He graduated from Brown University and Columbia Law School, and found success as a lawyer and entrepreneur before gaining mainstream attention as a candidate in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries.

[4] Media outlets described Yang as both a dark horse and a novelty candidate during the 2020 election cycle, rising from relatively unknown to a major competitor in the race.

[22] His father graduated with a PhD in physics and worked in the research labs of IBM and General Electric, generating over 50 patents in his career.

[19] After graduating from law school, Yang began his career as a corporate attorney at Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York City.

[33] In February 2000, Yang joined his office mate, Jonathan Philips, in launching Stargiving, a website for celebrity-affiliated philanthropic fundraising.

[19] After working in the healthcare industry for four years, Yang left MMF Systems to join his friend Zeke Vanderhoek at a small test preparation company, Manhattan Prep.

[23] In September 2019 testimony before the New York City Commission on Gender Equity, former employee Kimberly Watkins testified that Yang had fired her because he felt that she would not work as hard after getting married.

[40] In an appearance on The View, Yang said, "I've had so many phenomenal women leaders that have elevated me and my organizations at every phase of my career, and if I was that kind of person I would never have had any success.

"[41] In November, a former employee of Yang's at Manhattan GMAT filed a lawsuit against him for allegedly paying her less than her male co-workers and subsequently firing her for asking for a raise.

Yang and another female employee at the company disputed the anonymous woman's claim that she was in an equivalent position to the male co-workers she cited.

[42] Following Kaplan's acquisition of Manhattan Prep in late 2009, Yang began to work on creating a new nonprofit fellowship program, Venture for America (VFA), which he founded in 2011.

In 2011, Yang was recognized by "Champions of Change", a White House program that honored 500 people from every state for extraordinary work in their communities.

[52] Yang stepped down from his position as CEO of VFA in March 2017 but continued to advise startups aligned with his signature policy of universal basic income during his presidential campaign.

[57] After the Trump administration said it was considering a form of basic income in response to the pandemic, Yang announced that he had been in touch with the White House and had offered his team's services.

[58] On March 20, CNN reported that Humanity Forward would soon spend $1 million on $1,000 monthly payments to 500 low-income households in the Bronx during the crisis.

[59] On August 3, Yang announced that his organization was partnering with The $1K Project, an online network that helps identify families in need, who will be awarded three months of $1,000 payments.

[61] On February 17, 2022, Yang announced the launch of a Web3 community whose membership token fees would be used to fund lobbying work on behalf of Web3, blockchain, and cryptocurrency interests on Capitol Hill.

[62] The announcement has been met with some criticism in part due to Yang's continued launches of organizations in addition to the skepticism around cryptocurrency ventures.

"[71][72] Initially considered a longshot, Yang's campaign gained significant momentum in February 2019 following an appearance on the popular podcast The Joe Rogan Experience.

[73][74][23] On the podcast, Yang emphasized several libertarian-leaning policies that contributed to his growing popularity, such as his support for decriminalizing drugs, data privacy rights, and ending corporate welfare, all of which focus on reducing government intervention in personal lives and the economy.

[89][90] Several news outlets called Yang the most surprising candidate of the election cycle, going from relative obscurity to a national contender who outlasted several well-known politicians.

[100] On multiple occasions, news media disproportionally omitted Yang from election coverage or presented misleading data about his standing in polls.

[119] Initially left out of the list of confirmed speakers for the 2020 Democratic National Convention, Yang expressed his dissatisfaction on Twitter stating that he "kind of expected to speak" at the event.

[122] In November 2020, Yang announced that he and his wife were moving to Atlanta to assist Raphael Warnock's and Jon Ossoff's campaigns in the January 2021 Georgia Senate runoff elections.

[124] In Yang's book Forward: Notes on the Future of Our Democracy, he writes that he interviewed with Biden's transition team for the role of United States Secretary of Labor.

[127] Yang had reportedly told city leaders that he intended to run for mayor[128] after polling obtained by the New York Post showed him leading the field, with 20% of New Yorkers saying they would support his candidacy.

In June 2023, Yang announced he had donated to Chris Christie's 2024 presidential campaign, in an effort to help qualify him for the upcoming Republican primary debates.

[161] After Trump's win in the U.S. Presidential election, Politico reached out to Yang and other Democratic thinkers to see what they thought the party needed to do to improve itself.

Yang's response was featured in a Politico article where he proposed that the Democrats should apologize for sandbagging Bernie Sanders in the 2016 primary, name Dean Phillips the new chair of the DNC for being the only Democrat with the character to sacrifice his career for the good of the country, apologize for not having a competitive primary this year, to back the Local Journalism Sustainability Act to provide a path for local journalism, back the Fair Representation Act as a way to fight gerrymandering and give voice to voters in the minority party of a district, and abandon policing cultural behaviors to instead focusing their political capital on improving Americans' standard of living.

"[163] The Yang family lives in a rental apartment in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan,[164] and also owns a home in New Paltz, New York, that they purchased in 2015.