Fabian Lua | Making sense of my days

Fabian has spoken to hundreds on topics spanning entrepreneurship, community-building, product management, design, pricing and travel. With insights into the psychology behind engaging users and the evolution of live experiences, he provokes discussions around the role you and your organisation play in the future of online-offline interaction.

Gallery:

Developing tech products and building a community around it:

• Jan 2015 Trending SG, Speaker - 9 tips for event marketing, event spaces and event tools
• Dec 2014 Across the Border, Speaker - Communities across borders
• Nov 2014 Google GDays Georgetown Penang, Speaker - Community: at the heart of technology
• Apr 2014 MIT Technology that Matters, Speaker - Growing Startups Across Geographies
• Mar 2014 Hackers and Painters, Speaker - Dogfooding: a Product Manager’s best friend

The stories behind starting architecture walks in Singapore:

• Mar 2015 PechaKucha Night Singapore x Singapore Design Week Speaker
  
• Jan 2015 Idea Nation 聚意堂, Speaker - Magical spaces in Singapore 新加坡的奇幻建筑之旅
• Nov 2014 TEDxYouth@Singapore, Speaker - Travel without leaving home
• Oct 2014 Archifest: Crowded powered by PechaKucha, Speaker - The art of noticing

More:

• Feb 2011 Blink Blank, Speaker - The Price is Right: Ticket Pricing and Human Behavior from the Airlines’ Perspective
• Oct 2010 Barcamp 6 Singapore, 7 things I learned from having a beer (and my 90 beer caps collection)

I'm insanely jealous of Taipei because they have 24-hour bookstores. The last time I visited, I took a red-eye flight and headed straight to an Eslite to gorge on books. Even though I had my luggage with me, I still bought five books.

I'm starving in Singapore because there isn't a Chinese language version of Books Actually. I used to think that Bras Basah Complex, known colloquially as "City of Books 书城" and historically the home of Chinese bookstores would remain a haven.

But over the years the bookstores started stocking stationery and of course, assessment books, 10-year series, past-year examination papers aimed at helping students score at standardised tests.

The mothership of the stationery plus test books extravaganza is Popular Bookstore 大众书局. But since it has four floors at Bras Basah, I thought I had a chance at buying the rather popular novel Decoded 解密 by Mai Jia 麦家. 

Arguably readers have moved online. Me too - most of my reading is done on my Kindle app. But the question I feel for Singapore is that we don't even read, physical books or e-books. Let alone Chinese books. Chinese is probably regarded as a school subject best left behind after Secondary School or Junior College. Unless of course, that job opportunity requires you to brush it up.

I'm not the first to say this: that's why we Singaporeans are good at passing tests but terrible at things that require creativity and passion. In the end I had to contort myself through all the barriers Amazon China set up to get the book on my Kindle. Then I realised I have a new problem - no one to discuss the book with.

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This was written in 10 minutes. I'm trying to write consistently, and it seems like the way to do that is to convince myself it doesn't take much time.

My submission to the FiveFootWay "Magical Spaces" project in 2007, writing about the porch in my old Katong home.

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"But what was in the space?"

"All things," the young man answered.

"Our dog under Pa's car, the dog bowl, Ah Ma's and Ma's plants competing all over the place, last year's Ang Paos still fluttering on them in shades of red, wind chimes, the overhang of our neighbour's mango tree, slippers that revealed who's home."

"When the car is out, Mimi the dog would stretch and run - fill up the space. Sometimes mangos fall ripe, sometimes they fall because mynahs pecked at them. Their fragrance fills up the night air, and bats - yes eventually I realized they were bats - swooped around. At least that's my memory of it."

"But what else? Surely there was more?"

"Small pools of wax, filed even smoother by shoes skating by. The wax from the Lantern Festival candles. Ma was always worried we would set the house on fire, so we were only allowed to play there. Mimi wouldn't come close to the flames. He's actually male, but we got him when he was already eleven - we didn't get to name him. When we wanted him to sound macho, we called him 'Ah Mi', like 'Army.' Haha, imagine that. He's a great dog. People always asked me what breed he was. You know, that's what people care about - the breed. I have endless stories but they just want to know the breed."

"I guess he's just another dog, Pavlovian and all. Even before I took Psychology 101, I tried to trick him into running towards me for a photo. Of course, tapping the dog bowl worked."

"How's he doing?"

"Well that must be more than ten years ago. I wonder how he liked to be under the car. We had a kennel that we never used it much. I hate to admit this, but sometimes I played those skipping games with my two sisters. A kid neighbour always spied on us jealously, and we nicknamed him "Pong Pong" after that buoyant fruit. We also gave the mynah with recurring baldness from fights a nickname that is too embarrassing to tell you. We would yell 'Pong Pong' and that confused Mimi. He would bark at us, thinking it is a game."

"You guys weren't kind - to neighbour or animals."

"Well I guess my compulsive e-mail checking habit came from running to the mailbox every half an hour to see if there is any new mail, although we would see the postman pause at our door when cycling by if there really was. But partly because my Ah Ma would randomly comment that she thinks she saw or heard the postman. Thinking back, perhaps she knew that we liked to dash to the mailbox. It probably took us just ten seconds, the dash - that was how small the space was."

We're all proud of Changi Airport, Chilli Crab and the Marina Bay Sands infinity pool. But it is actually the emerging, fragile or small-scale stuff that needs your support. Go on and help these homegrown Singaporean projects take off or keep going. These people inspire me!

• a.muse - wine inspired teas. Wine and tea are two complex drinks that reward endless exploration, and now even better: 2-in-1.
• Basheer - graphic books. My informal design education was from this store (and Page One). Being housed in atmospheric Bras Basah Complex helps.
• Books Actually - local books, community and cats. A bookstore that has been tirelessly championing local writers, organising endless events and showcasing their cute cats.
• Save Bukit Brown Cemetery - preserving our history, culture and nature. While politicians ask why some Singaporeans don't feel a sense of belonging, this group is telling us what we need to do.
• Bertha Harian (Breakfast Network) - If you prefer your news to provoke thoughts instead of thinking on your behalf.
• Candlenut Kitchen - Peranakan food, made from scratch. This restaurant has closed once, help prevent it from closing again.
• Creamier Ice Cream. For a non-farming country, Singapore has really delicious ice-cream. I could eat their seasalt-gula melaka everyday.
• Culturepush - highlighting Singapore creatives. Casts the spotlight on emerging art, culture and design in Singapore.
• Design Society - building a design community. In design or curious about it? Join their regularly run sessions.
• Edible Gardens - grow your own food in the city. Pushing the idea that we urbanites should have access to fresh, self-grown greens.
• Epigram Books - well-designed, thought-provoking Singapore titles. Each book is a work of art, and there is a lovely emphasis on comics too!
• The Fingersmith Letterpress - a quirky letterpress printing company. Great illustrations and sense of humour.
• A Good Citizen Obeys - Satirical artworks about Singapore. Sharing emotional and funny stories about the education and political systems in Singapore.
• Gryphon Tea Company - gourmet teas that bring you on a journey. Beautiful packaging, great taste. My go-to for an afternoon pick-up and gifts from Singapore.
• Haystakt - Crowdpriced creative goods. A platform that connects makers and supporters.
• Humans of Singapore - capturing stories of people in SIngapore. And reminding us that we're not so different after all.
• I Remember SG - A collection of memories. Where hoarders go exhibit their old stuff and non-hoarders go aww and woah.
• Independent Archive & Resource Center. A space that pushes the boundaries of art and culture in Singapore (and the limits of being a fire hazard).
• Jane's Walk - free, locally led walking tours. Reminding you that cities should be built for people and pedestrians, not cars.
• Jungle Beer - Singapore beer you'd love. Tiger is not quite Singapore beer.
• KOT Selections - Wine drinkers who happen to sell wine.
• Kult -.
• Lee Xin Li - 
• Little Drom Store - 
• Lowercase at LASALLE - 
• Mothership - 
• Naked Glory - assembled watches. Just love the old watches given new lives. 
• Organisation of Illustrators Council
• Peatix - discover emerging events. From theatre, music, parties, art to music, head here to find things to do! (Disclaimer: I'm part of Peatix).
• Pekoe & Imp - tea tasting reinvented. Re-growing a tea culture in a country that used to have a tea culture.
• Pink Noize -
• Rediscover.sg - 
• Roadside Stall - 
• Sonny Liew - comic artist / illustrator. My favourite. He is a genius.
• Stand Up for SG - 
• Taru Woodworks - 
• Tom's Palette - 
• Ujong - 
• Uncle Ahn T - 
• Urban Sketchers Singapore - 
• Uyii bags -
• Viddsee - Asian short films. A platform for short films from Asia, away from the distractions of Youtube.
• WahBanana - comedy Youtubers. Damn funny!
• Yao Yu - Typesetting.sg

Q, X, Z - If I were playing Scrabble, I'd have failed terribly. Help, anyone?

I'm passionately curious about life events that change trajectories. And I've had a few of those moments: studying at Penn and MIT in the United States and K.U. Leuven in Belgium, switching from a stable 'scholar' career track at an established firm (Singapore Airlines) to a (then) upstart company (Viki) that didn't even seem like it was based in the right location (Singapore, not San Francisco).

So even though I'm not a startup poster boy, I've been lucky to have the benefit of experience that would be useful to others starting down certain paths. That's why I give talks - it is my way of giving back. You can never start too early in giving back.

This post is essentially an invitation to organisers - if you're looking for a speaker, maybe I can help by being one. I'm particularly interested in speaking to these three groups 1) youth / students 2) people at a transition point of their lives 3) curious polymaths.

In the past, I've spoken about:

• Growing Startups across Geographies at MIT Tech That Matters Series 
  
• Singapore is a hub for startups and technology, but startups founded or based here cannot afford to restrict hiring or innovation to Singapore. Fabian shares personal and practical lessons learned from helping startups like Viki and Peatix grow across geographies.
  
• 7 things I learned from having a beer (and my 90 beer caps collection) at BarCamp Singapore 6
• Have you ever wondered why is it that twist off beer caps have not taken over the world?
• The Price is Right: Ticket Pricing and Human Behaviour from the Airlines’ Perspective at BlinkBlank #11
  
• Ever wonder how air ticket prices could vary so dramatically? How do airlines decide on pricing? In this talk, Fabian Lua won’t quite go so far as to “Break the Airlines Code”, but he will give some insight into airlines’ approaches to figuring out how much consumers are willing to pay to travel. He will also share some anecdotes that reveal the lengths people go to score cheap tickets and find loopholes in the system.
  
• As you can imagein, I got into some trouble giving this talk. 
• Dogfooding: A Product Manager's Best Friend at Hackers & Painters 
• Fabian Lua (@fabianlua) talks about when Product Managers need to "eat their own dog food".  The talk will cover lessons learned from building a set of new subtitling tools at Viki ("global TV site powered by a volunteer community of avid fans").  Fabian is currently the Community Growth Manager at Peatix and was Product Manager, Community at Viki.
  

Related experience I have:

• Guided architecture walks (my own project) and art walks in Tiong Bahru and Marina Bay (with OH! Open House)
• Co-organised talks at TEDxSingapore, TEDxMITClubSingapore, MIT Enterprise Forum Singapore, Backstage Pass at Peatix etc. Attended conferences like TED Global.
• Attended lots of talks series like Creative Mornings and Pecha Kucha Night.
• Essentially I'm familiar and comfortable with different formats, and have seen a bunch of great talks.

Other topics I can talk about:

• Hacking the wine list. About how to choose the best value wine from a restaurant menu. Because I prepared this talk halfway but never gave it.
• Being Singaporean in a tech startup. Because there just aren't enough Singaporeans venturing out to startups.
• Taking a scholarship or not, and career choices / transitions. Because I was a Singapore Airlines scholar, and jumped to a tech startup.
• Startup culture, and culture in startups, including working remote. This is a topic I'm passionate about.
• Becoming a product manager (or moving from being a product manager). Because that's what I've experienced.
• Stroke happening to someone close to you. Because my dad suffered from a sudden stroke.
• Architecture in Singapore. I'm not an architect, but I'm a fan.
  

The easiest way to start a conversation is to leave a comment below. I don't know where this will go, but I'm just putting it out there!

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Related post: Help others wholeheartedly (How I network)

A simple list of events I'm going for or would have gone for.

Talk by Victo Ngai, New York-based editorial illustrator (Thu 6th March, sold out)
Tiger Beer is best served really really cold, since it doesn't really taste of anything. To get us to buy, big beer brands flood us with advertising and grab the supermarket prime spots. 

It was near the entrance of the King Albert Park Cold Storage, right before Chinese New Year when I saw Victo Ngai's gorgeous work on the Tiger Beer cartons. She's in town to speak this Thursday. The event is sold out, but catch the rest of the series by the Organisation of Illustrators Council (OIC).  

[Did you know? The KAP Cold Storage is closing down. Even supermarkets pay the price of Singapore's progress.]

Jazz by the Beach (Fri 7th March, 8pm - late, Coastes on Sentosa, pay for food & drinks)
I enjoy Sentosa because most of the island (other than Resorts World) remains laid back. And listening to jazz, by Siloso beach is probably as close to a 'staycation' as a Friday night on Singapore can feel.

Sustainable Architecture Adventure (Fri 7th March 7pm + Sat 8th March 830am, Somerset + National Library. $15)
While rehearsing for my WOHA Architecture Walk late one night, I saw the National Library building from the Bugis+ rooftop, and finally fell in love with that building. I was originally annoyed that this cold steel and glass version replaced the old, warm red-bricked building. 

The Hub Singapore is screening a film on sustainable architecture, then guiding a walk - both include the National Library building. 

Late Harvest Shiraz tasting (Fri 7th March, until 10pm, PasarBella - off Bukit Timah Road)
The same way remixes and acoustic versions amplify the beauty of their original songs, adventurous use of grape varietals teach me new ways to appreciate the usual methods. I'm really excited about sparkling Shiraz, and Merchants Wine Cellar is pouring Late Harvest Shiraz this week at their PasarBella store.

I once overheard a Singaporean 'uncle' say of PasarBella, "Wah, no need to go overseas anymore!" This indoor market does have the vibe of Sydney or San Francisco on weekends. But what I like about it on weekday nights is how quiet and personal it feels.

Jungle Beer brewery tour (Sat 8th March, 630pm - 11pm, Admiralty - almost Johor Bahru, $40)
I don't think anyone really cares how beer is made. The real reason people go for brewery tours is to taste the freshest beers. Jungle Beer offers five hours of free flow of craft beer for $40. And they've recently updated their labels - looking beautiful!

Young Dreams (Norway) (Sun 9th March, 10pm, Esplanade)
Since I'm addicted to every single song of Kings of Convenience, I assumed every Nordic band must be good. And I dreamt of catching gigs at the Esplanade studios ever since I caught Au Revoir Simone there. So there, I bought tickets to Young Dreams.

(Speaking of Au Revoir Simone, they're going to be at Zouk).

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On Thursday 27th February (630pm), the wonderful people of Green Drinks Singapore are hosting "The future of food farming in Singapore" there. 

See and Be Seen takes place on 8th March, but registrations close this Friday. And if you're picking up your event pack on this Sunday before lunch, see you there!

7. Where books get reborn
I was a book hoarder before I got my Kindle / iPad mini. Still, I have too many books I've never read again. Hmm, which reminds me, where's my book on the Robert Mondavi wine family? But anyway, there's this great book swap that takes place over beer. I was really amazed I managed to pick up books I wanted, and people really wanted my old books. Economagics!  Their St. Patrick's Day version takes place on Saturday 8th March.

I'm not giving away my "Ten Sticks and One Rice" though, even if I've already read it four times.

(Image credits: Edible Gardens, KOT Selections, Culture Kitchen, See and Be Seen, Epigram Books, Artichoke)

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This is a personal post, and in case you don't know, I'm part of Peatix (event registration and online ticketing) and here's our list of Singapore events.

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Personal plug: I'll be speaking on Product Management at 12noon on 7th March Friday (Paypal Singapore, Millenia Tower).

Xiaomi, China's answer to Apple and Samsung, is supposed to debut in Singapore (and South East Asia) with their Redmi (Hongmi 红米 in Chinese) this Friday, 21st February.

The price of $169 is within reach (or Singaporeans have proven willing to spend beyond their means for mobile phones), and what's more - without any annoying contract!

With two days to go, it has been surprisingly quiet. Yes, the Xiaomi Singapore Facebook Page already has 7.6k fans, but this is the same company that claims "为发烧而生“, literally "Living on a feverish passion." And this is the company that Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak supposedly endorsed. The flash-sale of Hongmi in Taiwan saw 10,000 phones snapped up in less than 10 minutes. In Hong Kong it took only 36 seconds.

And Xiaomi / Hongmi are still trending in Hong Kong / Taiwan on Google. So why not Singapore? I'm curious to know. 

Xiaomi's China website is more like a Amazon, packed with text and images (the way the Chinese like it, although I'm sure more restrained than usual). Xiaomi's English site is definitely Apple - very minimal. The Hong Kong and Taiwan sites are in between. And Xiaomi Singapore is definitely more of the Apple look. 

And that makes sense - Xiaomi picked Singapore not only as the South East Asia launch and also the first English-speaking market. I'm sticking with my iPhone, but still very curious to see where this goes.

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Memberships always appear like good deals. The NTUC Fairprice wine club - $20 a year gets you 8% off wine at any Fairprice supermarket and invitations to wine tastings and pairing dinners. And I have Fairprice Finest within walking distance from home and work.

But supermarkets stock only wines from the giant corporates. Jacob's Creek, Wolf Blass, Penfolds, Banrock Station, Hardys, Lindemans, Wyndham Estate - safe and boring wines.

I tried it anyway.  No surprise - the wine club is poor value for buying everyday bottles. Put another way, paying $20 for 8% discount means discounts start only after $250.  With so many alternatives, how many of us want to be tied to one place? The same brands are stocked at Duty-Free, while Wine Connection offers cheap Chileans and Australians too.

Doesn't help that the wine tastings are almost as expensive for members as non-members.

Not everything is bad though:

• The bottles are in good condition - they were stored / transported with care, unlike Denise / Straits Wine
• Some of the branches, particularly the Finest versions, have wine sections large enough to include smaller vineyards
• As the dominant supermarket chain here, Fairprice can offer deep, loss-leading discounts

To make myself feel like I made better use of my card (ugh, another classic pitfall of memberships), I bought half a dozen bottles today.

One of the gems I returned to buy is the Ashbrook Estate Cabernet Merlot 2008 ($26 SGD after discounts). There are claims that Margaret River is similar in climate to Bordeaux, and this claret is the classic blend of Cabernet Sauvignon - Merlot - Cabernet Franc - Petit Verdot.  Being able to buy a ready-to-drink 2008 vintage off the shelf is a joy.  Most being sold are 2012s - way too young to be drunk. And I'm way too lazy to stash away.

This bottle is worth cellaring, but there's already plenty of bouquet to smell, layers of berries to taste and structure structure that lingers for just long enough.  

It makes me think of hosting a wine and cheese party soon.

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Read this next:
L for Loire Valley, M for Muscadet
A surprise of the "L" themed wine party Li Jen and I hosted near Valentine's Day was that the first two bottles were both Muscadet (a French white wine).

The first bottle, "Lobster & Shrimp" from the Barton & Guestier Pairing Collection, continue reading...

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Suggested reading: Not Brown Brothers Moscato - Then What?

Rebranding, redesigns? Viki had already gone through a few of them by the time Howie Chang was brought on board to head UX and design (rather, redesign). In the tiny subset of designers within Singapore's still-small startup community, Howie had some fame. But working alongside him on tough projects was still a revelation.  I just read an article titled "Execs Who Can’t Attract Former Coworkers Are Red Flags."  I agree, and especially so on the implied reverse of "Execs Who Can Attract Former Coworkers Are Keepers."  I'd happily work with Howie again.

Last Friday I had the fortune of attending a Hackers & Painters talk titled "Shipping - Principles Worth Pondering" by Howie.  Here are five things I learned from him:

• Personal growth is uncomfortable. Howie plucked himself from a comfortable role at Viki and moved into the tangential area of Product Management in an industry he wasn't familiar with (online groceries). But I could tell he had grown his skills just in the months I haven't worked with him - in part because he had to in order to thrive in the new environment.
• Reading is also useful. He quoted a lot of wisdom from books and articles.  Startup folks understandably value actual experience and execution, but we often forget to supplement our growth by reading.
• Asking is a great way to know. Howie emailed e-commerce experts questions he couldn't find answers to.  This sounds so obvious, but we don't do it enough.
• Empathy is key. It is tough to build things or provide customer service for things you don't care enough for.
• Patience is underrated.  In our instant-gratification world where concepts like 'agile' are trending, being patient helps puts things in perspective, especially over the longer-term, and in retrospect.

The talk was recorded in full, so instead of reproducing all the content, here are some lovely quotes from him:

• Product Managers are servants and exist to serve tech / business / UX.  Some can't wrap their head around that, but it's the truth.
• E-commerce is like a return to mom-and-pop shops because these online stores offer a personalised experience.
• Major on a major.  Ignore verbal abuse of a few strongly opinionated people who write in but instead focus on what pains most users.
• Going mobile first is a great way to build the simplest thing that can possibly work.
• Be humble always.  Less ego goes a very long way.

And one of my favourites, having seen two sides of the Product Management role by now: "You ship what you have, not what you want."

In response to my question of how he earned trust and respect of teammates who had been at RedMart for much longer than him, his tips were simply everyday things like giving them a ride because he drives and they mostly don't - "we're dealing with humans after all".

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Photos by Michael Cheng

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