# STAT+: He grew up near Boston, went to Harvard, and worked at MIT. Why did he found his startup in California?

> Source: <https://www.statnews.com/2026/08/07/why-did-this-boston-entrepreneur-found-his-biotech-startup-in-california/?utm_campaign=rss>
> Published: 2026-08-07 08:30:00+00:00

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — By all rights, [Felix Wong](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/05/04/business/california-startup-with-mit-roots-harnessing-ai-target-age-related-diseases/) and his company should be in Massachusetts.

Wong, 33, was born in Quincy, graduated from Braintree High School, and spent a decade living in Cambridge, where he earned two degrees from Harvard and worked as a post-doc at MIT. His parents still live in Massachusetts, and he now leads a startup in biotech, [an industry Boston has owned](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/01/08/business/life-sciences-biotech-massachusetts-jp-morgan/) for the better part of two decades.

But on a recent Wednesday, Wong was in sunny Silicon Valley, walking in the shade of the jacaranda trees near the hiking trail outside his office and reflecting on the** **creative spirit of California.

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