Hong Kong Startup Ecosystem Developments + Entrepreneur Adapting with James Kwan

Today, we are talking to James Kwan, partner at jumpstart and we are talking about changes and adaptations of businesses and life, a little bit Hong Kong, and globally.

James has been on my list. I can’t believe we haven’t had you on the show yet. He is an amazing entrepreneur and you know, an investor and connector. He’s running jumpstart which has become quite an empire since I’ve seen it happen. He’s originally from New York City and in 2009 he came to Hong Kong and have since been doing amazing things in the community.

It is a really fascinating conversation today so let’s tune in.

√ James Kwan’s VIP Page
√ Jumpstart Magazine
√ InvestHK.gov.hk
√ GFA’s interview w/ InvestHK
√ Cyberport.hk
√ GFA’s interview w/ Cyberport
√ Hong Kong Science and Technology Park
√ GFA’s interview w/ HK science park
√ Visit our GFA partner – Mercury – for US banking solutons for your ecommerce businesss

Thanks for coming on James and sharing. It’s been a pleasure. Thanks community for listening.

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gfa347

[00:00:00] Episode 347 of Global from Asia talking to James Kwan, partner at jumpstart, talking about changes and adaptations of businesses and life, a little bit Hong Kong, and globally. And it’s a really fascinating conversation list. Let’s tune in now. Welcome to the Global from Asia podcast, where the daunting process of running an international business is broken down, into straight up actionable advice.

[00:00:28] And now your host, Michael Michelini. Thanks everybody for choosing to download and listen to, or stream Global from Asia podcast. Can’t believe we’re almost 350 shows here. I feel a little bit of a flashback. We’re back in Hong Kong. You know, I know I kind of ventured off into NFTs and crypto and handshake in the last few episodes.

[00:00:52] And you know, ecommerce in the last few years, kind of bringing it back to me, old school, we’re talking about some stuff we talked about many years ago.We have James Kwan, one of the partners at Jumpstart magazine. He’s done Jumpstart. It’s more than a magazine now. I mean, man, he’s taken us to a whole new level and we talk about that in the show.

[00:01:10] We talk about adaptations. All of us need to go through in the ecosystem of entrepreneurship and business to stay relevant, to stay in business, especially in the last 12 months. I mean, even before that, especially with Hong Kong and cross border trade, trade Wars, you know, social unrest. We don’t get too political, but we talk about being a business person and adapting to that and, and how he’s grown his business and Jumpstart

[00:01:37] over the last year and it’s some good insights. So after the interview, I’m going to do my blah, blah, blah, where I’m going to share some of the stuff you mentioned about Cyberports and Science park and others we’ve invested in, we’ve had these previous shows also in Global from Asia back in the day in archives, we’ll link those up into show notes on our globalfromasia.com/jumpstart.

[00:01:59] Thanks again, James, for sharing. Let’s tune in. Are you looking for banking solutions and your international company that wants US banking for your US business? mercury.com. We’ve had them on the show. Travis Price was a guest. Definitely check it out. We also have a full video review with me, giving you some overviews and tips of how to apply totally free.

[00:02:19] And they’re supporting e-commerce and cross border businesses around the world to open up an online virtual US bank account. Pretty amazing. I’m using it for my current Amazon business successfully. And I love to recommend what I promote. So if you want to support the show, check it out. It’s also totally free. There is a little bit of a cash bonus for you.

[00:02:39] And for us, if you use our special link at globalfromasia.com/mercury, or read the whole review at globalfromasia.com/reviews/mercury. Thanks again, Mercury and Travis and everybody there for your support for the show and the community. Thank you everybody for choosing to listen to, or watch a Global from Asia podcast.

[00:03:03] James has been on my list. I just said before recording, I can’t believe we haven’t had you on the show yet. James Kwan, amazing entrepreneur and you know, an investor and connector and he’s running jumpstart, which has become quite an empire since I’ve seen it happen. And originally from New York City. New York came to Hong Kong, 2009 and have been doing amazing things in the community.

[00:03:28] I saw your amazing LinkedIn posts. You’re doing third batch of an incubator accelerator. Actually the accelerator is a better way. So thanks for coming on James. Thanks so much, Mike. Thanks so, so much for having me. It’s my honor to be here. We’re really happy to have you, so, you know, I remember Founders Institute is when we first met.

[00:03:53] I I think that was, yeah, it’s 2015. I think we matched. And, and then you’ve, you’ve been really networking in the community, you know, and building it up. And, and you want to share a little bit of your background, how you, how you got into the startup ecosystem. Yeah. Certainly I’ll be happy to share. So basically I met Mike in 2015.

[00:04:19] I think I wanted to retool a bit of my knowledge. I was always a serial entrepreneur back in New York. I’ve always tried to do everything on my own and run businesses that actually had some upside for me. So even when I went to graduate school, I had a side gig that actually ended up being able to pay for my entire graduate school.

[00:04:40] Two years of MBA, my apartment in Manhattan, my car. So it was a good journey, but things always have an expiration date. Right. So I just jumped on something hot. So it wasn’t really entrepreneur, full fledged entrepreneurial business I was building. It was a sidekick. And when I finished my MBA, someone actually asked me, can you help me with my family’s business?

[00:04:59] And that’s when I came in, I developed a textile company, which is totally out of my range. The company actually came in and they were serious to get me on board. They wired money into my bank account. They basically said, let’s do it. I find out that this company I’m working for had 5,000 retail stores in China, the leading brand of home textiles in Southeast Asia.

[00:05:18] I took it over. I sold in every major in New York. Three years later, I was the executive director of the IPO in Singapore. So that was early on my career. I came over to Hong Kong. I really wanted to retool and get back into community. I’m new into the community. I went to Founders Institute, that’s where I met Mike.

[00:05:34] Right. So, and that journey begins. So in 2017, I had the great opportunity to take over jumpstart. I think we both know Yana and she was building something really great. She was great at media, probably wanted some more assistance in the business side. I’m a more business guy with no media experience.

[00:05:55] So what I did was I took the company then built it to what it is today. We consider ourselves an innovation as a service company because we do so much more than media. We do media, we do corporate innovation, we do 125 global events. We partner with Draper. You were the only partner Draper university here in Hong Kong.

[00:06:13] I’m the only advisory. Pitch member for South by Southwest. So we created a global network and now we’re running accelerators, bringing in teams from Europe, Southeast Asia, South Asia, into Hong Kong and helping them build their business. So we do a lot of things with investors as well. So it’s the whole gamut, right?

[00:06:34] Anything it has to do with innovation, we’re touching on all those, all those cylinders and firing on all cylinders. So it’s been fun. It’s been a great, great journey so far. Wow. Yeah, I know. I mean, the things you’ve done with Jumpstart, I’ve been to a few of your different events and you’ve, you’ve really grown. I like innovation as a service.

[00:06:55] That’s a great, that’s a great way to say it. Yeah. I mean, because we could no longer say that we’re in one sector, right. So we. We’ve done so many different things and grown what we’ve done, but we touched everything on innovation. So we even teach kids innovation. So we teach kids as young as eight years old.

[00:07:12] We usually, we got a grant from the government. We’re the only private kind of company that actually got the grant helping high school students learn about innovation so they can actually explore that going into university. That’s great. I know. I’ve, I’ve always seen the jumpstart for kids and pictures.

[00:07:29] It’s it’s great. I mean, I think that’s. That’s really special for sure. I mean, because education is, I think the best way, right. As early as possible to get them, get kids, being innovative, being creative, being open-minded, you know, I think that’s, that’s really has some really amazing impact. Yeah.

[00:07:47] Especially in Hong Kong. I think the buy-in has to come in when they’re young, because I think Hong Kong has set in a system where I’m going to buy an apartment. I’m going to get rich and I’m going to work in banking. And it’s just been set too long in that in that mindset. So the mindset is changing that, which is great.

[00:08:02] A lot of parents are, are really embracing what we’re offering. That’s true. I mean, You’re from New York city. I mean, wouldn’t you say that, you know, I feel like New York and Hong Kong is both Somewhat similar in the fact that there’s this pressure to, you know, finance, the financial hubs, right. There’s you know, expensive real estate kind of, you know, close living would, wasn’t on my question list, but I, I dunno if you want to give us some comparison in Hong Kong and New York.

[00:08:31] Yeah. I mean, I see the two different areas. I think Hong Kong is to me, it’s a bit more stable in the sense we had to talk about the people, the way people think, the way people approach education, the way people approach work. I think it’s a bit more stable and more predictable. When I had young kids, I think that was like a great thing.

[00:08:55] New York city to me is a bit more unpredictable in good ways and in bad ways, right. So you’re going to meet. Great people, wonderful people. And then you can also gonna get the other side, right. Where. Maybe maybe education is not a main focus. I think, you know, being in Hong Kong, there’s a lot of Confucian value flowing around and education is important.

[00:09:17] I think in New York city is about the hustle, right? So you’re going to get a lot more innovation, a lot more innovators out there, but it doesn’t mean that’s all good. Right? Cause there’s also that underbelly coming out of New York, you lived there. I live here and we were talking before recording five, five minutes.

[00:09:32] I have my kids when they’re young, I’d rather have them in Hong Kong, when they’re, when they, when they finished university went to live anywhere in the world. It could be there, to live in New York. Right. But it’s, it’s more difficult the other way. Right? Like I have friends in New York who tells me, oh yeah, my kids are in high school.

[00:09:48] And one of the rules we have is that they can’t take the subway. They need to take the bus from one location, other than location, because it’s above ground. I feel safer. And, you know, and now I’m going to get a little political a little bit. I mean, I guess it’s kind of on my list. We’re going to have to get into this a little bit.

[00:10:03] Okay. Asian American situation in the US is tough now as well. Right? What happened in Atlanta yesterday? Yes. Yes. I honestly, I have to say I haven’t, I try not to read news cause it’s just so depressing lately, but I saw headlines and I’m afraid to read too much, but yeah, I. I it’s really sad. It’s really sad.

[00:10:28] I mean that, yeah, I don’t, yeah. I don’t know. What would you, you know, what do you, I guess this is, I’ve heard already people choosing to go to Canada or other places instead of the US already because of this, you know? Well, I mean, my heart is American. I just live in Hong Kong. Right. And I just make it life choice, a life decision for myself and my family.

[00:10:53] Yeah. Yeah. It’s really sad about that James. You know, I obviously, I also, I’m obviously in Asia, you know, I’m in China now and plan to be in Asia long-term and yeah, I’ve Chinese wife and mixed kids, and it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s scary to some of the things I was reading where some Asian American are afraid to go to go outside by themselves without like.

[00:11:14] Western, you know, or white faced or foreign non Asian person or something, it’s, that’s really bad stuff for the US system is supposed to be a, it’s not supposed to be like that. Right. That’s the, it’s kind of going against what the US is meant to be. Yeah. Growing up in New York, I never felt that issue. I mean, you, you, you grew up in New York, New Jersey and you know, there’s always going to be some form of racism, but I think this racism is getting out of hand right now.

[00:11:41] Right? I mean, it doesn’t help me, but I think it starts there. Right? Yeah. Or the China virus or other things like that. Yeah. I know. I know. Yeah. Some ignorant leaders that say stupid things and pass it, encourages, encourages that kind of thinking, which is not, not good. Yeah. Yeah, we should probably move on from let’s let’s I think there’s enough.

[00:12:11] You know, we’re here in Asia, you know where I really want to talk about Hong Kong. You said political. I was also, it’s on my list, you know, honestly, I haven’t been to Hong Kong. I can’t go. I mean, I want to go, but I mean, man, there’s been massive changes. I think anybody probably listening now is curious.

[00:12:28] You’re doing this accelerator now in March, 2021. You’ve done a couple before. You’ve been there since 2009. I would just love to hear what you’re, you know what what’s, you know, there’s COVID there’s trade Wars. There’s obviously these previous, you know, protests, things like that. I mean, man, it’s been a crazy, crazy few years.

[00:12:49] I mean, what, what have you, let’s maybe within your, within your perspective and with these innovation and accelerators, I mean, what are you seeing. I mean, everything is affected. I mean, everything affects something else, right? If there’s any issues, politically it affects something, trade Wars with the U S that affects things.

[00:13:09] I mean, COVID is the doozy, right? So it’s a borders have closed. I mean, previously issues there, isolated it to Hong Kong is Hong Kong, right. Or, or Asia now it’s no one could leave their own home country to travel confidently somewhere else. So it affects businesses. No doubt, but, but what I see is that people have been adapting to the situation, right?

[00:13:32] So we’re doing this via zoom. Everybody’s doing virtual events. People are finding more strategic ways and companies that actually have strategy it’s companies that adopt innovation, I think have a higher chance to succeed during these periods of time. Traditional companies can’t adapt. They’re gone. I mean, you, you, you see it all the time and.

[00:13:53] Same thing in the innovation community, the startups that we’re tethering are gone, I could see that a good 25% of startups in Asia, Southeast Asia is probably collapsed. If they were startups that begin pre COVID. Now I feel like once that survive or better, so good for your investors because now, you know, who’s the survivors, who actually is building up revenue and, you know, we have a mutual friend that’s actually, I’m gonna use them as example.

[00:14:21] If you remember, do you remember the whole year in, from fondness Institute? He was like cohort one. Well, anyway, he pivoted from his thing. He did a virtual platform and I hear that, you know, sales prior to COVID where we’re not really going anywhere. COVID hit and he’s, he’s making eight figures right now in revenue.

[00:14:42] Wow. Congrats. That’s amazing. And there are certain industries that are going to get the pop and there’s certain industries that you have to be smart and strategic. You have to pivot. And you have to make it your market. I mean, at jumpstart, once COVID hit, we hit the wall. We didn’t know how to react because all our events were canceled, everything got canceled.

[00:15:03] Now I’m happy to say we, we got leaner, we got stronger. The first three months of 2021 represents to us, maybe the entire revenue already for the last year or so. So it has been good for us because we adapted and I think companies have to learn how to adapt. Or, or digging that that’s a big statement, right?

[00:15:23] That’s a big saying. I would agree though. I mean, I mean, even within online business, e-commerce sellers, you know, a lot of people in our community, they got. It was scary for me. I mean, it was March last year, almost exactly a year ago like Amazon stopped accepting non essential shipments. People had shipments.

[00:15:41] They didn’t put in that they were, you know, containers are logistics and now it’s like most, I mean, of course depends on your category for selling. Like travel products, you’re you’re maybe not doing so well, but. Certain most, maybe I’ll say most are low. You know, if you’re not in like a seasonal category or something that here they’re doing better than ever.

[00:16:01] Right. You know, for sure. And there’s more, there’s more acquisitions, which we even talked about a little bit before recording, and there’s a lot of investments in say e-commerce and yeah. It’s but yeah, for sure, the traditional people that didn’t listen to, you know, it’s not like they didn’t have a warrant, not, I mean, it didn’t have enough time to go online before, but I think it accelerated that.

[00:16:22] A lot. Right. Everybody’s going online. And if you can’t adapt. Yeah. You’re you’re like you said, it’s bold, but it’s truly, you especially, it’s been a year now, right? I mean, you can’t just keep paying, you know, paying your business the same way without finding the right way to get the new revenue for the new world.

[00:16:42] Right? Otherwise, like we say, 25% of businesses who couldn’t figure it out are no longer here. And unfortunately with startups, you need, you need cash. So you’re going to have at least a reasonable burn rate, right. Your runway is usually really tight for startups. So it didn’t help. And Amazon, Amazon’s a great example.

[00:17:03] Amazon is booming. I mean, I buy from Amazon twice a week. I buy from Amazon more now than it did before because of the situation. Right. And then from the US and they ship to, to Hong Kong or, yeah, I mean, they shipped them off on $49 free shipping. US is 29, right. So it’s $20 more. And if we shipping to Hong Kong, it’s a great thing because it’s a lot cheap, you lived there.

[00:17:26] Right. I’ve been here. I’ve been there. Like, so yeah, let’s, let’s talk a little bit about the scene in Hong Kong. Like I even kind of curious, so you’re doing, so even, even a local startup is all online. I mean, is there events? I saw somebody do it on, I guess it’s mostly online accelerator, online events.

[00:17:45] Now, even now, Yeah. So we tried to actually do something in person. We were having our fingers crossed, but it looks possible. Our teams are not from Hong Kong. We have one team from Hong Kong. We have a teams from, we have one team from Sweden, two teams from India, one team from Thailand, one team from Hong Kong.

[00:18:03] And it’s a very niche area, we’re retail tech, we’re in lifestyle tech, fashion tech. So. We’re in that space. But even, even at that, we wanted all the teams to come in. They all wanted to be here as well, but couldn’t happen. So we did the best thing that we could for the teams. And we held a hybrid event. We had all the mentors come.

[00:18:23] Live to our space. We have here, we have mentors still want to get together, right? Say hi to each other. And then we just simulated the teams being here live. We had a big foam board with their background. We put workstations out. So we walked the mentors and their, their advisors to them. And then we’ll just make an introduction like we’re live.

[00:18:45] So we tried to simulate as much as possible. I believe that people could do it on zoom. But I believe, If we could find a more interactive better way because use partial zoom, but also have the people who are available to show up in person to come in. And I think that the mentors did want that. When do you, when did weather have a slice of pizza and the beer and then walk or be in their pajamas at home and meeting the teams?

[00:19:11] Right. I mean, that’s the trade-off right. But I think half the time, the real talk, the real deals happen at pizza and beer, not at the presentation, you know, not at the demo. Right. I always leave us that after our drinks, right. After event drinks, that like, you’re going to make the connection. So we tried to simulate that a bit.

[00:19:31] It’s still tough, but we’re all getting vaccines. Right. So we’ll all get the vaccine soon and maybe things may change. Yeah, I, yeah. I mean, we’re all hoping. It’s. I mean, I, some of my friends share on social media, they said two weeks, you know, I was the same, but, but he originally said two weeks of lockdown, like in last March, somebody, you know, some news or article or government said two weeks in a year, but it does seem like vaccines coming.

[00:20:00] Yeah. You know, like what, what would you say. Again, I guess political, but it’s also just, you know, with all these things that happening in Hong Kong, I mean, is the expat versus local community or ecosystem. I mean, what, what have you, have seen? Yeah. I mean, I don’t see that much of a divide, the expat and local community.

[00:20:24] I think, I think early on into that whole innovation space and the journey here in Hong Kong, it was very expat heavy. One reason I would say is because probably innovation and startups were more acceptable in their home countries. They came over to Hong Kong and they saw the opportunity to start their own business and they didn’t have that traditional mindset.

[00:20:42] In coming to Hong Kong, I’m not going to come directly to banking. I’m going to do XYZ, which is different anyway. So it was an easy segue. The local community, I think, has caught up a lot in the last few years because they see that globally startups are booming and anybody would think innovatively create a brand new product, a great

[00:21:05] Game changer. So I think so I I’m just saying that probably for every 10 startups right now, nine of them are still locals. But in terms of representing on the addict, the speaking circuit is probably 50-50. At this point, things are evolving, but I think a lot of the local companies are a little bit more low key.

[00:21:26] Yeah. In terms of how they go out and promote themselves. Yeah, it seems similar to what I recall too there, but it’s happy. I’m happy to hear that they’re growing though. Cause I mean, that’s the future, right? I mean any communities, the local, the local community, whether yeah. Yeah. I mean, even if you look at the, the unicorn companies here in Hong Kong, I would say 90% of all the unicorn companies are.

[00:21:50] Okay. Exciting. Exciting. Yeah. Yes, yes. Yes. So, you know, do you want to share some examples of, you know, maybe three-year accelerator program or some startups that you’d like to maybe spotlight or, or give us some insights about what they’re working on? Yeah. I mean, there’s, there’s, there’s a, a good range here in Hong Kong.

[00:22:16] I think, I can talk more about sectors that I think, I mean anything, I mean, anything that’s going to feature a COVID solution such as virtual conferencing or virtual networking, that’s going to be really good. E-commerce as you could tell has boomed during this, this time. I mean, honestly before COVID, I don’t think deliver roo or food panda was doing quite well in Hong Kong now, I think.

[00:22:46] I mean, they’re cash rich. They’re expanding to hiring new team, to sending out press releases about new locations and central kitchen. Just something, you know, it’s just a lot of buzz around that. So companies that or industries that, that might not have been in the sexiest, has seen a resurgence. Right. I think anything with crypto prices going up would be great.

[00:23:09] NFT is the big thing right now, right? I mean, I think there was. There was a top shot. I think there was a Rob Gronkowski, right from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He’s the most probably winning this fallback in NFL history. He went out and just do virtual cards, he made $1.2 million overnight just by doing virtual cards.

[00:23:30] Yeah. So I think industries like that are really creative. Hong Kong is still always going to be solid in prop tech. I think prop tech is always going to be strong FinTech as I was going to be strong, AI robotics, big data that the usual suspects, right? If you move into Southeast Asia is a totally different segment.

[00:23:48] That may be great. Right? Logistics will always be good tech. So it really depends on where you’re at, but there’s, there’s some good, so innovation wise space is changing. It’s maturing. It’s, it’s just developing in the right direction in Hong Kong and it needs to, it needs to reach, I think the younger generation, that’s the big key.

[00:24:16] I agree. I mean, the government, I think, has been supportive. I mean, I think Hong Kong investments. Okay. I haven’t talked to them recently, but they seem pretty, pretty supportive of the community then. I mean, for, from a startup perspective, probably one of the better government arms that support the infrastructure, the ecosystem.

[00:24:39] Really well, I mean, they do it from the start me up festival, but I think the people involved in that division truly love startups. I mean, you know, you know, Charles and . Yeah, yeah, yeah. And leave it there. Yeah. I mean, if you don’t have passion for it, you’re not going to, it’s not going to show right now.

[00:24:57] It’s like these guys really are pushing the ecosystem and that’s a good thing. And it’s from a good part, a good space in their heart. Yeah, no, I agree with, I agree with that for sure. They’re they definitely stand out and they’re very approachable. I mean, anybody can book an appointment with them free.

[00:25:15] Right. You know, I try to tell people, just schedule an appointment at their office. They really helped, you know, No strings attached at all. It’s really amazing. And the ecosystem is good. Oh, one thing I can help your community with would be, did you ever tell them about Cyberport or Science park and the programs available there because it’s free money, right?

[00:25:35] It’s yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, you apply like your innovative solution. You get 500,000 Hong Kong dollars, which is what’s that 65,000 US and they don’t take any equity. Right. You just need to meet their KPIs. You develop a business. And beyond that, you’ll be eligible for R and D grants. You’ll be eligible for the SME export funding.

[00:25:58] I think that allows you to do events. So that’s your community. If you go outside and do events and other countries, they’ll pay 50% of the expenses, then you’re eligible for the microfund and this all adds up and there’s no equity taken until you take. The micro fund money if it’s ever offered. Right? So these are good things.

[00:26:17] I think like community has to offer maybe. And there’s no geographic boundaries. So if your community that’s listening to you, Mike is from China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, us everybody’s eligible. So that’s a good thing about Hong Kong. They, they, they, they really want a wide range and their first cup of people coming here.

[00:26:38] Supporting the ecosystem. I agree. Yeah, I totally agree. This is great. Thanks. Thanks, James. We’ll also link some of those. I was long time ago. I interviewed some of those  people. Well, I’ll link them for people to hear there too. And of course their official sites. Let’s let’s, I think it’s been fascinating.

[00:26:57] I know you’re super busy and I really appreciate your time. Of course, I’d love to hear more about jumpstart. You know, how. How can people get involved or, you know, what, what, what are some, I mean, you got the accelerator third batch happening right now. Like, you know, our listeners are like, you know, digital nomads, e-commerce sellers import-exporters’, you know, what, what are some things they could find out more or participate in?

[00:27:19] Yeah. I mean, for at jumpstart, we actually have two methods to create our media. One is our print magazine, which is distributed in 11 countries in 39 cities, across Asia and Australia. We have our online it’s www jumpstartmag.com. Either way, we reach a very specific niche audience of innovators, startup, founders, investors, government agencies, who are interested in innovation and chambers of commerce.

[00:27:44] Of course. So if anybody has press releases that you want to talk about, we’re happy to publish these great. You can just go on a site, submit your press release. We’ll help you promote this. And then you can always link back. Right? So for social media you know, jumpstart, and I think it helps a bit, right? Cause it kind of validates a journey of let’s say a new entrepreneur or a new startup.

[00:28:07] So we’re always here to support. We run innovation programs. We’re actually at the point where we’re exploring a venture capital fund that will reinvest the money into early stage startups in Vietnam, Indonesia, and India. So if anybody’s interested in that journey, reach out to me as well. If you could just go and jumpstartmag.com and you can look for me, James Kwan.

[00:28:30] Okay. Yeah. Thanks. Thanks for having me, right? Yeah, no, it’s been a pleasure you to come here, you got to come back to Hong Kong and grab some beers. I know. I mean, I keep thinking I’m coming back and coming back visiting or at least, yeah, hopefully soon, you know, I guess I’ll get some shots, hopefully not in a wrong hole, but you know, like I’ll get some shots and then I’ll probably see you soon, man.

[00:28:55] Yeah. Yeah. We’ll connect. Well, well, we’ve always kept in touch with, is a great thing, right? I’ve been, we’ve had calls and chats while I’ve been in the same room for a week. You had events. So our circles were always a catch up to each other. So, great. Thanks so much, Mike, for having me. It’s been a pleasure and thanks.

[00:29:17] Thank you whole community for listening. Okay, thank you. You too. Enjoy these shows and join these people. We have such amazing. Honestly, I just got a really good feedback from one of our members about the last mastermind. It’s small. It’s meant to be small. It’s meant to be private. Some people want, I want it recorded.

[00:29:33] They can’t make it, but they’re not recorded. At least our intimate Roundtable masterminds, where we really get to know each other a more intimate basis and help each other. And that’s what really is valuable. I mean, I love these podcasts. I love sharing this stuff. Totally public. We put this on Chinese Wechat.

[00:29:48] YouTube, ITunes, our blog, but we’d have some, basically the big difference with our membership is smaller and privates and a more intimate. So if you want that, we’re also working on some more, more and more bonuses for members. Check it out at globalfromasia.com/VIP, I think, or gfavip.com. Easy one.

[00:30:08] We got so many websites. Thanks again in advance. All right. Thanks James for that. Just got my haircut. You know, I probably look different, but same day, same day, 347 shows. Check, done globalfromasia.com/jumpstart. We’re going to link of course to jumpstartmag.com, invest HK other resources. Also some interviews in our archives.

[00:30:31] And I said in the intro is a talk about some of the things that we’ve learned. It’s it’s true. It’s like James says, I mean, Hong Kong is a very open environment for international startups, international people from all backgrounds, all races. I mean, that’s what makes Hong Kong special is it’s, it’s this East meets West mixed together and everybody is generally friendly and welcoming and the government is there to really support that.

[00:30:55] You know, we mentioned some people there, we know by name. You can literally just book a free appointment in their office or probably by phone call nowadays fast check, which is a government organization or a government body that basically helps entrepreneurs and businesses. I’ve sent people over there.

[00:31:14] Listeners definitely just schedule a call there. We’ve had a model also in some of our webinars, we should get them back on the show. We’ve had Charles Ning there, back, I think episode, it was like less than 10. I mean, 2013, I interviewed him. And they just keep, keep it up. And they, and like, they really love what they do.

[00:31:30] There’s also Cyberport, which is down in Hong Kong Island, which is a beautiful facility and they have financial support and you know, of course, free facilities and grants to help startups and a lot of different startups in this, in this show over the years have been through that program have been based there.

[00:31:49] We’ve also, I’ve even spoken at events there. We also have science park, which is up Northern Hong Kong. And that’s, that’s another great facility for, for startups centers, a separate program there that you can choose between, Basically I choose these are the top two programs Cyberport and science park and

[00:32:09] We’ll link to them. And then, we do have interviews with these representatives from these people, but probably the first would be booking Invest HK. Of course you can join our membership, it’s GFAVIP. Supports us, supports what we do here, but they also have amazing free things there in Hong Kong desks. What they’re there for.

[00:32:26] So I am really always amazed at the power of Hong Kong, the strength of Hong Kong. And that’s how this show even started, you know, our first 10, 20, 30, 40 shows are about Hong Kong business, Hong Kong banking, Hong Kong startups, Hong Kong investments. So I hope this show was a little bit of a refresher for those that remember those earlier shows.

[00:32:46] And I always listened to feedback from people. We got a lot of people want to come on the show, trying to keep up with the request of guests still. Every other week, we had our masterminds. We’ve been really fun and helpful to people in our community. We’re actually gonna probably double down on some private.

[00:33:01] Content or private events for these members, which you’re welcome to apply for. We just want to look into it a little bit before we get you in there, but I think I’m going to wrap it up for now. Thank you so much for being here with me and all the way until the end of my blah, blah, blah session globalfromasia.com/jumpstart episode 347. Over and out.

[00:33:23] See you in the next episode. To get more involved in running an international business, please visit our website at www.globalfromasia.com. That’s www.globalfromasia.com. Also be sure to subscribe to our iTunes feed. Thanks for tuning in.