Forever a kid

My humble story begins in Canada's capital, Ottawa, a city you've probably never heard of. Born and raised in the suburbs, I passed my time doing a ton of activities my mom enrolled me in or skirting chores by playing fantasy RPG games, Pokémon, or Call of Duty. World at War, Nazi Zombies was my jam. 

Despite never practicing for my piano classes, failing the occasional swimming lesson, and embarrassing myself in my hop-hop dance recital, I somehow made it out of my early adolescent years entact and ready to rumble. 

High school

In high school, I juggled soccer, rugby, and track with multiple part-time jobs, including time as a McDonald's self-proclaimed “fast burger flipper” and as a retail sales associate, selling the durability of construction boots I'd never worn. During my free time, in order to scrap up more funds, I tried my hand at selling electronics off the internet, spending hours with Chinese suppliers trying to determine the lowest cost combination of shipping and quality product. 

Numerous minimum wage jobs and a few less than successful entrepreneurial efforts later, I decided a blue-collar office job didn't sound so bad in comparison. So, I started an onslaught of cold-emails, starting with local law firms and consulting firms that certainly had no use for a high school senior. Ever got an email saying “Dear Mr. Smith, plz help me find a job?” Yup… that was me. 

University

For college, I applied to all the programs that everyone else was and somehow ended up at the Smith School of Business at Queen's University. There, I had a ton of fun and participated in too many extracurriculars and conferences. I applied and consecutively got rejected to each Commerce investment club (in multiple years), so settled on a niche economics club, which was eventually branded to Trillium Capital. 

During the typical business school recruiting wars, in order to compete against my better prepped, more legitimate peers, I decided to compete in every stock / case pitch competition I could find. That journey took me across the world to Hong Kong, London, New York, and Boston, among others. I was able to briefly meet investors such as David Einhorn and Bill Ackman that convinced me (at the time) that I wanted to be stock analyst. 

I was also fortunate enough to spend an exchange semester at the City University of Hong Kong where I spent all my intern savings, but have so many cherished memories.

New York

With that inclination in mind, following my graduation, I accepted a job with Credit Suisse's equity research arm and moved to New York. I covered telcos and metals & mining, but soon realized I had no idea what I wanted to do with my career. 

To re-pivot, I thought an investment banking role at J.P. Morgan would allow me to meet a larger network, I'd be able to get exposed to private markets, and Media & Communications sector coverage didn't sound so bad. It turned out to be all that I expected plus more, and I already look back fondly on the friendships we created and the responsibility beat into me despite my attitude. 

San Francisco

In banking, I had noticed that I was attracted to more nascent, potentially disruptive areas of our universe including AudioTech and EdTech. This coupled with realizing I had already spent 4 years in New York, made me think of SF and growth equity as a potentially interesting pathway. The amibance in meetings with disruptive companies hit different than those with their more mature counterparts. 

After interviewing with more companies than I can remember, I miraculously received an offer to work with GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund in its late-stage venture / growth equity arm, where I currently reside (as of Nov 2021)! 

Here, you can likely find me investing in fintech / crypto, alongside a team I’ve been so lucky to come across.

So what?

As you’ve probably picked up, failures have been a persistent part of my story and has caused me more self-doubt and embarrassment than I’d be pressed to admit. But if there’s one takeaway that I’ve learned, it was that the hardest experiences were oftentimes the most rewarding. My failures have taught me to hold curiosity, learning, and risk-taking dear. Why would I write such a long internal monologue? I think of it as another leap of faith – here’s to hoping this story can help forge a closer connection with my network. 

If you know me, you'll know my interests can change by the month, but some of them have included animated film, dance, electronic music, interior design / housing, photography / videography, psychology / philosophy (YouTube, Medium, reading), and travel, among others. Currently, I'm super into Web3 / DeFi and how it’s changing the game before our eyes. There's something powerful about re-aligning the incentives between monopolistic incumbents and the average fella. If you see the same vision, don’t hesitate to reach out. 

You can find my pieces on AudioTech, EdTech, and bitcoin at https://jyjonathan.medium.com/ , the occasional fintech / crypto critiques on Twitter, and my attempt at photography on Instagram.  

Anyways, hope to be in touch...

... and stay safe!