Founder Patterns, VC Tiers and Southeast Asia’s Undervalued Talent – E584

"If you're a first-time founder, you have about an 18% chance of success. If you've previously failed and this is your second startup, then you have a 20% chance of success with your second startup. But if you have succeeded with your first startup and you're doing a second startup, then you now have a 30% chance of success. So this is basically talking about how successful entrepreneurs tend to repeat that experience over time. And what we talked about is how there are relatively several major components to that. What they were able to decompose and show was that, first of all, there were three components. The first component is that successful entrepreneurs tend to be better at timing. In other words, they tend to launch in a vertical that is not too early, not too late, and so they're able to start at a time when they're able to get the funding but also ride the technology cycle." - Jeremy Au, Host of BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast

"So basically what we have here is that the question people have is: do VCs add value, do VCs help? But basically, we can talk a little bit about some of the research that's available, and one of the key things we showed here was that in the early stages of startups, when it comes to angel investments, it is shown that if you receive the same quantitative score from an angel syndicate but one of you took money from the investors group and the other did not, it turns out that angels are beneficial and help increase the likelihood of survival 18 months after the funding cycle by 14%, increase the likelihood of hiring 40% more employees on average, and also increase the probability of a successful startup exit by 10%. So this is actually key information that we have here." - Jeremy Au, Host of BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast

"But what's interesting is that you can also make the argument that there's little arbitrage left in order to find talent. And so actually, even in that same analysis, they also talk about schools that generate lots of returns but are not necessarily overpriced in that sense. So for example, there's the University of Waterloo, which is a very good engineering school in Canada. There are a lot of schools that are good but relatively under-scouted. So for example, if you look at Southeast Asia—other than Ivy Leagues—for Southeast Asian unicorn founders, I think the top two universities that are overrepresented are the National University of Singapore, number one, and number two is actually the University of Indonesia. Now, you can make an argument about why and so forth, but what's true is that most VCs are not really looking at these two universities in Southeast Asia as closely as they are at Ivy League universities." - Jeremy Au, Host of BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast

Jeremy Au unpacks the real value add of venture capital beyond just funding. Using data and founder behavior patterns, he explains how investor type, timing, team building and university background shape outcomes. The conversation highlights what actually helps founders succeed, how top tier funds scout talent and where undervalued opportunities lie across Southeast Asia.