| on queen's road, september 2009 |
| the remains of my desk, march 2012 |
the next few weeks in hong kong were spent in a haze of card-exchanging, glass clinking and coffee drinking. these informal meetings evolved into formal evaluations of those who would soon become our closest advisers and vendor relationships. for the first few days, i woke up early and stalked the campuses of every university in hong kong with a computer science department, making the 1.5 hour commute out to the boonies to scout for a developer/CTO. luckily my father, a lifetime career computer scientist, knew a few people from his conference travels so i had an inkling of where to look. my days of dressing up in converse and toting my ratty jansport around campus didn't last very long, because on my third trip, i met a masters' candidate who would soon become zaozao's chief developer. i conducted a group interview at the university, and immediately this one stood out. he was clearly hyper-intelligent and "got it", not just technically. he was also savvy and sharp, and initial conversations about life and pretty mundane things revealed that this young boy genius was special. this was one of two critical things that happened for ling and me to get to this point today. the other was finding an unexpected angel investor within the first month of our decision to start this venture. we pitched our idea to a high profile angel investor friend in singapore as well and received a verbal commitment, which provided additional encouragement.
| putting together my first ZAOZAO biz plan/presentation |
in early april, i made my annual trip back to the US. first, cambridge for <24 hours to attend the harvard identities fashion show, seeing it grow into its 6th year like a proud mamma bear. next, a few days back home to see family and friends. in new york, i also checked in with some HBS fashion-tech folks (of note was the burrito eating contest at dogpatch labs i witnessed when visiting the snapette girls) and from there headed to san francisco in attempt to be fully immersed in startup culture. pinterest. freewheel. quora. square. instagram. these were friends and friends of friends - it wasn't like hong kong, where i had try really hard to reach out and find such people. not surprisingly, entrepreneurs were everywhere. during this trip, i received an email from the future flatmate back in hong kong that i had arranged to move in with when i came back from the states. i was downsizing apartments because it no longer made sense to live in a place i could barely afford as a banker. plus, paying half the rent literally meant extending my savings for twice the time...it was a no brainer. anyway, the plan was to have her choose a place within the price/location range we discussed in the month that i would be gone, but it suddenly became clear why she hadn't still. she had a change of heart about living together, deciding not to move out of her current place after all, even though i had already packed my boxes and terminated my lease before going on my trip. great, i was about to be homeless.
| straight off 20+ hrs of travel. with designer jen kao at harvard |
upon returning to hk for a few days before heading out again to korea (gangnam-style), i met up with friends i hadn't seen since march to temporarily forget my less than ideal situation. this was fixable, i kept reminding myself. i couldn't really complain. to put things in perspective, ling was in the hospital doing a bone marrow transplant to save a life and here i was, temporarily sans shelter. numerous couch and bed offers were extended, and one very kind friend even handed her keys over, gaving me free reign to stay as long as i wanted to. that night, several gin and tonics in, i met a girl i'd encountered twice in hk before. i didn't know her very well but we had several mutual friends. we shared apartment woes. she had also recently moved out of her place but wasn't in a rush to find new one. since she had an extended trip to new york planned anyway, the issue of finding a new place had been put on the backburner.
| expat life in less than 15 boxes |
i put on my best "friend game" and importuned her to be my roommate. we exchanged a few texts to "get to know each other", and disclosed our living habits etc. then, we met up after that to see apartments. three days later, as the cathay attendant on my flight to seoul was making the rounds telling passengers to turn off all mobile and electronic devices, i received a final text from my roommate-to-be: "signed and sealed. deposits paid. pick up keys and move in when you come back". if only romantic relationships were this straightforward! i thought wistfully at the time. i have since gained a roommate and a new friend and am very happy about how the situation turned out.
| volar, clearly where all worthwhile friendships start |
firmly hong kong based (and with roof over head) by mid-may, i commenced my longest consecutive stay in the country since 2009. in retrospect, this catalyzed a fundamental change both personally and professionally in my life. for the first time ever, i was solely responsible for creating structure. and i was just getting used to this newfound continuity. no more leaving every two weeks for weekend trips to taipei (at least for a while). what were my priorities? to make ZAOZAO a successful startup, obviously. but on top of running a company, which included being empathetic to my cofounder's situation, it also involved other people outside the core team (i.e. hiring new interns), managing external parties, such as our angel investor, our lawyers, our programmers, etc. and on the personal front: health, nutrition, fitness, mental stability (er...wellness), sleep, friends, lovers, basically... life.
and so, this new chapter began.
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