Gene Yu, the US Army Green Beret who is now CEO of a multi-million dollar startup: “Performance equals love”
The now 46-year-old entrepreneur is the co-founder of the cybersecurity startup Blackpanda, valued at over $21 million.
Some people live such eventful lives that they almost feel made for the big screen. Gene Yu is one of them. Before launching Blackpanda — the cybersecurity startup that turned him into a multimillionaire — he had already been a competitive tennis player, a US Army Green Beret, a computer science graduate, and even an author. And he’s only 46, with plenty of life still ahead.
A life shaped by his roots
Yu was born in Massachusetts and raised in California, but his family background is deeply tied to Asia. His uncle served as the president of Taiwan from 2008 to 2016 — a fact that weighed heavily on him growing up.
He has spoken openly about the messages he absorbed as a child: that he was somehow “less than,” unattractive, or unwanted simply because he looked different.
“In Asian culture, we learn that performance equals love — or worse, that lack of performance equals lack of love,” Yu says. As he grew older, that belief turned into emotional scars. He began chasing success not for its own sake, but as a way to protect his younger self and feel worthy.
A kidnapping that sparked a startup
After finishing high school, Yu enrolled at West Point and later joined the US Army Special Forces, serving as a Green Beret. He says the grueling conditions at the military academy shaped him in ways that proved invaluable later: “I know how to work hard — no question — and I think that helped me build Blackpanda.”
When he left the military, he went back to school and spent some time working in tech. But everything changed in 2013, when a close friend was kidnapped in the Philippines by the terrorist group Abu Sayyaf. Yu led the effort to rescue her after 35 days in captivity.
That experience planted the seed for what would become Blackpanda.
Yu realized that companies hit by cyberattacks need the same kind of rapid, coordinated crisis response he had provided in the real world. So he teamed up with former Special Forces colleagues to build a startup focused on digital crisis management — a kind of elite cyber‑SWAT team.
Today, Blackpanda is one of the standout names in cybersecurity, valued at more than $21 million and continuing to grow.
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