[music]
Hey, everyone, and welcome to our video series that invites
experts in their field to share their stories and career insights.
I'm Gabby, and in this episode, I'm joined by Chen Zhang,
the co-founder CEO of Aquifer,
a next-generation 3D animation platform that makes animation easy
and accessible for everyone.
Chen's made her passion her full-time gig,
so I know I speak for many when I say I'm excited to learn from her.
We are very happy to have you here with us today.
Thank you for being here.
Thank you so much it's wonderful to be here.
I think our listeners would love to know what short-term
and long-term habits that you've developed,
trial and error that have helped you succeed in where you are today.
Lots of trial and error.
I think anyone that works with me
or my family would say I am the queen of trying new things
and seeing what sticks.
I think first and foremost, like taking care of yourself, getting sleep.
I know there's a hustle culture out there where people might brag like,
"Oh, I stayed up till 3:00 and woke up at 7:00."
Long-term, that will not help you.
It will cause you to make decisions that maybe
you would not ordinarily make because your brain is not functioning
and your body's not functioning the way it needs to.
This is hardly a secret, but I think taking care of yourself physically,
mentally, emotionally is so, so, so important.
The other thing is figuring out what time of day you're most productive
and optimizing for that.
I am a morning person.
I am not a night owl,
and so I found that to do the hardest tasks I have for the day,
to build strategy or work on that financial model
or think about a hiring strategy
or think about what's going on with a product,
I have to do that first thing in the morning,
and then I leave other things that are more like administrative
or task-based for later on in the day
when I know my is probably not going to be at the same level.
I think finding your optimal time for when you are freshest
and when you are frankly smartest is the best way to get
the most out of yourself over the course of the day.
Absolutely.
I can totally relate to that 'cause I'm the exact opposite.
I'm a night owl.
I'm not great in the morning,
so I know that I need extra time to wake up in the morning
and to get my brain reving, but my best work is at night,
so I think it's individual, it's personal to each and every one.
Yes, it's very personal.
Most of our team actually are night owls.
They're artists, they're technologists, they're developers,
they're product people.
They love to work at night,
so I know that I have quiet time in the morning.
We don't have strict working hours at Aquifer,
and I know that we probably don't have meetings
until 10:00 AM because I want to be engaging with my team
when they feel good, when they have woken up.
Wow. That's very thoughtful of you and great. Wow.
I would love to come work for you then
so I don't to have meetings at 10:00 AM. Wow.
I think it's like knowing that about yourself
and knowing that you have your optimal time,
it doesn't feel fair to like force that onto the team.
Absolutely, and you're elating to your team,
and that creates a stronger team together, I think.
Speaking to those short-term and long-term habits,
have you created a daily routine for yourself now
that you've figured out what works best for you?
Can you walk us through that?
Of course.
I like to be up by 6:00 AM and finishing breakfast, walk the dog,
and starting my workday at around 7:00 AM,
which gives me two hours of undisturbed,
quiet time when I am at my mental peak to do the hardest things for,
and I always choose the hardest things for the day because I know
that that is time that I'll be able to do them undisturbed.
The rest of the day, frankly, it's a lot of meetings.
It's meeting with the team.
It's meeting with customers, meeting with our investors,
and so nighttime is when I take a breath and unwind and recalibrate
and get ready for the next day and work out because that's just
another part of taking care of yourself.
Now you're your own boss.
You're the CEO, so what challenges come along with being
your own boss versus being on the other side?
I think definitely growing a team is a huge challenge,
and for anyone who has had hiring experience
or even been a part of a large corporation,
there's something very different about hiring
your first handful of employees
and then growing that team because these team members
will probably be the reason
why your company survives or grows or doesn't.
I think that is a huge learning experience
for any first-time entrepreneur.
Then other challenges or just you are your own support system,
and it can be very lonely if you don't seek out
the right other types of peers and people
that are trying to do the same thing and build that network
so that you do have a space to fall back on and get advice from
when things become challenging, which they ultimately will.
Yes. We can always count on that, and a network is very important for that.
Obviously, you are just super successful.
Did you have any moments where you experienced a failure
and maybe you were able to learn from that experience
and it contributed to your success?
Oh, absolutely.
I don't think anyone moves forward in their career
without having some aspect of failure.
The one that comes to mind and the one that I actually reflect on often
even now is a situation earlier on in my career
where I was surrounded by people that were very senior
with many, many more years of experience beyond my own.
We were in the midst of making a very important decision for the company
and for a marketing campaign,
and there were two directions we could have gone in.
Everyone in the room liked the first direction.
There was something inside of me that felt like, "Gosh,
I think that's not going to work,"
but because I felt intimidated because I felt like they know better,
I decided to hold back and not voice my opinion
and I just agreed with everyone else in the room.
Well, as it turns out,
we found out later that was actually the wrong decision
and that the second option would've been better.
I very much regret not sharing my opinion because I think
it would've been of value to the organization.
I think everyone in the room would've appreciated it,
but I held it back myself because I didn't feel confident,
and so my learning in that is your voice and your gut feeling
and your opinion is valuable regardless
of how many years of experience you've had in that space.
I think it's always really important to think,
"I think this has value and I'm going to share it,"
of course, while being respectful to everyone else
in the room and their experience and their expertise.
Yes. That's a good balance to have, trusting yourself,
knowing your knowledge, knowing your worth,
but also staying respectful and respectful of other people's knowledge and worth.
You shared so many good secrets with us today,
and I wondered if you had maybe one more that you could share with us.
Yes, I think one more from my own experience in the corporate world
and looking for jobs and new roles is to think
about the person that is interviewing you
and how much they want you to be a great fit for that role.
They want you to be a good fit for that role, as much as you do,
if not more, because they want it to conclude their candidate search,
they want to immediately put someone into that role
so that they can start doing a fantastic job.
I think switching the mindset of, "Oh my gosh,
I'm trying to impress them or I'm trying to hide my flaws,"
I think the more think about, "How can I make their job easy?
They want me to be successful in this interview.
They want me to move on to the next step."
I think if I'd had more of that mindset
as a job seeker earlier on in my career,
I think it would've reduced a lot of stress
and maybe made the process a bit more fun and a bit more exciting.
Absolutely. That's excellent advice.
They want you to be successful just as much as you do,
so that's a great mindset to have.
I love all your secrets of success,
and I'm noting it all for myself and for you guys,
but thank you so much for being here with us
and sharing all of your knowledge.
I've definitely learned a lot.
Thank you so much.
Thank you so much. This was really fun.
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