The Founders Peak Podcast

Our speaker today is Irene Zhao, Founder of SO-COL. Irene is a Singapore-based crypto influencer with half a million followers on social media. She launched her NFT collection called IreneDAO, which recorded S$7.5 million in trading volume within the first week! A true hustler, she came to Singapore on a MOE scholarship at the age of 15. SO-COL raised a $100m valuation within just 6 months, with 3...

Our speaker today is Janos Barberis, CEO of Founders Taboo. Janos founded Founders Taboo to increase awareness, access, and affordability of support for startup founder mental health and well-being. Janos is building the world’s largest online community and resource hub offering psycho-education, online support and connections to providers specialised in offering treatment and crisis support speci...

Our speaker today is Jing Li, Founder & CEO of Sirius Technologies. Jing left his home at 15 to explore the world and returned after 12 long years. He then became a founding member of WeBank, one of the largest and best digital banks in the world. Jing then departed on a journey to find a way to bring WeBank to more people, which is how Sirius Technologies was born with the help of a bunch of...

Our speaker today is Cesar Jung-Harada, Professor at the Singapore Institute of Technology and Founder & Director of MakerBay. Cesar’s first real job was working in a glass-blowing studio. He also used to live in a yurt in the London Financial District, and has sailed around the world! The very first version of his company MakerBay was built in a former chicken farm in Hong Kong New Territorie...

Our speaker today is Dr Krishna Murthy Ella, Executive Chairman of Bharat Biotech - a visionary entrepreneur in the field of vaccines and biotherapeutics and the brilliant scientist behind Covaxin - India's first indigenous COVID-19 vaccine Dr. Ella is a true luminary in the field of science, having received not one or two but six honorary degrees. Notably, he's the first Indian to be bestowed wit...

Our speaker today is Tali Goldman, Founder & Managing Director of Market for Good. Market for Good boasts an 80%-female employee roster, breaking the gender stereotypes in the business world. In a remarkable display of commitment, their initial seed investment came from their advisory board and employees. As trailblazers in the field, Market for Good stands alone as the only B2B platform capab...

Our speaker today is Anurag Banerjee, Co-founder & CEO of Quilt AI - a Singapore-headquartered AI company that’s 50% for profit and 50% not-for-profit. Recently rated as one of the top 12 generative AI companies in the world, The Economist called Quilt AI “an AI for good company” for their work on mental health, child protection and gender equity. It’s interesting to share that Anurag calls hi...

Our speaker today is Ben Gattie, Founder & CEO of The Working Capitol or TWC. Ben spent 18 years in real estate (and is still obsessed with buildings and their potential). He also makes really good pizza! The Working Capitol’s hub was once a biscuit factory in the 1920s. TWC is one of the pioneers in the co-working space in Singapore where they opened their doors 8 years ago. They build neighb...

Our speaker today is Bo Chen, Co-founder & CTO of Xendit. Bo founded Xendit at the age of 23 and enjoys putting together original rap performances at company offsites. He graduated early from University of California, Berkeley to start working at startups as quickly as possible. Xendit is the first Indonesian tech startup to pass through the acclaimed incubator YCombinator, S15, as well as the...

Our speaker today is Ryan Selkis, Co-founder & CEO of Messari - a crypto data analytics, tooling, and research platform with a mission to promote transparency, rebuild trust and power smarter and safer decisions in the space. Ryan is a father of five - four human children and one startup. He is a vocal crypto missionary, passionate about the need for thoughtful regulation and better disclosure...

Our speaker today is Martha Mghendi-Fisher, Founder & Executive Board Chair and Angel Investor at European Women Payments Network. Martha’s whole business model is based on her being the most stupid person in the room. There is no ‘’me’’ in the companies/organisations she has founded, there is always ‘’us’’. Martha collects people. Her work focuses on women, children, minorities and the undere...

Our speaker today is Christian Frahm, Founder & CEO of United Fintech. Christian grew up in Denmark, is a father of 4 and married to his dear wife who he met when he was 18. Ever since he was a small boy, he always wanted to be an entrepreneur. Christian has worked at the intersection between technology and finance before even the term fintech was coined. United Fintech, which Christian founde...

Our speaker today is Peter De Caluwe, CEO of Thunes. Peter is the Belgian pioneer of Fintechs in emerging markets who effortlessly juggles payments, micropayments, and microlending – consider him the fintech triple threat! Besides being a CEO by day; he's also a passionate diver in his free time which in turn helps him skillfully navigate both boardrooms and deep-sea depths. With a career that rea...

Our speaker today is Anna Gong, Founder & CEO of Perx Technologies. Otherwise known as the godmother of Software as a service, Anna is a serial risk taker. Having helped build and scale 4 B2B startups in Silicon Valley, she decided to do another one, this time in Asia, and she still said this may not be her last one. Anna wanted to go into performing arts but instead had a sliding door moment...

Our speaker today is Dr Tianyi Jiang, Co-founder & CEO of AvePoint. TJ came to America at 11 years old not knowing a word of English. He worked his way to the top of his class, earning degrees from Cornell and NYU, including a PhD in Machine Learning & Data Mining. He also survived the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center, which changed the course of his life. TJ grew AvePoint from two pe...

Our speaker today is Ken Zheng, Founder & CEO of NEXTPLS (aka Panda Remit). Ken, a modern-day romantic comedy lead, won a dream trip on China's popular dating show but missed out due to a leg injury from basketball. Despite subsequent knee surgeries, he pivoted from TV fame to successful entrepreneurship. His company Panda Remit began with a tight-knit team of 17, and remarkably, nearly all or...

Peter Walker, Head of Insights at Carta who are the largest global repository of startup equity with 2.2 million equity holders on their platform. They are deep believers that the future of work entails ownership, not just wages. Ina Founders Peak EXCLUSIVE, Peter talks about How 2023 changed startup cap tables - and what that means for 2024

Shekhar Kapur is a celebrated, and award-winning Film, TV, Theatre Director & Producer. At 24, he left a career as a Chartered Accountant/Management Consultant to pursue a career in the Arts. He has created iconic award-winning films and TV shows in India , in Hollywood and the UK. His films have been nominated for several Oscars. Shekhar has created major theatrical musicals in the West End,...

Our speaker today is Karan Mehta, co-founder & CTO of RING. Karan loves adventure sports and travelling, and took up farming during Covid lockdowns - cultivating papayas, lemons and chikoos in a 22 acre farm. He is a Carnegie Mellon graduate who left the US to build for India - and has indeed built and run 4 startups including RING. Bringing together payments and credit, and serving over 16 mi...

Our speaker today is Roth Sim, Founder & CTO of BanhJi FinTech. Roth is one of two finance professionals in Cambodia to hold four accounting and finance qualifications. He proudly represents Cambodia as a member of ASEAN MSMEs Advisory Board. Despite being a finance professional, painting has always been Roth’s passion. BahnJi FinTech garnered recognition as a leading ASEAN startup by the Worl...

Our speaker today is Amit Jain, Founder & CTO of Zamp. Amit has played multiple roles in his career - consulting, running a tech company known as rent.com, heading APAC at Uber, and being a VC at Sequoia. He has worked across 5 continents (and travelled to 7). Zamp started a year and a half ago as a modern-age banking and treasury management platform for enterprises It’s funded by Sequoia Capi...

Our speaker today is Omar Saleh , Founder & CTO of Khazna. Omar is Egyptian born and raised and has worked and studied in the US, Europe, Africa and the Middle East. He is a 2-times Egyptian Kickboxing Champion. Khazna is a credit-led neobank with a unique & profitable B2B2C business model. It received the Central Bank of Egypt’s first prepaid card licence and aims to become Egypt's go-to...

Our speaker today is Gaurav Singhvi, Co-founder & CTO of We Founder Circle - which has 5 Co-founders, located in 4 cities with teams sitting in 9 cities of India. Gaurav has created 13 different communities in the last 30 years. Gaurav walks us thru all that he has learned thru his journeys in his heart-warming talk titled Walking alone and flying together.

Our speaker today is Kelvin Teo, Co-founder & Group CEO of Funding Societies. Kelvin would like us to know that he is not the Kelvin Teo on Wikipedia, who is also a Malaysian, management consultant and entrepreneur, but won a reality dating show "Love Me Do". Kelvin survived in Brazil with no money, card and friends, because he found out at the boarding gate that he needed a visa to transit in...

This episode is just too special. We’d like to say Pauline and Simon are the ‘first couple’ of The Founders Peak stage. No, we’ve never had a couple take stage as one team. And with what Pauline experienced recently as she was getting off a plane, this story is gut-wrenching as it is inspiring and as it is a story of love and belief and hope and resilience. Pauline is a Board Advisor at Viridios C...