THE MONEY: Couple Victor and Janie Tsao invested $10K in savings into a business that they started inside the garage of their Irvine house. That investment and business turned into Linksys, a data hardware company that manufactures Wi-Fi routers, network switches and other internet related products. As president and CEO, Victor guided Linksys to become one of the fastest growing private companies in the United States, per Inc. 500. Couple sold the company for $500M in 2003 to Cisco Systems. Tsao is also a senior vice president emeritus of Cisco Systems.
OC INVESTMENTS: Founded investment firm Miven Venture Partners in 2005. VC backed companies such as A10 Networks, Celeno and Vivotek. Miven, however, has been inactive since 2018.
PHILANTHROPY: Tsao’s primary work is now with their family foundation, supporting education, environmental protection and healthcare. One of Tsao Family Foundation’s initiatives: working with poor students living in Chinese villages with schooling. Through the foundation, Tsao supports Hoag Hospital, Children’s Hospital of Orange County, The Ecology Center and South Coast Chinese Cultural Center.
