James Dong

Entrepreneur in Residence

ABOUT

James is ICA's Entrepreneur-in-Residence, helping build new products that ICA can deploy to help its growing community of business owners.

James has a diverse set of experiences from management consulting for some of the largest companies in the world at Bain & Company, to helping tech startups bring new products to life. As a small business owner himself, and deeply understands the challenges facing owners.

Outside of work, James enjoys spending time in the outdoors hiking, camping, or climbing, and singing karaoke indoors. James earned a Bachelor's in Business Administration from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, and a Bachelor's in Environmental Economics & Policy from UC Berkeley's Rausser College of Natural Resources.

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First Job

At a nonprofit building a program to reduce waste and pollution from unused pharmacies (which often end up in our water and food as many compounds can't be effectively filtered out by treatment plants - so don't flush your pills! Many states operate free take-back programs with drop-off sites at local pharmacies, police stations, etc.)

Best Advice I've Received

Think of your life in days of the week, with each decade represented by one day. (For example, I'm in my 30s, so I'm at Wednesday.) Ask yourself - where do you want to be and how do you want to close out Saturday night?

Why I work at ICA

I think it's incredibly important to balance access to resources and capital for small business owners, who are often building the real world businesses that truly enrich our lives.