This episode is with Valerie Pang, the Innovation Associate for the Good Food Institute Asian Pacific, shorten to GFI APAC, and is generally the first point of contact for anyone who wants to know about the Asian Pacific Region in alternative proteins.
If you’ve been a long-time fan of this podcast and listen to the alternative protein stuff, you hear their name often as the go-to source for getting into this field.
During the short time, GFI has existed, they have been a center point of supporting the food industry in adapting to the alternative protein space. Whether big companies are anxious to dip their toes, to ex-business consultants looking for a technical cofounder, GFI has always been at the forefront in developing this ecosystem.
And GFI has grown tremendously. What was once a budding organization in the United States has gone global and of course, they have an APAC section, where I was introduced to Valerie Pang, a bright, engaging, and knowledgeable employee who shared with me some of the vegan food Singapore has to offer. It’s pretty good.
Everyone I know at the Good Food Institute is a rockstar who put their whole self to work. I was fortunate to collaborate on a series like, 4 years ago with some amazing young people. Some who are still at GFI today.
I’d say this interview is split into two parts. Part one is Valerie’s work experience, in which she actually spent a few years in America working for tech startup categories such as AI and block chain, and switched to food. She then worked at Ryan Bettencourt’s company, Wild Earth. In here, we compare and contrast working in tech versus food, and also the differences between America’s and Singapore’s work culture
I did this interview right before visiting like 7 other countries and I ask about work culture to each person I visit. I will say, I feel a bit ignorant in this interview and I think I glamourize American work culture a bit too much here. I think my findings after all of it is that every company truly is a bit different in their management style and the expectation of work but I digress.
The second part of this interview introduces a ton of interesting events and resources that help startups flourish in Singapore. Valerie and GFI APAC do a fantastic job sharing and compiling the useful accelerators, agencies, and other niceties to help support startups and businesses in Singapore.
What’s up with Adam
Alright so I am in Kaoshiung, which is pronounced Gaoshuing apparently. It’s a coastal town that gives similar vibes to Busan and I’d say a coastal city like San Francisco. It’s just very chill.
I’m chilling myself, getting a cheap Airbnb and relaxing a bit before my next stop.
And that’s California. Namely, I’m going to be concluding my trip abroad. After 4 and a half months, I’m returning back home and just like every unemployed 30 year old, I’m living with my parents for a while. Wow, what a dream!
Lots of reasons. One, I do miss staying in one place. Two, I has a few projects where I need to be in the United States. Ooh, how mysterious. And three, I’m running out of money. Hye don’t worry, I’m doing fine.
Anyways, I have like, probably a half a year’s worth of content from this whole trip and eventually, I’ll roll out all of the episode so don’t worry, you’ll hear a lot from me, but the updates might not be exciting.
So some current news right now is a tale of two canned drinks. I’m not sure why I’m fascinated with this category. Maybe because it’s all anyone could talk about during my time in Austin Texas
In the last two weeks of the podcast I did with my cohost Kai Wang, we dissected Liquid Death and Bang Energy Drinks. By the way, if you want to see Adam unfiltered, unhinged, and most importantly, unprofessional, check out Crisis Meets Opportunity wherever you find podcast. Yea, the Adam Yee circuit.
I know a handful of people who listen to both so I’ll try to make this an insight comparing the two.
So for those who don’t know, Liquid Death is canned water company that raised $70 million dollars and Bang Energy Drink, which is a fast growing number 3 in the energy drink category next to Monster and Red Bull filed for bankruptcy after being crushed by lawsuits from PepsiCo and Monster Energy Drink. Two people I wouldn’t want to mess with.
What’s the difference between these two companies? Timeline.
Everyone loves you when you’re exploding virally and the issue is that in general, once you see this influx of money and growth, you think you’re God. This is the controversy that’s happened with Bang Energy’s CEO, Jack Owoc
The big problem with canned drinks is that they’re really easy to do and to copy.
Only time will tell if Liquid Death will fade into obscurity eventually. Signs point to that it probably will, as generally branding focused brands have to fight an uphill battle with bigger competition that can easily copy them. If you pay attention to La Croix and White Claw (by the way, both were made as line extensions from huge companies) they have generally been dilute din market share because the big companies copied them.
The other hill they have to climb is controlling their ego. Money corrupts and I’ve seen first-hand how raising an obscure amount of money can mess with your head and allows you to make bad descions. Nothing as bad as what Bang’s CEO does, which is downright disrespectful, but it can really cause people to stray the course.
Where am I going with this? Overall, I just found what happened interesting. But also a lesson about how money can corrupt and what we see are snapshots in these two company’s life. One in their prime and one in their fall. The only difference is the timeline. Where are you in your company’s timeline?
I hope you enjoy this interview with Valerie Pang. We do this in a WeWork!
Links
Michal Klar
Vegan food in Singapore
Love Handle
Analouge
Hawkers
Singaporean Carrot Cake
Nasi Lamak – Coconut Rice popular in Malasia
Wild Earth and Ryan Betancourt
Singapore National Agrifood Week
FHA Expo
Agrifood Tech Expo Asia
Roundtable on Novel Food Regulations
Easy Grants to Get
Enterprise Singapore – $50,000 dollar grants
GFI Resources for Singapore Government Support for Startups
Big Idea Ventures
Trendlines
Brink
GROW
Innovate 360
Next Gen Foods – TinDle
RIP and Tindle look the same
Shiok Meats
Umami Meats
GFI APAC has a Startup Manual on how to start one in Singapore
The Kind Bowl
Fortune Center
The Saute Group
Green Common
gfiapac.org
Valerie Pang
End of show
So quick note, Singapore International Agrifood Week is happening right now! Wow, great timing, launching this episode end of October. You can check out our shownote at myfoodjobrocks.com/269Valerie for links. I’m sure you can find more information if you follow the right people.
I also was able to go to the FHA Expo. I think I sprinkled this in when I mentioned I changed my whole trip after being rejected from Japan.
Sometimes I get young people like Valerie ask me for advice that generally boils down to: how do I become influential in my field.
Am I the right person to talk about this? I’m not sure, but ever since starting My Food Job Rocks about 6 years ago, I was able to not only connect with really inspiring people but also start my own business with those connections, get jobs, get consulting gigs, get speaking gigs, blah blah blah. I hate talking about this, but it’s to share a point.
I think it boils down to a very simple formula that’s really hard to accomplish.
Make something great and be consistent and be persistent.
There are plenty of people who’ve built some great things just because they find it interesting. I recall a friend from Austin Texas, Marc Nathan who is a laywer but was so fascinated with Consumer Package Goods in Austin, he would do these weekly coffee meetups for years. My friend Alex Shirazi, who had a fascination with cultivated meat, didn’t know anything about it. He created a podcast to learn more and then a Cultured Meat Symposium to bring experts together.
But what’s even more important, is to be consistent in building. Is your podcast once a week? Is your event once a year? You have to be consistent. People rely on consistency and that builds trust. Like Pavlov’s dog, people need to have some sort of positive expectation when they hear what you create is coming back again and again. Trust in what you’ve created, and most importantly, trust in yourself.
And the last one, which I struggle with a lot, is persistence. How can you make what you create better and better. How can you say, grow your event, install a new segment in your event or podcast. How do you make things that are not just fresh and exciting to your audience, but you too?
When we think of challenges like this, it can be daunting but the common formula between great leaders and influencers is that they are always ready to create something people need, no matter how long it takes. Humans are designed to be together and communicate with each other. I’d make an argument that we don’t have enough of things that truly give us a good experience being together. It’s a good place to start.