Javier Lorenzana: Startup Failure to Social Media Star and Building Influence that Lasts – E616

BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech: Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand & Malaysia Startups, Founders & Venture Capital VC (English)

Javier Lorenzana, former EdTech founder turned content creator, joins Jeremy Au to revisit their first meeting during an On Deck podcasting course and trace his journey from startup building to social media success. They discuss the creation and shutdown of his pandemic-born company Upnext, the personal and professional fallout that followed, and how he rebuilt confidence through fitness, self-work, and creative risk-taking. Javi shares how his founder mindset shapes his content strategy, why authenticity is his biggest growth lever, and how he measures long-term success through influence and connection rather than vanity metrics. Their conversation covers building product market fit for a personal brand, handling public scrutiny, and creating viral formats that blend entertainment with personal values.

00:06 Meeting in an On Deck podcasting course during the pandemic led to early discussions about creator ambitions. Javi shares how he was building his EdTech startup Upnext while Jeremy was launching the BRAVE podcast.

02:36 Upnext began as a Southeast Asia version of On Deck for live online learning during lockdown. It grew to hundreds of students with seed funding before demand collapsed post-pandemic, prompting layoffs and eventual closure.

05:09 Shutting down caused sleepless nights, weight loss, co-founder disagreements, and deep self-blame. Javi describes dragging out the process before finally accepting the need for a reset.

07:45 Returning to the University of Toronto, he skipped classes and used ChatGPT while focusing on personal growth through reading, fitness, and diet—his “villain arc” to rebuild confidence.

10:17 Choose content creation over a traditional career after months of journaling and admitting it was a long-held personal goal. The first six months brought low views until the viral “shirtless book review” series.

15:40 The series gained millions of views by combining fitness and literature, sparking reposts and online jokes about ignoring the reviews for his physique. Javi refined his approach with a mix of original ideas and adapted formats.

24:13 Measures success through influence and real-world connection rather than follower counts, believing this has the highest leverage for future opportunities. His bravest moment was posting that first shirtless review despite fear of judgment.

Watch, listen or read the full insight at https://www.bravesea.com/blog/javier-lorenzana-viral-book-muscles

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