Entrepreneurs in Action

Entrepreneurs in Action


EIA 049 Give the Unheard Entrepreneur a Voice

January 30, 2019

Graham Brown is the founder of Asia Tech Podcast. In this conversation Graham tells us about his journey from an AI graduate in the 90’s, when there was no demand, becoming an entrepreneur in several industries, going into semi-retirement to travel the world, before being lured back to the world of entrepreneurship in Singapore.

“If you were into music they were all made by Japanese companies and you had a stereo at home, which was Japanese and you watched it on a Japanese TV, and we learned about Japanese cars, samurai and ninja. Wow! This world just blew me away and I wanted to be part of that and I looked at where I grew up and just wanted to get out.”

The failures that often accompany entrepreneurs before the overnight success.

“We went from people playing like 10 to 15,000 dollars to speak, to be on a conference, to sponsor it, to be on that. To like the next week nothing. Crickets! just wants right to be on that they like the next week nothing crickets sorry. That completely went belly-up. So he has a wild ride. That was the second business”

This is the first time that Graham has appeared as a guest and the conversation was recorded in the studio of Asia Tech Podcast, where I also appear as a guest host.

So now without further delay lets begin.

As well as:

The first radio style interview in 2002 with an employee of Hewlett-Packard who later became the founder of Angry Birds.
The break into marketing, founding a property company, a telecom company.
How the switch between different Industries is an essentials part of peoples lives.
His life in Japan in the 1990s, returning to the UK and determined to start business even with no connections in entrepreneurship.
The big break to start his own business, a phone number in the newspaper and making 120 calls a day selling Financial Services
The lessons learned from working in a tough environment
Are you joining a cult? Overcoming the disheartening response from the people around him.
Silence and the quest for self-improvement.
The type of person that ended up in Japan in the 1990s
Why Graham idolised Japan and a graduate in AI 20 years too early, so go teach English in Japan just as the bubble bursts
2 years in Japan
Returning to the UK after two years in the late 90s as the UK economy picks up.
The rumours of people walking out of university and picking up good jobs in the city.
Unable to get that job in the city so taking the job selling Finance in the city as a stepping stone
The first business building computers with his best mate and a marketing strategy based on what he’d learned in finance making hundreds of calls a day.
Building Computers the business fails after a year and his friends returns to a job
Graham left with the debt but determined to go as an entrepreneur with the debt paid off 10 years later.
The second business 1997-98 organizing meet-ups in pubs on the internet, meeting people on ICQ.
Reasons why around 2000 people started getting interested.
How confusion led to conferences appearances in the USA and opportunities with CNBC on the topic of Mobile and WAP commanding fees of $10--$15,00 to speak on a conference panels and then the following.
The effect of the Dot Com crises.
The third business the firs and only at the time to research “mobile phone usage with young people”
Rejection by Nokia but accepted by Disney, MTV, Intel, European Union, United Nations and the published UN report "Children and Mobile Phones”. (https://www.unicef.org/adolescence/files/SOWC_2011_Main_Report_EN_02092011.pdf).
The reasons why this business was a success why he got out with as much cash as possible, where he put the cash and selling the business to his partner an...