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

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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