In this week’s episode of the Mr. Beacon Podcast, we dive deep into the entrepreneurial journey of Sze Wong, Co-Founder and General Partner at Zenith Venture Studio. A serial entrepreneur who’s seen both the thrill of success and the sting of failure, Sze brings a refreshingly honest take on what it really takes to build a venture from scratch—and then do it again.
Sze’s story begins with a bold move: starting his first company before graduating college. From his early hustle teaching Java seven days a week to founding iFormBuilder, a mobile data collection platform that thrived in disconnected environments, his career has been marked by relentless innovation. But not all ventures succeeded. Sze candidly shares the collapse of his early bootcamp business, the lessons learned from painful debt, and how those failures forged his approach to execution and resilience.
Now, through Zenith Venture Studio, Sze is building a new model—one that doesn’t just hand startups capital, but surrounds them with the tools, product expertise, technical talent, and guidance to scale. We discuss the differences between a traditional VC and a venture studio, why boring industries can make for the best businesses, and why founders with deep domain knowledge but little tech experience are perfect studio partners.
This episode is a must-listen for founders, investors, and entrepreneurs alike. Sze’s philosophy of “working together like co-founders” turns the typical investor-startup dynamic on its head.
Tune in to hear how Sze is bridging the physical and digital worlds—not just with technology, but with deep empathy, hands-on support, and a passion for building ventures that actually solve real problems.
Sze's Top 3 Favorite Songs:
- “Unknown” (Listen to the podcast to try and guess what song this is)
- “I Believe” by Shin Seung Hun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNBnPvsufvk
- “Tong Hua” by Michael Wong: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBTmypxD2mU
Mister Beacon is hosted by Steve Statler, CEO of AmbAI Inc. — creators of AmbientGPT, the AI assistant that connects people to places, products and the brands behind them. For brands AmbientGPT represents a way to go beyond optimizing your business with AI to securing a place in the new AI purchasing paradigm.
Our sponsor Identiv’s https://www.identiv.com IoT solutions create digital identities for physical objects, enhancing global connectivity for businesses, people, and the planet. We are also proud to be sponsored by Blecon http://www.blecon.net. Blecon enables physical products to communicate with cloud applications using Bluetooth Low Energy.