It’s May, it’s 27°C outside and there’s wall-to-wall sunshine – we couldn’t have asked for a better week to welcome our good friend and angel investor, Nic Lim, to Whistler.
To give you a little introduction, Nic is a venture capital investor from Malaysia, who was born and raised in Kuala Lumpur. In 1999, Nic and his partners started their first dot com international investment company, Catcha, whose long line of success is down to their simple and effective strategy “take proven new media ideas from Western markets and execute them in Asia”. Now, as a shareholder of Catcha, Nic and his business partner Brian Wee built a new venture capital investing company, 8Capita whose portfolio includes mobile customer loyalty app, Perx; mobile game studio, Frenzoo; and e27, a media company focused on growing Asia’s tech startup ecosystem.
Whistler Crash Course: Poutine, Ziptrek and Mountain Biking
“I’m in Whistler for work…but when you’re in somewhere so beautiful it’s not so hard to squeeze some fun in every now-and-then”. – Nic, Partner at 8Capita
This was Nic’s first time to Canada and he admits to being taken in by the spectacular beauty of Vancouver. However, when asked what he thought of Whistler, before commenting on Whistler’s breathtaking mountain-scapes, the Sea-To-Sky Highway or even the wildlife, Nic said:
“I really like the food here in Canada!” and proudly followed up with “and I’ve even had poutine…but I had to get a doggy bag. I don’t understand how you eat all of it.” – Nic
We agree that the food in Whistler is great, but felt we needed to show him more of the outdoor lifestyle and what better way than biking to the office through the rainforest. The next morning Nic joined Mike (PayrollHero CEO and President) and Adam (Product Development & Co-Founder) for the 9.9km cycle from Nesters to the Payroll Hero office in Function Junction. “Not only did I ride 10km to work this morning, I also had to walk the 2km to Mike’s house before we set off” said Nic. But even after admitting that it had been over ten years since he had last pedalled a bicycle, Nic said:
“This is such beautiful place, why would anyone drive!”. – Nic
Like the rest of us here in Whistler, Nic is not stranger to adventure and loves nothing more than a burst of adrenaline in his veins. Nic is a seasoned bungee jumper and seeking a similar thrill he sought out the high speed, high-wire fun of ZipTrek. We offered the possibility of a company bungee jump, but in his words, “at 38 I need to slow down, I’ve had enough of vertical free-fall for now”. We didn’t mention that at in Whistler we regularly see downhill mountain bikers in their late 50’s.
How did PayrollHero Meet Someone Like Nic?
Nic says his path first crossed with PayrollHero when he and Mike were sat next to each other at the Echelon awards in June 2012. “We got chatting and it turned out we had mutual friends” said Nic, “then I saw their their pitch, and it was their intensity and preparedness that really attracted me to Steve, Mike and PayrollHero”.
Now as angel investor in PayrollHero, Nic is an integral part of helping us achieve our goal of ‘Optimizing Work Productivity with Happiness’. After nine months with PayrollHero, Nic now calls himself the ‘Payroll Hero Cheerleader’ – interesting for a guy who thinks he’s now too old to bungee jump.
It has been exciting having Nic here in Whistler with us, he really is a good guy, a good laugh, a good friend and an excellent business man!
