Wen-Szu Lin: Lessons learnt from Franchise Failure to Scaling Uber in Asia - E696
"Nothing we did in China we knew. Nothing I did in Uber I knew how to do before. But I literally went in, like, 'Give me an hour or two, let me go learn it.' I learned the growth mindset in consulting... I realized that it's actually not rocket science for a lot of these things. You can actually learn it." - Wen-Szu Lin, Author
"Something is going to go wrong, and you can really take it as, 'Oh, this sucks,' or you can be like, 'Oh, you know what? That's a good learning moment.' There are three things I always ask our talent acquisition team to look for: hard work, a positive mindset, and a growth mindset." - Wen-Szu Lin, Author
"I was the first person internationally to get hired into Community Operations. As Uber kept scaling, other teams asked us to help do operational work, so we started taking up back-office operations. We just kept growing organically across Asia to teams of thousands. It became one of the largest teams at Uber that no one has ever heard of." - Wen-Szu Lin, Author
Wen-Szu Lin joins Jeremy Au to discuss his unconventional career path from IT consulting in the US to navigating the complex entrepreneurial landscape in China, and eventually building a massive internal organization at Uber. He shares the harsh realities and costly lessons of trying to scale an Auntie Anne's pretzel franchise in Beijing right around the 2008 Olympics. Together, they delve into why Western food and beverage concepts often struggle in Asian markets, the nuances of adapting to local consumer habits, and the logistical nightmares of setting up physical retail spaces.
Wen-Szu also explains how his string of entrepreneurial "failures" equipped him with the resilience and growth mindset needed to build Uber's Community Operations across Asia from scratch. Finally, he shares key insights from his books, The China Twist and Deliver, emphasizing why hard work, clear thinking, and the ability to learn on the fly are the ultimate career hacks for tech leaders and founders alike.
Check out Wen-Szu Lin’s books The China Twist and Deliver: The untaught lessons to growth hack your career at www.wenszulin.com
00:00 - Introduction to Wen-Szu Lin
01:47 - From US Consulting to Entrepreneurship in Asia
04:48 - Securing the Auntie Anne's Master Franchise Deal
09:55 - The Realities of Doing Business in 2008 Beijing
15:20 - Why the Pretzel Franchise Ultimately Failed in China
20:45 - Winding Down the Business and Pivoting to the Philippines
22:07 - Writing "The China Twist" to Process Failure
24:45 - Building Uber's Community Operations in Asia
27:54 - Writing "Deliver" and Growth Hacking Your Career
30:52 - The Three Key Traits of Successful Tech Talent
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/BHTvqHl3Jn4
Listen on Spotify: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHTvqHl3Jn4&list=PLl9u6ECOP8_7scb97PE3whKu4yJVizIOd
Keywords: Startup Failure, Uber Asia, China Market Entry, Growth Mindset, Franchise Business Operations, Tech Leadership, Career Development, Food and Beverage (F&B) Asia, Community Operations
