Let's do podcasts differently in 2021.

30 DAYS AGO, I TOOK ON ONE OF MOST EXCITING PROJECTS IN THE WORLD.

At 6:20am, I woke up to a #HIRING ad from the founder of Twitch and Atrium in a Gen Z Discord server. Inadvertently, I sent through 15 DMs of my writings and design (note: Discord sends each image/link as a seperate message). I thought I blew it with this spam.

But I got an instant reply before the images finished loading. 2 hours later, I sat on a Zoom call with a long-haired Justin Kan (who looked like an Asian Jesus). I listened to him talk about his podcast project The Quest, and ask was simple: do you want in?

I was in since EP.1 of The Quest. I was a subscriber. 40 push-ups later, I put all my ambitions in a Notion doc and sent it right back to Justin. The next day I officially joined The Quest as a co-founder and lead producer.

The vision I conveyed was simple: I want this to be the most exciting podcast for founders and creators worldwide.

This means a few things.

1. ARTISTS ARE FOUNDERS

Artists are founders. They obsess over their craft as founders would. They give up comfort to see their ideals manifested in a world that disappoints them. This is a long and difficult path many lived through. It took 7 years for Kendrick Lamar to go from Training Day to Good Kid MAAD City. PewDiePie sold hotdogs and worked as a harbour caption to fund his early videos. Kevin Kwan, writer of Crazy Rich Asians, was paid $1 for option rights to the film for refusing to cast a Caucasian Rachel Chu.

I have a lot of respect for artists. Like founders, they should be celebrated - their stories told. Building culture is no different from coding out a product: one has to listen to the audience, find growth, pivot and scale. One has to practically eat shit to survive and see it through.

I want The Quest to be a platform where artists and founders converse on the same level. I want the lessons of building an awesome product, whether it's a company or an album, to be shared. You will see this happening a lot more, from our S2 guests in 2021.

2. PODCAST AS THERAPY

The world doesn't need another brainy podcast. Too many people are 'crushing it', or seem to be willing to sell the knowhow of it for $. This creates a terrible perception of success. You are told to chase after either status or money (or product-market fit). It's a fun game while you are in it, but what happens after?

I find it hard to communicate what it feels like to be working with Justin Kan. As a founder myself, here's someone who's lived all my wildest dreams. Here's someone who's made millions, helped shape some of the world's biggest companies and checked off everything on a founder's bucket list. The same Justin, who went through tribulations to find how simpler things made him feel much happier, who's now on a quest to share stories to help his 21-year-old self cope with this journey better, and understand what wellness truly means.

I want founders and creators to feel seen listening to The Quest, and know that it is okay to be going through things. Whether that is battling through anxiety, depression, feelings of inadequacy, or confusion about what's next. I want the podcast to be audio therapy on demand, for those who's been through the darkest times to speak honestly and vulnerably, and share the simple truth: that it's all safe and sound at the end.

3. A PARTICIPATORY STARTUP

Both Justin and I come from the world of startups: we apply the same thinking to The Quest, with an experimental mindset, front and centre. A key experiment we want to test out in 2021 is to co-build this podcast with the community. Not just having a Facebook Group - but actually involving folks in our production process to work directly with us, with 1:1s and dedicated live time with guests.

It's almost like a fellowship experience, to be enjoyed from anywhere in the world.

We want to be able to share the world-class access from Justin's studio to those who would benefit from it the most: those walking their own path, who will get there or die trying. Those on a noble journey, leading-climbing for each other. I am extremely lucky to be where I am now, and I'd like to pay it forward to every Quest Fellow.

We will be launching the applications for Quest Fellows very, very soon. STAY TUNED...

LET'S DO PODCAST DIFFERENTLY IN 2021

It's been a while since I've written articles like this. This piece was inspired by a DM and a couple of chats around 'how did you get to work with JK???'. Thank you - this is the inspiration for the Fellows program and I can't wait for all of you to see what we've been whipping up over the past few weeks.

If you are a founder/creator with an interesting story, ping me - I am always down to chat. You can also hit me up on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook for a quick convo (no need for a proper LinkedIn intro)!