Meeting Title: Brainforge x Abbott Networking Chat Date: 2025-06-26 Meeting participants: Robert Tseng, Shirley Li
WEBVTT
1 00:01:01.810 ⇒ 00:01:02.830 Robert Tseng: It’s really.
2 00:01:03.440 ⇒ 00:01:05.460 Shirley Li: Hello! Nice to meet you, Robert.
3 00:01:05.960 ⇒ 00:01:06.899 Robert Tseng: Good to meet you.
4 00:01:07.450 ⇒ 00:01:10.160 Shirley Li: Yeah. Are you calling from the New York.
5 00:01:10.490 ⇒ 00:01:11.619 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I’m in New York.
6 00:01:12.090 ⇒ 00:01:14.499 Shirley Li: Oh, that’s cool! Where? Where? In New York?
7 00:01:15.455 ⇒ 00:01:18.150 Robert Tseng: I mean, I’m currently at a client’s
8 00:01:18.270 ⇒ 00:01:26.919 Robert Tseng: office. So I think we’re where am I right now? And then I’m in Union Square area.
9 00:01:27.450 ⇒ 00:01:34.899 Shirley Li: So that’s like where, like, there’s a lot of billboards and stuff and kind of reminds me of like Las Vegas.
10 00:01:35.420 ⇒ 00:01:37.719 Robert Tseng: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, there’s a
11 00:01:37.970 ⇒ 00:01:49.720 Robert Tseng: yeah, like this. Billboards everywhere in New York. But yeah, definitely in in midtown. Curious. But yeah, I I live. I live in Midtown. I live pretty close to Central Park, so everything’s pretty close by here.
12 00:01:50.399 ⇒ 00:01:52.039 Robert Tseng: And you’re in La.
13 00:01:52.740 ⇒ 00:02:00.510 Shirley Li: Yeah, I’m in a suburb of La. So it’s like, not downtown area. It’s near like a mountain the base of a mountain.
14 00:02:00.840 ⇒ 00:02:06.029 Robert Tseng: Okay, I lived in La for like 5 years. So I probably know all the areas I think. Are you in Pasadena?
15 00:02:06.480 ⇒ 00:02:13.040 Shirley Li: Oh, that’s where I live, but I’m currently in it’s near like I would say. Selmar is near Norsewood.
16 00:02:13.040 ⇒ 00:02:13.470 Robert Tseng: Oh! So!
17 00:02:13.470 ⇒ 00:02:14.460 Shirley Li: Very nice. Okay.
18 00:02:14.750 ⇒ 00:02:15.690 Robert Tseng: It’s all. Yeah.
19 00:02:15.690 ⇒ 00:02:16.380 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
20 00:02:16.770 ⇒ 00:02:20.019 Shirley Li: Yeah, yeah. Near like, oh, Van, nice. We’re Northridge. Yeah.
21 00:02:20.020 ⇒ 00:02:26.129 Robert Tseng: Yeah, yeah, no. I I did like an internship around Northridge. With someone else. So.
22 00:02:26.800 ⇒ 00:02:34.399 Shirley Li: That’s awesome. Yeah. So so like, have you been to? Sf, too? Did you used to live in sf, as well.
23 00:02:34.696 ⇒ 00:02:47.140 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I grew up around the Bay Area. So I grew up in San Jose. So I’m pretty familiar with sf, I never really lived there as an adult. I mean, I go there now, really for business, because this looks
24 00:02:47.410 ⇒ 00:02:54.312 Robert Tseng: lot of companies are there funding there. There’s a lot of reasons to go if you run any business in tech, I guess. But
25 00:02:54.900 ⇒ 00:02:59.500 Robert Tseng: but yeah, never really spent like extended time there as an adult.
26 00:02:59.980 ⇒ 00:03:04.050 Shirley Li: Okay. So you must went to high school in San Jose area.
27 00:03:04.350 ⇒ 00:03:05.860 Robert Tseng: I did, yeah.
28 00:03:05.860 ⇒ 00:03:15.919 Shirley Li: Okay. I have friends who went to like one of my good 2 of my best friends from college. They went to I think Mission San Jose? Or was it called Monta Vista.
29 00:03:16.220 ⇒ 00:03:22.330 Robert Tseng: Okay, yeah, those are both schools in around me. I went to. I didn’t go to those schools, but close close by.
30 00:03:22.630 ⇒ 00:03:43.640 Shirley Li: Close by. Oh, okay, awesome. That’s cool. That’s cool, I see. Yeah, I mean, my, my, I’m going to Seattle like in maybe like 2 weeks to visit my friend in Seattle, and she’s my college friend. We met Uc. Berkeley, and she grew up in San Jose, and then they both went to school in Monta Vista. Yeah.
31 00:03:44.650 ⇒ 00:03:48.269 Robert Tseng: Oh, cool. Yeah. I mean the small world. I think a lot of people. The
32 00:03:48.480 ⇒ 00:03:54.990 Robert Tseng: they end up in tech like it’s it’s kind of crazy to see like some of my peers and kind of wherever everyone ended up.
33 00:03:55.543 ⇒ 00:03:58.269 Robert Tseng: But yeah, no, I where are you originally from?
34 00:03:59.710 ⇒ 00:04:15.979 Shirley Li: I’m from Beijing. So I live in Beijing for like 9 years. And then my family aren’t really that like interested in politics because of Beijing is where all the government officials are in China. So they want a more like
35 00:04:16.010 ⇒ 00:04:31.029 Shirley Li: they’re more free spirits. You you can say so. They like America a little more than China, or even Europe, like they didn’t even want to go Europe, because they just like America a little more because of the freedom that they.
36 00:04:31.090 ⇒ 00:04:48.170 Shirley Li: you know, like back in the nineties. So they immigrated here to also have more kids. So I have 2 younger sisters here, where in China I couldn’t. We couldn’t have more sisters. Yeah. So yeah. We moved to La. So I grew up near like
37 00:04:48.650 ⇒ 00:05:01.980 Shirley Li: like Alhambra Arcadia, like that tempo city like the Asian area in the Socal. Yeah. And then after that, I went to like the Bay Area to study like
38 00:05:02.303 ⇒ 00:05:23.969 Shirley Li: you went to Uc. Berkeley to study bioengineering. And then, yeah, that’s where I met my good friends who came from like San Jose, who grew up in San Jose area. And then that’s why I’m interested in entrepreneurship because of the Silicon valley like the culture. And yeah, that’s why I have a minor in Cs, because I got influenced by my peers. My friends, yeah.
39 00:05:23.970 ⇒ 00:05:27.860 Robert Tseng: Yeah, yeah, I I clicked around a bit on your profile, and I saw that being
40 00:05:28.350 ⇒ 00:05:33.250 Robert Tseng: you had you had done you, you found your own company as well. And then I guess.
41 00:05:33.440 ⇒ 00:05:43.360 Robert Tseng: yeah, I guess how was that? It seems pretty recent. So, yeah, I don’t know if you’re still working on it. Now I’m assuming, I think you mentioned to me that you’re not so. Yeah, what was that? What was that like.
42 00:05:44.160 ⇒ 00:06:08.240 Shirley Li: Yeah, that’s a good question. So so for me, right? Like I came from. So the reason why I work, or I feel like, I’ve been thinking about it like, if money wasn’t a problem right like, why would I be working? I think for me right? It’s because I want to help people alleviate their suffering like I feel like that’s like something that aligns with my life value and my work value.
43 00:06:08.610 ⇒ 00:06:14.449 Shirley Li: So that’s the main reason why I studied bioengineering. So
44 00:06:14.780 ⇒ 00:06:18.110 Shirley Li: so I feel like with the help of AI, right? Like.
45 00:06:18.230 ⇒ 00:06:21.559 Shirley Li: I think it’s really helpful, because if you think about it, like
46 00:06:21.710 ⇒ 00:06:36.479 Shirley Li: the health care in America, is a pretty bad in the sense that, like a lot of people have diabetes. A lot of people die from like heart problems and diabetes problems. And yeah, those are actually the leading reasons for death.
47 00:06:36.930 ⇒ 00:06:56.790 Shirley Li: So I was just thinking right? Like, what if we can use AI to like create something that’s like a sign. When you’re driving on the highway, you know, in 5 miles you can exit to a certain area to a town like Emeryville. But what if there’s something like that in life right where.
48 00:06:56.790 ⇒ 00:06:57.420 Robert Tseng: Hmm.
49 00:06:57.420 ⇒ 00:07:00.289 Shirley Li: It’s really clear to you that in 5 years
50 00:07:00.500 ⇒ 00:07:06.440 Shirley Li: so and so will get diabetes if they continue their current pass.
51 00:07:06.710 ⇒ 00:07:11.989 Shirley Li: So it’s just very obvious to me that there’s something needs to be there for that.
52 00:07:12.940 ⇒ 00:07:22.330 Shirley Li: So, you know, that’s why I pursue my startup. And you know I actually was able to gain some initial success with Y combinator
53 00:07:22.550 ⇒ 00:07:23.590 Shirley Li: on.
54 00:07:24.030 ⇒ 00:07:43.049 Shirley Li: But you know the thing is the partner. She’s the healthcare partner, Serbie, from y combinator. So she’s pretty familiar with this healthcare, and she was telling me to focus my company and sell to insurance company cause. That’s where the money is.
55 00:07:43.410 ⇒ 00:07:43.990 Robert Tseng: Hmm.
56 00:07:44.548 ⇒ 00:08:07.229 Shirley Li: And for me, I don’t know if that’s gonna help people like directly. I don’t know if doing that will help people. So I decided to take a break from that, because I couldn’t really see an alternative. Because if I sell directly to people like on an app, then I don’t see why they would download the app 1st of all, because it’s a random app.
57 00:08:07.230 ⇒ 00:08:15.300 Shirley Li: and second of all, even if they downloaded it, and then it’s able. The app is able to tell them about what condition they have like.
58 00:08:16.690 ⇒ 00:08:23.139 Shirley Li: They may not believe it, and also, even if they do believe it, they may not do anything about it.
59 00:08:23.430 ⇒ 00:08:24.540 Shirley Li: So
60 00:08:25.340 ⇒ 00:08:35.250 Shirley Li: it’s a tricky problem like it’s not as simple as I thought. So that’s why. Now I’m just working so that I can like. I’m still working in the healthcare industry.
61 00:08:35.590 ⇒ 00:08:37.909 Shirley Li: Why, think about what to do?
62 00:08:38.260 ⇒ 00:08:38.990 Shirley Li: Yeah.
63 00:08:39.140 ⇒ 00:08:39.760 Robert Tseng: Got it.
64 00:08:40.200 ⇒ 00:08:43.750 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I mean, sounds like, yeah, I mean, I
65 00:08:44.130 ⇒ 00:08:47.894 Robert Tseng: I mean, I’ve I’ve talked to a bunch of founders and found myself. So I think,
66 00:08:48.320 ⇒ 00:09:05.269 Robert Tseng: yeah, just I can imagine I can understand, maybe the pressure that you face to kind of like sell to a particular customer or like audience that like, maybe that wasn’t what you intended to start. And yeah, I mean, sounds like you fought through all the different scenarios in terms of like who you could bring
67 00:09:05.400 ⇒ 00:09:07.963 Robert Tseng: the app that you were building to?
68 00:09:08.730 ⇒ 00:09:11.380 Robert Tseng: And yeah, I mean, I think I
69 00:09:11.710 ⇒ 00:09:17.340 Robert Tseng: I mean just anecdotally. If as a consumer. I were like, wow! Then I have to tell me like what I’m going to
70 00:09:17.600 ⇒ 00:09:25.449 Robert Tseng: like. I know some I have some visibility into like what I’m predisposed to through like blood tests and also through like family history and whatnot. So
71 00:09:25.570 ⇒ 00:09:38.540 Robert Tseng: I have like some sense of like, okay, maybe I’m like more vulnerable to like these conditions or whatever. But it’s not really that clear like, it’s kind of like a wait and see. I think that’s most people’s approach. But yeah, I mean, I think
72 00:09:39.760 ⇒ 00:09:49.619 Robert Tseng: there’s a lot of there’s a lot more preventative focus in preventative care. I think people are a lot more interested in doing proactive signaling trying to get those answers earlier on.
73 00:09:49.870 ⇒ 00:09:57.729 Robert Tseng: although, like, I don’t know if I’m sure we follow, like maybe like the 23 and the situation of like I’m going.
74 00:09:58.210 ⇒ 00:10:10.749 Robert Tseng: you know, shutting down and selling it, selling customer data like I don’t know. I was just irrelevant because I was just listening to the Congressional hearing like, not too long ago. Yeah, I was kind of. I was kind of morbid. I was just like, Wow, like.
75 00:10:11.230 ⇒ 00:10:14.219 Robert Tseng: just feels like anybody who’s trying to do
76 00:10:14.320 ⇒ 00:10:16.950 Robert Tseng: at at that scale that’s trying to do
77 00:10:17.600 ⇒ 00:10:24.409 Robert Tseng: like collect a lot of patient data kinda is driven to like.
78 00:10:24.750 ⇒ 00:10:49.429 Robert Tseng: yeah, like to give into the financial incentive, which is just to like, sell your data to insurance companies, or like other other big corporations. So yeah, no, I think this is a it’s it is a dilemma. I don’t know if you hope you don’t. I don’t know if you feel discouraged right now, as you’re kind of like, I mean, sounds like you’re continuing to work in healthcare and just kind of like writing it out for now. But yeah, I I’m I’m just
79 00:10:49.790 ⇒ 00:11:02.539 Robert Tseng: a lot of respect for people who try to start things in the industry. And I’m not an expert in your field or anything but yeah, I was just trying to connect some of the the stories that I have seen and heard from other people as well.
80 00:11:03.330 ⇒ 00:11:14.629 Shirley Li: Yeah, thank you. I would love to talk to you more about that. But I guess before that like, can you tell me a little bit about your own journey as well, so I know better than to just look at the Linkedin. I guess.
81 00:11:14.630 ⇒ 00:11:20.720 Robert Tseng: Yeah, sure. Yes, right now, I run Brainforge Brainforge. AI. I mean, really, I think.
82 00:11:20.910 ⇒ 00:11:33.810 Robert Tseng: yeah, I I’ve been kind of on this entrepreneurial journey journey for almost like 2 and a half years since my last in house role. Yeah, I mean at this point I would say that we are a data and AI company, we help
83 00:11:33.910 ⇒ 00:11:41.759 Robert Tseng: companies to that don’t really have organized data. If, like the
84 00:11:41.880 ⇒ 00:11:58.410 Robert Tseng: get it all in one place, we do all the data engineering to build out business intelligence reporting and then on the AI Component is just along the way we learn a lot about the inefficiencies that organization has and we can build all types of automation into internal tooling to assist them.
85 00:11:58.703 ⇒ 00:12:13.359 Robert Tseng: And so functionally like, I think my thesis going into this business was okay. I’ve led data, or like, been a senior data person at a couple of startups before that, and felt like. Well, I could do this at bigger scale, like I think there are different ways to
86 00:12:13.400 ⇒ 00:12:20.810 Robert Tseng: kind of like leverage the work that I understand and like be able to operationally speed it up. I think
87 00:12:20.960 ⇒ 00:12:33.119 Robert Tseng: I’m not like I mean, you seem like a very smart person, Berkeley, Phd. And everything. So I am not. I think I’m not engineering background. But I was okay at data work, because I think
88 00:12:33.230 ⇒ 00:12:46.389 Robert Tseng: a lot of data work and corporations. I would say, most of it is just. It’s like, like, half of it is communication. And just making sure that the requirements are clear. And yeah, like, context is understood like people like, it’s a.
89 00:12:46.460 ⇒ 00:13:04.409 Robert Tseng: it’s a translation problem, a lot of the time. And I think, you know, AI tooling, the past few years has gone so good that it really helps smooth out a lot of the bumps there, especially, like, you know, passing and translating things back and forth across stakeholders. And so I think a good data person is somebody who can really
90 00:13:04.410 ⇒ 00:13:19.379 Robert Tseng: be at the intersection of multiple disciplines. Within a within an organization where previously marketing, finance operations all didn’t speak the same language. It was hard for them to measure the business like in a way that they could agree on.
91 00:13:19.430 ⇒ 00:13:21.190 Robert Tseng: But I think, just
92 00:13:21.460 ⇒ 00:13:37.140 Robert Tseng: yeah, like a lot of modern data practices that I’ve just made that better and better. And I just kinda happened to catch the right wave where I feel like I’m generally pretty good at, like helping people understand each other, I guess. So I think that’s kind of how I’ve
93 00:13:37.260 ⇒ 00:13:40.050 Robert Tseng: got my way into the role that I’m in now.
94 00:13:41.430 ⇒ 00:13:45.519 Robert Tseng: Yeah. So that’s kind of like my my journey. The past past few years.
95 00:13:46.190 ⇒ 00:14:01.239 Shirley Li: That’s awesome. Yeah, it’s always really cool to connect with someone who’s like entrepreneurial cause, like, you know, like cause. Right now, I’m in like a big company a bit like so it’s always really great to talk to someone like yourself, because, like me, too, like.
96 00:14:01.300 ⇒ 00:14:27.559 Shirley Li: I am currently surrounded by people who want to climb laterally, like climb the hierarchy, the corporate hierarchy, which is not something I’m not interested in. To be honest. So I’m not interested, because, like, I feel like, you know, I guess, like I feel like there are things that we could do that to like, really like, solve something a little quicker or like to solve more directly. Right? So
97 00:14:28.170 ⇒ 00:14:36.879 Shirley Li: so that’s why, yeah, that’s why I want to have this conversation with you. Because, yeah, like. It’s interesting to hear, like you know, you know your career journey and like.
98 00:14:37.090 ⇒ 00:14:39.750 Shirley Li: and your entrepreneur journey too, because.
99 00:14:39.870 ⇒ 00:14:55.970 Shirley Li: you know, like I told you, like my entrepreneur journey is always like very like like very difficult like in the sense that like Oh, I meet a problem. And then I’m just like, oh, my God! Like I don’t know how to do this now, like like I’m frozen.
100 00:14:56.880 ⇒ 00:14:57.420 Shirley Li: So.
101 00:14:57.420 ⇒ 00:14:58.140 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
102 00:14:58.300 ⇒ 00:15:01.539 Shirley Li: Yeah. So it’s cool to to talk to you about that. Yeah.
103 00:15:02.040 ⇒ 00:15:11.229 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I think entrepreneurs. It’s a blessing and a curse. I think they tend to obsess over problems that most people just kind of overlook, you know. So
104 00:15:12.190 ⇒ 00:15:15.620 Robert Tseng: at least the people that I’ve come to respect as like founders like.
105 00:15:15.790 ⇒ 00:15:21.430 Robert Tseng: yeah, for you know, it could be a very niche problem. But they just care about it a lot. And like they just like.
106 00:15:21.580 ⇒ 00:15:29.979 Robert Tseng: But no, it’s like, not obviously, not a simple answer. Otherwise everybody would do it. But yeah, you care about it. Enough that you’re taking some risks like it’s kind of like.
107 00:15:30.140 ⇒ 00:15:39.709 Robert Tseng: well, against all odds. I’m gonna try to do something about it. And I think there’s a yeah, this, this, I like the energy for people that kind of
108 00:15:39.980 ⇒ 00:15:57.779 Robert Tseng: have that passion and and driving them. And yeah, it’s it’s but then I think I also see that entrepreneurs are usually misfits in organizations. So I can imagine being in a in a big organization right now can sometimes be tough, because probably a lot most people don’t think about things the way you do.
109 00:15:58.377 ⇒ 00:16:01.419 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I think one thing I’ll share is like.
110 00:16:01.690 ⇒ 00:16:13.729 Robert Tseng: yeah, like this. Even this business right now wasn’t necessarily the one I started. I think I why, I wanted to start. I think my my interest is also in direct. I guess you you’re interested in working
111 00:16:14.140 ⇒ 00:16:17.699 Robert Tseng: direct consumer, like kind of patient outcomes. I guess I.
112 00:16:17.700 ⇒ 00:16:18.240 Shirley Li: Yes.
113 00:16:18.240 ⇒ 00:16:20.809 Robert Tseng: Want to work in direct services to be honest. So.
114 00:16:22.410 ⇒ 00:16:35.950 Robert Tseng: Yeah, like I, I’ve I’ve done a lot of volunteering work. Even before I was in tech like after I graduated from college, like I like. I took a year off. I lived in Kazakhstan like I was like doing.
115 00:16:35.950 ⇒ 00:16:36.800 Shirley Li: Oh, awesome!
116 00:16:36.800 ⇒ 00:16:56.649 Robert Tseng: Work. Yeah. So I mean, even now, like, I still kind of dabble here, like, I think here and there. So there are a couple like groups of people that I care a lot about. I think one is like the rehab community so and and the and and people that are like in in prison. So like I think there’s.
117 00:16:56.650 ⇒ 00:16:57.180 Shirley Li: Hmm.
118 00:16:57.780 ⇒ 00:17:06.529 Robert Tseng: If I, if money were were no, was not a problem. I guess, like you said I would probably be like running like
119 00:17:08.119 ⇒ 00:17:16.449 Robert Tseng: which I kind of already in part of a program now. But like I would, I would be interested in like working with those communities. Specifically. So.
120 00:17:18.089 ⇒ 00:17:19.480 Robert Tseng: yeah, I think
121 00:17:20.760 ⇒ 00:17:41.330 Robert Tseng: there’s a lot I could say about it. I think I have a lot of a lot of a lot of passion for it. But when I was living in La, I think that’s kind of where I caught the interest. La has a big, homeless population, and so like I, I worked pretty closely with them. For for the for the years I was there and then, even since moving to New York, I think it’s just continued to be my interest. So yeah, I don’t.
122 00:17:41.330 ⇒ 00:17:42.180 Robert Tseng: We think, also stay in touch.
123 00:17:42.180 ⇒ 00:17:43.090 Shirley Li: That’s awesome.
124 00:17:43.090 ⇒ 00:17:50.658 Robert Tseng: Or but I think I have these tech skills. And I want to be able to use them to bring more access to different. You know,
125 00:17:51.090 ⇒ 00:17:59.079 Robert Tseng: access to people who don’t really have those resources. So I think that’s really kind of like the North Star for me on like what I’m
126 00:17:59.300 ⇒ 00:18:15.520 Robert Tseng: anything that I am learning right now as an entrepreneur, working in tech and business, or whatever like that’s always on my mind like, how do I like, take what I’m learning and be able to work with. You know, this group of people or this audience that I I care about like in the future.
127 00:18:16.190 ⇒ 00:18:33.170 Shirley Li: I see that’s cool. Yeah, that’s that’s really awesome. I have some questions, because I’m just like, really curious about like concerning. So so, I guess, like one question I have is like, when you say the rehab people you’re interested in like, are they like recovering from a surgery? Where? What kind of rehab.
128 00:18:33.530 ⇒ 00:18:36.887 Robert Tseng: Yeah. So I’m talking about specifically like, addiction, rehab
129 00:18:37.260 ⇒ 00:18:37.850 Shirley Li: Oh, okay.
130 00:18:37.850 ⇒ 00:18:38.960 Robert Tseng: Yeah. So
131 00:18:39.350 ⇒ 00:18:48.970 Robert Tseng: you know, could be drug alcohol and whatnot. I think a lot of the time like the more severe cases. You know, it’s not something that just like, yeah, I think
132 00:18:49.720 ⇒ 00:18:59.430 Robert Tseng: it’s they’ve probably been institutionalized at some point in their life. And then maybe they’ve even been incarcerated. So like, I think.
133 00:19:00.240 ⇒ 00:19:11.940 Robert Tseng: yeah, just kind of people whose lives kind of fell apart because of their addiction. And they’re like needing a second chance. I think that’s like, probably the more specific way to put it like the type of people I’m interested in working with.
134 00:19:12.633 ⇒ 00:19:14.766 Robert Tseng: Yeah. So that’s that’s.
135 00:19:15.300 ⇒ 00:19:21.299 Shirley Li: That’s awesome. Yeah. Cause like, I live next to a rehab like a drug rehab facility right now.
136 00:19:21.300 ⇒ 00:19:21.670 Robert Tseng: Oh, yeah.
137 00:19:21.990 ⇒ 00:19:26.660 Shirley Li: I live right next to a drop rate like rehab facility.
138 00:19:26.900 ⇒ 00:19:27.510 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
139 00:19:27.840 ⇒ 00:19:32.449 Shirley Li: Yeah, so how do you? You know? How? How are you interested? Well, how do you become interested.
140 00:19:33.196 ⇒ 00:19:47.999 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I think, like in my family, there’s kind of like a history of addiction. So I think that’s part of like, maybe the personal attachment to it. But then, yeah, I think the more time I mean, I I met some folks like like I mentioned in La.
141 00:19:48.180 ⇒ 00:20:12.510 Robert Tseng: yeah, a lot of the homeless population like they’re homeless a lot of the times, because, like well, not the only reason, but probably, like some sort of addiction. Might have impacted like their outcomes cause them to lose a job, and if they lose a job it can’t be read to end up on the streets. And so, yeah, that’s that’s part of that’s part of like a lot of people’s stories. But after spending time with that population and realizing like
142 00:20:12.840 ⇒ 00:20:13.930 Robert Tseng: I don’t know, like
143 00:20:14.770 ⇒ 00:20:43.069 Robert Tseng: there, you think that you’re so different. But more time you spend with them, the more you see that you’re similar. I guess that’s kind of that’s maybe like the the nugget out of that. And yeah. So I think that kind of just set me on a journey to go and like, really learn about rehab work across the country. And so I’ve I’ve worked volunteer to institutions and kind of didn’t really like that feels very hospital like. And yeah, people kind of yeah, people come in. They’re they’re just like.
144 00:20:45.080 ⇒ 00:21:00.450 Robert Tseng: I don’t know. It’s kind of dehumanizing a bit, because, you know, white walls, no windows. It kind of feels like a prison. And I think those programs work for some people. And I understand that that’s like an efficient way to scale up programs. Which is why the government funds that kind of stuff.
145 00:21:00.979 ⇒ 00:21:08.660 Robert Tseng: But then, yeah, I’ve I’ve actually found that the more helpful programs are the ones I care about are more community centric.
146 00:21:09.190 ⇒ 00:21:27.599 Robert Tseng: And so yeah, either like, halfway homes or like, yeah, oftentimes, just like private property run by like nonprofit organizations that like, bring therapists and other people on sites. And there’s just like, yeah, it’s just like a tighter community of people. And
147 00:21:28.130 ⇒ 00:21:40.079 Robert Tseng: so yeah, I think New York, or like the the Northeast, has quite a few of these types of like rehab communities. That I like, I visit frequently. And yeah, that’s
148 00:21:40.500 ⇒ 00:21:41.840 Robert Tseng: that’s how I stay involved.
149 00:21:42.420 ⇒ 00:21:50.670 Shirley Li: That’s awesome. Yeah, like, you know, after you sold your company like, you know, that’d be great if you work on something like that like that’d be awesome.
150 00:21:50.930 ⇒ 00:21:56.206 Robert Tseng: Yeah, yeah, I think. Yeah, that that would be. That would be my ideal outcome. I guess.
151 00:21:56.660 ⇒ 00:22:02.828 Shirley Li: Yeah, yeah, no, you know, for real. You. Maybe you know, it will happen. Yeah.
152 00:22:03.530 ⇒ 00:22:04.110 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
153 00:22:04.790 ⇒ 00:22:12.359 Robert Tseng: I think, like, you said, you’re kind of back. You’re you’re working, and you’re kind of like, well, what do you think of next for you like
154 00:22:13.660 ⇒ 00:22:18.729 Shirley Li: Yeah, for sure. So what’s next for me? Right? So there’s couple of things
155 00:22:18.730 ⇒ 00:22:46.139 Shirley Li: so ways of how I think I can like, because I’m not financially free. That’s why I’m here working in. So there are ways of how I think right like I can align that I can align like my currently like, I accept where I am right now, it’s okay. It’s okay. I’m here. I’m not financially free. That’s fine. But like, I think there are ways. How I can align my values like of where of the, you know, like the alleviating people’s suffering right
156 00:22:46.452 ⇒ 00:22:53.330 Shirley Li: with me, trying to become financially free, too like that’s fine. I think there are ways to connect that. It’s hard, but
157 00:22:53.450 ⇒ 00:22:56.750 Shirley Li: I think you know how I think about it. I’ll do it. Is that like.
158 00:22:57.120 ⇒ 00:23:06.530 Shirley Li: And of course I would love your opinion, because I’m always just, you know, a presenter of my own mind. So like, maybe you know, it’s great to get an outside perspective, too. So.
159 00:23:07.250 ⇒ 00:23:12.330 Shirley Li: So I how I think I’ll do this is like, so, you know, like.
160 00:23:13.492 ⇒ 00:23:16.820 Shirley Li: so the idea I have was like, if you can like.
161 00:23:17.010 ⇒ 00:23:19.620 Shirley Li: Tell people what disease you might have
162 00:23:20.970 ⇒ 00:23:23.330 Shirley Li: then like we might do something about it.
163 00:23:24.150 ⇒ 00:23:33.929 Shirley Li: But I can see how having a community like kind of you said earlier. It kind of inspired me like, Oh, maybe like, if there’s a community, then like people are more like.
164 00:23:33.930 ⇒ 00:23:34.320 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
165 00:23:34.320 ⇒ 00:23:59.929 Shirley Li: Like more like motivated to actually do something about it, because, like something you said earlier, that actually like made me think, is that like most people like, yeah, they probably know what their predisposition to have based on what their parents have or what their grandparents have. But then, like, they don’t really exactly know, like what to do like they don’t really exactly know when they’ll have it where they’ll have it, where they don’t. So yeah.
166 00:24:00.780 ⇒ 00:24:22.522 Shirley Li: So I don’t know, like, maybe you know, I can help them by saying like, Okay, this is what you could have. So you should do, Abcc, like you should like, you know, like eat less fat like, you know, exercise more. So tell them like a specific thing that they should do to make sure their possibility of getting that decrease. Something as clear as a highway sign that’ll tell them
167 00:24:23.310 ⇒ 00:24:34.880 Shirley Li: something like that. So how do I get there? Right? So right now, I’m working in a big company in Abbott. So and my background is very engineering focus. And so I think
168 00:24:35.250 ⇒ 00:24:39.580 Shirley Li: I think maybe I need to learn more business. So
169 00:24:39.740 ⇒ 00:24:46.509 Shirley Li: this is so like one way I think how I could do it is, maybe I’ll like, go to business school and learn more about like
170 00:24:53.270 ⇒ 00:24:58.220 Shirley Li: Oh, oh, yeah, sorry. Can you still hear me?
171 00:24:58.220 ⇒ 00:25:01.239 Robert Tseng: Oh, I can hear you. Yeah. Sorry you cut out for a bit. So I was like checking my
172 00:25:01.510 ⇒ 00:25:04.719 Robert Tseng: to see what if it was my side or your side. Yeah, you’re saying.
173 00:25:04.720 ⇒ 00:25:05.300 Shirley Li: This is cool.
174 00:25:05.300 ⇒ 00:25:06.470 Robert Tseng: Possibly. Yeah.
175 00:25:07.450 ⇒ 00:25:10.577 Shirley Li: Yeah, for sure. Yeah. So and also, like, I think,
176 00:25:11.710 ⇒ 00:25:31.320 Shirley Li: yeah, like that. Like. So I’ll learn more on that side what to do like so that’s 1 way right to go through business school and then and then like, when I feel ready, I can go back to that idea and see how I can make something I want to do also profitable, but good for the people that are using it.
177 00:25:32.620 ⇒ 00:25:46.860 Shirley Li: Because that’s where I’m stuck. Yeah, that’s where I’m stuck. Yeah, that’s that. I think that’s where I’m stuck. Is that like, I don’t know how to make something like that commercializable and profitable, but still make sure that people can afford it, and it actually help them.
178 00:25:47.729 ⇒ 00:26:01.749 Shirley Li: So that’s 1 way right to go to business school. And another way is maybe just go for it just like, Quit my job, and just like jump right in and figure out along the way. Right? Yeah.
179 00:26:01.910 ⇒ 00:26:06.250 Shirley Li: So those are different ways of how I think I could, I could go about it.
180 00:26:06.510 ⇒ 00:26:07.080 Robert Tseng: Yeah.
181 00:26:08.010 ⇒ 00:26:18.760 Robert Tseng: yeah, I mean, I I mean, I don’t know if I’m I’m not gonna give you an advice like I don’t think I’m qualified to. But from my experience, like I’ve gone to business school, and I’ve also started my company.
182 00:26:18.910 ⇒ 00:26:27.368 Robert Tseng: I mean, I did an undergraduate business program. But I mean, after doing that, I’m like, I’m not going to business school like it’s definitely not not it for me.
183 00:26:27.650 ⇒ 00:26:28.859 Shirley Li: Why? Why? Why?
184 00:26:29.450 ⇒ 00:26:30.850 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I mean, I think
185 00:26:31.040 ⇒ 00:26:47.250 Robert Tseng: whatever you learn in business school is probably I mean, there are some like timeless principles, so I won’t say everything was like not valuable. But you know there, a lot of that education is successful now. So I think if you have a hunger, and when you want to read it like there’s a lot of materials out there. I could even give you some book Recs and stuff
186 00:26:48.040 ⇒ 00:26:48.400 Shirley Li: And.
187 00:26:48.400 ⇒ 00:27:02.180 Robert Tseng: But as far as like the application of, like the case studies and things that you read. And you know, business flows. A lot of case studies. A lot of it, isn’t. It’s like enterprise level stuff. And yeah, it’s like, you know, it’s it’s general. It’s
188 00:27:02.300 ⇒ 00:27:10.590 Robert Tseng: maybe more grooming you to like. Go and work for the fortune 500 rather than to go and be an entrepreneur. And so I feel like anything that I’ve learned about like
189 00:27:10.700 ⇒ 00:27:16.870 Robert Tseng: starting a business didn’t really come from school, like I think it ended up from doing just doing it. I guess.
190 00:27:17.370 ⇒ 00:27:18.270 Shirley Li: Oh, okay.
191 00:27:18.420 ⇒ 00:27:23.739 Robert Tseng: Yeah. So as far as like figuring out how to commercialize, like, what you want to build.
192 00:27:24.670 ⇒ 00:27:31.109 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I think that’s that’s an ongoing like struggle. I think every founder has to keep going through that over and over again.
193 00:27:31.350 ⇒ 00:27:43.109 Robert Tseng: right? So I guess, like 1 1 thing that I could offer like it’s just like well, I mean, I mean, I don’t. I don’t want to take up too much of your time, especially since you’re you’re at your work right now, but like.
194 00:27:43.110 ⇒ 00:27:48.360 Shirley Li: Oh, no worries. I actually have nothing after this, but if you have to go, we can meet another time.
195 00:27:48.530 ⇒ 00:27:50.479 Robert Tseng: Okay, yeah, I mean.
196 00:27:50.860 ⇒ 00:28:09.009 Robert Tseng: I, some something to think about is like, you know, we I mean, if you’re I mean a part, I mean, interesting and talk interested in talking to you is you have a data background. And like, maybe there’s a way for us to kind of work together or like to. Kinda yeah, I mean, whether we’ll work or not. Just like, just keep the conversation going like, I feel like
197 00:28:09.540 ⇒ 00:28:27.019 Robert Tseng: disciplines, probably like overlap more. Yeah, I mean, I’d love to, just, you know, if if you’re if there’s if there’s a way that we could find something to work on together. And yeah, you can get a peek into like how we run our business. And like, you know, anything that you want to learn about business like.
198 00:28:27.390 ⇒ 00:28:50.442 Robert Tseng: I mean, you’ve already gone through. Yc, so I don’t know. I mean, I think it’s 1 thing to like learn in theory. But like, yeah, just like work with other engineering or data minded people who are building a business like, I think we we love like my partner. And I love working with people like that. So I don’t really know what that opportunity looks like. But yeah, I just, you know, just even from hearing your story and
199 00:28:51.020 ⇒ 00:29:10.750 Robert Tseng: the thing that I, everyone in my on my team that like works with us like I, I tell them, like, the goal is, this is to be an incubator. So you can go and do what you want to do like. We all have our own reasons for why we’re working together right now, like this brain forge is not the is not the goal like, then we’re just like the the vehicle that will like kind of enable you to do that.
200 00:29:11.166 ⇒ 00:29:39.939 Robert Tseng: So yeah, I think we. I think maybe you would. You would benefit from just even talking to some of the people on our team. And like, I’m not like trying to recruit you away from your like job, or anything like this is really just like an open ended, like, I don’t know, if you’re like a really smart data person, you want to learn about business like, well, we run a data business and like, we have business minded people. And I’m happy to like connect you to anybody and and my team. And we can kind of just see where that goes. Yeah.
201 00:29:39.940 ⇒ 00:30:02.569 Shirley Li: I’m actually very interested. Yeah, thank you for offering that. Like, I’m actually very interested. And also, you know, I want to chat with you more too like in in the future. Like like, for example, right like I want to learn about like cause you reach out to me about Amsterdam. And I actually really interested in knowing, like what you’re doing over there. Because, like, I said, I actually really want to move there.
202 00:30:02.760 ⇒ 00:30:12.500 Robert Tseng: Oh, yeah, I think like I thought you were in Amsterdam, because that’s what your location was set at, or something I don’t know, like I was like, I spent like 2 weeks there, and I was like trying to connect with people.
203 00:30:13.070 ⇒ 00:30:14.720 Shirley Li: Yeah, I would actually love that.
204 00:30:15.180 ⇒ 00:30:26.727 Robert Tseng: Yeah. So that’s usually what I do. When I go to a new place, I try to just like hold message and try to connect with a bunch of people see who’s willing to kind of connect with me. And it’s kind of part of how I grow my network. I guess.
205 00:30:26.950 ⇒ 00:30:36.200 Shirley Li: Your experience like I would love to learn about your experience, like, you know, doing that, especially in Amsterdam, like, yeah, in other places, too, but like especially there.
206 00:30:36.350 ⇒ 00:30:51.589 Robert Tseng: Yeah, no, it was great, I think. I ended up getting 5 good conversations. I met up with 3 people there and then 2 people I called you and someone else after that. So yeah, I mean, I always find these campaigns, I guess, like very effective for me.
207 00:30:51.988 ⇒ 00:30:56.469 Robert Tseng: Yeah. Helps me to get to like feel more open minded than what I think.
208 00:30:56.740 ⇒ 00:31:00.689 Robert Tseng: I’m gonna get out of out of a out of a trip. I guess. So.
209 00:31:00.880 ⇒ 00:31:06.739 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I’m I’m actually coming to La in a month. So maybe I’ll let you know when I’m around, and maybe we can meet up in person.
210 00:31:07.100 ⇒ 00:31:21.579 Shirley Li: Yeah, for sure. That’d be great. Please do like, please keep connected, and then cause I would love to learn more about like about like, you know, when you go to Amsterdam, and like all this business things, and also like also about Bkoni, cause you went there for like a semester right.
211 00:31:22.180 ⇒ 00:31:30.209 Robert Tseng: Oh, yeah, I actually studied there for a year. My undergrad was kind of weird. I studied in a different school every year. But yeah, so I I lived in Italy for a year.
212 00:31:30.660 ⇒ 00:31:34.470 Shirley Li: Yeah, I’d love to learn about that, too. Cause that sounds like a really fun experience. Right?
213 00:31:34.795 ⇒ 00:31:37.400 Robert Tseng: Yeah, no, it was. It was fun. Yeah.
214 00:31:37.690 ⇒ 00:31:38.860 Shirley Li: Yeah, yeah.
215 00:31:39.660 ⇒ 00:32:02.529 Robert Tseng: Yeah, I mean, I’d love to stay in touch and then talk again soon, I think. So we could just be to kind of break the ice. Get to get to know you a bit. I appreciate you for sharing some of your story. And yeah, no, I’ll be in touch. I’ll let you know a couple of things definitely when I’m in town. And then also, yeah, let me just think about like how we can kind of stay connected. I’d love to produce you to other people as well. So.
216 00:32:02.530 ⇒ 00:32:09.570 Shirley Li: Yeah, yeah, honestly, we should just chat again next week where we after like before you come to la like online on zoom.
217 00:32:09.710 ⇒ 00:32:13.699 Robert Tseng: Sure. Okay, yeah, I’ll have happy to do that. We can. We can schedule another time to chat.
218 00:32:13.960 ⇒ 00:32:22.282 Shirley Li: Okay, great. I’ll just scare some time. Yeah, we can chat like on the teams, or like on the on the Linkedin, and we are scared of something.
219 00:32:23.134 ⇒ 00:32:25.350 Robert Tseng: Yeah. Okay. Sounds, good.
220 00:32:25.350 ⇒ 00:32:27.460 Shirley Li: Yeah, yeah, nice to meet you.
221 00:32:27.460 ⇒ 00:32:28.720 Robert Tseng: Thanks, Ron. See ya.
222 00:32:28.720 ⇒ 00:32:29.400 Shirley Li: Bye.