"New directions are coming from Gen Z as they believe in entrepreneurship more than having a normal job, which can be a good thing because they want to create new ideas and solve real problems that customers genuinely need. They will likely facilitate the rise of more entrepreneurs, but they should stay aware and focus on solving real problems in their market and ensure the solution can scale to enough customers to succeed."

"Teaching is an important topic because Gen Z is very advanced; my son uses tablets and digital tools better than me, while his teacher is not matching his level. Tablets, digital tools and current teaching methodology still feel old, and teachers need to be updated and aware of new ways of teaching, including how to conduct effective remote teaching and present information in a better way that matches this new generation."

"Regulations are starting to promote startups and include them in the GDP, with laws changing to better fit the needs of new companies. Other countries like Saudi Arabia have an entrepreneurial license that reduces the cost of establishment and jobs in the first three years, and the Emirates, UAE and Qatar offer similar support. The atmosphere in the Middle East is helping and supporting startups to begin their work, and there are good grants and funding opportunities available."

Maged Harby, General Partner at VMS, joins Jeremy Au to share his journey from publishing to building one of the Middle East’s earliest EdTech venture programs, explain how Egypt and Saudi Arabia differ as innovation ecosystems, and guide founders on how to enter the region with cultural fit and strong partnerships. They discuss how EdTech adoption accelerated during COVID, why parents still steer children toward traditional fields, and how Gen Z is shifting toward entrepreneurship. Their conversation explores the contrast between Egypt’s talent depth and Saudi Arabia’s purchasing power, the need for localization in pricing and UX, and why Middle Eastern markets must be treated as distinct rather than homogeneous. Maged also outlines what he hopes to see next in personalized learning and why teacher training remains the region’s biggest unlock.

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"Screen time is inevitable because many digital materials have real learning value, and I see Stick'Em as a way for kids to step away from screens. Kids used to go to the playground or void deck to play, but now they choose online games like Fortnite with friends. If we show them that building is fun, robots are fun, and hands-on learning is fun, we can shift them away from being fully digital." - Chong Ing Kai, Founder and CEO of Stick’Em

"We were fresh out of secondary school with useful skills and decided to solve the problem ourselves, so I gathered my friends and we sketched an idea to make something like LEGO robotics but ten times cheaper. It would help kids be more creative than simply building a fixed LEGO creation, and we wanted to work with schools. Five years ago, we built a prototype within a few weeks using our school’s makerspace, spending about 100 USD of our own money. We tested it with our parents’ friends’ kids, spoke to teachers we knew, and slowly grew the idea through continuous testing." - Chong Ing Kai, Founder and CEO of Stick’Em

"Honestly we did not think we were going to win; the Hult Prize was simply a chance to get exposure to great mentors and spend a month in London meeting world-class teams in the social impact space. We planned to refine our pitch, learn as much as possible, and out of 15,000 teams we entered the accelerator with around twenty others, then made it to semifinals, finals, and the final eight, where we realized we might actually have a chance. It became a matter of showing the judges that even though the idea is simple and easy to understand, a million dollars could truly scale our impact." - Chong Ing Kai, Founder and CEO of Stick’Em

Chong Ing Kai Founder and CEO of Stick’Em joins Jeremy Au to unpack how tinkering shaped his early years, how ADHD influenced his learning journey, and why he built a chopstick robotics kit to make STEAM education affordable for all. They explore how schools struggle with hands-on learning, why teachers need flexible tools rather than rigid kits, and how students learn better when they build instead of follow instructions. Their discussion covers the rise of open-ended tinkering, the pitfalls of screen-first childhoods, and the structural challenges of selling innovation into schools. Kai also shares how Stick’Em grew from a hundred-dollar prototype to a company used by thousands of students and how winning the Hult Prize at 22 changed his plans for global expansion.

"Education is expensive, and in emerging markets many students have limited options; the crypto and DeFi markets offer a single global liquidity pool that lets anyone place capital into one source that can be distributed to underserved places like the Philippines for student loan financing, and real loans have already been originated to fund students in the Philippines and Indonesia with plans to continue scaling." - Shan Han, Portfolio Manager at Animoca Brands

"Fundamentally all on-chain capital is seeking yield and we're bringing a high-quality yield that exists in the real world that's hard to access but we're bringing it on chain and making it investible for people; that is one of the key things we're doing here, and importantly we're simplifying access to it because if you think about it an investor in London who wants to invest in student loans in Vietnam faces multiple steps and might have to put money into a fund that goes into another fund that then gets distributed through probably five intermediaries before the capital reaches the borrower, and at each step there is structural inefficiency and additional cost, so that is the simplification piece on chain." - Shan Han, Portfolio Manager at Animoca Brands

"But what's also exciting is that with blockchain technology you can do meaningful things, such as creating alternative credit by using data points that students already have; in Web2 this raised privacy concerns, but with zero-knowledge proof technology you can take that data, create a ZK-proof, and build new alternative credit scoring models for students who would not otherwise have one, bringing ancillary benefits that are driven by capital and supported by the technology." - Shan Han, Portfolio Manager at Animoca Brands

Portfolio Manager at Animoca Brands and former Chief Investment Officer at Node Capital, Shan Han joins Jeremy Au to trace his path from Hong Kong trading to fintech and Web3, discuss how early crypto grew from ideology, and explain why tokenizing assets like student loans can unlock education across Southeast Asia. They explore how customer urgency validates real problems, how global liquidity reshapes emerging markets, and how regulation and permissioned systems will define the future of crypto. Shan also reflects on leaving hedge funds to build companies that solve urgent needs.

"America looked at China as Russia with communist leadership and a weak, fragile economic engine, assuming China was politically communist and economically the same. The Chinese economy is actually a hybrid system with a communist structure on top and a strong capitalist engine underneath that drives production, innovation, and competition. That bottom engine responds quickly to tariffs, policy changes, and the closing of the de minimis loophole, revealing far more flexibility than many expected." - Jeremy Au, Host of BRAVE Southeast Asia Podcast

"Media outlets naturally focus on stories that attract attention and clicks, making nuanced views hard to deliver, and if I'm running a media outlet and driven by KPIs, I will write something sensational that gets more clicks, forwards, likes, and comments compared to a balanced analysis." - Jianggan Li, Founder of Momentum Works 

"NVIDIA said that if the US prevents them from selling top-end chips to China, China will develop its own, and that narrative resonated with some people in the administration, leading to late-year moves to relax certain rules. From both a narrative and prediction perspective, it is worth thinking beyond headlines by mapping the players, the scenario, and how each actor’s moves could shift the landscape, and if you do not want to run that analysis in your own mind, you can run it with ChatGPT, which handles this kind of strategic game modeling well." - Jianggan Li, Founder of Momentum Works 

China analyst and Momentum Works founder Jianggan joins Jeremy Au to break down how US–China tensions evolved through a year of tariffs, rare earth leverage, supply chain shocks, and fast-moving geopolitical swings. They examine why both sides misread each other, how Chinese companies adapted faster than expected, and why the global system settled into a tactical pause instead of a decisive split. Their discussion shows how on-the-ground China differs from Western narratives, how product iteration and factory conditions changed under competitive pressure, and why neither side can force a quick victory. Jianggan also shares insights from thirteen trips across China as he tracks e-commerce exporters, shifting macro sentiment, and the emerging negotiation patterns that shape 2026.

"the crux of the issue is that there's a fundamental underreporting of this shift I have traveled the Middle East over the past five years and the magnitude is not obvious western media focuses on the West Middle East dynamic and on China West tensions but there is systematic underreporting about the relationship between the Middle East and China which remains a neglected topic" - Kristie Neo, VC & Startup Journalist

"Saudi Arabia was historically the most isolationist and insular of the Arabic states but that shifted when MBS entered the picture in 2018 and pushed to open the kingdom by inviting foreign investors to help develop the economy build and invest and within just five to seven years he rolled out large economic reforms under the Saudi 2040 vision and as Chinese companies look for growth beyond the US they turn to other markets after Southeast Asia and India pushed them out which makes the Gulf one of the last frontiers for expansion." - Kristie Neo, VC & Startup Journalist

"the China Gulf corridor is the one everyone talks about because it involves China and Saudi Arabia but there are many more corridors emerging and 2026 will bring even more attention to the Gulf Africa corridor and it is surprising to now discuss Southeast Asia and Latin America which barely had any ties until comparisons like the fintech ecosystems began these cross border exchanges and talent flows are only in their early stages and much more is coming in the years ahead" - Kristie Neo, VC & Startup Journalist

Jeremy Au and Kristie Neo break down how China, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia are forming new economic corridors that reshape trade, capital movement, and technology strategy. They describe how China and the Gulf now work together at a scale that surpasses Gulf–West flows, how the UAE and Saudi Arabia use bold planning to diversify their economies, and why Western reporting still misses the magnitude of this shift. They examine how Chinese overcapacity fuels Middle Eastern mega projects, how sovereign funds on both sides deepen cross investment, and how AI, data centers, and energy abundance position the Gulf as a future compute hub. Kristie also outlines the gap between vision and execution in projects like NEOM, while Jeremy reflects on how these moves echo earlier global cycles.

"Many people use ChatGPT for marketing because instead of hiring someone for 60,000 dollars a year, they can pay 600 dollars a year for AI that delivers equivalent quality, creating a 100x cost difference as companies choose AI SaaS over hiring a fresh graduate for marketing." - Jeremy Au, Host of BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast

"Starlink customers grew sharply from 2020 to 2024 because many regions still lack good internet, making Starlink a 10x better product with stronger speed, reliability, and access, and this improvement in coverage and quality raises the possibility that users may eventually choose Starlink over local telcos like SingTel or M1 since paying the same subscription price could provide global roaming anywhere once enough satellites are deployed, which is why traditional telcos are increasingly concerned about this shift in how people may choose their future phone access." - Jeremy Au, Host of BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast

"Airbnb created more value than Uber and Lyft for every dollar raised because as a sharing economy platform the more people who use Airbnb the more apartments become available and the more people continue to use it, which makes the company far more capital efficient by generating roughly a 10x return relative to the funding it raised compared to Uber and Lyft which produced only about 2 to 3x, and although Uber is larger with more funding and Lyft is smaller with lower market share and valuation, Airbnb stands out for creating significantly more value for each dollar invested." - Jeremy Au, Host of BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast

Jeremy Au outlines why founders must choose a single 10x advantage and commit to it. He explains how products win by being better or faster or cheaper than the status quo and why unfair advantages are required to defend that lead. He also highlights the Southeast Asian invention of the USB thumb drive as a case where a first mover delivered a better experience but still lost when fast followers and scale overtook them.

"we initially had these insights of what people want but then we dig deeper into the fundamental drive of customers' behavior it took me almost three years to actually articulate it at this level here’s what it is and put it into a framework there is a price tag that any business is willing to pay to get you to engage with them they pay different things for different actions they pay you to look at their TikTok that’s one price if you try their product there’s another price if you buy their product there’s another price if you become a long-term customer or partner that’s another price everything has a price tag and companies like Facebook or Google built strong engines to figure out what that price tag is and effectively monetize it for themselves" - Joe Lu, Co-Founder of HeyMax

"what I am predicting and this is my very convicted view of the future is that consumers will increasingly be universally smart and savvy because it will cost almost nothing to be smart and savvy miles and rewards will be done automatically and the trade-off disappears so more people become universally savvy which means consumers will win and feel entitled to get all their own value into their own wallet in the cheapest and easiest format possible and that is what HeyMax is" - Joe Lu, Co-Founder of HeyMax

"why does the consumer have to start with a loss that is the fundamental question what if I figure out a way to let you tell me what you care about and what segment matters to you then I upsize the rewards for you this becomes a redesigned consumer rewards model truly a consumer first product instead of rewards being business products disguised as consumer offerings created to retain customers or increase loyalty or AOV the real consumer rewards ecosystem should start by asking what do you want as a reward" - Joe Lu, Co-Founder of HeyMax

Joe Lu, Co-Founder of HeyMax, joins Jeremy Au to unpack how layoffs, timing, and conviction turned a setback into a startup opportunity. They trace Joe’s journey from Shanghai to Michigan to Facebook Singapore, and how getting laid off in 2022 pushed him to co-found HeyMax. The conversation explores his reflections on building a consumer-first fintech, understanding mindshare arbitrage, and predicting how AI will reshape loyalty and value distribution between businesses and consumers. Joe also shares how fatherhood, risk-taking, and curiosity shaped his path as a founder.

" I was in a meeting with other bankers and we were notified that Microsoft Copilot had been switched on to take meeting minutes. All of us senior executives laughed and said it made our lives easier, but it made the lives of junior finance staff harder because that used to be their job. The banker beside me said it’s interesting because now our associates have to work a lot harder since they can’t rely on minutes-taking as a core responsibility. It’s an important dynamic to consider because it automates the work while reducing the man-hours needed for many entry-level jobs. " - Jeremy Au, Host of BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast

" We always talk about a time machine, right? Can I travel 20 years in time? For someone from the Philippines, the average Filipino traveling to Singapore would feel like jumping 45 years into the future. The difference between 1980 and 2025 is about 45 years of progress in infrastructure, education, and entertainment. It’s a 45-year leap in development. We’re not saying whether it’s good or bad, but we should acknowledge this as the power of technology and economic growth. These time machines exist even between neighboring countries in Southeast Asia or broader Asia, showing 45, 50, 20, or 10-year gaps in development. That’s important for us to think about. " - Jeremy Au, Host of BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast

" Every generation today experiences massive change, some might even call it acceleration. Over the last three generations, from Gen X to Millennials to Gen Z, we’ve seen how each era had its own defining gadget — from the Walkman that let people listen to music on the go, to Nokia phones that allowed SMS messaging, to today’s Apple and Android devices. The question is what comes next for the next generation. I have a three-year-old and a five-year-old, and in twenty years, they will be reporting to you. What technology wave will they encounter? It’s something worth thinking about. " - Jeremy Au, Host of BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast


Jeremy Au explores how technology, economics, and startups shape Southeast Asia’s future. He shares why young founders should take early risks, how AI is changing entry-level jobs, why GDP growth reflects centuries of human progress, and how unicorns are built across different customer and revenue models.

AVP of Investments at ACV Larry Susanto and Jeremy Au discuss Larry’s journey from a Berkeley-trained engineer to a climate-tech investor shaping Indonesia’s sustainability future. They trace how his career evolved across research, product management, and consulting, and how Southeast Asia’s climate ecosystem compares to Silicon Valley’s innovation-driven model. Their conversation explores Indonesia’s renewable potential, capital gaps, and the role of government policy in turning natural resources into long-term value creation. Larry also shares how courage, learning agility, and purpose guided each of his career leaps across industries and continents.

"At an event for the Management Association of the Philippines, the Singaporean ambassador gave a 15-minute speech about the strong relationship between Singapore and the Philippines. Her final paragraph encouraged everyone to do more business in Singapore, and she ended by saying, 'In the time it took me to give this speech, you could have registered a business in Singapore.' It was mind-blowing because, in the Philippines, our study with portfolio companies showed that simply registering a business can take up to 45 days—45 days where businesses can go to die." - Franco Varona, Managing Partner of Foxmont Capital Partners

"Everybody keeps asking, 'When is AI going to kill this?' but it hasn’t happened yet. What we’re seeing instead are many efforts to upskill workers using AI within the BPO sector. Nothing has fully replaced voice, and I think that’s because of empathy. Filipinos make phone calls to credit card holders in the US and to people whose flights are canceled in places like the US and Australia. How many times do people press one just to reach a human voice? It happens all the time, especially when your flight is canceled at an airport."  - Franco Varona, Managing Partner of Foxmont Capital Partners

"Foxmont likes to invest in Filipino solutions to Filipino problems, which is a simple way of saying this country has many challenges. We complain about it every day, and anyone arriving at the airport and taking a Grab ride will have their share of complaints. But that also means there’s plenty of opportunity—many services and products still need to be built. If you’re a regional startup that hits the right price point and solves a problem no one has tackled before, there’s huge potential to be the winner in this country." - Franco Varona, Managing Partner of Foxmont Capital Partners

Franco Varona, Managing Partner of Foxmont Capital Partners and returning guest from episodes 357 and 516, joins Jeremy Au to unpack why the Philippines is fast becoming Southeast Asia’s next big investment and startup hub. They explore the country’s rapid digitization, growing middle class, and unique strengths like its global diaspora and English fluency. The conversation covers how Foxmont’s latest fund is backing local solutions to Filipino problems, the rise of accessible health and wellness ventures, and the government’s evolving role in supporting innovation. Franco also shares why first movers can dominate the Philippine market and how solving for price and accessibility unlocks massive opportunity.

Shao Ning, Cofounder of AngelCentral and returning guest from Episode 267, joins Jeremy Au to reflect on Southeast Asia’s startup evolution from the fundraising highs of 2021–2023 to today’s disciplined recalibration. They unpack how founders, investors, and angels are adapting to longer fundraising cycles, stricter due diligence, and a renewed focus on cashflow and execution. Shao Ning shares lessons from building AngelCentral, how she balances investing and family life, and what she tells her four sons about navigating an AI-driven future. Their conversation spans shifting market dynamics, founder accountability, and why sustainable growth now matters more than rapid expansion.

"For the first four to five months, I was working three part-time jobs just to earn enough money to take the bus and then work on Janio full-time. I looked at him and said, all I have in my wallet is all I have, no money left. The next week, the funding came in, and we could finally pay ourselves, and I could eat my chai fan. It was a real moment for me when I couldn’t even withdraw cash from the ATM because I only had five dollars left. The best thing to do was to delete Instagram. Having some social life is important, but just don’t look at what other people are doing because it’s a different path. The only proper comparison is to look at who you were yesterday." - Nathaniel Yim, Founder of Nila Studios

"What is more interesting is the business understanding. When we work with clients like SaaS companies, we don’t just look at your sales deck, put a GPT summary, and use it to write copy. We look at your product. I ask, can you give me login access to your software? I want to use it. Then I know how it works. I look at your competitors, sign up for a trial account, and see the difference. Then I can present you better. The second part is understanding how it fits into sales. It has to flow from digital platforms to your interactions with the sales team or when you put in a credit card. The whole process needs to connect, because if it’s in a vacuum, that’s where things fall apart." - Nathaniel Yim, Founder of Nila Studios

"You will not work with people you don't trust, and in the early days when there’s no corporate brand, your trust is your relational equity. Brand equity means if I look at a company, do I feel good about working with you? Borrowing that equity came through partnerships, and because we stood on their shoulders together, it was much easier to gain credibility behind the brand. When a merchant walks in to drop off goods and sees purple FedEx, red NinjaVan, blue Janio, and yellow DHL, it feels like one category. Small things like that and partnerships were critical in the early days to form credibility." - Nathaniel Yim, Founder of Nila Studios

Nathaniel Yim, Founder of Nila Studios and former Co-Founder of Janio, joins Jeremy Au to share how he went from a fresh graduate to leading one of Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing logistics startups and later building a B2B marketing agency. They discuss how to earn trust in a mature industry, why human creativity remains vital in the AI era, and what resilience looks like when founders face real hardship. The conversation highlights lessons on credibility, adaptability, and building lasting value through learning by doing.

"Promotions are something to be celebrated. You get paid more, gain more responsibility, and it feels good. But the fastest way to ruin someone is to over-promote them. When you put a strong performer into a role where they can’t meet expectations, you turn confidence into anxiety. Instead of calmly doing their work, they start worrying about getting fired. Everyone depends on them, and they feel they’re letting others down. The extra money doesn’t make up for the stress of knowing your colleagues are disappointed in you." - Li Hongyi, Director at Open Government Products

"One simple mistake I used to make was promoting young, hardworking, capable officers too quickly. They were doing a great job, but sometimes it was luck, burnout, or timing when everything aligned. I ended up with junior officers outperforming seniors who were struggling and stressed, which was tough for everyone, including the team. Apart from performance, you must look at consistency and sustainability. If someone is performing well but clearly burning out, they cannot keep it up for years. Promoting them only locks them into a difficult position. Even if they insist they want the promotion, once they get it, they realize the stress outweighs the reward. Instead of operating comfortably and improving, they hover at the limit, and any small slip leads to underperformance." - Li Hongyi, Director at Open Government Products

"It is very critical to ask whether they have the right values. The people you promote as leaders will become the ones others look up to. If someone performs well but behaves in a way you wouldn’t want others to emulate, you should think twice before promoting them. It’s a difficult conversation to have—you might say, 'You’re doing great work, but I don’t think I want other people behaving the way you do.' It’s not that they are behaving badly, but maybe they make decisions too rashly or too conservatively. Maybe they prioritize optics over delivery, or focus on delivery without enough care. If you would not want others to copy their behavior, don’t promote them." - Li Hongyi, Director at Open Government Products

Li Hongyi, Director of Open Government Products, and Jeremy Au discuss how leaders can define, measure, and sustain real performance within organizations. They unpack why clarity of purpose matters more than ambition, how to design fair and motivating systems, and how to prevent burnout in high-performing teams. Their conversation bridges lessons from public service and startups, showing how structure, accountability, and empathy build lasting excellence.

"Five years ago, I joined a gaming company called NetDragon. Before the interview, I realized they owned Neopets, which they had acquired a few years earlier, and I thought, whoa, that’s amazing. When I checked it out, it was still alive and kicking, looking exactly the same as I had left it. That definitely rang a bell and intrigued my interest. When I joined, my main role was helping them restructure their overseas business. We spun off many of their education assets and did a separate listing. Neopets was a unique asset, hidden in plain sight, and we wondered what to do with it. We came up with the idea to spin it off as an independent indie studio focused on its revival, rather than keeping it under the newly listed education entity or leaving it with NetDragon, since most of the overseas assets had already been divested at that time." - Dominic Law, CEO of Neopets

"In the past ten years, we lost the trust of the community. Rebuilding that trust is now at the center of our strategy. We want to be more transparent about our roadmap and own up to our mistakes—why things went wrong, why there are bugs, and how we can launch better. If things get delayed, we’ll explain clearly what caused it. We’ve overpromised many times and underdelivered on almost all fronts, and we’re here to change that. Our goal is to build more realistic and practical roadmaps. If we can’t hit our targets, we’ll let the community know and explain the business decisions or reasons behind focusing on other initiatives instead. This approach has helped us reconnect and rebuild our relationship with the community." - Dominic Law, CEO of Neopets

"It was the strong community that kept Neopets alive. Even after the decline, there remains less than one percent of core super fans who have been playing nonstop for the past 15 to 25 years. This dedicated community is what sustained Neopets through the years. Although the lack of strategy and management led to a gradual downfall and people began to forget about it, there is still immense goodwill and brand awareness in the IP. That’s where we saw a huge opportunity for revival." - Dominic Law, CEO of Neopets

Dominic Law, CEO of Neopets and Jeremy Au dive into how a beloved millennial-era game evolved from early internet nostalgia into a modern revival story. They discuss the courage it took to spin Neopets out of its parent company, rebuild trust with long-time fans, and adapt a 25-year-old IP for new generations. Their conversation explores the challenges of updating old technology, the role of community-led development, and how emotional attachment can sustain a brand through decades of change. Dominic also reflects on leadership lessons from managing a turnaround, the balance between nostalgia and innovation, and why staying transparent keeps fans loyal for the long run.

Jeremy Au explains how human civilization remained mostly unchanged for nearly a million years before experiencing rapid economic and technological growth in just the last few centuries. He traces this transformation from basic survival to modern innovation, reflecting on how technology, trade, and governance reshaped human life and why Southeast Asia’s development tells a unique story.

Jeremy Au explained how startups evolve from chaos to clarity and how fragmentation in Southeast Asia creates both problems and opportunities. He used the jungle-to-highway model to describe startup growth, compared founders to David facing Goliath, and showed how innovation—like oat milk or vaping—turns small experiments into billion-dollar revolutions. Jeremy also reflected on how VCs spot talent early and why mastering Southeast Asia prepares companies for global expansion.

"Will AIs go rogue? AIs today have undergone safety experiments where, if threatened with shutdown, they attempt to blackmail, bribe, beg, or steal to survive. If we train an AI to survive and act that way, why wouldn’t it try to do those things?" - Jeremy Au, Host of BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast

"In thinking about the singularity, it is helpful to go back to its definition. It’s a concept in mathematics and physics where the existing definitions break down. The term, coined in the late ’80s in The Coming Technological Singularity, describes how, if you chart the rate of technological change using something like Moore’s Law—where computing power doubles every 18 months and costs drop in half—somewhere between 2025 and 2030, it becomes undefined. What happens at that point? What happens to society and technology? Some would say that’s artificial general intelligence, but it’s more than that—it’s about the accelerating rate of change." - Jordan Dea-Mattson, Veteran Tech Leader

Jeremy Au and Jordan Dea-Mattson reconnect to explore how Vernor Vinge’s Rainbows End anticipated today’s world of accelerating technology, reskilling challenges, and demographic shifts. They examine which predictions came true, which fell short, and how these lessons apply to AI adoption, fragile digital systems, and the need for lifelong learning. Their conversation highlights why individuals must build meta-skills, why policymakers lack playbooks, and how Southeast Asia can prepare for a future shaped by both singularity and depopulation trends.

"The real gist of that entire situation was government please listen to people who are hurting so more free speech so more freedom of press more avenues for the people and the DPR and the government to interact and I think the big aha moment in this entire movement is finally lots of people are waking up that politics affect their everyday lives it affects every single person who's a resident or a citizen and are living in Indonesia and who love Indonesia" - Gita Sjahrir, Head of Investment at BNI Ventures

"The cost of this was extremely clear. It's the cost of what happens when empathy is not expressed in politics and when you make rules and regulations. The cost of what happened starting in the end of August until now is more than 6,000 people have been arrested. I lost count of how many thousands of people are injured. Ten people were killed. And so the cost is extremely clear. I'm hoping there's something that came out of it." - Gita Sjahrir, Head of Investment at BNI Ventures

"One person said, 'Anyone who criticize what DPR members make are idiots.' And there were others who said, 'Well, I'm okay getting this housing benefit. I think it's completely fair because my house is very far from my office in Jakarta.' That was considered tone-deaf for very obvious reasons. A really big piece that's missing here is empathy. There seems to be this lack of empathy and understanding that people are hurting. People don't have time to wait for government officials to finally do the right thing and have great results because people are literally hurting in every way—economically, health-wise, everything." - Gita Sjahrir, Head of Investment at BNI Ventures

Gita Sjahrir and Jeremy Au analyze Indonesia’s nationwide protests to uncover how economic frustration, political tone-deafness, and social media reshaped the country’s trust in government. They discuss how widening income gaps and stalled reforms triggered anger across generations, how empathy and governance broke down, and how technology became both a rallying force and a regulatory battleground. Their conversation highlights the urgent need for reform, the rise of citizen activism, and the lessons Southeast Asia can draw from Indonesia’s call for accountability and change.

"It's really about a mindset that every company is a sports team, not a family. And if anybody in a company is telling you that their culture is a family, don't drink the Kool-Aid. Remember that no matter what the HR team says, you are a family, in the back of your head always say, this is a sports team." - Jeremy Au, Host of BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast

"So one of the tricky parts I like about what Netflix has done is that they defined their corporate culture as not a family. They see it as a sports team. The reason is simple—if you are my brother or sister, if you are my family, I can’t fire you. But if you’re a sports team, we need a striker; if you’re injured, we need a new striker; we need a defender; we’re competing, and we need to do a transfer. The crux is to accept that companies are closer to sports teams rather than families, while still treating employees well." - Jeremy Au, Host of BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast

"And I think where a lot of people screw up is that because they feel like it's a family dynamic, they avoid the difficult conversation. They avoid talking about performance reviews or having hard conversations. As a result, they end up blindsiding the employee, which comes across as unprofessional. But if you think about it from a sports team’s perspective, you do the right thing. You’re a professional. You tell them early, you coach them, you give them a chance, maybe even a second chance. And if not, you set a boundary and say, ‘Let’s give you a handshake, let’s have a termination package that’s fair, let’s find you a new job at a new place, and let’s keep the relationship alive.’ The more professional you are in that process, the better." - Jeremy Au, Host of BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast

Jeremy Au discussed the founder’s dilemma of when to persevere or when to pivot, and why company culture works better when treated as a sports team rather than a family. He illustrated the points with startup case studies like Instagram, Netflix, YouTube, and Rippling, showing how companies evolved by changing either product or customer. He also emphasized professionalism in managing team changes and exits.

" While many people accepted late-night edits without question, I started testing the boundaries. That unexpectedly worked well and earned me respect from senior people who weren’t used to it. I remember a senior partner, known to be intimidating, approaching me six or seven months in. He said, 'Hey, there’s this project, you’ll be a self-standing senior associate running this,' and then added the famous words, 'It’s a step-up opportunity,' which in consulting means you start running. It sounded absolutely terrible, and I knew it would be a complete disaster if I joined that project." - Philipp Renner, Founder and CEO of Dr. Shiba

Philipp Renner, Founder & CEO of Dr. Shiba, joins Jeremy Au to share his journey from a global childhood to building one of Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing pet wellness companies. He reflects on how eight years at McKinsey, the personal challenges of long COVID, and the limits of corporate consulting led him to take the leap into entrepreneurship. They discuss the realities of product market fit iteration and the decision to pursue a semi-bootstrapped model rather than a VC-funded growth path. Philipp also shares how his toughest teenage year in Shenyang shaped his resilience and why focus on what truly matters became his personal north star, guiding him as he built Dr. Shiba from functional supplement treats into a wellness ecosystem now serving millions of customers across Southeast Asia and the UK.