Episode Themes (timestamps below)* Shelli's upbringing in Australia as a refugee * Her non-linear career path (Scientist → Real Estate → Venture Capitalist) * The importance of networking & taking chances * Proptech investment themes across APAC & impact of COVID-19 on startups * Thoughts on cultural & gender barriers in the workplace

About Shelli TrungShelli Trung is the Managing Partner for REACH Australia and Southeast Asia. REACH is a scaleup program for the real estate industry created by Second Century Ventures (SCV), an early-stage technology fund backed by the National Association of Realtors®. SVC is among the largest proptech funds globally with a portfolio of 100+ investments across mortgage, finance, marketing, big data and hardware including success stories such as DocuSign (IPO $6B+), August Home (sold to Assa Abloy), HouseCanary ($63M+ Series C) and Updater ($1B+).Prior to this, Shelli was an active proptech angel investor with a global portfolio of startups from New York, Shanghai and Australia. She was the Investment Fund Manager for Queensland University of Technology CEA where she oversaw a portfolio of 30 seed/Series A investments. Shelli has spent 10 years in corporate innovation successfully deploying new technology across the banking, medical and transportation sectors.https://nar-reach.com/australia/About PDFRemember to subscribe to the podcast and follow us on Facebook & LinkedIn. Also sign up to our newsletter:http://professionaldevelopmentforum.org/Timestamps1:55 - Introduction2:55 - Shelli’s refugee experience; resilience & work ethic.10:00 - Thoughts around refugees & migrants.12:30 - Growing up in Australia, Australian vs US entrepreneurial culture, lack of guidance, lack of diversity in senior roles.18:00 - Advice for young professionals in advancing their career, power of networks, being open to opportunities & experiences.26:00 - Shelli’s non-linear path from neuroscience to real estate.32:00 - Seeing investment opportunities after the global financial crisis, the opportunities in Asia now, Australia not utilising our Asian talents & capabilities.39:00 - Examples of Australian startups with Asian roots, Australia & the Asian Century.42:00 - What is REACH Australia? Venture capital & real estate tech businesses, the opportunities in APAC (Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia).47:00 - What sort of businesses / startups does the REACH scaleup program accept? Digital transformation vs the traditional mindset of real estate landlords. Impact of COVID-19 on startups.58:30 - Thoughts on venture capital “dry powder”. Is this a problem? Don’t focus on the funding, focus on the customers1:02:00 - US vs Australia entrepreneurship, founders, startup culture.1:06:00 - Thoughts around cultural & gender barriers in the workplace. There is no glass ceiling in the investment industry.1:09:30 - Wrapping up, future plans, how to contact Shelli.