the edge. Choice like - The Godfather. Clemenza - the affable and ruthless character who knew how to make pasta for the crew and more. the scene, as he was leaving his house in the morning to do his task that Sonny ordered, his wife yelled out 'Don't forget the cannoli!' like most husbands, he waved his hand and said - yeah yeah yeah... however, when he finished his task in the fields in New Jersey - he improvised a line that Francis Ford Coppola kept - Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli... Clemenza made his choice - Get the cannoli to ensure - Happy Wife Happy Life. Ai will always be about choice - so...choose wisely. For it is not just about the technology...it is all about...the cannoli!
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Ed Soo Hoo shared thisI am excited to be joining Volcano Innovation Summit next week in Antigua Guatemala! Looking forward to exchanging, connecting, learning and ideating with people building what's next across Latin America and beyond!
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Ed Soo Hoo shared thisBarclay! thanks for sharing the powerful story of the Box family...reflection and more so - remembering what Gary Box and many others did on that day and beyond. Never Give Up ~ Never Forget... we take so many things for granted and when darkness and chaos ensues - the brave, the selfless and the best show up...thanks to all who gave it their all for us. thanks to the family members, friends and organizations who keep the spirit, memory and power of their stories and sacrifice forever in our minds, hearts and souls.Ed Soo Hoo shared thisOn September 11, 2001, 35-year-old Brooklyn firefighter Gary Box rushed toward the World Trade Center and was never seen again, leaving his family with years of unanswered questions and no remains to lay to rest. Gary hadn’t spoken to his father that morning, and as the days turned into weeks, the absence of any physical trace of him only deepened the family’s grief. His name was added to the list of the fallen, but there was no photograph, no final image, nothing to anchor those final moments. Nearly eight years later, in 2009, Gary’s sister Christine visited the Tribute Center in Manhattan. When a staff member asked if she was looking for anyone, she mentioned her brother’s name. The employee guided her to a photograph taken inside the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, labeled as Gary Box. But the man in the picture wasn’t Gary — it was firefighter Brian Bilcher, one of Gary’s colleagues who also passed away that day. The mislabeling struck the family hard. Gary’s father, determined to find a genuine photograph of his son in his final minutes, began searching tirelessly. He combed through the National 9/11 Museum’s archives, scrolled through hundreds of images uploaded by the public, and spent long nights examining photo after photo of that terrible morning. One night, after more than five hours of searching with no success, he went to bed completely drained. The next morning brought the moment they’d been hoping for. As he was sitting down for breakfast, his wife Helen called him urgently from the living room. On the screen was a photo she had come across — a firefighter running through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, passing rows of abandoned cars as he moved toward the burning Towers. This time, there was no doubt. It was Gary. A single image, frozen in time, capturing him doing what he was trained to do and what he chose to do — running toward danger to save others. For his family, it became the piece of truth they had been searching for since the day he disappeared.
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Ed Soo Hoo shared thisReady or Not...CES is this week! Vegas will be lighting up thoughts, inspiration and new connections. See you there and fasten your seatbelts and cinch it up tight!
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Ed Soo Hoo shared thisCES...Vegas...Storytelling...Points of View to ponder on Next Era of Commerce...what's not to get excited about? Insights, Opinions and more ~ delivered with a wink and nod. It's Vegas baby!Ed Soo Hoo shared thisExcited to share that I’ll be speaking at #CES2026 on two epic panels! One is on the C Space Storytellers Stage featuring the legendary Sir Martin Sorrell, Walmart’s Seth Dallaire and Lenovo’s Ed Soo Hoo on what advertising will look like in an agentic world. The other is featuring Archer Aviation’s Adam Goldstein, Amazon Prime Air’s Darren Sekiguchi, Wind River’s Paul Miller and technologist Yemaya Bordain on how advanced air mobility is taking flight for the LA28 Olympics. Please join us: https://lnkd.in/geBAgp3i https://lnkd.in/g7eCwiea From Gwen Stefani to Will.i.am, check out my Forbes Ultimate CES 2026 Guide for all the hottest panels, parties and popups: https://lnkd.in/gTBD8G9d Happy Holidays!
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Ed Soo Hoo shared thisI LOVE the end...Net Perceived Value...something that is very hard to build and often times - easy to take away...3 Bs of Marketing needs to move to; Be Trusted - Be Effective - Be BOLD...(Believe it, Own it, Live it Drive it).Ed Soo Hoo shared thisThe smartest companies don’t just sell products. They engineer perceived value. Take Five Guys Enterprises. Their fries are legendary, not just because they’re good, but because of the experience built around them. You pick a size. They fill the cup. Then, they throw an extra scoop straight into your brown bag. That last scoop breaks every rule of finance and operational efficiency… but it makes the brand unforgettable. Because psychology > arithmetic. The human brain disproportionately values what it didn’t expect. That extra scoop signals generosity, abundance, and hospitality, attributes that trigger emotional loyalty far more effectively than a perfectly balanced cost sheet ever will. Put the decision in the hands of a “rational” operator, and they’d increase the cup size. Put it in the hands of a CFO, and they’d eliminate the freebies entirely. Both would destroy what Five Guys actually sells: the feeling of getting more than you paid for. And this isn’t new. When Jeff Bezos proposed free two-day shipping for Amazon Prime, finance called it a disaster. They projected a loss of $1.7B, and they were right. But what they didn’t calculate was perceived value. Prime generated $17B in the same year because customers changed their purchasing behavior. Convenience became a habit. Loyalty became a reflex. That’s the symbiotic power of branding, marketing, and sales: People don’t buy the product. They buy the feeling the product gives them. In leadership, the lesson is simple: • Don’t let spreadsheets suffocate imagination. • Don’t let “efficiency” erase emotional value. • Don’t forget that humans make decisions emotionally first, rationally second. The brands that win aren’t just operationally sound, they’re psychologically relevant. And the leaders who win aren’t just optimizing processes, they’re architecting experiences. Sometimes the greatest ROI comes from the simplest thing: One extra scoop of fries. #BrandStrategy #MarketingPsychology #Leadership #CustomerExperience #ValueCreation #BusinessStrategy #FiveGuys #PerceivedValue #CX #SalesAndMarketing #Innovation #GrowthMindset #LeadershipDevelopment
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Ed Soo Hoo shared this😊 Great examples of 'being right' and 'being DEAD right' - as no good deed (intent, insight) goes unpunished.Ed Soo Hoo shared this“All truth passes through three stages: first, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as self-evident.” — Arthur Schopenhauer “One of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea… Naturally, therefore, common men hate a new idea, and are disposed more or less to ill-treat the original man who brings it.” - Walter Bagehot “The person who fights for a dying cause is admired, supported and honoured. The person who fights for a new cause struggling to be born is misunderstood, reviled and attacked. Nothing is more difficult than taking the lead in a new order of things.” — Dee Hock, Founder & CEO, Visa Throughout history, people have been punished for saying something an institution or society could not allow to be true or could not even see. Different centuries, different contexts, same human reflex. The pattern continues in our organisations today Galileo Galilei (astronomer & physicist) His act: Demonstrated that the Earth orbits the sun, contradicting Church doctrine. Outcome: Tried by the Inquisition (1633), forced to recant and lived the rest of his life under house arrest. The Church took over 300 years to formally admit he was right. Ignaz Semmelweis (physician, early pioneer of antiseptic practice) His act: Showed that handwashing with chlorinated water stopped doctors transmitting deadly infections from autopsies to maternity wards. Outcome: Ridiculed, removed from his post, suffered a breakdown, committed to an asylum and died there from an infected wound. His insight was only accepted after his death. General Billy Mitchell (U.S. Army aviation pioneer) His act: Warned that air power would define future warfare and criticised military leaders for neglecting aviation readiness. Outcome: Court-martialled for insubordination, suspended without pay and forced out. Decades later, WWII proved him correct and he was posthumously honoured. Roger Boisjoly (NASA engineer) His act: Warned that the Challenger O-rings would fail in cold weather and urged NASA to delay the launch. Outcome: After the disaster proved his warning correct, he was shunned and sidelined within his company. Later honoured in ethics circles, but his career there never recovered. Sinéad O’Connor (musician & activist) Her act: Protested sexual abuse in the Catholic Church on live television in 1992. Outcome: Ridiculed, boycotted and condemned for years. Later reinterpreted as someone who named a truth long before society recognised it. Stanislav Petrov (Soviet lieutenant colonel & air-defence officer) His act: In 1983, he judged a Soviet nuclear warning to be a false alarm and refused to escalate — preventing a likely nuclear exchange. Outcome: Reassigned to a lower-level post, denied the commendation he was promised and quietly moved into early retirement. Only after the USSR collapsed was his decision publicly honoured. The truth-teller becomes the problem long before the truth becomes accepted. Image: Medi Belortaja
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Ed Soo Hoo reposted thisEd Soo Hoo reposted thisNetflix x Music? It’s happening. Netflix is rumoured to be quietly tuning up for a move into music streaming, taking aim at Spotify, Apple Music, and rest of the gang. And with 280M+ subscribers already in their corner, they’re not exactly entering as the underdog. No word yet on payouts for artists or licensing deals (big questions, obviously), but if it means bundling TV, films and music under one roof? That’s a proper shake-up. What’s interesting is the opportunity this might open up for artists, especially if Netflix leans into original content and sync-style tie-ins. Imagine your track playing in a Netflix series, then being streamed right after by the same user in the same app. Nice. The big picture? Another giant player in the ring might just push the whole music streaming model forward. Let’s hope indie artists and labels aren’t left standing at the door while the majors get comfy inside.
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Ed Soo Hoo reposted thisFeroz M. was an exceptional human with a kind and expansive heart. Your are missed. Wishing You Profound Peace my friend.Ed Soo Hoo reposted thisThank you to everyone who has reached out and shared your kind thoughts — I truly appreciate it. 🙏 It is with a heavy heart and deep sadness that I share the news that Feroz M. passed away peacefully on Sunday morning, surrounded by his loving family and close friends. Feroz fought bravely against cancer, showing incredible strength and resilience throughout. Though the illness ultimately took its toll, his spirit remained unwavering. He was a remarkable human being — humble, selfless, and kind. Anyone who had the privilege of knowing or working with Feroz will remember him as a true gem, someone who touched lives with his warmth and generosity. May his soul rest in peace. 🕊️
Ed Soo Hoo replied to a comment
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Serena Yu thanks Serena. A bit of a twist on the phrase to highlight the struggle, challenge, oppty and conundrum that we face with Ai.
Ed Soo Hoo replied to a comment
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CJ Chilvers ! love your riff on all the Godfather characters! Tom was taken out as Consigliere as the conditions changed for the Godfather and Michael. a war time consigliere was needed as negotiating too early from not having any leverage or insights was a sign of weakness. timing was set up to wait, observe, test and then act. they did a OODA loop (observe orient decide act) motion to suss out everyone from Tessio (for old times sake) to the other heads of the families. great business/war strategy and parallels.
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Ed Soo Hoo liked thisEd Soo Hoo liked thisNos vemos en Volcano Summit 2026 🌋 Este año volveré a formar parte del jurado de Startup Avenue, conociendo y evaluando startups que se están construyendo desde Latam para el mundo. Encantado de reencontrarme con grandes amigos del ecosistema de startups y venture capital en Antigua, Guatemala, del 3 al 7 de septiembre. 🌋
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Ed Soo Hoo liked thisEd Soo Hoo liked thisI’ll be attending the AI Infra Summit at the Santa Clara Convention Center, September 15–17. Looking forward to connecting with customers, partners, and industry leaders across the AI infrastructure and data center ecosystem. At CTS, we’re focused on helping our partners deliver with quality, compliance, and project certainty as AI infrastructure continues to scale. From Groundbreaking to Turnover — Confidence at Every Step. If you’ll be there, let’s connect! #AIInfraSummit #AIInfrastructure #AI #DataCenters #MissionCritical #Construction #DataCenterConstruction #Quality #Compliance #Engineering #CTS AI Infra Summit
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Ed Soo Hoo liked thisEd Soo Hoo liked thisExcited to participate as speaker in the 2026 Volcano Summit, this coming weekend, 5-7 of September. The 7th edition's theme is "Echoes of Expansion," with 7 echoes: Purpose, Trust, Community, Innovation, Impact, Transformation and Expansion. And the setting is the spectacularly charming town of Antigua, Guatemala. I look forward to exchanging ideas with the dynamic community at Volcano Summit and Volcano Capital - among the newest members of the MIT Industrial Liaison Program. ¡Nos vemos en Guatemala! #VolcanoSummit2026 #EchoesOfExpansion #OneConnectionAtATime #MITIndustrialLiaisonProgram
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Ed Soo Hoo liked thisEd Soo Hoo liked thisTwo years ago, I stepped onto the stage at Volcano Summit for the first time. But in 4 more days… I GET TO DO IT AGAIN! 🌋🎤 They say 3 is a charm, and I’m so excited to be back Guatemala to host the main stage at Volcano Summit September 5–7. Every year this magical community reminds me that the most powerful parts of an event are the people connecting and creating together. That’s why I LOVE this year’s theme: Echoes of Expansion. Volcano is a global ecosystem connecting people across 45+ countries. And I’ve been lucky enough to have a front-row seat to that ripple effect. As the host, my job is to help connect all those ideas, speakers, stories, and moments into one shared experience. As mentor for Startup Ave, I can't wait to watch all the founders shine on stage after all our coaching sessions together. And after two years on that stage, it genuinely feels like coming back to a community that is so very, very special to me. Vamos Guatemala! 🇬🇹🌋 Let’s make some echoes! #VolcanoSummit #Guatemala #LATAM #Hosting #Communication #Entrepreneurship Janma Bardi Aparicio | Marianne Springmühl | Fabiana Calvinisti | Pamela Mijangos | Eduardo Hernández Fuentes | Andrea Chávez O'Byrne | Lorena Beltrán | Alex Snider | Nicolás Berghuis | Alla Adam | Pravin Rodrigues | Luis Alberto Rodriguez | Maria Catalina Ruge Castro | Adi Engel | Julita Alonso
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Ed Soo Hoo liked thisEd Soo Hoo liked thisSemana de Volcano Summit 🌋 Va a ser muy grato reencontrarme con viejos amigos y en algunos casos, conocer finalmente en persona a gente con la que llevamos meses conversando a la distancia. Si van a estar en Antigua, feliz de que nos tomemos un café y hagamos catch-up. También están más que invitados a conocer a las 50 startups que seleccionamos este año para Startup Avenue, acompañarnos en sus pitches y si alguna les interesa, feliz de hacer la intro con los founders. ¿A quién veo este fin de semana por allá? 🌋
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Ed Soo Hoo liked thisEd Soo Hoo liked thisAlways happy to come back to volcano summit!! 🌋 I'm excited to continue learning, connecting and building in this incredible community. At TodoLegal we are building specialized compliance workflows for regulated industries, looking forward to exchange ideas! See you at Volcano Summit 🚀 #volcanosummit2026 #volcanosummit26 #legaltech #latam #volcanosummit #volcanoinnovationsummit
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Ed Soo Hoo liked thisEd Soo Hoo liked thisI used to be bad at Labor Day. Not the cookout part. The switching off part (the cookout is the best part!). For a long time, I treated long weekends as slightly longer working days with a better backdrop. A few hours of family time, then back to the inbox. It took me longer than I would like to admit to understand what actually happens to decision-making quality when you stop for a few days. The thinking and process changes character. The urgent things stop feeling urgent in the way that makes you reactive. And... the really important things start to surface in a way they cannot when the calendar is full. Some of the clearest strategic thinking I have done in this role has happened not at a desk but somewhere completely removed from one. A long weekend or a slow morning with no agenda (and a huge cup of coffee). Sometimes this involved a conversation with my kids which reminded me what actually matters. But before I talk about rest, I want to say something about what Labor Day is. It is a day that exists because of the people who showed up to do the hard, unglamorous, essential work that keeps everything else running. The jobs that do not come with flexibility or a work from anywhere policy. The jobs where you cannot just close the laptop and think about things later. The people who built this country's infrastructure, who stock the shelves, who drive the trucks, who run the lines, and who make it possible for the rest of us to do what we do. I think about that more than I probably say out loud. And I think leaders should say it more often than once a year. So this Labor Day, rest if you can. And if you are one of the people who can't, know that the work you do is seen and it matters more than most people acknowledge. Take the weekend. Actually take it. #LaborDay #Leadership #Lenovo
Experience & Education
Volunteer Experience
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Industry Fellow at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology (CET) at UC Berkeley
UC Berkeley
- Present 11 years 1 month
Education
The Pantas and Ting Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology is the premiere institution on the UC Berkeley campus for the study and practice of “technology-centric” entrepreneurship and innovation. Since 2005, SCET has created the foundation of Berkeley’s entrepreneurship ecosystem including SkyDeck, the Fung Institute, the Engineering Leadership Professional Program, Global Venture Lab, and an extensive ecosystem of Silicon Valley and Global partners (see our history).
SCET is…The Pantas and Ting Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology is the premiere institution on the UC Berkeley campus for the study and practice of “technology-centric” entrepreneurship and innovation. Since 2005, SCET has created the foundation of Berkeley’s entrepreneurship ecosystem including SkyDeck, the Fung Institute, the Engineering Leadership Professional Program, Global Venture Lab, and an extensive ecosystem of Silicon Valley and Global partners (see our history).
SCET is also known for developing the Berkeley Method, an internationally recognized approach to teaching technology entrepreneurship for undergraduates, innovation for Ph.D. students, and technology firm leadership for professionals and executives. As part of the Berkeley Innovation ecosystem, SCET also collaborates closely with the Jacob’s Institute for Design, the Haas Business School, and CITRIS Foundry.
If you are interested in New Ventures or Innovation on the Berkeley campus or anywhere in the world, the Sutardja Center is the place to be. The Center is located within the College of Engineering of UC Berkeley and its academic home is the Department Industrial Engineering & Operations Research.
Publications
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"You gotta have the brain, the heart and the courage for transformation"
Digital Times
See publicationIf you are running a business – or working on your startup – take half an hour today, grab a coffee and spend some time with Ed Soo Hoo of Lenovo as he takes you on a ‘wizard’ of a journey.
Ed describes himself as a connector, catalyst and storyteller. He helps lead Lenovo's Field C Suite and is also an Industry Fellow at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology at UC Berkeley. He is known for ‘stretching-the-box strategic thinking’ allowing companies to expand from ‘now, new to…If you are running a business – or working on your startup – take half an hour today, grab a coffee and spend some time with Ed Soo Hoo of Lenovo as he takes you on a ‘wizard’ of a journey.
Ed describes himself as a connector, catalyst and storyteller. He helps lead Lenovo's Field C Suite and is also an Industry Fellow at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology at UC Berkeley. He is known for ‘stretching-the-box strategic thinking’ allowing companies to expand from ‘now, new to next’ opportunities. -
Innovation-X Roundtable: Innovation in Times of Change
SCET Berkeley
See publicationIn a conversation moderated by SCET Co-Founder and current Executive Vice Chairman at Ygrene Energy Fund, Stacey Lawson, SCET Faculty Director & Chief Scientist, Ikhlaq Sidhu, and SCET Managing Director, Ken Singer, discuss the temporary and long lasting changes that are occurring right now due to the Covid-19 pandemic. They will talk about concrete ways organizations can improve their innovation practices in the changing environment and how to find opportunity during crisis.
Organizations
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Civicorps (Non Profit in Oakland)
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