Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Troy Tintiangco. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Troy, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

It is difficult to be a creative; especially being a young creative new to the space. It is a dog eat dog world out there where you compete with thousands of other creatives to try and make it in the space. Expectations are high and the leash is small. Opportunities are far and few in between. One failure can ruin a relationship you were trying to nurture into something larger. It’s tough in the creative space.

As prominent Youtube and social media is nowadays a lot of teens are looking towards the content creation space as a way to break out of the 9-5 mold. They see what their favorite Youtubers, Tiktokers, etc. are doing and looking to replicate their steps to live a life they have been viewing through their LED screen.

I was one of those kids. I got into video editing at the age of 13 and never really looked back. I enjoyed the creativity and different stress that came from a video deadline instead of a history report. A typical 9-5 job was never a thought in my mind. I went to CSU, Long Beach initially as a marketing major and switched immediately to film. I graduated with a Bachelors in Broadcast Production and realized that I didn’t want most of the jobs in the broadcast space. Months and months of applications were sent out to media companies to try and secure an internship and barely ever got an email back.

It was tough on my mental; I was stressing. I had to succeed. I couldn’t move back home as a failure. I later secured an internship through guerrilla shooting and thought I was in. I had no clue what I was doing during that internship. Did I realize it at the time? No. But, looking back, I had no clue what I was doing. I didn’t have anybody actively helping me improve my craft and was let go a year later. My mental took another hit.

All of this to say that there needs to be a place where young creatives can go to feel safe with their creative process and progress. A place where others are experimenting and allowing themselves to publicly “fail” in order to get better for their next project. A place where people who are trying to make it in the space can share their journey to allow others to see the multitude of paths others have taken.

That is my mission. To help promote creative process and progress. To help grow creativity and give young creatives a safe space.

Troy, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a 2nd generation Filipino-American currently residing in San Diego, CA. I am a videographer, photographer, content creator, and more. Anything that is done digitally creatively I have probably have some experience in it. I first started creating videos in 8th grade and never looked back.

Currently, I am embarking on a 2 year docu-series project with breakdancer Nico Castro as he aims to qualify for the Paris Olympics. I am also building a brand named “Simplex Minds”.

It’s a lifestyle brand by young creatives that focuses on creative growth and journey through exploration and experimentation. I push the creatives that we have on the team to explore the content and art that intrigues them and see what they can learn from those pieces. I challenge them to creative challenges in order to push them past their comfort level to learn something new. We put our content out there to allow other young creatives to see what we’re doing and hopefully encourage them to take small steps towards improvement.

I am honestly super proud of everything we have done thus far with Simplex. I’m grateful for every team member and all of their contributions. It’s been a learning process every step of the way, but that’s what it takes to grow.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

This is something I am still currently learning and at the beginning of understanding. All of the money that has been put into Simplex Minds thus far has been out of my pocket. The upkeep of the business hasn’t been all too expensive as of now. We do not own a brick and mortar shop yet and we are using a third party print on demand site.

Currently we are spending money on our site, team emails, and a few subscription services.

The idea going forward is to have the online shop be the driver of income for the direct future. Then invest those profits back into the company.

So if you want to help us grow, head over to our shop and see if there’s anything there to your liking.

Funding has always been an interesting topic of discussion for me. There are a lot of different routes we could take, but what would help us succeed in the long-term? Overhead is very minimal right now, so we have the ability to go slower.

Could we take out a loan? Sure. Could we look for investors? Sure.

But, we aren’t in a rush. I want to make sure the decisions I make in the infancy of the brand doesn’t hurt the brand in the long-term.

Any advice for managing a team?

From undergrad to now I probably have around 7 years of experience in leadership roles. In the leadership roles I have been in, they have been ones where the teams are comprised of volunteers. Meaning, no one is getting paid for their contributions.

Each team is different. What works for one won’t work for the other. This goes with teaching as well. There isn’t a one-step fix.

A few things I’ve picked up from the years is to really understand that your team is human. There are going to be lows, there will be highs, but how you approach the lows will altar how your team views you and the mission ahead. You aren’t there to tell them to do things and how to do things. You are there to lead them to succeed. If someone is having a bad day, give them some space. Allow them to go about things at their own pace. Also acknowledge and see them. Acknowledge that you see that they may not be at their best and give them the decision as to how they want to go about the rest of the day.

The task may get done later, but its an investment into the future. If you have to pick up their slack for the day so be it. You’re their leader, you’re supposed to have their backs. If you compound on their already low morale, it will never go back up.

Another thing is to give full faith into your team members to complete the task at hand. If they fail to accomplish the task, have a conversation with them as to why it was not completed. The key word is conversation; it’s not a lecture. From there you can see what y’all can do to accomplish the task. Then allow them to handle the task. If they are checked out, that’s another conversation you must have.

Overall, be a leader not a boss. Allow your team space to grow. Be patient. Things may go slower initially, but that time invested should prove to be more efficient in the future.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://simplexminds.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/simplex.minds
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/troytintiangco/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/simplexminds
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@simplexminds

Image Credits
Patrick Ramos, Isabella Munoz, Nico Aguilar