Zachary Suh
I'm a 2x founder focused on building systems that solve real, lived problems. I've worked across healthcare, government consulting, fintech, and hospitality without being tied to any one industry. I'm drawn to problems I've experienced firsthand, those tend to matter more and have clearer paths to solving. That's led me to build companies like HomePlate and Grownups, both rooted in problems I cared deeply about.
Here's what I've been building:
- Built HomePlate, a platform turning idle senior living kitchens into medically tailored meal subscription businesses for seniors aging at home. Scaled from 0 to $4K in revenue and 42 meal boxes delivered in the first month with no paid marketing. Collaborated with Goodwin Senior Living on menu design across 4 campuses. Covered by Fox News, Yahoo News, and DC News. Learned how broken senior food logistics is, and how much leverage exists by operating inside the supply chain.
- Worked on growth at Browser Buddy (YC W24), focusing on outbound and relationship-building. Built lead generation systems and hosted private founder/investor dinners in San Francisco that turned into high-trust relationships. Came in as a freshman with no network and broke into high-signal circles through consistent, direct outreach.
- Founded Grownups, a consulting firm working with founders across fintech, real estate, and private equity. Closed $100K in contracts in the first month with no product or external support. Focused on identifying real problems and securing commitment before building, developing strong sales intuition and speed of execution.
- Worked on a research project studying how students think and solve problems. Led sessions with elementary and middle school students and structured 60+ hours of data used to train a multi-persona language model. Research was later published on arXiv.
- Led PatriotHacks as President, organizing three hackathons with $200K in sponsorships and 1,500 participants. Built partnerships with companies like Palantir, Microsoft, Salesforce, and ManTech.
- Received a full academic scholarship to George Mason University, awarded to top students for academic performance and leadership.
- Worked at five restaurants under Michelin-star chefs. I ran the back-of-house kitchen at 17 and earned my Certified Professional Food Manager license early because I wanted to understand how things actually work under pressure.
Speaking, Judging & Mentorship
- Speaker at KCSC Gala, presenting on senior care fragmentation and solutions through HomePlate.
- Speaker at ProductFest 2024 & 2025, sharing innovative student-built systems and products.
- Mentor for Patriot Pitch Korea 2026 in Incheon, supporting early-stage founders.
Programs & Communities
- Entrepreneur in Residence at NQB8, led by Auren Hoffman - nqb8.com
- Participant in Curtin Ignition (Perth, Australia) - Curtin Ignition
- Mentor at MIX Incubator (GMU), supporting teams that went on to win $30K+ - MIX Incubator
- President of PatriotHacks, scaling to $200K in sponsorships and 1,500 participants while building relationships with Series B startups and companies like Microsoft and Palantir - PatriotHacks
Me in the news :)
Side Experiments
I love food and cooking! I regularly experiment with recipes and share them through my cooking content @zachinthekitchen :)
