Bryan Tan is the CEO of COL Web, the international business center for COL Group, one of China's leading digital content providers, covering web novels, anime, movies and AI content.

He is a serial entrepreneur who started an advertising agency, a technology firm, a toys and collectibles business and even dabbles in smart IoT furniture.

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👋🏼 How would you explain your job to someone outside tech?

I head the international business unit for one of China's leading digital content providers, such as Web novels, movies, animation, comics and microdramas.

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🧐 What's something about you or your job that would surprise us?

My Mandarin is terrible but I work for a Chinese company where I present, negotiate and communicate with my colleagues who speak perfect mandarin!

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🏆 What has been the biggest highlight of your career so far?

Bringing the Legend of Hei, a Chinese Anime to the SEA region and setting up microdrama content collaboration with regional partners such as Mediacorp.

These are highlights because I've never been in the content industry so having to jump in, learn and achieve results within a year is a challenge I set to overcome... despite my limited mandarin fluency!

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🔍 What's a startup trend or space you're watching this year?‍

Micro short content such as microdramas and light animes (they tend to run only 1-2mins per episode). The newer generation consumers are all about swiping left and right, and giving you their attention span for 3 seconds. Especially AI assisted content, we are just at the beginning of the AI content revolution.

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💼 What advice would you give someone starting out in your industry?

‍Watch more videos, play more games (for research purposes, naturally) and make more friends with folks like BackScoop!

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‍🗣 What's one thing you can keep talking about for hours?

Anime

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🎥 What's your favorite movie/TV show?

I'm biased, so it would have to be the Legend of Hei!

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🍨 What's your go-to ice cream flavor?‍

Peanut butter and chocolate from any brand but chunky monkey from Ben and Jerry's can never go wrong.

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FYI. We've edited this interview for clarity.