NewCampus helps you fit learning into your life through daily discussion-led classes, hosted by virtual instructors, delivered in inspiring offline classrooms. Our team is global and remote first. We’re part nerdy, part creative but we all share a passion for changing the way people learn and grow. Keep life in beta.

Meet Eddy Chan, Head of Product at NewCampus, the balanced voice to our discussions and the glue holding the various cogs of our wheel together. Eddy is the team’s go-to guy for all stumbling blocks, for he probably knows everything about everything related to the product. When not troubleshooting at NewCampus, Eddy is probably dwelling in some video game universe or coming up with jokes that are so bad they are good! 

Tell us a little about yourself

If you believe music says a lot about someone like I do, then here’s my analogy of my 2019 Spotify Wrapped.

• I’m a global citizen (listened to artists from over 50 countries)
• I’m open to new experiences (genre-fluid)
• I’m consistently growing year-on-year (my minutes listened on Spotify grew an average of 20% for the past 4 years)
• I’m a sentimental person (my favourite artists/songs are still the same from 10-15 years ago)

What do you do at NewCampus?

On paper, I’m the Head of Product, which loosely translates to the jack-of-all-trades. I fill in the gaps in the business as needed. I’m someone that loves to be involved in multiple projects at the same time as I believe it helps in my own development. But my main responsibility is ensuring we have a product that our users love and our team is proud to be part of

What does your typical day at work look like?

9.30 am - Work usually starts with either a team meeting or browsing through Slack

11 am - Daily stand-ups with the membership team to ensure things are moving along with no blockers

1 pm - Check in on our Monday.com board to read summaries of meetings held by other people on the team and see if there are any blockers that I need to look into, I will also check on the progress of all ongoing projects to ensure things are on track

3 pm - I like to wind down a little and work on some smaller tasks here, it helps me get through the “boring” time of the day.

5 pm - I make it a point to check my Slack and email around this time as some people might be waiting on me to make a decision by the end of their workday.

6 pm - Review anything that is on me, this could be a new initiative that’s going out this week.

7 pm - Leave office (I tend to do all I can to avoid peak hour traffic)

Night - I find myself to be rather productive at night, there’s just something about the solitude that helps block out all the noise and allow me to work on bigger tasks or complex problems. I will put on some tunes in the background, dim the lights in my home office and get into the zone. 

I’m not a routine type of person, hence my days change quite a bit, we practice flexible work hours and that has allowed me to work on things at the right time.

What is your current focus at work?

Since it’s the start of the year, and as we step into fundraising, I’m working on refining our product strategy and building a roadmap of release for the rest of the year (and beyond!). I have a couple of projects that are in motion at the moment, one of which I’m particularly excited about - keep a lookout for an announcement in this space in the coming weeks!

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Three words that describe you?

Resilient, courageous, and not-so-funny-joker.

Why did you join NewCampus? What excites you about what you do?

It was the allure of the opportunity to be part of something that is bigger than oneself that made me join NewCampus. I met Will back in 2015 when he was working on QLC (Quarter Life Crisis), a platform that enables people to taste-test their next career risk-free. I like the challenge that he set for me and it was something that I knew I had to try to have a go at.

Since then, it’s been a roller coaster ride and the thing that still keeps me excited about coming to work is the problems that I get to solve. I’m one that seeks challenges and finds the thrill in figuring something complex out. I often get asked why I’m able to stay in the same company for so long, my usual response is because I’m still learning something new every day and the challenges I face gets harder and harder. 

How do you incorporate lifelong learning into your schedule?

I think having an innate curiosity in how things work naturally leads me in trying to find out the whys, hows and what-ifs. I prefer to consume knowledge through conversations and watching videos, I think Google is the best university out there - it has everything, come on! I keep a lookout for the class schedule and try to attend classes that are particularly of interest, I mean, I do get an extremely favourable staff discount for our classes :joy:

What/who inspires you?

People who are not afraid to dream, and people who are willing to risk it all and dedicate their lives to making their vision a reality.

Music, movies, tv-shows, conversations, biographies - there are plenty of channels and opportunities to get inspiration from. I think as long as you’re exposing yourself to new content and new people to get new perspectives, it’s not hard to find inspiration.

Share a book/podcast/article that inspired you and tell us why it impacted you

I came across this video of a graduation speech by an Australian comedian in my final year of university and it has stuck with me since. I still watch it from time to time to remind myself of the things he said. You can check it out here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TAuuyvIZjA

What do you do outside of work for fun?

I love football, I play every week and watch when I can. I’m also an avid gamer, to be honest, if I’m not doing this thing with NewCampus, I will most probably explore something in the eSports industry. I’m that one person that over-analyses a game, some might say I’m taking the fun out of a game, but to me, that’s how games should be enjoyed, understanding the mechanics behind it - talk about trying to game the game.

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What’s the best piece of advice you can give to anyone?

Put your head down and work with pride on whatever that’s in front of you, you never know where you might end up. 

I am where I am today not because I dreamed of it. I simply took opportunities thrown in my direction and did my work with a sense of pride. I’ve dabbled in customer success, sales, marketing, operations and project management since I joined the company and that ultimately led me to a position where I had acquired a well-rounded knowledge of different parts of the business - a key ingredient to building the product. 

Your favourite quote/motto

“Happiness is only real when shared” - Chris McCandless

Special shoutout in memory of Kobe Bryant: “Everything negative - pressure, challenges - is all an opportunity for me to rise.”

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Connect with Eddy on LinkedIn here 

If you are excited about joining the NewCampus team, check out our open roles here or come say hi at hey@newcampus.co ✨