YouSaid · the spoken record

Brian Lam

lines on the record: 84
first: 2022-10-10
most recent: 2022-10-10
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“It's only a partial evolution going from being punched in the face in real life to being punched in the face in the comment section.”
2022-10-10 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Wirecutter: Brian Lam · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I think at some point there was a move to get everyone into an office. We were just like, no Is a very modern thing, but I worked remote the entire job.”
2022-10-10 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Wirecutter: Brian Lam · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I work from home and I work right next to my fridge. And whenever we get scooped, I'd eat like an ice cream sandwich. Like 10 in the morning, I would eat an ice cream sandwich. I was just eating every time we got scooped. That's how I gained like 30 pounds in that job.”
2022-10-10 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Wirecutter: Brian Lam · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And I only confirm that like a year or two ago. When there was paperwork for sale of Gawker. And then I talked to some of the finance people and they're like, oh, yeah, you didn't know. You had a lot. You had more equity than most people who weren't there from the very beginning Gizmoto probably made most of the revenue of that company. It's technology and we were big”
2022-10-10 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Wirecutter: Brian Lam · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It was about products, and like they kept it strictly about products, but we got into we were really experimental about it. And when I got there, they wanted traffic. That's what Gawker wanted at the time. Unapologetically, traffic. Didn't matter. There was a bonus system for traffic, very gawker, but it was tied to equity, right? If you exceeded your traffic goals by a certain amount, you get a certain amount of equity. And so, from my brain That's just great because even without the bonus, I'm going to do it. And I think within two or three months, it's been a while, but within a couple months, certainly less than four or five months, they shut the program down because I had exceeded the traffic so much that I ended up owning in two months like over 1% of the company.”
2022-10-10 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Wirecutter: Brian Lam · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, we had a, we had really savage competitors, and it was just us in the room at the time. And we just drove each other to be better.”
2022-10-10 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Wirecutter: Brian Lam · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, San Francisco media is like, it was like simple made at the time and it was wired, right? So it was just one Conde Nest magazine. People don't leave that place. People stay 10, 20 years longer. And I probably was the first Conde Nast employee to leave for a blog. Blogs were so rudimentary at the time, but when we were doing front of book stuff to find gadgets for Wired? People around me were like, yeah, just check out Gizmodo and just find leads there. I was like, okay, we're just basically getting leads from blogs. We're not like going to find new stuff. So I decided to work there because I felt like I could have impact there and control over the editorial.”
2022-10-10 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Wirecutter: Brian Lam · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Guy was like, hey, I'm not sure how this process goes. I'm just curious once it gets past this step where I hand it off. And the person was just like, I can't believe you're asking me that question and don't know that answer. Get out. It was like really that kind of leadership And man, I had so many ideas, half of them were really terrible. Half of them were really good And they just all got ignored basically. And I just kind of kept doing the. The gear work”
2022-10-10 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Wirecutter: Brian Lam · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I would say that I learned how I don't want to manage people there, to be honest. People were not experienced managers. I remember asking one editor a question about how the magazine was made and I got thrown out of the office for asking that question.”
2022-10-10 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Wirecutter: Brian Lam · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Was a really good fit. I mean, in a lot of ways. But looking back now, I kind of feel like it's just like most of America where you have to look and be from a certain background or way to advance. So for me, like, I didn't smell like an editor there. And you know, like, frankly, I'm not that smart. I'm not that intellectual. I'm a much more emotional person. And that doesn't always fly well in corporations, I find.”
2022-10-10 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Wirecutter: Brian Lam · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think it triggered some kind of defense mechanism where my way of dealing with that is just coming as hard as I can. I just go so hard when I'm in situations like that. And I just show up as fully as I can. And I did that there too This is it. You're not going to get another chance It was my one shot to have more than a taco for dinner.”
2022-10-10 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Wirecutter: Brian Lam · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Oh So many times. But when I got that job, I remember asking maximum PC if they wanted to just pay me more and I would stay. And John was like, no, get out of here.”
2022-10-10 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Wirecutter: Brian Lam · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's right. I would take really small assignments I was only supposed to be there like eight, ten hours a week, and I ended up working like 40, 50, 60 hours a week to the point where one issue, you know, like magazine issue articles get pushed if they maintain their freshness. So it's not like I did all this in one month, but one issue, even though they had like three or four full-time staffers, Had more than half the content on one issue. As an intern.”
2022-10-10 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Wirecutter: Brian Lam · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I mean, when you're working for $5 an hour or less mopping floors of a gym and you went to college for like whatever it was like thirty thousand dollars a year and I had loans. And you're just getting punched in the face every day, you're motivated.”
2022-10-10 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Wirecutter: Brian Lam · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Right, and I applied for an internship, and there was a writing assignment. And I was so nervous that I didn't have anything written, and I just wrote an email saying, I don't have the assignment. I know what that means in journalism when you're late. Please give me another chance. And he was like, okay. Should have said no. I mean, I would probably say no. I should remember that as I work with young people because maybe I'm too savage. But he gave me another shot. That was a huge deal. I shouldn't have gotten that shot. Man, I killed that job. Like my life depended on it, because it kind of did.”
2022-10-10 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Wirecutter: Brian Lam · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And I just remember that moment, and I remember looking around, and I'm like, I don't really want to be like my aunts and uncles. I want to like. Something with all my heart and make a living and support my loved ones in a very Just, you know, basic way, but in my own style. I think I always had that in the back of my mind. Well I'm pretty smart, and my brain is. Worth something, and I'm basically getting punched all the time in the head. So it just didn't seem like it was going to go anywhere. And four years is a lot of time, and the economy was starting to recover. And so that led to me meeting the editor-in-chief of a magazine, who, I had a really lucky break because I basically screwed up really bad trying to apply for the job.”
2022-10-10 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Wirecutter: Brian Lam · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Fear? I mean I feel like I have to depend on myself. But okay, so my family does okay, right? My grandpa did great, and all my aunts and uncles pretty much. Live off my grandpa what he did. I remember this one time At dinner, my grandpa was really grisly, and he was gruff. He'd been through a lot. He made it happen. And we had a very good relationship while he was alive. I remember him looking around at all my aunts and uncles, and they were like kind of squabbling and, you know, they act like they have no consequence in the world. They're really happy-go-lucky, right? And I remember my grandpa, and he looked over at me and let out his huge sigh and he was like, They're saying, right? It takes three generations to lose a fortune.”
2022-10-10 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Wirecutter: Brian Lam · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I did have a goal, but it wasn't around a championship belt or going pro. Was just about having like a certain proficiency in flow state. I wanted to be good at it. And I also remember my nose bled every day for like almost three years straight. Wow. And I went to a doctor one time at UCSF and he was like, his advice was so useless to me at the time, but in hindsight, I see the wisdom. He was like, just stop getting punched in the face.”
2022-10-10 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Wirecutter: Brian Lam · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Dude, it was like less than $5 an hour It's a long time ago, but still it was like my rent was like 500 bucks in the mission with like four roommates or something like that. So, at this time of my life, I was eating a taco for dinner every night and I would load up on free chips and salsa. Would be like two or three bucks, right? And if I bought a CD, I had to check my budget. And it was like a really good time in my life. I remember working out one day after one of those long shifts and you do like a seven mile run to warm up. And then you'd start training and then you would start sparring. And I remember being done right before the evening classes came in and lying under the skylight. And I remember lying there and just taking a note. Almost 20 years ago, and I remember saying, This is. Most simple and satisfying my life might ever be.”
2022-10-10 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Wirecutter: Brian Lam · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“A tie boxing gym and it's run It was basically run by Former champions of Bangkok, who had like come over and so it was a very good pedigree. It was like world class for sure. So you were learning from like a very pure source. And my day would be like open the gym, work for like Full shift from like six to something, and then I would train.”
2022-10-10 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Wirecutter: Brian Lam · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“In high school, I did like Taekwondo, but we dabbled, and my friends would dabble in like judo, jujitsu. I did some kung fu for a while. And then when I got to this gym, I basically, it became my life in San Francisco.”
2022-10-10 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Wirecutter: Brian Lam · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Always been into martial arts. I think when you're an Asian American kid, it's very empowering to watch Bruce Lee films. I know we're stepping back to high school, but like I was super depressed in high school and martial arts was something that really made me feel good. Martial arts teaches you you're tired, but you actually do have more. And then you start to trust that you have more in you.”
2022-10-10 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Wirecutter: Brian Lam · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I was unhirable, first of all. I would have gotten a job if I could. I mean, And I'm glad I didn't, but I'm happy the way things turned out. But like at that time, It was so dire in San Francisco for someone out of school, basically no experience, no technical skills. So I ended up just kind of Training at a boxing gym a lot and then started working for like I think $5 now or mopping the floors, answering the phone, opening the gym in like a very early time, maybe like 6 a.m. or something.”
2022-10-10 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Wirecutter: Brian Lam · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I had no, I remember everyone crying, and I was like, thank you for the opportunity. I shook their hand and I was like, I'm free.”
2022-10-10 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Wirecutter: Brian Lam · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I would have great friends who cared about each other, and they'd be like, let's go to a nightclub. And I remember. Dragging myself out, and I would stand there, it would be super loud, everyone around me be having fun, and I would be falling asleep standing up, almost falling over. It's just not engaging to me to spend time. Like that? I mean, just emotionally, I don't think I felt safe. I felt more unsafe than most people. It always pushed me to gear, honestly. It always pushed me to this perfect object, which is like a little It's like perfect objects are like examples of how you wish the world was and how wish you were in a way.”
2022-10-10 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Wirecutter: Brian Lam · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I stayed in Boston. I mean, I really. You know, like people say they don't blossom until college or like, you know. Feel like I didn't blossom to like in my 40s. Do you know like college was just the same difficulty for me as high school, academically, socially?”
2022-10-10 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Wirecutter: Brian Lam · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, so I switched, right? I switched from, I think it was philosophy, English, Computer science, journalism, and then I ended up in business school. The only class I enjoyed was the strategy game, and it was like this rudimentary network to Thing where it's like you're in the sneaker industry and you like choose which factories and what pricing and the quantity you want to produce. And I think I beat like a couple hundred kids at that. Super aggressive on pricing. I basically was like a cutthroat business person long term thinking right away. And I would like undercut them by two pennies and like win that week and I just kept winning, winning, winning.”
2022-10-10 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Wirecutter: Brian Lam · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I mean, it's really someone who I work with said, I think you care more about finding the right thing more than anyone I've ever met. And I'm like, that checks out. Really, like in my whole world, a piece of gear you can depend on is honestly a big part of my mental and emotional security.”
2022-10-10 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Wirecutter: Brian Lam · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Right. And then Hong Kong, you'd have something just a little bit bigger than the actual cassette tape. And it would be like half the price. And so my brain would just flip out seeing all this stuff.”
2022-10-10 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Wirecutter: Brian Lam · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Was crazy because now you have globalization in a PlayStation comes out and it's everywhere, but then you'd have like a two, three, four-year gap in technology? You'd have like this chunky Walkman, only a little bit smaller than like a cigar box.”
2022-10-10 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Wirecutter: Brian Lam · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, some of the stuff I did as a kid, I'm like, I would I can't imagine that happening now. Like I remember being in Hong Kong and like taking a bus. Area and just walking around looking at like electronics and window shopping and just going around and maybe getting a snack, maybe playing like in an arcade if I could sneak in because I think it would be 16 and then getting kicked out because I was literally seven when this was happening. And that was just like how you rolled in a place like that then.”
2022-10-10 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Wirecutter: Brian Lam · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, we were just left to our own things. They were making a living. We were just used to grabbing our things and playing and just being somewhat self sufficient, you know? Were the best parts of my childhood, that independence.”
2022-10-10 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Wirecutter: Brian Lam · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It's true. Like, my parents Were strange compared to other China's American parents. Like, we weren't really forced to do much.”
2022-10-10 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Wirecutter: Brian Lam · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I was so obsessed with just doing this service and like, say, taking a two hour shopping experience and making it a 30 second shopping experience with the lead containing the thing we thought you should get. I thought it was such a great idea that didn't exist. But I also wanted to grow things really slowly because I was so burnt out for the first year I could only basically work 10 hours a week. But I was not at all sure of how we were going to make money ever.”
2022-10-10 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Wirecutter: Brian Lam · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT