BRAVE is celebrating our 4 year founding anniversary and 400 episodes milestone! Join our party in Singapore on April 12, Friday 6-11pm. Look forward to meeting podcast hosts, prior guests and fellow community members. Sponsored by Nonpublic.io. RSVP here at https://lu.ma/9bwkzism
Improve life through meaningful food experiences with Grain, this month’s newsletter sponsor!
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Regional News & Deep Dives
- Gita Sjahrir, Head of Investment at BNI Ventures, talked about how continuity of Jokowi’s "Golden Indonesia 2045" vision led to Prabowo’s landslide 59% victory and post-electoral party and candidate negotiations, along with a POV on Indonesian quick commerce.
- Shiyan Koh, Managing Partner of Hustle Fund, and Dmitry Levit, General Partner of Cento Ventures, discussed the overreaction, confusion, and dislocation of Southeast Asia’s VCs to the recent tech winter. Shiyan also delved into Singapore’s $500M GDP boost thanks to landing Taylor Swift, and the politics trying to force TikTok USA to be divested or banned.
- Valerie Vu, Founding Partner of Ansible Ventures, explored Vietnam’s reliance on China tourism, trade-off between industrial growth and air quality and competitive food delivery battle between Shopee vs. Grab vs. Foodpanda.
Popular Interviews
- Bernard Leong: Astrophysics PHD to Serial Founder, Disrupting Extractive Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems & Startup vs. Family Career Decisions: Bernard shared the journey behind why he is now disrupting ERP systems with generative AI. He also explored balancing startup ambitions with family life through financial planning and shared goals.
- Sean Ellis: Hacking Growth Unicorn Successes, Easy Money vs. Hard Times and Achieving & Scaling Product-Market Fit: Sean shared his transition from traditional marketing to growth hacking and helping five startups navigate to unicorn status despite not considering himself a “techie”. He highlighted that achieving product-market fit requires a mix of creativity and analytical rigor, rooted in a thorough understanding of the market and validated through meticulous testing.
- David Zhou: Silicon Valley Thought Leadership, On Deck Community Building & Emerging LPs Investing in VC Funds: David shared his transition from a shy introvert to a Silicon Valley thought leader in the LP and VC spaces. He talked about being influenced by his experiences at Berkeley SkyDeck and On Deck and the importance of strategic cold emailing, consistent content creation, and the interplay between technology and human engagement.
- Patrick McGinnis: FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) vs. FOBO (Fear of Better Option), Overcoming Career Paralysis & VC & Life Decision Frameworks: Patrick, who coined FOMO and FOBO, discussed how these fears actually came to life, and contrasted those aspects with his own stressful mid-career shifts from banker to VC to author and coach. He also shared decision-making heuristics to tackle both investment and life choices, and why there’s a hidden shadow to everyday modern life.
- Justin Banusing: Philippines Gaming & ESports Boom, Founding Communities & Startups and Content Creator Monetization & AI: Justin discussed his journey from organizing a Super Smash Brothers tournament at the back of a Chinese restaurant to founding AcadArena and scaling it across Southeast Asia and Latin America. He also talked about the Philippines' booming gaming and esports scene driven by mobile gaming's popularity amid the challenging commutes and the complex ecosystem of publishers, fans, and creators.
- Ameer Jumabhoy: Revolutionizing Tourist Value-Added Tax Refund Industry, Pandemic Hard Choices & Personal Resilience with Family: Ameer explored inefficiencies in the current tourist tax system and discussed how Utu allows global shoppers to upsize their refunds from refund operators. He also shares how they had to make difficult company and personal decisions during the pandemic.
Community News
Joseph Ling is spotlighted in TTG Asia for innovating the hospitality industry with Vouch HOME, a new back-end solution suite enhancing hotel operations from housekeeping to engineering. Read about his transition from a civil servant to a founder and his pivot psychology.
Jianggan Li highlights the emerging challenges for e-commerce and rapidly shifting business models in The Star. Check out his episode on venture building lessons and the lessons learned by prior Chinese tech companies expanding into Southeast Asia.
Todd Schweitzer, CEO and Founder at Brankas, was in an IBS Intelligence article for the company’s partnership with PeekUp Pay to revolutionize ride-hailing payments in the Philippines. Read about his insights on founder learning curves and complementary distributed teaming.
Anna Haotanto, CEO of Zora Health, was spotlighted by The Straits Times for building the 'Booking.com for fertility solutions.' Learn more about her perspective on failure stigma in Asia and ordeals that she had previously faced as a founder.
Raffy Montemayor, Co-founder of Salmon, announced via Business Wire the launch of their fintech bank and opening 8.88% deposit rate to set a new standard for savings in the Philippines. Check out Raffy’s episode on the Philippines' underbanked market and his country General Manager learnings from Carousell and Agoda.
Press Features
- CNA Insider’s Talking Point: Host Diana Ser interviews Jeremy and other guests on live TV about personal tech retrenchment stories, the corporate realities & context behind layoffs and Singapore labor market regulations vs. peer countries
- ALLSET. Founder Jing Zhi Chua interviews Jeremy on the deep-rooted human desire for wealth and health and the scientific validation of longevity technology
Best Read
"How to Break into Silicon Valley" by Andrew Chen is a great guide on how to build a strong network when entering a new startup ecosystem. Frankly, there is a high career expected value (EV) for young techies to head to San Francisco to learn from the tech talent vortex and cut their teeth on the boom-and-bust cycle of startups there. However, there is still value for folks looking to build their beachhead in a new industry vertical or geography.
Quote
“If you know something’s going to work, it’s not worth working on. It requires no courage. It requires no faith. It requires no skin in the game. Whether you’re a spy or a teacher or a spouse or a painter or an abuela or an astronaut or a monk or a barista or a board-game designer, the bits that matter are the bits you make matter by putting yourself on the line for them. The unknown is the foundry where you forge your chips. Everything important is uncertain. Sitting with the discomfort of that uncertainty is the hard part, the wedge that can move the world.” – Eliot Peper, Author and Entrepreneur
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Stay Brave!
Jeremy Au
English: Spotify | YouTube | Apple Podcasts
Bahasa Indonesia: Spotify | YouTube | Apple Podcasts
Chinese: Spotify | YouTube | Apple Podcasts