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A 3D geometric shaped logo of a object in green color Kirill So

About

Kirill So networking with people at a conference

Hey there đź‘‹, thanks for checking a more extensive version of my personality. This corner of the website is always work in progress.

Who

I am Kirill So, and beyond professional achievements I identify myself as a curious human being, a husband, a son, and a friend. Currently, I live in Singapore with my beautiful wife Sarah, and work in tech as a product manager.

Born in the USSR, I grew up in places like the Czech Republic, Germany, the UK, the US, and Australia and consider myself a citizen of the world (e.g. I lost my identity of where home is).

In my free time, I like to tinker with technology, read, write, and occasionally teach.

Why

What

Professional milestones

2010 - Landed my first job in a private equity fund and helped raise over $200m in debt financing for renewable energy projects in CEE. These wind, solar, and biomass projects have been saving 130,000 tonnes of carbon p.a. powering 200,000 households.

2011 - Started my first startup that copied a business model from the US. After incorporating, and printing business cards, we realized we had 0 customers. Turns out it’s quite important. I learned a few valuable lessons at that time.

2012 - Moved to Berlin during the start-up boom and joined a venture studio. The company portfolio now spans FinTech, AdTech and HealthTech companies. This has been an interesting experience looking back based on the macro and micro lens of technology cycles. We saw mobile overtaking web traffic from the front-row seats, the rise of ad networks, fraud, and most importantly the phase when everyone is just trying to figure out what is going to happen next.

Paddling on the lake in Berlin, Germany

2014 - Started a mobile-first user acquisition agency and reached $30k in revenue in the first month. It was my first digital nomad experience whilst living and traveling in Thailand. Unfortunately, my bank sent me a cease and desist letter a year later and I had to shut down. I learned a lot about perseverance, stress, independence, and non-default paths.

2015 - Joined a seed stage startup in Berlin and went from 0 revenue to one of the industry leaders in mobile advertising. We grew from 10 people to 100 employees and I was lucky to experience a true 0 to 1 startup scale-up story, including the go-to-market in 7 different countries.

2016 - Took a short career break and spent time with my family during which I accidentally learned about Ethereum. Took part in the first crypto wave, which was well described in this book. I also spent some time learning to code but didn’t follow through. It was also the first year of my forte in newsletters and I convinced 300 poor souls that I had something important to say.

2018 - Made a move to Singapore and worked with the largest C2C marketplace in SEA on a platform utilizing blockchain and external data to identify bad actors. Started from scratch yet again and met some amazing entrepreneurs, investors, and startup people in the ecosystem. Singapore coindesk conference with people talking on the stage

2020 - Got accepted into an early-stage start-up program and worked on a machine learning product to help push models into production faster. Learned a lot yet again. Not only about the economics of VCs, which is a very popular topic these days but also about intrinsic motivation and quitting.

2021 - An infamous COVID year and professional fiasco. I interviewed for my dream job and managed to completely mess it up. With desperate visa needs in a foreign country, I ended up in a terrible place professionally. Pretty much a survival type of year.

2022 - Recovered and balanced my life. I focused on cementing myself in the organization as an expert in my domain, as well as trying to level up skills such as experimentation, technical architecture, and stakeholder management. I learned a lot, especially how different it is working at a scale where every decision can result in millions of revenue (or losses).

2023 - My identity has shifted and I started exploring what is it that I genuinely like to work on. Even 13 years after working on various things the answer is not completely clear but I see a tiny glimpse of direction.

Now (March 2024) - I am currently in the middle of a personal and professional transition.

Investments

Private:

Public:

Interests

Code

A lot of my friends raised eyebrows and asked why would I do that in the era of ChatGPT and the possibility of hiring others. I plan to write an article on why I think learning is worth it. But TL;DR is that I am a proponent of builder’s mindset.

Design

In combination with the above, I am also learning about UX/UI and accessibility. I think design is an underrated moat for a lot of products and is taken as a default trust factor in whether the product is worth it. I love the philosophy of Linear that reaching a certain type of user is no longer about MVP but raising the bar of quality.

Communities

In 2023, I am shifting away from online and towards offline and proximity-based communities. I don’t feel like X or online forums sparked a feeling of belonging and I am working on something small to make this happen.

I am obsessed with the idea of French Salons as a “rave for the intellect”. I believe that a lot of loneliness and mental health issues come from the lack of 3rd places in the world and support systems, particularly for males. I am exploring how this can be fixed.

Calm companies

I’ve been trying to scout for calm companies via Calm Company Fund. It is challenging to find a balance where founders are either beyond profitability and don’t want to sell or too early where they are profitable. In 2023 I’ve found a great company with around $35k MRR and 90% margins in an interesting space and reasonable price. Unfortunately, I was too late and not ready.

I am keeping an eye on the space of early-stage software “value investing”.

Second brain

This has been a major downer given that I spent so much time on it. I see people wasting time on configuration and storage instead of output and fall short in actually producing (like me). Doing is worth 50x more than organizing. The flaws of PKM systems are clear. I am currently in the process of just simplifying things.

Open questions

Things I ponder about.

Incentives

Humans

Influences

World influences that shaped me into a person I am today

Meaning

Life

Creativity

People

Humans who had a severe impact on my life which I extend my gratitude to as well as my admiration.

Content

Documentaries

Other

Some projects I support with volunteering and donations:

Principles

End

My DMs are always open. Alternatively, you can book a call.