Jeremy Au and Naveen Samala talked about Jeremy's journey as a VC and entrepreneur. He emphasized the importance of having great mentors, making strategic trade-offs, and embracing risk. He also discussed the evolution of the Southeast Asia's VC landscape, highlighted success stories like Grab and GoTo, and explored sectors with growth potential. He gave advice on navigating cultural and regulatory complexities in the region, underscored the value of mentorship, and highlighted key traits for successful entrepreneurship and startup pitches.
Check out the episode here and the transcript below.
(00:00) Naveen Samala:
This is yet another episode from the TGV Global Speaker Series and our guest for today is Jeremy Au. He's from Singapore. Jeremy is a dedicated investor and entrepreneur focused on transforming lives through his investments and leadership initiatives with a track record of co founding successful startups He's a growth driven problem solver and an advocate for authentic leadership.
He's currently a venture capitalist with Monks Hill Ventures, investing in startups across Southeast Asia. Recognized by Forbes and Prestige with an MBA from Harvard and a background in economics. Jeremy is a multifaceted individual who combines business acumen with a passion for podcasting and community engagement with over 40,000 monthly listeners with The Brave Podcast at brave seed Do com.
And the way we spell it is www.bravesea.com. So make sure that you visit his website, bravesea.com. And you will find the link in the show notes or the episode description. And as we prepare to delve into our conversation on the topic at hand, unveiling Southeast Asia's startup goldmine, navigating venture capitalist and entrepreneurship.
So it's an exciting twist. First, let us tickle Jeremy's brain and Jeremy, I'm going to kick off the rapid fire round of random words. I'll mention a few words and I would love to hear the first thing that comes to your mind in response without thinking much. And if you're ready, let's get started. Yeah.
Okay, here comes the first word, curiosity.
(01:47) Jeremy Au: Cats.
(01:50) Naveen Samala: Invention.
(01:52) Jeremy Au: Oh, every day.
(01:53) Naveen Samala: Future.
(01:54) Jeremy Au: Today.
(01:55) Naveen Samala: Book.
(01:56) Jeremy Au: Terry Pratchett. Yeah.
(01:58) Naveen Samala: Movie.
(01:59) Jeremy Au: Terry Pratchett.
(02:01) Naveen Samala: Food.
(02:02) Jeremy Au: Food is Peranakan. Mm-Hmm.
(02:04) Naveen Samala: Wealth.
(02:06) Jeremy Au: Family.
(02:07) Naveen Samala: Startup
(02:08) Jeremy Au: Life
(02:10) Naveen Samala: Universe.
(02:11) Jeremy Au: Nice to hang out in .
(02:13) Naveen Samala: The last one is creativity.
(02:15) Jeremy Au: You know, come this way comes, make sure you have a notepad.
(02:20) Naveen Samala: Awesome. So Jeremy, thanks for participating in the first rapid fire round. So sportily, there is one more rapid fire round towards the end of the episode. So stay tuned and folks welcome to the guiding voice podcast series where we embark on. Transformative conversations for a better future. I'm your host Naveen Samalla, dedicated to making the world a better place through valuable discussions that add value not only to your life but also to your career.
Thank you so much for tuning in. And Jeremy, hearty welcome to TGV, the Guiding Voice podcast series. Thank you so much for being part of our journey in shaping the careers and lives of millions across the globe. How are you doing today?
That's great. And I love the energy level that we have here today. So looking forward to the rest of this discussion.
Yeah. Same here. Pleasure to have you, man. It is one of the much awaited conversations. I've been wanting to host people like you who are on the other side of the table, investing in a startup. I don't like to get the maximum out of our conversation so that it will be helpful for the fellow entrepreneurs who are really looking for some guidance from.
Reputed VCs like you and Jeremy, without further ado, let's begin with your success mantra. So please share with us the top three things that have contributed to your success so far.
I think first of all is you know, have great mentors. So always take the opportunity that if you find somebody who's willing to be a mentor or someone that you look up to.
You know, I think the opportunity to be a good mentee you know, set up time, have good conversations, be honest, authentic and don't be afraid, right. To be honest about it because the truth is, you know, every mentor wants a mentee to somebody else. So if they're willing to help you, that means they like you.
Right. And so, take the opportunity and hopefully one day, you know, you help other people, you know, take the next step up as well and be a mentor yourself. I think the second thing that's really about success is the fact that you have to have trade offs, right? If you say yes to something, you have to say no to something else.
So one thing I've said no to is, you know, I was doing my Harvard MBA and obviously there's so many opportunities, right? You know, you get to see all these like folks like Clayton Christensen, he coined the word disruption. You have, you know, Michael Potter, Potter's five forces, all these like people there talking and there's always all these like, information sessions and lessons.
And one thing I realized was that, you know, I made a rule for myself, which was that if I'm at a party where I can't hear somebody else, I'm not going to be there. And the reason why is that, you know, I'm really at the party or really at the discussion to really get to know somebody else well. And because of that, you know, if I can't hear them at all because of the music or the sound, then why am I there?
And I'm just really honestly, just not having a deep conversation. I'm very, having a very shallow conversation. You know, driven, for example, by alcohol and hanging, socializing. So don't get me wrong. I'm still go to the dance floor and dance a bit. But, you know, at the end of the day, I'd rather have, you know, a smaller or private conversation at home or a dinner party to have that conversation.
The third thing that's really contributed to the success is the fact that, you know, there's always a risk, right? Yeah. And what I mean by that is that in life anything you want to do you're probably going to screw up at some point of time, small moments and big moments. Yeah. And the truth is you have to do both. Yeah.
Awesome. Jeremy, let's start getting into the VC part of our conversation. I'm really curious. Why did you become a VC? Like, has it there been since your childhood? Or maybe you started thinking about it during your MBA at Harvard? Or when did it actually creep into your mind about becoming a VC?
Yeah, I mean, the short answer is I wasn't expecting to be one.
I think when I was a founder, I had to pitch a lot of VCs. I can tell you right now that there were good VCs, there were great VCs, there was below average VCs, and there were terrible VCs that I had to, you know, look to fundraise from, right? Yeah. And so for me, you know, I think that As a founder, I was very much focused on my business and, you know, kind of like pretty wary in even as sometimes adversarial with VCs.
But after, you know, kind of like selling the company and moving on, I had a one year, you know, kind of like, an hour period after the acquisition. And so I think it was an interesting dynamic where. You know, I got the opportunity to be a VC and, you know, I thought about it and to be honest, truth is, I think a big part of why I did it was because Peng Sin, who is my boss has a great reputation.
So, you know, he reached out and said, Hey, you know, this is something that's interesting. I had a conversation with him, you know, I had heard a lot of great things about him as a VC, but also as a coach. And so I think I really took that job because of him and less so about a VC, but I think for me, the VC side of it was, I think there was an intellectual curiosity, which is like, you know, I've been on one side of the table as a founder, and I felt like going to the other side of the table as a VC with that need to understand.
What was going on? Let me have a bigger view about some of the behaviors that I saw as a founder. So I thought it was an interesting exploration. And I think what's interesting is that, you know, I, the opportunity arrived and then I took it and I was like, Oh, now I really understand a lot more about what's going on about the region and the dynamics of startups and venture capital fundraising.
Interesting. And what are some key trends and developments that you have observed in the. Southeast Asian venture capital landscape in the last few years?
Yeah, and I think the short answer is that it's growing. So, you know, if you go back, you know, 10 years ago, there was hardly any venture capital in Southeast Asia, right?
Now you go deeper, you know, most of it was really in Singapore at that point of time. And, you know, there was very little capital going even to countries like Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, let alone, you know, Malaysia and Thailand. So I thought. Today, you know, we see that vibrant ecosystem where now there are pre seed, seed and sometimes series A funds all across the whole region.
And so I think that's a big trend is that it's been growing. I think obviously there was a little bit of a dip in terms of activity over the past two years ever since America ended zero interest rate policy. But you know, fundamentally there's still so many growth industries and sectors that's still possible.
So I think Southeast Asia venture capital is very much trying to figure out, okay, you know, we're not playing by the U. S. playbook. So what are the local opportunities that exist and how do we deploy capital? Not just to expand it and innovate, but also to do it in a responsible way in light of the current exit environment.
Amazing. Amazing. And Jeremy, can you also share some success stories of startups in the Southeast Asian market that have thrived with the support of VCs?
Yeah, so, you know, I think the, you know, classic story released right now is, you know, you see, Grab as well as GoTo, both of these are, you know, ride hailing companies that have become possible and have grown over time due to venture capital, right?
So all the way from the early stages all the way to the late stage capital and eventually going public, right? And so, GoTo has gone public on the Indonesia Stock Exchange. And Grab has gone public on the U. S. Stock Exchange. And so I think there's an interesting dynamic where, if you think about it, there's so much expertise that needs to be built out in terms of venture capital and the start up founder's journey.
You have to start out, you have to figure out whether it makes sense, you have to compete against Uber, for example, in the early days. And then after that, you have to go and build out your regional leadership team, enter new markets. And then eventually bring on a banker to help you with your IPO or SPAC process.
Like there's actually a lot of complexity. And so, you know, I think it's really when you have great founders working with great venture capital partners, that you're able to have a great exit outcome.
Nice. I think these are some great examples and let's talk about the sectors or the industry. So in your opinion, are there a particular set of sectors or industries that you believe hold great potential for growth and investment in the region.
Yeah, you know, I think that one particular, you know, sector that I'm informulating and you can check out my podcast at www. bravesea. com to check it out for yourself. But really I think one category is really called what I call corridors, not markets.
You know what I mean by that is that You know, in the U. S. for example, you know, I was working across, you know, I'll start up in Boston and New York, right? And so obviously we looked at it as two different markets and we wouldn't really look at it as a corridor. But I think if you look at, for example, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, right?
You know, that's a corridor, right? And there's a lot of travel that happens to and fro in terms of obviously flights and travels and cars. But also in terms of business you know, models in terms of like, you know, multi country businesses, commodities. I mean, the biggest story I always remember is like, you know, you have durians traveling from you know, Malaysia traveling south to Singapore, right?
Because Singapore is willing to pay and then the durians have to ripen in a truck, right? So what I'm trying to say here is that there's actually a corridor dynamic where there's also a corridor, for example, between Japan and Southeast Asia, right? Because look and invest Korea and Southeast Asia.
So I think looking at companies that are helping service the corridor. So helping companies, for example, that are headquartered, Japan expand in Southeast Asia. Another example would be like remittances travel logistics. Shipping, these are all corridors where people are traveling between countries.
And these are historically, you normally see three companies. You saw me see the outbound company and you see the inbound company and then there's a middleman in between. Right. So I think there's an opportunity to make things happen there.
Awesome. Awesome. And let's also focus on navigating the complexities of cultural and regulatory differences when expanding businesses in Southeast Asia. So how can startups deal with this kind of cultural complexities as well as regulatory compliance or differences?
Yeah, you know, I think cultural is probably your first thing you accounted and regulatory tends to be a little bit later.
But I think upfront, you know, culturally truth is, you know, countries are very different, right? You know, so if you look at For example, I mean, Singapore and Malaysia are quite similar, right? It used to be the same, British Malaya, you know, back in the day, right? So I think there's less cultural difference, you know, to some extent, even though there are some regulatory differences.
But I would say that Singapore to Thailand, for example, will have more of a difference compared to Singapore and Malaysia culturally. And if you think about it, you know, the flight differences are not too huge. So a lot of people kind of get confused, right? Because they're like, Oh, Southeast Asia is one region, but it's not right.
It's a multiple different countries. And if you think about it, you know, you look at Indonesia and Philippines, okay, you know, both of them are island chains, for example, but they're actually really far apart, actually, if you think about it, but there are some similarities, but then there's a lot of differences culturally as well.
And so, you know, the way that you're thinking about it. It has to be thoughtful and mindful of these cultural differences. I think regulatory differences are a little bit more straightforward. I think you just have to ask the regulators and talk to people who've done business in that category and just be like, Hey, what do we need to do, right?
So I think regulatory is easy, but I think culturally you can see, I've seen some people make some big mistakes. Cause you know, I think it's a mistake if you're an expatriate who doesn't really understand the local market. And so you don't. Localize the business properly and then you end up building a wrong business or a country that's theoretical and not actually the market that you're in.
Right. So a classic mistake that we had, for example, is you know, we look at quick converse, for example, right. So, you know, there's a lot of companies look at us. Oh, great. And a lot of people are doing, you know, five minute delivery. Right. And then, okay, so let's go to Southeast Asia and say, Hey, what's Five minute delivery and then suddenly, you know, you're moving a bag of rice, you know, across the country.
It's a city and you're not going to make any money in it, right? I mean, it's not, but the truth is, yeah, people want a bag of rice or people want something. Yeah. I'm saying like, I think there's differences. That's important for folks to be thoughtful about.
Got it. Got it. Jeremy, now I'm also curious about some memorable success story or a pivot moment in your startup journey, which might have taught you valuable lessons about entrepreneurship.
(14:47) Jeremy Au: You know, I think for me, you know, I think about my first business and, you know, that was very much a straightforward, it was a social enterprise as a consultancy for the social sector. And I think to myself that, you know, my co founder was somebody that didn't expect to meet. And what I mean by that was I actually first met him.
In secondary school we were acquaintances and We didn't hang out right, you know, he had his friends and I had his friends, but we kind of acquaintances And then we became very good friends in army Where you know, we were assigned by chance, you know You know like, you know to the same section So we'll sleep on the bed there and then i'll be on the bed next to him, right?
You know, so, you know like we're that close and then we were like, you know, buddies, right? and so, you know, I was Even, you know, I signed and had to, you know, dig a trench of him as well. You know, You know, I don't know if you ever dug a trench, but it's a lot of work, especially when he's tall and wide.
So it means you have to dig a deeper trench and wider trench than you normally have to. But yeah, you know, I think when you work with someone like that, you know, you become really good friends and then fast forward, you know, five, 10 years and then you become, you know, co founders, right, together. I think it's a really wonderful experience that you have.
And so I think for entrepreneurship, a lot of it really boils down to serendipity as well. So taking an opportunity to meet people and make special things happen is really important.
(16:12) Naveen Samala: And what role does this mentorship and networking play in helping entrepreneurs navigate the complexities of the startup world, like you mentioned, mentorship has played a critical role in your success, right?
But I'm interested in terms of navigating the complexities of the startup world. Do you think mentorship is going to help you go to that next level?
(16:35) Jeremy Au: Yeah, I think for me, you know, at the end of the day, you know, entrepreneurs have to do something special, which is to make something of nothing. So, I mean, but as you see a problem.
Yeah, you want to make a business appear that's going to solve the problem, right? But the truth is, you know, the reason why you call it entrepreneur is because you don't have all the resources that you need to make it happen. Right. Otherwise, you know, if you are like Apple and you're like, okay, I want to create, you know, I want to, you know, Improve my iPhone 16.
You know, that's not entrepreneurship, right? Because it's just innovating, but it's true. You already have the resources. That's not a founder, right? That's just saying like innovating, right? But yeah, so I think founders have to create something. I'm nothing, but a trick is how do you create something?
I'm nothing. Well, the truth is you have to attract the resources and the people and the support needed to make it happen. So I think great founders really do a good job with in terms of yeah. I wouldn't call it networking, but really being a champion for what they're building and attracting people who want to be on the same journey with them.
And that means they have to attract capital, obviously, you know, so they have to attract venture capital or angels or people support them. Also, they have to attract people to work for them, right? Employees, teammates, co founders. And they also have to attract the attention, right? So what is press, customers, partners.
So I think that's something that entrepreneurs really have to do and do a great job championing and attracting people to work with them.
(18:02) Naveen Samala: Amazing. I loved every bit of this conversation and it's time for us to add some more spice and some more excitement to the episode. So then we would like to kick off the second rapid fire round with a set of intriguing questions.
If you're ready, let's get started. Yeah, for sure. Okay, here comes the first question. If you could have one gigantic billboard anywhere with anything on it, what would it say? I
(18:25) Jeremy Au: would say you know, bravery is grace under pressure. And the reason why I'm saying that is that, you know, I think everybody wants to be brave, right?
I think a lot of people are like, okay, what does it mean? So I think, I think obviously we know someone's brave when they take action, right? So there's some level of grace, right? Professionalism, discipline, but they still take action, right? There's a level of grace that happens there. But the truth is, you know, you are also under pressure, right?
Because, you know, if you are brave, but there's, there's no pressure, there's no fear, then you're not being brave, right? You're just, you know, doing a normal day job, right? So I think, I really think about bravery is you know, that there's a pressure, there's fear, there's shadow, but also you can act with grace and professionalism and discipline.
(19:11) Naveen Samala: Superb. Here comes the next one. What is the most exciting startup you have invested in and why?
(19:18) Jeremy Au: Yeah, you know, I'm really excited about a company that I invested in. It's called Acme, A C M E. And basically what they're doing is that, you know, this is JX. He's a great guy, super solid. And what he's doing is that he is building on a B2B basis, building financial API automation for businesses to be better able to manage their financial operations workflow across Asia.
So I think it's really interesting, very technical but I think there's an interesting part because if you make companies more efficient, then, you know, you help open up a whole bunch of infrastructure. Therefore, as a result financial products, but also operational products that's available for the region as well.
(20:00) Naveen Samala: Superb. And can you describe yourself in just one word?
(20:04) Jeremy Au: I would say, uh, strategic. So I'm very much focused on what are the dynamics that we have to And I always tell people like, you know, strategy is about what you do. It's also about what you don't do. And you have to be very, very crisp because about that, because if you're not strategic, then you end up saying, you know, there's this a wishlist, right?
I want to do everything. I want to be number one. I want to be popular. I want to have friends on the family, you know, go to the company, right. You know, when I market share will be profitable. I think I think it's underrated but it takes to be truly strategic. Yeah.
(20:44) Naveen Samala: And can you describe the qualities that you look for in a startup pitch in three words?
(20:50) Jeremy Au: Direct is one word. And what I mean by direct is that, you know, I think a lot of startups have a lot of like fancy words, a lot of big vision, a lot of fluff. And so you just want people to be very direct. Like, okay, you know, who is the customer? What is their number one problem? Why do the current solutions not work? How am I solving it? So be very direct as possible is really important. Because if you're indirect, then it's very hard for us to get to the answer about what the reality of the world is.
And the second is. Experimental. Okay. So what I mean by that is that at the end of the day, this startup is an experiment, right? Which is that you believe that this is going to work. And other people believe it's not going to work. So it's an experiment. So having that flexibility to be like, okay, I'm willing to change this, change that, you know, when I build this out with a million dollars, we could discover that this is going to work.
I'm going to discover that that's not going to work. And if that's not going to work, then we're going to change it this way. So I think there's a little bit of an idea maze that's happened. So I think, I think a startup pitch needs to be You know, you can't be like, okay, this is a hundred percent going to work and it's going to make you everybody billions of dollars. Okay, sure. But I think just being a little bit thoughtful about what the experiment and the risk points are and the milestones when you build is pretty important. So I think experiment is a big part of it.
You know, I think the third thing is leadership, right? Yeah. So, you know, you're looking for a startup that's really taking leadership on it.
And what I mean by that is like. Hey, you know, we are willing to engage our customers, lead them, you know, I've already talked about the cohorts. I've already talked about what needs to be done. I've already talked about, so just taking more of a leadership role instead of like a more reactive role, which is like, Hey VC, what, what do you want to see?
ABC, you know what, I mean, as I say, like, yeah, they, you know, VCs are here to support founders. And so founders really take up that leadership role as much as possible. Yeah.
(22:48) Naveen Samala: Great. I loved. So direct experimental and leadership are the three words. Yeah. Jeremy, can you also share an unconventional or unexpected way you have discovered a promising startup?
Maybe they might have not come or approached you for pitching. Has it happened like that?
(23:04) Jeremy Au: Yeah, you know, I think, so, you know, I think there's all kinds of ways that, you know, startups can be found but I think the most fun one was iterative scopes. So Jonathan he and I were both in Boston and, you know, I was at one of those meetings and hanging out and.
Somebody was like, Oh, you know, Oh, yeah, you're Singaporean and you're in Boston. You're a founder. Have you heard of this guy called Jonathan? And I'm like, no, I don't know who Jonathan is. I, you know, and so I kept getting this message about, Oh, have you met Jonathan? I went over in Boston. So at some point I found the kiss contact on Facebook and I just messaged Hey, you know, people keep mentioning your name to me, so I figured I'll just, we should hang out and, you know, get to know each other, so at least we can put a face to a name.
And so we end up hanging out and we end up being good friends in Boston and both founders. And then eventually I had an opportunity to invest in this company personally. And so it was great because, you know, we moved from, you know, strangers who didn't know each other to You know, neighbors who are, you know, you know, cooking meals together to eventually having opportunity to invest in this company, which does computer vision for colonoscopies. Right. So the fascinating company has grown tremendously with multiple girlfriends so far.
(24:18) Naveen Samala: Okay, comes the next bullet. What is the most common mistake you see founders make when pitching to VCs?
(24:25) Jeremy Au: Explain the problem. So a lot of founders are very focused on talking about the solution, about why it makes sense and so forth.
But what exactly is the problem that's being solved? Is it a number one problem? Who is that pain in their rear for, right? So, you know, there's a lot of theoretical stuff. So sometimes the way they might hide it, you know, would be like. Oh, you know, McKinsey says that this market will grow by 50%. I'm like, okay, well, but, but what's the problem?
You know, it's not like all IT services are all generated for AI, et cetera. Right. So what's the problem that's being solved?
(24:58) Naveen Samala: And, and what will be your one piece of advice to early stage founders?
(25:02) Jeremy Au: You know, self awareness is important. So The truth is, if you're an early stage founder, you're probably not that good.
And what I mean by that is that you're just young. You know, I was an early stage founder and I look back at myself and I'm like, Oh my gosh, Jeremy, like you had no idea how to do so many things, right? So I think it's totally normal for an early stage founder to be less experienced. You know, I was an early stage inexperienced founder.
I think what differentiates strong founders versus founders that don't make it, because the truth is, Only one out of 40 startups will eventually become a unicorn is that if you think about it is really about how good the founder is, right? You know, yeah, so if the founder is good and learning and getting stronger then Team will be able to get there eventually, right?
So but the thing is if you don't have self awareness you won't get there You know, you're not self aware about what you're good at what you what you need to improve on then you can be strong At the moment, uh, relative to your peers, but then if you're not self aware, then eventually there's somebody else who is younger, earlier stage, inexperienced, but they're self aware.
They're going to learn faster and eventually get there.
(26:11) Naveen Samala: Great. And here comes the last bullet out of rapid fire. What is one electronic gadget or a fantasy gadget that you like to see or invent yourself?
(26:20) Jeremy Au: So many different things. But I think the one that would be great, yeah, is that, you know, I'm helping my kid learn kind of like Mandarin right now.
So there's a three year old and one year old. So try and give them exposure. So I think one electronic graduate would be love to see, you know, if and it's like, Hey, you know, is that a way to help them like magically learn languages? I mean, you know, heck, I would love to learn like one or two more languages as well.
I don't think it's really a translator because You know, a universal translator is good. Don't get me wrong. And I think we're quite close to inventing it anyway, because we have TGPT, we have translation stuff. I think we're getting quite close there. But I think, you know, being able to speak in someone else's language and understand what they're saying, the concepts and the jokes and all this other stuff, I think it's quite special, right?
So I don't think it's a universal translator, but like kind of like automatic language learner, right? You know, definitely a gadget and a half, yeah.
(27:17) Naveen Samala: I loved it. This is one of the unique ideas. I think it's a great startup idea as well. Good one. Great rabbit fire. And let's flip back to the mainstream. So Jeremy, how can aspiring entrepreneurs find the right resources, support, and funding to kickstart their startup journey?
Like do you have any forums or any groups or anything that you would like to share any other resources?
(27:42) Jeremy Au: Yeah well, you know, happy to join the brave podcast. We have a community group there. You know, I also do a lot of writing on, you know, how to fundraise how to build a company. There's a lot of great interviews that we have with a lot of leaders across Southeast Asia.
And you know, we're slowly building out more and more resources for members, you know, especially on the context of how to fundraise successfully, but also how to reach the product market fit as well.
(28:07) Naveen Samala: Superb. Fabulous. I, I loved our conversation. This has been really Great. I think it is going to help all the aspiring entrepreneurs and also budding entrepreneurs out there in terms of thinking in the right direction before approaching the VCs.
And so much. And before I let you go, please share with me, how is your experience being hosted on the GuidingWise podcast? I think you're on the other side of the table as a podcaster, right? You normally interview and you run your own show. So this time you joined me as a guest being on the other side. So how is it being hosted on my show?
(28:39) Jeremy Au: It was great. Thank you so much for hosting me.
(28:43) Naveen Samala: All right. So pleasure to talk to you and I really appreciate you taking time for joining me and by taking time out of your busy schedule and engaging in this enriching conversation and looking forward to many more in future.
So really appreciate it. Jeremy. Thank you so much. All right. So friends, that was our episode with Jeremy Au. And before we jump into the fun trivia section, we have a quick request. In case if you haven't already subscribed to us, please subscribe to the Guiding Voice podcast from wherever you have tuned in because subscribing helps you and keeps you updated on new episodes.
And if you have enjoyed the conversation and found it useful, please share with at least three of your friends or colleagues. Who would also like the guiding voice to spread the knowledge and help others grow just like you. All right. So now let's cruise into the trivia segment and today's trivia is about Southeast Asia.
Now that we have had an amazing conversation with a venture capitalist who is investing in Southeast Asia, I thought I would present a few facts which are less known related to Southeast Asia. The first one is about mega diverse ecosystems. Southeast Asia is one of the world's most biologically diverse regions and it is home to an astonishing array of species including some of the world's rarest and most exotic animals such as Javan rhinoceros and the Bornean orangutan.
Second is about the world's largest archipelago. Indonesia, located in Southeast Asia, is not only the world's fourth most populous country, but also the largest archipelago. It comprises over 17, 000 islands and the country's diverse cultures and languages are spread across this vast maritime nation.
Third is about rich culinary heritage. While Thai, Vietnamese, and Chinese cuisines have often take the spotlight. Southeast Asia offers a myriad of lesser known culinary delights. For example, the cuisine of Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar presents unique and delicious flavors often influenced by the region's rich history and geography.
These cuisines are gaining recognition as global food enthusiasts explore new tastes. So likewise, if you have any interesting facts related to Southeast Asia, or if you have any tips for startups who are about to approach VCs for funding, I would love to hear. Your thoughts on any of these topics. So you can comment on YouTube or you can comment on social media platforms, wherever you have found this episode.
If you have, if you have found it on some audio platforms like Spotify or Apple or any other podcast listening platform, that's it for today. So thank you so much once again for tuning in and also for being part of our awesome TGV community. Folks would love to hear from you, so do not hesitate to share your ideas, feedback, topic recommendations and guest speaker sessions either through social media or you can also email us at theguidingvoice4u at redgmail.
com and let's create content that resonates with you. I am your host Naveen Samalla, lifelong learner, and my goal is to have impactful conversations that add value. Not only to your life, but also to your career until next time, take care, stay inspired. And remember the future holds great things because the best is yet to come.
Goodbye for now. See you in the next episode with another amazing guest.