Alex Tran: Living life Triple-A
An all-rounder, across the board, across the globe. Alex Tran, 30, has checked boxes on bucket lists and striven to break out of them in his personal and professional pursuits.
Having grown up in Europe and the United States, Alex is now based here in Singapore as a vice-president in a cybersecurity start-up. Rather than taking the common approach of climbing corporate ladders at giant global companies, Alex has instead focussed on working with fledgling tech start-ups, getting them into shape for business in the big leagues.
Alex hasn’t just worked for the climb — he relishes the thrill of the drop, in more ways than one. In his free time, Alex has been a championship-winning, internationally touring DJ with an artist management agency of his own, as well as an avid wingsuit skydiver and BASE jumper. He even holds two American state records for piloting a wingsuit.
Talk about a new spin on rising and falling. This week, we warm up with Alex and find out what he’s been up to.
What’s keeping you busy these days?
I’ve recently joined a cyber security start-up — my third tour at an early stage start-up. It’s hectic and time-consuming, but it’s all worth it working with great people to build great companies.
In addition to that, I’ve been trying to help our artists all over the world grow, while training and rehabilitating my injuries for an upcoming BASE jumping season in Europe. All of that combined requires lots of travel and choosing what to invest or sacrifice with my time, like sleep.
What is the craziest sport/activity you’ve tried? What kind of advice would you give to someone who wants to try extreme sports?
I would say BASE jumping has been the craziest. The control of your emotions required to stay calm on the edge of a mountain cliff is intense, especially if you have a fear of heights.
To do any of these activities, whether it’s jumping off a cliff, skiing or riding a bike for the first time, requires mental strength. By that, I mean that the actual movements required are not that complicated. If I showed you how to perform them on the ground with no risk of hurting yourself, you could do so. I would say 80% of it comes down to being able to control overcome your fears and build confidence and trust in yourself.
How do you take care of your body, since extreme sports can be difficult to recover from?
I treat my training and recovery like that of a professional athlete, since what I do requires a very high level of performance.
It depends on the injury, but you can never have enough good sleep (I track my sleep quality through an app), good food (I don’t follow any crazy diet, I just try and make sure I’m eating nutrient-dense food) and good physical therapy.
I work with a great physio and trainer named Albert from Athos Clinic. Depending on the injury, we do all kinds of treatment, exercises, ranging from dry needling, electric stimulation to elastic bands, release techniques and others.
Funny enough, most people think I injure myself from my extreme sports but my serious injuries have come from the most non-extreme, mind boggling ways.
What are your criteria when you sign someone to your agency?
It’s actually quite a simple philosophy. When I listen to their music, I have to feel moved. It has to spark something, and I think that’s the key to a good artist, when they can make a deep connection with you through their music.
It’s been amazing to see our artists get messages from their fans about how their music helped them get through tough times, or how they’ve inspired them. That requires a deep connection with the music.
Tell us about something you can’t quite do or haven’t tried.
I’ve been dreaming about the concept of human flight powered by jet engines. To be honest, most of the things I’ve done I didn’t think I could do, but here we are.
