Broaden Your Perspective with Jonny Hsu

This week we discuss some exciting news around the state of vaccinations across the world. We are slowly but surely getting back to a normal future. We see Biden starting to deliver on his promises by raising tax mostly for the rich. Huge acquisition in the Canadian telecommunications market with Rogers acquiring Shaw for $26 billion while NFL is assignment new exclusive broadcasting rights to a familiar company - Amazon. We cap off the episode talking about some of the practical and potentially unethical implications of instating a digital vaccine passport. Are certifications of vaccinations inevitable as we move towards a different future? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

This is another special edition of Thought Bubble - we spend the entire episode breaking down what non-fungible tokens (NFT's) are. We brought on a special guest as well, a name that might be familiar to OG listeners: Kaito Cunningham. Kaito has been on the podcast before talking about his entrepreneurial adventures but today he's back to discuss the topics of NFT's with us. Learn more about what NBA Top Shot is, the premise of how NFT's work and also potential future applications of blockchain and NFT's. We even discuss the possibility for startups raising funds through issuing various forms of NFT's instead of giving up equity. You can keep up with what Kaito is doing through his Twitter and Blog site:

Welcome back to Thought Bubble where Brady and Jonny break down what's happening around the world in Politics/Global News, Finance and have some friendly debates. This week we talked about Texas lifting all COVID restrictions by March 10th and an Israel study showing the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is more effective in preventing transmission then we thought it would. We chat about the implications behind the unprecedented battle of Australia vs. Facebook and Google and what that might mean for our digital future. We cap off the episode briefly having a discussion around the new hot topic: non-fungible tokens (NFT's).

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Hello and welcome back to ThoughtBubble where Jonny and Brady, two University students, break down some highlights on what's going on around the world. We talk politics/global news, business finance and spend some time debating over controversial questions.

Apparently it is now illegal to share photographs of police in France anymore. Protests have erupted in France in response to the passing of this new security bill. Janet Yellen was appointed America's next treasury secretary, making her arguably one of the most powerful women in the world.

Salesforce looks to acquire Slack, Palantir shares soar up early this week, and we look at the curious case of credit card fraud. With e-commerce on the rise, credit card frauds are going up too. In Q1 2020, credit card fraud reports were up 104% from 2019. (From Q1 2018 to 2019, reports rose just 25%.)

Welcome back to Episode 10 of Thought Bubble, we've finally hit double digits! Thank you for continuing to tune in and support this podcast. In this weeks episode we take a look at the new vaccine that was announced by Pfizer and BioNTech. With 90% effectiveness, will this be the vaccine that lifts us out of this pandemic? Probably not, tune in to hear more. In news of the promising vaccine, financial markets were soaring early on throughout the week as tech stocks took a tumble. Alibaba Singles Day sales hit over 100 billion dollars through the course of 11 days. We cap off the episode with some debate topics around whether or not re-selling is ethical and if it's good or bad for us to see aliens.

Welcome to the first episode of Thought Bubble where Jonny and Brady talk about what’s going on in Politics, Business and Finance around the world. We decided to start this segment because we thought with everything going on in the world, we need more university students getting involved in the conversation and talking about these topics. We need to become aware of what’s going on in the society we live in and we want to encourage students to do their own research and read up on the news they may see across social media. We also like discussing and challenging hard questions that face our society today. We are in the search for truth!

Venture into the world of finance with Noah Simao, 3rd year Accounting and Finance student from the University of Waterloo. In this episode, Noah shares a bit about his past experiences working at KPMG in Audit and Ontario Teachers Pension Plan in Private Equity. He also puts some context behind some words we often see being tossed around: investment banking, private equity, venture capital, mergers and acquisitions as we talk about the buy vs. sell side of finance.

We also talk about the importance of networking when it comes to relationship building and job recruitment. Noah shares some great pieces of advice for networking etiquette and provides some practical steps for how to not be awkward while networking.

Connect with Noah here: 

Welcome back to another episode of the podcast, this is part 2 of the conversation I had with Neil Theisen. We laugh and chuckle over some memories from studying abroad in Singapore and traveling throughout Vietnam and Malaysia. Neil also shares some of his powerful views on becoming and staying committed to being a vegetarian.

Here are some interesting facts about consuming meat:

• Animal agriculture is responsible for more greenhouse gases than all of the world's transportation systems combined
• It takes an average of 683 gallons of water to produce just 1 gallon of milk
• It takes more than 2,400 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of beef
• It's estimated that by going vegan, one person can save approximately 219,000 gallons of water a year

Some food for thought as we enter in an era where we increasingly see individuals empowering themselves to come together and make an impact.

Connect with Neil here: 

Have you ever wanted to work in a start up? When Covid-19 passes, are you looking for more international experiences with your university? Listen in to Part 2 of the conversation I had with Ellen as we talk about her experiences working in a startup and how she's taken advantage of the opportunities her university has provided her to embark on numerous international journeys including doing a research project in Switzerland! We also talk about the importance of building career capital and the transition from a dynamic university environment to a stable and consistent full time job once you graduate.

Disclaimer: everything we talk about in each episode are just our opinions!

Connect with Ellen here:

Generation Entrepreneur is a non-for profit focusing on inspiring young high school students, spreading entrepreneurship across Australia and empowering students to change the world. In this episode, I sit down with the CEO of Generation Entrepreneur and student at the University of New South Wales, Jack Leung as we talk about his journey with leading Generation Entrepreneur since his days in high school to now, just a few more classes away from graduating. Jack is one of the most passionate people I have ever met about education and healthcare. We discuss engagement as one of the fundamental issues in today's education, some of the workshops he runs through his program, challenging students to think about issues and Jack shares some of the coolest things his students have ever created through GE's Initiate 48 program.

Connect with Jack and Generation Entrepreneur here:

I can't believe it's been almost a year and a half since I launched the podcast. If y'all remember, my pilot episode was titled Who is Jonny Hsu. For episode 30, I thought I'd give an update on what's been happening over the past year or so about myself and where my interests lie now. I've also decided to shift the theme for the podcast which I talk in this episode, and modify the logo, let me know what you guys think! Thanks for all the support so far and I'm super excited for the upcoming content that I have! Next episode is featuring Jack Leung of Generation Entrepreneur from Australia! If you've enjoyed the content I've posted up until now, it would help me out a ton to leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts!

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In this episode, I am joined by a Mechanical Engineering student at the University of Minnesota, Neil Theisen. He's had internships at LivaNova and MedTronic with an upcoming term at Abbot. We talk about working in the medical device space and the work he's done with both tissue and mechanical heart valves. We talk about minimal invasive heart valve surgery and how it's accomplished and Neil shares some tips for other Engineers that may want to get an internship in the medical device industry.

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For Part 3, Ashley and I reminisce on some of our favourite moments while study abroad in Singapore. From camping on a remote private island to our motorbiking adventures in Vietnam (and how she crashed into a wall). We also hear about what Ashley’s best investment ever made under $100 was. Tune in for some laughs.

Connect with Ashley here:

What's it like working in Venture Capital? What do employers look for in resumes? How do you make yourself stand out? In this episode I'm joined by Steve Joseph, previous co-op at the BDC IT Venture Fund where he had the chance to work with companies like CrowdRiff and SoLink. He's also worked in the brokerage operations department at Wealth Simple. We talk about the value of doing co-op, diversifying your skillset to stand out to employers and working in VC.

Connect with Steve here:

Do you want to know what it's like working in consulting for a startup that focuses on Fintech? What should you do, what skills should you try to get better at in order to increase your chances of working at a consulting firm? This episode I’m joined by Ellen who works at 11FS. Aside from her consulting experience, we also chat about why she took a gap year and how that ended up with her living in Spain and a village in India.

Connect with Ellen here: 

Do you ever feel burnt out? Do you ever feel like you’re always weighed down by an expectation of perfection? These are some of the topics addressed in this episode as I sit down with Kalil Magtoto, an award winning content creator, videographer, editor and previous co-lead at Starterhacks, Canada’s first and largest beginner-focused hackathon. He’s currently enrolled in the Global Business and Digital Arts program at the University of Waterloo. We talked about his experiences with burnout, how to wake up with a renewed purpose every morning and the importance of reaching back to your childhood memories to get a hint of what your passion might be. Without further ado, here we go. 

Connect with Kalil here: 

What the hell does Brenden mean when he says step into your insanity and build a strong belief system? We are back with Brenden for Episode 24 of the Broaden Your Perspective Podcast, this is Part 2 from episode 19 a few months ago. Find out what Brenden means by stepping into your insanity and building a strong belief system. Aside from a deep discussion about life, stealing visions from others and the impact/legacy we want to leave behind on this world, we also talk about Brenden’s time at Front Row Ventures. This episode, he walks us through his thought process when leading a deal that ended up being a successful investment at Front Row Ventures.

If you've ever wanted to learn what it's like to be a part of a Sorority, then tune in to this episode. Ashley Rayan, student at the University of Illinois, goes over some of the recruitment activities and some group events that happen when you're part of a sorority. She also talks about the experience she's had being part of a Business Fraternity and how she started a Sports Consulting agency as an extracurricular and worked with the UofI athletics program. 

Connect with Ashley here:

Ashley was selected as one of 150 scholars to join the Girls Who Invest 2019 cohort. The program consists of a four-week educational experience at the University of Pennsylvania learning core finance and investment concepts from top professors and building relationships with industry leaders, followed by a six-week internship at a wealth management firm. Ashley joined me in this episode where she shared more about her experience living at the University of Pennsylvania, her internship and the role women play in the future of finance. This is a 3 part series, in the next episode we talk more about her extracurriculars such as her involvement in sororities and business frats follow by the final episode where we chat about some of the funny moments we had while studying abroad in Singapore. 

Connect with Ashley here: 

This episode I am joined by Lenny, former College Basketball Player, University basketball player, National Champion at Douglas College, law student, basketball coach and future lawyer. We talk about his academic journey, life lessons he’s learnt from basketball and the decision making process of embarking in law school at the age of 24.

Funny story about Lenny and I, when he won his national championship with Douglas College he was coached by Jamie Oei. I actually played under Jamie for my final year of AAU basketball over at VanCity basketball academy. Small world!

Welcome back to another episode of the Broaden Your Perspective podcast, today I am joined by my longtime friend, Ivan and the format is almost like a fireside chat. I normally record my episodes across the web using a platform called Zencastr, but since Ivan and I are both in the city right now, we decided to meet up and do this face to face. This is a special episode as Ivan recently went through a health issue and was willing to open up and chat about that entire experience on this episode. Listen in to find out how he was able to cope with emotional/physical stress throughout the time he suffered from his disease, a little bit about our friendship and how we first met, Ivan’s mindset, the power of perspective & gratitude and much more. Without further ado, here, we, go.

Welcome to Episode 19 of the Broaden your Perspective Podcast. Today I have Brenden, host of MasterTalk and previously was a Front Row Ventures associate as well. This is PART 1. He lead the deal on one of our portfolio companies now, Civalgo, helping reclaim control of construction operations by improving field productivity and collaboration on job sites, learning from every execution and empowering teams to deliver results on-budget and on-time. We cover a TON of topics throughout this conversation ranging from Brenden’s mindset, his experience and strategies with hosting master talk, his experience right now as a business transformation consultant at IBM, how he balances that with the other things in his life, walking us through some amazing tips on how to truly, master, your, talk and of course, his thought process when leading a deal that ended up being a successful investment at Front Row Ventures. Without further ado, here, we, go.

Hello everybody and welcome back to Episode 18 of the Broaden your Perspective podcast. Today I am joined by the author of “Living with a growth Mindset” and the founder of Tony Results Institute, Tony Bui. Back in the summer of 2018, I worked in door to door sales and Tony ran the orientation training week, he was one of the people that really sparked my personal development journey. If there’s one word I can use to describe Tony, it would be obsessed. Obsessed with wanting to better himself and help others realize and live up to their maximum potential. Listen in on this episode and as we touch briefly on the multiple pillars of personal development, what it truly means to live with a growth mindset, communication tips, defining your vision and much more. Without further ado, here, we, go.

Welcome to episode 16 of the Broaden your Perspective Podcast. Excuse my voice, I was sick when I recorded this episode but this episode we have Qhalisa Khan, a fellow University of Waterloo student who is currently in her final year of studies in the Accounting and Financial Management program. Like last episode, with Maher, we met through Front Row Ventures as well. Qhalisa has had a variety of co-op experiences and has so much to share. In this episode, we dive into Qhalisa journey coming from Kenya and going through University, sharing some of her thoughts on her co-op experiences, successful habits, her dream career, location and much more. Without further ado, here, we, go.

Welcome to Episode 15 of the Broaden Your Perspective podcast. Today I am joined my friend Maher. We met because we are both a part of Front Row Ventures, Canada’s first student run venture fund focusing on student run start-ups. During a retreat to Montreal we had 2 weekends ago, we bonded over our shared interest in the environmental sustainability space. We covered so many fun topics in this episode from Venture Capital to Investment thesis to nuclear fusion and fission, to tips to succeed on your upcoming interviews and much more. Maher drops some serious value bombs in this episode and I hope everybody enjoys it as much as I did when we recorded this episode. Without further ado, here, we go.

Welcome back to Episode 13 of the Broaden Your Perspective Podcast. Today I am joined by Raiden Huang, another graduating high school senior. Listen in on this episode to hear about how Raiden embraced his identity shift, moving from a basketball player to somebody else. He’s now a content creator at Huang Media and is also interning at Self-Hired Brand, who created the ThinkSpace podcast. We also talk about what Raiden’s mentality is like and take a journey through his life to learn how he was shaped through the culmination of his experiences.

Welcome to episode 12 of the Broaden your Perspective Podcast. Today I have Geoffrey Hill on the show who was actually a member of the Greenhouse program. Geoffrey and I talk about his experience as an entrepreneur and dive into some of the ups and downs on building Canoe which has a goal of a system of Joint-programs that will educate a new generation of Pan Canadian Leaders. Through his entrepreneurial journey, Geoffrey has been through depression which ultimately manifested in bipolar 1 schizoaffective. Listen in as we cover numerous topics such as, what it takes to be an entrepreneur as well as challenges and struggles with mental health. Without further ado, here, we, go. 

 Welcome to episode 11 of the Broaden Your Perspective podcast, today I have high school senior Gaurab Acharya joining me on the show. Fresh off of an amazing senior basketball season playing for Sir Charles Tupper Secondary School, Gaurab and I sit down and chat about basketball, academics, future plans and more. He is much more than just an athlete. Gaurab also recently started Move to be Different where he challenges people to change daily habits in order to reach their goals! He posts actively on social media and encourages everybody to join him on his 30 day challenges. Without further ado, here, we go.  

Welcome to Episode 10 of the Broaden your Perspective Podcast. StudyFast has been able to empower 10,000+ people in 147 countries to learn anything faster by training reading speed and effective comprehension. Today we have the CEO of StudyFast, Jordan Harry. In an age of accessibility where you can learn anything you want from your laptop, Jordan trains you how to learn faster so you can pursue each of your interests. Listen in on this conversation as we cover topics mentioned above as well as specific cases such as sub-vocalization, that little voice in your head when you read, why it slows down your reading speed and how to get rid of it.  

Welcome back to Episode 9 of the Broaden Your Perspective podcast. This is part 2 of the conversation I had with Tania Del Matto, the director of the Greenhouse program over at the University of Waterloo. We dive more into topics such as common areas of failures among entrepreneurs, making an impact vs making a profit, how to network, some successful habits, and learning more about Tania’s journey of how she ended up in her position today. Without further ado, here, we, go. 

Wow. Where do I even start with Mr. Sam Demma. He is not your typical 19-year-old kid. He has been through a ton, from a career ending injury in soccer to co-founding his business PickWaste, to speaking on multiple stages across multiple academic institution and community events all throughout Ontario. He’s done all of this and even more while being able to defy the constraints and norms of society to truly develop self-awareness and find the confidence to pursue what he believes is his purpose of being here on planet earth. Welcome to episode 8 of the Broaden your Perspective show, Sam and I cover all of the topics I just listed above. On this episode, Sam shares his perspective and advice for other peers near his age and explore topics such as: how he started his business, overcoming a career ending injury, how tough it was to make the decision to drop out of University and some productivity hacks. Without further ado, here, we, go.

Travis Fonderson is a third year student in the Accounting and Financial Management program at the University of Waterloo. However, he is anything BUT your normal, stereotypical student. He’s the founder of the Young Funds Program, on a mission to educate and empower youth of the potential power they have by harnessing the ability to invest. Travis seeks to change the way young individuals view financial opportunities, and he’s sure done a lot since starting this around October 2018. The Young Funds Program has impacted over 2,100 students through hosting educational workshops, their one on one consulting services, as well as providing online content. Through the YFP consulting services area, they have consulted 43 students to help collectively manage an outstanding portfolio amount of nearly $55,000. Don’t forget he’s also only 20 years old and enrolled in a full time program at the University of Waterloo. Join us today as we get to dive into the mind of Travis as we cover topics such as investing, how to get into investing, advice for beginner investors, a high level overview of everything you need to know from brokerage accounts to ETFs to mutual funds and active vs passive income. Without further ado, here, we, go.  

 Travis Fonderson is a third year student in the Accounting and Financial Management program at the University of Waterloo. However, he is anything BUT your normal, stereotypical student. He’s the founder of the Young Funds Program, on a mission to educate and empower youth of the potential power they have by harnessing the ability to invest. Travis seeks to change the way young individuals view financial opportunities, and he’s sure done a lot since starting this around October 2018. The Young Funds Program has impacted over 2,100 students through hosting educational workshops, their one on one consulting services, as well as providing online content. Through the YFP consulting services area, they have consulted 43 students to help collectively manage an outstanding portfolio amount of nearly $55,000. Don’t forget he’s also only 20 years old and enrolled in a full time program at the University of Waterloo. Join us today as we get to dive into the mind of Travis as we cover topics such as investing, how to get into investing, advice for beginner investors, a high level overview of everything you need to know from brokerage accounts to ETFs to mutual funds and active vs passive income. Without further ado, here, we, go.  

St. Paul’s Greenhouse is best known as a social impact incubator that provides an innovative community for students and community members who want to create ideas and ventures that generate social or environmental change. St Paul’s University College is an affiliated institution of the University of Waterloo. Greenhouse even has a residence program allowing students to constantly engage and discuss ideas with other like-minded students, dedicated space is provided for those students to foster creativity and collaboration, and even mentorship from experts in different fields, serve to help bridge the gap between an idea and action. Greenhouse offers a plethora of support channels to these passionate young students to help them fulfill their dreams and make a positive change on the community. Welcome to episode 4 of the Broaden your Perspective podcast where I am honored to have the Director of the Greenhouse program, Tania Del Matto, here with us today. As the director, Tania spends a lot of time working with and mentoring a lot of entrepreneurs so join us today as we cover topics such as: common areas of failures among entrepreneurs, making an impact vs making a profit, how to network, some successful habits, and learning more about Tania’s journey of how she ended up in her position today. Without further ado, here, we, go. 

Welcome back to episode 3 of the Broaden Your Perspective podcast. Today we get to dive into the mind of a first year student athlete playing for his basketball team at Langara college. Sina Hashemi graduated from Port Moody Secondary School and his journey to his position right now, was far from easy. He was cut from multiple post-secondary institutions, multiple times. At Douglas college tryouts he was cut twice, at Capilano University tryouts he was cut twice, he was cut from Camosun college once and even cut by the team he’s playing for right now, Langara college, Three times. Three times! Join us today as we discuss topics such as adversity through failure, support from family members when pursuing your dreams, dealing with doubt, finding motivation, self-discipline, and more. Without further ado, here, we, go.