About our Speaker

Simon Yu, Co-Founder & CEO, Classjoy

Simon Yu is the Co-Founder & CEO of Classjoy – a classroom celebration app that’s reimagining how 1.8 billion students connect with their parents daily, starting with the school day. Classjoy empowers everyday teacher heroes with a super simple yet rewarding & engaging place to safely capture & share daily school highlights with parents – elevating family engagement, student wellness, and teacher appreciation. Ultimately disrupting how millennial parents commemorate their child’s year and transfer the billions of dollars spent on yearbooks & school pictures back into teachers’ hands.

Prior to Classjoy, Simon was the Co-Founder of Yuday – an EdTech startup focused on classroom communication. Before entrepreneurship, he worked in private equity at Star Avenue Capital where he invested in growth-stage consumer & retail companies. He began his career in the consumer & retail investment banking coverage group at Deutsche Bank. His passion for education & social impact was ignited after quitting finance to volunteer in Africa where he taught in South Africa, did wildlife conservation in Zimbabwe, and marine conservation in Madagascar.

Simon graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Finance from Michigan State University and was a Financial Markets Institute Scholar.