The Retrospective of My 2024: lessons from a year that felt like five

On Building Homes, Chasing Growth, and Choosing Your Hard

At the end of every year, I sit down and write a retrospective. And somehow, every year feels like it surpasses the last.

My old retrospectives:

• 2021

• 2022 (decided not to post it, maybe I will later!)

• 2023

This year felt like 10, but here are my top takeaways this year:

Home is where you become the best version of yourself.

Two things make a city feel like home: who you become there and the people you know. Reflecting on my formative years, growing up in Singapore's expat community meant my childhood friends came from all over—Italy, Africa, Denmark, Japan. Maybe that's why New York feels so right.

That said, I've built little homes in many cities: Zurich, Dubai, London, Riyadh, Melbourne, and San Francisco. In each, I’ve found my favorite bakery, coffee spot, workout studio, and, most importantly, friends who make me feel deeply loved.

Being average is boring. Think bigger and push the world forward.

Life is about pursuing things that are meaningful to you. It doesn’t have to be monumental, but it should excite you. Whether that means making your family happier, inspiring healthier habits in your circle, or building a community that brings people together—it’s all valid.

The best feeling is waking up genuinely excited for life. As Sam Kolder said: Do what makes you come alive.

For me, this meant finding a way to help people move and live in their dream cities, and making the solution affordable to the masses.

“They” are not always right.

They said I needed a technical co-founder, so I became one. They told me to give up, but I made more progress in the last six months than ever before. They said I couldn’t build a company while traveling, but I did.

Trust yourself. The more you put yourself out there, the more opportunities you create. Show up, stay in motion, and let the improbable become possible.

Your life is a movie. Do it for the plot.

Imposter syndrome hits every ambitious person I know. One way to combat it? View your life as a movie still unfolding. Keep adding scenes.

Some of my iconic moments this year:

• Got the O-1 Extraordinary Talent Visa for the U.S.

• Secured our first Fortune 1000 enterprise customer for Gullie

• Spoke at the world’s largest mobility conference

• Gave a guest lecture at University of Berkeley

• Lived in a new city, Zurich

• Featured in my first podcast!

• Visited new places: Barcelona, Mallorca, Ibiza, St. Moritz, Lucerne, Ticino, Abu Dhabi & Basel

• Somehow managed to do F1 Singapore, Art Basel in Basel, and Paris during the Olympics

• Started getting chiro adjustments (too much couchsurfing!)

• Got robbed in New York

• Experienced my first break up

• Learned new languages: 510 days of Korean and German on Duolingo!

• Tried new sports: Pickleball and tennis

• Painted my first art piece in forever

• Rediscovered my hobbies — flying drones

• Found a new routine: daily walks and pilates

• Grew with an executive coach to manage my headspace

Life outtakes this year:

The definition of smart = the ability to get what you want out of life

Not everyone knows what they want in life and that’s okay.
You don’t need a grand life plan. Even knowing you want weekly omakase is a start (means you need to secure a pretty well paying job). Work backwards, set your direction, and go after it.

Everything compounds

Habits, relationships, knowledge—all grow exponentially. The key is showing up consistently. Over the last eight months, I’ve experienced more growth than in a decade of building companies. I’ve worked over 20 jobs, failed upwards, and now I’m building my third company. It's still hard, but it gets easier.

Keep betting on yourself to increase your luck surface area

I wrote about the concept of luck surface area a couple years ago.

Serendipity thrives when you put yourself out there. This year, I

• Met a customer moving employees to Saudi at an art event in Zurich.

• Found a best friend in a Swiss girl at an investor event in Dubai.

• Connected with an American investor in Saudi who opened doors in Hong Kong.

The world is smaller than you think. Trust your gut and keep showing up.

Fitness is a pretty good proxy for success

Many of my successful friends often maintain fitness routines. Maintaining a certain physique require discipline that often spills into other areas—clean homes, skincare routines, and startups that eventually find PMF.

I started walking an hour daily, and it’s boosted my mood, clarity, performance in other aspects of my life. It's not a rule, but it's a reliable indicator.

Everything is hard. Choose your hard.

• Working out is hard; being out of shape is harder.

• Skincare routines are hard; dealing with bad skin is harder.

• Working a tough job is hard; being broke is harder.

Choose your hard.

Operate on your own timeline

Success isn’t linear. Some friends are getting married and having kids; I’m thinking creating shareholder value and reading up how to freeze my eggs.

This chart of startup timelines reminds me that progress takes time. Embrace your unique journey.

It takes a village

As a solo founder, I’ve struggled but never felt alone. My friends across the globe have supported me in countless ways: angel investments, engineering fixes, couch surfing, intros, checking my Uber rides, listening to burnout tears, or sharing a glass of wine.

To my global family: Thank you for showing up when I couldn’t. I owe you the world. ❤️

Shoutouts:

• Switzerland: Estelle, Vera, Lucas, Eduardo

• Dubai: Salaam, Melvyn, Gaurav, Aravindh, Asher

• San Francisco: Richa, Monica, Sahil, Howard, Lan, Steph, Steve, Chris, Simon, Kash, Colin, Randeep, Anchor, Brandon

• Seoul: Clara

• Melbourne: Grandma, Jean, Elia & Reuben

• New York: Yulin, Tom, Xi, Gina, David, Blake, Pat & Alan

• London: Zenna, Wilson, Bisola, Evan, Greg, Jamie, Susanna, Hui En

• Singapore: Doro, Millie, Kendra, Kim, Kimbo, Oleg, Jonsam, Juhi, Chia, Ben, Jeanette, Cordi, Xian, Terrence, Megan, Zilin, Alex, Josh, Mattsoo, Kerwin, Eugene, Jeanne, Yang, SK, Maya, Theo, Amna, Graham & Victoria

• Dallas: Parents!
  

Here’s to 2025 :)

— rachie, x