David Chan, Angel Investor

I'm from Penang, Malaysia, and came to Australia to study Aerospace Engineering at Monash. In my final year, I realized I didn't want to be a traditional engineer – I wanted to work in a more dynamic industry with more impact. My first startup role was Listings Associate at STAX Exchange – the first platform in APAC to let people take a stake in IPOs and equity crowdfunding with crypto. It was pretty cool. You got tokenized shares on the blockchain rather than share certificates. I learnt a lot here but decided that I wanted to invest in tech full-time. What I realized was that many of the best companies were listing late in their journeys – Spotify, Coinbase, Palantir, Roblox. Your Afterpay, Square, and Upstart are exceptions rather than the norm. So I realized – the partnership has to begin earlier than IPO. It has to start in the private markets. Hence, my current interest in angel/ VC investing. I think I have some way to go in building a network and requisite knowledge, and it would be great to be mentored in this area. In public markets, my loyalty is to my capital and my capital only; in private investing, it's loyalty to both my capital and my founders – the journey is more permanent (which can be great!).