Community Highlights: Meet Fiona Zhang of Singularity Effect

Today we’d like to introduce you to Fiona Zhang.

Hi Fiona, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My journey has been driven by curiosity, a love of technology, and a constant pull toward opportunities outside my comfort zone.

I graduated from the University of Southern California, where I studied Computer Science, Business Administration, and Applied & Computational Mathematics. After graduation I joined Microsoft, but six months later I left to pursue entrepreneurship.

Over the next few years, I built AI startups across e-commerce, education, and legal tech, and one of our ventures was backed by MIT-affiliated investors. Those years taught me what it really takes to build a company: developing technology, finding product-market fit, fundraising, leading a team, and making decisions without all the answers.

Along the way, I discovered something about myself. As much as I enjoyed building products, I was even more fascinated by the bigger picture: why some businesses succeed, how industries evolve, and where capital can create the most impact. That curiosity led me into venture capital, where I worked with VC firms on investment analysis and deal evaluation.

The deeper I went into the investment world, the more I noticed two things. First, early-stage investing is a game of very high risk. For every company that makes it, many don’t, and even successful ones can take seven to ten years to reach liquidity. Second, there’s a stage of a company’s life that gets far less attention but matters just as much. Venture capital is about going from 0 to 1: proving an idea can work. But many of the most interesting opportunities come later, when a company has already proven its product, built real revenue, and needs to go from 10 to 100.

That realization led me toward later-stage investing, including private equity, secondaries, and pre-IPO investments. At this stage, the risk profile is very different. You’re no longer betting on whether a business can exist. You’re evaluating whether a proven business can scale, become profitable, and earn a strong valuation in the public markets. I became fascinated by the entire financial lifecycle of a company, from early innovation to late-stage growth to the IPO and beyond.

Today, I’m building an AI- and robotics-focused crossover fund that invests across both private and public markets in the US. I lead our private-market investments, primarily Series A and beyond, while our public-market strategy follows a value-oriented approach. On the private side, I’ve worked on opportunities involving companies such as Anthropic, OpenAI, Atoms, and Hadrian, as well as ventures founded by leading AI researchers and entrepreneurs.

We don’t see private and public markets as separate worlds. Whether a company is public or private, the fundamental questions are the same. Is this a great business? Does it have a durable competitive advantage? Can its leaders execute? And does the investment make sense at this valuation?

Looking back, my career might look like a series of pivots: engineering, entrepreneurship, venture capital, and now crossover investing. To me, one thread runs through all of it: understanding how technology transforms industries, and finding and supporting the people and companies shaping the future.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Definitely not a smooth road. I’ve had plenty of ups and downs, and some of my most valuable lessons came from failures rather than successes.

Coming from a technical background, I assumed building great technology would be the hardest part of starting a company. I quickly learned it’s only one piece. You also have to understand customers, manage people, build relationships with investors, and make hard decisions under uncertainty. Often, the biggest challenges have little to do with the product itself.

Moving from technology into finance was another steep learning curve. Because I work across industries and investment stages, I’ve had to keep expanding my knowledge, from financial structures and valuation to market dynamics and business models.

But the most important lesson has been about human nature, especially when money is involved.

Early in my career, I assumed that successful people and established institutions would naturally act with integrity and professionalism. That isn’t always true. Whatever someone’s reputation or track record, financial interests can reveal a very different side of them.

One principle I now live by: never blindly trust human nature when money is on the table.

That doesn’t mean I think people are inherently bad. Trust is still essential in business. But trust should be earned through actions, transparency, aligned incentives, and accountability, not through titles, promises, or reputation.

These experiences have made me more resilient, more independent in my judgment, and more selective about who I work with. I’ve learned that not every opportunity is worth pursuing, and not every partnership is worth keeping. Knowing when to walk away can matter as much as knowing when to move forward.

In the end, success isn’t only about spotting opportunities. It’s about understanding people, navigating uncertainty, protecting your values, and having the courage to keep going when things don’t work out.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
We focus on two areas: AI and robotics crossover investing, and corporate advisory.

On the investment side, we invest across U.S. private and public markets, with a focus on artificial intelligence, robotics, and the infrastructure powering the next wave of innovation. In public markets, we follow a value-oriented philosophy. In private markets, we focus on growth-stage and pre-IPO companies scaling from 10 to 100. These companies have proven products, real revenue, and a visible path to the public markets. What they need is growth capital, a stronger shareholder base, and IPO readiness. We invest through both primary rounds and secondary transactions, which also provide liquidity to early shareholders and employees before the listing.

We believe this stage offers an attractive balance between risk and return. Business risk is lower than in early-stage venture, but there is still significant room for value creation before the company reaches the public markets. Our crossover structure lets us stay with great companies through that transition: we can invest while they are private and continue to hold after they list.

A Research-Driven Investment Philosophy

What I’m most proud of is that our investment philosophy is built on first principles and deep fundamental research, not market trends.

Our fund thesis is grounded in a 160-page research paper that examines the AI industry as a whole system: energy infrastructure, semiconductors, data centers, large language models, data, and distribution. One of its key insights is that as AI adoption accelerates, the most valuable opportunities may sit at the ecosystem’s critical bottlenecks. Energy, compute, and high-quality data are becoming essential resources. Meanwhile, companies with strong distribution and established customer relationships can build advantages that are hard to replicate.

This framework helps us identify where lasting value is being created and, just as importantly, whether that value is reflected in the price. A company can have incredible technology and still be overvalued. Another can be overlooked despite strong fundamentals and long-term potential. Our job is to tell the two apart and invest on fundamental value, not short-term excitement.

From Investing to Advising

Our corporate advisory work draws on the same investor perspective. We help companies shape their investment story, coordinate with investment banks, attorneys, and auditors, and prepare for roadshows and investor communications. Our focus extends beyond the listing itself: we help management teams build a clear, credible dialogue with shareholders as the business grows.

We see a business from multiple angles. With my technical and entrepreneurial background, I understand how products are built and what founders face day to day. As an investor, I evaluate companies on financial fundamentals, valuation, competitive position, and distribution. Together, these perspectives give us a fuller picture of a company.

We also believe capital isn’t always what a company needs most. Sometimes it needs customers, distribution channels, strategic partners, or anchor investors. We use our network to bring those resources together and unlock opportunities beyond traditional financing.

Bridging Traditional Industries, Technology, and Capital

Another part of our mission is helping traditional businesses thrive in an era shaped by AI, technology, and brand. Many established companies have solid operations, great products, and years of industry expertise, but they may be unfamiliar with emerging technologies or unsure how to communicate their value to capital markets. Often the underlying business is already strong. What it needs is a clearer growth strategy, the right resources, and a compelling equity story that investors can understand.

Our Mission

Our mission is to find companies whose value the market hasn’t yet fully recognized. Some have strong fundamentals that are overlooked; others are quietly building something important before the rest of the market catches on. We aim to discover them early, invest with conviction, and stay with them through to the public markets. Beyond capital, we help them chart a clearer path to listing and adopt better technology to scale, so that their true value is ultimately reflected in the market.

Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
As a woman in business, one of the biggest lessons I’d share is simple: be bold, and don’t spend too much time worrying about what others think.

Many of us, especially young women, are taught to be agreeable, considerate, and accommodating. Those are wonderful qualities, but being too nice can cost you your own time, energy, and priorities. It’s okay to say no. It’s okay to turn down opportunities, decline requests, or walk away from relationships that don’t align with your goals. Your time and energy are limited. Protecting them lets you focus on the people and opportunities that truly matter.

I’ve also learned how much the right partners and peers matter. You don’t have to figure everything out alone. The right people challenge your thinking, complement your strengths, and make the journey far more meaningful. Who you work with is often as important as what you work on.

And my biggest piece of advice: don’t overthink before you start. Think while you do.

I see so many talented people spend months or years planning, waiting for perfect timing, or worrying about what might go wrong. But you’ll never have all the information before you begin. Start somewhere. Take action. Learn from the results, adjust, and try again. If something fails, that’s okay. Try a different way, and if that doesn’t work, try again.

Things don’t always go wrong because you made the wrong move. Sometimes the biggest mistake is never making a move at all.

If there’s one thing I hope readers take from my story, it’s this: don’t be afraid to reinvent yourself, explore unfamiliar industries, or take a path that doesn’t make sense to everyone else. Be bold enough to start, humble enough to keep learning, and resilient enough to keep going.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.fiona-zhang.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/fionazhang888
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mengfei-219822183/