#009 - What Newton's Law of Motion got to do with us

Something like 750 multiplied by 267

Nov 10, 2020

BFFs is a bi-weekly email for Asia’s female founders around resources on growing a business, cultivating friendships, and funding opportunities. Brought to you by Chief Best Friends, a podcast helping women succeed in work and business through meaningful friendships.

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267 days 🤓

That’s my current streak of writing a minimum of 750 words a day. I started this practice because I had lost my way when it came to writing. It’s not for the lack of ideas but more of the fact that I haven’t written in so long that my body kind of forgot what that feels like.

Newton’s Law of Motion states that an object that is at rest stays at rest. I knew I needed to find a way to kickstart my writing and decided to use 750words.com as my HQ to free-write, but you can totally use any tool that suits you.

So far this daily writing habit has been a gamechanger for me. It’s what made me feel confident to start writing a regular newsletter (this one!) It’s what made me more efficient in writing podcast show notes. It’s helped me process difficult periods of my life and also given me more clarity in thinking.

And because Newton states that an object in motion stays in motion, my daily writing has snowballed to a point where I’m now rekindling a personal project to write a nonfiction book. 🥳

As a founder, you probably know what it feels like to take a leap into starting your own business or putting yourself out there. I never did like the term “fake it till you make it” but I do understand that sometimes we just need to start. Things have a way of falling into place as we keep going.

To our continued momentum 🥂

— Niki

p.s. Word of mouth has been our greatest growth driver and I would be grateful if you’re able to forward this to a friend you think would benefit from receiving this. Thank you! 🙏

Business

All the best online content for early-stage startups. What a goldmine! Hiten Shah puts together a list of the very best content that’s relevant for both self-funded, bootstrapped, and venture-backed companies. Early-stage startups have completely different challenges given that they’re low on resources and still trying to find product-market fit.
Why you need to write down your team’s unwritten rules. Let me ask you a question, with everyone working from home and us living in the middle of a pandemic, how do you feel about taking leave from work? If that question stresses you out then there’s an elephant in the room. So if you’re a founder and working with a team, make sure you are clear with your expectations and that there are boundaries. Having them reduces grey areas and stress along with it.

Friendship

Why great partnerships are all about the positive-sum. Convertkit Founder Nathan Barry shared that our job as an entrepreneur is to put 1 + 1 equal anything greater than 2. When finding a co-founder, don't just think of finding someone to delegate tasks you’re not excited about. Instead, find someone just as excited to solve a problem, where both of you have something to offer.
Why working on our emotions make us better at work. When two people come together to become co-founders, there’s a lot of emotional maturity needed in order to make that kind of relationship work. One of the reasons why startups fail can be mostly tied to the founder/s not being able to work together. It’s therefore super important that we’re able to find an emotional equilibrium to achieve success.
15 rules on co-founder relationships. It was amazing to see this thread on Twitter from Udemy’s founder, Gagan Biyani. It includes everything that guests of the Chief Best Friends podcast talk about and more. I won’t spoil this one for you, so I suggest getting in there to get all the goods.

Funds

Call for founders passionate about sustainability. ENGIE Factory is looking for talented founders who want to build ventures that move us closer to a zero-carbon life. You’ll benefit from their proven methodology, domain knowledge and network. If chosen, you’ll receive starting capital, draw a competitive founder salary and keep major of the startup’s equity. Apply today! Deadline: November 15, 2020.
Call for startups in the edtech space. EduSpaze is Singapore’s first edtech accelerator supported by Enterprise Singapore. If chosen, you’ll receive seed funding up to S$500k for a small equity stake. Apply here.

Fresh off the press! Episode 7 of Chief Best Friends features Race Wong and Rhonda Wong, the brilliant, daring sisters and duo behind Ohmyhome, Singapore's one-stop property transaction platform.

I love their story because they led completely different lives before starting Ohmyhome. One of them was doing treasury bond options in Chicago, while the other as a Cantonese pop star in Hong Kong. It’s a great coming home story (pun totally intended) and one you should not miss. 🎧 Listen to the full episode here.

Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and many others.

✨Shine Board ✨

I love Lucy 🎶 A new women-focused fintech startup is in town! They’re called LUCY and recently bagged $360k in their pre-seed round. I am very excited about their entrance into the market as we women know how hard it is for us to get the financial support, education, and access that we need. So glad to know we’re getting more allies.

BFFs

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