Raagulan Pathy: Stablecoin Revolution vs. Struggling Currencies, USDC Circle GM to Founder & The Future Of Borderless Banking – E574

"If you look at the news that came out, Sonos released a new soundbar that uses a new technology, right, called the Arc Ultra. So they promised this groundbreaking technology. But what had happened was that about 3 years ago, they had acquired a startup. This startup was a Danish startup that had created a new technology approach to make the sound device much more efficient and much smaller. In other words, instead of having a sound system with 2 speakers, a subwoofer, you can combine all of that into a much smaller device and have the same level of sound quality. It's like a 10X smaller form factor for the same sound quality, which is an interesting pitch they have made." - Jeremy Au, Host of BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast

"This company called M-A-Y-H-T, they basically raised $10 million of funding. They were very hot in Tech Crunch, and then one year later they were acquired by Sonos for $100 million. So a 10X return in one year as a founder. So they invented technology, raised the money, they acquire it for a 10X return, and then 2 years down the road, their product is now available in the Sonos Arc Ultra. But these are the kind of returns that would be good, because if you're a VC, you invested $10 million today—next thing, you get $100 million, a 10X return, right." - Jeremy Au, Host of BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast

"For example, we see that Y Combinator invests in 632 companies, and about 1% of them are unicorns. So it's—versus you look at the other side, which is Union Square Ventures, which most of you have not heard of because they're very focused on their geography, which is New York and America. For them, they only invested in 62 startups, but 8% of the companies are unicorns, right? So that's about one in 12. That means every portfolio of 20 investments, they have about 2 unicorns in that portfolio. These are very different strategies. Some of them are snipers at the top—high pick rate, selection rate, good judgment, small number, snipe it, get it done. Whereas YC, that you think is very selective, is actually more like a shotgun—but a very prestigious shotgun approach—where they have that. And then there are other companies in between that have differing versions of that strategy. As a result, we were able to map out how these VC investments are power law." - Jeremy Au, Host of BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast

Jeremy Au pulls back the curtain on Southeast Asia’s high-stakes venture capital world where 5,000 startups fight through the jungle, but only 10 reach the expressway. It’s a ruthless game of asymmetric bets, power-law outcomes, and make-or-break timing. He reveals what really happens inside VC firms: how general partners juggle investor pressure with founder bets, why a single breakout startup matters more than dozens of average ones, and how the best founders move faster than anyone expects. You’ll hear about billion-dollar exits, internal prioritization dynamics, and why follow-on capital is often more political than rational.