Kevin Lee

Kevin is the Co-Founder of immi, a better-for-you Asian American food brand that's enriching lives through the world's first low-carb, high-protein instant ramen. He was previously a Principal at Pear Ventures, where he led their food & beverage investing.

On his morning routine.

I’m normally up at 7 AM on weekdays and try not to use an alarm clock to let my circadian rhythm take over. 

As soon as I’m up, I’m in my gym shorts and either hitting my Peloton or weights for 30 minutes to an hour. Then I’m showering and at my desk around 8:00.

On leveraging Notion.

I have a pretty rigorous Notion setup along with a priority stack. It’s a combination of The One Thing and The Eisenhower Matrix. I also like adding a column for each task for $ / hour (to remind me to focus on a higher dollar per hour tasks).

Every morning, I’ve already prepped a stack-ranked list of things I need to get through. Those ranking are based on importance and urgency, just to make sure I’m working on the right tasks. 

Regarding morning content, I haven’t been able to read as many newsletters as I’d like because launching immi has taken up the majority of my time.

I usually jump straight into Notion and start cranking out that list.

More recently, I’ve revisited my calendar and have been trying to block out Wednesdays and Fridays for external calls only, leaving the rest of the week for deepwork.

On overcoming health issues.

When I was in my early 20s, I thought that life was about the mental game. 

I believed it was so important to constantly update my mental software, be it listening to a podcast and learning something new at all times of the day.

By the time I was 25, my body started to break down.

I finished the Ragnar Relay with 12 friends where we ran from SF to Napa and basically ended up destroying my knees. 

I followed that up with a Machu Picchu hike without any training, thinking I’m young and my body would be able to handle it.

That pushed my body even further to the brink.

Layered on top of that, when I was just starting out in venture I was on my computer so much that I developed a mild form of carpal tunnel in my hands and arms. It was so bad that for almost two years I couldn’t type without a hand brace. Frankly, I didn’t know anything about nutrition or health prior to 25, simply because I didn’t pay much attention to it and I thought I could handle anything.

After that series of events, I started to pay more attention to my body and alter my health. I’m not too strict about anything other than a low carb, high protein diet. I also try to avoid almost all sugar.

The most important thing for me is always getting good sleep.

On storytelling and Twitter.

I enjoy writing tweetstorms because, deep down, I’ve always been more of a storyteller. From a more strategic lens, building in public noticeably helps with sales, marketing, and fundraising. 

There was a time when I was writing a lot of long story tweetstorms about people who were underdogs who really made it in life.

It satisfied a personal curiosity for me. 

I realized that to write good stories, you have to think like an actor and almost become the person you’re writing about. I do my best to think from their perspective in order to come up with thought-provoking content. 

However, I lost myself a bit in that process where I wasn’t able to come up with original thoughts because I was always focusing on other people.

I took a bit of time off from Twitter to get back into the mode of original content creation and thought generation, and I’m a lot happier now.

To distill that thought further, the more time I spend away from Twitter, the more original thoughts bubble up that I’m then able to share with the world.

On flow state music.

Lane 8 is the perfect flow state music for me, combing few vocals and a consistent melody. In terms of workout music, it really depends on my mood when I wake up.

If I want to amp my body up a bit, I’ll listen to some heavy hip hop which immediately psyches me up. If I’m feeling a little more melancholy on foggy SF days, then Lane 8 is my go-to jam.

On podcast overwhelm.

Two years ago I’d be listening to a podcast 75% of the time. I was definitely an over optimizer who would listen to a Tim Ferriss episode throughout the day.

It got to a point where even when I was doing a quick workout, I’d be blasting a startup or tech-focused podcast through my Bose headphones. 

More recently, I’ve come to realize it can be a little overwhelming! It’s okay if I’m walking or doing work and not constantly having to learn something new.

On his evening routine.

I’m usually off work by 7 PM and cook dinner with my girlfriend.

If I do need to finish some one-off emails after dinner that’s fine, but I don’t feel any sort of pressure to always be on the clock. 

Around 9 or 10, my girlfriend and I hang out and watch something to relax. Then at 11, we’re getting ready for bed. I try to keep my phone away from me during that time. Finally, just before bed, I’ll read for 20 minutes before calling it a day. 

Regarding products, I always foam roll before bed, wear a facemask, and swear by my Eight Sleep mattress to cool me down to the optimal temp.