User:Julianne at NerdWallet/Tim Chen Draft

Tim Chen
Tim Chen is the CEO and co-founder of NerdWallet, a San Francisco-based startup that provides content and tools about personal finance. He is also on the board of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling and was formerly on the Consumer Advisory Board of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from 2015 to 2018.

Chen was born in 1983 in Houston, Texas. His parents were first-generation American immigrants. When Chen was 10, his family moved to Atlanta, Georgia. Chen attended college at Stanford University, where he earned a Bachelor's degree in Economics. At Stanford, Chen developed an interest in entrepreneurship, but became a hedge fund analyst instead.

Chen's career began as an equity research analyst at Credit Suisse in New York City. He worked at hedge funds for four years, before getting laid off from JAT Capital during the Great Recession. The idea for NerdWallet came when his sister asked him for advice on what credit card she should get with lower foreign transaction fees. He grew frustrated by the limited information available online, so he compiled a spreadsheet breaking down her options, which became the basis of NerdWallet. This prompted Chen to start NerdWallet in 2009 with his childhood friend Jake Gibson.

The website started growing quickly in mid-2010 and has since raised $105 million in funding. As of 2016, the company was valued at $520 million.