Yishan Wong

Here is a biographical profile of Yishan Wong, with key highlights and context:

Yishan Wong – Life, Career, and Vision

Introduction

Yishan Wong is an American technologist, entrepreneur, and climate advocate known for his leadership role as CEO of Reddit (2012–2014) and more recently as the founder and CEO of Terraformation, a startup focused on global reforestation.

He blends experience from the intersection of big tech and environmental action, applying lessons from scalability and systems design to ecosystem restoration.

Early Life & Education

• Wong was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and raised in Minnesota.

• He attended Mounds View High School in Arden Hills, Minnesota.

• He graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in 2001 with a degree in computer science.

Technology & Entrepreneurial Career

Early Tech Roles

• After college, Wong joined PayPal (2001–2005) as a senior engineering manager. He is associated with the early PayPal “ecosystem.”

• He later moved to Facebook, serving as Director of Engineering, working on features such as crowd translation.

Reddit Leadership

• In 2012, after months of negotiation, Wong became CEO of Reddit.

• During his tenure, he emphasized that Reddit would not ban legal content even if it was personally objectionable.

• His relationship with Reddit’s board became strained, especially over a proposal to relocate the company’s office from San Francisco to Daly City. In 2014, he resigned.

Other Ventures

• Wong co-founded Sunfire Offices, a coworking space in Mountain View.

• He also served as an advisor to Quora.

Terraformation & Climate Work

• Around 2020, Wong founded Terraformation to address climate change via native forest restoration and reforestation at scale.

• The company’s mission is to tackle bottlenecks in reforestation — seed banking, technical training, capital access — to accelerate carbon sequestration.

• As of 2025, Terraformation claims to have planted over one million native trees, supported 19 forestry projects, and created over 700 jobs in reforestation globally.

• The approach builds on lessons from tech about scale: Wong argues that to solve planetary-scale problems, one must often rely on simple, reliable components rather than chasing bleeding-edge tech.

Philosophy, Style & Statements

• Wong often emphasizes scalability and systems thinking, drawing on Big Tech experience to frame climate solutions.

• In interviews, he has pointed out that trees are among the most dependable carbon removal machines we already have.

• He frames reforestation as a physical problem (“moving carbon atoms”) that demands efficient solutions rather than purely political ones.