Ep 132: The Inside Scoop on Asia's $30 Million Media Empire | Terence Lee, Editor-In-Chief at Tech in Asia

So This Is My Why

Who's got the juiciest gossip on startups these days?

Well.

The journalists, of course!

And today, we have Terence Lee - Editor-in-Chief at Tech in Asia - to share the inside scoop on their organisation (TIA just sold for a reported $30 Million to Singapore Press Holdings!).

Fun Fact: Terence Lee really didn't want his position. He's an introvert & does not consider himself a natural leader.

❓So what changed?

❓How has he adapted to his leadership role & navigated through 2 brutal layoffs at Tech in Asia?

❓How does journalism work for them, e.g. determining the stories to cover, the verification process required and also balancing objective reporting with friendships with the people in the space?

So are you ready?

Let's go!

Highlights:

• 2:38 Writing as a career?!
• 5:14 Working at many different media publications
• 6:58 Joining Tech in Asia in 2013 as its Managing Director
• 8:26 Being pushed out of his comfort zone
• 11:11 Relationship between Editor/Journalist v Startup Founders
• 12:14 What people tend to not understand about what they're doing
• 15:03 Perceived biases?
• 16:11 The due diligence process
• 18:05 Defamation law
• 21:26 Monetisation tactics
• 21:42 Going through TIA's first layoff
• 25:19 Internal transparency in (almost) everything?!
• 29:18 2nd round of layoffs & the best way to conduct retrenchment
• 33:05 How did TIA rebuild the shattered morale of its staff & pivot to its subscription model?
• 35:45 Big events in Indonesia
• 37:25 The future
• 39:02 Journalists are mini media empires?
• 40:36 Peter Cowan - If you were to launch your own non-media startup, what would it be?

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/132

🌟 Special discount for STIMY listeners to TIA: techin.asia/sothisismywhy

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter on the art of storytelling + building your personal brand (+snippets of STIMY behind-the-scenes): https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

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