Ky-Nam

👨‍🚀 20s y/o sharing tech, biz, personal growth & memes as I build my startup

I'm a Southeast Asian who have studied and worked in France, Hong Kong, and Vietnam as a programmer, policy consultant, and business analyst

I have built tech products & policies for the EU-China-ASEAN region, and have spent thousands of hours volunteering to help young people :)

I don't beieve in a linear career path. I'm hustling as an indie hacker to build the next big thing, while sharing my thoughts on political, economic, and cultural challenge in Asia and beyond

04/03/2025

Am I checking off another item from my yearly goals 3 years ago ? 🥹

Publishing as a co-author in a Q1 journal with the world’s best expert on Southeast Asian politics and an unprecedented experiment on youth electoral behavior (that even Vietnam’s security wanted a meetup with me for doing lol)

Can a start up founder (hopefully after an exit) go back to a policy maker career in Vietnam?

20/10/2024

Building a tech start-up is f*cking stressful when you're solo & nothing works

Today, I texted my best indie friend Lam about a complex pipeline I've been building for our new startup.

It was not good news: the pipeline doesn't work - and we can't launch our product yet

if you want to know what we are building - I'm putting it down below

Here's the thing - we're co-founders, but we're thousand of miles apart - Malaysia and Vietnam.

Also - we're balancing building this with earning an income to support our lives. We get sick almost on a weekly basis. It's really sad seeing the text from your partner but you can't do anything but wish him well.

But you know what keeps us going?

The unwavering belief we have in each other.

Every day, despite the distance, despite the setbacks, we check in. We share our progress, our frustrations, our small victories. It's not just about the product anymore - it's about supporting each other through this rollercoaster ride.

I wouldn't trade my guy for anyone face to face. We've known each other for years and failed together to build this level of trust.

And async communication is the only way to keep us sane while building together while earning money to support our dream

To all the young grads out there, feeling lost without a "real job," doubting your decisions to chase your dreams - I see you. I am you.

People might question why we're doing this. Why we're not taking the safe route, getting stable jobs, building careers the "normal" way.

When you find a co-founder/partner who believes in you, who you trust implicitly, who's willing to weather the storms with you - that's worth more than any fancy office or impressive job title.

When nothing works, and doubt creeps in, having someone who gets it is everything.

Failed together. Dreamed together. Now, building together.

It makes all the difference in the world.

18/10/2024

How many Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Elon Musk have died in their 20s because they were born in the wrong place?

As geo-politicians around the world look at footage of the last moment of Sinwar - the leader of Hamas, there's another footage that haunts me: the last moment of Shaban al Dalu - a 19 y/o Computer System Engineering student in Gaza.

Speaking in uncommonly good English, Shaban shared his stories online to raise fund to help his family survive - some of his last words were:

"I used to have big dreams, but the war has ruined them. It has taken a toll on me, making me physically and mentally sick... Time feels like it's stopped in Gaza, and we're stuck in a never-ending nightmare,"

2 days ago, he was burned alive in an airstrike. His mother perished with him.

As a young person building my own tech startup, I couldn't imagine how lucky I am.

Talent knows no borders. But opportunity does.

And I couldn't help but wonder what Shaban was bearing on his shoulders. Not his dream, but the survival of his family.

I can't help but wonder:

How many brilliant minds have we lost? Not to a lack of potential. But to the cruel lottery of birth.

In another life, Shaban al Dalu could've been the next tech visionary.

Instead, at 19, he perished in flames.
Trapped in a war zone.
Dreams extinguished.

His story haunts me:

↳ A computer engineering student
↳ Displaced 5 times
↳ Fundraising to escape
↳ Killed by an airstrike

"I used to have big dreams," he wrote.

Don't we all?

But some dreams are snuffed out before they begin.

It's easy to celebrate success stories.
A lot harder to mourn the potential we'll never see.

16/10/2024

i tried to create a virtual machine to fake my digital presence in Singapore

spoiler alert: it was a waste of time and proof that I was stupid

so I'm posting on socials again after a while.

I want to reach my audience in different countries, so I needed the algorithms to pick up that I'm in Singapore.

but my vpn didn't work. I got the desktop client which aggressively blocked all sites (not just social media), including sites I need that agressively block vpn

so I thought, why not set up a persistent VM hosted in a Singapore's server which would be logged in to all of my socials all the time?

sounds smart, right?

But then...

I realized my vpn provider had a chrome extension. And it did everything I need that the desktop client couldn't:

- geo-spoofing
- bypass vpn for certain sites
- starts vpn upon launching browser...

so just posting this to remind all smart people out there:

=> please don't reinvent the wheel just because you think you have a technically fancy solution.

=> Find a problem and (most importantly) a simple way to solve it. That's how you know you're smart.

*please don't judge I'm just ranting sometimes*

24/05/2024

Who said software engineer can't make a company go viral? (not me)

Sometimes, all we need is just a "Hello World"

Whoever maid this commit, should get a raise :D

You can go to the mentioned URL to try it out - do you see it?

22/05/2024

I got kicked out as a Student Association Rep at University Hall - HKU

Ironically - I feel like this is the start of something new :)

2 years ago, I set foot in Hong Kong.

- I was the only Vietnamese in my year at HKU.
- I knew neither any friends nor Chinese :)
- I am an introvert

And worst, the only Hall that accepted me was the one furthest from campus.

2 years on, the "worst" thing turns out to be "best."

I couldn't be more grateful for:

- Being part of the first Student Association with international members in HKU history

- Building our digital presence (including the best Hall website at HKU) to reach 1000's of students overseas

- Feeling welcomed by my local / international brothers from Hong Kong, Mainland China, Pakistan, Korea, Seychelles, India, Bangladesh, America, Malaysia, and so many more.

University Hall is one of my best memories of Hong Kong.

(yes, it is a castle that we live in).

It's one of the reasons why I think Hong Kong has treated me so well, of all places I have been to.

Prof. Beau Lefler, our Warden (the gentlteman in the black gown) said that it's so rare that you can be part of a community that embrace change for the better.

And I'm proud of what we have done together at our Castle :D

It's hard to survive in the world as an introvert, let alone contributing to it.

Yet here, I found my place.

Thank you, and may our paths cross again soon.

20/05/2024

I can't believe that AI can now make your wear anything...

This is either taking virtual try-on to a whole new level.

Or a very dystopian future ahead where your identities will be mass impersonated.

I can think of different ways this tech can be revolutionary:

- Customized AND personalized clothing for any style, any size
- VR applications for hyper-realistic skins
- Most near term, probably virtual try on & e-commerce

Yet, I can also think of many ways this tech can be misused.

What comes to your mind first?

*It's also open-source - link in the comment

17/05/2024

If you watch TED Talks, their AI commercial will make you go crazy

TED Talks says that everything in this video, except for the TED logo, was made with OpenAI's Sora video model.

They announce that "more ground breaking AI will be coming soon to TED"

This video looks amazing to me :D It feels like a time-lapse through all of the visionaries who have every stood on TED.

But you know what is surpising?

Here're some of the top comments in reaction to this video's release:

"THIS is what TED would look like in 40 years? A random generated video that doesn't make much sense +meat slabs?"

"Wow, it really looks like s**t!"

"Do everyone a favour and keep it unreleased" - probably referring to Sora

What are your thoughts?

15/05/2024

I'm sorry. AI fooled me into posting fake news ... kinda ...

2 weeks ago, I shared a viral video about a film made with OpenAI's Sora video - "Airhead by ShyKids"

It was the best I, or anyone for that matter, have ever seen.

But here's the catch:

The video used a ton of rotoscoping and manual VFX.

A 'head' would pop back on, and the balloon colors would keep changing from generation to generation.

The limitations of Sora became apparent.

↳ Consistency is a challenge. The same prompt can generate different results each time.

↳ Precise control over the output is still elusive. Getting the exact shot you want is hit or miss.

↳ Post-production work is essential. The Airhead video needed extensive editing and compositing.

The Shy Kids team, who created Airhead, had to get creative:

- Using hyper-descriptive prompts for consistency.
- Generating 300 times more footage than needed and editing it down.
- Manually fixing artifacts like unwanted faces on the balloon.
- Applying color grading, film grain and flicker to tie it all together.

TL;DR - Researchers and developers of generative AI tools really need to prioritize consistency and control.

But despite the limitations, Sora is a remarkable tool.

With a team of just 3 people, Shy Kids created Airhead in under 2 weeks.

What do you think?

Does this prove that humans are still super important in the "new normal" of Generative AI?

Address

Ho Chi Minh City

Website

https://withkynam.com/

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