Alumni Spotlight Stories: Jason Teo

During his freshman year, Jason Teo interned at Tangible Brand Consultants. He then interned at Bank of America Merrill Lynch as a Summer Analyst in Operations and spent another summer at Aberdeen Asset Management. In his final year in business school, he interned as a Summer Analyst at Goldman Sachs in Equities Sales and Macro-FX Sales. Goldman Sachs then offered him a full time role in Cross-Asset Structured Sales and this was where he worked from 2014 to April 2019. While at Goldman Sachs, he continued his passion for gaming and ran a gaming blog.

Upon hitting 30, he decided to pursue his passion, and left his job at Goldman Sachs to become a Manager at Garena, focusing on regional strategy and production. Earlier this year, he became Head of Business Development at ONE Esports.

Q: Could you share a bit about yourself ?

I graduated in 2014 and joined Goldman Sachs in June that year in structured solutions. This tied in nicely with my education at NUS, where I took a lot of quantitative finance modules. The 5 years I spent there turned out to be a defining period of my life. What I learnt in my first 2 years was very different from what I was taught in school. Simply put, what I learnt in Business School was a prerequisite to understand what goes on in the markets. However, it was insufficient. You can only truly understand while you are on the job. In the later years, you will then learn some business development knowledge.

When I first joined Goldman Sachs, I made a promise to myself: to make it through my time there and learn everything I can about fixed income markets. At the end of 5 years, I decided that I wanted to pursue my passion. It was not the case where banking was not enjoyable – my colleagues and bosses are still some of my closest friends. I was fortunate to be in a nurturing environment where my colleagues understood my move and supported me every step of the way. The transition was a move purely out of passion, as video games are things that are very close to my heart.

When I was 2, I was diagnosed with cancer in my left eye and had to replace it with a prosthetic eye. As a result, I was very conscientious of my looks, which resulted in problems fitting in and socialising in school. Video games turned out to be an avenue for me to make friends.

I learnt in life and especially from working in an investment bank that no matter how severe the consequences of a mistake, there is always a way to fix the problem. The only thing that cannot be solved are regrets in life. Hence, I realised that I needed to pursue my passion. When I turned 30, I realised that there was no better time to make the switch.

Q: You had a variety of experiences in internship experience – from consulting and transaction banking to middle office work in markets and asset management. Can you tell us more? 

My first internship experience was with very experienced consultants. I was very fortunate to learn from them. I have since then applied what I learnt from consulting to finance.

Then, I did operations in Merrill Lynch. There was so much work there that I thought tasks could be managed better and faster. I optimised processes in the backend for the team through VBA.

After that, I went on to Aberdeen for an internship in fund management. My belief was that to work in banking, I needed to experience the whole cycle, from back office to front office, which explains my varied internship experiences.

Ultimately, I chose front office in structured solutions sales because the people I met changed my perspective. They made me realise that I could learn a lot of soft skills from them. There was a huge difference in the way people in the sales department interacted with people, as compared to others. I believed that trading was something that can be learnt from books, but soft skills can only be learnt from the right people. It is the X-factor behind the way these people presented themselves. That was something I wanted to learn, and the reason why I chose sales.

Q: You made a very bold and interesting career jump, from banking to gaming. What are the differences in your roles, and was it easy to make the move?

The skills you learn in banking allows you to ease into another industry easily. In an investment bank, things happen at a very fast pace and the only way you learn is trial by fire. You learn very essential interpersonal skills in banking, which also allows you to easily transit into another industry. As there are ups and downs in the market, building and managing relationships with your clients become extremely important.

Once you have the investment banking experience, you would likely feel that things outside of investment banking go at a much slower and easier pace. In investment banking, you work in the trenches and you build character.

Hence, I feel that the things I had to learn about after transitioning to Garena are on the technical side. I have an intuition of the business, but the P&L of video games are entirely different – that is what I am still learning today.

Q: How can a business student find a job in gaming?

You have to ask yourself an important question: what can you offer as a student? You need to be talented in this fast-growing industry.

One question students can expect is: “I know you’re passionate, but what can you offer?” Hence, students need to showcase skills, interests or expertise that they can provide outside of studies – a marketing portfolio or a blog about how to approach things.

Q: Being in the industry for so many years, what would you say are the traits you look for when hiring interns or full-timers?

First of all, in my perspective, I believe that Singaporeans often have a good grasp of technical skills. Therefore, I would say that the most challenging part for us would be marketing and selling ourselves. How do we differentiate ourselves from the 30-50 other top-tier students? Everyone is stellar on paper. You have to be able to market yourself according to what the interviewers are looking for. For example, Sales & Trading is very fast-paced. With that in mind, you probably have to show that you are a self-learner, resourceful, and calm under pressure.

Another way you can stand out is in the experiences you have. Internship experience is one major component, and it would be preferable if you are strategic in the internship roles you pick up. You cannot have vastly different internships such as internships ranging from Marketing, Operations, and Finance. It has to tell a story and show your passion.

We are also looking for someone who can understand, not just someone who can memorize theories.

A common mistake students in Singapore have is that we plan too late. Students should start planning right from their freshman year, and every single line in the resume has to add value. If you have to take a gap year to find out what you want to do, or to try out internships, I would advise you to do so. Spending one year for the experiences and internships is a good trade-off.

Students should also know their strengths and play on them. Know your strengths so that you can market yourself well.

Q: What would you say to students who are stuck between choosing something they are passionate about and something practical to do as a career choice?

There is no right or wrong. It depends on your beliefs and values in life. For me, pragmatism comes first.

According to each individual’s beliefs, the next key step would be to decide on your goals. Once you have decided on what you hope to achieve, you can then choose which path you wish to take.

I would like to advise undergraduates to not take the time in university for granted and utilise this time fully to understand what you hope to pursue in life.