Your Grit Story

🚀 Supercharging Business with Tech We recently had the pleasure of interviewing Tran Binh Ngoc , the inspiring founder of Rockship , on our podcast. 🌟 This episode takes a deep dive into Ngoc's fascinating journey, from the early days at NUS Overseas Colleges to the innovative work at Rockship. Ngoc, who met our host Eric during their NOC days more than 10 years ago, shared invaluable insights o...

In our latest podcast episode in the #Investing series, we had the privilege of hosting Alexander Piskunov , a Founding Venture Partner at KAAN Ventures . As a founder-turned-investor, Alexander is an esteemed professional with a remarkable background in investments, institutional fundraising, and portfolio development across the USA, Europe, and Southeast Asia. Alexander's expertise spans emergin...

🎙️ Podcast Spotlight: "Your Grit Story" Investor Series with Jeremy Au 🎙️ In this episode, we had the honor of hosting Jeremy , a dynamic entrepreneur-turned-investor, as he unveiled his story behind BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast No stranger to the #startup community, Jeremy Au started his journey as a founder, spearheading his ventures in the ever-evolving tech landscape. Yet, his fervor for...

We are starting another evergreen series. The #Investing series. And we are kicking off with our first guest, Yi Ming , who launched and grew #GrabRentals, the largest private-hire car rental fleet in Singapore, which is owned by Grab . With over a decade of tech start-up experience, he started Krux Asia , a #VentureBuilder to build and scale high-impact ventures. He is also an Angel Investor, alw...

The 6th episode of the #Origins series has landed. 🚀 In this episode, we have  Jonathan Low  with us to share his journey. Being a dad of two, with lots of lessons and experience gathered from his past venture Honestbee, he is now venturing again with Thomas Jiang and Cayter Goh to make #payroll simple with Ajourney (YC S22) . Jonathan and host Eric met 12 years ago at Silicon...

One day can change your whole life. #GWD2023 #10Jun23 In this year's Global Wellness Day, Alex Loh , CEO and co-founder of Actxa Wellness , shared the #Origins of the wellness startup and how he started his #entrepreneurship journey even when he was a JC teacher back then! Alex unpacked with host Eric what #Integrated Wellness really means, adding the physical community and activities to the mix,...

🌹Happy Mother’s Day Special Episode!  Episode 4 of the #Origins series landed with Sher-li Torrey sharing how Mums@Work (Singapore) helps mums reintegrate into the workforce. 👩‍💼 Hosted by Eric, who is a fellow parent of two himself, he chatted with Sher-Li about: 👉 The Day One of starting #MumsAtWork in 2010 👉 How #CareerNavigators help Mummies to strike a good work-life balance ...

Episode 3 of the #Origins series has launched. 🚀 In this episode, we had Kai , founder of Rocket Academy , a coding bootcamp that helps mid-career switchers land on their first tech role. 👨‍💻 👩‍💻 His journey as a founder did not start with Rocket Academy. After Kai caught the entrepreneurial bug at Silicon Valley while taking Computer Science at Stanford University and working at Nuna In...

Episode 2 of the #Origins series has landed! In this episode, we have Eugene Ng , co-founder and CRO of StaffAny , a fast-growing startup transforming the future of shift work in the blue-collar industry. As the saying goes, teamwork makes the dream work. And Eugene met fellow young co-founders Janson Seah , 👨‍💻 Jeremy Hon , and Kai Yi Lee through the NUS Overseas Colleges program and start...

Kicking off the #Origins 2023 series to uncover the Day Ones of #founders with The King of Nails. Meet Daryl , the man 👨‍🎨 behind a Nail Deck , a nail 💅 cosmetic and care startup that created more than 700 gorgeous colours! In this episode, the host Eric spoke with Daryl to find out about his passion for bringing colours to life, allowing unlimited creativity to flow to make home manicures fun...

It's been a while. And we are BACK kicking off again with... A #SURPRIZE EPISODE! Joining the #NOCAlumni series is a founder who is no stranger to the NUS Overseas Colleges community. Not a first-time founder, Xander started 2 companies before but did not succeed. Instead of shunning away from #startups and #entrepreneurship, he immersed himself with young founders to guide and mentor them to star...

Clean and safe toilets for the win! #WorldToiletDay2022 In this #Specials episode, we spoke to Jack Sim , also known as Mr. Toilet. Mr Toilet is the founder of the World Toilet Organization and BoP Hub and he has been spending the last 25 years improving toilet sanitization conditions worldwide. At the age of 40, Jack has already started a series of successful businesses. He could have continued t...

Wrapping up the #NOCAlumni series with the 9th Episode! In this finale episode, we have Tiang Lim Foo , co-founder of Forge Ventures chat with our host Eric  how he started his career from being a Biomedical Engineer to leading #growth for Evernote in Asia Pacific and eventually pivoting to #investing in early-stage startups. 🚀 We also spoke about the heartfelt motivation and reason why...

Episode 8 of the #NOCAlumni series has landed. In this episode, Mohan, co-founder of e27 shared how he transformed from a young geek yearning to join giant tech firms before the NUS Overseas College stint to a firm believer that startups can disrupt and make a massive impact after experiencing the startup culture in Silicon Valley. Today, he is an investor and startup ecosystem builder. He al...

What convinces and convicts Audrey Joy Tan to enable others to lead a flourishing life? In Episode 7 of the #NOCAlumni Series, a familiar face in the NUS Overseas Colleges network, Audrey shared with the host Eric about her 1-year experience in #SiliconValley, how she got started on PlayMoolah after, and how things have evolved over the years. In the whole episode, it is clear that one thing that...

How did Hong Ting rediscover his #love for #technology? In Episode 6 of the NUS Overseas Colleges Alumni Series, we have Hong Ting to share with our host Eric about the anchor that helped him discover his love ❤️ for #tech 📱, which is the 1-year stint at #SiliconValley 🇺🇸 through the #NUSOverseasCollege program. Hong Ting also shared with us his humble beginnings of starting 2359 Media with Zhou...

Episode 5 of the #NOCAlumni Series has landed. In this episode, we chatted with Ethan Ang , co-founder of NodeFlair - Tech Salaries, Jobs & more to understand his journey of starting this tech startup, with a vision to be the best career recommendation engine for the 25M tech talents globally. Inspired by ShopBack co-founder Joel , Ethan joined ShopBack in its early years and built the Taiwan...

What would you do if your start-up failed? Instead of giving up and looking for a job, Vinod Nair started MoneySmart Group 13 years ago, with only $5k left in his bank account. In #NOCAlumni Series - Episode 4, the #podcast host Eric Chan spoke to Vinod, founder of #MoneySmart, the all-in-one portal for personal finance as he shared his journey and lessons of starting up. From bootstrapping for 4...

#NOCAlumni Series - Episode 3 has landed. Remember the olden "Kampung" days when neighbors were close-knitted? Do you recall our #neighbourhood used to be more vibrant? This is what Darrell Zhang is trying to bring back to the #community with NextBlock , where neighbours are not strangers. With NextBlock, it opens up opportunities for neighbours to connect with each other and discover ab...

#NOCAlumni Series - Episode 2 has landed. No one has to be alone. Everyone can be supported.  This fuels the passion of Shamantha Yan to impact lives via Growthbeans . Together with her twin sister, Shane Yan , they are helping others grow and increase their quality of well-being. Having gained exposure and experience during NUS Overseas Colleges Bio Valley (Philadelphia) in 2007 helped...

Since its inception in 2002, the highly acclaimed NUS Overseas Colleges Program alumni have founded more than 700 companies and received more than S$800 million in investments and funding.  There must be a reason why this program is so successful, developing passionate entrepreneurs and problem solvers, growing the startup scene in #Singapore 🇸🇬 in the past decade, together with other program...

We have the 4th episode of the #Parenting series to wrap it up! Parcsen , Head of Programs at DADs for Life & Centre for Fathering shared with us his lessons and insights around #marriage and #parenting. 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Parcsen is married for 31 Years, and he is a Father of 3 kids who are already adults! Given his fair share of going through the ups and downs in his own marriage in his early years...

 [1 June 2022] Happy Global #Parents Day! Parenting is hard, especially in this dynamic environment. But it is not impossible. In the 3rd episode of the #Parenting series, Bryan Tan , CEO of DADs for Life & Centre for Fathering shared with our host Eric Chan Jq about his transformation journey from a lost and uninvolved dad to an invested and nurturing dad.  One who is #passionate about involv...

Our guest for this special episode wears many hats. Dr Loretta Chen is a Professor, Author, Creator, Artist, Director, Entrepreneur, Speaker, and Trainer. Honestly, she reminds us of our previous guest, Ng Nichol , whom we called a #Superwomen! One more added to the list! 🦸‍♀️ Loretta, co-founder of Smobler Studios , is a natural storyteller as she shares with us the fundamental pillars around wh...

👩‍👧‍👦 Happy Mother's Day to all Mummies out there!  What could be better than to hear from the co-founder of Mums for Life, Adriana Lim Escaño about her motherhood journey of FOUR kids in the second episode of the #Parenting series! Adriana Lim, who is a leader in the Retail industry, is also the founder of ABRY Pte Ltd and she shared with us about her parenting struggles while chasing aft...