Hi! My name is Dawn.  I got to Shanghai through a school program called NOC by the National University of Singapore. People in our program intern at a startup company and also take classes at Fudan for a year.  This slideshow is adapted from a sharing we did among ourselves. My year in Shanghai let me grow a lot. I hope sharing gives students who want to head to Shanghai a little more insight into the whole experience :-) �

1. Living for a Year in Shanghai

2. About Dawn
Hi! My name is Dawn.
I got to Shanghai through a school program called NOC by the National
University of Singapore. People in our program intern at a startup company
and also take classes at Fudan for a year.
This slideshow is adapted from a sharing we did among ourselves. My
year in Shanghai let me grow a lot. I hope sharing gives students who want
to head to Shanghai a little more insight into the whole experience :-)

3. A Snapshot of my life in Shanghai
POC
KY
ROOM
8 5 C
SHANGHAI
TRADER
YOUNG
A N A LY T I C S
BAKERS
CORP STAR B U C K S
START U P/
TECH
EVENTS J O G
FUDAN
UNI
D A N C E
EFFUSION
SHANGHAI
CONNECT C H I L L
MENTORING
EXPLOR
INTERN E
ET

4. A Snapshot of my life in Shanghai
POC
KY
ROOM
8 5 C
Finance games and
platform for young
Interesting social people to improve
enterprise I got to skills and get hired
know through a
SHANGHAI
TRADER
friend YOUNG
A N A LY T I C S
BAKERS
CORP STAR B U C K S
START U P/
TECH
EVENTS J O G
FUDAN
UNI
D A N C E
EFFUSION
SHANGHAI
CONNECT C H I L L
MENTORING Design and
advertising agency
EXPLOR
Mentorship program connecting INTERN
ET
E
Singaporean professionals and
students in Shanghai that I started

5. Effusion Shanghai
Design Agency started by Singaporean
The first company I interned with was Effusion. My boss Jack arrived in Shanghai in six years back with only a
suitcase and started his own company. He saw that China was where there was opportunity, and left the 4A agency he
was working at.
Client servicing
Jack and I met a lot of interesting clients and suppliers. For new referrals, we always began by introducing our
portfolio to the client. For specific projects, we were consulted on design which we eventually carried out. The
occasions when I was asked to meet the client independently was where I learnt and understood professionalism and
company representation.
Project Management
Effusion also handled events. These events had practical aspects that included the details of measuring the size of a
function room, ensuring that the backdrop would not fall over halfway through the event. Most importantly, was the
coordination work involved in liaising with the client, the hotels, the suppliers.

6. Trader Analytics Corp
Play a game to learn and get hired
The second company I interned with was Trader Analytics Corp. Trader Analytics’ games taught students interested in
finance skills to become a top Wall Street trader. The flagship product UltraTradr is available in public beta right here
Marketing Coordination
Under marketing, I managed the company’s social media sites and newsletters. I also looked for new competitors,
direct competitors, organized user testing sessions at Fudan University and set up meetings and interviews with the
people I met at events I attended.
Independent working
Because the founders were moving around the world and spent a significant amount of time in New York and Hong
Kong, I had to work independently. I worked a lot from cafes and the hardest part was surprisingly the large amount of
time I spent alone. It was here that I decided I had to take an active approach to maximizing the time I spent in
Shanghai.

7. My Key Takeaway
I was responsible
for how my life was going to turn out.
i.e.: stop expecting things to happen, stop blaming others, start taking charge

8. You can’t always get what you want.

9. But when you try sometimes,
you’ll find…

10. Team came in first in Startup Weekend, Sharing
totally did not expect
session by
a mentor
CONNECT MENTORSHIP PROG
STARTUP WEEKEND SHANGHAI
TSINGHUA TRAINING PROGRAM SYB @ HOF

11. What changed
I’m rethinking the idea of school.
School is a great place to learn but doing well in school doesn’t mean you’re going to do well in life. If you thought
getting straight As helped you get a super job then throw that away – polishing that stepping stone should not be the
goal. And to some extent, school seems just a place for people who don’t yet know what they want in life.
I’ve come to believe in fate.
Because I was working out of cafes alone, I became really grateful and thankful for the people around me that I met
and enjoyed hanging out with. I was more than willing to spend time with people that made me happy more than
people who were going to be useful to me. I saw the importance of friendship as a foundation.
I joined the 21st Century.
I got access to a smartphone. (Yes, I’m late.) That’s extremely important because I get to read news on the move plus
all the useful applications like Mobile RSS and Evernote.

12. What hasn’t changed
I still like Tiongs
I think one of the most important things about being in China is open-mindedness -- receptivity to what
we see. There is some degree of prejudice towards Mainlanders but remember that Chinese society is
heterogeneous and there are many different types and groups of people.
(Btw Tiong is the affectionate Hokkien name for people from China and I am deeply apologetic for my
inability to put down in words the allure and fascination I have for Tiongs.)

13. How living in China made a
difference
You realize there’s such a thing called Bullshit
There are a thousand cock and bull stories of being unable to turn up due to peak hour traffic at 12pm, a terrible cold,
“this is the industrial standard”. You realize also that people working under a company’s name can tell you they could
work freelance for a lower rate.
You begin to question what you see
Slowly you begin to find beggars on the street commonplace, using also the same tactic of walking up and down the
MRT trains with a kid or a blind husband. You realize they actually do earn enough to live by. Think $1x1.34bil people
(ok exaggeration but you get the point).
You see perfect competition
The streets of China are filled with non-legal vendors selling street food, cups, clothes… You get intrigued by the high
level of “entrepreneurship”, or alternatively, just become very aware of low barriers to entry.

14. The benefits of Shanghai
environment
Meet both Chinese and English speaking
The city has a fine balance of international folks and Chinese-ness. There are a lot of laowais, returning Chinese,
non-Shanghainese Chinese all of whom are great to learn from, converse with and hang out with.
Get to eat good food at good prices
I think I’ve eaten the best western food in Shanghai, plus the best Xinjiang food, hotpot… Shanghai is also home to
the best bars and clubs with reference to the price.

15. What I’ll remember
Project “Startup Thy Neighborhood”
A friend and I were intrigued by the amount of street vendors in Shanghai and decided we had to set up a roadside
stall ourselves in order to “stand in their shoes”. We paired yogurt and banana together and sold it as a healthy snack.
You cannot imagine the number of times we shifted our store and got cracked down by regulators!
Real
customers!

16. What I’ll miss
Jaywalking Travelling
This life endangering sport is competitive and We covered places like Inner Mongolia, Yunnan and
exhiliarating, nuff said. Guilin which were eye opening and a lot of fun. Fun
meaning getting my foot run over by a cabbie,
getting shipped to an airport hotel because the
airport was closed, seeing laundry freeze overnight.

17. Words of Advice
• Stay grounded but live on the edge
• “If you find yourself home before 10,
something is wrong” (Joel Leong Yong Siang,
2011)
• +1 principle

18. Conclusion
Take a year off school
and go.
If you look at the whole picture, a year off school might
not be that high an opportunity cost compared to what
you learn and can achieve in your coming years.

19. Special Thanks
• Prof Teo and Prof Kau
• My really inspiring, intelligent and nice bosses
• My batchmates

20. Questions/comments
Feel free to email
me@dawnyimin.com
DAWNYIMIN.COM