philanthropic, Radically flexible, 1-on-1 Startup Mentorship for first time founders or aspiring entrepreneurs
Who Am I
Hi, my name is Tim, and I grew up dreaming I would be the first Asian American President of the United States. And though that may still happen (not as likely), I realized at 20 years young (I am 30 now) that my dream stemmed from this deep fulfillment of solving problems efficiently. This led me to pivot my life from an aspiring politician to be a problem solving entrepreneur, and decided to dedicate the next 8 years of my life into creating my first technology startup right out of college. During that journey, I set out to build technology that would help brands humanize their marketing, which led me to bootstrap my company to profitability within 5 months, scale to 40 full-time employees, generate over $20m in total gross revenue ($6m annual recurring revenue at its peak), serve 1000+ customers in 172 countries, and exit my company in 2018.
And while it was fun to ‘succeed,’ I am now focusing my next part of my life on service oriented work that aligns with my skills and natural obsessions, including possibly mentoring you and your startup!
Why am I doing this
After I sold the company, I promised myself that I would take a break to backpack around the world in 2019. And after wandering around 16 countries in 12 months, I am now at a point where I feel the excitement and responsibility to contribute again. With what 2020 has shaped out to be, I feel it is no better time than now for all you aspiring entrepreneurs and first time founders to pursue your dream to financially and intelligently self-sustain yourself. And while I know you will find success in your own ways, I am humbled to offer my startup mentorship as a way to expedite your journey.
To be frank, I am financially free from my company exit and do not need to work for some time, and with the ‘Great Pause of 2020,’ I not only have a lot of time to be still (from backpacking around), but also believe it is now more pertinent than ever to take ownership of your life without over-reliance on government and/or your employer to be financially stable by starting your own company. It helps that during these challenging times like now that there are thousands of problems popping up that you can capitalize on. And I would be honored to support you in doing so!
Who would benefit
You know when you read someone’s offering that is super vague and generic, so you doubt their actual value and experience? Me too, so I am here to be very clear with who would benefit from my startup mentorship based on my entrepreneurial experience, and my specific specialities below.
1. Aspiring Entrepreneurs
You have this idea that has been brewing in your head for quite some time, and have this itch to pursue it now. You have not started a company before and you are afraid to share your idea with anyone. You have read many success stories in Techcrunch or Forbes and believe you have what it takes as well. The only difference is that you have not taken action.
2. First Time Founders
You are on your entrepreneurial journey right now. You have a product or service out in public, and maybe even making some revenue as we speak. You have hired or are hiring employees and looking to scale to your next product and/or revenue milestone. Your company is at pre-funding or has raised your seed round. You feel like you are constantly slapped on the face with new challenges and by the end of your week mentally exhausted. New questions and worries pop continually up, and you could use some guidance from someone who has done it before.
My Specialities
These are my specialities that I am confident you will generate value from:
Raising seed funding (I currently angel invest)
Bootstrapping to product-market fit
Creating go-to-market/customer acquisition strategy to achieve profitability
Strategizing & negotiating an exit/acquisition
Building B2B sales process and win-win channel partnerships
Hiring employees, salary configuration, culture building
B2B SaaS fundamentals
Marketing/Sales technology & strategies
Co-founder disputes
Burnout prevention (including mental health habits & psychedelic medicine practices)
Travel/Retreat industry operations & logistics
My Experience
CEO/Co-Founder at TINT (exited and acquired)
Partner & CMO at 1heart
Executive Team Coach at Ferrazzi Greenlight
Investor & Head of Product at Third Wave
Co-Founder & Advisor WAI Wear (exited and acquired)
Investor Plant Power Fast Food
Investor Persona
Investor Tripp
Investor Covalent
Investor Mighty Health
Investor & Advisor Doorvest
Investor & Advisor Sacred Serve
Investor & Advisor Viva Translate
Investor Maya Health
Investor Beckley Psytech
LP Weekend Fund
Advisor Akia
Mentor Thank You Plant Medicine
Schedule Commitment
I personally do not like locking people into X month contracts for this type of service because it typically is a way for people like myself to predict my desired revenue. Because this is more of a ‘not-looking-to-make-lots-of-money-service’ for me (more on that below), I am encouraging you to schedule as you please based on your specific needs & challenges. Whether it is just for 30 minutes once, 1 hour per week for 2 months, or 2 hours a day for 3 days, I am surrendering to your unique needs. You can apply below.
Energy Exchange
Money is just another form of energy to give, and for both of us to dedicate our full energy to your milestone / needs at hand, I believe in the beauty of mutual energy exchange. But because I am also a big believer that now is the best time to take ownership of your financial liberty and solve one of many problems that plague our world today by starting your own company, I am going to offer two unique things:
1) Pay what you believe is fair
This will be an honor system. I will not be sending you any invoices. Whether it is a single or triple digit amount, pay what you can and believe is fair based on the value you received. You can pay on an hourly basis, or per ‘question/challenge-to-be-solved’ basis. I trust you. I am surrendering to service your venture the best I can and solely focus on that. You can donate directly to my Venmo or Paypal.
2) Recommend 1 other POC (person of color) or minority entrepreneur to be mentored for FREE by me
Let us elevate and empower the communities that have been historically left behind. After our work sessions together, I invite you to refer 1 person of color/minority entrepreneur who I will mentor the same amount of time, energy, and integrity that we worked together, for FREE, no strings attached.
This is my commitment to being of service while creating the chance for both of us to give back to communities we can directly impact.
Next steps
If you have questions or feel excited to work together, please apply below.