{"id":91893,"date":"2020-06-10T22:49:34","date_gmt":"2020-06-11T03:49:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=91893"},"modified":"2020-10-02T17:24:53","modified_gmt":"2020-10-02T22:24:53","slug":"shifting-gears-from-a-race-car-driver-to-startup-founder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/shifting-gears-from-a-race-car-driver-to-startup-founder\/","title":{"rendered":"Shifting gears from a race car driver to startup founder"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Annie Lin<\/strong>
\nMedill Reports<\/em><\/p>\n

When Daniel Woodroof, 24, went go-karting with his dad one weekend, he never expected it would lead to a professional racing career. Neither did he expect to shift gears. When life took him down a different route, he co-founded Pandan Social<\/a>, a digital marketing agency in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Life<\/strong><\/p>\n

From the age of 12, I was a professional race car driver. I represented the country in international competitions and pursued my sports career in tandem with academics. When I graduated from high school, I was convinced I could keep my career going all the way to Formula One. I\u2019ve made my mom cry multiple times because I didn\u2019t go to university. I was supposed to be this child prodigy that went to Oxford University like my dad. Instead, I took a gap year to focus on my racing career. I moved up the ladder from Formula BMW, Formula Four to Formula Three. Then I ran into funding issues. As you can imagine, racing is a costly sport. So, I had to pivot.<\/p>\n

When I realized I couldn\u2019t afford racing anymore, I took on a consulting gig working on projects in Malaysia and Bangkok. It was great. It was my first time frequently traveling for work. One day, I get a cold call from a production house about a new TV show specifically about a race car driver that traversed Southeast Asia to learn about traditional forms of racing. They wanted me to be the host. The show was called \u201cGo Fast or Go Home.\u201d It aired on Discovery Asia and TV1. I got to experience crazy things like bull racing in paddy fields, dragon boat racing in Penang, tractor racing in Thailand and racing down a mountain in the Philippines on a wooden bicycle. It was the start of an entertainment career that brought me recognition and exposure, but it wasn\u2019t something I wanted to pursue. I was one younger, better looking Eurasian kid away from losing my job. So, I decided to pivot again.<\/p>\n

I landed another job that took me to Australia for a bit, another consulting gig. I had a lot of marketing exposure from the entertainment industry by then, combined with my consulting experience \u2013\u00a0I thought, why don\u2019t I just monetize this myself? So, I called up my best friend, Brandon Lee, who used to race with me. We decided to start Pandan Social in January 2019 with only $1,400 dollars between us, and we have been profitable since. We\u2019ve now grown into a team of eight, and we\u2019re still hiring.<\/p>\n

\"Daniel
Daniel Woodroof drives a Formula Masters car. (Courtesy of Daniel Woodroof Racing\/Facebook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Lesson<\/strong><\/p>\n

Facing the end of my racing career was incredibly challenging to overcome. Everything I had apparently worked for my entire life was crushed. It caused mental health and physical impacts. But I think the way to move forward is to realign and give yourself a new target. Having self-confidence and knowing you\u2019re good enough to do whatever you want. It\u2019s only one set back. You can go ahead and do it again.<\/p>\n

The pressures of extreme stress have always been consistent for me; it\u2019s the external forces causing it that changes. In motorsports, it\u2019s physical, emotional and financial stress. In consulting, it\u2019s the stress to perform when you\u2019re brought into an industry you probably haven\u2019t had experience in, and you\u2019re told to fix their business because that\u2019s what consultants are paid to do. In entertainment, I guess it\u2019s a bit more fluffy. But being on camera is a lot of stress, especially when it\u2019s live.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, owning a business is where I am now. Not only are you working to satisfy your clients, there\u2019s an additional dimension of stress, knowing you are responsible for multiple people\u2019s livelihoods at the end of every month. You\u2019re the one responsible for putting food on your team\u2019s table. To take an overarching view of it, you have to consistently adapt and overcome.<\/p>\n

This interview has been edited and condensed.<\/i><\/p>\n

Photo at top: Daniel Woodroof back in his racing days. (Courtesy of Daniel Woodroof Racing\/Facebook)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Annie Lin Medill Reports When Daniel Woodroof, 24, went go-karting with his dad one weekend, he never expected it would lead to a professional racing career. Neither did he expect to shift gears. When life took him down a different route, he co-founded Pandan Social, a digital marketing agency in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":671,"featured_media":91895,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194,5008],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-culture","category-spring-2020"],"yoast_head":"\nShifting gears from a race car driver to startup founder - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When Daniel Woodroof, 24, went go-karting with his dad one weekend, he never expected it would lead to a professional racing career. 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