No 156 HER LONG JOURNEY TO THE AMERICAN DREAM
Nancy Hua moved to the U.S. from China in 1989. She excelled in high school, got a full ride to MIT, went into finance, and became a star trader. But her mother’s illness led her to launch the tech company Apptimize—and shifted her thinking about what’s really important in work and life.
Nancy Hua → APPTIMIZE
Three-year growth 2,683.6% • 2017 revenue $3.2 million
SAN FRANCISCO • FOUNDED 2013
I was born in China. My dad left for America when I was 1, and my mom left when I was 2. I lived with other people—family, and my dad’s professors—until I was 4.
I have two birthdays. When I left China, my parents got me a passport and my mom changed my birth month to August, because for the Chinese the number eight is lucky—she thought it would be more fortunate. (She changed her own birthday to August 8, 1958. That’s a lot of eights.)
My dad went to graduate school at the University of Pittsburgh and became a
