Alfred Lin: Strategic Thinking for Startup Success [The Knowledge Project Ep. #212]

Shane Parrish: You’ve had a remarkable journey from entrepreneur to investor, and I want to know more about this story, but I want to start with some of your early life experiences that changed you and impacted you in the future.

Alfred Lin: I was born in Taiwan to two parents who were both commercial bankers. At an early age, from what they tell me, I saw the world a little differently. I did things a little differently. The story that they like to tell about me being different is that when I was about two years old, there was a new dresser that was delivered to our apartment in Taiwan, and I figured out a way to get to the top by pulling out the first drawer, crawling into it, then pulling out the second drawer, crawling into that, and then getting all the way to the top. And when I got up there, I thought I could fly, so I jumped off. They love telling that story because they rushed me to the hospital and they were very concerned about whether there was any permanent damage and things like that. My mom kept bringing me back to the hospital again and again. And the doctor said, “Don’t worry, I think he’s fine. I think he’s fine.” And eventually she said, “Well, is there going to be any problem with his development?” He was like, “Well, either he’s going to be a genius or he’s going to be an idiot. He’s one or the other.” So that’s how my parents would describe me—high variance and high beta.