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My High and Lows

January 19, 2026 #notes

My hero's journey

Low & struggles:

  • Grew up in B40 family (<RM5k household income, bottom 40% of wealth)

  • never had my own room/privacy until i started working

    • affected me socially, speech confidence, social skills, etc

      • Had speech delay as toddler, social anxiety as kid

  • an immigrant

    • Lack of opportunity for scholarship, PTPTN (Education Loan), different school standard

    • Was charged higher fees for education due to non-local status

      • Luckily obtained a welfare support partially fund my education

    • Lack of stable base, no inherited house, car, etc

  • Had to start working and supporting myself at 17

  • Had to pay for my sister uni tuition at 21

  • Dad had a stroke when i was 24 years old, parents had no insurace/retirement plan

  • got into $15k credit debt for parents medical bills and supporting my sister

Wins:

  • Competed in Math olympiads in primary school & won varsity chess comps at 12 and 16

  • Self-taught IGCSE and passed it at 14

  • Entered uni at 15 and graduated as best graduate / valedictorian

    • won Gold Vice Chancellor award, Best International Student Award, Gold FYP award, Gold Capstone award,

  • published game at 16

  • tech intern at 17 and tech club founder at 18

  • co-authored AI research paper with MIT at 19

  • cofounded ai consulting company at 21 with 6-fig revenue

  • co-founded vc-backed ai startup at 22

  • grew 10k followers and 100k users at 23