Everyone wants to start a community while Bryan Pham (with his co-founder, Maggie Chui) has grown a global community from 0 to 200,000+ in 3 years! 😱 

#casual

Best of all?

It started as a “screw you” moment. 😅

In all seriousness, Bryan is the founder of Asian Hustle Network (“AHN”), AHNF & AHN Ventures. 

And has had quite the unconventional journey:

😮Bryan’s parents fled the Vietnam War & taught him that investments and business were taboo

😮He worked as a software engineer & realised that companies didn’t have his back; you’d be fired even if you’d been working there for 20 years!

😮He tried an Amazon selling side hustle - and lost $22k

Although:

🔥His roommate got him into property investment - and he made $200k+ from his first sale!

🔥He built a real estate investment community of 2,000 in 2 years in the Bay Area.

But for 4 years, Bryan had been thinking about his why. And found himself wanting to build something for the Asian community.

A trip to the Meiji Shrine gave his idea the spark, a rejection gave it the light (you’ll have to listen to find out what! 😏), and within 3 days of AHN being born, the Asian Hustle Network had 1,000 members.

👀 In 11 months: 60k members

👀In 1.5 years: 100k+ members

👀In 2 years: 120k+ members

Talk about fulfilling a need! 😱

But things weren’t easy: 

☹️Bryan was receiving hate messages (and wanted to quit after 8 months) 

☹️ AHN wasn’t profitable for years.

Things have since turned around

🔥AHN is incorporated in the USA, Singapore & Australia;

🔥Has its own venture fund;

🔥Also runs a non-profit fund; and

🔥Has expanded into Southeast Asia!

To learn the details of this transformation, how AHN grew from a Facebook group to a massive global super connector platform & Bryan’s lesson from launching the Hate Is A Movement, just listen to the latest episode 113 on the So This Is My Why podcast!

And do let us know what you think. 😊

Highlights:

• 2:17 Growing up with $25
• 4:02 Investments & business were taboo at home!
• 5:31 Why computer science?
• 6:45 Companies aren’t loyal 😕
• 9:43 Starting his side hustle & losing $22,000 😫
• 12:01 Getting into real estate investment
• 18:04 When you’re less reliant on your job, you start seeing what’s wrong with it
• 20:17 I don’t need to be an employee!
• 22:47 Depressed over finding the meaning of life
• 27:03 The Asian community is divided
• 31:04 Asian Hustle Network’s mission
• 32:35 Being inspired by the Meiji Shrine
• 34:33 Going viral (thanks, Subtle Asian Traits!)
• 39:14 How do you make everyone feel like they belong?
• 41:11 Wanting to quit after 8 months
• 41:43 Hate Is A Virus movement
• 45:44 Running successful events
• 48:51 The trick to networking
• 50:09 Constantly innovating
• 51:18 Becoming profitable
• 53:04 Sponsorships
• 55:00 Moving to Southeast Asia
• 57:57 Difference to EST Media
• 58:46 The Vietnamese Way
• 1:03:11 Bing Chen of Gold House

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/113 

 💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter that deconstructs how you build a portfolio career to prepare yourself for the future of work: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

🥳STIMY episodes are now open to sponsorship! Just email [email protected] to find out more.

We've heard from Eric Sim all week.

In Part 1, we learned about his journey from working at his father's prawn noodle hawker stall to becoming the Managing Director at UBS Investment Bank.

In Part 2, Eric explains why he left it all behind, the importance of building a portfolio career, why LinkedIn & his secret to building a 2.9 million following on LinkedIn!

In today's special episode, we asked Eric questions that came from YOU, the STIMY listeners!

• 1:10 Framework to evaluate opportunities [Lily Wu]
• 4:10 What is Eric Sim's life purpose? [Sam Huen]
• 5:12 What does the creator economy look like in 3 years & what's 1 action that people can take to best position themselves for it? [Lester Chng]
• 8:36 Lessons learned after writing his book, Small Actions Leading Your Career to Big Success [Craig Davis]

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/112-questions 

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter that deconstructs how you build a portfolio career to prepare yourself for the future of work: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

Eric had the world at his feet.

He had gone from selling prawn noodles at his father's hawker stall in Singapore to becoming the Managing Director of UBS Investment Bank.

So why did he throw it all away? 😱

What comes after all that?

For Eric, a lot more.

He was constantly learning skills & combining them in unique ways. From learning to sail to video editing and becoming LinkedIn's top influencer in both Singapore and China thanks to his 2.9 MILLION followers.

In this Part 2, we dive into Eric's life after banking.

How we can & should all be building a portfolio career. Why LinkedIn. His book writing journey & the crazy way he sells his books in China.

If you feel stuck in your career, or don't know how to stand out from your peers, then this is the roadmap to adopt. 😉

Highlights:

• 2:39 Why stop being the Managing Director?
• 3:53 Pursuing a portfolio career
• 5:57 The start of Eric’s LinkedIn journey in Hong Kong
• 7:45 Content pillars
• 9:13 How do you gain 2.9 million LinkedIn followers?!
• 10:01 Why LinkedIn?
• 13:59 Where’s the line?
• 16:13 Building community
• 22:16 Small Actions
• 25:20 Should I write a book?
• 26:44 Self-publication & Kinokuniya’s Kenny Chan
• 28:42 Marketing
• 30:29 What’s the China market like?

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/112-2

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter that deconstructs how you build a portfolio career to prepare yourself for the future of work: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

How does a shy boy with no social skills, who failed his mathematics & went to school smelling of prawns every day... become the Managing Director of UBS?

Just ask Eric Sim.

The truth is:

❌ Eric didn't just fail his maths.

He also failed his English Literature & History papers and had to work at his father's prawn noodle shop before going to school.

❌ He bombed his first job in FX Sales role at DBS Bank.

❌ He failed all his job interviews in London (which he attended wearing a chicken suit!).

But Eric's story doesn't end there.

He:

✅ Figured out how to leverage on his unique background, i.e. as the son of a hawker & bartender, to build a unique personal brand & score his first job;

✅ Found an amazing boss, Prasanna Thombre, who believed in him & gave him all the international opportunities he needed; and

✅ Built relationships that meant that his future jobs were all referred to him.

Eric learned very quickly that you need to do more than just your job to thrive.

And we talked about the cultural nuances of working in different Asian cities (including Ulaanbaatar!), what it meant to be the Managing Director, why he would go to the same restaurant x4 a week!! & how he networks to build the relationships he needs.

Highlights:

• 2.52: Forced to drink oat milk & selling prawn noodles
• 5:27 Carving potatoes was a lie!
• 6:43 Developing an inferiority complex (+ learning everything!)
• 9:16 Sending an unsolicited application to DBS Bank
• 12:35 Restarting his career at Lancaster University
• 14:36 Wearing a chicken suit for interviews at London's financial banks
• 16:15 The Asian Financial Crisis & Prasanna Thombre
• 20:53 Moving to Citi
• 23:41 Working in Shanghai & witnessing the liberalisation of China's financial sector
• 24:52 Chinese business culture
• 25:55 Cigarettes
• 28:09 The importance of being friends with all the chefs
• 30:31 Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
• 31:38 Why Eric keeps getting referrals for jobs
• 32:33 Why Citi was Eric's dream job
• 35:09 Did the wealthy look down at Eric?
• 37:11 Why being a hawker's son helped Eric as a banker
• 40:14 Meeting Hawker Chan
• 42:53 Becoming Managing Director at UBS (investment banking)
• 44:30 Was Eric a successful MD?

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/112 

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter that deconstructs how you build a portfolio career to prepare yourself for the future of work: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

P/S: Part 2 of Eric's episode comes out this WEDNESDAY! And we talked about why Eric left his high-flying role as Managing Director, how he built a 2.9 million LinkedIn follower count, the importance of personal branding & building a second career, and his journey as a published author in Asia and specifically, China.

Amanda Cua is the founder of Backscoop: the hottest newsletter covering all things in the Southeast Asian startup industry.

She’s only 20 years old but:

• Backscoop has already crossed 10,000 subscribers;
• Has attracted funding from Buko Ventures;
• Been featured on CNN; and
• Has moderated a Wild Digital firechat with Jaeson Ma of 88Rising & OP3N.

All this - with no college degree.

Who said COVID-19 pandemic projects can’t go far? 😉

But if you listen to this STIMY episode, you’ll soon realise that Backscoop is so much more than a mere side project. 

Amanda envisions it to be a regional media company for the people in Southeast Asian tech.

So if you’re interested in what drives Amanda, what it takes to run a newsletter that publishes x5/week (it now has a podcast!) & also what’s happening in the Southeast Asian startup space, then this is the episode for you.

Highlights:

• 7:00 Deciding to not go to university
• 10:11 Maximising her gap year
• 15:53 Cold outreach tactics
• 17:38 Launching her own startup, Backscoop
• 20:36 Why Southeast Asia (and not APAC)?
• 26:59 Researching other newsletters
• 29:58 The different iterations of Backscoop
• 31:24 Dropping Soft Serve
• 32:44 Most effective growth strategy
• 34:34 Getting over stagnant growth
• 35:56 Building a regional media company
• 37:26 Trends in the Southeast Asian tech scene
• 39:36 Accepting investment from Buko Ventures
• 43:39 Launching a new product, One More Scoop
• 44:55 What’s the value proposition?
• 47:02 Serendipity
• 49:37 Personal branding
• 53:42 Competitor that Amanda admires & why

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/111

🍦Subscribe to Backscoop: https://sparklp.co/p/9c1a338c2c 

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter that deconstructs how you can find success & build a portfolio career on your own terms: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

✍🏻 Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

Welcome to Part 2 of Ian Lee's episode.

In Part 2, we talked all about how we should measure our lives. How Ian Lee pivoted from art to design then investment banking and consulting. How cancer changed his life. Why we shouldn’t make 10 year long-term plans and instead, pursue the things that interest us most in 12-18 month increments & so much more!

This episode, deals with all things web3.

From going into banking to being tasked with finding out about bitcoin, how he ended up being the Head of Crypto & Blockchain, all things decentralised social networks and what he's now trying to achieve at Syndicate.

Highlights:

• 2:26 Being ridiculed by bankers
• 4:56 Learning about Bitcoin
• 11:37 Attending Bitcoin conferences as a "suspicious" person
• 13:38 Forking the Bitcoin network with Citi coin
• 17:43 Leaving Citi
• 18:45 Being crushed by... Ethereum?!
• 24:40 Joining IDEO
• 27:15 Meeting his co-founder, Will
• 32:33 Creating the YouTube of web3 investment
• 40:15 Collectives
• 42:32 Working towards Balaji's vision of a network stake?
• 44:08 Singapore rice dishes
• 47:44 Does everyone have just 1 calling?

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/110

💌  Weekly Newsletter that deconstructs how you can find success & purpose on your own terms: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

P/S: Did you know that STIMY is on YouTube?! Please do subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/c/SoThisIsMyWhy

Ian Lee is the co-founder of Syndicate: a decentralised investing protocol & social network by the likes of A16Z, IDEO, Kleiner Perkins, Uniswap, Coinbase, Opensea, circle & Ledger. He is also the former founding member of IDEO Colab and Head of crypto & blockchain at Citi.

But before all that, he was an artist. 

Then a designer. Before pivoting into marketing & advertising, investment banking and finally, consulting.

Where he ended up being diagnosed with cancer. 

His world shrunk into 3 month timeframes, because he just didn’t know if he would live beyond each three month period. 

Ian’s worldview changed. He was and remains afraid to try new things. 

In Part 1 of Episode 110, our discussion centres around the fundamental question of: How do we measure our life?

Opening with a viral Tweet that Ian wrote, inspired by a Harvard Professor called Clayton Christensen where he learned that: 

The best strategy in life is an emergent one.

Don’t plan life in 5-10 year spans. Instead go all-in on what you have the most conviction, passion & excitement for in 12-18 month increments.

You’ll learn more, grow faster & outperform others not as into it as you.

You’ll learn how and why in this episode, and so very much more in this episode with Ian Lee.

Highlights:

• 2:41 Don’t plan your life in 5 to 10 year spans
• 3:49 Going to art school instead of science?!
• 6:07 Being diagnosed with cancer
• 7:43 Living in 2 to 3 month increments
• 9:26 Exploring rabbit holes
• 19:10 Life isn’t a linear progression
• 20:36 Letting go of his need for obsessive planning
• 22:15 Is there a place for long term vision and planning?
• 24:38 Would Ian really do anything differently?
• 27:59 Knowing when to quit
• 30:44 How to plan for a pivot
• 35:39 Juggling art and business in his CV
• 42:45 Mentors
• 48:53 Fostering relationships with mentors

P/S: Part 1 of the interview with Ian Lee comes out this Wednesday! Where we talk all about Ian’s deep dive into the world of investment banking & web3.

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/110

💌 Weekly Newsletter that deconstructs how you can find success & purpose on your own terms: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

If you want to hear from someone who: 

❓Helped purchase Lehman Brothers (US) for £1.75 billion;

❓Built out the equity practice in Europe for Barclays Capital;

❓Worked for Tony Blair, the former Prime Minister of the UK; and

❓Now works as the General Counsel in a web3 company that builds core blockchain infrastructure?

Then STIMY’s latest episode with Chrissy Hill, General Counsel at Parity Technologies, is not one you want to miss! 

Chrissy shares her journey from South Carolina into the web3 space, and some of the milestones in her career, including:

• 2:33 Being the baby of the family
• 5:23 A legacy of lawyers
• 7:26 Working at Linklaters’ London office
• 8:49 Becoming the Director of Compliance at Barclays Capital
• 13:38 Purchasing Lehman Brothers (US) for £1.75 billion
• 15:24 Working for Tony Blair at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change
• 18:22 Working at a mission-driven organisation
• 21:21 Entering the web3 space
• 23:16 The concept of privacy
• 27:02 Working at Parity Technologies
• 31:34 What does a web3 lawyer do?
• 34:59 Regulations coming in

So if you want to know what it’s like to be a top notch lawyer in the web3 space, this episode is for you!

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/109

🙊 Like STIMY? Buy us a ☕️?: https://beacons.ai/sothisismywhy 

💌 Weekly Newsletter on upcoming STIMY guests/interesting reads to make you smarter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062 

Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

It’s cool to be a YouTuber these days.

But how do you go pro?

What’s your life like?

And how much do you earn?!

To answer this over the Chinese New Year (hope everyone is feasting well!), we’ve got Gerald Sebastian - co-founder of Kok Bisa, which with 4.4 million subscribers makes them one of the biggest YouTubers in Asia!

In this episode, we learn how Gerald ended up being a full-time YouTuber, how they’ve built Kok Bisa, the kind of content that goes viral, their monetisation strategy & so much more. 

So if you wanna be a YouTuber, or just want to understand what it takes to produce the videos we binge on (don’t lie, I know you use YouTube 😝), then this is the STIMY episode for you!

Highlights:

• 2:30 Being a superhero
• 5:00 Asking questions nonstop
• 7:54 Finding his YouTube co-founder, Ketut Yoga Yudistira
• 9:54 Creating a different kind of content
• 11:19 What it takes to produce YouTube content
• 12:25 Going from 14 to 25,000 subscribers with 1 video!
• 13:35 Making videos to answer questions from the Kok Bisa audience
• 18:18 The reiteration process
• 19:21 The secret to going viral on YouTube
• 21:00 Humour
• 21:42 Indonesian meatballs
• 24:24 The importance of YouTube Shorts
• 25:25 How do you grab attention?
• 29:20 Becoming a full-time YouTuber
• 31:48 Deciding on the equity split
• 32:42 Questions to ask a potential co-founder
• 33:51 Navigating burnout & mental health issues
• 34:55 The different monetary streams they’ve created
• 36:23 How do you get sponsorship?
• 43:20 What’s next?
• 48:16 When do you use the “talking head”?

Descript: https://www.descript.com/?lmref=sjT9JA

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/108 

💌  Weekly Newsletter that deconstructs how you can find success & purpose on your own terms: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

✍🏻 Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442