Gold Nuggets
- “If you never ask the question, the answer will always be ‘no’, and if you never knock on the door, it will never open.”
- If you’re looking for a venture capitalist or an investor, it’s important to not only focus on the monetary side of what they can offer you, but also the resources in their network that could add to your business.
- Grace tells us the three things that investors look for in a business.
- If you’re a good entrepreneur, the idea doesn’t matter as much as the team that will be executing that idea.
If you have an A-Level team and a B-Level idea, you have a better chance of executing that idea well than if it was the other way around. - Too often, entrepreneurs fall in love with a product or service, without considering whether their service solves a problem that is a real problem.
- People often want to help, but you also need to demonstrate why they should be helping you.
- If you want to achieve a certain level of growth, you need to learn from someone who has already done so.
- It’s difficult, if not impossible, to know what the world is going to need in 10 years’ time. But what we’ll always need are people providing value.
- You have to understand what you’re trying to do instead of just creating a business for profit.
- Steve likes the idea of “Smarter Man”. Juliet does not. So, the show’s name will not be changing.
- “An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.” – Benjamin Franklin
Meet Grace Gong
Our guest is Grace Gong, former Investment Manager, and host of the Smart Venture Podcast. She’s helping investors and businesses by sharing what she has learnt from some of the top investors in Silicon Valley.
Smart Man, Smarter Woman References
We talk about a lot in each episode; however, we don’t want you to miss a thing! Here are some key items were mentioned if you want to take a closer look.
Website Recommendations:
GraceGong.com
HowToBeAVC.com
Book Recommendation:
Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Night
How to be a VC by Grace Gong
The Last Key to Success by Grace Gong
Stay Connected:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/gracegongGG
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gracegonggg/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gracegongGG
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gracegong/
Podcast: https://www.howtobeavc.com/podcast
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Transcript
Steve Loates:
Hello everyone and welcome to our podcast. Smart Man, Smarter Woman. A Podcast for Entrepreneurs by Entrepreneurs. We thank you for joining us today. I am Steve Loates.
Juliet Aurora:
And I am Juliet Aurora.
Steve Loates:
And we are your co-hosts. Now before I introduce today’s guest, let’s hear a few words from my wonderful co-host, the smarter woman herself, Juliet. How are you doing today, Juliet? You managing to get over those computer challenges you’ve been having? I know you were a little tense this morning.
Juliet Aurora:
Yeah. Changing a computer. Although I love new tech, I hate the migration from old tech to new tech. And so it never goes as smoothly as it does in the commercials. When you click a button and then everything kind of moves over. So yes, it was a little challenging, but we’re going to get through it and we’re going to have a new computer on the other end of it which will be exciting.
Steve Loates:
Wonderful.
Juliet Aurora:
And I’m actually looking forward to today’s episode because one of the biggest challenges for business owners is when they’re trying to navigate growth or they’re trying to hit a new milestone and they have some funding challenges, or they have a hard time figuring out how to get investors. And I think our conversation today with our guest is hopefully going to shed some light and maybe give them some ideas to help them move their business forward if they’re looking to grow in 2020.
Steve Loates:
Awesome. Thank you. Well, as everyone knows, if you’ve tuned in before our goal with every episode is to try to provide you some entertainment. I believe that’s usually me, but most importantly, some value, some insights, a gold nugget or two that can help you on your own entrepreneurial journey. We have a great show as Juliet mentioned for you today with our very special guest, Grace Gong.
Steve Loates:
Now, Grace was born in China, came to the United States about 10 years ago I believe as an international student. She didn’t know anyone and could barely speak English. That takes a lot of courage. Since then, she has worked in venture capital and private equity. She’s written two books about the startup and venture capital industry and is currently hosting her own podcast called Smart Venture Podcast. And one of her books landed as the number one new release on Amazon in the VC category.
Steve Loates:
She has also interviewed 22 investors on the Forbes Midas List and 21 founders on Forbes 30 Under 30. My God, she must be old with all this experience. I can’t believe it. Anyway, she is not. I’m not even sure she’s reached 30 years young yet. And if this is what she’s done in the first 30, can we imagine what she’s going to do in the next 30? Without further ado, let’s bring on our guest. Hi, Grace. How are you doing today?
Grace Gong:
I’m great. Hi Steve. Hi Juliet. I’m so happy to be here. Thank you so much for the wonderful introduction.
Steve Loates:
My pleasure. We’re really glad that you’re with us, joining us I believe from San Francisco. Now there’s lots of things we’re going to get into, some of which Juliet mentioned, but perhaps we could start out if you could share a little bit about your own entrepreneurial journey. It’s hard to believe you have an entrepreneurial journey at your age that you’re at, but you certainly have. And so if you could share some of that, that would be awesome.
Grace Gong:
Yeah, absolutely. Well, thank you so much for asking. So I would say the first entrepreneur’s journey for me was probably in high school. I created this school English newspaper in China. So back in time, I know everyone was going to study abroad. So I went to an international boarding high school. And so everyone is trying to study abroad. So essentially, we have to apply to school in the U.S. or in Canada. However, it’s really hard to describe what’s our extracurricular activity because in China it was not necessarily the most prioritized things. Most people are studying instead of doing a lot of things outside of school.
Grace Gong:
So I decided to put together a newspaper to ask all the fellow students to record what they’re doing on the side. So there were people in the Taekwondo Club, there were people in the plant club, there were people doing charity work or anything. There were a lot of people doing interesting things, so I decided to put together an English newspaper so we could send it out to the schools that we’re applying. So I knew it was a quote-unquote “business” because everyone’s parents bought it. So back in time, that was my first piece of entrepreneurial journey.
Grace Gong:
Fast forward to the most recently after school, I moved to San Francisco and I was doing like a normal job. And then I encountered a lot of really interesting founders. So I just started asking them, “Hey. How do you start a company?” They were like, “Oh, this is how you raise funding. This is how you do marketing. This is how you come up with the ideas. This is how you find a co-founder.” And then I just started taking notes.
Grace Gong:
And then one day I went to a conference in San Francisco. It’s a [inaudible 00:05:36] conference. I realized that everybody was asking the same questions. They were all asking the speakers on when should I drop out of school? When should I raise money? What should I do? This and that. So I feel like there is a market for that type of content. So I decided to put together my first book on how entrepreneurs starting their own businesses. And from there, I realized that after chatting with all these younger entrepreneurs… I want to say younger because I was the same age with them, but they’re the entrepreneurs, and basically they were all saying raising funding is definitely one of the biggest challenges. So I decided to go out there and then talk to all the top investors on what are you guys looking for in funding a really good startup. So that’s how the second book journey began. So that’s a short version of what I’ve been doing.
Steve Loates:
Very good. That’s excellent. And had you had any interest in investing or venture capital prior to this or it was just based upon the conversations you had, it led you there because you felt there was a need for people to know more about that?
Grace Gong:
Yeah, absolutely. I think those conversations definitely help. And I feel like in San Francisco there was definitely a atmosphere that people are immersed themselves into the tech startup and VC environment. So I think that really builds up a lot of my motivation on why I wanted to pursue that journey on investing and I think everybody… So after chatting with all these investors, I feel like investing is definitely really would be making a lot of impact in these entrepreneurs’ lives to pick the best company that will succeed and helping them and helping them make impact in other people’s lives. I feel like it’s really meaningful in a way. But I’ve never really thought that’s what I was going to be doing back in time.
Juliet Aurora:
Excellent. So I’m going to dive right in because I think there’s going to be a lot of great information that our audience is going to be able to get from this conversation. So let’s go back to the first question that you said, which is what are investors looking for?
Grace Gong:
Yeah. So I think after chatting with all of these top investors and chatting with a lot of entrepreneurs, I find there are three things that investor are looking into. One is definitely the team. So if the team is I think really persistent, that’s one of the core quality of the team. So that’s what I’ve heard recurring… Oh, the recurring ideas from the VCs.
Grace Gong:
And then number two, I would say I’ve seen a lot of VCs who are looking for sales skills. So because the entrepreneur have to sell their company to investors and have to sell their product to the clients. And basically I think sales skills… But I would have to highlight that you have to do your core basic work really, really well before you sell something. It doesn’t mean it’s like, oh, you’re just a really top salesperson but your core product is not really good. And then you’re just going out there. But I feel like what I’ve heard is you’re supposed to be doing what you’re doing really, really well. Then you have this amazing presentation skills. I think that’s really important.
Grace Gong:
And number three, there’s a lot of things about the market and everything else, but I think I wanted to focus on what are things that we could control. So I think another one is I would really highlight persistent because a lot of people pivot their company from one industry… I want to say one industry but from one specific focus into another but they’re just keep trying, they’re adapting all the time.
Grace Gong:
So I think being persistent means you have to adapt yourself in every single different situation. If something doesn’t work, you have to pivot into something else. So I think that take persistence not just gave up as a whole, but trying your best to figure out what’s working and how to make something work really, really fast. I feel like those are things that I’ve… After having the chat with a lot of really cool investors and they’re like… Those are things that I learned.
Juliet Aurora:
Excellent. And I guess for those in the audience who aren’t familiar, so Grace has been referring to VCs, which everyone may not know stands for venture capitalist, which are the people that you actually go to to ask them to invest in your business to take it to the next level, to expand into a new geographic location or launch a new product. Just in case everyone wasn’t familiar with the term, I wanted to highlight that.
Juliet Aurora:
The other question I wanted to ask was… So based on what you’ve said, venture capitalists aren’t always necessarily looking at funding startups. They’re looking for some kind of an established pattern that you already have or do they… If you go to them with just an idea, are you less likely to get funding if you don’t have some kind of a pattern or record?
Grace Gong:
I would just speak for myself personally. I think the idea is matter less than the team. So I’ve heard about a lot of people talk about, hey, I have this idea, but what’s your execution scale? How do you plan to executing on your idea? There are plenty of amazing ideas out there people have. Your idea is normally probably not the first time someone think of this could work, but who would be the right person or the right team to execute? I think that’s a question.
Grace Gong:
I’ve heard from other investors, they were mentioning if you’re A-team, but you have a B-level idea than you’re A-team. Have a better execution on the B-level idea than if you have a B-team, but A-level idea. So I thought that really resonated with me because I feel like it really is. If you’re a really good entrepreneur, you’re always trying to making things work, I think the idea doesn’t matter as much as the team.
Juliet Aurora:
Interesting. I never would have imagined that the team played that much of a role in whether or not you get funding. So an interesting insight. Thank you.
Grace Gong:
Yeah, but that said, I think from my personal observation, I think picking the right market and picking the right problem to solve is also really important. I think a lot of people pick… If you pick a really small market size of things, it’s really hard to be… Even you’re the biggest player, but you chose a market that’s really, really small or a really super niche market. It’s really, really hard for you to grow out of that market.
Grace Gong:
But I think that’s just a generalization. It really also depends on how you’re planning on executing. You can also for example, providing a super-specific service to a smaller group of people. And then you think this model would be adapt into some other aspect or some other industry. That also works. No advice or no theory should be a one size fit all kind of situation. It should always be case by case.
Steve Loates:
That’s great. You said something there that has come up often on our podcast and that is problem to solve. It is really critical that the successful entrepreneurs understand what the problem is they’re trying to solve and that the business they’re trying to develop or have developed solves that problem.
Steve Loates:
And we’ve touched on this a couple of times where all too often we see entrepreneurs who just fall in love with a product or a service and just start doing it without really doing the homework at the other end. Does your service actually solve a problem that is a real problem and not just the problem because you think it is? And so I’m sure that when you’re going to people asking them for their money, they want to make sure you’ve done your homework, or they’re certainly not going to hand you off any money.
Steve Loates:
But one thing I did want to ask you, I was looking through the list of people that you’ve met and spoken to and there’s some pretty big names there. Reed Hastings, Tim Ferriss, Marissa Mayer, just to name a few. And I guess my question is how did you meet them? Did you just go up and just knock on the door? How were you able to meet these famous people? Do you have any tips?
Grace Gong:
I would say not everybody on my website that… I did have conversation with people, but not everyone that I’ve met that I have like a full-on super long conversation with everything. So I was really lucky to meet a lot of really top entrepreneurs. I think one of the things I have to highlight is passion. I think passion really come through.
Grace Gong:
So at the beginning, I think I was having a chance to encounter someone somewhere, maybe at a conference or something. And eventually, I decided to… Pushing things forward like interviewing these really amazing VCs about their career journey. I think a lot of the investors I’ve met later on… I think you have to demonstrate some sort of passion. I think a lot of people were super nice, and they’re really inspirational. They just wanted to help the younger people.
Grace Gong:
And I think creating the first book or writing the first book really, really helps because it shows that you just wanted to talk to the entrepreneurs. It shows that you really wanted to get involved in the industry, and they can tell. When you go to their office or when you meet them somewhere, you give them your book or you show them that, hey, this is the homework that I’ve done, then they will feel like, oh, you mean it. It’s not like you took no action. You sit at home. You read everybody on a piece of newspaper. It’s like, oh, I really go out there and then demonstrate that I really wanted to do this.
Grace Gong:
So I think that really helps in terms of meeting people. People always wanted to help, but you have to also demonstrate them that why they should be helping you. I think that’s what I’ve learned.
Juliet Aurora:
And I think that goes back to probably the best word to describe that is what you said about a team, it’s persistence. Is that they actually see that you’re persistent in asking, but that there’s some value for them to invest some time in sitting down and talking to you as well. And we’ve said that very often when an entrepreneur is looking for a mentor, don’t be shy about approaching somebody that you think would be a great mentor because they probably do want to help you. They just need something back from you to show that it’s worth their time to help you. And it seems like that is the same scenario here as well.
Steve Loates:
Yeah, and-
Grace Gong:
Sorry, keep going.
Steve Loates:
I was just going to say, it reminded me of the if you never ask the question, the answer will always be no. And if you never knock on the door, it will never open. And it’s all a matter of sometimes you just have to get up off your butt, walk over and speak to someone, right?
Grace Gong:
Yeah, absolutely. I love that. I think speaking to someone is one piece. I think a lot of it also depends on what you do with what you currently have. Imagine I was a quote-unquote “entrepreneur” with nothing and then I came to San Francisco. I would say it would be probably really hard for me to talk to really big names, but I have to talk to who I can talk to first. I have to leverage what I have to learn as much as I can. I think that applies to everyone.
Grace Gong:
I think people should really not look down on what they have. That everybody should leverage what they have first then reaching to the moon. If I wanted to be Steven Spielberg or whoever, I have to shoot my first video first. My first video probably suck. And I think that’s what I’ve been learning about myself. Starting the podcast I was like, oh, this is have to be… This and that. I have to achieve a certain level of listeners by a certain time. But I think the first thing I talk… I have my own self talk about starting a podcast is you have to start. If you don’t start, where are you going to get into? I feel like that just applies to everything. If you’re an entrepreneur, you should really start. That’s it.
Juliet Aurora:
Great advice
Steve Loates:
Absolutely. Very insightful.
Juliet Aurora:
Definitely.
Steve Loates:
That just reminded me of so many quotes. I don’t even know where to start so I won’t even bother. You’ve mentioned your podcast a couple of times. Tell us about your podcast. What are you trying to accomplish with it?
Grace Gong:
Thank you. So I created the podcast essentially for a listener like myself. I’m at the stage of… I feel like after the VC and [inaudible 00:20:00] experiences, I feel like I was really lucky to have a look at what’s going on and how it works. But I feel like if you want to achieve a certain level of growth, you really have to learn from someone who already done so. So I decided to reach out to people in my network like how they build up their career. So I was really fortunate and really inspired by a lot of people, for example, the CEO of Meetup, the VP of Amazon, LinkedIn, and all that and I feel like they are really someone that I wanted to, at one point in my career, I wanted to achieve a certain level of success as they did. So I decided to learn from them all.
Grace Gong:
How did they map out their career and what kind of emotional challenges they were going through and what kind of career advices or what kind of personal advices that they could give to people like me. And I feel like there were a lot of my friends in tech. I think a lot of people were just doing certain things because they supposed to be doing certain things or because of it sounds really pleasant on LinkedIn or on your resume. However, I feel like that doesn’t really apply to everybody’s career journey. You really should pick whatever fit the best for you instead of just whatever fit the best in your Christmas conversation with your parents or their friends.
Grace Gong:
So, I think that’s why I decided to create that podcast because I feel like a lot of the career journey was not really a straight line. It’s not like, oh, I think I need to achieve this amount of success. I need to go through company A at this level of position and then company B, C. I think that’s a really good line but I think that’s not what everybody can do and I’ve seen so many really top work leaders. They pick the most random path, so I really wanted to uncover that for people. And also, just letting people see how they were making the decisions.
Grace Gong:
Why did they decide to join a certain company? Why did they decide to quit their previous job? And why did they decided to pick team A instead of team B? I feel like those are things that I’ve been always questioning myself as well as I feel a lot. It could also help a lot of people on feeling unstacked about what they were doing. So that was my goal on creating this podcast.
Juliet Aurora:
I do love how many podcasters that are out there that are creating the podcast to share the knowledge that they’re learning with other people. And it sounds like that’s exactly what you’re doing is you had all these questions so you figured other people must also have them which is the reason you started your podcast. So I love that that’s the reason you started it.
Juliet Aurora:
I want to dive back into, so I want to make sure we touch a little bit on the venture capital side because I know it is such a big unknown for so many business owners. So we talked… You gave us some ideas as to what a venture capitalist or an investor would be looking for. What should a business look for when they’re looking for a venture capitalist and where would you even find somebody that might be interested in investing in your business?
Grace Gong:
Thank you so much. That’s a great question. So you basically mentioned two-piece. I’ll explain both of them. So one is what should they be looking for in venture capitalist. So I think the number one thing is figure out who invests in your category. When I was doing my investor job, a lot of people come to me with the idea that I don’t even invest in this category of things.
Grace Gong:
For example, if I’m only looking for consumer tech companies and you come to me with the idea of a B2B business. I probably know nothing. So I think number one is finding out who invests in your category of business and paths. I think that’s go back to the homework side. So you really have to do your own research. Be prepared. Asking your network. Go to your local meet up. No matter where you are, I’m pretty sure someone in your area or maybe even on a podcast or anything. So I think you need to leverage what you have to get to the next level to understand who invests in your category. I think that’s number one.
Grace Gong:
And then number two, if I were starting a company myself, I would really research which investor has connections and had worked in the industry. I think beside the money side of things, the network of people and network of resources really, really helps. I’ve seen companies that are really… The founders are super smart, but they took money from I would say a VC firm that doesn’t really specialize in a particular area. So they would get most the general advices or the general help from people.
Grace Gong:
But I’ve also seen people that are… The founder just took money from whoever is an expert in industry. Maybe they didn’t take a lot of money, but they took a lot of resources. Then those firms that really add value to the founder, they made a lot of introduction to clients. They’re really specialized in whatever the founder was trying to do. So I feel like those adds the most amount of value than just a really generalist investor.
Grace Gong:
And when it comes down to how do you find investors. So I always heard this advice is the warm introduction is better than a cold one. So I would say you need to really build your network from the ground up very early on. I would say start with whoever you know. Then just go out there and then DM everybody on LinkedIn. So I really heard this from a large amount of investor that if it’s someone that they know introduced a certain company, they would a hundred percent take a look and go from there. I think the logic behind it is going back to those sales skills. So if you cannot sell your company to me through a warm introduction, you probably cannot sell it to the customer because you didn’t really convince me. So I think that’s what I got the logic behind it.
Juliet Aurora:
Excellent. I love the point that you brought out when you’re looking at a venture capitalist or an investor in your business, not to just look at the monetary side of what they can invest, but the resources in their network that could add to your business. I think that is absolutely fabulous advice.
Steve Loates:
And I think that’s, as Grace said, why it’s so important when you’re looking for an investor that they are an investor that invests in your space or your category because if they don’t, then the chances of them having these other connections and other network people they can introduce you to is very limited because they don’t normally invest in that category. So again, I think that’s great advice.
Steve Loates:
One thing I would like to ask you and it may be a bit of an unfair question, so I apologize ahead of time, but what would you like to be doing 10 years from now? Do you have this vision of here’s where Grace is going to be 10 years from now and here’s what Grace is going to be doing?
Grace Gong:
Okay, so this may sound really vague, but I definitely wanted to create value for founders and investors. So I think whatever business you are doing, you have to create value for people to no matter pay for service or anything. So I think creating value, it’s definitely something that I would be trying to do. And in terms of the format of it, I think I’m really open about it. I wouldn’t say, oh, this is a particular job that I really, really want to do, or this is a particular things. But whenever I look at stuff like this, I would think of what kind of skills do I need to get there.
Grace Gong:
In 10 years, I don’t really know what exactly would be the position that I would be doing. It could be investing, it could be funding my own company or anything, but I definitely want to number one, create value for people because that’s how you actually have a business. Steve and Juliet, you guys have a accounting firm. So those are creating value for people that really need accounting services. So I feel like you guys are creating value for a certain group of people. And I think that’s great and that’s why people would keep coming back. So I think creating value is definitely number one.
Grace Gong:
And then number two, whenever I look at it, it really is what kind of skill set do I need to learn? So after having a conversation with the entrepreneurs and the investors, I feel like maybe sales skill, maybe a lot of how do you build a great product? How do you do marketing? How to raise funding? I feel like those are all different skills that have different level of specialties. And I feel like I definitely wanted to just taking a lot of times and experience those and taking steps to acquire these skills before… Within the next 10 years to get there.
Grace Gong:
But going back, I really feel like I want to serve the entrepreneurs and the investors and just people whoever needs help with and creating a podcast or a product that really inspires people to pursue whatever they wanted to be doing.
Steve Loates:
That’s great. And again, I think it’s great advice that you mentioned it is difficult if impossible to know specifically what the world is going to need in 10 years. But what I think we will always need is exactly what you said, is people providing value for people, right? That I don’t think is ever going to go away. How you provide that value may change and may vary, but the idea of providing value, I think that’s never going to go away.
Steve Loates:
And the one thing I did want to ask you is I noticed on your Facebook page, yes I did a little bit of snooping, that you talked about when you met Marc Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce. And one of the things you talked about was that you learned from him so much about giving back, from the founder, but you also said you learned about values. He talked about values a lot. Can you share a little bit about what he talked about with regards to values?
Grace Gong:
Yeah, absolutely. So I met him at an event, but I previously read his books about how he talk about just like Salesforce is giving… If I remember correctly, I believe they were giving 1% into public services. And I feel like those are just commercialized business. I really feel like these things speaks a lot for a company. And I feel like whatever he was doing just really inspires me that every single step that you go, that you really have to give back because it really is people that help you early on that you have to give back to the society. So I feel like that’s what inspires me.
Grace Gong:
And I believe he was also treating his company as family. So he have the… Maybe I rephrase it wrong, but it was like a Hawaiian culture that treating his company as a big family. Family first. And I feel like those cultures when you walk into the Salesforce building in San Francisco, it’s blue and green. It just seems like a really great culture that company. And I feel like after reading his book, I have learned a lot on the philosophy is more about running a great business.
Steve Loates:
Great.
Juliet Aurora:
You’re going to see that Steve and I have very different questions that we’re asking you. Steve is asking you leadership value questions whereas the accountant in me is going to ask you what does an investor look for? What does a business owner look for? So I have one more question that I need to ask, which is what are venture capitalists looking for in return for putting money into your business? Are they just looking for a percentage return in payback, or are they looking for equity in your company? What do they look for in exchange for giving you money?
Grace Gong:
I think when they put into the money they definitely took a certain percentage of your company. And I would say different venture fund have different expectations. And then based on your stage of your company, even the early stage, they’re taking a bigger risk. They’re probably expecting higher amount of returns. And if they’re putting more higher percentage of the returns but if they were putting money in very later stage, it’s like they’re trying to make a quote-unquote “safer” bet. So they’re taking lots of risks, but they’re also expecting a certain amount of return for sure.
Grace Gong:
But on the other hand, so what does that translate to entrepreneur is I think you really have to understand your mission about your company. What you’re trying to do instead of just creating a business for profit. I really feel like you need to think of what is the core value you’re providing to the people?
Steve Loates:
Anyway, that was fantastic. Take a quick breath. That brings us to one of my favorite parts of our show, which is where we do the Smart Man, Smarter Women version of James Lipton’s Q&A round. So if you are ready, Grace, I have a series of five or six questions that we ask every guest on every show. And are you ready to begin?
Grace Gong:
Yes.
Steve Loates:
Perfect. The first question, what one word best defines an entrepreneur?
Grace Gong:
I’d say persistent. Persistence. Yeah.
Steve Loates:
What profession other than the one you’re currently doing, would you like to attempt?
Grace Gong:
Entrepreneurial stuff I think. I couldn’t think of any.
Steve Loates:
Okay. Fair enough. What profession would you like never to attempt?
Grace Gong:
Let me think. Oh my God. So I’m looking at these notebooks, so I’m thinking of Dunder Mifflin for some reason. I don’t know. Selling paper. I would never attempt that.
Steve Loates:
No, that’s perfect. What sound or noise do you love?
Grace Gong:
What sounds or noise? Oh my God. My own sound. I’m so annoyed by my own sound. I hate listening to myself.
Steve Loates:
Okay. What book would you recommend for entrepreneurs other than your own?
Grace Gong:
Oh, I love Shoe Dog by Phil Knight. So I’ve thinking about this [inaudible 00:35:36] for 15 years… Not 15 years, but his book was out less than 15 years, but I really love his book. Yeah. Phil Knight’s Shoe Dog. Oh my God.
Steve Loates:
Yeah, it’s a great book.
Grace Gong:
It’s an entrepreneurial Bible, I would say.
Steve Loates:
Yeah, it is. I recommend that book as well. When your entrepreneurial journey is completed many, many, many, many years from now, what do you hope your legacy is?
Grace Gong:
Starting another one and then recruiting more other entrepreneurs to join.
Steve Loates:
That works. Well, that’s great. Now, if anyone in our audience wants to connect with you, what is the best way for them to do that, Grace?
Grace Gong:
So I have a website called SmartVenturePod.com or howtobeavc.com. That includes all my social handle. I recently launched a YouTube channel for our podcast. So people please go subscribe. You can find me on the podcast called Smart Venture Podcast by Grace Gong or on LinkedIn or Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and everything. So just go to SmartVenturePod.com and just connect me wherever you feel most comfortable.
Steve Loates:
Perfect. And we will, in the show notes, we will have the links to your websites, to your podcast and to your social channels. So one way or another, if the folks go to the notes, they should be able to find you. I don’t think you’re going to be that hard to find.
Steve Loates:
Before we conclude with this episode, do you have any final thoughts, Grace, that you would like to share with our audience of entrepreneurs?
Grace Gong:
Oh, I think you guys should keep listening to the next, then the next, then the next episode of Smarter Man. Well, Smart Man, Smarter Women Podcast. Thank you.
Steve Loates:
Thank you very much.
Grace Gong:
I keep forgetting who’s smarter but I know…
Steve Loates:
You know, I liked your title. The way you were going.
Juliet Aurora:
Yeah, we’re not going with that one.
Steve Loates:
Oh, we’re not going to change it. Okay, all right. Okay.
Steve Loates:
So that brings us to the Smart Man, Smarter Woman words of wisdom. And so this episode, I thought I would share this with you. It’s from Benjamin Franklin and it is, “An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.”
Juliet Aurora:
Excellent.
Steve Loates:
And so that brings us to the end of another show. Time seems to have flown by. Thank you very much again to our guest, Grace. Thank you to my awesome co-host Juliet. But most important, thank you to you, our audience for tuning in and giving us a listen. We sincerely hope you found some value here today. If you did, please subscribe to the podcast. You can find us in all the normal places, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, or you can visit our website, SmartManSmarterWoman.com and check us out there. So thank you very much. Until next time, take good care of yourself and those that you love. Bye for now.
Song by Adam Vitovsky / CC BY 3.0
