#32 GKC | 👋 Admond Lee, Founder @ The Runway Ventures

💁‍♀️💁‍♂️ GOOD People

Admond is building The Runway Ventures, a weekly newsletter that shares about failed startup stories to help founders learn from startup mistakes and become better operators.

Prior to this, Admond started his career as a data scientist. Then, he quit his job and built 2 startups. 1 failed, 1 acquired.

He also angel invests in startups to support founders.

👋🏼  How would you explain your job to your grandma?

Every Sunday, I analyse 1 failed startup story, extract 2 mistakes made, and 3 lessons learned with actionable insights to help founders learn from startup failures and become better operators.

99% of startups failed because founders made mistakes. My job is to help them not die, stay in the game for as long as possible, and increase the chance of winning.

🧐  What's something about you or your job that would surprise us?

My first overseas internship at CERN changed my whole career trajectory and life (seriously). Back then, just when I thought I was going to become a physicist, I found my passion in machine learning when I was doing my research at CERN on particle physics. And the rest is history.

Moral of the story?

Don’t wait for your passion to come, find your passion by trying different things early in life.

You won’t regret it.

🔍  What's an impact startup / investing trend you're watching?

Angel syndicate funds could potentially be the next wave of investing in startups because:

• More aligned Interest with LPs — Syndicate leads only get paid from carried interest when there are successful exits (instead of charging LPs for management fees)

• More transparency & control — LPs get to learn more about startups, talk to founders, and do their own due diligence before investing.

Since I just started my angel investing journey, it’s still too early for me to say this with certainty.

However, angel syndicate fund is definitely something I’m watching, learning, and potentially building one in the future.

💡 What's one book / podcast / movie that inspired you the most?

Principles written by Ray Dalio.

Here are some of my favourite learnings from the book:

• The 2 biggest barriers to good decision making are your ego and your blind spots (you don’t know what you don’t know)

• Be radically open-minded to overcome ego & blindspots

• Have thoughtful disagreement with believable people

🎯  What’s one habit / new skill you are working on recently?

Getting back to gym. I’ve been neglecting my health and body for the past 3 years. It’s time to regain my health (and sleep).

🏆 What would you offer to our Impact Founders Community in SEA?

Subscribe to The Runway Ventures to learn from failed startup stories and become better operators (if you don’t die, you have chance to win)

Help you validate your startup ideas or identify potential disasters (or mistakes) in your startup. DM me on LinkedIn.

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Feel free to connect with Admond on LinkedIn. (Pro Tip: you can refer Good Karma Club for a warm intro!)

❤️ Great Content You’ll Like …

FREE Databases
Fellowships | Accelerators | Competitions | Fundraising Cases

Deep Dives
Climate | Education | Financial Inclusion | Healthcare | Agriculture | Gender Equality

Impact Frameworks
Impact Investing 101 | IRIS+ | SROI | B Corp | UN SDGs | OPIM

👍 How I Can Help

Whenever you’re ready, here’s how I can be helpful:

GKC Invest
Join our invite-only, impact-first investor club focusing on private credit deals in SEA.

10 deals a year // 6 - 12 months loan // 10% interest payback // min. US$ 5k per deal

Fractional CFO
Support on monthly financial reporting, capital strategy and fundraising advisory.

SEA Impact Program
Curate impact-focused programs for corporates (i.e. accelerators, deal flows)

Let’s chat on LinkedIn / email!