In this episode of Conductive Conversations, Carey Lai, Founder & General Partner of Conductive Ventures, sits down with Joshua Lee, the comics-loving entrepreneur and founder of Ardius. Joshua opens up about his leap from a near 14 year tax career at Ernst & Young to building and investing in startups, an inspiring path shaped by his single mom upbringing and experiences as an Asian American founder.
He dives into aligning passion with career, lessons from the venture capital world, and the tricky balance between family and work. As a founder and investor, Josh leaves founders with one powerful insight: “Your cap table is everything — it’s the only thing that will matter at the end of the day when you get acquired or have an IPO.”
Joshua and Carey met while in UCLA and have been life-long friends since.
About Joshua Lee
Joshua Lee is the co-founder and former CEO of Ardius, which sold to Gusto in 2021. Prior to Ardius, Joshua served as a senior executive for over 13+ years with Ernst & Young, a leading global consulting and advisory firm. It was there he focused primarily on understanding the impact of various credits and incentives for both start-ups and Fortune 100 companies alike. After starting his own venture fund(s) soon thereafter, he noticed his portfolio of companies did not have the same access to these types of credits and decided to set out to democratize taxes.
A seasoned leader in start-up operations and funding, Joshua has had multiple exits as both an investor and founder. He continues to focus on fintech because it blends all of his accounting/tax knowledge with his passion for technology. Joshua currently serves on the boards of directors/advisors of numerous companies and holds multiple degrees in Business-Economics, Accounting, and Taxation.
This episode of Conductive Conversations was produced by Robin Chan and Carissa Lai for Conductive Ventures.
Carey Lai
Co-Founder & General Partner
Conductive Ventures
