#186: Designing World-Class Human Experiences & How To Live a Life of Tenacious & Idiosyncratic Curiosity w/ David Zhou
Beyond Curious ™ (formerly 7-Figure Millennials)
English - May 07, 2024 09:00 - 1 hour - 103 MB - ★★★★★ - 84 ratingsEntrepreneurship Business Marketing entrepreneurship happiness success marketing growth personal development Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
A few months ago, I was talking with my friend, Yasmina Ellins.
Here’s more or less how I recall our dialogue:
B: “Yas, I’m looking to connect with beyond curious, deep connection driven entrepreneurs that are passionate about building community.”
Yas: “Do you know David Zhou? If not, you HAVE to meet him.”
Yas introduces us…
We meet, and I soon realize that David is one of few humans I’ve ever met that is just as stupidly passionate as I am about (1) curiosity and (2) designing world-class human experiences.
What does that even mean?
Well, here are some examples of experiences David has designed:
Brunch With Strangers: Hosting a cast of people from all walks of life for a Saturday brunch... Like founders, street artists, astrophysicists, concept artists, athletes, criminal investigators, filmmakers, college drop-outs, and much more.
Improv Presentations. A TED talk-like night where people present someone else’s creatively esoteric slide decks, with no context as to what’s in the deck until they’re on “stage”. People ended up having to present how to survive a cat-pocalypse to how to master the art of DM’ing using military tactics to how to be a good plant parent.
Demo Day With Custom Magic The Gathering Cards: Creating an event where startup founders and investors got to know each other a la 100% customized Magic The Gathering cards with AI-Generated images of themselves and fun facts about their life experiences
And as far as curiosity goes, David’s LinkedIn headline simply reads:
“Tenaciously and idiosyncratically curious.”
We go ALL over in this conversation… discussing how to design world class experiences that connect people, how to reach out to strangers (David has sent a cold email to a stranger every week for the past 6+ years), and more.
To learn more about David, visit https://gobeyondcurious.com/podcast/david-zhou/
Key Takeaways:
[0:02] – Introducing David
[4:11] – David shares the influence his sixth-grade math teacher had on him
[11:48] – How David reverse-engineered a demo day
[15:59] – Redesigning demo days from first principles
[22:36] – The role of surprise vs. suspense in events
[33:23] – Learning to skip stones with a professional and a veteran
[37:50] – Fostering vulnerability and connection among strangers
[45:00] – The power of asking questions to uncover underlying principles
[49:34] – The importance of journaling and cold emailing when relationship building
[53:36] – The creative approach David uses for personalized cold emails
[1:06:125] – What is the importance of curiosity and action?
Resources:
Books:
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain - https://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Huckleberry-Finn-Mark-Twain/dp/1580495834
David Zhou’s Socials:
Website: https://cupofzhou.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davjzhou/
Facebook: -
YouTube: -
Visit David’s blog, where he shares more about his thinking and experiences HERE!
https://cupofzhou.com/