Talks
I love being in the room when the next version of a system is taking shape — capacity, agents, platforms, trade. Here is the archive, newest first. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed those rooms.
November 6, 2026 · 11 AM–12 PM ET
Nonlinear Career Paths
Vantage Fall 2026 · Wharton Asian American Association of MBAs (WAAAM)
Panel. How Asian American leaders who pivoted across industries and roles turned those unconventional paths into a lasting advantage. Speaking as CTO, Immortals (formerly Blueprint by Bryan Johnson). The Study at University City, Philadelphia.
October 21, 2025
The AI Capacity Crunch
VentureBeat
A builder’s session on latency, lock-in, and cost when production AI still has to serve real users.
July 10, 2025
Supply Chain + Agents
Project Nanda
October 4, 2022
The supply chain of the future
Economist Impact
Transformation agenda: what has to change for the next version of global trade.
March 26, 2021
Modernizing Global Trade
Scale.ai Transform
With Flexport. A conversation with Scale’s CTO, Brad Porter, on machine learning in freight.
January 6, 2021
James Chen and Sid (Sijbrandij) on remote work
GitLab Unfiltered
James Chen (CTO, Flexport) and GitLab CEO Sid Sijbrandij on all-remote work, the handbook, async collaboration, and distributed teams.
March 2, 2020
A discussion with Flexport CTO James Chen
JOC El Dorado
One-on-one with JOC’s Eric Johnson on Flexport’s place in a competitive forwarding market, and how technology advances global forwarding.
May 23, 2017
Digital Disruptions in Ocean Shipping
INTTRA Technology Summit
Keynote. Insights into the future of ocean shipping technology.
March 5, 2016
Imitation to Innovation
MIT Asia Business Conference
How Asia overcomes the jump from copying to inventing — and stays there. A panel on long-term growth, East and West in the same room.
March 2015
4YFN Awards — Digital Media
Mobile World Congress
Jury panel, digital media track.
November 2014
The future of a global ecommerce technology platform
SK Planet Tech Planet
Keynote. What was going to change ecommerce: 3-D printing, product identification, virtual currency.
October 2014
Cloud First and Mobile First World
Microsoft Conference
Keynote. A real project, cloud-first and mobile-first, on Azure.
July 2014
27th CIO Workshop for Singapore & Tokyo
Accenture
A closed room of CIOs. Current technology trends and the future of ecommerce.
January 2013
No growth without IT: conditions of a new-era ace
Nikkei News
Lede: a Rakuten executive officer in his 30s who wants to engrave his name in world history. Body paywalled.
January 2013
How to build & sell an Internet startup to Japan’s biggest web merchant, Rakuten
Beacon Reports
A short history of CampusCraze and FreeCause.
July 2012
What is next after Kobo and Pinterest?
B Dash Ventures
An investor room in the Kobo / Pinterest moment. The ecommerce trends that led to those bets.
