Nan Hao: a Chinese fool with the American Dream

This article was first drafted in August 2019. I wrote this piece because Guiker needed to expand rapidly by filling many positions. And I know it is important to let my potential colleagues know Who I am. I have decided to Not publish it then because I felt anxious about “how people would react to it”.

After the up and downs of 2020; after publishing over 9 “controversial” articles in the past 10 months; in the world where Chinese content is censored by the government, English content is censored by Political correctness, my need to fight for the freedom of expression drove my “don’t give a fuck” attitude to a new high.

So after 7 months of internal restructuring, Guiker is more ready than ever to grow once again. In fact, we are looking to double the team within the next 12 months. This article is dedicated to all the brave souls looking for a new challenge in the upcoming years.

Enjoy!

For all the talented people whom I wish to have on our team.

I started Guiker when I turned 25. 4 years later, as we are entering the next chapter of our development fuelled by venture capital, I am opening up to you in search of the next generation of talents who can help us reach our next milestones in the pursuit of our vision.

As the de facto leader of the organization, my decisions, and my motivations will directly impact the result of all those who are involved with the organization. By shedding a light on my inner thoughts, I hope it will help you decide whether I am someone you want to build a working relationship with.

I like to do so by answering the following questions: Who am I? Why do I do this? Is it worth it? What’s next?

Who am I?

I was born into a middle-class family in China. Both of my parents are very well educated and I inherited an above-average IQ.

Growing up in China through the 90s, my middle-class parents and my surroundings have taught me the importance of education, but more importantly, it exposed me to a world of possibilities. While both of my parents are career people, I was sent to a private boarding school where I met kids whose parents were from many different backgrounds. Knowing the possibilities paired with my decent learning ability, my ambition was growing at a very young age.

Somehow, I believed that I will become “somebody”.

In 2001, my family decided to move to Montreal. Back then, most Chinese immigrants like my parents were technical immigrants with very limited savings. We moved into a small 2-bedroom apartment in Lachine near Duffcourt. It was a shock for me because this was not the Canada that I saw on TV. For the first time in my life, I felt poor; we were poor. We had no cable and 2 camping chairs in front of the TV as a couch. Even the neighbourhood kids on welfare made fun of me. I was ashamed of bringing friends home. Both of my parents did not find work, so they applied for government support by going through continuous education.

I told myself that I will do everything necessary to be rich because there is absolutely no virtue in Poverty.

When school started, I was put into “Classe D’accueil”, where all immigrant kids need to learn French. After a year of intensive French, I got into a “normal” high school, which happens to be one of the worst high schools in Quebec, Ecole Secondaire Dalbe-Viau. Growing up in that environment, I learned very quickly that respect is not given, it had to be earned, the hard way. As the only Chinese kid among teenagers raised by single moms on welfare, I was the sheep in a lion’s den. For the first time in my life, I was bullied. Sure there were rules, laws, teachers… but at the end of the day, it was when I cracked a guy’s face that all the bullying stopped. Suddenly, people wanted to be my friend, even the guy with the broken nose invited me to chill at the skatepark. From that day on, I refuse to become a victim of any kind.

I learned that the only person you can really depend on is yourself. I learned that even the loser at a fight gets more respect than the guy who simply gives up.

In 2003, I got into a much better school, College St-Louis. Then my dad packed his shit and left. I suppose he couldn’t stand being a “second class citizen”. My mom decided to stay because of me despite the fact that she could easily go back to her old high-paying gig in Beijing. She simply didn’t want me to have to change my environment once again. She started volunteering at a homeless center called Le Sac a Dos to improve her french and started to work there part-time just to get by. 17 years later, she is still working there. She even got a special report on CBC news 2 years ago.

I witnessed what it means to make sacrifices, to work hard and to have grit.

After my initiation to “real-life” at Dalbe-Viau, I decided to become a “cool” kid at my new school. At the age of 14, that means the opposite of a Chinese stereotype: being rebellious, bad at school, and fucking shit up. Without the physical threats of my father, I quickly became one of the worst students the school ever had. Every single year, I was on the shortlist of people risking being kicked out. Without my mother’s constant plea for mercy and the unimaginable level of tolerance and protection from the principle, Mme Blondin, I would’ve been sent right back to Dalbe-Viau.

For the first time in my life, I witnessed and felt kindness and compassion from a total stranger…

After high school, I moved out and joined the military. Being the youngest guy at Bootcamp, I weighed 120lbs soaking wet. No one thought I was going to make it. Luckily, I was shipped to Shilo, Manitoba. The shame of quitting and giving up was way too high. The 1/4 of people who actually did drop out due to medical and psychological reasons were paraded shamefully as a constant reminder to those of us who persisted. So I sucked it up even though the thoughts of giving up came up multiple times throughout the Bootcamp. By the time it was over, I finished top of the class and earned myself the nickname “Hardcore Hao”.

Through my military training, I learned the importance of being decisive. How to perform under exhaustion and chaotic situations. And the power of mental strength to overcome physical limitations.

When I came back from Shilo to start CEGEP, I was living on my own in the school residence. I was making money from the military and I was surrounded by other “animals”. I spent the first year drinking and partying. My grades were so horrendous that I was forced to switch programs. For the first time in my life, I suffered the consequences of my own action, there is no more principle to protect me. As I turned 18 and became a legal adult, the reality of life kicked in. It was no longer cool to be a dumbass. My time to become somebody is ticking and I was not doing anything about it…

As I switched my program from Sciences to Commerce, my interest in Economics, Finance, and Business grew exponentially. After finishing the program in 1 year and a half instead of 2 years, I decided to study Mathematics at University because I was determined to become a Quantitative Hedge Fund manager. Around this time, I decided to quit the military as it was never my career choice. At the same time, I started working at a boutique fund for free just to acquire as much knowledge and experience as possible.

Because of my hectic schedule, I often had to miss classes and catch up on my own time. This is when I discovered the real power of self-learning and learned almost everything on my own. From January 2010 to January 2013, I finish my bachelor’s degree in 2 years and a half; got into the master’s program of Mathematics and Computational Finance; finished 2 levels of CFA exams; got a job as a lecturer on derivatives and investment at University of Montreal; and more than quadrupled my personal savings from the army by trading. I was checking off one box after another on my path to become a hedge fund manager. So I thought…

In March 2013, the wake-up call came. Within 3 months, our fund lost more than 50% of our AUM… our strategy was flawed; it was too leveraged and it was too aggressive. I personally lost all my gains accumulated over the past years. But what really hurt, is the realization that I didn’t know SHIT… Everything I knew, or I thought I knew was put into question. I was devastated and decided to walk away. Literally…

For the first time in my life, I tasted the real bitterness of failure; failure despite the full effort. I learned that just because you give it all, does not mean that you are entitled to success.

When I came back from my trip, I decided to go back to school and finish my master’s and find a good job. So I thought… After one semester back at school, I got interested in startups. I started going to various events and forming some new ideas. My first idea was a social alarm clock, Snoozi, where friends can send each other videos as alarms. The sound of the video is the tone of the alarm clock but to see the video, the recipient must wake up and not snooze. In hindsight, it was more a hobby as there was no business model. However, this was when Vine was at its peak and 2 years before Instagram Story was introduced. Short video content platforms were on the rise.

I somehow recruited this 33-year-old full-stack developer who had 2 kids to work on the project with me. Then, I got so deep into this project that around early 2014, I decided to quit school. Most people mocked my decision and openly laughed at me. My parents were furious, to say the least. No one thought I was going to make it. And this time, they were right. Despite a fully functional MVP and thousands of users in 6 months. I wasn’t able to raise a dollar. In late summer 2014, my partner decided to take a full-time gig somewhere else. The server cost for hosting videos was higher than I could afford. I failed again. So I thought…

Around this time, I was somewhat involved with the startup community. I met the founders of Flatbook (now Sonder) and they were looking for a “number guy”. I wasn’t very interested in throwing in the towels just yet for Snoozi. But the opportunity at Flatbook was simply too good to pass on. As one of the earliest employees and the person responsible for accounting, pricing, and forecasting, I was in a position to learn everything about the business. On top of that, we were growing fast. By April 2015 when I left the company, we grew from less than 10 people to nearly 60.

Today(August 2019), I can honestly say that without the experience I had at Sonder. I would not have thought of working in Real Estate never mind starting Guiker. And without my decision to leave school to build Snoozi, I would have not learned the necessary skills and knowledge to be part of Sonder. I am the by-product of all my “successes” and “failures” of the past. And I am grateful that I made the decisions I have made so far in life that led to who I am today.

I learned that fortunately and unfortunately, Failures and Successes are relative on the scale of time. As long as I don’t tap out from the game, a momentary defeat can always be branded as a tactical retreat. And temporary tactical victories can also lead to strategic disasters…

*2020

The year started on a great note with a brand new Sales and Ops team led by experienced managers. As we strive for expansion towards the end of Q1, the world stopped spinning...

Covid-19 is the biggest social-economic crisis that we have seen in decades. It is certainly the biggest crisis in my 30 years of existence. As a business in real estate for which growth heavily relies on international students, needless to say, we got fucked. Almost immediately, the Universities told their students to move back home leaving thousands of apartments empty. The borders then shut down preventing any newcomers. Quarantines soon followed and our entire operation came to a halt.

And yet, we didn’t panic. Instead, we took this crisis as an opportunity to only focus on things we can change. Externally, we have strengthened our balance sheet with additional funding and aggressively expanded our inventory acquisition to pick up the slack left by failed hospitality businesses. Internally, we have significantly improved our team composition and our processes by focusing on our core values and unapologetically abiding by them.

Today, we are in the best shape than we have ever been; more lean, more efficient, more capable, and more optimistic than we have ever been. And that, despite the unknowns of the near future.

In 2020, I learned that when shit hits the fan, some people run and some people stay. And those who are resilient, who can see opportunities through chaos, are destined to come on top. As Churchill once said: “Never let a good crisis go to waste.”

Why do I do this?

Entrepreneurship is about solving problems that people are willing to exchange their resources for. The bigger the problems, the bigger the opportunity and therefore the bigger the reward, financially and otherwise.

While my desire to be financially well off can be easily explained by my past, it is important for me to clarify that, for me, having money isn’t about buying shiny things to fulfill my materialistic needs. My girlfriend and I live a very simple and minimalistic life. I have 2 pairs of the same jeans and a dozen of the same T-shirts. And all my clothes are bought with points. All of our furniture is used and we invest most of our disposable income and spend the rest on our animals because they deserve it.

Having money is about having the ability to make difficult decisions independent of its financial impact. When our dog’s legs gave up on him, I’m glad that we didn’t. I would hate myself if I wasn’t able to save him because of money. If my loved ones are sick, although health care is free, I want to be able to give them the best medical treatment money can buy without even thinking about “is it worth it?”.

With that being said, building a business is one of many ways to be financially well off. What pushed me to go above and beyond to solve a big problem is the greatest thing continental America has ever produced: the sacred idea of Opportunity.

The idea that no matter the color of our skin, our religious beliefs, and where we came from, we Can become whom we wish to become. No matter how unlikely it is in reality, the fact that it is even a possibility, is enough to convince millions of people to leave their homeland in pursuit of their dreams.

As a first-generation immigrant, I carry the hopes and dreams of those who made their sacrifices, so that I can make it on this land of opportunity. My mother did not give up on her well-paid job in China so that I can be mediocre or above average. And her parents certainly didn’t hop on the train, to the far west in the 50s to build China’s first oil rig, so that their daughter can be literate. Just like millions of immigrants, my parents and my grandparents took risks so that their offspring can build a better life. I simply feel the obligation to do whatever is necessary to achieve the best I can become.

In fact, we can even extrapolate this to the millions of years of our biological lineage of natural selection, which has ultimately brought us to where we are today. So without the slightest exaggeration, we have a biological need to aspire for bigger dreams, to take on more risk, to go big or go home, to matter or not…

It just happens that for me, building a business that can potentially solve big problems is the most suited way for me to make an impact. It is my way to express myself and ultimately trying to make a tiny tiny little dent in the universe. To hopefully create meaning in my otherwise mathematically insignificant universal existence…

Is it worth it?

Building a startup is an extreme sport and just like it, the risk of dying is omnipresent. The reality is, every decision I make is extremely risky. Every hire I make can bankrupt us.

All-In; financially, personally, physically, emotionally is both necessary and exhausting. And the scariest part of it all is a lesson I’ve learned just a few years back: just because I give it all, does not mean that I will make it.

But that’s also what makes me feel alive. The near-death experiences are what make us truly appreciate every breath we take. One can only feel the sweetness of success when they have experienced the bitterness of failure. At the end of the day, the emotional turmoil, the ups, and downs, the constant battles and fights are what make our life exciting and colorful.

One of my favorite quotes is from President Roosevelt and it sums up my attitude towards all things worth pursuing in life.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

So is it worth it? Absolutely. Because by pursuing, I've already won.

What’s next?

I feel grateful every day that there are people who believe in me enough to share and risk their life with me, whether it is through their time, their skills, and/or their hard-earned cash. The biggest reward I get is knowing that I make a difference in some people’s lives. It makes my brief universal existence just a little bit more meaningful.

With the next phase of our growth being fuelled by venture capital, I’m going to continue to build a great team and recruit the next generation of Guiker team who can help us scale the business into multiple cities within the next 18–24 months.

If you have read the text this far, you should have a decent idea of how I became who I am. And you should probably know if I am the kind of person you want to spend the next few years working with. While I am certainly not the smartest person you will meet, I will most likely be the most persistent person you will ever work with. While I am rational enough to understand the chance of being one of the “greats” is low, I am also delusional enough to think that I have a shot.

I have endured poverty and I have overcome embarrassment and shame. I have tasted the bitterness of failure in almost everything I have done, but I have also savored the sweetness of success to know that it is all worth it. Life has never been easy for me and I don’t expect it to be any easier moving forward.

Guiker is my attempt to make a difference. It embodies my values and my vision of how the world should be. It is a manifestation of my otherwise insignificant universal existence. And I refuse to settle for anything less.

More about our vision and our company values.