Ep 37: Kai Yuan Ng (Co-Founder, Our Grandfather Story)

Ng Kai Yuan is the co-founder of Our Grandfather Story: a Singapore-based digital publisher dedicated to uncovering timeless and overlooked stories across Southeast Asia. Founded in 2017 with three other co-founders, Our Grandfather Story started as a school project! More specifically, an assignment for an Advance Photojournalism module at Nanyang Technological University. All four college students were tasked with coming up with a digital startup and the first video they created was on Singapore’s distinctive green & pink ice-cream sandwich bread. To their surprise, the video went viral! And after acquiring investors (while still in college) and big corporate clients including Nippon Paint, Temasek Holdings & Singapore’s National Heritage Board, the four friends decided to turn their assignment into a real startup. And in this STIMY episode, Kai Yuan shares exactly how that happened. Highlights: 4:51: Getting the advance photojournalism assignment that sparked the genesis of Our Grandfather Story 6:40: Why they named it ‘Our Grandfather Story” 7:17: Coming up with the concept of Singapore’s Ice-cream bread video, which went viral! 10:50: Turning a college assignment into a full-fledged digital media publishing company, OGS 11:30: Obtaining a seed investment of $50,000 12:09: Reaction from friends & family 14:46: Securing corporate clients without any track record 17:20: Managing budget while growing the team in the early days of OGS 18:18: OGS’ target market 20:16: Focusing on food content 23:11: How OGS uncovered “untold” stories 24:06: The most unique & “kepo” way that OGS has used to obtain a story 26:22: OGS’ biggest success - the Can Ask Meh? Series 28:56: How OGS created the video on “Parents Who Lost a Child” for the Can Ask Meh series 30:35: Remaining sensitive to the questions asked 32:57: Creating O+ - the animation illustration arm of OGS 34:38: Creating the Something Private podcast 37:13: How OGS has gained its dedicated following - in 3 years, OGS has grown to over 300k on Facebook, 250k on YouTube & 70k on Instagram. 39:07: Sharing Southeast Asian stories during the COVID-19 pandemic 40:01: Who OGS is looking for to join the team 41:34: Maintaining relationships with the people they meet for OGS stories 📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/37 💌  Sign up for the weekly STIMY newsletter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605