"I had a really good childhood in a middle-income family of three daughters. My understanding of entrepreneurship began subconsciously because of my parents. I was six when the Soviet Union dissolved, and suddenly, I was from a country that didn't exist anymore. As the country became independent, there were countless opportunities to build businesses from scratch. My parents dabbled in new ventures every few years, and our dinner table conversations often revolved around what to do next after a setback. This ingrained in me the understanding that you must always be prepared to start over.” - Audra Pakalnyte, Partner at First Move" - Audra Pakalnyte
"Our process involved a lot of whiteboards and meeting rooms, bouncing ideas around and wireframing. We had a brilliant designer who could wireframe on the fly as we discussed different models. Leadership from various countries would fly in for offsite meetings, and we'd spend late nights figuring things out. One of our projects aimed to gamify interactions—it was like CHATGPT, but back then, it involved actual human conversations. I could send a chat about a deal I wanted to share. If we were planning dinner, I'd send a chat to coordinate. It was essentially re-imagining group buying through a social lens. We even experimented with TikTok-like buyer frames, showcasing experiences in spas, beauty salons, or restaurants—these were really cool ideas at the time.” - Audra Pakalnyte, Partner at First Move" - Audra Pakalnyte
"Our focus on consumer sectors stems partly from our background in building consumer tech companies and partly from the significant opportunities presented by the growing middle-class demand for accessible and affordable products and services in the Southeast Asian market. This region has a mature ecosystem that's robust enough to build companies that can serve the world. What sets us apart is our approach to investing; we often take bets on people, investing in startups that are typically pre-product and pre-revenue. This is a super early stage where we primarily bet on the founder's capabilities. Of course, we also consider the market potential and the growth prospects before making an underwriting decision.” - Audra Pakalnyte, Partner at First Move" - Audra Pakalnyte
In this episode, Jeremy Au speaks on the Lithuania to Malaysia journey, adapt and localize (Groupon Malaysia, KFit and Fave), and First Move VC partner.
Keywords: Audra Pakalnyte, Lithuania to Malaysia, Adapt and Localize, Groupon Malaysia, KFit and Fave, First Move VC Partner, Malaysia, Europe, VC, Women, Founder Story
