Couldn’t imagine it when I started the channel four years ago! 1 billion views is not too far away.

What the top 5% are thinking about right now

Just came back from a 3-day Phuket trip where I was doing some organisational work for The Backstage Circle weekend in March. Met with the Thai organiser, visited the private villas where we’ll be staying, and checked a few of the activities we’re planning for the group.

On top of that, I of course arranged a few interviews with expats in Thailand. All four of my guests were successful entrepreneurs – the owner of one of the best beach clubs in Phuket, an early Bitcoin adopter who did extremely well, the founder of the biggest news platform in Phuket, and a globally known mixed martial arts promoter.

I always dig deeper during the conversations that later get published on our YouTube channel. But I also try to understand the person when the camera is off. Most important decisions and real conversations don’t happen publicly. That’s actually the core idea behind The Backstage Circle.

After this trip, I noticed a few patterns in what high-level people are focused on right now.

They are very hands-on when it comes to their businesses, competitors, markets, and the economy. They’re not detached from reality. They stay close to it and understand it well.

At the same time, they are extremely focused and ruthless about prioritising signal over noise. That’s something I see across all successful people.

Another recurring theme was kids and education. Several of them spoke about the importance of children learning AI and developing creativity, rather than just following traditional paths. It may sound obvious, but when multiple successful entrepreneurs independently repeat the same idea, you start paying attention.

And that’s exactly what we’ll be focusing on during The Backstage Circle in March: understanding what the top 5% are thinking about right now, prioritising signal over noise, building meaningful relationships, and sharing unique experiences together. For example, we’ll be spending time with a billionaire at his private residence.

So far we have a very high-level private group of participants coming from Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok, and Australia. I’ll take another 3–4 people and then close the intake. Details below.

https://apply.thebackstagecircle.com/phuket

Welcome. If you’re here from the Didi episode, you probably value unconventional thinking.

So here’s who I am and what this Telegram is about.

I’m Max Chernov, a Singapore-based entrepreneur and YouTuber.

On YouTube, I interview founders, billionaires, expats, and operators — mainly across Asia and the Middle East, with more US content coming soon. The channel has 400K+ subscribers and almost 200M views. Long-form, deep conversations.

This Telegram is different.

Here I share:
• Raw reflections after interviews
• What high-level people are actually focused on
• Patterns I see across the top 5%
• Behind the scenes of my travels, business, and YouTube channel
• Unfiltered takes I won’t always post on YouTube

I’m also building The Backstage Circle — a private group for serious entrepreneurs who value real conversations over networking theater.

If you care about wealth, geo freedom, leverage, and signal over noise, stay.

A big video is coming tonight at 7pm Singapore time on our YouTube channel. Another billionaire, this time from Dubai. He is the biggest guest I’ve interviewed so far, with a net worth of $4B and representing one of the most influential families in the Middle East.

I'm just worried that it may be perceived as controversial given the current situation with Iran. Let’s see how it lands.

Filming this video was one of the most unusual experiences in my life. I came for an interview when there was almost nobody in the office. Only a couple of people finishing their work, Mishal and me. He was very polite and gentle, a bit unexpectedly. But I knew that he is one of the most influential people in the Gulf region and worth 4 billion dollars. Not someone you meet every day.

We started talking. Smiling and laughing, he shared a story about how, at 19, he went to the US from the Middle East for a Catholic (!) university, whose building was facing a gay bar street. Okay, okay...

After we finished talking, I noticed that he looked a tiny bit like he was looking for something. He asked to excuse him and said that he was slightly late for his evening prayer. Mishal took a mat and went to another room connected to the room where we were, without any door. And here you go, it’s me alone in the building with this billionaire wearing a traditional white thobe, praying 5m away from me. What kind of job am I doing?

That day was quite bizarre but very, very fulfilling and inspiring.

Anyway, I wanted to give you a bit of a backstage feel of how it was. And now, knowing this, you can watch the video now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrh0J93E9Hw

There is one person I’ve interviewed four times on my channel: Donald Klip. The only person I’ve interviewed more is my friend Andy Lim, whom I’ve traveled to India with several times.

What’s unique about Donald is that he has real skin in the game, having built a business that surpassed $1B in transactions, while also maintaining a strong helicopter view of global trends. That combination is rare.

I sat down with him at the American Club Singapore and asked how Iran is affecting Singapore and Southeast Asia, how people are likely to make money with AI over the next 5 to 10 years, and where to invest based on the direction of the global economy.

I recommend watching it, especially if you are operating in Asia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QWK1Y3od7Q

Talked to one of my favorite people, Hian Goh. He built and sold a TV network for $65M, then co-founded a venture firm managing almost $1B in capital. Hian understands how the world and business work extremely well.

We met a couple of years ago randomly at a friend’s private boat party in Singapore, and since then became friends and done a few cool things together. He also joined my The Backstage Circle trip in Phuket as a participant recently.

Anyway, watch the video if you want to understand how the future (potentially) will look like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ha4cNZrdo_Y