Nolan Hu

Founder, Hacker, Visionary
Like a ghost in the shell, I see beyond the data.

Profile Image

Origin Story

I’ve been taking things apart since I could hold a screwdriver. That curiosity led me through a decade in financial services—building data pipelines at JPMorgan, automating workflows at HSBC, and managing cyber risk at BNY Mellon. Along the way, I earned a BlackHat USA scholarship, competed in CTFs, and realized that the most interesting problems live at the intersection of security, data, and automation.

Now I’m the founder of Sigma Synapses, where I build AI-powered business solutions. Same curiosity, bigger playground. I take enterprise-grade engineering experience and combine it with modern LLMs, RAG architecture, and workflow automation to help businesses actually ship things.

Brooklyn-based. Bilingual in English and Cantonese/Mandarin.

For the full career breakdown—experience, skills, and awards—check out 0xCareer.

Philosophy

I believe in building. Not planning to build, not talking about building—actually shipping things. Hackathons taught me that constraints create clarity. Give me 24 hours and a problem, and I’ll give you a working solution.

I also believe that the best engineers understand business. Data without context is noise. Automation without strategy is overhead. The goal isn’t to write clever code—it’s to solve real problems.

Beyond the Code

Tech is what I do. It’s not all I am.

Apex for Youth (2016-2023) — I mentored an immigrant student from middle school through high school graduation. Seven years of showing up, helping with homework, navigating college apps, and being someone they could count on.

CPC Leadership Council (2020-2024) — Served on the advisory board supporting youth development programs in the Chinese-American community. Facilitated emotional intelligence workshops and helped with fundraising initiatives.

JPMorgan Force for Good (2017-2018) — Volunteered with the Coalition for the Homeless, helping fix their shelter locator and modernize nonprofit tech infrastructure.

Hacker Cred

The resume says “computer systems technology.” The reality is I’ve been in the security community for over a decade:

Fun Facts

// dev.log - you found the hidden log. nice.

[2025-11-11 11:11:11] First puer tea of the day. Ready to ship.
[2025-09-09 03:33:33] 3am debugging hits different. Found the race condition.
[2025-06-22 04:20:00] Automated another workflow. One less thing to think about.
[2025-03-28 09:09:09] Hackathon submitted at 4:19am. We won.
[2024-11-22 22:22:22] Finally understood why they call it "technical debt."
[2024-04-20 16:20:00] Refactored 2000 lines into 200. Less is more.
[2023-09-03 03:06:09] The bug was a missing await. Three hours. Three.
[2023-06-06 06:06:06] Note to self: "it works on my machine" is not a deployment strategy.