Ng Kai Yuan is the co-founder of Our Grandfather Story: a Singapore-based digital publisher dedicated to uncovering timeless and overlooked stories across Southeast Asia.

Founded in 2017 with three other co-founders, Our Grandfather Story started as a school project! More specifically, an assignment for an Advance Photojournalism module at Nanyang Technological University. All four college students were tasked with coming up with a digital startup and the first video they created was on Singapore’s distinctive green & pink ice-cream sandwich bread. 

To their surprise, the video went viral! And after acquiring investors (while still in college) and big corporate clients including Nippon Paint, Temasek Holdings & Singapore’s National Heritage Board, the four friends decided to turn their assignment into a real startup.

And in this STIMY episode, Kai Yuan shares exactly how that happened. 

Highlights:

4:51: Getting an advance photojournalism assignment that sparked the genesis of Our Grandfather Story

6:40: Why they named it ‘Our Grandfather Story”

7:17: Coming up with the concept of Singapore’s Ice-cream bread video, which went viral!

10:50: Turning a college assignment into a full-fledged digital media publishing company, OGS

11:30: Obtaining a seed investment of $50,000

12:09: Reaction from friends & family

14:46: Securing corporate clients without any track record

17:20: Managing budget while growing the team in the early days of OGS

18:18: OGS’ target market

20:16: Focusing on food content

23:11: How OGS uncovered “untold” stories

24:06: The most unique & “kepo” way that OGS has used to obtain a story

26:22: OGS’ biggest success - the Can Ask Meh? Series

28:56: How OGS created the video on “Parents Who Lost a Child” for the Can Ask Meh series

30:35: Remaining sensitive to the questions asked

32:57: Creating O+ - the animation illustration arm of OGS

34:38: Creating the Something Private podcast

37:13: How OGS has gained its dedicated following - in 3 years, OGS has grown to over 300k on Facebook, 250k on YouTube & 70k on Instagram. 

39:07: Sharing Southeast Asian stories during the COVID-19 pandemic

40:01: Who OGS is looking for to join the team

41:34: Maintaining relationships with the people they meet for OGS stories

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/37

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