Andy Molinsky: [00:00:01] Siqi Mou is the Co-Founder and CEO of HelloAva, an AI-powered personal skin care consultant. She's a former financial news anchor at Bloomberg TV and, also, held several positions at Morgan Stanley, PIMCO, and the Federal Reserve prior to starting HelloAva. Siqi is also a concert pianist, and has been for over 20 years, and currently serves as the Music Ambassador for Carnegie Hall.

Andy Molinsky: [00:00:29] Siqi received her MBA from Stanford, her MPA from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and she has a BA in Economics from Stanford University. Siqi's been profiled by Forbes, Elle, Cosmopolitan, Allure, Fast Company, Refinery29, Tech Crunch, Business Insider Inc., Chatter, and, now, from the Dorm Room to the Board Room too; and was awarded Inc. Magazine's 30 Rising Stars Under 30 in 2018 and L'Oreal's Women in Digital in 2017. Siqi, thank you so much for being here with us.

Siqi Mou: [00:01:05] Thank you. It's an honor.

Andy Molinsky: [00:01:06] So, tell us a bit about what you do now. You've done a lot of things but maybe you can bring us through your journey. Maybe let's start at Stanford when you're studying Economics, and what brought you from there to where you are now. I know there's a lot of stuff in between, but if you can sort of give us a sense of your journey.

Siqi Mou: [00:01:29] Yeah, absolutely. So, when I was still studying in college, I always felt like there's something I could potentially do to solve a problem and change the world we live in. So, when I was in college, I wanted to be able to do something. I was a very passionate pianist, and I wanted to be able to do something in the intersection of music and economics or business. So, my first job I took was actually an internship at Warner Brothers in LA, so that I can feel -- I felt like I could learn a little bit about how to run a music business but, at the meantime, be exposed to the artist and creative industry.

Siqi Mou: [00:02:14] And that job has led me to be really interested in the finance and economic side of the things. And although I really liked the nature of that job, I didn't feel like it was challenging enough, and I didn't feel like the need to climb up a corporate ladder. And therefore, I decided that after college, I'm going to go to a big financial firm where I'm surrounded by very competitive and very driven people. And even though I didn't get to work with creatives and with musicians all the time, at least, it was a good training opportunity.

Siqi Mou: [00:02:52] So, that landed me to my first job, which is at Morgan Stanley in New York. And I was in charge of covering a lot of the official institutions like World Bank and International Finance Group. And then, also, the big central banks around the world like the Bank of China, the Bank of Japan who does a lot of treasury trading with our bank.

Siqi Mou: [00:03:13] But then, I didn't feel that satisfied. I didn't feel that was what I wanted in the long term. It was a great job in the short term to train my analytical skills, and to train professionalism, and, obviously, a good place to start. But deep in my heart, I still wanted to be able to solve a problem, like I said earlier, and create something that's influential to the world.

Siqi Mou: [00:03:36] And I remember actually when I was in college, I had this experience of having acne, and then feeling pretty insecure about myself, and I just didn't really know what to do with it, and it was a very dark period of my time. And I'm go in to my friends. These are friends who also have acne problem before, but they cleared up somehow, and I asked them for help, and gave me all these recommendations.

Siqi Mou: [00:04:02] And when I started using these recommendations, it didn't really work well on me. And even though these are products that my friend raved about, absolutely loved, and they were like, "Oh my god, just buy these, and it will clear your acne," I was very excited and very hopeful, but didn't work because our skin is different.

Siqi Mou: [00:04:22] So, in business school, fast forward two years after that, I decided that I'm going to try to solve this problem that's so close to my heart, and it affected my own teenage life so much and when I was in college, and see if we can use modern technology to solve it. And that's why we brought this idea to a classroom where we were able to experiment and interview a lot of prospect customers, and then be able to understand what is the biggest pain point that we're trying to solve. And then, kind of figured out what that product could be with technology and disruption in order to really lead women -- and men as well -- to the right set of skincare products, so that they can get to the products without going through all these trials and errors, without going through all this disappointment, and then, hopefully, give them better, and more beautiful, and more clear skin. So, that's where HelloAva was born back in my MBA program.

Andy Molinsky: [00:05:30] And so, you had this idea for HelloAva. You started to experiment with it at Stanford. And then what? You graduated and tell us about your next steps.

Siqi Mou: [00:05:41] Yes. So, I think that we were pretty lucky in the sense that we went through a class project, which was systematically taught in a way that kind of gave us the idea of what it feels like to start a business, like how do you go through all these prototyping, how to go through all these user interviews, and understand what is the part of market fit before you even start building it. So, you build the products, and you already have some confidence knowing that this is what the markets want, and this what users want, and therefore, I'm going to build a product to satisfy those needs.

Siqi Mou: [00:06:18] So, it's very much like when we use this thing called business model canvas -- I would call it the BMC -- which is created by my professor, Steve Blank, who is sort of the guru in Lean Startup Methodology. So, after we prototyped all of these, we presented our idea in this last final class. And there, we got pretty lucky there that a lot of the guests, who our professor invited to the class, were actually venture capitalists from Silicon Valley, and were the angel investors, and some of them are just interested in the startup world.

Siqi Mou: [00:06:55] So, after this class, we actually got quite a lot of people inviting us to pitch at their office. And by the time that we graduated from business school, we actually got a few offers to fund our business. And then, my original plan was actually going back to finance. I worked at PIMCO before my first and second year in MBA, and I was almost decided to be back in finance. But after that we got these term sheets and something, we decided, "You know what, if not now, then when? If it's not us, then who?" So, we decide to take a chance on ourselves.

Siqi Mou: [00:07:36] And that's kind of like the whole point of going to Stanford Business School too is that this professor encouraged you to take a chance on yourself when you're still young, when you don't have kids or family yet. So, I decided I'm going to take the risk for the first time in my life, and just do something that feels a little scary, a little unsettled, but close to my heart, and very passionate about, and go for it. So, that's when we decided to incorporate a company, take the funding, and give up my career in finance.

Andy Molinsky: [00:08:11] So, very interesting. I actually want to rewind just a bit because we talked before we even got on air now about where you're from. You're from China. Actually, to just sort of fill out the picture, how did you get from China to Stanford, and then start on this track? Like, tell us just a little bit about that. And then, I want to come right back to where we were.

Siqi Mou: [00:08:35] Great question. So, a lot of people actually ask me that question because, I mean, now, obviously, US has so many international students from all around the world. But back then, almost 11 years ago, it wasn't as easy and as popular. So, it was quite a tough fight. We had to pave our own path in a way that required a lot of hustling, a lot of just information.

Siqi Mou: [00:09:01] And so, for me, it was actually a little bit of serendipity. So, when I was -- You mentioned I'm a pianist for over 20 plus years. And so, when I was a kid, I used to be this -- I was pretty good. I was also very competitive, especially in piano back then because there's not a lot of other things that you can be competitive about at home. So, I played the piano. I practice a lot. I think, I practiced more than most of the kids do, partially, because my mom was just so harsh, and, personally, I actually wanted to be the best in what I do.

Siqi Mou: [00:09:38] So, when I was a kid, I actually got selected as a young ambassador or ambassador for China to promote arts around the world. So, one of the tours -- We do tours all time. One of the tours that we did was back in 2000, I think, the year 2000. Well, it was a long time ago, and in the US, on the West Coast. So, what we did was we visited San Francisco, and Las Vegas, and LA. And one of the stops we made was actually at the Dinkelspiel Auditorium at Stanford University. So, back then, I was very impressed by how beautiful this campus was. I had no idea how hard it was to get in, obviously, but I was like, "Wow. If I can come here to to study, that would be amazing."

Siqi Mou: [00:10:26] And I went home, and I told my mom about it, and they were -- I mean, my parents are pretty westernized in a way because they've in the business with Americans and Europeans for a long time. They're both entrepreneurs. So, my parents were like, "Wow. That's a big treat. That's really hard to get into." But then, I was like, "Oh, but then, I can give a try." So, my mom was like, "Then, you should figure out what are some of the steps. You don't just get in. You have to take the test. You have to write an application and all of that stuff."

Siqi Mou: [00:10:57] Those things are not that common back then in China. Now, a lot of Chinese students go to the US for college straight from high school, but back then, it wasn't quite okay. So, I got a lot of books to read about what is the procedure, how do I go online and register for these classes, and to take and also to register for their exams, and then how do I even apply for colleges and stuff.

Siqi Mou: [00:11:25] So, it took a lot of effort, obviously, for me to understand the entire college application process in the US. And I've decided, "You know what, I'm going to give a shot." And, obviously, in my essay 10 years later after that trip, I mentioned about my experience as an art ambassador for China, and how I performed piano at the Stanford campus, which is a very special experience, and that's what kind of got me to think about it. And  I applied early action, and that they loved the experience that I was so kind of fated to come to this school back then. And I did pretty well also in my test scores, and good recommendations, and stuff, so I got in.

Siqi Mou: [00:12:13] So, after I got into early action, I didn't even apply to other schools because this is what I want to do, and this is what I dreamed about eight years ago, and that was it. Yeah, and then, at 2007 of September, I was a freshman at Stanford.

Andy Molinsky: [00:12:29] That's a great story. Really, really, really great story. So, now, let's fast forward. I have a couple of advice types of questions for you for our audience who are mostly undergraduate students or recently graduated students, not exclusively but mostly. What misconceptions do you think young people have when entering the workforce? So, you've kind of entered the workforce a couple of times because you entered out of Stanford out of college. Then, you entered again out of MBA in very different capacities, right. You've worked in more formal companies. You're now heading up a startup and so on. What misconceptions do you think young people have about sort of moving from college to the professional world?

Andy Molinsky: [00:13:24] So, one is, I think, especially for business school students or students with a little bit of economics kind of background, when I was in college, and I think most of the economics students, those are probably a lot of the pretty competitive students because they wanted to do finance, they want to do something that's pretty mathematical and hard. They think the only worthy job out there is a job in consulting, or finance, or some kind of super competitive corporation that is super prestigious.

Andy Molinsky: [00:14:02] And that's not quite the case after I started entering the workforce because I realized that out of my classmates in MBA who came from Coca-Cola, or Boeing, or United, or worked in the army, and stuff, they got just as much, if not more, training about amazing skills and amazing professionalism than me. And then, these are jobs that, honestly, first of all, were not exposed to us. And second, as an economics student, I wouldn't even consider because I was like, "Why do I want to climb up that corporate if I can get a job in finance from more of like a Facebook, or Google, or some kind of this big deal technology firm?"

Siqi Mou: [00:14:48] So, I think that that's the number one misconception is there are so many industries out there. It's not just finance, consulting, or tech. In our eyes, those are three things that we felt like we should do, but it's not quite a case. And in those other jobs, even though it might not sound as prestigious or whatever to you, you will still learn so much, and you will still get first-class world experience that if you work hard, it's going to truly set you apart, and you can become a much truly phenomenal person in whatever you do next. So, I think that's the first misconception I had is that the world is huge. It's out there for you. If you graduate from a great school or a great major, it is widely open. We shouldn't limit our choices.

Siqi Mou: [00:15:44] And then, the second misconception I had was that in order to -- I think a lot of young kids this day, because of the technology boom that we've seen, a lot of them probably want to have their own business or their startup. They want to do something, create something. They want to be an entrepreneur. And you see all this whole emergence of young and millennial entrepreneurs who have done quite well because they know the customers because they're customers themselves.

Siqi Mou: [00:16:17] And I think the misconception I had was that in order to be a truly amazing entrepreneur, I have to work in a small industry a couple of years. I have to work for someone for a couple years before I start my own thing, but that's not quite the case. Especially after I went to business school, I realized that a lot of my classmates from undergrad - including like Evan Spiegel who's created Snapchat - they didn't have any work experience. They started it right after the dorm room, right, from the dorm room to the real world. And they created something that's so special and so appealing to their generation, and it just took off.

Siqi Mou: [00:16:57] So, I think, if I encourage students or undergrads, if you have a great idea, and if you want to take a chance, and that you feel like you're ready, I think, you should just go for it. You don't have to necessarily have to go through a big corporation and then go to it because once you do that, you might be too late. Someone else might have already done it. So, it's just finding an opportunity, and the right time, and the right people.

Andy Molinsky: [00:17:24] That's really interesting. That's great advice. And in thinking about college, was there anything from college that ended up being particularly useful for your career, maybe something you didn't expect? Can you draw a link between between what you learned in college and in your job? And I know, oftentimes, people say, "Well, the job is so much different than college," and so on, but what parts of college were useful?

Siqi Mou: [00:17:52] For my first job after college, especially when I was still working in finance at the Fed, whether it's at Bloomberg, or the Fed, or Morgan Stanley, I think, a lot of the knowledge from my finance classes and macroeconomics was pretty useful because it was close to what I was doing. Now, I'm in the beauty industry. It's pretty far away from what I learned.

Siqi Mou: [00:18:20] So, I think, one of the things that was very, very useful is the ability to learn things fast. So, learning how to learn is a huge thing. And, I think, in college, because you're so occupied by so many things that you do, including classes, and extracurricular, and all these societies that you're in, it really helps me to become better at multitasking and just exploring a multifaceted way of living and the different sides of myself, right.

Siqi Mou: [00:18:57] So, I think that is really, really important to be able to just embrace this ability to multitask and be able to learn things fast because in college, we don't have a lot of time to to always make sure that we got everything 100%. We'll probably get it 80%, but we still have to do well on our tests and still have to do well in our social life. And there are so many things that we need to excel at, right. So, just being able to learn things fast, and so that you are not afraid of getting to a new situation and not knowing what's the solution, I think, that that's so important. And that was something I felt like I learned in college that gave me the ability to grasp this, and embrace it, and not be as anxious about it.

Siqi Mou: [00:19:43] And the second thing I felt like it was actually about managing people. So, I would highly recommend young undergrads to take on as much leadership roles as possible in these clubs or societies, whether it's in your fraternity, sorority, or in some kind of a student club that you're passionate about, but just being able to be a leader in that, it's really, really important because what I realized is that these days, because I'm the founder, so I do a lot of managing people because, obviously, I can't take care of all the tasks myself. So, I have to be able to motivate other people to do these tasks, and complete them, and make sure that I don't micromanage. But at a meantime, things are being done, executed and implement it.

Siqi Mou: [00:20:34] So, knowing how to motivate people is so important. Actually, I think, it was even harder back in college because you're not paying these people to do stuff. I remember I was the VP of Marketing for one of the student clubs. I did manage 12 twelve people in my team trying to pull this conference together. And, honestly, there's nothing I can do to motivate them rather than just spiritually motivating them, right. I don't pay them. No one gets paid for anything. So, it was even harder then because people don't feel like they are compelled to help you, but then they still wanted to be part of something. So, it's a lot of work trying to motivate them and without any kind of compensation.

Siqi Mou: [00:21:18] So, that has helped me and trained me to become, I think, a really good motivating speaker almost. I have to align people's interests, and to paint the big picture for people, and tell people why this is so important, why this is going to be huge. And then, you get them to buy this vision. And then, you do something and implement something together. I think that is so, so, so important.

Andy Molinsky: [00:21:45] That's very interesting, yeah, that college can actually be a very good training ground. Let actually hear from a student now. So, I have a student question. This is a question. You're going to hear it. It's from Jordan who is a college student from Baltimore, and he has a question for you. Let's have a listen.

Jordan: [00:22:06] All right. My name is Jordan, and I'm a college student majoring in Business and Philosophy from Baltimore, Maryland. Could you give me an example of a failure you faced at work, how you identified it, and how you overcame it?

Siqi Mou: [00:22:17] Yeah, that's a great question. That was always -- I remember like, oh my god, all my friends always ask me this question. It was like the hardest question ever because you're like, "Oh, I can't really talk about failure. That's too much of a failure," because that shows them weak and-

Andy Molinsky: [00:22:32] Yeah, but you're not-

Siqi Mou: [00:22:33] I'm a loser.

Andy Molinsky: [00:22:34] Right, but we're not -- You can be honest now.

Siqi Mou: [00:22:38] But then, at any time, I'm like, "Boy," but like, "What should I talk about?" So, I definitely -- First of all, I think failure is very, very -- It's very common. I know when I was in college, I felt like when I failed a test or not fail a test, I didn't do on a test, I'm like, "This is the end of the world." And now, in the real world, I'm like, "Wow, this is such a small piece of thing. Wow. How did I even get caught up in those?"

Siqi Mou: [00:23:07] But failure, it does a lot. I think, the main thing about what I mentioned earlier is the competitive students, if you are so obsessed with success, then it's hard for these students to be able to deal with failure. So, whenever you have failure, you might be crushed. And that's like the worst thing that could -- That resilience is what helps people succeed in the long term.

Siqi Mou: [00:23:33] So, one of the first failure I did was -- It was not I did, but I encountered was not being able to raise as much money as I wanted at a point I did really need it. So, I considered I was a failure because it showed that people didn't approve of what we do, or I'm not strong enough of an entrepreneur, or we just didn't have enough traction. So, a lot of the rejection that we got from investors are like, "Oh, it's probably too early for us.".

Siqi Mou: [00:24:11] And, honestly, fast forward a little bit, we still were able to raise the money we needed. It's just we wanted even more. So, we didn't try to get them to kind of agree on the same kind of valuation that we wanted. So, we ended up having to sacrifice a little bit, but the outcome was actually pretty good.

Siqi Mou: [00:24:30] So, the failure we got into, basically, what happened is that I was depressed for a couple of weeks. So, I called my parents, and I was like, "How could these people not get into this vision? Are they because they're guys, they didn't understand how big the beauty industry is? Did they not get the vision? And then, maybe our company's indeed too early because we don't have a lot of user, and a lot of conversion, a lot of sales yet. But then, again, this is the ultimate trend. It's naturally going to happen. If people don't bet on us, how are they going to bet? I don't get it. I don't understand why people couldn't buy into this."

Siqi Mou: [00:25:10] And it's very different from being rejected at a job, per se, because when I was applying for jobs when I was in college, I felt like, yeah, of course, you're going to get rejections. You're not going to need a yes for every single job you apply. You only need one, and then you're good. But for this, it feels very different because it's not just a rejection. It's something like slapping on your face, but like, "This, you're not good enough," or like, "You're building something that we don't recognize, we don't approve." And we get that from a lot of people. It's not just one person.

Siqi Mou: [00:25:46] So, it makes me feel very insecure, again, about myself. And it creates a lot of self-doubt. And even her smile and confidence, are we actually building something that's worthy because this is something that's very new to the world. So, we're creating. I'm sure Mark Zuckerberg, when he started Facebook, he probably had a lot of self-doubt too because he's created something that didn't really existed before. So, he's like scared.

Siqi Mou: [00:26:19] So, I called my parents who are both amazing entrepreneurs, and they have some -- Obviously, I know they've encountered these kind of hardship early on in their careers as well. So, my mom gave me an example actually. She was like, think about Jack Ma. Jack Ma now is like the richest guy in China, and when he started Alibaba and back then when he was raising money, he got like over a thousand or something nos because, he couldn't raise, and then he couldn't raise money. Partially, also because Jack Ma is like -- I mean, maybe he just has like a very thick skin, but because he went to all these hardships, and he didn't come from a very wealthy family, he's not that privileged, he has so much resilience.

Siqi Mou: [00:27:08] So, when people gave him nos, and when people slapped him on his face, and tell him that he's crazy, he didn't take that, or he probably did, but he didn't let that stop him. But now, you're letting this stop you. And if you let this stop you, then you become truly a failure. But then, you don't let those failures stop you. You can potentially gain energy on it and, hopefully, prove them wrong in the future. And if you don't call yourself a failure, no one can call you a failure because you can turn things around and prove them they were probably wrong.

Siqi Mou: [00:27:47] So, look at Jack Ma a little bit more. I learned that because he is relatively short. I'm not trying to, obviously, make any kind of physical reference to his look or anything, but he was relatively short. He's always bullied in college and in school. And so, he was very used to the fact that he's not being a privilege in a way. So, that creates his super strong resilience. He's never going to take no for an answer. He's never going to take the rejection as a way to stop doing something that he believes in, and he's truly passionate about.

Siqi Mou: [00:28:21] So then, I looked at myself, and I'm like, "Oh, okay. That's why." Like, "Siqi, you've grown up always being like relatively smooth. You don't have this kind of setback a huge time in your life. You're a relatively privileged student, always get compliments in college and throughout." And that's why I don't have the same kind of resilience as him. And that's why I felt like I let this kind of things affect me really, really big time.

Siqi Mou: [00:28:44] So, I kind of did a little bit of comparison. I feel slightly better about myself. And then, after that, decided, "You know what, let's just go with what we have. And then, let's keep building. And then, one day, we can hopefully get to the traction, and sales, and numbers to prove these people wrong." So, we end up raising the money that we needed. And then, it wasn't as high as we wanted, but it was still a lot of money. So, we decided, "Let's just close there, and let's start getting to work, and then start building."

Andy Molinsky: [00:29:18] That's a really interesting story about resilience. I think that it probably strikes a chord with a lot of students who have achieved a lot, and who have always been praised, and haven't had any major setbacks. Certainly, some students have, but many haven't or not major ones. I just want to dig in there for one second because I think it's so interesting, and I think it could really benefit people to understand.

Andy Molinsky: [00:29:46] So, if you could sort of identify what flipped the switch for you about sort of building that thicker skin, building that resilience, kind of on the fly. You didn't have the experience of Jack Ma had, it sounds like. Was it the fact that you were talking to your mom who's someone who you really identify with and look up to? Was it just -- I mean, was it kind of just coming to some point where you said, "Stop, I have to do this"? Was it the conviction in what you were doing that you felt it was so important? Or was it a series of things? Can you just sort of -- Let's just put a point on that because I think it's really important.

Siqi Mou: [00:30:26] Yeah. I think if you have to ask me to point to one thing that's specific that turned things around, I feel like it's probably a little difficult, but I do think it's probably a combination of a lot of things. So, obviously, no one is reading into Jack Ma's biography and his story. I realized that I, honesty, I'm in a much better position than he is and look at where he has got today. How much more does he have to do in order to get to where he is? So, that makes me feel like supported and better.

Siqi Mou: [00:30:58] And then, the second thing was my mom who told me the story. I mean, she not only gave me the story of Jack Ma and Alibaba, and how this guy got rejected so many times and bullied? Numerous times. He is short, and he doesn't have the image of being like a tall, handsome male. He's not like that. My mom not only told me these stories, but also the story of how she and my dad started a business. And back then, they'd never even -- First of all, it's not an internet business, so they never even have outside funding in the way. A lot of these Chinese entrepreneurs, they started just small, and then self-funded. And then, one day make their first profit they've reinvested back into business. And then, they keep going. And then, they grow into this huge business, but then, they have 100% percent ownership. It's crazy to even think about it in our world.

Siqi Mou: [00:31:55] But my parents were like telling me, look back then, if we lose this, we're going to lose everything. And you were -- Sorry this is getting me a little bit emotional, but you have all of these outside funding. A lot of these people believe in you. You're already so much better off than we were. Like my dad was telling me that. He was literally saying that if this doesn't succeed, then he has to go drive a taxi. Here, you don't. So, I think, that was just so powerful to turn things around for me. Sorry.

Andy Molinsky: [00:32:38] No. I think what you're saying, I think, it's going to really help people. It's going to really affect a lot of people, so I appreciate that. Let's end with one last question here, which I always find this an interesting question. Whenever I ask it, I always think of how I would answer it actually. So, I'll I ask it to you. If you could go back in time, rewind to when you were at Stanford as an economics student, you would come from China, you started college at Stanford, you were doing great in your schoolwork and so on. If you could rewind and know what you know now, is there a piece of advice you might have given to that version of you, that younger version of you, something you tell yourself with your current wisdom now?

Siqi Mou: [00:33:27] Yeah, there are a lot of things I feel like I could give to myself back then. The one thing that I would say is that if I had known this where technology, how much it has an effect around the world, I would have definitely done much more job in terms of learning coding because I see that as truly a language. It's like being able to speak English or being able to speak Mandarin. It's like it's a world language that you have to be able to speak in order to communicate to people, in order to be a good manager because technology is so embedded now in everything we do.

Siqi Mou: [00:34:12] So, back then, I didn't have that kind of force. I mean, I know technology was important, and that's why I took some CS classes but not enough to be where I wanted to be today. And now that I'm building a technology company, I obviously rely on some of those learnings back then, but I didn't. I wish I had it even more. That will make me a stronger leader.

Siqi Mou: [00:34:33] So, I would highly recommend all the kids in school these days or even before they enter undergrad, take a coding school. Learn those basic skill set when they're young, so it becomes part of their second nature. And I think that was something I wish I did. So, that was kind of more on the school side.

Siqi Mou: [00:34:55] And the second thing on the more fuzzy and humanity side, I would think that my advice to my former self is I spend too much time in school, and trying to get high grade, and trying to obviously get a good job, and all that, which I achieved, but I think I didn't spend enough time, and I wish I had balanced a little more on building meaningful relationships. I think, I built some good relationships, but I could have done more.

Siqi Mou: [00:35:27] So, those are things I wish that I'd put in more effort into building relationships and connections because I realized, especially now that I'm in the business world, honestly, like when I got an A in the random philosophy class, it didn't really matter at all. I mean, yeah, on a grand scheme of things, it mattered because we can't fail obviously, and we have to get a good TPA and stuff. But as long as you're happy with it, I think, please try to spend more time just building meaningful relationship with people. And in college, honestly, is the best place and best time to build that. And the connection you are able to build will last for a lifetime, and that will benefit a significant amount when you are in the real world.

Andy Molinsky: [00:36:17] Fantastic advice. Really, really great advice. I really appreciate your speaking with me and sharing this advice to all our listeners. So, we're at the end of our chat. And I just want to thank you so much for being our guest. Can you tell listeners how to find out more about you and your company if they're interested?

Siqi Mou: [00:36:36] Yes. So, whoever is interested in learning more about our company, whether it is through finding opportunities to work with us, partner with us, or use us as a user, which I think college is a great time to get amazing and clear skin without wasting all this money on trying to [nurse], then go to helloava.co, and then get started. You can go through the experience. And then, if you want to purchase anything, I would love to create a code, and let's just call it a "from dorm room," and then you can get 15% off everything you purchase.

Andy Molinsky: [00:37:16] Wow, excellent. That's a nice surprise. So, thanks again so much for coming on. I really appreciate it, and I really enjoyed the conversation.

Siqi Mou: [00:37:24] Yeah, likewise. I'm very honored to be on this. And sorry that it got me a little emotional when we tried to pinpoint at what turned things around, but it was truly a very genuine story, and I'm just very, very honored to be able to share.