 Yeah, it works. Okay. Hi, I'm Erin, Erin Chen. I'm the founder of Leela Sutra, a sexual-oneness company, as Angela introduced, and we're going to talk to you about my fuck-up story. It's kind of funny because it's actually technically not over. It's at mid-fuck, so that comment earlier about it takes two years, and all that stuff, I'm kind of like right in the middle of it. And Angela and I joke that, you know, I'm not there yet, that like post-fabric cigarette. I'm not really like that. So, and I work in the area of sexual wellness. So just a bit of a forewarning. I'm going to use words like sex tonight, sex toys, boobs, G-spot, clitoris, just getting that all out there. But it's not that type of fuck-up story. It's still about a start-up. So I was thinking about, you know, how to start sharing this story, and this definition of start-up kept coming up for me. A friend of mine sent it to me a few months ago, and it really resonated with me. Now, this is not the absolute truth. Like there are many other definitions of what a start-up is. This one just resonated with me. And, you know, he reminded me that a start-up is a temporary organization in the search of a sustainable and scalable business model. I don't know who said this, so I'm attributing it to my friend, Damian. And the word in there that I really liked was search, because that's basically what the last two years really felt like for me. It was a search of something scalable and something sustainable. And the start-up idea was Lila Sutra, and this is how it started. The idea that I started off with was to sell pleasure products, aka, you know, sex toys, organic lubricants, massage oils, you name it, through the home party model, or direct sales, as some would say. And it's an idea that's quite popular in the States, quite popular in the UK, the idea of, you know, home parties, direct sales model for sex toys. I mean, it's just never been done in Asia before. You know, we had that for supplements, for insurance, for other stuff, but not for toys. And, you know, for me, when this idea came about, it was perfect for me, because it checked a lot of boxes. A, I, you know, even though I was a manager in consulting, I was a total sexy. You know, I've been since I was a teenager. I was just human sexually fascinated me. I was always that friend that people would talk sex with. I shared everything I read with all my friends. And I wanted to do something meaningful, something fulfilling, something that would make a difference. And I thought, you know, this could work in Asia. You know, we had this perception that Singapore or Asian society is pretty conservative, no one wants to talk about it. So I thought, this approach could be good, you know, it's intimate, it's safe, people feel more comfortable. No one wants to walk through a black curtain on Orchard Road, right, to check out products. So, okay, that's how I started. Didn't quit my job right away. I did the lean startup boot camp thing, so I knew, like, alright, you're supposed to test your assumptions. So I went out, bought a bunch of toys, and asked my friends to, you know, do them, like, do a sex point party for them. So that's how I started. On the side, you know, consulting by day, by night, doing parties for friends. And the word kind of spread from there. And before you are, you know, before your mind kind of like runs off, and you're like, sex plus sex toys plus home parties, what kind of a party is this? That's kind of like how my dad reacted when I told him what I was doing. He was like, the mafia's in that business. I'm like, I'm not trafficking people. Parties actually turned out to be really fun. They were inclusive. They were gender-friendly. Women started, you know, they had a lot of fun learning. We talked about where your G-spot was. You know, what the clitoris actually looks like. And, you know, do your Heagles, very important. And they were really educational. So I thought, okay, like, I'm, I could be onto something. You know, expats were liking it. Locals were liking it. I tested it with different age groups. It was a point where, you know, I felt like I needed to spend a lot more time networking and introducing myself to people because this was a very new concept in Singapore, you know. So I needed to spend a lot more time educating basically the community. So it came to a time where I was like, all right, should I quit now? What do I do, you know? And I got this piece of advice, which was really helpful, actually. And I received this piece of advice at the second fuck-up night, which is kind of cool because we're on, what are we on now, 15? 15, so that's a lot of fuck-ups between number two and number 15, which is, you know, kind of consoling for me. It was for me when I realized that. And the advice was, you know, basically my friend Adele, she also runs, she used to run this with Angela. She sat me down and she was like, Aaron, your idea could be brilliant or it could be shit. Some people will think it's awesome, some people will think it's not gonna work. The only thing that you, you know, the only way that you'll know if it works is if you actually do it, right? So the only thing that's black and white right now that's certain is money. How much money do you have? And how much time does that buy you? And is that enough time? So that made it really easy for me. So I went back, you know, looked at how much I have saved, looked at how much I needed. And I was like, woohoo! So I went into 2016, I was like, yeah, I'm gonna do this, right? But really, what happened in 2016? Are any of you friends here? Here we go. The team was like, hey, it was just a shit load of pivots. So this idea, right, tested, uh, no, no, not, didn't work. You know, because I thought, alright, I'm just gonna fine-tune the process, create my script, create this business in a box and find people who are just passionate of me, who will do this with me, grow my sales team. People were passionate, people really responded, they wanted to be part of this movement, but people weren't really ready to go out and sell toys. So this was gonna take a lot longer than I had planned. Alright, so then I needed to create other revenue streams. E-com, yes! Because, you know, past customers wanted to buy other stuff, right? So I'm like, great, I'm gonna do this. Two birds, one stone. E-com is like a whole other beast. It's like a full-time job. Right? I soon found that out, and I have a business background. I'm kind of techie, but like, wow, that was tough. Okay, so moving on. People started asking me how much I charged. And in the beginning I was doing these for free. When people started asking me, you know, how much do you charge, that was kind of telling me, like, alright, people found value in the experience. It wasn't just about the toys. So great, I created different workshops, you know, and I started charging for them. Then other brands started approaching me and they wanted to collaborate and put on a fence. And, you know, there were certain people that gave me feedback that they didn't want to come to such an intimate thing. They didn't want to hear about their friend's sex lives. Oh, good point. And they wanted to kind of something that they could be more anonymous, but still get that experience. So then I started doing events, you know, and they kind of got larger, and I did the vagina mall vlogs, and they sold out, and like, yay! So lots of pivots. And at the same time, you know, women were asking him, and they were asking, you know, do you do private sessions? Because I want to continue these conversations. And sexual health counseling. So lots of pivots. And, you know, some of them didn't really work. Like, that's not, that did not work. E-com, not going to work. You know, fuck ups there. And at the same time, in 2016, you know, life grew a few pivots at me as well. So around the time when I attended my resignation, my now husband thought, hey, it's a good time to propose. So he surprised me with a proposal. Well, you're early in my head, pun. So in the end, in 2016, my husband was offered a really good opportunity in Syria. So all the boxes that I had originally checked for my story of idea, now I had another box. I needed to now pivot towards something that was international, that was borderless. So in 2016 was a lot of fun, really stressful. You know, this is what it looks like from the outside, right? You know, the networking started to pay off. People, you know, who were starting to find out about what it is that I did. Word was spreading, and so, you know, her world wanted to, like, put me in their magazine, and expat living and all that, and people wanted to interview me, and, you know, Diamonds sold out, so people were like, wow, Erin, I'm on the right side, right? People were like, oh, I wish I, you know, had a passion or did whatever, and the right side's kind of like what it really felt like, you know, I'm just constantly like, ah-ha! For me personally, that kept me saying throughout all these, all this, was two things. One was, you know, my husband, my friends, family, support, support network, and the second thing for me was purpose, the sense of purpose. You know, social wellness, you know, something I could talk about all the time, but throughout the two years, it's really validated for me that this is really now more than just a passion, it's a purpose. So, even though it's like, all these pivots and pivots, it's still towards a similar direction, at least for me, you know, for me, honestly, I want my kids to grow up in a world where sex is not a taboo, right? It's like, we could talk about sex you know, and yeah, I could go on and on, but that's a different talk. So, that's where really kept it going for me. And so, going back to the idea of like, midfuck, right? And I, Angel and I were joking about this, you know, midfuck implies that there's an end to the fuck up. But I don't know, right? I'm still pivoting. So, maybe, maybe, that's just, this is going to get really deep now. Maybe that's just what life is. It's just one big midfuck. Like, you're on the way, right? You're in, you're, you're on the right path. And that's, that's at least kind of how I feel. That's what kind of keeps me on this path. So, midfuck, where am I now? Basically, I'm, oh, you're not supposed to see that code yet. But anyway, I'm exiting the Pleasure Products business, as you can see. The code is actually for sale. That's happening now. On the Leela Sutra website. 50% of all of you used to code pivot. And basically, the next two pivots coming up are this festival that I'm running which Angela referred to earlier. It's, you know, the first in Asia, an urban dump before, a festival that celebrates sexual wellness. It's throughout all the pivots. You know, you start to learn about sex, right? I'm a business background. I was in consulting. I thought I would build this, like, fabulous startup, right? Like, yeah, maybe a unicorn. It's taking a lot longer than I thought. It's very humbling. But you start to, or I start to, you start to see what you're good at. So I'm good at events. I'm good at organizing, right? I'm good at creating that space for people where they feel comfortable. You know, that's where I'm focusing now. Collaborating with Green is New Black. It's on May 12th and May 13th. It's going to be awesome. It's a resort world. We're filling, like, six fall rooms with tons of brands, different marketplaces, speakers, thought leaders. And we're going to show them that Singapore is not so prudy as, you know, we all think it is. And you're not. I know. I've seen so many people. So yeah, so that's the that's the language for final information. And, you know, the last pivot that I'm doing now is I'm going to private practice. And it's something that I can take with me. It's international. I'm going to be making trips back to Singapore three times a year. And so that's kind of how I've worked out this next pivot. And let's see where this takes. Thank you.