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Why Andrew Yeung Left Google to be the Gatsby of NYC's Startup Scene
And his journey as an immigrant founder
Michael Houck
October 24, 2024
Hey y’all — could you turn making friends into a business?
Today I’m sharing my conversation with Andrew Yeung, the founder of Fibe. After landing dream jobs at both Meta and Google, he realized that he wasn’t fulfilled. When he moved to NYC, he wanted to meet people so he started hosting events. But those events unexpectedly turned into a thriving events business…
Andrew was refreshingly candid about the transition from big tech to founder life and his journey as a first-generation immigrant founder.
As a reminder, each Thursday I interview a world-class founder about their unique paths to uncover tactical insights they've learned about how to fundraise, grow, validate, hire, scale, and lead teams.
Also, after each conversation I write up my candid takeaways. Become a member and grab them ✨ here ✨ along with lifetime access to my private founder community and more.
A big thanks to our partner for this episode, Marek Health.
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In our chat we discuss:
Transitioning to Startups
(01:03) — Transition from big tech to startups
(09:05) — Finding time for the non-founder parts of life
(10:45) — Leveraging the founder community
(12:35) — Getting connected to a Lyft Co-founder
(21:09) — Giving up alcohol
Immigrant Founders
(17:11) — Extraordinary Alien Visa
(19:27) — Why immigrants are frequent founders
Growth & Press
(23:48) — Accidentally creating a business opportunity
(25:24) — Building trust
(26:50) — Andrew’s growth flywheel
(34:42) — Advantages of getting press
(36:41) — Avoiding traditional media’s downsides
(40:14) — Traditional media vs. social media
Events & Engagement
(45:34) — Weighing if founders should host events
(47:25) — Making an event attractive to sponsors
(49:38) — When founders should sponsor events
(50:47) — When founders should attend events
Andrew’s Businesses
(53:19) — Engineering serendipitous connections
(54:55) — Weighing fundraising for Fibe
(55:52) — Investing in startups
(59:16) — Unexpected learnings from founder life
Rapid Fire
(1:01:26) — Who's an investor you'd recommend?
(1:02:18) — One thing you'd change about startups?
(1:04:15) — Advice for first-time founders?
(1:04:41) — Something you believe that most disagree with?
Where you can find Andrew and Fibe:
X → x.com/andruyeung
LinkedIn → linkedin.com/in/andyeung
Startup → meetfibe.com
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