Why Founders Win or Lose: Inside VC Sourcing, Competition & Fund Tactics - E572
"So the reason why sourcing is difficult is that because thousands of startups are launched every year with no public data. So if say anybody here right wanted to basically build a company, so let's say Jose says I want to build a fashion tech startup and now's my time to make it go. Too bad Zilingo didn't know how to make it work but now I know how to do it. How would I know? I wouldn't know because he's a startup, he's talking to his founder friends in US Enterprise Club or whatever it is, Entrepreneurship Club. There's no information that tells me you're doing what you're building, what you're thinking, how good you are. So there's no public data, there's no announcement that you have launched. Secondly, the founders who are really good tend to accelerate very quickly. I gave you an example already that a founder can, within a single day, have multiple bids to happen. So the stronger you are, the faster you go. So again, we're looking for power law founders. That 1% tend to accelerate very quickly." - Jeremy Au, Host of BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast
"I think there is actually a real insight to this, right. The thesis here is that since the majority of the fund will be generated by a few companies only, you should just invest very widely in your first spread and then double down aggressively on the companies that generate home run returns within the next two years. So with a company starting to rocket ship up, what happens is that a lot of people feel like, Hey I can't tell so I just want to go very wide. Because the worst-case scenario is that you went too narrow and said no to 20 other companies, and then the home run company that starts to accelerate takes off in the company you said no to. So you should have a wide top of the funnel and then narrow aggressively onto that." - Jeremy Au, Host of BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast
"But of course the reason why VCs and private equity make money is because we deal with proprietary information. We know things that other people don't know and don't understand; it's not publicly available. So we are trying to understand, and the people in crypto made money because they understood before others did that crypto was going to be a big thing eventually, so they knew that. Same thing for AI, not everybody understands how big AI is going to be, but they also don't know where it's going to show up. So proprietary information and secrets are really important to make you a stronger VC or not." - Jeremy Au, Host of BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast
Jeremy Au breaks down how Limited Partners shape the Southeast Asia venture capital landscape and why founders should care. He explores the hidden motivations of sovereign wealth funds, endowments, corporations, and family offices, and how they quietly influence funding decisions. Jeremy reveals how startups move through brutal funding stages, why VCs compete fiercely at the same stage yet collaborate across them, and how different VC fund strategies from index portfolios to venture builders change founder outcomes. Finally, he dives into the race for proprietary information, sharing how top VCs win deals before competitors even know they exist. This conversation is essential for founders navigating opaque markets and VCs fighting to stay sharp in a crowded field.