Meet Amir, the self-taught entrepreneur who launched The Golden Nuggets Podcast with zero capital. Since then, the platform has quickly grown into a trusted space for founder stories and actionable business wisdom. In today’s ever-evolving business landscape, aspiring entrepreneurs are constantly seeking insights, guidance, and inspiration to navigate the path of starting and scaling a successful venture.
Through authentic conversations with influential business leaders, Amir delivers valuable takeaways—what he calls “golden nuggets”—for anyone dreaming of launching or growing a business. From bootstrapping lessons to branding through podcasts, this interview unveils the real grit behind the mic and how storytelling can reshape Singapore’s entrepreneurial future.
What inspired you to start the Golden Nuggets Podcast specifically for business owners and entrepreneurs?
2011 was the first time I started a business, and then in 2017, I started another business. Of course, both businesses didn’t really work out. And one of the things, in hindsight, when I was reflecting on what was going on, is I didn’t have the resources.
I didn’t have any blueprint. I didn’t know anyone who was in business. I didn’t have the network. So to me, starting a business requires a lot of things to align before you can have a successful business, which I didn’t have at that point in time. And I think resources are not really there in Singapore—you know, they’re not really accessible.
So to me, there was no platform that could actually help new business owners to launch or start a business—and it could be a billion-dollar idea. That is one of the main inspirations why I started The Golden Nuggets Podcast.
Through this platform, through sharing the stories of founders and successful business owners, people can draw inspiration and learn from their lessons to eventually launch their own business.
The Golden Nuggets—in short, TGN—has seen rapid growth since its launch. So what marketing strategies have been most effective in building your audience?
Marketing strategy—at the moment, we haven’t focused on it that much in the past one and a half years. What we’ve mainly been doing is being consistent in our content output, because that’s the only way that we can actually grow organically.
And on top of that, we’ve been leveraging our guests’ audiences. That is how we managed to accumulate this number of followers over time. I mean, it can be called a marketing strategy, but I don’t think it was intentional. But I know this will attract the right audience.
Right now, what we’re doing is we’re promoting our newsletters as one of the ways—or the easier barrier to entry—for people to eventually become our audience.
How do you establish guests to feature, and what makes a story a “golden nugget” that is worth sharing?
To me, the profile of the individual—what matters most—is how influential we see them within their circle. If they’re influential in terms of, like, when they say something or post on social media, and they actually draw a crowd, those are the people we decide should be on our show.
Another thing we look at is how we can leverage on them or their business for our business. So if we know that we want to work with this profile of people, we will interview this profile so that we can eventually attract others with similar profiles to our channel.
In terms of “golden nuggets”—just a small backstory on how we came up with the name Golden Nuggets.
One of my partners told me that, previously, when he was working for a company that served big MNCs, sometimes he would go for board meetings and sit there for three to four hours, and the board members might not share much—some even gossip.
But ultimately, it was about catching that one or two “golden nuggets” from the entire session that could catapult the business forward. So I thought that concept of “golden nugget” is interesting because you need to uncover it yourself.
When we have conversations with our guests, our audience is meant to uncover those “golden nuggets” themselves—because different people will perceive conversations differently.
But ultimately, a successful entrepreneur is someone who really enjoys what they do. And when they enjoy what they do, they give their best output—no matter what, and regardless of how much they’re being paid.
Podcasting has become a powerful branding tool. How do you help entrepreneurs use podcasts to strengthen their personal or business brand?
We have to respect what the audience is consuming nowadays, and one of the things they’re consuming is short-form content—while our content is long-form.
Our main USP is how we repurpose the long-form content into multiple short-form pieces that can eventually become a one-month marketing campaign from just one to two hours of their time.
That is the strategy in terms of how we help guests to brand themselves or to create authority within their industry. Just by spending two hours with us, we repurpose that content into blog posts, newsletter articles, short-form content, long-form content, and carousel posts.
These are all the things we do to essentially extend the lifespan and reach of that individual’s marketing campaign.
What are some common mistakes entrepreneurs make when it comes to podcast marketing, and how can they avoid them?
Some of the mistakes customers make involve thinking that podcasting is an immediate conversion marketing campaign. But not all marketing campaigns are about immediate conversions—not all marketing is a direct sale.
Podcasting works more as a branding strategy rather than a conversion strategy. A lot of people who engage podcast services come in with the mindset of “I want to put in $1 and get back $10.” But that shouldn’t be the mindset.
The mindset should be: “Now I’ve put in $1—how far can that $1 reach?” It’s not about conversion; it’s about casting a wider net so you can eventually funnel people down into your sales pipeline.
What do you think makes a good entrepreneur?
A good entrepreneur is someone who is very clear on what they want to do. A lot of people start businesses—and I’ve been one of those people at one point—just for the sake of opening a business or because someone influenced them.
But ultimately, a successful entrepreneur is someone who really enjoys what they do. And when they enjoy what they do, they give their best output—no matter what, and regardless of how much they’re being paid.
You mentioned earlier that some of your businesses didn’t do as well as you’d hoped. What are some key lessons you’d like to share with our readers?
One key lesson—as cliché as it sounds—is that you don’t need a big sum of money to start a business. You can even start a business with $0. In the past, I spent what may not seem like a large amount to others, but it was a big amount for me at the time.
I was earning barely $2,000 a month and pumping my full-time salary into the business. At the time, it felt like a huge commitment, and in hindsight, I realise I was paying for a lot of unnecessary things at the start. So the most important lesson I learned is that you can start a business at $0.
That was the intention I had in 2023 when I started The Golden Nuggets Podcast. That year, I had already made a certain amount from investments, and I challenged myself to start a business with zero capital.
I found the right partners, pitched the idea, and they had the necessary resources—not just money, but skills and tools—to help me launch the podcast. That’s how we started it with $0. And yes, I’ve proven it can be done.
Looking ahead, how do you see the role of podcasting evolving in the business and entrepreneur ecosystem over the next few years?
There’s this common saying—nowadays everybody wants to do a podcast. And the truth of the matter is, a podcast is a necessary tool in multiple ways for businesses.
One of the companies we recently spoke to is a cybersecurity firm, and they want to use podcasts as a way to create engaging content about cybersecurity for their new employees. They see podcasting as a form of internal communication.
Ultimately, what I’m trying to say is that there are many ways to leverage podcasts to grow a business, and while people are aware of this, not many know how to actually execute it effectively. In the US, the podcasting industry is about 21–22 years old.
We’ve seen both big and small companies, even MNCs like McKinsey, using podcasts through their own communications teams—not only to engage their audiences and staff but also to reach wider markets.
In the next few years, I think podcasting will become a much bigger industry in Singapore. At the moment, it’s estimated to be worth around $20 million. It’s forecasted to grow to $50–$60 million by 2030. The reasons are clear: every business will eventually need a podcast, but not many know how to produce an entire podcast series for their specific purposes.
What’s your vision for Singapore in the next five years?
My vision is to see the spirit of entrepreneurship being uplifted as a whole. There are still a lot of barriers for someone who wants to start a business. Incorporating a business is easy—you just go to ACRA and pay the registration fee.
But running a business is where the challenge really lies, and I think that’s something that’s still lacking in Singapore. There’s no centralised platform where people can go to learn how to actually run a business. Even business schools don’t teach these things. They might cover the technical aspects like accounting, but when it comes to the real grind of entrepreneurship, there’s no one really addressing it.
And finding a mentor is always expensive. So yes, I hope that in the next five years, this gap in the entrepreneurship landscape will be bridged in Singapore.
Connect with Amir: TGNPodcast, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
