July 2023 Newsletter
BRAVE has crossed over 10K followers on TikTok! We successfully hosted our second Phoenix offsite, where we supported 6 former founders navigate their transition into the next phase of their professional career. Thanks to Aaron Lim and Viktor Kyosev for helping co-host. If you know founders who are moving on from their funded startups, please let them know about our next Phoenix offsite on Dec 2, Saturday, 10am - 12pm SGT.
Secure the best liquidation deals with Pollen, this month’s newsletter sponsor!
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Popular Interviews
- Winnie Wong: You Don’t Have To Look The Part, Workplace Vulnerability and Personal Storytelling vs. Bamboo & Glass Ceiling: Winnie shares valuable insights about women's challenges in the workforce, diversity and inclusion, and the power of personal narratives. She explores the concept of the "bamboo ceiling" and sheds light on the importance of sponsorship and support for women's career advancement. She also emphasizes the need for organizations to prioritize diversity and inclusion at all levels, including representation and creating an inclusive environment.
- Bhavik Vashi: B2B SaaS Masterclass & Business Model Learnings, AI Opportunity Speculation, and Southeast Asia Market Uniqueness: Bhavik recounts his migration from the US to Asia and the challenges he encountered while leading the growth of thriving B2B SaaS products. He emphasizes the significance of analyzing unit economics, including customer lifetime value and acquisition costs, when operating at a lower price point in the region. He also delves into the potential impact of AI on startups, and stresses the value of proprietary data sets and the ethical considerations involved.
- Tiang Lim Foo: Founding Forge VC, Maximizing Founder Potential & Long-Distance Venture Capital Investments with Haruki Murakami: Tiang’s decision to start investing taught him the value of commitment and perseverance and started Forge Ventures, a seed-stage VC firm that partners with founders building the future in Southeast Asia. His approach strikes a balance between fostering friendly relationships with founders and driving their potential to the maximum. Tiang is inspired by the author Haruki Murakami and finds parallels between the discipline required in long-distance running and his investing philosophy.
- Oswald Yeo: Glints Product-Market Fit Pivots, Indonesia Market Leadership & Beginner's Mindset: Oswald shares his remarkable entrepreneurial journey from founding Glints while he was a student in the US to adapting to the ever-changing market in Southeast Asia and tailoring strategies to meet local needs. He emphasizes the significance of effective team building founded on trust and clear communication, while also practicing mindfulness to gain clarity throughout the entrepreneurial journey. He highlights the abundant opportunities for startups in Southeast Asia, stressing the importance of prioritizing clarity and executing strategies.
Deep Dives:
- Shiyan Koh, Managing Partner of Hustle Fund, and Jeremy Au discussed
- Temasek’s FTX crypto internal review and 6% AUM cap on startup exposure
- Sequoia Capital’s spinoffs with HongShan 红杉 & Peak XV
- Open AI’s founder Sam Altman’s townhalls in Singapore and Jakarta and push for regulation
- Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg’s cage match and recent Grab & Gojek layoffs
- Jeremy Au and Adriel Yong discussed how university students can embrace the uncertainty in their career planning, toggle between exploration vs. exploitation modes, and avoid setting themselves up for a midlife crisis
Community News
Ilya Kravtsov was featured in Tech Global for raising Ringkas’ seed round of US$2.3M, co-led by East Ventures and Crestone Venture Capital. Check out his podcast on first time founder mentorship and market expansion economics.
We’d like to congratulate Evan Heng, founder and CEO of Zenith, for raising US$1.4 million in seed funding led by Trihill Capital. Check out his episode on building a $6.7M revenue startup during his university days, and his insights on the power of education.
Ethan Ang was featured on TechNode Global for Nodeflair’s $2M Series A funding led by Iterative. Check out his episode on the importance of genuinity as a founder and the positive impact of vulnerable honesty to teams.
The BRAVE founder community had a great time climbing Bukit Timah Hill on June 25! If you’re a founder who’s interested, feel free to apply to join our community.
Best Read
AI's Hardware Problem by Jon Y at Asianometry explains how hardware used in data centers to train increasingly larger AI models face huge challenges related to memory capacity and performance. The Von Neumann architecture used in computers separates compute from memory, resulting in a memory wall problem. Adding more memory is a brute-force solution that faces practical and energy limitations. Memory scaling and compute-in-memory approaches are now being explored to overcome these challenges.
Quote
“When nothing seems to help, I go back and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred-and-first blow, it will split in two, and I know it was not the last blow that did it, but all that had gone before.” Jacob Riis
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Stay Brave!
Jeremy Au
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