Daniel Kan
CEO and co-founder of Fifth Door
Daniel Kan co-founded Cruise, the self-driving car company that went through Y Combinator in Winter 2014 and was bought by General Motors in 2016. He ran its operations as COO and later served as chief product officer until he resigned in November 2023. Earlier he co-founded Exec, an on-demand errands and cleaning service sold to Handybook in 2014. Since January 2025 he has run Fifth Door, which lets people make and play games with AI.
- Self-driving cars
Cruise
Fifth Door
Y Combinator
- AI games
- Now
- CEO and co-founder, Fifth Door4
- Founded
- Exec (Y Combinator Winter 2012), Cruise (Winter 2014), Fifth Door (Fall 2025)2
- Education
- BA, Claremont McKenna College4
- Based
- San Francisco Bay Area4
Experience
- CEO and Co-founderJan 2025 – now
Fifth Door lets people create, share and play games with AI. It is in Y Combinator's Fall 2025 batch and is based in San Francisco.3
- Co-founder and Chief Product OfficerUntil 2024
TechCrunch reported his resignation on November 19, 2023, in its story on CEO Kyle Vogt's resignation. His LinkedIn profile gives 2024 as the end of his time at Cruise.5
- Co-founder and COOFrom 2014
Joined shortly after Cruise's March 2014 Y Combinator Demo Day to run operations. After General Motors bought Cruise in 2016, he and Kyle Vogt became senior directors at GM.9
- Co-founderAug 2011 – Jan 2014
Designed the operations processes for Exec Instant and Exec Cleaning, and built the operations team that hired and managed more than 600 contractors.4
- Founder2011
Built iPhone apps for restaurants; he shut the company down within months after Apple required its apps to be combined into one.10
- Business Development4Jun 2009 – May 2011
- Research Fellow4Apr 2007 – May 2009
- Production Intern4May 2007 – Jul 2007
Education
BA, double major in Economics and Psychology, minor in Leadership; cum laude, Psi Chi Psychology Honors4
Recognition
Award · Fortune8
Milestones
- Production intern at Justin.tv for the summer4
- Graduated from Claremont McKenna College and joined UserVoice in San Francisco10
- Started Appetizely, then Exec10
- Handybook bought Exec in an equity deal valued at less than $10 million6
- Joined Cruise (YC Winter 2014) to run operations9
- General Motors agreed to buy Cruise Automation, in a deal Fortune's source valued at more than $1 billion7
- Named No. 7 on Fortune's 40 Under 40 list, with Kyle Vogt8
- Resigned from Cruise, where he was chief product officer5
- Started Fifth Door as CEO and co-founder4
- Fifth Door joined Y Combinator's Fall 2025 batch3