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He is a professional chimera. Part engineer, part financial strategist, Brian Dong brings an unconventional combination of skills to his role as Applied Intuition’s new CFO. In a conversation with Co-Founders Qasar Younis and Peter Ludwig, Brian traced a path that began with studying electrical engineering at Cornell and being awarded multiple patents at Qualcomm. From there he navigated high-stakes finance at Goldman Sachs, worked with elite tech companies such as Apple and Facebook, and shepherded the public market debuts of Coinbase, Tesla, and Twitter. His story is one of bridging worlds, where technical depth meets capital allocation.
Below are a few takeaways from the conversation. The bottom line? Effective financial leaders don’t just track value, they help create it.
“I grew up as an engineer.”
Raised in a family of engineers, Brian earned a degree in electrical engineering from Cornell and then worked at Qualcomm, which attracted him because of his interest in wireless and digital communications—his favorite Qualcomm product was the company’s first WCDMA chip, a breakthrough in mobile communications. This foundation shaped how he approaches finance, always with a focus on understanding the underlying technology and its implications.
“Like a lot of people who are drawn to Applied, I grew up as an engineer,” he said. “Having that engineering mindset helps me appreciate the long-term technical decisions that impact the business.”
“The best finance teams are enablers for the business.”
Brian sees finance as a strategic engine that powers growth and innovation: “If you’re just recording results, you’re not adding enough value.” CFOs, and the finance team in general, should be a strategic partner, helping the company navigate complexity and accelerate progress.
“The best finance teams are enablers for the business,” he said. “They are thinking about ‘how do we allocate capital to the place that's going to enable the business to grow the fastest or drive the most value?’ A high-performing finance team is integrated into the company’s mission.”
“The light bulb that went off: Companies actually make inorganic growth investments.”
The transition Brian made from engineering to finance began when he collaborated with lawyers on patent litigation, translating complex technical details into language non-engineers could understand. This experience sparked his interest in the broader business aspects of technology companies, particularly how growth can come not only from building internally but also through strategic acquisitions and investments.
“As an engineer, you're wired to build the thing to solve the problem,” he said. “But we also look at things to buy. That was the light bulb that went off—that companies actually make inorganic growth investments.”
After that career turning point—“that's what led me to go to business school”—Brian eventually pursued roles where he could bridge the worlds of technology and capital.
“You can’t ignore the capital environment around you.”
“There are businesses that literally could not have been brought to be if capital was not as readily available,” Brian said when discussing how capital availability shapes business strategy. “A lot of the multi-sided marketplace businesses, where there's a lot of capital required to stand up markets—the ride-sharing businesses, for example. You had to actually deploy a lot of capital in every single city. And inherently, those were loss-making dollars for the near term, and ultimately the longer term, as you get scale, they became profitable. Those are only possible if capital is available at scale.”
Brian highlighted how the availability of capital fundamentally shaped industries that required heavy upfront investment to build scale. He explained that many businesses—especially in multi-sided marketplaces, such as ride sharing—relied on abundant capital to fuel growth, even when it meant operating at a loss initially. But as he put it, “You can’t ignore the capital environment around you.” When the financial landscape changed sharply in 2022, with interest rates rising dramatically, the risk profile of capital shifted and investors’ expectations for quicker returns intensified.
“What we all saw in 2022, when interest rates went up drastically, the risk profile of capital changed dramatically,” Brian recounted. “The desire for return to be sooner changed dramatically, and that ultimately impacted how operators of businesses like ours had to think about how they deploy capital. So you can't pretend like that doesn't exist.”
“There are so many layers of value capture.”
Brian observed that while massive investments are flowing into the AI sector, true competitive advantage depends on building defensible, differentiated capabilities, whether at the hardware, foundational model, or application layer.
“There are so many layers of value capture,” he said. “If you don't have a defensible position on the other side of all the capital you're investing to train those models, or whatever you happen to be building, that's where you can very quickly have the ground move out underneath you.”
“We have to continue to be aggressive.”
As the conversation wrapped up, Brian reflected on the company’s momentum and what it will take to keep building on that foundation.
“We have to continue to be aggressive. We have to look for opportunities and deploy capital so that we can bring leading technology to market and continue to drive massive value for our customers. I think if we do that, and we push and deploy capital in the right places to do that, we’ll continue to be successful. And our customers will be, too.”
Watch the Full Conversation
Watch the full fireside chat among Qasar, Peter, and Brian for more on the changing dynamics of capital markets and investment risk, the unique challenges of financing deep tech and AI-driven companies, and what drew Brian to join Applied Intuition.
Join the Team Shaping the Future of Intelligent Vehicles
Applied Intuition is growing rapidly and looking for experienced professionals across a variety of disciplines—including engineering, product management, finance, operations, and customer success. If you’re driven by technical excellence, innovation, and solving complex challenges at scale, there could be a place for you here. Explore opportunities with us as we build the future of intelligent vehicles across industries such as automotive, trucking, mining, and defense.
