creator economy veteran @All_InVentures
New York City
Joined November 2013
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Hi my name is Bryan Jun and I've had a decently interesting career, here's my story.
After growing up as a Korean American in Southern California, I went to Washington and Lee University, which at the time was 87% Caucasian and had Robert E. Lee buried at the school. It has the highest concentration of Greek life affiliated students in the country and while not a target target school, is a hack for people trying to enter investment banking. I didn't know IB existed until I was 20 years old and had no problem getting a job. I learned southern hospitality and cocktail parties. Shoutout W&L!
One of my fraternity brothers (of course many years above me) was the founder of an investment bank, whom through networking thought highly of me. I interned there the summer of junior year. During that summer one of my fellow interns passed away on the job (due to unrelated-to-work health issues) and I called the ambulance. It changed how I viewed life forever.
7 months into investment banking I started a Youtube channel when micro-influencers barely started becoming a concept, recognizing that a normal dude in a hoodie telling you the realities of professional services would be enticing. I knew the rawness of the content would do well day 1. After 9 months of the hottest M&A market to date, COVID hit and Youtube-viewership and searches for jobs surged. I posted every single Saturday for four years without missing a week. My videos became curriculum at some investment banking programs in universities and I advised (and continue to!) hundreds of students and young professionals over the years.
After 2 years of misery, I left to go work for @travisk for a "stealth company" which recently became ATOMS, funded by @a16z. I worked specifically for the virtual restaurants division where I met two of the smartest people in my life.
9 months later, those guys asked me to join them in starting an NFT marketplace, at the time known as Solanalysis, which became Hyperspace. During the peak of the platform, I became the "#1 Web3 influencer" according to a plugin called NFTInspect in the "which influencer is followed by the most influential people" category. I do accredit much of that "fame" to our back and forth with @MagicEden - no hard feelings now.
Around that time, @thebrianlee found me on Youtube and advised me to start a TikTok channel explaining Korea to people, cutting out the BS. My first video was about the grandson of a president/dictator (depending on who you ask) exposing himself and his family few days after I attended a church retreat with him. It hit over a million views in 24 hours. That platform has grown immensely, often liked and commented on by Korean and non-Korean celebrities.
Unrelatedly, I was recruited to serve as a translator/local manager for the top KPOP group in the world when they come to NYC. They never asked me to sign an NDA for some reason - but the only hint I'll drop is this Behind-The-Scenes image of one of their solo concerts, which I'm probably one of 10 people on earth that wasn't on stage to have a picture of in Times Square.
After the downfall of NFTs (and building the platform across 3 major L1s) our team pivoted to creating on-chain synthetic perps for pre-IPO companies. That's a fancy way of saying, we allowed people to buy and sell OpenAI and SpaceX before they became public. It was a perfect culmination of my finance, content, and blockchain background as well as a hyper-focus on how to market startups properly in this saturated market.
As I enter the next phase of career, it's crazy to see how I've been fortunate enough to always be early to entire industries which at the time were just trends. Being somewhat successful across multiple niches shouldn't be a coincidence, but I still have massive imposter syndrome.
All glory to God!
Cringe and corny feels bad until you experience it with people you love
and then once you're on the inside you realize it's actually just how you view love and genuine human relationship from the outside before being a part of it
so don't be afraid to embrace it!
5 years in NYC and I had to leave for Europe for a little to appreciate it fully.
thebryanjun.substack.com/p/5…
Most networking events are stupid.
Everyone attends them for one of 3 reasons:
1. They want a new job and expect a magical conversation at the event to lead to one.
2. They want their ego stroked by telling people what they do.
3. They want to hear a featured speaker based on the advertisement.
All 3 reasons have resonated with me at some point and here's typically what happens in respect to all of them.
#1 doesn't happen because most of these events are too loud and poorly organized and everyone is busy being awkward, drunk, or both. Additionally, people in 2026 (especially those who attend for Reason #1) don't do well in cocktail hour settings.
#2 happens but is meaningless because the ego is only temporarily stroked and it doesn't scale post-event as you forget who was there.
#3 often is used as a marketing tactic and is never the actual focus of the event - and often times the speaker isn't great at speaking, is there to sell you something, or not as impressive as they were advertised.
The real way to do this is to go back to the basics. A curated small group, breaking bread, with clear transparent intentions. It's what most normal human beings do all the time and what we're all trained to do somewhat well - just apply that to a professional setting.
Every tech startup is looking for a social media lead who is:
- already influential
- only committed to their company
- young
- experienced
- witty
- professional
- manage all of Youtube/TikTok/Reels/X/LinkedIn
- land millions of impressions on low budget
- be blamed when something doesn't go viral
- abide by internal rules
- willing to work for low 6 figs at best
good luck
The entire AI industry right now:
- something that theoretically makes life easier
- create a single video instance of that working perfectly
- pay X influencers to quote repost saying "it's over"
- everyone who watches purchases subscription
- they can't replicate what they saw in the video
- or they realize they could do a better job without it
- but they're too lazy to do it without AI now
- they wait for the better version to come out
- everyone spends money, AI grift companies make money, no one has better tools, everyone is more lazy, everyone wonders "why can't I run 1-person eight figure start up"
I wonder who's narrative this benefits
"GTM" is really just a fancy way of saying "figure the shit out no one wants to take the effort to do so."
Every industry and company is so different, there's no formula. Most people are lazy and we want something formulaic.
It's why good GTM hires are so hard to come by because they are typically niched into one industry and it's hard to disassociate the greatness of the products on their resume from the success of their GTM strategy.
So more and more the best way to filter for the best hires is to find folks who've succeeded across a wide variety of industries regardless of environment. Because they either have a great eye for the best products... or just figured shit out.
When's the last time you actually enjoyed an IRL event?
Where you weren't checking your phone every minute because it was awkward or you didn't have anyone to talk to?
The last time you were coming home from the event thinking that was worth my money and time?
Where someone you met there actually became a beneficial part of your network?
And the event itself was educational? Comfortable? At least fun? As advertised?
1 month in Europe has taught me:
Asian food is the best
NYC is the best city in the world
Speaking English is such a privilege
Throwback to my first day at my first job after college vs. exactly 6 months in.
I remember making it into investment banking made me feel so sick until it really made me sick lol.
But looking back now it really laid the groundwork for my overall professional career and if I went back I would've tried harder.
I think we're often at burnout or "reality overshadows fantasy" periods in our careers.
However, during similar troughs and realizing how they contribute to the moments where fantasy becomes reality allows us to keep going.
Enjoy the troughs, they make the peaks higher.
When I worked in investment banking big tech looked good
When I worked in big tech startups looked good
When I worked in startups being a founder looked good
When I worked as a founder influencer looked good
When I worked as an influencer celebrity looked good
It never ends
Can't wait to run my Duet and Dot on my Duo
bryan retweeted
We brought the @cryptocom experience to Rome, Italy - tutte le strade portano a Roma!
"Community" gets thrown around as a buzz word, but crypto.com takes an immersive, tailored approach.
A special thanks to @AntoineBlanc and @aliciapeas for entrusting the All In platform and continuing to work with us to curate crypto.com's global presence.
A lot of us in our 20s have this ambition to do something on our own, have the talent and resume to do it, and now feel like we have no excuse to not execute on it because of AI.
It's a frustrating place to be.
But perhaps doing a decent job where you're at right now and leveling up a bit to be properly ready before you jump into something you actually want to build -
instead of building something just for the sake of building -
will position you in the best place when you look at the bigger picture.
Does "growth" at tech companies transfer over like other skills?
Because distribution/GTM/content seem to all be combining into one bucket for tech roles, the demand for growth roles seem to be higher than ever. It does beg the question - does being great growth at one company mean they'll do great at the other?
While the basic skills for growth could be transferred, many growth successes have been a combination of industry macro trends with luck and the company's product strength.
Have you seen anyone that have repeatedly crushed growth (not as a founder, but as an employee) across various verticals / industries regardless of team/product circumstance?