#128 Peter Huynh: Vietnamese connection, Mindfulness, Seeding the Aus + South East Asia startup ecosystems, State of Health Care and AI

Peter Huynh is the Chief Strategy Officer at Harrison AI, and previously spent over a decade as a VC investor in Asia, UK and Australia with Singtel and Qualgro Partners. He was born in Vietnam, and lives in Sydney, Australia. 

In this episode #128 w Peter Huynh, learn about:

Peter’s Vietnamese heritage, especially how his family moved to Sydney, Australia in the late 1970’s and the early challenges they faced as his dad’s medical degree was not recognised meaning he had to study again, whilst Peter and his mum stayed in a small apartment with 9 of his relatives in Wollongong. Peter’s reflections including learning English watching TV shows on the ABC are fascinating!

Peter is well known for helping founders and investors with mindfulness coaching, I had to ask him the source of this and he candidly shares his own journey including having teachers for nearly 8 years to understand his own self.

We unpack his career including his most formative experiences, with Hutchison Group and Singtel in the UK, Asia and Australia, working with early versions of Spotify and Facebook in 2009 and seeding the Australian startup ecosystem when it was just taking off in 2011.

Peter has recently transitioned from a decade long stint as a VC investor to became a startup executive joining Harrison AI as chief strategy officer, hear about why he made this decision and his learnings working at the intersection of health care and AI. 

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy! 

(Timestamps below)

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02:41 - Where were you born and live now?

03:51 - What was your first job and now?

05:37 - High Flyer in Peter’s life

07:02 - Challenging adjustment setting in Australia as a child

11:35 - Learning English watching TV

12:42 - The desire to belong

13:54 - Relationship with mindfulness and spirituality

16:57 - Realising Law wasn’t an enjoyable career path

19:35 - Most formative career experience

22:34 - Single largest foreign investor in Western Europe

23:47 - Re-connecting with Asian heritage

24:39 - Working with mobile versions of Spotify and Facebook in 2009

28:11 - Seeding the early Australian startup ecosystem

34:41 - Founding Qualgro VC, building a bridge between South East Asia and Australia

36:40 - Learning to build deeper connections with people

42:19 - Mindfulness practises during a work day

45:42 - Educating his two children on guided meditations

46:42 - What led to joining Harrison AI as Chief Strategy Officer

54:58 - Government regulations in Health and AI

58:17 - Rapid fire final sprint

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