In this episode of the Innovators Inside Podcast, we talk with Yunsu Tang, Hong Kong raised entrepreneur, two time TEDx speaker, and co-founder of Syncro, an AI stakeholder intelligence platform helping executives turn noise into clear, actionable signal..
Her story takes us from rural Hong Kong to corporate life in Shanghai to the London startup scene. Along the way, she shares raw lessons about imposter syndrome, navigating uncertainty, understanding users deeply, and building technology that elevates human decision making.
Here are the five key takeaways from their conversation:
Yunsu explains that many forms of anxiety come from not having enough information to make a confident decision. When you're frozen, you collect zero data. When you take action, even small action, you generate clarity.
For founders and operators, this means:
Move. Test. Gather data. Reduce uncertainty.
Clarity comes from steps forward, not standing still.
Yunsu spent years chasing titles and expectations, never feeling enough. Only later did she realize she was experiencing imposter syndrome. Through hundreds of interviews, she discovered nearly everyone feels the same, even the highest achievers.
The lesson is simple:
Stop assuming others have it all figured out.
Stop letting comparison define your worth.
Start focusing inward on your own path and progress.
As polished AI generated content floods every platform, people increasingly crave authenticity. Mistakes, rough edges, and real voices stand out more today than ever.
Yunsu emphasizes that tech should amplify human decision making, not replace the human element. Syncro is built on this principle:
Give people tools that help them think better, not tools that think for them.
Executives are drowning in data, alerts, and conflicting signals. Yunsu spent years manually filtering information for crisis advisors, learning firsthand that:
Syncro aims to solve this by delivering what matters, not what is simply available. It's a reminder for builders:
The value is in clarity, not volume.
Yunsu ends the episode with one of the most memorable ideas:
You can choose a safe job and endure the pain of stagnation, or choose the founder path and endure the pain of uncertainty. But you cannot choose a path without pain.
The key is choosing pain that leads to growth, meaning, and alignment.
Choosing is a privilege. Make the choice that matters.
Yunsu Tang's story highlights the combination of resilience, curiosity, and intention required to build something meaningful in a world overwhelmed with information. Her insights reflect the reality of modern entrepreneurship: success comes from clarity, data informed decisions, and a commitment to understanding people deeply.
In a world of infinite noise, the winners are those who learn to find the signal.
Have a question for a future guest? Email us at innovators@alchemistaccelerator.com to get in touch!
Timestamps
🎯 00:00:00 Choosing your pain and intro to Yunsu & Syncro
🌏 00:01:22 Growing up in rural Hong Kong and going global
🎓 00:03:00 Leaving a top firm for LSE and entrepreneurship
🧠 00:06:06 Imposter syndrome, emptiness, and mental health
🔍 00:08:21 300+ interviews and what’s broken in career coaching
⚙️ 00:13:44 What Syncro is and why stakeholder intelligence matters
📡 00:17:25 Information overload, AI, and filtering real signal
🧪 00:19:20 Biggest challenge: narrowing features and pivoting
💬 00:25:14 Human needs, raw content, and connection in an AI world
🔥 00:30:08 Resilience, survival mode, and finding joy in hard things
🚀 00:33:56 What’s next for Syncro and upcoming milestones
💡 00:35:19 Founder advice: you can’t avoid pain—so choose yours
00:00:00:01 - 00:00:34:03
Layne
You can't avoid pain, but you can choose which pain is worth it. And that's the guiding philosophy of today's guest, Yunsu Tang, Hong Kong raised entrepreneur for two time TEDx speaker and co-founder of synchro, an AI tool built to help executives navigate brutal information overload. We're going to talk about her journey from Hong Kong to the London startup scene and unpack things like imposter syndrome, walking away from a stable career, and even chat about why anxiety might just be a product of a lack of data points.
00:00:34:06 - 00:00:53:19
Layne
We're also going to talk about Synchro Mission to turn noise into signal for advisors and executives who are navigating constant change. So if you're building in a world of infinite inputs, this one might hit home. Welcome to Innovators Inside. Let's dive in.
00:00:53:21 - 00:00:56:03
Ian
Yunsu welcome to innovators inside.
00:00:56:10 - 00:00:59:05
Yunsu
Very nice being here Ian. And thank you for having me.
00:00:59:07 - 00:01:22:24
Ian
Absolutely. Yeah. Lane and I are looking forward to this converse session. For folks who don't know you. I'm just so pleased to welcome you and Sue Tang, a Hong Kong raised entrepreneur, two times TEDx speaker, and co-founder of synchro an AI stakeholder intelligence startup. And I have so many questions for you about what that means.
00:01:22:27 - 00:01:44:05
Yunsu
Hi everyone. This is youngster Tang. I'm from Hong Kong and now I'm based in London as an entrepreneur. It's interesting because I'm not just from Hong Kong, from the countryside of Hong Kong. I grew up in, you know, on the countryside in New Territories, and my family has 1000 years of history in Hong Kong. So this, like, kind of like an interesting background.
00:01:44:05 - 00:02:13:16
Yunsu
And that's what I talk about in my Ted talk. And I'm all for woman empowerment. Yeah. So my story is that I grew up in Hong Kong. I started my career there, and then later, I work in Shanghai, and, I spent six years working in communications, and I really saw the whole digital development in the industry, and I was always a craving for more.
00:02:13:18 - 00:02:30:05
Yunsu
So I at one point, I just decided to leave everything that I do in my career. And came to London to do a master's degree in management of Information systems. And that's how my startup journey started. I started building, yeah, two startups.
00:02:30:05 - 00:02:55:11
Ian
I want to hear in a second all about the startups that you've built. But let's talk about that journey, because, you know, I've spent a lot of time in Shanghai. It is an unbelievably vibrant, entrepreneurial place and everybody's hustling, always moving. Lots of great tech startups. What is it? Is it is it just school that brought you to to London, or were you looking for something else?
00:02:55:11 - 00:03:00:06
Ian
And how did you first get exposed to the world of entrepreneurship in London?
00:03:00:09 - 00:03:30:21
Yunsu
So first of all, I think like the exposure to entrepreneurship was always I think it was always in Hong Kong. I just didn't dare to kind of step out of my comfort zone, because there's this whole expectation that you should get a job otherwise, that you're not. You're kind of a failure, you know, in traditional feminist eyes. So I wanted to push something that is kind of more like expected and stable first.
00:03:30:21 - 00:04:04:12
Yunsu
And in a way, it was good because I learned so much in a corporate world until one point that I decided that I, I was contributing more than I was learning. It was a good stage to have to to be in, but at the same time, I could feel the hunger and that craving. So that's why I decided to leave my very stable corporate job at one of the, I would say, leading and the best firms in Hong Kong or, sorry, the best firm in the world called global.
00:04:04:15 - 00:04:27:23
Yunsu
And during this time, you know, when I was doing my master's degree at the London School of Economics, I had a project called Spring Week. So, you know, it is a project where you come, come together as a team and you have an idea, you have a problem that you all want it to solve, and you do rapid prototyping within a week and do the pitch.
00:04:27:26 - 00:04:53:06
Yunsu
And that was the moment that, you know, when you have spent years just working hard, and kind of like testing and knowing what you're like, what you like may not like as much, and you can feel it when you have moment, you know, when you're like, oh, well, I love doing this. And you know, that is so, so hard to, to, to to to to have that feeling.
00:04:53:08 - 00:05:22:15
Yunsu
So I really I could feel it like during the spring sweet projects. I, you know, I couldn't stop working. I, I worked for 4 a.m. and I would wake up at 8 a.m. and just kept working. And I literally at that time, my classmates in the same group as me, they were like, what's wrong with you?
00:05:22:17 - 00:05:24:16
Ian
You had the obsession.
00:05:24:18 - 00:05:37:02
Yunsu
Yeah. I think if you find something that you're like, I don't need to be paid for to do this, but I'm going to work so hard for this because I love it. Yeah. Grab that. You know.
00:05:37:05 - 00:06:06:03
Ian
Well, I think that's really good advice for anyone and anything. I think there's a lot of people who, you know, follow paths they think they should, or maybe just the paths that are in front of them and never, you know, they never achieve that feeling. And and that is a little bit of your first startup, right? As I understand it, like a little bit of your first startup was really dealing with the, the angst and the questions that come around, how we're tackling career can you tell us a bit about that and how you ended up in it?
00:06:06:06 - 00:06:35:24
Yunsu
I think after spending years in the corporate world, I you know, I was at that age that I just started having a lot of questions and, I didn't, you know, like, it's funny because I guess it's because I grew up in Asia and mental health problems and that what we talk about and stuff. So like, you know, there were a lot of feelings that were piled up that I didn't know what it was and I didn't I don't I didn't think I understand myself.
00:06:36:01 - 00:07:04:06
Yunsu
I just spent my life, you know, chasing after, you know, titles, whatever. I thought that should be expected for me, if that makes sense. Okay. It can be that promotion. It can be like getting into a good, like getting into a good school. And I think all of this, you know, there goes to have I'm not saying that they are not good, but at the same time, I just felt like sometime there was this emptiness.
00:07:04:06 - 00:07:32:19
Yunsu
It's like, you know, like I just had to asking what I wanted. And and also when I looked at my career path, I knew, I really wish that. You know, that was additional help that I could get. I think I literally feel my career, by myself from scratch, like, I, I mean, yeah, like my gram model.
00:07:32:21 - 00:07:56:24
Yunsu
I grew up with my grandmother who speaks a dialect coach hotel. And as I mentioned before, I grew up in a traditional family and lineage from many a heritage family. So, you know, later I found my way into the city, Hong Kong, and I just had a lot to navigate. And I was just like, I really wish that there was this support and how that could be powerful.
00:07:56:24 - 00:08:21:25
Yunsu
And that's why I wanted to offer that. So at the end, like now, like after I moved to London, I learned it's just a more open environment when we are talking about mental health issues, emotions even. Right. And I just learned that, okay, actually the whole time I was suffering from imposter syndrome and I couldn't name it like, you know, like throughout my whole career path.
00:08:21:25 - 00:08:57:00
Yunsu
But just like there was this, like feeling of inadequacy like this, you know, anxiety that I couldn't name. And so, yeah, like, I wanted to help people. It's almost like now that I get older, I wanted to save my younger me. And and so yeah, that's that's how I started to see me. So later with the chewing 300 user interviews, I talked to, you know, a lot of overseas students, nationals in India.
00:08:57:00 - 00:09:37:05
Yunsu
And I figure out that what people suffer with the most was, yeah, Korean society. So yeah, like later we, we specifically focus on that. And what made it, what made it even more meaningful was that I found out that there are international students who are currently paying 30,000 pounds, or like, you know, I guess it's like 30, 30, 2,000 USD for career coaching to get into a really firm like get into Goldman Sachs, like McKinsey, and they don't even know what investment banking is like, what consulting reading is.
00:09:37:07 - 00:09:56:09
Yunsu
Right? Like, I just wish that while I the the help that they need could be either and this like the appropriate help not like okay you're paying this big chunk of money just trying to get into a firm that, you know, you don't even know if you will enjoy working at.
00:09:56:12 - 00:10:21:02
Ian
That's right. What a powerful set of problems. And it's it's interesting because, you know, imposter syndrome. You said you started there with that realization that you felt it. And what strikes me is like, that's universal. Like, hasn't everybody felt that? And yet we don't believe that anyone around us is feeling it. Right? That's the whole that's the whole point of it.
00:10:21:04 - 00:10:36:12
Ian
I think that's such a fascinating thing that we all fall into this trap, no matter how successful we are, no matter the grades, the jobs, the friends, the family, whatever the measure of success is, we all fall into this trap. And it's it can be debilitating.
00:10:36:12 - 00:10:51:09
Layne
I'm curious, like, you know, because you mentioned that you walked away from everything that you built, you know, and then you felt, you know, you felt this emptiness and and you felt this imposter syndrome. How did you overcome that? Like how did you break through that barrier of fear?
00:10:51:15 - 00:11:19:21
Yunsu
I think till today, sometimes I still feel it. You know, a lot of founders feel it. But, what I learned is that I recently read a book called Becoming Bulletproof. And so, like, there's this former FBI agent talking about how to deal with fears. And he also she talk about note there are three methods. So it's like like the fight flight or freeze.
00:11:19:21 - 00:11:47:09
Yunsu
So three F. And I think like as a startup founder you really have to keep fighting because fighting is the only way to generate more data sometimes. Like the way that are interpreted in society now is that, I mean, I it works for me. It may not be working for everyone. I think sometimes anxiety comes from a lack of data points to make a certain decision.
00:11:47:12 - 00:12:12:25
Yunsu
But the thing is, you know, if you just freeze, how can you get more data points? You can. But if you if you just escape from the situation, if you're friends, you're not, you know, you're not having more data points. But if you keep fighting just to make a decision, right, like you can maybe have a better data point, it's okay.
00:12:13:01 - 00:12:42:21
Yunsu
Right? Like you can make the next decision and you have like more and more data points. And at the end you bring up this intuition to make just better and better decisions in life. And also the other thing is, during when I was building my first startup, I interviewed 50 mentors and coaches, and a lot of times we really need to look beyond people's resumes.
00:12:42:23 - 00:13:14:06
Yunsu
We never know what people are actually going through. So there's no point to to compare, even though that's very, very tough, especially when you're in the corporate world. Right? Like you're like, I need to fight with everyone to get this promotion. I need to be better than everyone else, otherwise I would be behind. I could get fired. But I think it's very important to not to not to to to look in.
00:13:14:08 - 00:13:19:08
Yunsu
Yeah. Sometimes we can forget to look in when you're in that environment.
00:13:19:10 - 00:13:44:19
Ian
Yeah. I mean, I think that's such a, such a, a little, an important bit of insight. And I love that you, you know, to use your analogy, you didn't phrase you gathered more data, but you built something that you know can be helpful for people. Like that's the entrepreneurial spirit. But let's jump to what you're doing now because you are, you are working on something new.
00:13:44:20 - 00:14:00:01
Ian
Synchro. And it sounds like you're tackling a pretty tough problem, but an important one. So I want to have it. In your words, what are you working on now and and why? Like what? You know, what brought you to this?
00:14:00:03 - 00:14:29:06
Yunsu
Yes. Yeah. So now I'm building Cinco. Cinco is an AI tool for stakeholder intelligence. So, that's the problem that I saw in my previous job, actually global. So is a factory farm acquired by it. And we advise on some of the, you know, most serious crisis in the world. And, also we work on M&A and IPO deals, etc..
00:14:29:08 - 00:15:03:29
Yunsu
So during that time working actually as well. But we realized that I spent a lot of time gathering data and filtering out relevant data, prioritizing data to generate to to generate insights and to give advice to executives. We were working we were working with. So I believe that there's some very smart way to do this. Like we talked to 100 advisors for executives, and it is very common for them to face information overload issues.
00:15:04:06 - 00:15:27:26
Yunsu
That's, you know, a common issue that they face. And, you know, now people are still using Google Alerts for news alerts and all these alerts. They are not intuitive enough. You get lots of information, a lot of news, you get a lot of notifications are not actually relevant to you, and there isn't a system to prioritize all this information.
00:15:27:28 - 00:15:42:27
Yunsu
And that's why we wanted to build a solution by using the latest AI technology to give people the most relevant information and to also the most impactful information and insights.
00:15:42:27 - 00:15:49:27
Ian
And so what's been the reception? You know, what kind of progress have you made and what are you hearing from your users?
00:15:50:00 - 00:16:22:21
Yunsu
We are still win a lot of tests. So like, yeah, like we we have interviewed a lot of advisors and for example, we were building, an AI generate a podcast that could I just directly like, you know, talk to you about, you know, your day, like what was relevant to you. It's almost like having a personalized reported for you, to tell you, you know, news and information that's relevant to you.
00:16:22:24 - 00:16:52:14
Yunsu
A lot of times, you know, when we say turn on the TV, we would realize that, okay. You know? Yes. Like, you have lots of, you know, updates that are going on, but. Okay. But you may you may just spend, yeah, 20 minutes listening to things, but like, but then like, you know, obviously everyone is in a different situation and are now there's information that's more relevant to you and the updates that are less relevant to you.
00:16:52:16 - 00:17:03:21
Yunsu
And that was one of the tests that we were running and, yeah, the the perception, the feedback we got, yeah. Was was pretty good.
00:17:03:24 - 00:17:25:16
Ian
It's a real I mean, like, boy, is this a real problem? Space? I think we can all empathize with right? Notifications everywhere. Never can keep up with the information we need. There's a I think I may have mentioned on the pod before, and I can't if I've told you about this book, but one of my favorite authors is a is Neil Stevenson, and he writes some combination of kind of like sci fi historical fiction.
00:17:25:18 - 00:17:53:19
Ian
He's got a book called Fall or Dodge and how? And, I'm not gonna lie, it's not as best book ever. But there's a really interesting plot point, and that is that in the near future, there is such information overload that the people who have the tools, who have the money and the resources and intelligence to have the tools to help them filter it, are productive, contributing members of society.
00:17:53:19 - 00:18:22:08
Ian
And they are differentiated. The strata is determined by the quality of the tools they have access to. And the people who don't have access to these tools literally go insane. They are literally overwhelmed. And I think about that a lot, actually, in today's world, right, where we have AI generating content, AI receiving content, and we're all just trying to figure out the signals we need to do our jobs.
00:18:22:10 - 00:18:46:27
Layne
What's that called? When you've got too many choices and you become frozen and like, you can't choose because there's just it's like, I get that on Netflix, where I'll look for a show for like 30 minutes before I finally choose something. And I think it's just like, like choice overload, I don't know, can be related to that information overload, where it's just like, I don't know where to go, what to do, what to consume.
00:18:46:29 - 00:18:51:16
Layne
And that that makes total sense because I feel that insanity sometimes.
00:18:51:16 - 00:19:20:19
Yunsu
So yeah. Yeah, it's called choice paradox. And yes, thank you. Yeah. So like, yeah. So if I look back at my previous job, I would literally spend half my day filtering out data, prioritizing data, and generate reports to the senior executive teams at different companies depending, you know, on the industry, depending on, what situation they're facing.
00:19:20:21 - 00:19:33:16
Yunsu
And I do believe that that type of work, if we can scale by using AI, a lot more people can be benefited from it at the end, not just senior executives at large corporations.
00:19:33:18 - 00:19:43:19
Ian
Is the tech good enough yet? Are we actually there to be able to deliver on this promise, or are you are you having to do some fundamental research?
00:19:43:22 - 00:20:29:28
Yunsu
It is an ongoing journey. Yeah. That's how I put it. You know, I'm glad that you know now with difference foundational models, I think generally the public and people are more open to accepting AI as a technology like the openness is there, even though obviously there's also some sort of fears. And a lot of times, you know, like with these foundational models, you know, you still have to run a lot of tests, you still have to allow, you know, when you're working with, you know, people or any like, potential users in different sectors, you still have to keep iterating.
00:20:30:00 - 00:20:35:07
Yunsu
That's what we are doing just to keep iterating.
00:20:35:10 - 00:20:40:07
Layne
What's the biggest challenge that you think you're facing right now?
00:20:40:09 - 00:21:13:07
Yunsu
The biggest challenge I'm facing, I would say, is really to. Figure out and to narrow down that the most important feature that, you know, users are looking for, we went through a huge pivot. So actually, when we started, we started as a renewable energy legal tech tool. And, you know, we got buy in from some of the world's largest renewable energy suppliers.
00:21:13:09 - 00:21:46:00
Yunsu
And we got a lot of contracts, for testing and sampling and, you know, like it was very rewarding. You know, when you, when you get that trust from your the side partners that are like, you know, such large organizations and and yeah. So like, you know, we spend 6 to 9 months like working on that. And at the end we these are the pivot for better find a market fit like so that we are working on something that's closer to my background.
00:21:46:03 - 00:21:50:06
Yunsu
Then, you know, there's something that's like in law,
00:21:50:08 - 00:22:20:25
Ian
What have you learned that's been surprising you on this journey? Because, I mean, you're touching political signals and news signals and trying to drive intelligence like you're. But in my experience, every time you sort of start to put definition around a problem, it turns out there's something pretty surprising that you have to ingest and think about before you actually come to the solution.
00:22:20:28 - 00:22:25:10
Ian
So what is surprise? What has surprised you on the synchro journey?
00:22:25:13 - 00:23:13:06
Yunsu
I feel like that goes back to, you know, the question you asked about the challenge before because obviously I spent a lot of my time filtering out public data, thinking that that would be almost like one of the most important piece of information. You know, what you see online, like what people are seeing online, right? I but then later when I talk to advisors, one thing that I found is that, and it's very true, is that what people are saying online sometimes don't represent a whole truth information that you can gather online, right about maybe a person, a public figure.
00:23:13:08 - 00:23:19:27
Yunsu
But that doesn't mean like that is the most accurate piece of information.
00:23:20:00 - 00:23:53:22
Ian
That's a nice way of putting it. Like, I mean, no, because I mean, people deliberately mislead, but also people show their best selves. People put their businesses in the best light. There's a lot of noise in the system. Like, I'm going to date myself here, but I worked on a project almost 20 years ago that was fascinating because we were trying to figure out how to extract intelligence and information out of the internet when most of the internet was like ringtone spam, right?
00:23:54:00 - 00:23:59:15
Ian
So there's all kinds of bad data. So yeah, like that's this is this is tough, right?
00:23:59:18 - 00:24:13:27
Yunsu
It's very tough. That's why there's I always think it's not that easy. It's not it's not that straightforward to, to get the useful insights. So it's a journey of iterating.
00:24:13:29 - 00:24:38:02
Ian
Yeah I love hearing that because I think that's what makes the founder journey worthwhile. Right. Like if you were doing an easy thing, a million people would be doing an easy thing. And I can tell you the concept of not just information overload, but actually the concept of synthesizing up to date signal information to make decisions. I hear about it all the time.
00:24:38:04 - 00:24:59:03
Ian
Importers and exporters are trying to figure out what the rules are every day, not just because of tariffs, right? Because of changing policies and things like that. Security forces and decision makers are trying to, you know, do these things. Corporates, investment bankers are trying to figure out how do I maintain that edge like, you know, it's kind of crazy.
00:24:59:03 - 00:25:14:24
Ian
So here's the question is, are you looking ahead at a future when there's no human in the loop? Or are you really just thinking about it is all about giving humans the superpowers to keep up with the machines.
00:25:14:26 - 00:25:38:13
Yunsu
The thing is, you know, if you look at why people in the past. Right, it's a very human thing. I do believe that I don't think a human like an element can be taking away. The more developed like technology is, the more people are looking to actually connect.
00:25:38:15 - 00:25:46:02
Layne
What do you mean by that? Like the more they want to connect. Like, I'm curious if we can dive in on that a little bit.
00:25:46:05 - 00:26:08:11
Yunsu
For example, like what you mentioned, why you see a lot of AI generated content online. And now, like I see this shifts to like in people's minds that people are looking for something just general, you know, maybe they even like being like, come on, give me a, like a grammar mistake. You know?
00:26:08:13 - 00:26:44:06
Yunsu
So this give you something that I know that I'm not thinking. I'm not like reading something that is, like, written by AI. There's not like AI generated. Right? Like they want it. You know, I think people are looking for that because the reason why I know is because I've been writing my newsletter and literally there would be people who would tell me being like, I'm so glad that, you know, you're being so raw and honest online because I'm just so tired of all this AI generated linking posts.
00:26:44:09 - 00:26:49:04
Ian
Yeah, that is such an interesting insight.
00:26:49:06 - 00:27:04:16
Yunsu
Yeah, I don't think I don't think AI is really replacing the core needs of a human. What we want.
00:27:04:18 - 00:27:17:06
Yunsu
Hasn't really change because at the end of the day, it is human behaviors. It is our wants, our need, our desire that are driving us.
00:27:17:08 - 00:27:42:23
Ian
It's so true. And so how do you keep that perspective in mind as you're building this company? Right. Because this company is a very tech centric company that, yes, empowers humans. But how do you keep in mind that idea that actually people are people, our needs, our desires and drives are consistent across time and space.
00:27:42:26 - 00:28:27:10
Yunsu
I would say even when you're building a tech products, you have to really care about who are using it, you know, to really care about your uses. I always like to say that, you know, you get into the mind of a user. You have to really understand what they're looking for, what they want, especially when, for example, when you are funding offices, when you're funding, you know, your design partners and all the times you are dealing with real people, like individuals who are making decisions or if they're going to give you more data or not, if they're going to, you know, give you more, have more support or not, you're dealing with actual people who
00:28:27:10 - 00:28:57:10
Yunsu
can be the gatekeepers of organizations, of companies. So I really think that, you know, when you're doing any business, you need to understand people. That's that's how I would put it, that even no matter if it's tap water or not. Right. Like if you don't understand humans, you don't understand users. And without users, I'm not sure you you actually have a product.
00:28:57:11 - 00:29:00:09
Yunsu
Maybe you build something, but if no one is using it.
00:29:00:12 - 00:29:02:19
Ian
You don't. You certainly don't have a business.
00:29:02:21 - 00:29:06:20
Yunsu
Yes, you certainly don't have a business for sure.
00:29:06:22 - 00:29:30:19
Ian
This is fascinating, and I think a lot of our audiences are going to want to follow, synchro and follow the evolution of your product here. But let's talk a little bit more about you and your journey and and how that has contributed. Right. Like, you know, everybody's got their own unique journey, but yours is in many ways, quite surprising for the environment you're in.
00:29:30:21 - 00:29:52:15
Ian
So what are some of the elements of your journey in your past that you draw on as a startup founder? How does it help you but also where where does it make things hard? The founder journey is sometimes held up on a pedestal of oh, like magic founders figure it out and get it done. No, it's bloody impossible.
00:29:52:17 - 00:30:08:08
Ian
So I'm curious, like your story, your history, how do you draw on that to, you know, do your job as a founder? And where are the strengths and the weaknesses of that journey?
00:30:08:11 - 00:30:33:09
Yunsu
I have a lot of great. And I'm very resilient. That's the thing that I keep hearing. At the start of the podcast, I mentioned that I, you know, grew up in a single family. I spent, I think like almost 18 or 20 years living the footage in Hong Kong on the countryside. And, you know, growing up life was very simple.
00:30:33:09 - 00:31:03:27
Yunsu
I grew up with my grandmother. Like, who couldn't whose? Yes, took a completely different language. Who I like is very close to Cantonese. But yeah, like it is a white House dialect. So, you know, to survive in education and then in my career, first of all, I had to speak very good Cantonese. And then, okay, as I made my way to the city, then I'm like, okay, everyone use English at work.
00:31:03:27 - 00:31:44:17
Yunsu
Then I had to, you know, pick up English and then later, okay, now, like, you know, all these firms, they were getting more and more Chinese clients and then and then and then I had to improve my Mandarin. Right. I, I, I felt like I just learned to be very flexible. The don't and I'm very. Yeah, acceptable in very tough and competitive and firm and like Hong Kong very early on and I don't know if it's good or not, but I felt like I've always been in survival mode.
00:31:44:20 - 00:32:04:05
Yunsu
And now being a sort of founder actually, you know, sometimes it put you it puts you in that mode and and that's what I'm used to. Right? Like if you, if you just give me unlimited holidays. Right, I will actually feel depressed.
00:32:04:05 - 00:32:09:11
Layne
Probably have.
00:32:09:13 - 00:32:18:29
Yunsu
I don't know, like if I am just so used to suffering that now I find joy in suffering.
00:32:19:01 - 00:32:22:21
Ian
What what what a someone.
00:32:22:23 - 00:32:27:03
Layne
For the quote. Yeah, right.
00:32:27:06 - 00:32:46:07
Ian
I love that, like the story of resilience. Like, I think resilience and grit are things that, you know, I think clearly separate the founders that figure it out and succeed. I'm not sure I want to send everybody a message that is like, oh, you have to find joy in suffering. But the resilience is true. And I love that.
00:32:46:09 - 00:33:08:07
Layne
I think there's something to be said, too, about like suffering for something that you think is worth it. Do you know what I mean? Like, it's one thing when you're in an environ mental or a set of life, like where you feel like you can't get out of it, or it's not what you chose for yourself. But when you're like, I'm doing this because I can see what's on the other side of the suffering.
00:33:08:10 - 00:33:27:17
Layne
I think it's different. Like, and I think too, because I look at it like I'm not a founder, but I'm a creator, like, I, I write stories and I write music and stuff like that. And it's a struggle a lot of the time to make anything out of that. But it's. Yeah, it's like suffering for the right reasons or something.
00:33:27:17 - 00:33:28:15
Layne
I don't know.
00:33:28:17 - 00:33:50:10
Ian
As we kind of wrap up here, I want to look ahead before we look back. And as on the look ahead piece, you know what's next for you? You're building a company. You know, you've got a lot you've got a lot on your plate. But what's next like are there milestones in the firm. Are there personal accomplishments you want to achieve.
00:33:50:10 - 00:33:55:28
Ian
How are you going to measure your progress over the coming six months? Six years?
00:33:56:01 - 00:34:27:00
Yunsu
We're currently negotiating potential partnerships with, some of the world's largest advisory firms. And, that is one of the milestones that we want to hit in the upcoming year. And, I do believe that information overload is a huge issue. And I do believe that the type of work that was doing filtering out information and generating insights is something that can be done by technology.
00:34:27:02 - 00:34:58:18
Yunsu
And when we are able to use technology to scale the solution, we are able to benefit more and more organizations, even either small companies, small business owners and I think I think that's my goal. I want to yeah, give people the tool to help them make better decisions in their businesses, no matter how big or small their businesses.
00:34:58:18 - 00:34:59:12
Yunsu
00:34:59:14 - 00:35:19:23
Ian
Yeah. Awesome. For people that are interested in, you know, the founder journey themselves, what's one piece of advice you would give them? Beyond. Beyond, enjoy the suffering.
00:35:19:25 - 00:35:45:09
Yunsu
I want to say something that is like, there's also not that, like, choose your pain. Choose no pain. Like, no matter what you're going to do, it's going to be hard. You are good. Like, you can choose to be in a job that you hate and then, you know, you it pays you a stable salary and and you may feel pain or like you do the business on your own.
00:35:45:09 - 00:36:11:00
Yunsu
And that's going to be hard. Very hard. And to do everything, it's going to be painful to so choose a pain and enjoy the process. When you know. And I think that being able to choose is is a privilege. So yeah, make a good decision.
00:36:11:03 - 00:36:14:11
Ian
Make it's a privilege, make a good decision.
00:36:14:13 - 00:36:19:24
Layne
I actually think that there's a lot of power in that statement. So that's a good one. Thank you.
00:36:19:26 - 00:36:40:27
Ian
Yeah. Well that is a good one. And it's a good note to wrap on. And so this has been, a really fun conversation. Thank you for coming and sharing your journey. Thank you for sharing what you're working on. And, and your advice, and, you know, the power of choice that we all exercise over how we spend our time.
00:36:41:00 - 00:36:51:14
Ian
For people that are interested in staying in touch, what's the best way to keep up with your work? Are you on LinkedIn? Should they follow your Insta though? Go to the company website. Where do you want to send people?
00:36:51:17 - 00:37:06:07
Yunsu
Yeah, like connect with me on LinkedIn also. Yeah, follow me on Insta. I am quite active on both platforms, so I respond quite quickly and yeah, connect with me.
00:37:06:09 - 00:37:17:08
Ian
We will send them your way. You you heard it here first go connect with Ian. So Tang and thank you so much for joining us on Innovators Inside. It's been an absolute pleasure.
00:37:17:11 - 00:37:21:11
Yunsu
Thank you so much. Very nice talking to you both.