Today I’m interviewing HonMun Yip, currently asset manager for KICL Group which manages investments but he does a lot of stuff. Mainly, he’s invested in a ton of alternative protein companies as an early-stage investor. His list can be found on LinkedIn but some of his portfolios includes but is definitively not limited to: Impossible Foods, Eat JUST, Motif Foodworks, Gingko Bioworks, and Youkuai Meats.
HonMun has been through it all in his career seeing the rise and fall of the dot com era and the eventual adoption of the smartphone era and now he’s in the action of the food tech era.
In this interview, you’ll gain deep insight on a bird’s eye vision. HonMun compares the current food tech landscape to the smartphone industry. It took 30 years to fruition so as an investor, you have to recognize trends and stay for the long term
I caught HonMun right after his trip to the United States, and he tells me just how exciting it is to see the technology progressing and the energy that exudes from meeting with founders face to face.
What’s important to mention in this interview is that HonMun sees one thing that resonates in this sector. Purpose. Compared to the digital age, food is so connected and so personal, the potential benefits to the world are blatantly obvious, that the investor community notices the intense passion of these entrepreneurs.
One quote I always love from mark Twain is that history doesn’t repeat itself, it rhymes and I think it bares repeating this over and over again. I think we need this focus whenever it comes to exciting new technologies.
Enjoy this Interview with HonMun Yip. We do this in some corporate office in Singapore.
What’s Up With Adam
Greetings from California!
Yep, I’m back and I’m surprisingly really busy.
I’m actually going to North Carolina this week to help with an academic project I’m really excited about. More on that later. Anyways. I’m in the Bay Area for the foreseeable future so let’s catch up! A few people already reached out which I’m really grateful for.
To enhance this interview, I want to talk about how to raise money. At least, generally, the structure of it.
Links
Temasek Holdings
Better Meat Co
Satay By The Bay
Marina Bay Sands
End of Episode
Something that has been on my mind is the climate activist groups vandalizing national art pieces in Europe. One example is I believe two activists splashed soup on a famous Van Gough Painting. The activist group, Just Stop Oil does a variety of vandalism stunts to gain publicity and awareness for climate change. The 21-year-old student who splashed soup was interviewed and asked them the motive for doing it, and they mentioned that they wanted to do this because one day they could look at their niece and nephew in the eye and say ‘I fought for your future.
Am I for or against activism like this? I was never an activist but I knew several animal activists who eventually became entrepreneurs leading million dollar companies. I think this is a natural thing that happens to young people who think this is the only way to make an impact. Most animal activists I knew who did these types of stunts when they were younger regretted it.
But they at least still had the passion to bring the mission as they grew up and eventually found a way to mold that passionate mission into a revolutionary technology.
It’s something to think about. I do think college feels more like a performative fantasy land rather than the real world and that in general, you face more consequences as you grow older. You have to sacrifice more when you make decisions as you get older. Without that context, that nuance, young people can do things they think are right, but are ineffective.
Where am I going with this? If you’re a student listening to this, one, is good for you. (by the way, had a high schooler reach out to me about cultivated meat, which warms my heart) But two, realize that where you are now is not what real life is. This isn’t to scare you, but to prepare you. Be thoughtful about the actions you make and think of your life in a series of decades rather than a couple years. I think we all have a hard time doing this. I know I have, but I hope this gives you a head start. Changing the world takes time.