In this episode of Asia Tech Podcast my trends explorer colleague Yi Jing Fly joins me to share her latest insights. We look at how communication apps Tik Tok and Wesing are dominating a global teen user base and why, despite Zuckerberg’s dismissal, this does not bode well for apps like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Spotify. Tik Tok and Tencent’s Wesing are the first billion user apps out of Asia and they solve the customer problem in a fundamentally different way than Facebook and Google.

"There are so many voices that are not heard, why go after the stories that have been told a million times already, by a million other media outlets" - Regina Larko, host of #impact podcast, has this to say to anyone who asks about why she brings on her show seemingly ordinary people whose work is having an impact in the the society. She tells us why she prefers the authenticity and imperfections of her show recordings which are done outside studios. We hear about her dreams as a child in Austria, on how she discovered podcasting and fell in love with it because of the way it connects people and allows listeners to slow down in this fast paced life. Listen to the full show here and if you enjoyed them, support us by liking/sharing us with others.

"Podcasting is a wonderfully intimate medium, you are literally whispering in people's ears" - Tim Romero talks to Graham Brown about his struggles in starting an English language podcasting show in Japan and discloses how he navigated the cultural intricacies of Japan to get his guests to open up on his show, Disrupting Japan. Tim tells us about his outlook towards failure and how he deals with it. He opens up about the economics of Disrupting Japan and how he worked towards becoming Japan's first professional podcaster. Listen to the full episode here and support us by liking/sharing our content if you enjoyed them.

"I was really jealous of people who could write really well, cos i'm a terrible writer and secondly being in a video, having the whole visual was overwhelming for me, but I realized podcast was the perfect niche spot for me" - Daniel Song, host of Asia VC Cast, the 1st ever VC podcast in Asia speaks about his journey, from being a venture capitalist to starting his own podcast show where he talks to other VCs and what changes the show has brought to his life. He elaborates on his till date experiences, his failures and future plans. Listen to the full show here and if you enjoy the content, please do support us by liking/sharing it with others.

"I was looking for it, trying to find another show and I didn't find it, so I said maybe I should do it" - a simple but powerful reason behind Gregory Prudhommeaux starting his French podcast Backstage by NextStep in China. In this conversation, Gregory talks about his work in China, how he got hooked on to podcasts and the role his wife played in starting his own. Gregory and Graham talk about "impostor syndrome" and what it means to them. Gregory also talks about few interesting guests and their stories he has had on his show. Listen to the full show here. Please do like/share our content with others if you have enjoyed the show.

Graham Brown, host of Asia Tech Podcast, shares his life & travel stories with Neville J. McKenzie, talking about the places he has lived in over the years. During the 1 hour chat, he tells us about his early career choices, his love for Japan and his startup experiences including why he set-up Asia Tech Podcast in Singapore.

Tushar Aggarwal, host of Decrypt Asia, a blockchain podcast joins Graham Brown in the Asia Tech Podcast studio. In the show, Tushar shares his journey of how he became a podcast host and the opportunities it has opened up for him. He also talks about the lessons learned during his tough times and the importance of personal network. Tune in to the show to learn more.

When Kiren Tanna started Zenrooms, he and his co-founder lived out of hotels for weeks, pitching hotel owners on the go. It’s this form of startup hustle that you need to make your business successful. Kiren was former CEO and co-founder of FoodPanda, CEO of APACIG (Rocket Internet’s Asia Pacific Internet Group). He understands both the challenges and requirements of building a successful startup in Asia. In this interview we discuss the genesis of Zenrooms, recruitment and his philosophy on building teams.

In a world infatuated by the latest shiny technology it’s easy to lose sight of the key challenges facing our time – like finding a cure for cancer.

The drug discovery process is both expensive and by nature highly wasteful. Less than 5% of drugs under development ever reach the mass market. But that doesn’t mean the 95% are not worthy of public consumption, it just means the economics didn’t make sense for larger pharmaceuticals. AUM Biosciences wants to change that. By applying AI and Big Data technology to the extensive data sets generated by pharmaceutical companies, AUM hopes to sift through the drugs that didn’t make the mass market and revisit those that could work under different conditions. Could this mean access to cheaper drugs? Could this mean we also see Asia driving drug discovery and innovation in the future?

Podcast highlights:

00:58 – Back story of Shaun turning into a writer

From writing a weekly column for CNBC and Forbes

05:54 – How do you handle disagreement or criticism

08:19 – Mistakes foreign companies make when they enter China and how is Silicon valley viewing China’s rise in innovation

15:52 – From Shaun’s mistakes running his own entrepreneur venture way back in 2000-2003 which he says was a total failure. Learn why

1. Positioning

2. Real Estate

3. Regulatory

19:53 – China’s government in the last 6 months especially is very evident – trying to create 5-10 national champions in the tech space. If you don’t work within those ecosystems, if you can’t negotiate in Chinese in those ecosystems you’re going to have a lot of problems

1. Partner within the government supported tech ecosystem

2. Language representation

3. Right kind of venture capital money

20:53 – Rise of China Innovation – Rise of nationalism, local brands and local innovation

26:37 – What makes China 3 years ahead of the west

45:54 – Rise of the blue collar male as an important and critical new consumer segment

46:56 – What’s your typical workday like. Who is Shaun?

51:42 – Shaun owes his journey to many of his mentors. Hear who he’s here to thank!