The journey from finance content to startup growth
Discover how Tobin Tang turned his interest in personal finance into a platform for sharing the ups and downs of his career journey.
Tobin Tang (he/him), a fourth-year Arts and Business student majoring in Legal Studies, gained interest in investing and personal finance while in university. What started as a way of educating his friends through videos turned into a platform that has helped him stand out and network during his co-op journey.
Tobin's co-op journey
Human resources (HR) co-ordinator, U Plus Education
In Tobin's first co-op, he supported the hiring of camp counsellors and teachers. He also worked as a camp counsellor during this time.
Community management intern, Wealthsimple Foundation
Tobin co-ordinated various events at the Wealthsimple offices and had the opportunity to educate audiences about personal finance at different university campuses.
Social media intern, Wispr Flow
Tobin's latest work term is based in San Francisco, California, where he works on Gen Z consumer growth. His goal is to help make Wispr Flow a household name.
Q&A with Tobin
What sparked your interest in finance?
“I’ve always been into business, but even longer than that I have wanted to be a lawyer. I came to Waterloo for Legal Studies, hoping to pursue law after. When I turned 18, I wanted to learn how to make money so I started investing. A few months in, my friends were interested and wanted to learn more so I put together a 40-page document of everything they needed to know about investing. My friends looked at it and told me they didn’t want to read that much, so I started making TikToks about it instead and they really loved it.”
“I think strangers really loved watching my videos as well. I took all the knowledge I learned about personal finance and beginner investing and turned them into videos, and that really catapulted my career. A lot of startups started asking about how they can do growth at a very early stage and so I was able to help quite a few companies with growth strategy and marketing. After that, I got really well connected to the startup space in Toronto and San Francisco and then landed this role here at Wispr.”
“I do think the finance thing was purely by chance. I had no intention of going into finance initially. After my investing journey on TikTok started doing really well, I started thinking about pursuing something in corporate finance. It was definitely a thought, but it wasn’t enticing enough for me to fully jump on that ship.”
What made you start creating content about your career?
“I don’t identify with the label of a ‘content creator’ because I don’t think of it as making content. It just started for teaching my friends finance and something for them to look back on.”
“I’ve pivoted my videos into my life because I think it’s really cool to showcase the raw and unfiltered truth of what has happened throughout my career. On social media, people tend to just post their wins. I don’t see enough people talking about the struggles and how difficult it is to get here, and then how much pressure and stress there is once you do get here. People just portray it as the greatest thing ever to land a prestigious job, but I think you do sacrifice a lot of things and people don’t realize that.”
What is the most challenging thing about co-op?
“Finding something you love. This is my third co-op term and I think the first two taught me about things I don’t want to do in the future. Maybe it’s a blessing. Now I know that I don’t want to do something in HR, I don’t want to do education and I don’t want to organize events.”
“It’s been a struggle to find something I am truly passionate about. I’ve had to look in many places to find roles that really suit my interests.”
What did you enjoy about the company culture at your co-ops?
“Company culture is one of the most important things out of any job. If you have the greatest and most high paying job but your company culture isn’t there, no one is going to want to stay.”
“Wealthsimple Foundation had some of the greatest company culture I’ve ever experienced. They were super kind, uplifting and always helping me to find new opportunities. They let me thrive in a space that I was very new to.”
“At Wispr Flow, I feel like I am surrounded by the most extraordinary and ambitious people. It’s infectious how inspiring the people around me are. They have pushed me so hard to be incredibly disciplined and become the hardest worker in the room. The company culture here really shows in all the work they do.”
“Working at a big company, you are hired for a specific reason and goal. There is so much more autonomy at a startup. There are no strategic processes or standardized operating procedures. It’s a lot of autonomy, grit and agency that you need at a startup, which is something I really crave so I’m glad to be here.”
What advice do you have for other co-op students?
“Do more than the bare minimum. If you want to land an extraordinary role, you need to put in extraordinary work to make it happen. For me, that is doing a bunch of coffee chats and cold emailing on LinkedIn and other job platforms. It’s about putting yourself out there and doing things that other people wouldn’t.”
“Whether you start making content or start showing up at offices with your résumé, you have to think about how you can make yourself stand out from the other thousands of people who are applying.”
What’s next for you?
“I’m unsure. I think I’ve had a crazy amount of life experiences. I’ve been through so many things and it’s made me realize that you can’t really plan for the next step. If you put yourself in the right places, opportunities will come up. If you’re working really hard and have really good results, good things will come up. Things you never planned for.”
“At one point, Wealthsimple was my dream company. Once I got there, I was looking for the next thing. I think what is next for me is doing everything I can to point myself in one direction and then hoping it goes well. Not necessarily having a single role that I can set myself up for.”