Ep 133: If It’s Easy, It Must Be A Scam + Hunting for 100 Cockroaches?! | Adlin Yusman (Managing Director, Endeavor Malaysia)

So This Is My Why

Adlin Yusman, Managing Director of Endeavor Malaysia, will work for anyone he’s hired.

A huge contrast to when he began his entrepreneurial journey with the mentality of, “I pay you a salary, you work for me and you do as I say.”

Which, as you can imagine, created quite a lot of issues.

That said, Adlin has had an eventful life. One that’s sprinkled with a generous serving of failures and spooky occurrences (e.g. receiving a 3am call from a female ghost?!).

He’s founded several startups that failed, but managed to stay friends with his former employees and investors, who don’t regret a single day of giving money to him.

And has held past positions as:

• Director (Travel) of Groupon
• Principal at Digi Telecommunications
• SAVP at Astro
• COO at MaxMoney.com
• CEO at Payfo.

So how did Adlin go from featuring a Maybach in the first edition of his luxury automobile publication to:

➡️ Making major hiring mistakes (e.g. hiring a wimp)

➡️ Hunting for 100 cockroaches

➡️ Raising USD 500k in 2 days

➡️ Working at Endeavor Malaysia, where he helps the likes of Bryan Loo of Loob Holdings in the startup ecosystem?!

You’ll have to listen to the latest STIMY episode to find out!

Highlights:

• 2:04 A 3am call from a female ghost?!
• 4:59 What “real success” has Adlin even gotten to be featured in the media?! 🤣
• 6:41 Studying economics
• 8:14 A fork in the road
• 11:48 Launching his first luxury automobile publication
• 14:45 How Adlin sold himself
• 21:01 Being a good leader means learning to follow
• 22:51 The saddest moment of his life
• 25:21 Terrible hiring decision - by hiring a wimp
• 27:09 Why his startup collapsed
• 27:49 Working at Groupon & 8am meetings
• 31:07 Launching another startup
• 33:46 If it’s easy, it must be a scam?!
• 40:05 Hitting RM15k revenue & 1,800 requests in 2 weeks
• 40:45 Finding 100 cockroaches
• 44:45 Big mistake
• 48:03 Deciding when to quit
• 49:20 Failure isn’t a big thing, but…
• 52:53 Do you still struggle with sharing your failures?
• 53:43 Why Adlin’s investors don’t regret a single day of giving money to him
• 56:53 The best way to handle mass resignations and retrenchments
• 57:55 Endeavor’s Local Selection Panels (LSPs)
• 1:00:18 What founders always fail at
• 1:02:09 You need a Big Vision
• 1:06:39 Helping Bryan Loo of Loob Holding (Tealive etc.)
• 1:09:05 You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take
• 1:10:35 Advice for building your community
• 1:14:02 Who would Adlin work for?
• 1:15:42 Questions to ask to determine if someone has a shitty attitude!

Fun Fact: Adlin has said that this interview contains quite a few stories that he’s never shared elsewhere before! 😏

P/S: Does anyone know where I can find Adlin’s blog?! Please send help. 😫

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/133

🍿 YouTube: https://youtu.be/MX3BTIhi1Xg

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter on the art of storytelling + building your personal brand (+snippets of STIMY behind-the-scenes): https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

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