#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)***Follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn or TwitterContact us via our website to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve! Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show! ***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 life07:02 - Challenging adjustment setting in Australia as a child11:35 - Learning English watching TV12:42 - The desire to belong13:54 - Relationship with mindfulness and spirituality16:57 - Realising Law wasn’t an enjoyable career path19:35 - Most formative career experience22:34 - Single largest foreign investor in Western Europe23:47 - Re-connecting with Asian heritage24:39 - Working with mobile versions of Spotify and Facebook in 200928:11 - Seeding the early Australian startup ecosystem34:41 - Founding Qualgro VC, building a bridge between South East Asia and Australia36:40 - Learning to build deeper connections with people42:19 - Mindfulness practises during a work day45:42 - Educating his two children on guided meditations46:42 - What led to joining Harrison AI as Chief Strategy Officer54:58 - Government regulations in Health and AI58:17 - Rapid fire final sprint***