#38: A Look Back At SEAmplified’s First Year
A recap and reflection of our journey in 2024, and looking ahead to 2025
Hey there, Zhan Tiam here, founder of SEAmplified.
Have you ever taken a roller coaster ride before?
A typical ride starts by going up the slope gently, reaches a climactic high, and goes down and up suddenly. Accompanied by sudden sharp turns and bumps, the ride is at turns exhilarating and scary.
This is exactly what SEAmplified’s journey has been over the past year.
The initial days
In January, SEAmplified started as a weekly newsletter that explained how politics affect the job prospects of youths in Southeast Asia. We wanted to help more youths in the region to get to know each other better, and tackling a common concern like getting employed felt like a good place to start.
The initial days were exciting. Subscriber numbers grew quickly, and it felt like we were on an upwards trajectory. We even thought we might eventually hit thousands of subscribers.
But the euphoria was short-lived.
By the end of our second month, we noticed that our open rate and subscriber growth had plateaued.
The problem? Our value proposition was unclear, topics were too random, and we fell short of reaching youths.
Had we become too focused on just growing numbers? I’m not sure, but I knew that we were losing our focus and direction.
After speaking to our readers, we decided to adopt a humanistic approach to storytelling while staying true to our mission.
We began by featuring inspiring youths of Southeast Asia through the Trailblazers series. We also commented on how youths are pursuing happiness, before switching to focus on how they’re Redefining Work.
This decision would give birth to some memorable stories that we’ve published this year.
Gearing Up
In April, we had our first profile—a Singaporean who moved to Vietnam to grow a wet wipes manufacturing company. It was my first attempt at interviewing a profile, and I was amazed by the fact that a Singaporean youth would choose to venture into Vietnam instead of anywhere else.
To my surprise, this became the most popular article on SEAmplified! We noted that readers enjoy human interest stories, and decided to stick to it. Other memorable profiles included a Singaporean who wanted to stop the brain drain in Myanmar, and an Indonesian music composer who hopes to go international.
They stood out to me, not just because I was inspired by them, but also because I got to catch up with them in person and forge a deeper connection. I enjoy meeting my connections in person, as that’s the way to build trust and friendship with people from different backgrounds. It’s also part of what we want to do, to create catalysts for growth and collaboration amongst Southeast Asia’s youths.
When it came to Redefining Work, a personal favorite was our analysis on whether it was okay for youths not to secure a summer internship.
A quick backstory about the piece: I was scrolling through my LinkedIn feed and chanced upon a profile who “happily shared that he does not have a summer internship”. The post stood out in stark contrast to the many internship posts shared by other university students, sparking my curiosity about the value of summer internships.
This is a glimpse of how we decide on topics to write about. As a youth-focused publication, we want to touch on issues that the region’s youths are concerned about. We draw inspiration from our everyday experiences, through conversations with friends and social media, and highlight the aspirations that we have in common.
In June, we did another round of surveys with our readers, and the results were encouraging! Many of you enjoyed the new verticals and suggested that we do short-form videos. That’s when we launched SEA Oddities, now a short-form video series demystifying our shared culture in Southeast Asia.
We also featured our Trailblazers profiles through a “3 questions” short-form video series, and collaborated with an artist influencer by getting him to sketch and befriend Filipino and Burmese strangers in Singapore. It has enabled us to reach thousands of accounts online, which was a great boost in our efforts to amplify the voices of Southeast Asia’s youths.
Doubts and renewed momentum
Yet as a first-time founder, there were times when I doubted if I made the right decision to start SEAmplified.
For one, the media landscape was already extremely saturated. This meant we would be competing with millions of publications and content creators all trying to capture your attention. Also, our focus was not exactly on delivering the latest headlines or viral news, so it would prove challenging for our content to gain traction quickly.
There were days when I wondered why some pieces of content failed to do well, and there were times when slow follower growth made me wonder if spending so much time and effort on SEAmplified was worth it.
And as a solopreneur, it was not easy to juggle between content creation and other aspects of the business.
So, what kept me going?
I’ll attribute it to two things—my underlying passion for fostering understanding between Southeast Asia’s youths, and the support of our readers, freelancers, and mentors.
In particular, I’d like to give a special mention to our freelancers and mentors who’ve dedicated time to support SEAmplified’s growth this year.
If you’ve been following our platforms closely, you would have “met” our freelancers through our content. Phoebe Yeo has been writing articles for our newsletter, while Sherlyn Ng is our video editor and host for SEA Oddities. They came up with many exciting topics, such as how Indonesians are freelancing their way out of unemployment, and how medicated oils are used across Southeast Asia. Some of these topics were beyond what I could think of!
Meanwhile, Julian Wong and Khairul Rusydi, entrepreneurs in the media and education space, agreed to come on board as my mentors. They gave valuable advice and insights based on their years of experience, and guided me into charting a clearer path for SEAmplified and myself.
On this note, I want to thank them for taking time out of their busy schedules to address my concerns and questions. Without them, I’d probably still be lost, and SEAmplified may not have seen the success it did this year.
With the support of our freelancers and mentors, a renewed momentum kept me going, opening doors to new opportunities and partnerships.
One key partner was Josephine Tan, a Singaporean who runs preschool centers and an education consultancy in Indonesia. I first connected with Josephine online a few months back, and she quickly became a staunch supporter after hearing about what we do at SEAmplified.
In fact, it was Josephine who made our first-ever business trip to Indonesia possible! She kindly arranged an itinerary for our visit to Bandung and brought us to several nature, heritage, and cultural sites. We are extremely grateful to Josephine for facilitating the trip, and we look forward to working with her to bring more youths to Indonesia to be inspired by the locals and opportunities there!
We also managed to establish content partnerships with institutions and organizations that are encouraging more youths to explore opportunities in Southeast Asia. They include Singapore Management University, Nanyang Technological University, and OSG Youth Alliance, who gave us the opportunity to work with them to amplify their Southeast Asian programs and expand our reach to more youths.
These content partnerships would also enable us to earn our first dollar this year! Generating revenue while keeping the publication up with no paywall is crucial in our efforts to reach out to more youths across Southeast Asia.
For that, we are grateful for the partners who resonated with our mission and chose to support us. We look forward to working with our existing partners and forge more partnerships with like-minded organizations in 2025.
Looking back, I never thought that any of these were achievable within our first year of operating, so it’s a big win for us by any measure.
These opportunities got me thinking: what more can we do to help youths thrive and survive in Southeast Asia in 2025?
Upcoming Plans
One thing’s for sure—our content direction will not change.
We will continue to tell inspiring and thought-provoking stories on how youths in Southeast Asia are charting their own paths in life. We will also continue to create exciting social media content to uncover the shared culture that we have in Southeast Asia.
By doing so, we want our stories to create new catalysts for growth, collaboration, and mutual understanding across our region, even as the rest of the world becomes increasingly dangerous and fragmented.
But we also recognize that creating content is just the first step in fostering understanding across the region. What we want to do next is to connect you with new ideas, possibilities, and opportunities across Southeast Asia in person.
This could be in the form of a getaway trip to a regional country, networking dinners, or discussion sessions with regional youths and professionals. You can expect us to be out and about engaging youths, through in-house events and outreach to schools and institutions.
And on that note, what else would you like to see on SEAmplified in 2025?
As we stick by our mission to amplify your aspirations in Southeast Asia, we also hope to hear from you. If there’s anything you think we could do to promote the region to more youths, or would like to work with us, do drop us an email at hello@seamplified.com.
And thank you for riding through 2024 with us. The journey continues.
Happy New Year.
As always, if you enjoyed today’s article, do follow SEAmplified on Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn for more exciting and exclusive content, hit the subscribe button, and tell us how we did in the poll below!
Have a new idea or lead for a story, feedback on our work, or just want to say hi? Email us at hello@seamplified.com.