James Sun
[Mentor]
Founder & CEO of Pirq
James Sun is an entrepreneur, tech CEO, public speaker, published author, professional guest blogger, and former television star. He is the founder & CEO of Pirq, a loyalty application for small and medium sized businesses where he successfully raised venture financing, launched the top 3 loyalty CRM app in the nation, and was acquired by one of the largest nationwide payment processing companies in the US. He is also the co-founder and creator of Anomo, the newest anonymous social network where people reveal themselves over time.
He is also the owner of Koream magazine, which is an award-winning monthly magazine dedicated to news, commentary, politics, lifestyle and culture published in the United States. It is the oldest and most widely circulated English-language monthly magazine for the Asian American community. He is also the owner of Audrey Magazine, which is an award-winning national publication covering the Asian experience, as seen from the perspective of Asian American women. Audrey covers Asians and Asian Americans in popular culture, fashion and beauty trends, lifestyle and travel, as well as social and cultural issues relevant to Asians and Asian Americans.
James also has Fortune 500 experience where he served as a database programmer at Intel and management consultant at Deloitte Consulting for several Fortune 500 clients including Honeywell, Microsoft, Daimler Chrysler, and Boeing. Previous to Deloitte and Intel, James created a technology investment company called Sun & Associates, at age 18, with $5,000 and turned it into a $2.3 million dollar investment while finishing college with honors.
James is the first Asian male to land a spot on Donald Trump's hit reality show "The Apprentice." Asian-American men have a very difficult time landing a major role on prime time television in the United States, but James broke this barrier. He was selected out of 800,000 applicants based on his previous business success, dynamic personality, and ability to shine in front of the camera. The show aired for 14 weeks on primetime television, and James made it all the way through 14 weeks as a finalist in the competition. James was the first Asian finalist in the history of the show.
After his stint on “The Apprentice”, James managed to land his own international television show where he got to play the role of Donald Trump. This show was a co-collaboration between BBC (British Broadcasting Corp), Mediacorp, and CMMN, which aired worldwide in over 20 countries. James was chosen to play the part of a dynamic business guru who travelled around the world - meeting ambitious entrepreneurs to give them tough lessons on how to grow their businesses using principles from “Sun Tzu’s Art of War”.
Although James did not fire anyone, there was a strong resemblance to “The Apprentice” as a business reality format - inclusive of project challenges, high-pressured deadlines, open criticism, and the equivalent of the “Board Room”, which was referred to as “The War Room” in the new show. James took a group of motivated entrepreneurs, and built them into sharper and tougher business people while challenging them to grow their businesses.
Due to his television experience and international look, he has endorsed several international campaigns and companies including Hyundai in South Korea. James is known as an inspirational television personality, engaging speaker, and successful businessman. James is also a highly sought out speaker on the topic of consumer segmentation and diversity especially in the areas of generational differences between the Y, X, and Baby Boomer groups. He has advised over 35 companies on this topic alone including Proctor & Gamble, Deloitte & Touche, Ernst & Young, BASF, Qwest Communications, Honeywell, US Army, and dozens of top tiered universities. He has even spoken at Ted conferences on the topic of macro and micro consumer trends. He is published in a book titled "Millennial Leaders Y" (sold on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble) as an expert in this field. James has been featured on CEO Magazine and Fortune Magazine as a guest blogger on the topics of leadership and entrepreneurship.
James graduated Cum Laude from the University of Washington Business School with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Computer Information Systems. James was recently selected as a top 100 alumni from the University of Washington in the "Wonderous 100 Alumni Award" which included prominent individuals like Bill Gates Sr., Governor Christine Gregoire, and musician Kenny G.