The Smartest Guy

The post

2013, Macquarie Business School.

Two Apple snobs in a marketing class, each trying to out-story the other.

The Face-Off

We were talking about iconic brands. I was an avid cyclist, so I put my hand up for Rapha, then Apple.

I thought I was the 'Apple guy'. Then Anhtai Anhtuan started talking. He had all the gadgets!

Here it was, the face-off.

Litrly

The following year we were in New Enterprise Management together. A group assignment started a friendship that’s now lasted over 12 years.

It was a masters subject that excited me. Build something from nothing, then pitch it to a bunch of accountants who looked after a family office.

Ours was Litrly, a content marketplace and idea that Elle Coleman, MBA had. This was 2014, before the internet had fully democratised traditional media.

Anhtai led the marketing. He’d turn up with beautiful renders of a product that didn’t exist yet. I didn’t know how anyone could do that.

No Notes

Anhtai and Elle led the pitch. They knew the product, but in the practice run they used their notes.

I suggested: “You know this better than the people we’re pitching to. You don’t need the notes.”

They spoke from the heart. We came first. It was the passion behind the project, not the presentation.

The Smartest Guy

Anhtai is one of the smartest guys I know, and one of the best dressed.

Once a senior product manager at CommBank, now at a fintech that services superannuation.

We caught up recently and I showed him a rough diagram of my project in financial advice and AI.

His response? “There’s an application here, but you need to think through certain aspects.”

There's an idea that people often ponder "Is an MBA is worth it?" Some answer - it's the people you meet.

I can attest to this.