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“You don’t have to ask a hero where she comes from—you have to understand how she thinks.”

Carolyn Deng’s journey is shaped less by titles or geography and more by the evolution of her judgment. Raised in China’s highly disciplined education system, she developed rigor, endurance, and respect for structure. At Harvard, she encountered a different intellectual model—one that rewarded independent thinking, pattern recognition, and questioning authority. Together, these forces formed a mindset comfortable with both precision and uncertainty.

Her career mirrors this progression. What began as technical mastery in mathematics, biostatistics, and investment banking evolved into a deeper understanding that finance is not about numbers alone. Models matter, but assumptions matter more—and assumptions are rooted in human behavior, incentives, and character. Over time, investing became less about optimization and more about judgment.

As co-founder and Managing Director of BioLink Capital, Carolyn applies this philosophy to biotech and life sciences, where data is limited and conviction must be built through learning, listening, and experience. She emphasizes that what matters changes with stage: people and science in the early days; markets, cycles, and capital discipline later. Failure is inevitable—often driven by uncontrollable risks—and the real measure of an investor is reflection and response.

Today, progress means fewer decisions, made better. Through her experiences as an investor and in Harvard’s OPM program, Carolyn frames success as deeply human—rooted in curiosity, culture, humility, and perseverance. There are many paths to building something enduring, and none are linear.

Here are the Top 10 Takeaways from the conversation:

1. Discipline and creativity compound over time.
2. Education is about thinking, not memorizing answers.
3. Finance is ultimately about people, not spreadsheets.
4. Reading character is the highest investing skill.
5. Models fail because assumptions fail.
6. What matters most depends on company stage.
7. Failure is part of long-term conviction.
8. Progress shifts from doing more to deciding better.
9. Culture is an invisible driver of outcomes.
10. There are many ways to succeed—and no single origin story.

Books:

• Poor Charlie’s Almanack
• The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
• Books on the Ming Dynasty