"Well, to me, I think the graduate unemployment issue is going to get really bad really quickly. I mean, if you just look at the Graduate Employment Survey, which I think the Ministry of Education releases every year, this year is probably the lowest—it dipped under 80%. Usually, it's somewhere around 85%. You can attribute this to many different things: uncertainty around MNC hiring due to trade wars and Asia-Pacific budget cuts, or AI eradicating a lot of jobs. But I also think there's a cultural disposition among the younger generation toward wanting to work at recognizable brand-name companies." - Adriel Yong, Orvel Venture Partner

Adriel Yong, Orvel Venture Partner, joins Jeremy Au to reflect on five years of career transitions from investing to building startups across Southeast Asia and the US. They unpack how American venture capital has turned inward, the unintended consequences of remote work, and why AI is upending both work and relationships. Through candid stories from fundraising dinners in San Francisco to AI-generated breakup scripts they explore how technology is transforming how we build companies, make decisions, and stay human.

"Convertible debt is coming back. Price equity rounds, I said, historically were used for almost all investments like 20 or 30 years ago. A SAFE note has only emerged over the past 15 years as a standard norm for early stage startups. But convertible debt is coming back as a norm for later stage startups. So a SAFE note is totally inappropriate for a middle or growth stage or late stage startup. Let's say the company has a $20 million valuation or $15 million valuation or $200 million valuation. They may say something like, I need some capital in the short term to make a decision, but it's hard for me to tell what the price for the next round is. So I want to use a convertible note structure to absorb some capital and then say, if you come in now and give me $10 million, for example, then you get a 20% discount on the next round in one year's time. So you get 20% bonus shares for coming in one year early." - Jeremy Au, Host of BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast

Jeremy Au breaks down the evolving power dynamics between VCs and founders in Southeast Asia, diving into board control, investor rights, and why most startups fail despite support. He shares practical lessons from both sides of the table, highlights the return of convertible debt, and explains how founders should think about conflict, dilution, and boardroom politics.

"Yes, AI can do it for you, and AI can do it for, in fact, everybody now, since so many—everyone has access to AI, right? So then what makes you different from others, right? What's your talent, or how—if you and another person are in a run for the same job, same position—what's going to make you stand out? So I would ask the youth to really think harder in such questions." - Janine Teo, CEO of Solve Education

"For the audience that I'm working with, which are marginalized youth, I think AI is very exciting because this means that with AI, they get to explore, ask questions, and learn at their own pace. For us, we even integrated an AI coach within our platform at bot.ai, so that it is able to give our students career guidance or even encouragement—or just be there, sometimes just someone to talk to and also ask questions that they don't understand from their schoolwork." - Janine Teo, CEO of Solve Education

Janine Teo, CEO of Solve Education, returns to BRAVE after three years to explore how AI is reshaping education for marginalized youth. She and Jeremy Au unpack the double-edged nature of AI in learning, how Solve Education leverages gamification and AI coaching to drive motivation, and the shifting job market where entry-level roles are disappearing. They discuss how AI is widening access for underserved learners, challenging traditional career aspirations, and demanding new approaches to teaching foundational skills. Janine also shares how her team’s GAIN model: Gamification, AI, Incentives, and Network, tackles agency gaps and builds community-led learning environments for impact at scale.

"Democratic instability has been very much a recurring issue and theme across Thai politics, right? I think the biggest thing to keep in mind here is that this is just the latest escalation in a very long-running conflict—it’s been happening for, what, almost 20, 20-plus years. And even though the government was elected democratically, if the people aren't happy, you see protests, and they can still be removed by the courts. I think it shows that the Constitutional Court is still one of the most powerful players in Thai politics. But the ripple effects—from tourism, overall morale in the country, investor sentiment, investor confidence—it’s going to be, yeah, we’re going to continue feeling this, right?" - Wing Vasiksiri, Investor and Ecosystem Builder

Wing Vasiksiri, investor and ecosystem builder, returns to unpack the recent political upheaval in Thailand, the shifting startup landscape, and how these dynamics intersect. He and Jeremy Au explore the Prime Minister’s suspension, the ripple effects of leaked diplomacy, and what these events signal for foreign investment and local sentiment. They also discuss the country's cannabis policy reversal, new crypto tax breaks, and the comeback of early-stage incubation. Wing introduces “Project Thailand,” a new public resource and investor-backed report aiming to support Thai founders by mapping out the entire ecosystem. Their discussion offers a real-time pulse check on Thailand's path toward stability, growth, and tech-driven innovation.

"In general, the more successful a startup is in the early stages and the faster they grow towards a unicorn, the more likely the founder is able to maintain majority control even all the way to exit. So if you look at, for example, Mark Zuckerberg—even though he has a minority share in terms of his economic rights, in terms of a percentage of the entire company—he has a special class of shares that gives him control and voting rights that allows him to have an outsized control versus his actual economic control. But that's a function of the fact that Facebook grew very fast and was very successful, and investors were willing to give him more control rights even though they were taking up economic rights for themselves to share in the risk and reward." - Jeremy Au, Host of BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast

"Anti-dilution provisions are basically saying that investors have the right to protect themselves from dilution over time. There's all kinds of versions of this—ratchet versus full weighted average—but they're quite significant, and they actually can be quite onerous in Southeast Asia, primarily because of the smaller size of outcomes historically to date, but also the less mature VC ecosystem. So this is something for you to be aware of. And lastly, of course, is the employee options pool size, which is how much of the economic pool we are saving for employees. Because you, as a VC, you're negotiating with the founder, but then the VC wants to make sure that there's enough economic upside to be shared with the key leadership team who are not the founders, so there is a third person in the room that is not being compensated for, and this is how they discuss and negotiate that." - Jeremy Au, Host of BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast

"Convertible notes and SAFEs are simpler instruments that were generated over time. So in the past, if you go back 30 to 40 years ago, all investments were done through priced equity rounds. But convertible notes came second, and what they were was that convertible notes were basically saying, 'How do I create a debt instrument that allows me to be protected as a debt instrument for the next, for example, two to three years, but at the right timing be able to convert into an equity type of outcome?' So it's meant to be a simpler document which uses a short-term interest rate as well as some other control mechanisms, but basically it looks like debt in the short term but converts into equity at a future date. Convertible notes were historically built to make it easier for early-stage startups to use less lawyer time, use less accountant time, and come to agreement about what needs to be done." - Jeremy Au, Host of BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast

Jeremy Au broke down the real stakes behind early-stage fundraising—where founders trade equity for survival, and investors negotiate for control. He explained how financing tools like SAFE notes, convertible notes, and priced rounds shape who gets rich, who gets a say, and who gets left behind. From legal traps to boardroom dynamics, this session reveals what every founder should know before signing a term sheet.

01:05 Understanding Startup Economics: Jeremy explains how startups face a "valley of death" where they burn cash before reaching profitability. He introduces the idea that funding always comes with tradeoffs in economic and control rights.

01:39 Debt vs. Equity: Key Differences: A breakdown of how debt requires repayment and protects ownership, while equity gives up a piece of the upside but doesn't need to be paid back if the startup fails.

03:23 Equity Financing: Preferred Stock, Convertible Notes, and SAFE Notes: Jeremy walks through the three common fundraising tools, how each works in early-stage rounds, and why SAFEs have become the global standard for speed and simplicity.

08:00 Control Rights and Board Dynamics: The discussion turns to how board control shifts as startups raise money. Jeremy explains why early governance decisions shape long-term power and influence over the company.

"If you look at the Vietnamese demography, we're getting older before we get richer. So 2030 is when our golden population is no longer golden, because 2030 is when we start to age more than we have newborns. So this strategy is quite dangerous if one day our labor workforce is no longer the low-wage workforce that this model might work with. That’s why Resolution 68 and, late last year, Decree 58 are orienting Vietnam toward a newer economic model." - Valerie Vu, General Partner at Ansible Ventures

"Before, state-owned enterprises contributed more than 50 percent to Vietnam’s GDP, but according to Resolution 68, the government wants to push more private enterprises and private entrepreneurs to contribute more to the local GDP. They want entrepreneurs to build more and contribute more to the economy, especially the conglomerates. They want them to contribute at least more than 50 percent to the economy, instead of below 50 percent as of today. So state-owned enterprises will become less—still very important—but no longer the biggest contributor to Vietnam’s GDP. We encourage entrepreneurs and business owners to be at the forefront of building Vietnam’s economy." - Valerie Vu, General Partner at Ansible Ventures

"So I think we just finished the third official meetings for the negotiation of the tariff. The exact number was not disclosed, but both sides have been saying that most of the major concerns are already resolved, though there are still one or two points we haven't come to an agreement on. That's why they could not disclose the final number for the tariff, but they have already gone through three official meetings. From my intels, the U.S. side has asked a lot of difficult and very tough questions and also made demands—not just for military support like Vietnam starting to buy F-16s from the U.S.—but also forcing Vietnam to cleanse and clean out domestic commerce and trade so that we can prove that we have transparency on where the goods are coming from." - Valerie Vu, General Partner at Ansible Ventures

Vietnam’s rapid economic transformation is reshaping its future. Valerie Vu, General Partner at Ansible Ventures, joins Jeremy Au to explore how Vietnam is shifting from export dependence to a tech-driven, domestic growth model. They discuss the rollback of anti-corruption campaigns, intensified U.S. trade negotiations, and how food safety scandals are driving transparency reforms. Valerie also explains Resolution 68, a blueprint promoting private sector innovation and deep tech, and what this means for founders and investors.

"Talent is bell-curved, right? In the sense that from people who are super good in this one domain to people who are not good in this domain. So Jeremy is horrible at piano, but he's probably good at podcasting in the Southeast Asia context. Not world-class. And that's the talent piece, which is like, I'm on one side for this one skill. And then we talk about it, which is there are certain hubs, right? Talent vortexes that suck in talent. And so if you wanted to be the best at, I'm just example, acting, you probably want to go to Hollywood. And there's some local regional hubs like Bollywood. Obviously there's the Chinese who have their own Hong Kong nexus for acting, et cetera. So there's these pockets for their own local markets, but Hollywood is that talent vortex for acting talent." - Jeremy Au, Host of BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast

"I read a very interesting article, I don't know if it was The Economist or The Atlantic, that was basically saying the decline in fertility globally is actually driven by smartphones. So they basically said, you know, people have all these other things like enough childcare, not enough, you know, all this other stuff. But they said if you map it, right, you know, people always like to hold up Scandinavia as like a place that has really good childcare and child leave policies. But even in Scandinavia, fertility rate is going down. And so they made the argument that it's actually like, if you map smartphone penetration, that's how you see the fertility rates correlating and that the places with the highest fertility have the lowest smartphone penetration." - Shiyan Koh, Managing Partner at Hustle Fund 

"You know, there's this feeder program, which is like, you know, in undergrad, you wanted to be a bio scientist and then suddenly you started zooming in to be like, I want to do like longevity and aging. And then you do your, then you did your master's, then you go do your PhD at Harvard. And so there's this massive suction effect. Where Harvard had these like rock star professors that were globally known. And then they got this incredible bench of like super hungry, super ambitious, super smart. And then people, and then money comes in and it's like, you know what? You know, like you did this, you did that. Why don't we do the next thing on top of that, right? And then those labs were spitting out patents, startups, spinoffs." - Jeremy Au, Host of BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast

Shiyan Koh, Managing Partner at Hustle Fund, joins Jeremy Au to examine how geopolitical shifts, demographic decline, and education policy are reshaping global talent and innovation flows. They explore Japan and Korea’s push into Southeast Asia, the unexpected impact of smartphone culture on fertility, and how political actions in the US are disrupting the university pipeline and research ecosystems. They also critique bureaucratic inefficiencies in tech transfer and reflect on assimilation policies, academic flywheels, and the cultural nuances behind talent mobility.

“So the first agreement that I have to talk about is what I call the founder's agreement, and this is quite key because founders often have a very messy birth process or conception process for what the startup looks like. So what I mean by that is that founders are often meeting new founders, they're hiring new employees, they're attracting customers—they are often doing this without a company. So there's no legal company, there's no legal agreement technically, so it may be two people working in a room and they're just saying ‘I want to work with you.’ And sometimes those teams break up, and then a new founder comes in or a new employee comes in. So what often happens is that the founder's agreement is quite key.” - Jeremy Au, Host of BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast

Jeremy Au breaks down the hidden risks in Southeast Asia’s edtech sector and early-stage startup law. He explains why edtech often fails to scale, how founder disputes emerge without early agreements, and why choosing the right jurisdiction like Singapore matters for survival. From investor alignment to taxation nightmares, this episode guides founders through the hard truths of building legally sound and scalable ventures.

"With how AI is coming up, if you don't have a core system to which everything talks to and from which everything emanates, then in the future, the more AI systems advance, you're not collecting all that data, you don't have mediums to then transform yourself to reap the next level benefits with all the technologies now that are coming." - Olzhas (Oz) Zhiyenkul, CEO and co-founder of Investbanq

"It's a thing of the past, and even a huge institution will collapse if it doesn't have systems. And what I got to experience was a massive inefficiency, starting with the fact that till this day, a digital interface in a private bank is either a beautiful front end that is written with errors because it's built on legacy systems, to the fact that still to this day, you can't trade most asset classes on a private bank digital interface. When in 2022 we exited that wealth management company successfully, I thought, 'I need to do something about this 'cause I still haven't found a system that is going to enable wealth management digitally.' And at that point in time in 2022, it was clear where the wealth management industry is moving and what it's gonna be in the next 10, 20 years."  - Olzhas (Oz) Zhiyenkul, CEO and co-founder of Investbanq

"And what I got to experience was a massive inefficiency, starting with the fact that till this day, a digital interface in a private bank is either a beautiful front end that is written with errors because it's built on legacy systems, to the fact that still to this day, you can't trade most asset classes on a private bank digital interface. And then going a notch below that, 90% of wealth managers, outside of a few large ones, are operating without systems or with very narrow systems, and 90% of family offices are still operating on Excel. I got to witness that and feel that firsthand. I asked many questions, researched, and received answers: Why are banks doing that? Why are they not investing into those systems? Why are wealth managers making this choice? Why is it so difficult to switch outside of Excel?"  - Olzhas (Oz)  Zhiyenkul, CEO and co-founder of Investbanq

Olzhas (Oz) Zhiyenkul, CEO and co-founder of Investbanq, joins Jeremy Au to share how his journey from post-Soviet Kazakhstan to launching a full-stack wealth operating system was shaped by hardship, global education, and the inefficiencies he witnessed firsthand across Asia’s financial sector. They discuss how legacy systems fail family offices, why most wealth managers still operate on Excel, and how Investbanq aims to empower rather than replace relationship managers. Olzhas also recounts building boats from garbage on reality TV, reflects on cultural shocks from the UK to Singapore, and maps out his long-term vision for a digital-native wealth future.

"I think what's interesting is that's been borne out in our data. Our business model is tutor outsourcing, so we have tutors based in Asia and we staff them with tutoring and education companies around the world. Those companies have been implementing AI into their operations. They are competing with AI-only solutions. The feedback we're getting from clients is those who can afford it want a human component—they'll want that one hour of English, that one hour of math every week. Then, you know, the rest of the week they can do all sorts of other things, but they still want that human, regular touchpoint. Mm-hmm. And that's where we come in. We provide the teachers for that regular touchpoint." - Henry Motte-de la Motte, CEO of Edge Tutor 

"AI allows you to personalize. Those who can afford it will have the highest human element because those with the means have essentially AI-enabled human teachers. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. So you get the human element. There's also a trust element. You know what's so interesting is a lot of the guys in Silicon Valley talk, and you ask them how they raise their kids—no screen time. Make it make sense. It's classic NIMBYism, right? They're all for social equality, but please, not in my backyard. No social housing behind me. You have entire school systems trying to reduce the use of technology. Sweden has gone back to pen and paper because they've proven that you learn more when using pen and paper than digital devices." - Henry Motte-de la Motte, CEO of Edge Tutor 

"Most of my team—we use AI in our operations. We use it in teacher recruiting, we use it in teacher training. I half-jokingly tell all my colleagues like, 'Ask ChatGPT before you ask me, because ChatGPT is a lot smarter than me, and you know.' Mm-hmm. 'Only ask me if you still can't figure it out with the AI tools you use.' But that's quite different to how most people learn. Most of us are actually lazy learners. We're not in the 5% hyper-proactive learners. You can also be a very proactive learner for some topics, but not for others. I'm constantly learning about the space that I'm in. I used to speak Spanish, and I've been trying to learn it again over the last three years. I've signed up to a bunch of high-quality software solutions. I'm not learning Spanish because I'm just not motivated enough." - Henry Motte-de la Motte, CEO of Edge Tutor 

Henry Motte-de la Motte, CEO of Edge Tutor, and Jeremy Au reconnect two years after their last conversation to discuss how global tutoring has evolved. They examine the rise of AI in education, differences in learner motivation, and how human connection and structure remain critical to learning. They explore Edge Tutor’s expansion into 30 countries, the decision to stay focused on English and math, and how demographic and economic shifts are transforming education into a premium service. Their conversation also touches on the societal role of parenting, immigration, and childcare policy as key levers to address falling birth rates and education equity.

"So you wanna depict a good picture, but you also wanna be realistic and say, 'Look, there could be this and this that can happen.' I'm doing that a lot more than I used to, and then admit that a lot of things you don't know. Say, 'Look, I don't know, and we'll experiment and see if this works, but it just might not work.' But to be more honest in that sense, I think, is a sign of maturity as a founder, right? Mm-hmm. And I've seen this in some other founders that are talking openly about their mistakes. They don't know, they're trying these things, and they hope it will work, they'll do their best, but it might not work—versus younger founders saying, 'Oh, we know what needs to be done. We're going full steam ahead, and this is gonna work out, this is gonna be massive,' right? You can immediately see the two more different types of founders." - Ilya Kravtsov, Co-Founder of Ringkas

"Founders should really be very clear on that. One thing is legal and the other one is illegal. You never wanna cross that line, right? But even what you do to try to hack your numbers, you also need to be transparent about that. As long as it's clear, people will take the risk. In that case, there were two lines crossed. Mm-hmm. First line crossed—that it was illegal, which you cannot do. The second line is that whatever was happening was not fully disclosed in a transparent way. So I think every founder should never cross one line for sure—and the second one as well. Only in that case you can boost your business or whatever you have to do, right?" - Ilya Kravtsov, Co-Founder of Ringkas

"But again, are you scaling for the right reasons? Are you scaling with the right methodologies? For me, it's not only about fake it until you make it. I think you need to, as a founder, take a step back and try to seek the truth. Seek the truth means, are you doing it just to boost your numbers, or are you doing it because you really believe that long term it's gonna work? And I think at a certain point, more and more—as a younger myself 10 years ago—I would be hungry about pushing the numbers and getting to that next milestone. But now I look at things differently. It is gonna explode—yeah—and it's gonna waste my years—mm—of effort, because boosting numbers takes a lot of effort. So that's why I think it's very important to seek the truth and be very honest with yourself. First of all, with yourself. Secondly, with your team, right? And that's why having a culture where your numbers are quite transparent and people know what's going on is very important." - Ilya Kravtsov, Co-Founder of Ringkas

Ilya Kravtsov, Co-Founder of Ringkas, joins Jeremy Au to unpack the rise and fall of Indonesia’s lending wave, the ripple effects of the eFishery scandal, and the hard lessons founders must absorb to build sustainable startups. They examine how early hype misaligned business models, how fraud damages more than just a company, and why radical transparency is key to long-term leadership. Ilya shares how Ringkas scaled without lending, why developer partnerships unlocked bank adoption, and how he carefully built a diversified cap table to preserve founder control.

" I mean women have it so much harder, right? Because for them, their bodies are literally changing on a daily basis. Then the emotions, the appetites—everything is going through a massive cycle. For me, my wife was a huge inspiration because she was dealing with a whole bunch of ups and downs. In my mind, I was like, I have no place to be stressed out or frustrated, 'cause what she's going through is way worse. I have this thing where, if I'm in a bad situation, I will always reference myself to individuals that I know within my network that are in really difficult situations. And I'm always like, look, my situation is really not... yeah, yeah, yeah, you. It just helps make things a lot easier, helps ground me on some level. It just fundamentally is a psychological trick to make me realize it's not that big a deal." - Mohan Belani, Co-Founder of e27

"Even if it opposes your worldview, it's really important to stay curious rather than be judgmental or critical. So there's one quote that I shared with some friends earlier this year—I think it's a bit corny, but actually very powerful for me at least, especially now in the age of AI. This need to consistently be curious about what's new, what's interesting, or what's changing, even if it opposes your worldview, is really important rather than to be judgmental or critical. I'm hoping through that I can be a better learner, a better dad, but also a lot more ready for the changes that are coming. Because if you are able to be curious, the good thing about AI is that it will feed you that curiosity. But you’ve got to have the curiosity—the patience to ask questions and not just judge the outcome. So yeah, for me, be curious, not judgmental." - Mohan Belani, Co-Founder of e27

"We made the decision that we were husband and wife first and parents second. It doesn't mean that we didn't care about the kid, but we had to make sure that we put in effort, time, to continue to build on and respect the sanctity of our relationship, and not pour everything into just purely raising the child. We made a lot of decisions that maybe third parties would look at and go like, 'Wow, you guys are bad parents for making those decisions.' When really, from our perspective, we're like, 'No, we are making sure that we are rock solid as partners, and that rock solid foundation will help us bring up the child better.' And I think looking back, I'm really very happy we made those decisions." - Mohan Belani, Co-Founder of e27

Mohan Belani, Co-Founder of e27, and Jeremy Au reflect on what it means to be a tech leader, startup founder, and modern dad raising Generation Alpha. They explore how parenting rewires identity, the mental load of fatherhood, and how decision-making feels like startup building in a world flooded with information. They discuss the tension between being an attentive partner and a present parent, how childhood memories shape parenting choices, and how to raise children with curiosity and resilience in an AI-saturated future.

"I tried calling my partners and their phones were not even switched on. I panicked. It was eventually discovered that my ex-partners had forged financial documents. Mm-hmm. Not only did they forge the financial documents, but they also forged Ernst & Young chief auditor's signature on those financial documents. With those forged financial documents, they went to six different banks to borrow money from each bank, plus all the money that was injected by all these investors from family offices and whatnot. They emptied the bank account and fled to China, abandoning their wives, partners, children, and families, and leaving us all high and dry—leaving the businesses, investors, and banks high and dry." - Dr. Gerald Tan, founder of Elite Dental Group

"For example, if you got involved in a very bad road traffic accident and you fractured or smashed your teeth, and if you had an old picture of yourself prior to the accident, smiling, I could take that and feed it into the AI, and the AI would redesign exactly the same kind of teeth to reconstruct all of your broken teeth—to make you look exactly like what you looked like before the accident. Which is simply amazing, isn't it? I didn't know that was possible until you just told me. Yeah. So it's all about AI design—computer-aided design driven by AI. Mm-hmm. And then, of course, the dentist or the dental technician has the right to manually override and tweak whatever the AI suggests." - Dr. Gerald Tan, founder of Elite Dental Group

"That's how AI is impacting design. A large part of what I do is designing. A lot of my patients have severely worn down, broken, or missing teeth and just have to reconstruct. So the reconstruction process always starts with design first, before you actually execute. So that's how AI is impacting my field. What's even more exciting—and I'm just so excited to tell you about this—is that I'm currently involved in an AI project that has the attention of the government, of the Agency for Integrated Care. It's caught the attention of the National Dental Center of Singapore. It's caught the attention of the Faculty of Dentistry, NUS. Caught the attention of Health Minister Ong." - Dr. Gerald Tan, founder of Elite Dental Group

Dr. Gerald Tan, founder of Elite Dental Group and the first Singaporean dentist to graduate from Harvard Business School, joins Jeremy Au to share how dentistry blends science, art, and entrepreneurship. They explore his journey from being one of 30 students in NUS Dentistry to leading an AI-driven public health initiative and surviving a devastating fraud by trusted business partners. Gerald unpacks how AI is reshaping oral health diagnostics, how public and private dental sectors have evolved in Singapore, and why legal protections alone aren’t enough in business. His story is a powerful look into what it means to lead with resilience and foresight in healthcare.

"I think sometimes we don't, and in working with leaders, sometimes I feel like we get stuck in this idea of who we are—and that's the danger when we don't give ourselves the space to evolve. Even as leaders, right? Definitely more further down in their career, maybe in their 50s, some people in their 60s—'cause you have board members as well—and some people are very, like, you know, maybe more fixed in their ideas or belief systems about, 'Oh, I just don't do that, I'm just not a good communicator,' or, 'I always struggle with empathy, I always struggle with speaking to big groups and people.' But when we give ourselves the space to acknowledge where we are, but also the room to evolve our narrative identity, our story of ourself, I think it gives us so many more possibilities of who we can become—and we don't limit ourselves." - Jiezhen Wu, Leadership Coach and Community Builder

"Becoming a parent also made me think about these things. After Harvard, I was like, 'Okay, do I go work in-house in big tech or go into more corporate consulting and impact consulting?' Like, there's so many different paths I could have taken. But I think as a parent, one of the very clarifying questions for me was like, 'Okay, I really wanna be present for my kids.' I really struggled at first—like, do I have to choose between that or doing work that I loved in the world? And the work I've been doing now is really about that integration. How do I do both? How do I be present and do work I care about in the world and really look at the impact that I wanna create? But I think that thread was clarified in becoming a parent, because I was like, 'If there's any time I'm spending away from my children, it has to count.' So where am I going to get my biggest buck, right?" - Jiezhen Wu, Leadership Coach and Community Builder

"If I'm going to invest time coaching—and I coach a variety of leaders—but if I'm working with those top teams, the ripple effect can happen within their teams and organizations. I'm coaching, like, C-suite, right? The impact of their decisions affects so many people. And I've seen the shift that can happen when leaders really step into their full potential of who they can be, and that huge ripple effect of what that means for not just the organization and the teams, but their customers, their families, their communities." - Jiezhen Wu, Leadership Coach and Community Builder

Jiezhen Wu, leadership coach and community builder, joins Jeremy Au to explore how identity, leadership and parenting intersect in shaping purposeful careers. They trace her journey from nonprofit work and Harvard to coaching C-suite leaders across Asia. Together, they reflect on living by design rather than default, the trade-offs of relocating from the US to Singapore, and the internal clarity needed to define true success. Jiezhen unpacks how becoming a mother reshaped her professional lens, why Southeast Asia holds untapped potential for leadership development, and how frameworks can guide but not dictate growth. The episode blends candid stories, cultural nuance and practical reflection for anyone navigating career and life transitions.

"And personally, of late, I've been spending a lot of time on AI. I believe AI plus 5G—which needs low latency—can solve a lot of problems. Think of it: if I can have a personal assistant as an agent who helps me on every step, a personal nurse who understands me and gives me proactive guidance, every child will have a personal tutor as an agent. My two decades of learning in terms of all the evolution of G, we were too focused on speed. Speed can only do so much. Yes, we saw a lot of things which were not possible earlier, and that got started with 3G, but it completely got demonstrated on 4G. The 5G potential will get unlocked now, which is AI plus 5G." - Vikram Sinha, CEO of Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison

"The key learning which I got is, if you make mistakes, also be honest and upfront. Audit is not to catch you; audit is to improve your own mistake. So there is a difference between mistake and integrity. I think I keep teaching all my employees that it is okay to make mistakes, so don't mix mistakes with integrity. And because I was very honest, I was upfront, I was not hiding anything, it was categorized as a mistake. If I would have tried to make up something, it would have been an integrity issue, and I would have lost my job." - Vikram Sinha, CEO of Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison

"Personally, the most brave decision I took was to accept the assignment of a merger. The moment I was told, I was excited, but when I spoke to a few of my close friends, everyone told me that it was a recipe for disaster. Most of the CEOs who had taken this on lost their job in 12 to 18 months, maximum two years, because telco mergers—if you go back in history—close to 100% were failures. There wasn’t any example of success. And that is what I started in 2022. People supported me, my family supported me, and my team. I have to say, now we have become one. We looked at each other as a management team—it has been three years now—and we said we have two choices: one, to become history, or two, to create history. Let's work towards creating history. So it’s mind over matter. We started with that mindset." - Vikram Sinha, CEO of Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison

Vikram Sinha, CEO of Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, speaks with Jeremy Au about his personal journey, the power of distribution, and why AI is not just another wave of telecom innovation. They retrace his career from selling mobile plans to leading a successful merger, discuss why distribution is still the biggest driver of growth in emerging markets, and unpack how AI must be localized, inclusive, and protected from bad actors. Vikram explains why telcos should stop blaming regulators, focus on customer experience, and build sovereign infrastructure to stay competitive. He shares how his leadership is shaped by integrity, purpose, and prioritizing people over process even when facing fear and uncertainty.

"After I was in Bangkok and the crypto company I was working with collapsed—because of what happened in the crypto space with FTX and everything—that’s when I started getting all these panic attacks. For the first time in my life, I was forced to confront the whole issue of mental well-being, which was a very challenging process. In terms of bravery, it was about being able to confront that as a man. Especially for us, we’re very driven by the idea that we cannot show weakness—there’s no such thing, just go to the gym and man up. But when it hits you and you’re forced to deal with it, I think that takes a lot of willpower, acceptance, and reflection. To me, that is a brave process, because not many people find it easy to deal with."- Pav Gill, ex-APAC Head of Legal at Wirecard

"So where was the money coming from? And that was something you could verify from filed financials. These financials were always filed late—yeah, one and a half years late. Why was he hired as the third most powerful person in the finance team, right? And also, Wirecard liked to say it was a fintech company focusing more on the tech element, but no one saw where that was coming from. It was very basic tech. Alipay and all these other providers were doing way more advanced things. So where was the money coming from? That was the first red flag. And then, obviously, that led at some point to an internal whistleblower who came to me—fearing for her life—because she didn't want to carry out transactions that were clearly illegal anymore. So that's what kicked everything off."- Pav Gill, ex-APAC Head of Legal at Wirecard

"I mean, they were faking documents and contracts—literally forging stuff. She knew that it was forged documents, and that’s why she saw it as an illegal transaction. It was scary because what was happening is they would have an unknown third party that pretends to be a client, that invoices them. So the money moves from one entity to that third party. That third party then moves the money to another Wirecard entity. That Wirecard entity moves it to another third party company, which shouldn't be a customer of Wirecard. And these are millions being moved around. Then at some point, you lose the trail of what happens from that third party company. And that’s clearly—just clearly—round tripping and potential money laundering, for sure."- Pav Gill, ex-APAC Head of Legal at Wirecard and Jeremy Au

Pav Gill, ex-APAC Head of Legal at Wirecard, joins Jeremy Au to share how he uncovered one of the largest financial frauds in Europe. They discuss Pav’s early career shift from traditional law to fintech, the moment red flags at Wirecard became undeniable, and how an internal whistleblower’s plea led him to launch a covert investigation. Pav reveals how management retaliation escalated into threats, fake HR cases, and even potential physical harm. With support from his mother, he connected with investigative journalists, leading to Financial Times exposés and Wirecard’s collapse. Pav reflects on the limits of legal privilege, the challenges of systemic fraud, and how founding his governance startup, Confide, helps companies act on misconduct before it spirals.

"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.

"The truth is the industry would have to utilize it. If not, they’ve already been utilizing it for at least the last two or three years. Whether it’s creating short-form content, animation, or just generally concept artwork—anything that can be shortened will be shortened with the use of AI. Now, the morality—the moral issue aside—there are a lot of debates going on, so I won’t touch that. The moral issue aside, the truth is whether you like it or not, it’s here to stay. It’s here to, above all, empower you to create your concepts into reality in a much shorter time. And that’s why I think AI is already heavily utilized across all kinds of creative industries." - Jackson Aw, founder of Mighty Jaxx

"It scares me a little bit because—with the use of that, certain content will be quite terrifying. It might not reflect the truth, and you’ll see a lot more stuff that is just pure, you know, bullshit in that way. And that scares me as a parent, right? Because they browse YouTube and stuff like that. Sometimes you get like weird AI Spider-Man out there that are—it’s super weird and it’s so freaky to them. But they’re like, oh, this is Spider-Man. I think that’s quite terrifying on the extreme end of it." - Jackson Aw, founder of Mighty Jaxx

"Physical object or representation of a design or something that's creative IP that you want to have displayed anywhere in the world or anywhere in your home—it really helps you be in the environment, right? Now, if it’s digital, of course it’s kind of hard to have that tactile feel of things. And I think that’s one thing that’s never gonna go away. It’s a similar thing—I think maybe not the best example—but like LPs, like vinyl records versus Spotify. You know, it’s one of those things." - Jackson Aw, founder of Mighty Jaxx

Jackson Aw, founder of Mighty Jaxx, joins Jeremy Au after three years to reflect on his leadership journey, the evolution of the global collectibles industry, and how personal growth reshaped his business decisions. They discuss the shift from creative spontaneity to strategic discipline, the emotional psychology behind collectibles, and how AI and tariffs are changing how physical products are made and consumed. Jackson also shares how fatherhood made him more patient, why trust in the next generation is now a core business strategy, and what it takes to stay relevant in a fast-moving market driven by youth culture and fragmented IP.

"One sentiment is people saying, 'Nah, there's nothing we can do, so might as well just spend some time playing cards, let's relax a little bit and just see what goes.' And some factories are saying, 'Okay, let's just pause for a while.' Some of them actually did pause, which is weird because for a long time many of them were telling me, 'Okay, they can't, they can't afford to pause.' And the second group of people, which I find really interesting, are sharing clips of the Korean War—because that was the first time the communist government of China managed to defend against a much more superior U.S. army in Korea. So they were putting all these clips from back then, saying, 'Yeah, we can eat the bitterness and this.' I have to say, it's funny that you mention that, because from the Chinese perspective, they thought they won the war—while I think most people in America believe they won the Korean War by defending South Korea against North Korea." - Jianggan Li, Founder of Momentum Works

"It's interesting that we're trying to make predictions, but what you potentially see is people form an opinion about a certain development, and they try to act on that opinion—then that forms a trend. One example is that every China e-commerce player was thinking about the U.S. market and thought it was too hard, but when Temu went in, everybody said, 'Okay, if they can go in, why can't I go in?' So now we see that as some of them are shut out of the U.S. markets, they’ll reassess the other markets in a more aggressive way. The question for many of them is still how can they build this? For selling goods, yes, for sure—they have the manufacturing leverage they can play. But for really building long-lasting business models and platforms in different countries, how do they work effectively with the local players? Selling goods is straightforward—you find local distributors or you pay the local tax, etc." - Jianggan Li, Founder of Momentum Works

"No, seriously, most people don't know what to do. I mean, it's just that—in early March, people were still pushing aggressively to relocate some of the manufacturing to Vietnam. So we brought a delegation of Chinese businesses to Ho Chi Minh City, and 50 of them showed up, which is a large group to manage. But a few days later, when that tariff on Vietnam was slapped on, people were just confused—'Mm, what should we do next?'" - Jianggan Li, Founder of Momentum Works

Jianggan Li, Founder of Momentum Works speaks with Jeremy Au to unpack how the US-China trade conflict is reshaping global manufacturing, trust in international trade, and Southeast Asia’s role in the crossfire. They explore why businesses are stuck in limbo, how Vietnam and Cambodia became unintended casualties, and what diversification looks like when no one trusts the rules anymore. The two dive into historical analogies, business strategy, and what Chinese multinationals might do next to weather the storm.

"Steve Jobs, for most people, was actually fired from Apple because he started doing some things—he was way too perfectionistic about his products, he didn’t listen to engineering, and he didn’t know how to marshal talent—so he kept drinking his own Kool-Aid, and Apple’s performance got so bad that he was fired. He cried and was very sad, and then he was known as an insufferable person. He would go into meetings and be a total—imagine your project work, and he’s just a total asshole amongst those peers. But then, after he was fired, he went on to build a second company called NeXT, and he was even more perfectionistic at that company. He wanted to create perfect cube computers, and he wanted the robots engineering these products to be entirely spotless—which didn’t make sense, because these are engineering assembly robots. Then he wanted these cube computers to be so square that the molds casting his cases would leave a corner behind. You get what I mean? Like, you actually need a little bit of roundedness in the cast to let go." - Jeremy Au, Host of BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast

"You often see that founders are very often talking to other senior founders, similar to how freshmen talk to sophomores, talk to juniors, talk to seniors. You see a lot of founders will often get advice—they’ll say something like, 'Hey, I'm raising money from this person, what do you think about that?' They will triangulate advice, they’ll be like, 'Hey, do you think now is a good year to fundraise? How much revenue?' I got a WhatsApp message—she was like, 'I have raised my Series A, I want to raise a Series B next year, how much revenue should I get?' So I think the good founders, to avoid failure, will consult wiser people, advisors. And it’s got to the point where, for example, even in America, you may have dedicated executive coaches that focus on coaching founders because it’s a high-risk job, right?" - Jeremy Au, Host of BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast

"So last year a lot of people joined AI—was that the right time? We don't know. A lot of people did. Some people are still waiting it out too, so it depends on that perspective. The second thing that's important is that success breeds success. In other words, if you are a successful entrepreneur, you have the ability to attract more resources. So you walk around, 'I'm an exited founder,' and more people want to join you, more people want to give you money. Because of that, this amplifies the advantage over less successful peers in the past, and this creates a perception. And because they have more inputs—if that makes sense—therefore the outputs are better, right?" - Jeremy Au, Host of BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast

Jeremy Au unpacks how startup failure patterns often begin with charisma unchecked by execution. He explores how founders can avoid false starts, the real reason repeat founders succeed, and why the value of VCs and angels depends on founder maturity. The episode draws parallels between entrepreneurship and professional disciplines like medicine, stressing the need for coaching, humility, and peer learning to improve success odds.