Larry Chen

Larry Chen (陈向东) is the founder, chairman, and CEO of Gaotu Techedu (高途集团, formerly 跟谁学), an online education company he established in June 2014 . He spent 14 years at New Oriental, joining in 1999 and rising from teacher to executive president, a trajectory that made him "one of the people who understands education best in the industry" . His founding team for Gaotu blended education and technology backgrounds, including former Baidu "Fengchao" system engineer Zhang Huaiting . The company went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2019, a milestone Chen treated as "just a new starting point" . During a difficult period around 2017, he retreated from external exposure to focus deeply on operations, personally evaluating every expense and holding weekly face-to-face meetings with staff . As of 2024, he remained active as a mentor figure in startup circles, joining BlueRun Ventures' Buming Startup Camp as a guest contributor .