So it has been almost 2 years since last update. During this period, I have actually gotten a fair bit busier. Here's a quick summary.
Family
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Family front nothing much has changed, kids are 2 years older. Finding that i have to adjust my behavior when it comes to handling the 2 teenage boys vs the 2 young ones. Kids are a wonderful joy. Dad is still going strong and we spend quite a fair bit of time with him. Also put in effort to travel with entire extended family once a year for 3 weeks.
Work
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Previously, i took on all types of work in equal proportions. Volunteer work with govt, startups, angel investing and also management of own portfolio. I found it not deeply fulfilling in the end because there is no central theme and there is nothing to bite deeply into that also allows me to engage with people and have some form of control.
The main theme last 2 years has been that I ended up taking on helping startups as an investor and helping other investors as a central activity. Shao Ning & I invested in another 8 startups, trained 150 angels, and also continued to be strong proponents for giving back to the tech and startup ecosystem. We also got inspired by other seasoned angels and decided to aim for 100 angel investments by the time we hit 65. And finally, early this year, together with Shao Ning as the leader and another partner, we incorporated AngelCentral as an entity to get more angels onto this journey. Can read the AngelCentral background story below.
As a consequence of setting both the 100 startup investment and AngelCentral targets, I now find i am busy with work maybe 65% of my time and family and personal take up the remainder 35%. Also, my work is now far more concentrated and i am happy that way. So no more hoping for a second career as a novelist or volunteer. My 65% work time is now roughly :
40% angel investing or AngelCentral work
10% Advisory roles with 2 venture type funds
10% Volunteer work with ITE, PEP, SWCDC, ACE forums etc.
5% Portfolio management
First 2 are all to do with tech and startup ecosystem. So it becomes a nice meaty role where my wife and i are focused on investing and helping early stage startups and investors. Right now we have done almost 30 startup investments and early stage funds. By having significant skin in the game, it aligns things for us. On paper looks good, but i am reminded even Series B or C startups can fail and end up returning pennies on the dollar.
So we are careful with rest of portfolio. To free up time and bandwidth, I tweaked portfolio approach to trade a lot less and build a core equity in ACWI index instead and have a decent amount of fixed income.
Volunteer work remain the same amount. I tried to be open and so ended up taking on role in helping promote Skillsfuture with SWCDC and also promoting enterprise in govt PEP panel. Both have been fun so far and hopefully useful to society. But they are definitely not hands on roles.
Personal
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I still am a lot more relaxed than during JobsCentral days. Also a lot fitter. Hardly fall sick nowadays. Had a health scare during my recent treadmill test but all is fine now. Wrote a post on feelings on FB. Short story is that health is most important - the rest is just us trying to have fun in this game of life. Exercise routine is about 6 times a week, 45 minutes per day. 3 days yoga with some cross training and 3 days jogging with some weights.
Travel quite a lot still. About 80 days per year. Its still something very interesting for me as i find new environments stimulate the mind very much.
In summary, happiness wise is slightly better than 2 years ago update because i feel more purposeful and engaged with the startup work. There is an identity as a full time angel and ecosystem builder via AngelCentral. At the same time, still keep balance for volunteerism, family and personal health.
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