{"id":3848,"date":"2023-01-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-16T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/?p=3848"},"modified":"2023-01-13T08:51:22","modified_gmt":"2023-01-13T00:51:22","slug":"daily-markup-663-john-tan-of-saturday-kids-doyobi-on-why-education-today-is-absurd-and-the-lessons-he-learned-as-an-angel-investor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/?p=3848","title":{"rendered":"Daily Markup #663: John Tan of Saturday Kids &amp; Doyobi on why education today is \u2018absurd\u2019 and the lessons he learned as an angel investor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh4.googleusercontent.com\/X6ACesFgD8j-MWWUdmDRg_PAJxSSz7xbodYF1DGcm32L3dXsdontRSquOMAy73m4j6ZTypE_EYFObdx7r09UOTekSPEm0FPm28GWerfA4iWSzyGG1XqKxXhUQ_jr-RV4HJ1bmcss5BowrWOfoSp7umQgfiotcOolXzE50D-t5D63mu49t7-uLEif3048tg\" alt=\"\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Credit: John Tan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>On learning &amp; unlearning<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Did you know that John Tan, founder of 500-backed edtech company <a href=\"https:\/\/www.saturdaykids.com\/\">Saturday Kids<\/a> has also been an angel investor for over a decade? He has <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/3XkDxi5\">invested in close to 100 startups so far<\/a>, including recognizable names in tech such as Ninja Van and Chope.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Some of you may also know his other company, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.doyobi.com\/\">Doyobi<\/a>. Doyobi (Saturday in Japanese) was founded in 2017 as a spin-off of Saturday Kids &#8211; when Google came knocking on his door to invite the team to run Code In The Community, the largest free coding program in Singapore.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201cDoyobi\u2019s mission is to equip every child with the skills to thrive in a rapidly changing world,\u201d John explained. \u201cThe entire education system is built on the premise that the average student exists. That kids know the same things, learn the same way, at the same age. It\u2019s completely absurd. Why do we persist with a one-size-fits-all system?\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201cI believe the purpose of education is to instill the joy of learning and help young people make their way in the world,\u201d he added. \u201cEducation as it is today does quite the opposite. Kids hate learning (some even have a phobia of learning) and come out of college completely unprepared for what life throws at them.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>After a few, shall we say, rather interesting experiences with founders, John picked up an important lesson: \u201cThese days, I hardly invest in founders I don\u2019t know. They may be brilliant, but if they don\u2019t know how to inspire the team, manage people, and do right by investors, I\u2019m not getting my money back.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>His advice for his younger self? \u201cDecide for yourself what is important to you and what makes you excited about getting out of bed every morning. Or, as we like to say at Doyobi, be an original thinker with a sense of purpose.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Read the full interview <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/3XkDxi5\">here<\/a>. A subscription may be required.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On learning &amp; unlearning<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3849,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[322],"tags":[470,562],"class_list":["post-3848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily","tag-doyobi","tag-saturday-kids"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Daily Markup #663: John Tan of Saturday Kids &amp; Doyobi on why education today is \u2018absurd\u2019 and the lessons he learned as an angel investor - Markup<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/?p=3848\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Daily Markup #663: John Tan of Saturday Kids &amp; Doyobi on why education today is \u2018absurd\u2019 and the lessons he learned as an angel investor - Markup\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On learning &amp; unlearning\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/?p=3848\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Markup\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/500southeastasia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-01-16T16:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-01-13T00:51:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Screenshot-2023-01-11-at-10.47.14-AM.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1798\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1116\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ching Yee Ho\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/\",\"name\":\"Markup\",\"description\":\"Serving bite-sized news on 500 Southeast Asia&#039;s portfolio companies and insights to fuel your momentum in life and business.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/?p=3848#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Screenshot-2023-01-11-at-10.47.14-AM.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Screenshot-2023-01-11-at-10.47.14-AM.jpg\",\"width\":1798,\"height\":1116},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/?p=3848#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/?p=3848\",\"name\":\"Daily Markup #663: John Tan of Saturday Kids &amp; 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