SEA of Startups

This week we are joined by Ganesh Bangah, a serial entrepreneur with a resume longer than this podcast. He built MOL Global which listed on NASDAQ and later sold to Razer and is currently focused on Commerce. Asia as well as ASX-listed Netccentric. This was a great conversation with Ganesh where navigate the evolution from cyber cafes to selling points to gaming.  We talked about acquiring Friends...

This week we are joined by Ben Bagg the Founder of Nectar Group, which is focused on enabling companies looking to expand across the APAC through as a Sales & marketing driven revenue generator. This was a great conversation with Ben where we talked about the early days of bootstrapping a lead generation business.  We talk about merging his business with a co-founder and building off of the busine...

This week we are joined by Jonathan Weins the Founder of Pop Meals, which is an F&B company leveraging tech and data to enable tailored experience with better quality and lower prices. This was a great conversation with Jonathan as we navigate the business model pivot towards physical locations.  We talk about how they are applying tech and data and bring the iteration from their software experien...

This week we are joined by TM Lee the Founder of CoinGecko, which is the world’s largest independent cryptocurrency data aggregator and has made a name as key provider of fundamental analysis on the crypto market. This was a great conversation with TM as we talked about how he came to be interested in the crypto industry and why they decided to build CoinGecko.  We talk about building a subscripti...

This week we are joined by Gil Carmo the Founder of iMotorbike, which is the leading online platform to buy or sell pre-owned Motorcycles with operations in Vietnam and Malaysia. This was a great conversation with Gil where we start with recognizing that there is no right time to start a startup, but you just must go.  We navigate through them making a business model pivot in 2021 and how they hav...

This week we are joined by Ami Sugiyama the Founder of Secai Marche, which is a B2B farm-to-table fulfilment platform that streamlines the supply chain through its in-house software which involves warehouse management and demand forecast systems. This was a great conversation where we talked about her past experience as an entrepreneur in the tea trading business and restaurant business led to the...

This week we are joined by Benjamin Croc the Founder of BrioHR, which is an HR Tech platform that automates repetitive tasks and engages employees for maximum productivity.  They currently serve over 1,000 businesses across Southeast Asia. This was a great conversation with Benjamin as we talked about his experience as a consultant leading him to recognize the pain point and ultimately decide to l...

This week we are joined by Tunku Danny Mudzaffar the Founder of microLEAP, which is a P2P (Peer-to-Peer) Financing platform that offers both Shariah-Compliant and Conventional lending. This was a great conversation with Tunku Danny where we cover the motivation behind launching microLEAP.  We talk about balancing the supply and demand sides of P2P financing and how listening to what those sides wa...

This week we are joined by Sharma Lachu the Founder of Accendo, which is a Talent Intelligence Platform company that helps organizations revolutionize how to attract, assess, align, develop, and retain top talent, both inside and outside the company. This was a great conversation with Sharma where we talked about how his childhood led to his entrepreneurial journey.  We also discuss the pivot from...

This week we are joined by Shayna Teh the Founder of Food Market Hub, which helps restaurants & suppliers to increase efficiency by centralizing all F&B backend processes in one app. This was a great conversation with Shayna where we cover the journey to launching Food Market Hub from entrepreneurial family to a fashion startup to restaurateur to present.  We talked about building the MVP, scaling...

This week we are joined by Dr Darren Gouk the Founder of AOne.  For those of you who don’t know, AOne eases digitalization of education centers with a learning center management system. This was a great conversation with Darren as we talk about going from a marketplace to a SaaS business.  Through the conversation we navigate from MVP through the various product launches and international expansio...

This week we are joined by Jason Low the Founder of Virtualtech Frontier, which is a virtualization and Metaverse enablement company that is developing engagement-driven virtual events, with virtual fairs, exhibitions, livestream events and hybrid events. This was a great conversation with Jason as we talk about the pathway he took, from becoming an entrepreneur, merging with a marketing firm, the...

This week we are joined by Martin Perez the Founder of PetChef, which is D2C company offering a subscription service of healthy foods for your furry friend. This was a great conversation with Martin where we talk about his background in entrepreneurship and traveling the world.  We talk about the passion for healthy foods for pets and scaling his business.  We close off talking about what comes ne...

This week we are joined by Fabio Miceli the Founder of Sonno, which started as a bed in a box D2C company but has now evolved into a full sleep brand with both online and offline channels. This was a great conversation where we learn the origins of launching a sleep brand and how entrepreneurship was always part of him.  We talk about the challenges in launching a physical product and utilizing a...

This week we are joined by Suthan Mookaiah the Founder of Edar.com, which is an online to offline retail grocery chain across Malaysia, and soon to be Indonesia, that allows payment by recycling household waste. This was a great conversation with Suthan was fantastic as we go from corporate retrenchment to covid entrepreneur to business model pivot.  A recurring them to this conversation is partne...

This week we had a special collaboration with Founder Institute Malaysia as part of their relaunch and announcing they are open for applications.  In this session, we were joined by Eric Cheng the Founder of Carsome, which is Malaysia’s first and only unicorn. This was a great conversation with Eric as he walks us through the early days of launching Carsome and the pathway they have taken in scali...

This week we are joined by Top Lim of FinHero, which is a FinTech solutions provider operating a Finance as a Service platform ranging from credit scoring, KYC, collections and even supply chain financing. This was a great conversation to discuss how he transitioned from a corporate career at equipment financing entities to launching his own firm.  We talk about the particulars in leveraging techn...

This week we are joined by Goh Ai Ching of Piktochart, which is an all-in-one tool to easily create infographics, presentations, reports, posters, and videos online either from scratch or by editing a broad range of templates. This was a great conversation to discuss the pathway of a bootstrapped founder.  We talk about what led to the founding of the company, building in the early days, and how t...

This week we are joined by Henry Tye of Big Domain, which is a domain registrar that also provides web hosting, web design, SEO services, and several other related services to launch and run a website. This was a great conversation to discuss where we go through the process that led him to launch his business and the experience of a second time founder.  We talk about the rigors of making it throu...

This week we are joined by serial entrepreneur Charles Tang of Instant eStore, which is an All-In-One Ecommerce Solution serving thousands of clients. This was a great conversation with serial entrepreneur and early pioneer of ecommerce in Malaysia, Charles Tang.  We discussed how he started the business and scaled in the early days.  We touch on the evolution of ecommerce and the need to be omni-...

This week we are joined by Kelvyn Chuah of SINEGY, which is a digital asset exchange based in Malaysia, one of only 4 registered with the Securities Commission. This was a great conversation to discuss how Kelvyn launched a crypto exchange in Malaysia and navigated the regulatory process.  We touch on the market perceptions and getting broader adoption.  Inevitably, we make mentions of FTX, but ci...

This week we are joined by Howie Chang of Forward School, which is equipping aspiring students and tech professionals with industry-ready skills required for the fast-moving tech sector. This was a great conversation to discuss how Howie came to launch an education focused startup.  We talk about building a curriculum and getting accreditation.  We then move onto scaling the business. I’d love to...

We launched SEA of Startups with the intent of highlighting great entrepreneurs and their stories. In the short few months, I think we have accomplished that goal. In this episode, we highlight excerpts of lessons extracted from three episodes that give a taste of the operational insight that comes from these stories. Please take the time and go back through the prior interviews we have done over...

This week we are joined by Azran Osman-Rani of Naluri, which provides an integrated digital care solution that combines support for physical and mental health. This was a great conversation with serial entrepreneur Azran.  We talk about the localization experience at iFlix and how this combined with his own family experience with health to create the idea for Naluri. He discusses the process of va...

This week we are joined by Pennie Homa of Homa2U, which is an online to offline (O2O) building materials and interior finishes marketplace supplied from brand new items through to unused construction materials, discarded, and overstock markets. This was a great conversation where we talk about the industry background Pennie had before launching Homa2U.  We discuss the wastage problem that exists i...