Zhan Shi didn't follow the script. Goldman Sachs VP. Atomico VC engineer. The kind of resume that opens every door. And then she walked away from all of it to build Career26, a company redefining how finance hires early talent.
This is the story of someone who chose passion over prestige, and conviction over comfort.
In this episode, we cover:
How Zhan balanced building Career26 while working full time, and why her dad told her she couldn't do both well
The three questions she asks before committing to anything full time: Why now? Why me? Why hasn't someone else done it?
Why she left Goldman Sachs - not because finance was bad, but because it didn't fill the empty part of her heart
Her philosophy on focus: if you can't see yourself being the best at something, why bother?
What Career26 actually does and why she believes interviews are broken
Her take on whether top Oxford talent is being "stolen" by finance
How AI is embedded into every layer of Career26, from operations to student assessment, without it being an AI company on the surface
What she learned as a software engineer at a VC, building data driven deal sourcing systems and agentic workflows to replicate analyst judgment
Her advice for anyone sitting on a side project: follow your heart
This is a raw conversation about ambition, self drive, and building something that matters.
Connect with Zhan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zhanshi26/
Learn more about Career26: https://www.career26.com/
