# Yuqi Hou

> San Francisco writer, speaker and developer community lead. Leads developer community and events at GMI Cloud, runs its equity-free AI startup accelerator, and writes satire and fiction, including a novel in progress about San Francisco founders. Contact: hi@yuqihou.com. Speaking page: https://yuqihou.com/speaking/

## Quick facts
- Based in: San Francisco, CA
- Now: Developer Community & Events and Startup Program Lead at GMI Cloud (2026 to now)
- Before: Senior AI Product Manager at Jellysmack (London, Feb 2023–Apr 2024; JellyX) and Senior Product Manager (Paris & Maryland, Apr 2022–Feb 2023; creator financing). At Goldman Sachs in New York: API Product Manager (2019–22), Developer Advocate (2017–19), Program Manager (2016–17)
- Education: Harvard University, B.A. Statistics (2011–2015)
- Writing: 12 published pieces across 8 outlets (Points in Case, Slackjaw, The Belladonna, Robot Butt, Greener Pastures, Widget, Feign Lit, Small World City); a 50,000-word novel draft; Substack "always, yuqs" (essays include "how to full send", 2026-10-04, and "ambient intimacy", 2026-09-13); interviewed by Feign Lit
- YouTube: @alwaysyuqs, 9.81K subscribers, 118 videos

## Speaking (book via hi@yuqihou.com, subject "speaking")
Formats: keynotes, panels (moderator), firesides, emceeing, workshops.

Talks:
- Developer programs that actually convert: ambassadors vs. startup programs, building a community of builders (46 ambassadors in 16 countries; a 25-startup accelerator)
- Running AI events people show up for: hackathons to a black-tie yacht gala (64 events in 2026; 1,870 registered for one night; 91% show-up)
- How AI infrastructure companies win founders early: equity-free accelerators, VC partnerships (Accel, a16z speedrun, The Residency), perk stacks
- The nonlinear career: Goldman PM to layoff to AI startup to novelist; writing funny about work

Stages (newest first):
- 2026-11-10 (upcoming) AI infrastructure investing: VC panel & HSBC fireside, San Francisco, host
- 2026-10-22 (upcoming) All Day AI, online, speaker: "Ambassadors vs. Startups: which developer program actually converts?"
- 2026-10-08 Agent Memory Night, SF Tech Week (AWS Builder Loft, San Francisco), host
- 2026-09-14 GMI Summer Signal '26 at the Exploratorium, San Francisco, co-emcee (543 registrations; included the accelerator's cohort 02 reveal)
- 2026-07-24 YC AI Startup School yacht gala, San Francisco Bay, emcee
- 2026-06-14 Vibecoding a multi-model app: Codex vs Trae vs Claude Code vs Cursor, tutorial on YouTube
- 2026-05-26 Hard Problems Night for Agent Builders, San Francisco, host
- 2026-04-29 Claws Out: Hard Problems Night with WorkOS, San Francisco, host
- 2026-04-14 Hackathon workshop: build an AI agent UI on GMI Cloud, on YouTube
- 2026-01-17 GMI Signal '26 Launch Day (The Hibernia, San Francisco, 320+ attendees), panel moderator: "Redefining creative workflows: from concept to cinematic output"
- Stand-up comedy, first open mic, on YouTube

## Work (case studies on the site)
- Startup accelerator (SCALE at GMI), https://yuqihou.com/work/scale/: a 4-week, equity-free program; 25 startups in cohort 01 and 23 in cohort 02; 54% of founders activated as users; cohort 01 Demo Day at AGI House with 761 registered and 245 in the room; VC partnerships with Accel, a16z speedrun and The Residency
- Developer events program (GMI Cloud), https://yuqihou.com/work/events/: 64 events in 2026, in San Francisco, the Bay Area and online, plus SXSW, GTC and conference booths; 10K+ developers a month; Discord grew 3× in 3 months (450 → 1,300)
- Developer ambassador program (Clouders), https://yuqihou.com/work/clouders/: 46 ambassadors in 16 countries; 61 posts and 28K+ views in one week; ambassador-run events such as Cursor Codechella Victoria (138 builders, 19 teams shipped) and Fix My Agent with AI Valley and PostHog
- AI assistant for creators (JellyX at Jellysmack), https://yuqihou.com/work/jellyx/: 1,000+ creators in 6 months with no paid ads; creator Discord of 72 active members; launched at VidCon
- Creator financing platform (Jellysmack), https://yuqihou.com/work/financing/: offers in under a day instead of five weeks; offers in 5 languages; part of a $500M creator program
- Data marketplace (Goldman Sachs Marquee), https://yuqihou.com/work/marketplace/: a 0 → 1 market data business; 2× data products in 6 months
- Data API platform (Goldman Sachs), https://yuqihou.com/work/data-platform/: 20M+ API requests a day; 99.99% availability; 50+ enterprise clients

## Links
- Site: https://yuqihou.com/
- Speaking: https://yuqihou.com/speaking/
- Work: https://yuqihou.com/work/
- Writing: https://yuqihou.com/writing/
- About: https://yuqihou.com/about/
- The road (timeline): https://yuqihou.com/road/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yuqi-hou
- Substack: https://alwaysyuqs.substack.com
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@alwaysyuqs
- Cohort 1 recap (written by Yuqi): https://www.gmicloud.ai/en/blog/scale-at-gmi-cohort-1-recap
- Demo Day recap video: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/scale-at-gmi_demo-day-wrapped-heres-a-look-back-activity-7465152299812716546-qlXg
- Summer Signal '26 recap: https://www.gmicloud.ai/en/blog/summer-signal-26-we-turned-a-museum-into-a-live-multimodal-ai-stack
- Codechella recap: https://www.gmicloud.ai/en/blog/what-19-teams-shipped-at-cursor-codechella-victoria