Dave is a 30-year veteran of Wall Street and Silicon Valley.
He started his career as a Wall Street banker at Jefferies where he rose from the entry-level Analyst to the executive ranks of Managing Director and Co-Head of the Digital Media and Internet investment banking group. He broke through the Bamboo Ceiling as one of the only senior executives of color in an industry dominated by white men. He worked on over $15 billion of transactions for hundreds of companies including Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, and Yelp.
He is a serial entrepreneur, starting 4 companies in technology, asset management, merchant banking, and media. He’s an active investor and advisor to multiple billion-dollar companies.
Dave is an artist and writer who loves to draw and write funny. He publishes a career advice column called “Breaking Bamboo,” and a cartoon series called “The ABC Life.”
He has an MBA from Harvard and dual degrees from The Wharton School and School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Pennsylvania.
Tell us a little bit about your background and how you ended up writing a book?
I am an Asian American who was below the poverty level in college and was born with a severe bilateral cleft lip and palate. The latter left me with a hole in my face and I had to endure treatments and 11 surgeries throughout my childhood. I wrote this book to provide inspiration to anyone who feels disadvantaged in any way – especially minorities, women, and people with disabilities. I intend to give 100% of the net proceeds from my book to charities that support kids with clefts, Asian Americans, and other disadvantaged groups.
What do you hope your readers take away from this book?
The key to getting ahead in the corporate world is by learning how to game the unwritten rules of any company. A lot of this is discernable by learning what motivates people and building incentives for them to help you advance your career.
What are the top three tools you are currently using to write, publish, and promote your books?
- Google Documents. It’s great for collaborating with others and getting feedback and also tracking changes and comments.
- Facebook and Instagram have been great for building followers and publishing content meaningful to my potential audience. The ability to showcase visuals items has also given additional dimensionality to my posts.
- Twitter has also been good but for a different reason. It has been helpful for dialogue and engaging in discussions that are meaningful to the potential audience for my book.
What were the top three mistakes you made publishing your book what did you learn from them?
- I assumed that writing the book would be the hardest part. In fact, the hardest part has been promoting and getting the message out regarding my book. Without an established base of followers, I’ve had to create so much more additional content to gather followers in advance of publishing my book.
- The writing itself hasn’t been hard; the editing has been the hardest! I incorrectly assumed that once I wrote a chapter, I would rarely have to edit it more than a few times. In hindsight, I’ve had to rewrite and edit my book dozens of times. Words that you originally wrote and thought were amazing quickly feel stale and tired after multiple times reading and editing it.
- The expectation I had in my mind that to justify writing a book a million people must want to buy it. I realized books that sell even just a few hundred copies make an impact on the world and can change peoples’ lives.
When will you consider your book a success?
When it is launched and people review it on Amazon and say it changed their lives!
Can you share a snippet that isn’t in the blurb or excerpt?
“Unrig Your Mind
If you care about money, this book is for you. If you want practical advice without the BS but don’t mind some acerbic humor that goes along with it, you’re in luck. If the do-nothing in the cubicle next to you is earning more than you, or you can no longer stomach hearing your mother’s sighs and your father’s tsk-tsks, or you need a kick in the pants—read this book!”
How have the pandemic and lockdown affected you or your new business?
The main effect has been on how to conduct my video conference meetings. It never ceased to amaze me how people nonchalantly deteriorate over time. At first, people are dressed as though they’re going to church in their Sunday best, but soon the scene devolves into something from the movie The Hangover. I tell people to have a little decorum and try to pretend they’re still in the office. Remember, you’re the same person who always laughed at old guys who forgot to zip up their pants after going to the bathroom. If you don’t course-correct soon, one day you’ll wake up and be that guy doing online meetings naked and not even know it.
What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?
I was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate, a severe facial deformity that if left untreated, literally leaves children with a hole in their face. I was bullied and shamed, as kids thought nothing of gawking at me and referring to me as “Elephant Boy.” I learned to deal with it by realizing that this “liability” could be turned into an “asset.” Ironically, being different—standing out in an obvious way before even opening your mouth—eventually had its advantages.
As a junior professional, at every meeting at which I was invited, I made a point of trying to make at least one interesting point. The thing about having a scarred face is that you’re going to be remembered, so if I succeeded in making just one comment that wasn’t totally stupid, I usually ended up being remembered as “that smart Asian guy with the scars who spoke up.”
What is the one thing you wish you knew before publishing your book?
That the promotion and marketing would be the hardest part!
Please share one thing new self-publish authors can do to gain more reviews on Amazon.
Get all your friends and pre-publication readers to write a review to get the ball rolling. I think it’s very different if you see a book with no reviews versus at least a few.
Can you share some of the marketing techniques that have worked for you when promoting your book?
The main thing I did was create a graphic novel that is 16 pages and is a workbook that readers can get for free if they sign up for my email list. This gave readers a taste of the cartoons inside my book and also shared some high-level tips from the book. I suggest giving “free content” away to garner followers and potential buyers of your book.
If you had the chance to start your career over again what would you do differently?
I say in my book I wish I could have become a cartoonist. I wanted to be the Chinese Stan Lee. I love telling stories and drawing and so this is what I would have done.
What’s a productivity tip you swear by?
Set your alarm clock for going to bed. Always go to bed early so you can wake up fully refreshed to start the day and begin writing.
What helps you stay driven and motivated to finish writing your book?
Deadlines. Making sure you set deadlines for chapters was key to me staying on track and getting done.
Can you recommend one book, one podcast, and one online course for entrepreneurs and authors?
- Freakonomics
I believe that understanding behavioral economics and cognitive bias is key to understanding people and ultimately getting ahead in your career. This podcast does the best job of breaking down these concepts into digestible components for the lay person.
What are you learning now? Why is that important?
I am learning how to be a Cohort Based Course instructor because I would like to turn my book into an online course. I envision helping to teach Asian Americans how to break through the bamboo ceiling.
If you only had $1000 dollars to promote a new book, knowing everything you know now, how would you spend it?
Facebook advertising. You can target by demographic and build a follower list that you own.
What’s your best piece of advice for aspiring and new authors?
Write about something only you have unique insight into and don’t worry about the size of the audience. Technology will allow you to find like-minded people who could potentially buy your book.
What is your favorite quote?
“In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not.”
– Albert Einstein
Who should we interview next and why?
Simu Liu the Asian American actor who plays Shang-Chi, the Marvel movie coming out today.
What is your definition of success?
I subscribe to the theory of happiness detailed in the Grant Study, which had a powerful impact on me. Conducted at Harvard Medical School, it tracked the lives of a group of Harvard grads until their 70s and 80s. Participants included a POTUS, John F. Kennedy; an editor of The Washington Post, Ben Bradlee; four men who ran for U.S. Senate; and a presidential Cabinet member. Classic underachievers. To me, the most fascinating elements of the study were the findings on what drives healthy aging.
They found that those who had the best mature adaptations or defense mechanisms against adversity fared the best. George Valliant, director of the program, explained, “The only thing that really matters in life are your relationships to other people. Happiness is love. . . . The short answer is L-O-V-E.” Note that payola didn’t make the list.
So I would define success as leading a life that leads to a happy ending and for most people that is building and having strong enduring relationships.
How do you personally overcome fear?
Visualize what those fears ultimately will lead to and recognize that it is never as bad as you think it will be.
How can readers get in touch with you?
Readers can find me by emailing me at dave at liucrative dot com or can follow me on my website at www.liucrative.com. Find my book The Way of the Wall Street Warrior on Amazon.
Random Author Interview: Around is Forward, Interview with the Author, Filipa Canelas
