Enrich with Tech Entrepreneurship Wisdom and Life Advice — Meet with Carman Chan, Founder of Click Ventures

1CdL6fUN6 OHOiPFw989iCA
Meeting with Carman has raised 94 volunteer hours!

Sometimes the most meaningful and inspiring conversations happen over casual meals. The Time Auction Blog is a snippet of our meetings with people who have found passion in their lives and career.

Although many things are at halt due to the pandemic, this doesn’t stop us from making connections and sharing stories. At Time Auction Hong Kong, we’ve once again taken advantage of Zoom to connect with Carman Chan, the Founder of Click Ventures, to share with us her journey beginning as a serial entrepreneur to present venture capitalist.

Meet Carman Chan!

Carman was named one of the top 5 women to watch in Asia Tech (Nikkei Asian Review). Her passion for the technology industry and entrepreneurship began as early as her university years when the Internet was emerging. She had multiple successful exits as an entrepreneur before creating her new angel fund, Click Ventures.

With a focus on providing seed to series A financing to technology startups, Click Ventures is differentiated by offering mentorship from entrepreneurs with over twenty years of first-hand experience. Click’s profile includes more than 50 investments including Spotify.com, Docusign, Palantir.com, and more. It was also named the Most Consistently Top Performing Venture Capital Fund Managers by Preqin in 2019 with all three funds in the top quartile!

Carman frequently speaks and serves as a panel member at prestigious events around the world. She is also a best-selling author for several accelerated learning books, and was a tech columnist for various IT magazines for 8 years.

Breathe in…Breathe out…

“When life gives you lemon, make lemonade.” This popular saying reminds people to keep a positive attitude despite facing challenges. One of the keys to Carman’s success is her ability to de-stress, clear her mind and sustain her energy level through activities such as swimming or practicing yoga, which often gave her a sense of calmness before her meetings with investors.

“Find a way to discipline yourself to clear your mind and keep your energy level up.”

Carman lives a busy life and spends lots of time traveling. So what would Carman do when a swimming pool is unavailable for her to de-stress, or when she is unable to travel with a yoga mat to practice on? She went on Youtube and discovered a new form of standing yoga that allows her to practice yoga wherever and whenever she wants. This quick 20-minute yoga is believed to instill positivity according to a Harvard scholar, and Carman personally attests to its ability to mitigate jet lag.

This kind of resilience is a very important lesson for us to takeaway. She hopes everyone can find their own way to recharge and reboot; do anything your heart desires.

“The younger generation needs a methodology to reboot and refresh — it doesn’t have to be meditation, it can be listening to music, or even hiking.”

The Unexpected

Carman exhibited her calm and composed nature when we threw an unconventional question her way: If she were to design a billboard for the whole world to see, what would it say?

After some serious consideration, she walked us through her analysis. She thought, since it is a public billboard, she will avoid anything too personal, so that leaves commercial content. She decided on spotlighting Click Ventures by displaying photos of all the portfolio founders.

“I put in a lot of time to communicate with new start-ups.”

Carman’s passion for her work permeates her life, even in hypothetical decisions she has to make. Additionally, her professionalism extends beyond her work into her everyday life, even when faced with trivial matters. Carman has obviously led a very successful career, but how does she maintain work-life balance?

“Superhuman”

Carman has two children, who she referred to as her most worthwhile investments resulting in the biggest payoff. However, she acknowledged that as a working female with children, it was very demanding to balance being a mom and being a work woman. Nonetheless, she is confident that working moms with similar experience will naturally “level-up” and become a “Superhuman”.

Another thing that keeps Carman moving forward and persevere is the sense of community and long-lasting impact she was able to build over the years. She shared a story about a past project from more than ten years ago, a virtual world called 131UU. At that time, there were 3 million registrations when it launched; but the passing of an investor forced her to close several gateways, and eventually terminated the project to pivot to something else.

“I can’t believe those children still remember 131UU; what a surprise to find out they kept in touch through WeChat more than 10 years later!”

Turns out, the children who initially used 131UU remembers it until this day, and they formed a WeChat group to reconnect with users, share their past encounters, and reflect on lessons learned. This is a testament to the continuing impact Carman has within the community.

1PgtLywroPZlg6y0moYe14Q
WeChat group formed by past 131UU members.

Thank you, Carman, for raising 94 volunteer hours and all the volunteers who dedicated their time for HKFYG, Hong Kong Guide Dog Association and more!

For our upcoming experiences, visit Time Auction Hong Kong to volunteer and meet inspiring mentors!

This article originally appeared on our blog on Medium: https://timeauction.medium.com/enriching-us-with-tech-entrepreneurship-wisdom-and-life-advice-meet-with-carman-chan-founder-of-6797d26e83ed

Updated on 8 April, 2021
Share on

Volunteer Your Skills for Worthy Causes

Ever thought you could volunteer with your skills?

Discover volunteer projects where you can use your skills to support causes – all while building your resume, gaining references and making a difference!
Discover Projects
【2024義工活動】點樣加入義工行列?5大義工服務種類推介
你對「做義工」嘅認識有幾多?好多人都未必熟悉除咗賣旗籌款同探訪老人院之外,仲有咩其他類型嘅義工服務。究竟坊間有邊啲做義工嘅途徑,可以搵到適合自己嘅義工機會呢? 其實香港大大小小嘅慈善團體或非牟利機構  (NGO) 都會招募義工,而非牟利機構嘅義工服務範疇亦非常多元化,包括技能義工 (Skilled-volunteers),善用義工嘅個人技能同專長服務社會。你可以根據唔同嘅服務種類,或者按自己嘅喜好、關心嘅社會議題選擇義工機會。以下係5種常見嘅義工服務範疇同機構簡介畀你參考: 目錄 (一):動物福利 (二):長者服務 (三):青年發展 (四):環境保護 (五):社區服務 技能義工配對平台推介 常見嘅義工服務範疇(一):動物福利 如果你係狗奴、貓奴,或者鍾意動物,不妨考慮做動物義工!除咗有機會親身接觸毛孩之外,仲可以利用自己嘅一技之長,支援NGO嘅日常運作。雖然根據政府公佈的數據,動物棄養嘅數量有持續下降趨勢,但因近年的移民潮影響,保護動物慈善協會表示棄養寵物個案兩年升近三倍。因此,很多關注動物福利的團體都十分需要義工加入服務行列。 義工服務性質:清潔籠舍、照顧動物、活動推廣等 香港動物基金 Hong Kong Paws Foundation 香港動物基金係一間完全依靠慈善捐款同義工支持嘅動物福祉組織,希望拯救被虐待、遺棄同走失嘅動物。 香港愛護動物協會 SPCA (HK) 香港愛護動物協會係本港首間兼顧動物福利各方面嘅慈善團體,提倡善待動物,同時打擊同防止虐待動物。 Bring Me Home (Suppaw) Bring Me Home (Suppaw) 係一個寵物社交網站,亦係香港首個無償動物領養平台。 嘉道理農場暨植物園 Kadoorie Farm & Botanic Garden 嘉道理農場暨植物園為需要支持的農民提供農業援助,幫助他們過上獨立嘅生活; 並為公眾提供休閒同教育體驗。  Team for Animals in Lantau South (TAILS) 南大嶼山動物保護隊為有需要的貓狗提供救援、醫療、絕育、養育、庇護、寄養同領養服務,包括那些 流浪、被遺棄、受傷、虐待同忽視既貓狗,大力提倡動物福利,相信教育可以創造有利於香港動物嘅變革。 立即發掘更多! 常見嘅義工服務範疇(二):長者服務 隨著香港長者人口上升,越來越多關注老人家嘅機構都招募緊義工,希望為老友記送上更多關懷。 義工服務性質:家居維修、網頁設計、文字翻譯等 […]
Community Spotlight: Karen Yiu, Entrepreneur
Curious about what volunteerism and Time Auction events are all about? Meet our community who has shared their memorable experiences in their volunteering journey and meetings with our featured guests! Meet Karen Yiu! Karen joined the advertising industry after graduation. After contributing in the customer marketing field for more than a decade, she decided to […]
There Is No Failure — Dinner with June Leung, Founder and Chairperson of Beacon Group
Sometimes the most meaningful and inspiring conversations happen over casual meals. The Time Auction Blog is a snippet of our meetings with people who have found passion in their lives and career. “There’s no failure, only delayed success.” Change our mindset and our life changes. Thoughts have an incredible influence on our everyday life, ranging […]
Lessons on True Love from Arranging 100,000+ Dates— Dinner with Violet Lim, Co-Founder and CEO of Lunch Actually Group
Sometimes the most meaningful and inspiring conversations happen over casual meals. The Time Auction Blog is a snippet of our meetings with people who have found passion in their life and career, where we get a glimpse into their mentality behind their ventures. Being a female cupid is no easy job. Over the years, Violet, […]
The Founding Story behind Asia’s favourite snack — Lunch with Chris Hwang & Jonathan Shen, Co-founders of The Golden Duck
Sometimes the most meaningful and inspiring conversations happen over casual meals. The Time Auction Blog is a snippet of our meetings with people who have found passion in their life and career, where we get a glimpse into their mentality behind their ventures. Chris and Jonathan shared about their founding story creating Asia’s favourite snack […]
Set the Universe in Motion — Dinner with Azran Osman-Rani, Founder of Naluri
Sometimes the most meaningful and inspiring conversations happen over casual meals. The Time Auction Blog is a snippet of our meetings with people who have found passion in their lives and career. In a perfect world, you can be equipped with all the resources and skills you can ever need — with a great team […]
Speaking Up About Fun — Lunch with Maaike Steinebach, Chief Executive of Commonwealth Bank (HK)
Sometimes the most meaningful and inspiring conversations happen over casual meals. The Time Auction Blog is a snippet of our meetings with people who have found passion in their life and career, where we get a glimpse into their mentality and attitude behind their ventures and stories. Having worked in banking for 20+ years, Maaike, […]
Top