Ep 55: Karl Mak (Co-Founder, Hepmil Media Group - SGAG, MGAG, PGAG) - Running a Meme Business

Karl Mak is a Singaporean entrepreneur and co-founder and CEO of
HEPMIL Media Group: a holding company that owns SGAG, MGAG, PGAG,
SGEEK and HEPMIL Creators’ Network.


If you’re a fan of memes, then you’re in for a treat because that
is precisely what HEPMIL specialises in!


Karl shares how he almost became a professional swimmer, how he
built a flourishing real estate career while in school, his
experiences (and failure) with his first startup & how he
ended up co-founding SGAG with Adrian Ang, whom he had first met
back in 2005 in junior college. 


Highlights:


3:32 Swimming competitively

9:53 Entering the real estate business

13:28 The gift of the gab

20:26 Learning from Professor Soon Loo

22:23 Attending a coding bootcamp to find a co-founder

26:26 “Crazy” things Karl did to get enterprise clients

28:22 Why Televate, Karl’s first startup, failed

33:43 Meeting Adrian & starting SGAG

38:27 How they come up with memes

40:32 The Ah Lian meme, which was picked up by mainstream
media

42:36 Milestones to track

47:47 The early days of SGAG

49:04 Land grabbing tactics used by SGAG

51:42 Distinguishing SGAG from other similar pages

56:40 Selling vulgar T-shirts

59:18 How the business deal with Scoot happened

1:00:57 Changing the engine of a plane in mid-air

1:06:03 Your failure makes you more valuable

1:07:26 Building a creators’ network

1:15:58 How COVID-19 impacted Karl & HEPMIL Media Group






Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/55 


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