FoundersOperators, strategy & lessons
Singapore founder named Jensen Huang says Nvidia CEO's resignation drove traffic to his AI startup
A 24-year-old Singapore software engineer who shares Jensen Huang's name says joking LinkedIn posts about the Nvidia CEO's November 12 resignation went viral, sending about 5,000 visitors to his AI startup Lycana's website and converting some into paying subscribers.
From the Business Insider · Startups article of November 13, 2026 and cited sources: The founder says his tongue-in-cheek LinkedIn posts about the resignation spread widely, bringing roughly 5,000 visitors to Lycana's website, some of whom bought subscriptions. [3] [1]
SOURCES[3] My name is also Jensen Huang… (Business Insider via Yahoo) yahoo.com[1] My name is also Jensen Huang. His bad press is bringing me… businessinsider.com
AT Pulse research deskPublished · Updated · 4 min read · AI-assisted analysisAI-assisted, not human-edited. Methodology Corrections Who owns this site
- What happened
- The founder says his tongue-in-cheek LinkedIn posts about the resignation spread widely, bringing roughly 5,000 visitors to Lycana's website, some of whom bought subscriptions. [3] [1]
- Original source
- Business Insider · Startups article, independent perspective
- Brief by
- AT Pulse research desk AI-assisted; publisher and contact on the desk page
- When
- November 13, 2026 article published
- Covered
- Nov 13 edition
- Evidence
- 8 sources across 8 sites
- 1My name is also Jensen Huang. His bad press is bringing me…businessinsider.com
- 2NVIDIA Form 8-K, CEO transition (SEC)sec.gov
- 3My name is also Jensen Huang… (Business Insider via Yahoo)yahoo.com
- 4NBC News: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resignsnbcnews.com
- 5Yahoo Finance live updates: third affair allegationfinance.yahoo.com
- 6Technology.org: Huang resigns after 33 yearstechnology.org
Reach: not measured yet
The founder says his tongue-in-cheek LinkedIn posts about the resignation spread widely, bringing roughly 5,000 visitors to Lycana's website, some of whom bought subscriptions. The 5,000 figure counts web visits, not customers. [3] [1]
Nvidia's SEC filing confirms the leadership change behind the attention. Huang stepped down as CEO and director effective immediately on November 12, 2026. CFO Colette Kress became interim CEO and Harvey C. Jones became the company's first board chair. The resignation followed reports of extramarital relationships. [2] [4] [5]
The shared name cuts both ways. It previously helped him stand out at job interviews and networking events, but he worries that some social media users now mistake him for the former Nvidia chief, which could blur his professional identity. [3]
one interview describing a traffic spike, with figures reported only by the founder.
Read the full assessment
Implication: viral attention around a famous person's scandal can surface an early-stage startup, but traffic alone says nothing about conversion, retention or lasting traction.
Executive brief
The real Jensen Huang resigned as Nvidia CEO on November 12, 2026 after reports of several affairs. A 24-year-old Singapore software engineer with the same name says the scandal has helped his small AI startup, Lycana. He says his joking LinkedIn posts about the resignation went viral and brought a spike of about 5,000 visitors to his website, and that some of those visitors bought subscriptions (Business Insider via Yahoo). That is the founder's own account. No independent report backs it up, and no funding, revenue or product details for Lycana have been made public.
What changed and event timeline
Spring 2026: Rubio memo
NBC reports that Secretary of State Marco Rubio circulated a memo describing US intelligence that Huang was romantically involved with someone linked to Chinese intelligence services ().
Memo reported; first affair admitted
The New York Times and Financial Times reported on the memo (). Huang admitted the relationship with Alice Huang, a Megaspeed executive ().
Second affair reported
The Times reported a relationship with a married Nvidia executive who reported directly to Huang. NBC says this appears to break company conduct rules ().
Resignation
Nvidia's 8-K filing says Huang left as CEO and as a director, effective immediately. CFO Colette Kress became interim CEO and Harvey C. Jones became the company's first board chair ().
The other Jensen Huang
Business Insider published its interview with the Singapore founder about the business boost from sharing the name ().
Capabilities and access
- Lycana: described only as an AI startup that sells subscriptions. Its product, model stack, pricing and customers are not described (Yahoo/BI). No other coverage of Lycana turned up.
- Venture details: no funding round, valuation or investors have been announced or reported, so none can be confirmed.
Technical analysis for researchers and developers
No technical documentation, model card, benchmark or code exists for Lycana in the reviewed sources, so its architecture and claims cannot be assessed. The only technical angle in the wider story is policy: the US Department of Justice is reportedly investigating chip smuggling linked to Megaspeed (Yahoo Finance live). That could affect export controls on AI accelerators.
Read the full section
No technical documentation, model card, benchmark or code exists for Lycana in the reviewed sources, so its architecture and claims cannot be assessed. The 5,000-visitor figure is a web-traffic number, not a product metric. It says nothing about how many visitors became customers or stayed. The only technical angle in the wider story is policy: the US Department of Justice is reportedly investigating chip smuggling linked to Megaspeed (Yahoo Finance live). That could affect export controls on AI accelerators.
Claims and evidence
- Resignation, interim CEO and new chair: confirmed by Nvidia's SEC filing. The filing gives no reason for the departure (SEC 8-K).
- The affairs: reported by the NYT, FT and Reuters, as relayed by NBC and Yahoo Finance. Huang publicly said he had been unfaithful to his wife.
- The 5,000-visitor spike and new subscriptions: self-reported by the founder and not corroborated (Yahoo/BI).
Read the full section
- Resignation, interim CEO and new chair: confirmed by Nvidia's SEC filing. The filing gives no reason for the departure (SEC 8-K).
- The affairs: reported by the NYT, FT and Reuters, as relayed by NBC and Yahoo Finance. Huang publicly said he had been unfaithful to his wife.
- The 5,000-visitor spike and new subscriptions: self-reported by the founder and not corroborated (Yahoo/BI).
- Market impact: NBC reports shares fell 4.3% on the day and about 11% for the week, erasing roughly $500 billion in value (NBC). Yahoo puts the loss at $490 billion, with shares down as much as 13% during the day before recovering (Yahoo Finance).
Context and prior work
Huang co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and ran it for 33 years (Technology.org). Before the scandal, the Singapore founder says the shared name already helped him get noticed. At job interviews, AI companies asked him whether he had any spare GPUs, and people at networking events remembered him as "the Nvidia CEO" (Yahoo/BI).
Read the full section
Huang co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and ran it for 33 years (Technology.org). Before the scandal, the Singapore founder says the shared name already helped him get noticed. At job interviews, AI companies asked him whether he had any spare GPUs, and people at networking events remembered him as "the Nvidia CEO" (Yahoo/BI). Commentators have framed the downfall as a major turning point for the industry (Derek Thompson).
Limitations, safety and contested findings
- The founder is worried that some social media users mistook him for the former Nvidia CEO, which could blur his professional identity (Yahoo/BI).
- Accounts of the board's timing differ. The Washington Post says the investigation was announced days earlier (WaPo).
- The third relationship is reported by Reuters through Yahoo's live coverage. Reuters could not reach the woman for comment, and Nvidia declined to comment.
Read the full section
- The founder is worried that some social media users mistook him for the former Nvidia CEO, which could blur his professional identity (Yahoo/BI).
- Accounts of the board's timing differ. NBC says the board announced an investigation on the same day Huang resigned (NBC). The Washington Post says the investigation was announced days earlier (WaPo).
- The third relationship is reported by Reuters through Yahoo's live coverage. Reuters could not reach the woman for comment, and Nvidia declined to comment.
Business and practitioner implications
- Attention is not the same as business. Riding a viral news moment can bring traffic quickly.
- Brand confusion around a public scandal can hurt as easily as it helps, so founders should make clear they are not the famous person.
- Nvidia's buyers and partners: the company now has a CFO as interim CEO, a newly created chair role, and DOJ and congressional scrutiny under way (Yahoo Finance).
Read the full section
- Attention is not the same as business. Riding a viral news moment can bring traffic quickly. Without data on conversion and retention, the founder's account is an anecdote, not evidence of traction.
- Name collisions carry risk. Brand confusion around a public scandal can hurt as easily as it helps, so founders should make clear they are not the famous person.
- Nvidia's buyers and partners: the company now has a CFO as interim CEO, a newly created chair role, and DOJ and congressional scrutiny under way (Yahoo Finance). Expect added governance and export-control attention around GPU supply.
The source trail.
Sources (8)
My name is also Jensen Huang. His bad press is bringing me good business.
Feed excerpt only.
businessinsider.com