John G. Tang
Executive Advisor | Fractional Executive | Product & Manufacturing Strategist
John Tang is a technology and product executive with more than four decades of experience turning ideas into successful products, organizations, and businesses. His career spans early-stage companies, high-growth ventures, and some of the world’s most influential technology companies, including Apple, Amazon Lab126, Sonos, Palm, Butterfly Network, HP, and Trimble Navigation. He co-founded Think Outside, Inc. and most recently served as CEO of CLIQ Products.
John’s experience is unusual in its breadth. He began as a hands-on mechanical engineer and product designer (B.S., UC Berkeley) and progressed through engineering management, product development, manufacturing and operations leadership to senior executive and CEO responsibilities. As a result, he can work comfortably with engineers on difficult technical problems, with operations teams on manufacturing and supply-chain execution, and with founders, CEOs, and boards on organizational and business strategy.
Manufacturing and supply chain
John has spent more than 30 years developing products with overseas manufacturing partners, especially in Asia, working with large manufacturers such as Foxconn, Inventec, Foxlink and Luxshare, as well as small, specialized suppliers, across OEM, ODM and JDM models. At Apple he worked with Inventec on the Newton and eMate 300, and with Foxconn and Foxlink on first-generation iPhone accessories. At Amazon Lab126 he worked with Foxconn, and at Butterfly Network he ramped manufacturing and supply chain to 5x capacity in under a year. Today he advises Luxshare.
Understanding the manufacturing technology, the process and the cultural nuances lets him bridge product brand companies and their manufacturing supply chains, from tooling and supplier development through production ramp, cost, quality and sustaining.
Think Outside LLC, currently takes on selective advisory, board advisory and fractional executive engagements rather than full-time operating roles.
The value he brings isn’t one discipline. It’s the perspective of a career spent building products, building teams, scaling manufacturing and making decisions where technology and business meet.
About the name
Think Outside LLC takes its name from Think Outside, Inc., the company John co-founded in 1998 to create the Stowaway folding keyboard.
Based in Santa Barbara, California.
