"We cycle at 7 PM to midnight, and it's such a weird thing to do because in America you would never cycle at night. There's a safety issue, and you don't have park-connected networks that are well lit. Culturally, you just never do those activities. When I was younger as a teenager, I thought Singapore was bad because it was not fun. You can't do anything, there are high taxes on alcohol, high taxes on cigarettes, and so many restrictions in Singapore. So there's a big push factor. It's like Singapore is Singapore incorporated, the government is too corporate centric. These push factors make the pull factors of America strong." - Jeremy Au, Host of BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast
"Applying for jobs in the US from Singapore, one of the key things is I first started off with LinkedIn and I realized how slow things are. By the time it reaches the US, LinkedIn is already too late sometimes. The greatest struggle was having to answer the question, do you need a visa to enter the US, and that became a screener. Most of the time you get instant rejection, and after two days you just get rejection from the companies you applied to. The greatest struggle is understanding the space from Singapore and the second is getting past the visa. Singaporeans have the H1B1, which is a non-lottery visa that allows you to work in the US with minimal costs, and only 20 percent of the pool of visas are used. That is the greatest challenge in these two parts." - Anonymous Guest
"Just the fact that if you're a startup, you have to fight for attention and fight for media. People end up using very external-oriented dynamic ways to get their message out there. You can’t rely on humility and say, my product is good but here are the bad things, and we’re only 2 percent better than the competition. Everyone will wonder why they should buy the product. Instead, people say, we are disruptive, we will destroy this occupation, the world will end because of my company. That level of salesmanship is very important. Silicon Valley is not just a technology ecosystem, it is also a salesmanship ecosystem." - Jeremy Au, Host of BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast
Jeremy Au and an anonymous guest discuss the challenges of pursuing career opportunities in the United States from Singapore. They talk about how visa rules limit options, why overseas LinkedIn applications often fail, and the appeal of Silicon Valley’s innovation cycles. They also cover cultural differences that require stronger self-promotion, and why resilience is needed when adapting to life abroad.
03:03 LinkedIn job applications feel slow and ineffective: By the time roles are posted, they may already be filled, and rejections arrive quickly
12:52 Graduate programs bring uncertainty: Even Ivy League graduates face high unemployment, making MBAs and master’s degrees a risky bet
16:03 Financial expertise is a strength: Skills like FP&A and CFA provide a clear value proposition to startups seeking structured knowledge
17:40 Silicon Valley offers faster innovation cycles: It draws high-risk, high-reward talent, with constant new waves from VR to crypto to AI
27:42 Cultural norms are different: U.S. workplaces expect stronger self-marketing and bold salesmanship, unlike Southeast Asia’s modest approach
35:02 Relocation requires resilience: Those who prefer routine must adapt to chosen and unchosen struggles when moving abroad
Jeremy (00:00)
Hey, so this is an interesting start because what we have is we have a Q &A of myself from an anonymous listener of the podcast. And I figured this actually would be an interesting conversation to have that would be helpful for many folks who are curious about US versus Singapore versus Southeast Asia technology ecosystem, but also adding a career perspective. And I hope that this is
not only an honest reflection of my own career, but also something that might be helpful for those who are in a similar predicament or situation. So maybe could you introduce a context, whatever you're comfortable with at a high level, anonymous way.
Anonymous (01:36)
Yeah, thanks Jeremy for having me. So I've been working in the finance industry for the past six years and I'm looking towards the US Bay Area for career opportunities to switch industries into roles that are at a startup, at an early stage startup, understanding how Big Tech is no longer hiring as much. So I'm looking to opportunities over there and being in my thirties and having
been married. for me, moving out to the US is something I feel like is the right point of time in my life. And there many questions around moving and I'm really curious to find out more today Jeremy on that.
Jeremy (02:11)
You know, I really empathize with this question because, you know, the reality is I did do that move, right? If you look at my career, I think it's quite transparent that obviously I grew up in Singapore, I was in the army, and I studied at UC Berkeley for undergraduate. And then so I had to make a decision to go there. And after that, I made a decision to come back to Singapore. I worked as a management consultant at Bain right?
And after that, I a decision to go back to the US to study. And then after that, made a decision to build a company in the US, in Boston, New York, and stay there. And then after that, a decision.
to come back to Singapore and then stay in Singapore through the pandemic, start a family, VC, as well as now startup. And now I also travel and work because the company handles both Singapore side and the US side, right? So I think there's an interesting dynamic where I've always been shuttling between those two countries So I guess from your perspective, what's on your mind?
Anonymous (03:03)
Yeah, I think through applying jobs in the US from Singapore, one of the key things is I first started off with LinkedIn and I realized how slow things are. by the time it reaches us, LinkedIn is already too late sometimes. And for me, I guess the greatest struggle was having to answer the question, do you need a visa to enter the US? And for me, I think that there was a screener.
And most of the time, you get instant rejection. After two days, you just get rejection from the different companies that you applied to. So think for me, I feel like the greatest struggle is understanding the space from where you are here in Singapore. And the second is getting past that visa. Because I know that Singaporeans have the H1B1, which allows this non-lottery visa that allows you to more or less work in the US with minimal costs.
and only 20 % of Singaporeans, sorry, 20 % of the pool of visas are used area. So that for me, I think that's greatest challenge in these two parts.
Jeremy (04:01)
Yeah, I totally resonate with you. And I think the first thing we recognize, of course, is that it's, of course, a big privilege for Singaporeans to have an H1B1 visa, right? I mean, it's very, very difficult to have that even visa availability, right, which is a function of the US Singapore Free Trade Agreement. And so I think that creates a lot of actually, in reality, a lot of telemobility, I think, between Singapore and the US, which is by design.
And this is actually an order of magnitude easier than what's available for our Southeast Asian neighbors. So if you're Indonesian, Vietnamese, Malaysian, I think you're going to struggle because you don't have that same.
effectively unlimited visa quota that they have because they've compete in the general H1B lottery, right? And that's not only under a lot of stress because it's a competition from the, I think the Indian and Chinese populations, which are obviously huge, but also is a lottery based system, right? So it's not skill based. So again, it kind of like creates this huge amount of uncertainty for other folks. So think the first thing is, I think as for the Singaporeans, I think there is that,
one level of benefit, I would say for sure is a visa.
I think the second type of benefit that you have actually is that coming from Singapore and from the rest of East Asia, Singapore and the US have similar GDP per capita, right? So about $90,000 US versus if you come from one of our Southeast Asian neighbors, your GDP per capita could be anywhere between 4,000 to 10,000 to 13,000, right? So it depends, mean, basically it's like an order of magnitude difference of about 10 to 20 times difference of that GDP per capita.
And that's important because what we are seeing is that I think from an American employer's perspective, I think they are quite aware of Singapore as a country.
Don't get me wrong, because a lot of people still don't understand it fully. I was talking to this college and as admissions counselor, literally she was like, oh, Singapore, you know, which, which part of China is it in? Right. And I was like, you know, the stereotypes are true. But in general, say the employers would be okay with Singapore. So I don't think, because I think if they look, see another Southeast Asian country, there's actually even more like an active selection effect where they're just like, okay, you know, this is not transferable.
And then thirdly, course, is actually the third benefit you have is you're actually in finance, right? Which is a little bit more transferable as a skill set to the US because I think if you were,
supply chain or something a little bit more esoteric, I think that could be a little bit more difficult to move. Or maybe you're doing agriculture, right? Because you're Southeast Asia and you're an agri-tech. Again, that would be a difficult skill to pott over. So I think these are the three advantages. Again, you're from Singapore, you have the H1B1 visa, and you actually have a pretty decent degree of background, both educationally and so on and forth. So I'll put that one aside.
And I want to say what is on my mind, which is I think that at the end of the day, the visa rejection is a polite reason for rejection, but it is not the real reason for why you're getting rejected, right?
I think at the end of the day, every employer is basically saying, is this person going to add value to my company? And the way they normally think about it is, does this person come with the sufficient industry experience, sufficient role experience, and sufficient country experience? And obviously, I think people get surprised by the last one, because I think it's always implied that when you're hiring, you always tend to hire domestically. But I think that's really important, because in America, there's so many immigrants. But even in Singapore, you can imagine we had the same situation. We have lots of people applying for us from the region.
There's always that question, which is, yes, there is a bit of a hurdle to get the employment pass and yes, it's that hurdle to get the H1B1 visa.
which is less, but still quite a bit of work. But it's a very polite way to also reject for all the other criteria. So I really want to solve. And what's my implication, would say, I'll just name it off the bat is, common errors that I have heard and seen Singaporeans do is one is, first of all, they're applying from Singapore. So LinkedIn says Singapore, they are doing everything remotely. The truth is, probably have the finest job in the function of in-person.
to relocate a persona in that sense to the US, or already be in the US, whether you're on a tourist visa, whatever it is, networking, socializing, talking to people, getting that in-person job referral. So I think that's really important, number one. You can't really do it.
Anonymous (08:01)
So your advice
would be to change your LinkedIn to SF or LA to just help with the algorithms.
Jeremy (08:08)
I think that's one, because at least, know, and two is really spend the time there, right? And I'm not asking you to fake out the person. I'm just saying change, you know, take a, you know, Singapore, your visa, free travel to the U S so you can spend, you know, quite a good chunk of time there in the U S. So I would make it a reality. would move there, interview in person, talk to people in person, get job referrals in person and change your LinkedIn as well. So I think that's one.
Which is of course quite scary because that obviously means you have to a job, right? So I think that's the thing. Number two is you have to recognize that it's difficult to do a triple jump, right? So what I mentioned was job criteria from an employee perspective is from an employee perspective, you are doing one of the most difficult things right now based on what you've just told me, right? Which is again, you're trying to change from finance to startups, which changing industry. And by the way, startups is the main kinds of industries, right? There's supply chain startups, there's quantum startups.
So maybe I would recommend you to work, try to apply towards only finance startups, right? Because at least you're not changing the industry as much. Some of that is relevant. Number one.
And number two is I would, you're changing your role, right? Cause we have finance role towards an operator role. There's a big change in role and tree a change in geography. So you don't have the network's experience. and I think maybe one way to say is like, if you were in Singapore, you were hiring for employee, would you hire somebody who, let's say, say your startup is in, let's use this exact same approach, right? Like in Singapore, you're running a finance startup,
is small, fast growing and servicing the region. And then you have an job application from somebody in America, he's American, never been to Southeast Asia, applying remotely, comes from supply chain, and has never done a role before. And then you're just going be like, there's also rejection and a polite way for me to say it is, sorry, we don't sponsor visas. I think this would be very important is that in the US, there's also,
legal requirement that pretty much they have stopped giving you the real reason why they can't tell you your fair experience because it tends to be a magnet for HR lawsuits actually now in the US. So I used to give, we used to give feedback to employee candidates, right? And then after that we eventually got a lawsuit threat he was basically saying that we were discriminating against him.
And it was just a very big puzzler for us because we were just telling him the feedback like, hey, know, like the deliverable wasn't a good fit for what we needed to do. Anyway, but you know, and after that, as a company, we just stopped giving feedback on why people reject it, right? You know, so we just either didn't respond or so forth, right? So I think it's really, so I think that's where I want you to be thoughtful about.
Anonymous (10:38)
Yeah, no, think that's super helpful to think about it, Jeremy, like the notion of tree, tree jumps. It's going to be difficult. And one has to kind of like do one of the trade-offs. Yeah.
Jeremy (10:49)
Yeah, I mean, a bit of nuance I'll have here is that therefore the actionable thing is try to do only one jump at a time. I think if you're really good or you're doing like something else, you can probably do two jumps if you're, and so what I mean by that is if your primary goal is to change geography and we have to dig into why you want to change geography as well, but if your primary goal is to change geography, my advice to you is stick in finance, stick to an equipment type organization and.
go for that role, right? Rather than, so then at least from the employer perspective, it's like, okay, this person is a slam dunk, knows a skill, does the exact same job role, crushed it, is this that happens to be moving from, and then, you know, somebody is more likely to be a champion for you, right? So I think, so I think that's one piece. Try to skip it as much as possible to single jump. The second piece I would say is, obviously, I would look at maybe companies who have Singaporean founders,
or Singaporean leadership. So obviously they're going to be more familiar with the visa situation. They themselves probably went through that same process. So I would probably be thoughtful about approaching those because then at least you have an internal champion who can just explain that to HR like, straightforward. And this is not really a visa issue. There's no uncertainty about the person clinching the visa. It will matter of time and effort and...
and administration work, which is still a problem for HR always, who's often doing this screening. But at least you have an internal champion to push you through. Three is I'll probably go for larger organizations rather than smaller, because at the end of the day, that HR admin is probably harder for a smaller organization than a larger organization.
Unless they're for talent, but if they're star for talent, may prefer to hire you remotely, right? And keep you here rather than, you know, bring you in and go through that hassle. and then lastly, number four is, you know, you should also consider either like,
a graduate school program as well and kind of going through the student OPT track, which is basically a post-graduate school work opportunity for that visa, which can eventually be converted into H1B1 and so forth. I think there's a lot of familiarity in American HR system to hire fresh graduates who are international immigrants, but at least have that student visa. And that's very easy for them to internally, but also very easy conceptually for them to work on.
Anonymous (12:52)
Makes sense, makes sense. Yeah. I think what's interesting, you know, speaking to people and then talk about the idea of like doing a masters or something like that and the likes of that. And what I realized is that the, the, the hit rate for people who graduate from master's program is starting to drop over time. Like I noticed that there's a statistic of like certain Ivy league schools, like six months after graduating, 60 % are still unemployed. So that was quite interesting for me. was just like.
Okay, so if you take a shot at an MBA program or something that likes of that, you are stopping a salary and then you got to take extra costs on for a 40 % probability. So that's quite interesting.
Jeremy (13:31)
40 % probability is pretty good actually. depends on what kind of risk appetite you have, right? Like if you told me, Hey Jeremy, you 40 % chance of getting it. Yeah. I'll be like, Hey, that's pretty good odds, but maybe that's why I'm startups and more entrepreneurial. Uh, because you know, like there's nothing that's a hundred percent in life. I think that's one, but two is like, Hey, you know, uh, you're pushing for 40 % chance.
of getting that geographic allocation and experimentation that you want, Tree is a one to two year program, maybe to kind of like get to see the country for yourself and see where they actually want to do it, right? Because there's lots of people who go to America and then after that, decide to go somewhere else, right?
Last point is, yeah, you know, out of that group as well, a of people go back to countries because the countries are better. Right.
what I'm just trying to say here is like, I think the odds are better 40 % from my perspective and you just have to work hard at it and just take that opportunity to experiment.
Anonymous (14:18)
Yeah, no, that's good advice. Different ways to, different tracks to being where you want to be. Yeah, that makes sense.
Jeremy (14:25)
Yeah, I think the also thing is, you you think about that master's program is, you know, if I think there's an interesting conversation to be like, do you want it to be something that specializes who you are versus something that broadens you out a little bit, right. And I think that's also an interesting piece or debate that you have. Obviously, you know, you know, if you think about it from a startup perspective, like.
You know, think the reality is that obviously the world is going through a huge amount of change, right? So if you asked me like five years ago, I would have said, yeah, you if you go to the U S go and take a master's in computer science, right? And then you're probably going to get a computer engineering job because there's a huge shortage of computer engineers in the U.S. five years ago. Now, obviously with the AI, you know, revamp or overhaul of, you know, the productivity of engineers and now there's this, um,
AI driven layoffs, right? Of engineers at a junior level. I think it makes it a little bit more difficult to say what kind of master's program to go for. It's hard for me even to say which one it is, but think at least you got to have that conversation with yourself to be like, is this something that lets me specialize more in finance? It makes me a super no brainer, right? For, and I think there is that role, right? Finance, can you become...
I'm using example, right? Audit, internal accountants, like you have to have internal accountants is a pain. There's a lot of productivity there, but can you become a controller and do the handle the finance operations? I mean, it's the example, because you're in finance, that's one side it versus, you um, you know, again, it goes back to your role, right? Like what kind of role requires them to be in person? Probably something like it's leadership, something that's in person. I don't know. There's some debate that has happened. yeah.
Anonymous (15:55)
No, that makes sense. Yeah. Bring your tool set like FPNA to the table and that gives you more value proposition. Yeah.
Jeremy (16:03)
Yeah. So I think that's a little bit, but of course, what it means by that is prior to getting your CPA, your CFA in your scenario, right? Because the qualify for that, you need those things to get that level. I'm not saying that I'm telling you to do it. I'm just saying that if your goal is to specialize in finance and say like, okay, my job is to be a no brainer startup controller or finance leadership, because it's a, you know, then I think there's something to be said there, right? But it's not an easy role for sure. So again, or are you going to try to go more
generalist. I think the tricky part is about generalists is, you know, are you really better than everybody else? Right? It depends. So what's the demand there and what's your skill set? So it goes back to your resume and background.
Anonymous (16:43)
that makes sense. the skill sets that you bring to the table as well as the so-called licenses, the CFA and all of that, yeah.
Jeremy (16:51)
So why do you want to move to the US?
Anonymous (16:53)
you know, having like read all the different trends, innovation, I believe that Silicon Valley is still one of the highest concentrations of skills, innovation and human capital. It's vastly different if you look at the job markets there, the job ads and all of that versus the market like Singapore or Hong Kong. It's very different. Yeah. So, and I think...
the innovation that's coming, that iteration piece is something that I want to plug myself into. Whereas in Singapore, it's still a bit like waiting for regulations, waiting for bigger companies to move. And there's also a very conservative mindset. So I think it's just like flexing oneself to get a different mindset, which you can't get off like LinkedIn by reading thought leadership.
that would be my case for when I go to US.
Jeremy (17:40)
Yeah, I just looked at your LinkedIn profile, just to check in here. You don't have any US specific experiences in terms of having been there, right? And I think that's actually really important piece because I actually agree with you, right? mean, think Silicon Valley is the number one technology ecosystem. I know during the pandemic, people were arguing the pandemic was killing it and it's now Florida, it's the rest of the world.
But now I think the consensus has landed back that at the end of the day, there's a technology flywheel in Silicon Valley, right? mean, and it's kind of even right now in this conversation is demonstrating the power of it, right? It would just, it has the, appeal to high risk, high reward individuals want to bring their talent to there.
the universities like UC Berkeley and Stanford, they'll be there. They'll be happy to do your masters for you. bring you into the industry. and obviously the startups were all compete one another. So they're always fighting for talent and they're going to rate. there's always a new technology wave, right? Whether it was VR, you know, eight years ago or crypto or, you know, now it's AI. There's always a new boom in the California weather and quality of life makes it very appealing for everybody. Right. And so.
I think we have to admit that, you know, just like how Silicon Valley crushed the Boston, you know, I always tell people it's like 1950s, 1960s, Boston used to be the Silicon Valley of America. And then since the 1980s, Silicon Valley has crushed Boston, right? And then.
I think that talent ecosystem is so strong as a flywheel that I think we just had a structurally say this. I'm not going to be like, you know, be super diplomatic and just be like, you know, all the systems are the same and every ecosystem is a good ecosystem. Right. You know, I'm just going to say like, I think there's a very strong gravitational pull in the U S and I would say that it's even more obvious when I say something like, Hey, you want to be a world-class,
actress, right? Or dancer. Most people are going to be like, you got to move to New York or Los Angeles, right? I mean, it's, so because all of us would say like, Hey, and I always never forget that when I was in New York, and working.
Obviously I was taking all these like for fun, I for like comedy classes and this, you know, hang out. And what was different between Boston, you know, comedy classes and New York comedy classes was like, there were people, but one third of class wanted to be professional.
you know, comedians or actors and, and the other one third were actually from comedic or entertainment industries. Right. And then I was part of the last third, which was professionals who are very stressed at work. so hanging out with the new skillset and enjoy life and whatever it is. I mean, this is a hobby, right. But I was like, wow. So one third of them were like working in the entertainment industry. So they were like already dancing. They were already.
working for Saturday Night Live or Stephen Colbert's show. So they are producers. And they're just doing it because they are like, I mean, it's like work adjacent, right? It's like a hobby still, but.
know, it's still very work adjacent, right? You know, it'd be an equivalent of, I don't know, a venture capital guy going to do his, you know, CPA or CFA. You know, it's like very work adjacent component, qualification or credential component. There's another one that people who actually work, wanted to be professional comedians. So they were like working hard and going to stand up bars
playing at gigs and, know, just pushing very hard because they knew that if they climbed all the way, they would climb all the way to becoming, you know, Stephen Colbert or Jimmy, Kimmel or even, you know, obviously Ronnie Chang, right? He's a classic example,
studied in Singapore and then from Singapore he moved to the US and then from US he moved to New York and then he was able now to get to obviously the daily show.
You he likes to have the angles like, I'm an immigrant and America sucks for these reasons in a very teasing way, you know, but this is persona fine. Okay. I think the good argument was, could somebody reach that global stardom in Malaysia or in Singapore or even San Francisco, right? the answer would be a struggle, right? Because he had a motor, right? Ecosystem even Robbie Williams, right? you know, obviously a comedian, was not success in San Francisco. I mean, he was funny. He was great.
He only found stardom when he moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles, right? So we're not really saying America is the best ecosystem. We're just saying Silicon Valley is really the best technology ecosystem. Los Angeles, Hollywood's stardom and influencer ecosystem. New York obviously has its news. I mean, so all I'm just trying to say here is I totally agree with you about that. I think those are the benefits.
I think what's also interesting actually, a mount counterpoint of course is you also see the opposite, right? And I have to this counterpoint because...
Otherwise people are going to say like, Jeremy, you're not a patriot for Southeast Asia. And why are you in Southeast Asia, Singapore now? But actually I was just hosting a brunch, with, you know, three other, you know, kind of like, Singaporean and Southeast Asian families, know, that relocated. And I'll say that every two weeks I'm probably getting a call or outreach from somebody who's kind of relocating back from America, back to Southeast Asian.
I think the question they have is quite set of different, but I think for them, I think they may be frustrated about three different things. One is I think they're frustrated about quality of life in America, would say. whether they're, especially when they're like starting to raise a family, then of childcare, cause of healthcare, cause of safety, proximity to family or help and companionship.
And even also to some extent cultural values about how they want to raise their children. These are all, I think, a big factor for quality of life and because, you know, cost of living is really not easy in Silicon Valley. So I think that's number one. I think the second piece that often is a big driver is I think seeing business opportunities in Southeast Asia. So for them, obviously there are ways to build companies in Southeast Asia.
Grab and Go-Jek were founded by Harvard MBAs, right? Who came back because they were in America. They could use Uber,
Anonymous (22:58)
them.
Jeremy (23:01)
And so I think there's a lot of folks who are coming back to Southeast Asia to say like, okay, I understand the ecosystem.
and how it works and I want to build something. Um, and I think, uh, you see quite a few folks are doing that, right? think you see, uh, Calvin come back, uh, he went to build funding societies, right across Asia, which is, you know, uh, FinTech, obviously, uh, we now have Dennis, he's coming back to build, and he mentioned building such fun, but, uh, kind of like an acquisition vehicle, like a Berkshire highway, um, for, you know, kind of like Asia, right. And so he's,
inspired to come back so we'll seize the business opportunity. And I think the third thing for reason why they come back off course I think they just don't see themselves as American in the long term, right? And I think that's actually a really important thing that's really important is that I think when you're in America,
People are very familiar with the word immigrant because the assumption is that you want to stay there forever, right? And I that's why we want to go to America. And obviously, if you're coming from a country from 5,000 GDP per capita, going to $90,000 GDP per capita, whether that's Singapore, Australia, or Switzerland,
your economy is so far 30, 40, 50 years, like this is literally a time travel machine to go to a place where, you have, great infrastructure, great opportunity. I think if you're like great talent and you want to move, that's why, you know, so many people around the world want to migrate, right. Um, let's be super real, right? Like my great grandparents left China because it was a nightmare in their country at the time. Right.
there's disorder and crime and all these other stuff. And so they left the country as immigrants or refugees in that sense, right. To, and, know, my set of parents basically led up in at that time, British Malaya, a colony of the British. and then eventually, you know, kind of like I ended up in Singapore, right. I mean, out of this whole stack, right. So I'm a product of immigration or talent migration, however you want to look at it. So I think that's really important,
What's the third point is, think is quite key is I think that after a certain number of years, you will find out whether you want to become American because you're staying long term, right? because if you're not going to stay forever, then you end up actually becoming an expatriate. And I see this quite often dominant, quite common, actually this third point for, would say like.
people who come from Switzerland or France and they're working in the U S or Australia, you know, or Singapore. And like, because the countries are actually quite equivalent to the U S in terms of GDP per capita infrastructure, arguably has its own strengths and weaknesses, but quite comparable. Um, I find that sometimes the basically they never become Asian American, you know, or French American, right? These is, they're just French. This is stay French.
And I think when I say that, obviously it's quite obvious, right? It's like, see somebody who is, um, American and Singapore and are they here as an expatriate? Do they see themselves retiring, growing old and going into a polyclinic for the healthcare in the longterm, or are they going to become Singaporeans in American Singaporeans in a sense that, you know, they can become PR, know, for example, know, like a longterm.
really live long term. I think that's really the iceberg of it. This one say is like, is the counterpoint to it again, it goes back to it is can your, your, I guess your quality of life or your aspirations for your life stage. And the second one is you see business opportunities, but I think the ice, the last iceberg is when you go to America and stay there, do you want to become American? Right. And I think that's the, uh,
super fair question it. And I think that's really the iceberg question. I would say like a lot of people talk about the first one because it drives the move. And the second one obviously is something they use to commercialize or think about the process. But I think that underlying emotional values piece is actually a huge piece. And actually I know lots of friends of mine who made decisions saying, you know, I would love to become American, right? Whether they're Singaporean or from a country that, you know, has less economic opportunities for them. But I'm just saying like, I think you just had to be thoughtful about that process.
Anonymous (26:46)
I think that's a very good flow to think about when you're moving and also the value you bring to the table as well as what's the long-term plan. Yeah. It completely makes sense.
Jeremy (26:56)
I'm just kind of curious about what else is on your mind regarding this move, benefits, costs, risks.
Anonymous (27:02)
I think it's more of understanding also the, so I do have American counterparts, you know, have like working for, working with colleagues from the U S helping them with strategies into APAC. That's, that's part of my work. And just, just from your angle, what are some cultural nuances, you know, having stayed there, that Singaporeans should take note of? I think that's more of that part, right? Like now we talk about, we've talked about career part.
knowing what's your so-called person market fit. And then now it's talking about culture, right? What are some things to take note of? Safety, of course, that's the number one, Singaporeans just love that, right? Safety. like, yeah, maybe if you share a bit more on these two areas, yeah.
Jeremy (27:42)
Yeah, I think that, again, I think the big similarity of course is the GDP per capita. So it's about same GDP per capita. And so it shows up like, you know, we listen to the same music, we watch the same TV shows, Netflix, right? You know, so there's a lot of shared cultural DNA actually. So when you go to the US, you know, at least my generation was like, Oh, Britney Spears and know, Everett Levine and everyone's like, kind of like, yeah, you know, you know, we all know the music, right? And obviously, you we're listening to Lady Gaga.
I think there's a lot of shared DNA because of the same GDP per capita. think that's how I think a lot of Europeans and I think the people who are privileged enough to be born in these countries get to share that commonality. I so I think that's one piece. And obviously the big commonality of course, English speaking, anglophile components. So I think that's going to be that is a huge, I think ease and that's not true for everybody. There's a lot of people who grew up.
in countries that have a different GDP per capita. that can cause, think, it's just then it becomes a difference in social norms. I think that's one thing that's easy. I'll say the two things that are quite different, I would say, is that one, I think that,
America obviously, I think racially, is quite a different mix from Singapore, and obviously is a different mix from Southeast Asia, right? mean, Vietnam is probably like, vast majority of Vietnamese, right? For example, right? I'm just giving you an example, right? But I think if you go, and Singapore obviously is a mix, you can say like what, 60 % Chinese, or, know, like there's Malay, there's Indian, but the mix is different obviously in America, right? So I think it's African-Americans, right? Latinos, Asians, you know.
Caucasians, sorry, there's always debate about what term to use. And so I think it's just a different mix. And I think that mix is obviously such a, I think, wonderful experience, I think, from my perspective, because, I mean, I have some really good friends of mine who across all of this, and I honestly got to learn about their own experiences and their own global experiences, whether they're migrating to America or whether they grew up in America. But I think that global mix is such a...
blessing actually because you know I just didn't expect, you know, weird connections right and you learn stuff that you just never learned before right you know and it's interesting because it also creates that prism back on Southeast Asia.
So for example, um, you know, I, in America, was hanging out and I got to learn about red lining, which is like, the concept of banks basically saying like this neighborhood is we can't give like housing loans, actually those areas are primarily African-American, right? So using poverty or status as a proxy for race, you know, even though it's legally defensible, but you know, it's a, an equal in outcomes, right? So these are historical practices that happened in 1960, 1970s. And then you're like, okay.
you get to learn about this stuff and then you're like, okay, that actually applies in the rest of the world as well, right? Whether you like it or not. So I think there's this interesting gift, but it's definitely a different mix of demographics. So I think you just be aware. I think the third thing of course is actually Singapore is still blend between Asia and Western culture. So I think you're already like 50 % there, but America is a pure American culture, right?
And I also, I would say that Silicon Valley is also special, right? I mean, the Silicon Valley culture is very different from Midwestern culture as well. Right. So I think we're careful to say it's not just all American, but we're talking about Silicon Valley. I'll say that in Silicon Valley, think that, um, in SF, uh, and Palo Alto, uh, I think the biggest cultural difference, cultural differences that will quite quickly come out is I think very high risk, high reward.
So I think if you're saying something like, I want to do this step by step, people might say like, it's not visionary enough. You know, so there's a very strong dynamic of high risk, high reward kind of swinging for the home runs dynamic because of the VC system and so forth. people ask you keep dreaming bigger and bigger and bigger, which is not a thing, but I think is there something for you to be thoughtful about?
I think then, you know, like, there's two other sub points of that, for example, would be, you know, salesmanship and communication is gonna be very important. I think there's this classic issue, you people have is like in Singapore, it's like, you know, humble server leadership, you know, kind of dynamic. And this is not gonna fly into Silicon Valley. It's very much like, I think it's still obviously a model of leadership and approach. But I think just the fact that if you're a startup, you just have to fight for attention, fight for media, fight for attention.
you people end up doing very, you know, is this a very like external oriented dynamic ways is trying to get your message out there. Right. And so you can't. Humility your way out and say, Oh, my product is good, but these are all the bad things. And we're only 2% better than competition. And everyone's going to be like, why am I buying a product? You know, so everybody's like,
We are disruptive. will destroy this occupation. You know, the world will end because of my company, right? You know, so that level of like salesmanship is actually very important. Right. And I think people underweight at Silicon Valley is not just a technology ecosystem as a building, but it's also a salesmanship ecosystem, right? Like Steve jobs, for example, he's a marriage of the
the charisma piece, communication piece, right? With the technology piece, right? We expect our engineers to be on video to do the product announcement, right? So there's that huge push for everybody to be able to communicate.
a vision. And the last point of that, of course, is I think that Silicon Valley, there's so many people who are going to be like you, who are kind of coming in short term. Some of you go back to home countries. Some of them may not get the visas and have to go back. Some will stay. But there's a huge like, I think flatness to Silicon Valley. So when you come in, I think you'll feel like an outsider for sure, because you're an immigrant expat. But I think
you will notice that there are so many other founders who have been drawn there. They come from the Midwest, they come from East Coast, they're all young, they're all hungry. So I think you'll be able to network quickly and there's a lot of ecosystem building activities like mixers and drinks and stuff like that. So I think it'll be like a wonderful blitz of getting to meet new people. It's just that...
The joke of cause is that all those new people will all be technology, right? And they're all doing AI and they're all doing, I mean, there's a joke, whatever technology flavor of the day, right? And I know people who have moved from SF to New York because they're so sick of technology. There's this like, how are people in real estate law? So there's this classic like emoji they have, right? It's like in New York, you get to meet a lawyer and accountant, real estate guy and a technology guy, right? And a media guy. So these are the people that you meet for your dinner party. And then you move to San Francisco.
that you're talking to a startup lawyer, a startup real estate guy, a startup accountant, a startup media guy, and a startup engineer, right? So everybody is the same roles, but they're all in startups, right? And so, so I think, you know, it depends on your flavor, but I think that's an opportunity that you get.
Anonymous (34:14)
that makes sense. Yeah. Thanks for sharing on that. The whole idea of the immigration blood, the mindset of being able to market yourself well, that's different from the Southeast Asia way of doing things. Yeah. I think these are very, very good. An eye into how to operate things in America.
Jeremy (34:33)
What's your biggest fear about this move?
Anonymous (34:36)
Actually, not a lot of fear. It's really just the opportunity to work there.
Jeremy (34:46)
You're more fearful about whether you'll be able to get a job, but you feel very certain that you want to do it.
Anonymous (34:50)
Yeah, that's where I am in terms of my space. because otherwise you spend many actually odd hours, right, talking to people from the US, then if you have no conviction, then it's quite difficult.
Jeremy (34:59)
Yeah. Yeah. And what does your spouse think?
Anonymous (35:02)
They're probably more excited than me because I'm a person of routine. I like to go to the Chai Fun store to order the same thing. So for me, routine, I love routine, but I know that sometimes you have to have chosen suffering because life will throw chosen suffering, untrosen suffering at you.
Jeremy (35:21)
So I was actually excited because more adventurous is opportunity. I really resonated that right. Because when I moved to America, I actually had a similar situation, right? I'm probably more of that maybe because of my army training, but I'm like disciplined and regimented, stuff done, you know, so forth, you know, and some extent I was following a track, right? In the sense that, you know, I was.
Anonymous (35:24)
Yeah, Correct.
Jeremy (35:41)
I went to UC Berkeley, I saw opportunity for half MBA, right along the way I took it. So to something that was following a ladder and obviously still high risk high reward, but still kind of regimented in his own way. But obviously my...
You know, then girlfriend, now spouse, obviously was quite excited about that opportunity and the experiences. So I think that's a good mind space to be in. mean, I think that's also a big blessing because I can tell you, also met other couples where they're not on the same page, right? and it's very, very difficult actually. And I don't want to underweight that because, you know, and like I said, I was at a brunch and you know, we had a bunch of, Singaporeans and they'll all actually bring brought their international spouses back as well because they're all raising families and everything.
in Singapore, I would say that it is not an easy scenario when you move your spouse because at the end of the day, you know, and it is something I always tell people is like, as a spouse, two spouses, have to make each other's life dreams come true. Um, book called Godman G O T T M A N. And that's actually quite a difficult conversation to have because,
You know, I think we're past the age of arranged marriages, right? If you had to stick together, you know, divorce is impossible, like, long lives, right? So I think the moment like somebody feels like they're to sacrifice their life dream in order to be in a marriage is actually quite a difficult situation. And I say this because right now I think this other person is excited because of his adventures as a fourth and you're going there because you think it's going to be a work opportunity as well.
And I can tell you that I've seen the other side of it, which is I've seen many people who are, for example, the world opportunities don't pan out. And so they want to come back to Southeast Asia because turns out there's lots of multinational corporations that want to, you know.
hire a Singaporean general manager that handled the region. I'm just giving an example, right? Or maybe there's a business opportunity that now has been inspired and you've figured out a new opportunity, Southeast Asia, because South America has opened up your eyes to it. Or maybe another spouse is kind of like saying, this child care situation doesn't make sense. We want to raise a family or I want to be close to family. don't be American. So I think moving that together is easy because both of you have.
the benefit of Hollywood, right? So, you know, there's nothing wrong with America. Everything's great. And I think there's this, you know, cartoon, and I can't remember the exact out there, but it's about mice who travels to New York from Europe. It's like a mouse's tail. I can't remember what it is, but...
When they're at the boat with all the other mice moving from America, fleeing Europe to go to America, they sing this song, It's like, are no cats in America.
Anonymous (38:05)
Yeah.
Jeremy (38:09)
And so basically, you know, they basically were singing and it was like, wow, in America, you know, the streets are made of cheese there are no cats in America and where there are many cats in Europe. So America is fantastic. Of course they land in New York and then turns out there's still cats, right? And it's a very different place. So I think when you're moving that together, I think there's this huge.
conception of America. the ideal of America, so big that you fit both life dreams in But I think once you're in it and Silicon Valley, once your spouse and you have both had to find jobs and may struggle and so forth, and then the cost of living. then obviously you think about family life stages. Uh, yeah, obviously if you choose to be child free, then obviously that's all power to you.
Obviously, know, all income, no kids is much easier to do in America than having kids. would say, think everybody understands there's a little bit of a childcare cost crisis in America. so I think, so I'm just trying to say here is like moving to America is easy because it's, it's exciting in your scenario, right? But I think that dream can sour pretty quickly for one spouse rather than other. And I've actually literally seen divorces break up, happen because
One person is maybe crushing it. Maybe, you know, they're enjoying life. They're like, you know, another person is not crushing it. I'm just an example, right? Then that's going to be a very difficult conversation that happens there. Right. And my advice to you at a point is like, I'm not saying that.
Anonymous (39:20)
Yep. ⁓
Jeremy (39:26)
stay married. I never saying you to get divorced, right? Because I'm not going to be one of those guys like you must stay married no matter what. you know, please get divorced and go create a unicorn. If you have a choice, be building a unicorn in Silicon Valley or building unicorn and be divorced and happily married and whatever it is I can't give you that justification. Right? I mean,
Anonymous (39:45)
Yeah.
Jeremy (39:45)
Jeff Bezos,
know, married, divorced, you know, Elon Musk as well has his own set of, you know, relationship history. I don't know what decision you're going to make at that point, but what I'm just going to say is that there's no way in life that both people's careers will always be totally aligned.
And so my advice to you is actually like, really just be intentional about saying down, okay, yes, it's exciting, but what is your life dream? Is it have kids? Is it to raise a family? Is it to, um, you know, build a unicorn startup of your own? Is it, you know mean? Like really nail down that life dream because I just don't want you to end up in situation where like in three to four years, you're just going to be like, Oh no,
I think, okay, it'll be easy when both of you are not getting there. Okay. If both of you are not getting there, then both of you are going to be like, well, you know what? Maybe we'll move back to Singapore. Right. And, and because we saw it, you know, we came, we saw, we learned, we returned to, to Southeast Asia. Right. if both are not doing well in America, that would be easy conversation. But.
I think it's quite rare for both people to be doing well in America at the same time because it's just a big immigration slash expat experience. So I just want to say like this, really stay in touch with your spouse, if that makes sense. And keep having that check in every month, in the start every month, then every quarter, but just be like, okay, you know, how are you feeling? This is your life dream that we know.
Anonymous (40:56)
No.
Jeremy (41:06)
Is this country serving you the way and what do need to make it happen? And I think if you have that intentional conversation, then at least you're not going to be blindsided by it. resentment can build up, I think, between both parties as well.
Anonymous (41:18)
Yeah. That does give us things.
Jeremy (41:19)
Yeah, I mean, it's very difficult. mean, because, I mean, you know, like when you date somebody, you know.
You're just dating because you like each other, right? Let's go on dates and whatever it is. Then once you get married, you're like, you got married because I don't know about you, but you know, for me, it was a natural progression because you like this person so much. you would get married, right? I think to stay married is not easy. That's what I'm telling people, right? It's, it's, is his own accomplishment, right? And that's why every Instagram video, you know, is like, wow, how did you stay married for 60 years? know, this old guy, this old woman has some secrets.
you know everybody laughs at their wisdom right and whatever it is right but I think what I'm trying to say here is like I think it's hard to have the self-awareness to know your own life dream and it's also very scary to share your own life dream with somebody else and it's also very scary to hear somebody else's true life dream and then try to make both work
That is so hard because the life by definition of life dream is so hard. It's so, so, so hard. Right. and the truth is if some life dreams are not compatible, right. you know, I mean, it's simple one that you're probably know is like, think you and I both know couples who are like, one person was like, my life dream is to have kids and then somebody's life dream is like, look into that picture. And then they still got married anyway. And then after that, ended up getting divorced. I mean, it's very common actually. Right. I mean,
know, and so, because they just never had a conversation before getting married, right? And that's why we nowadays, a lot of people recommend pre-marriage or counseling, you know, to be like, Hey, it's scary to have that conversation, but, maybe you have to have that conversation, right? So I think that's a, but you know, that's the most obvious one, right? But now you're talking about country, geography, career, lifestyle, identity. can be, you can be, yeah.
Anonymous (42:52)
Yeah.
Mm. Yeah.
No, think that's definitely setting yourself up for success when you're in the US. Otherwise, you have the cost of living to deal with, have safety, and then you have a broken marriage.
Jeremy (43:05)
I I said, you know, uh, I know people who are divorced and happy and I know people who are divorced and kind of like regret it. Right. Um, so I think it, I'm not saying that marriage is forever, but I'm just saying like, this is a high stress. It's really not a, and that will be, I think a determinant.
Anonymous (43:18)
Yeah.
Jeremy (43:23)
And it's also determined for people who are returning to Southeast Asia from America as well. Because, you know, obviously for all, can tell you right now that for all of those spouses, all of them had one person who was doing better in America or at least, you know, saw a lot of future in America. Right. Um, so, you know, all of them really made a decision, right. But I also know lots of, you know, other spouses who will be in a similar position and they are staying in America, right. Um, to, be with each other. So it's not.
Yeah, it's really not easy, know, because I mean, everything else you do virtually, like what I mean by that is you can study virtually, you can work virtually, you know, mean, you can even learn virtually, you can listen to music virtually, but you really can't have a marriage virtually, you know, so, you know, like this long distance relationship, it makes sense when you're dating, but as a marriage, doesn't work right. So raising a kid is proximity, right? So I think for the people who are geographically mobile, I think that's a really important piece.
Yeah. Any last thoughts or questions?
Anonymous (44:15)
Is there any question I should have asked you that people commonly ask you but I have not asked you today?
Jeremy (44:20)
I think that most people would ask me, should I move to America or somewhere else? I mean, as an example, right? Or stay in Singapore or Southeast Asia, right? I would say so. I would say that what strikes me a little bit different is I think I feel like you're a little bit, your mind is a little made up and that's okay actually, because.
I think right now you have a concept, you've never been in worked and studied work in America. you know, you were fighting against the ideal of America. Does it make sense as a work location? Um, versus for example, some people have never worked in Europe, right? So, so a lot of people are like, Oh, I would love to work in Greece because you know, Caribbean Mediterranean and you know, good lifestyle and drink olive oil every day. Right. And then obviously you travel to Greece and you live at work there and life is totally different because you know, they have their own economic struggles. You know, you can't, you know, there's no technology ecosystem there.
Obviously they have great olive oil and weather, it's not the same, right? mean, so to me, I think I'm not truly surprised that America has that draw because you've never really studied your work there. I would say that a lot of people who have some exposure or at least a bit of uncertainty might ask that question, should I move to America? And I think that's actually an interesting question because...
You know, I think from an economist perspective, it's very much like, you know, the math is like, for example, where are you going to earn more money over the longterm? Right. I'm just, you know, and so, you know, like you already, based on your profile and everything, I see a strong future for you in Singapore. Right. I think there's a lot of career letters can climb and, there are many good roles that are available in Singapore and, at your level. And so I would say that, you know, financially, you might.
do well in Singapore. I'm using example, right? And Singapore, like we discussed, is not the number one technology ecosystem in the world, but I think it's quite comparable to London or LetApp. I mean, as an example, right? I think there's a really strong case for Singapore as a technology ecosystem, right? So I really, the sacrifice is not as huge as if I was, for example,
I friends, for example, in the Philippines, who are very much saying, I want to move to America to join the technology ecosystem. And I think everybody will agree that Philippines is not Singapore and Singapore is not Silicon Valley. So I'm just saying that double jump. So for them, the magnitude is even larger in that upside. So I think, and I'm not saying that you shouldn't, obviously I'm not saying that you should, but I that question often I find is helpful.
Because what it boils down to is it may not necessarily just be an economic reason to move to America. It may be just like a symbolic component, right? Which is, and I want to say symbolic in two ways, One is the symbol of America as a land of freedom, free press, democracy, ideals, eddy gaga.
and Silicon Valley, High Risk, High Reward, OpenAI. So I think that's really like the ideal of America. And this is such a powerful symbol. And you really have to give credit to, I guess America as a whole thing where they really continue to have that brand image, I guess, of that shining city on the hill. And I really don't want to underweight that. And I think that many aspects that's real of it. But...
is real, is true, and it can be that shining city on the hill for the people who want to do it. But I'm just saying that there is a gap between the external outsider perception of it from the outside versus the actual live reality inside. I'm sure if you go to Reddit threads, know, Reddit slash San Francisco, Reddit slash Tyler auto, I'm sure, you know, you will see some of that residential resident point of view of that, right? Just like maybe another way looking at it is like,
Anonymous (47:30)
Yeah.
Jeremy (47:41)
The view of Singapore from America is crazy rich Asians, but there's that shiny reality and obviously everybody who was invented slash Singapore is going to be like,
We have all these problems and this other stuff. Right? So I just want to say like, there's that symbolism of America that used to be more thoughtful about rather than just Korea, you know, and I think that symbolism is really important because once you're there, I think that will both immunize you from being disappointed, but also make, you be more pragmatic in that conversation when you are there or start having a conversation there. And then, and then the other side I will actually say is the other symbol is about leaving Singapore.
And I think there's a driver for a lot of people as well because they don't like Singapore for whatever reason. mean, and I think there's lots of reasons to not like Singapore, right? By the way, right? mean, I'm the first one who's like, Oh my God, it's so hot out there. have to be in aircon all the time. Wouldn't I want to be in San Francisco with my nice sweater and vest?
there's a push and pull, right? A pull of America or Silicon Valley is there, just to be aware about the reality. But what are the push factors about Singapore? And I think sometimes it takes time to, you know, the joke that people often have about Singapore is like, sometimes you have to leave Singapore in order to appreciate Singapore more. You know, so, so I think that's very much a true case for me is like, very much like, you know, like, know, I'll just give a classic example, be like, yeah, you know, growing up as a kid,
Anonymous (48:45)
Yeah.
Jeremy (48:55)
you I used to walk home, right? And it'd like 11 PM, you know, midnight, 1am. And I'll be like, oh, I'll just walk home. You know I mean? It was like, oh, there's no bus or whatever. I'll just walk home and enjoy the time and listen to some music. Yeah, I mean, and, and, and then, you know, you're suddenly in like, you know, San Francisco, right? And you just can't do that because there's crime and safety. You never walk by yourself late at night.
listening to music, know, headphones, you're like a total mugging candidate. mean, everybody, so it's not just the fact that there's obviously more crime. Don't get me wrong. There's nothing wrong. Lots of countries have more crime. think Singapore's abnormal. I think no crime effectively. But, I think that magnitude difference is not just a crime statistic perspective.
Anonymous (49:31)
Yeah. Yeah.
Jeremy (49:39)
because of cultural difference, right? you know, coming back to Singapore, you know, my wife and I started cycling at night, right? So we cycle at, you know, 7 PM to midnight, you know. And it's such a weird thing to do because in America, you would never cycle at night. I mean, obviously there's safety from drunk driving. There's a safety issue. You don't have park connected networks that are well lit. So you would just...
Culturally, you just never do those activities, right? So all I'm just trying to say here is like, you know, but of course, when I was younger as a teenager, then it's like, oh, Singapore is bad because it's so not fun. you can't do anything, right? You know, there's high taxes on alcohol, you know, high taxes on cigarettes, there's so many things you can't do in Singapore. So there's a big push factor. It's like Singapore is Singapore incorporated. The government is too corporate centric. You know what mean?
So these, all these push factors that make the pull factors of America way more positive. Right. And I always like to tell people it's like sometimes like, you know, you have to travel. mean, it's like a lot of the rings, right? You know, there's this quote, right? It's like not, all who wonder are lost. And then the point of it is like, know, Frodo travels all the way to Mount Doomen.
Anonymous (50:45)
Yeah.
Jeremy (50:51)
you know, goes through a whole lot of pain and then he goes back to the Shire, right? You know, and he's a different person and nothing wrong with that. Right. And, and I think one thing that happens sometimes is sometimes I do notice that there's some Singaporeans who travel to from Singapore and they go to America and come back and they actually have this mentality like, I failed, you know, I failed to move to America. You know, um, other people, they hear from other people is like, Oh, you tried to move to America, but you failed. So, you know, you're a loser because you didn't move to America.
as you think about what is appealing of America, you have more awareness about what is the push factors that directly correlate, right? Subconsciously, right? Whether it's your current job, your current profession, your current role.
country, you know, the region, but I think, and then you write those things down. And when you write those things down, generally do it on paper, can be quite embarrassing. You're like, don't like how, you know, this part of culture, you write it all down. and then I think when you moved to America and you get better sense, right. Because then the, will help you see some things in a different light. Right. And so for me, for example, like, you know, one thing I benefit from is like having moved back is like,
moving that America so free, right? I can wear my tie dye shirt. You know, I can walk and I had long hair, right? You I mean, you know, I was California hippie in my undergraduate days and some people will laugh when they remember this, right? But they cannot believe it when they hear me say this, but what I'm trying to say here is like, but when I came back to Singapore and now I have kids and I was like, yeah, I'm happy for my kid to grow up and walk around at midnight. Yeah. mean,
Like that's a trade off I'm willing to have, and I'm willing to be a little bit more boring now. And that's fine. Right. every strength is a weakness, right? You know, every, power has its own shadow. Right. And sometimes what we're unhappy about Singapore is a shadow of his strength. Right. And what we like about America, the power of America may actually become more clearly will cast a shadow of it. Right. And I think, you know,
Anonymous (52:22)
Yeah, in this fight.
Jeremy (52:42)
Silicon Valley is a good example of it, right? Which is that, you know, this conversation to keep having over and over again, which is, know, you have a place where you have this techno utopia optimists who are pushing this future of it. have self-driving cars and robots that are on AI stuff, and there's a homelessness and drug problem, right? And there's a cost of living crisis that's happening, right? So the soup and that's how people are like, it's so weird. You know, why is such a dichotomy, you know, cyberpunk dynamic where people are living in bubble.
Anonymous (52:55)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Jeremy (53:08)
communities traveling in bubble self-driving cars, traveling to bubble, you know, um, office campuses, right. With their bubble friends versus, know, the live reality of, know, all these people who are struggling to make ends meet and work in, in California. Right. So, and then people are like, Oh, so we are, how do we fix it? And don't get me wrong. think there are structural reasons, but also to some extent, those factors are a shadow of his powers. Right. Doesn't make sense.
so, you know, that's kind of like, obviously there's a lot of good people like, you know, Gary, Tan at YC he's pushing hard to like reform and push and build and build in San Francisco. I mean, I think there's a lot of good people who want to make things happen. I obviously wish them the best of luck. And I'm actually really glad to doing it because when I was in Berkeley, I used to work with the local nonprofits, right? I worked with local healthcare, local homelessness issues, local healthcare, right?
uh, because I was a social impact consultant working as a volunteer in these organizations. And, you know, it was a big surprise for me to be honest, that between 2008 when I was there and now today, 2025, I guess, effectively, um, the situation has gotten worse, right? You know, for the issues that, you know, that more money was put in more effort, so many good people, um, the issues got worse, right? Um, and there's all kinds of reasons for it. I'm not going to go into it. I'm not trying to make this into a, you know, like,
you know, you know, what is it? Social political economy tear down of the Silicon Valley, you know, bargain, you know, but I'm just trying say here is,
But just right now, a lot of people see the shadow of Singapore or the country. And so some extent also reflects their strengths, right? So for example, we gave a conversation about culture, right? It's like, yeah, know, everybody's more, I mean, simple, simple one would be like, okay, you know, America is very stranger friendly instead of a valley.
But you can also make argument that in Singapore, it's also a function of family, right? People in Singapore spend a lot more time with family, right? And they are prior networks. So there's a lot of high trust networks that build up over time, right? So versus in Silicon Valley, because everybody is relatively lower social history with each other, right? They're obviously more stranger friendly, which is good for new people coming in who don't have social history, right? So it's good for them to be have a fresh start.
But the shadow of that is, you know, in Singapore, it's easier for you to have a family and so, forth. Right. So I think it is more family time and everybody hangs out with their grandparents. And, know, and I enjoy it actually really for me right now. I'm like, Oh, you know, uh, you know, I get to hang out with my mom and dad, right. You know, so, uh, was in America actually in Silicon Valley, a lot of people are not living their mom and dad, right. Because most of those people, their parents are in Midwest or Florida, whatever it is. So most people are like.
more nuclear, right, in that sense. So nothing bad. Could be good, could be bad, but I think that's something to be thoughtful about.
Anonymous (55:50)
Thanks for sharing.
Jeremy (55:51)
Cool. All right. Well, thank you so much. And thank you for asking questions. And hopefully, this is helpful for folks who are in a similar spot.
