🎙️ #56 The Future of Work is Fractional: Build a Portfolio Career

From banking in Sydney and Tokyo to co-founding YOLO, getting acquired by Singlife, and building Mission Plus into a leading fractional-work and tech-delivery company. Nick Martin has lived every chapter of the modern career evolution.

In this full Episode 56 of The Generalists, Nick breaks down how employment, talent, and technology are changing faster than companies can keep up. He explains why fractional leadership is surging, how startups can avoid classic tech-build mistakes, and how the 8+2 Career Model helps ambitious professionals build career resilience without quitting their full-time roles.

This is a deep dive into the future of work: portfolio careers, AI-enabled teams, cross-border talent, and why curiosity and autonomy are becoming the most important professional skills.

📖 What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• How fractional leadership is reshaping how companies build and scale
• Why Mission Plus emerged from necessity and why “boring businesses” still win
• Lessons from building YOLO and selling to Singlife
• How tech layoffs, remote work, and AI changed the supply/demand of talent
• The 8 + 2 Career Model and why professionals want portfolio-style careers
• How startups misuse CTO hires and a better model for early-stage product builds
• Why enterprises struggle to adopt AI beyond prototypes
• Why curious generalists are becoming more valuable than ever
• Why Singapore, the Middle East, and APAC are shifting toward fractional adoption
• How immigration rules, work permits, and PR status impact fractional work

👥 Hosts

• Michael Smith Jr.: https://www.linkedin.com/in/smittysgp/
• Raz Kotler: https://www.linkedin.com/in/razkotler/

👤 Guest

• Nick Martin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholasrjmartin/

🔗 Resources & Links Mentioned

🚀 Companies & Platforms

• Mission Plus: https://www.mission.plus/
• Singlife: https://singlife.com
• Citigroup: https://www.citigroup.com
• Visa: https://www.visa.com
• Fireflies.ai: https://fireflies.ai
• Cold Plunge Singapore: https://coldplunge.sg/

📚 Blogs

• The Future Will Not Fit into the Containers of the Past (Rishad Tobaccowala): https://rishadtobaccowala.com