Evan Chow is the co-founder and CEO of Quest, a Gen Z-focused platform in Southeast Asia that helps individuals find gig-based opportunities. 

Backed by Antler and Goodwater Capital, Quest is on a mission to provide the next million jobs in Southeast Asia through flexible opportunities. 

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

My team and I are building a global but hyperlocal marketplace that empowers individuals to earn alternate sources of income via gig-based opportunities. 

In turn, we enable businesses to access thousands of skilled, local gig talents within minutes.

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

As the saying 'you are your best advocate' goes, we outsource 40% of our current operations to the incredible pool of gig talents on the Quest app. 

A big part of our marketing content, the building of the website, and the platform were contributed by our Heroes (what we call our gig talents).

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

Having the opportunity to start something that I truly care about along with my cofounders amidst Covid-19 and while being in school. 

We first started as a Telegram channel for Gen Zs to earn a side hustle and grew the channel to over 5,000 subscribers before building up our platform now with over 120K Heroes.

It is always a highlight to see huge growth in our user base when one of our TikTok videos goes viral. It goes to show how hungry the new generation in Southeast Asia is to earn more and work to reach their financial goals.

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

Gen Zs accounts for about 30% of Southeast Asia's population. 

We know that an overwhelming number of them desire to achieve financial independence. However, not everyone has the opportunities to earn side incomes, nor have the financial literacy to save or even get access to financial products. 

I am very interested to see and be part of getting Gen Zs in Southeast Asia to grow financially.

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

As much as it is advised that we should build quickly and learn. I learned that we should always validate as much as possible by running small experiments with users before investing huge development resources into building.

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

I can get very talkative on various topics. I become especially nerdy when we talk about how things work or why things happen, e.g. Physics, History

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🎥 What's your favorite movie/TV show? 

I am a huge fan of One Piece.

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🍨 What's your go-to ice cream flavor?

Cookies and cream‍.

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FYI. We’ve edited this interview for clarity.