A vision for education, clarity, and breaking life’s paradoxes.
“My life goal is to start a school called the Chicken and Egg Institute when I turn 80 years old,” David said with a smile.
It might sound whimsical at first—but the idea is deeply rooted in a lifetime of entrepreneurial lessons, lived paradoxes, and the universal experience of hitting a wall just as you’re trying to build momentum. The Chicken and Egg Institute is about navigating those exact moments—when we ask ourselves: Where do I even start?
In business, in innovation, in life itself—we often face chicken-and-egg dilemmas. Do I need experience to get an opportunity, or an opportunity to gain experience? Do I wait for the perfect conditions, or start now and figure it out later?
David knows these puzzles intimately. Years ago, while setting up a company in China, he faced a perfect catch-22: to open a local bank account, he needed a government business license. But to get a business license, he needed proof of capital—in a local bank account.
“Do you see the chicken and egg here?” he laughs. “Leave me a message on the website if you want to know how I solved it.”
(Spoiler: both came at the same time—through grit, creativity, and a few loopholes. It worked.)
More than 15 years later, the business is still thriving. But the lesson stuck: many people get stuck in these loops. And it’s not because they lack talent or ambition—it’s because no one teaches you how to start when everything feels blocked.That’s what the Chicken and Egg Institute will be about.
It’s not about theory. It’s about how to break out of stuck. How to begin something that feels impossible. How to find clarity, confidence, and momentum when everything depends on something else that hasn’t happened yet.
The future vision is to launch this as part of Dan Dan Academy—a place where wisdom is passed on through stories, real-life examples, and grounded, practical frameworks. Not for grades or diplomas, but for empowerment. For unblocking lives. For helping others find their way through the paradoxes we all face at one point or another.
And why age 80?
“Because by then, I’ll have seen a few more eggs hatch. And I’ll be ready to give back in a new way—by teaching others how to crack their own.”
