[08:45] Why does Thailand top the world in social media and online usage?

[33:30] WeChat trends: how has it evolved? How is WeChat changing behavior? Will WeChat be a hit outside China?

[45:00] Games, photos, dating - apart from social media and messenger, what else are people spending their time on the internet?

[04:20] How the Asian tech ecosystem has evolved - my story coming to Japan in 1995 and where Japan is today in mobile use

[17:50] Did you know that within a 5 hour flight you can get to markets of 3.5 billion from Singapore? (the equivalent is 460 million from San Francisco)

[29:45] Do cities like San Francisco still have an advantage over Asia? What's changing? What's happening to the geographical arbitrage between startup ecosystems?

Podcast highlights:

04:20 How the Asian tech ecosystem has evolved - my story coming to Japan in 1995 and where Japan is today in mobile use

17:50 Did you know that within a 5 hour flight you can get to markets of 3.5 billion from Singapore? (the equivalent is 460 million from San Francisco)

29:45 Do cities like San Francisco still have an advantage over Asia? What's changing? What's happening to the geographical arbitrage between startup ecosystems?

Podcast notes:

00:10 Graham shares the latest data from the Asia Matters Report

01:30 Is Entrepreneurship in the US increasing or decreasing (Graham has the latest data)?

02:05 An introduction to ATP Network - the future of podcasting for Asia Tech Podcast

03:25 Heads up for Digital Lives Asia with Simon Kemp - a new show on the ATP network

04:20 How the Asian tech ecosystem has evolved - my story coming to Japan in 1995 and where Japan is today in mobile use

06:45 Introduction to the Asia Matters Report Part 3

07:00 28% of US startups are founded by immigrants. How important is immigration to innovation? Where does Asia stand with immigration and innovation?

10:00 What's really happening to entrepreneurship in the US? Are American Millennials really the "entrepreneurial generation"? How entrepreneurship levels have changed over the last 25 years (Wall Street Journal data).

11:45 What does Asia offer entrepreneurs that's better than the West?

12:40 Which countries top the Global Dynamism Ranking? (Economist Intelligence Unit data)

13:40 What is the most economically free country in the world? (Heritage Foundation data) How much time do Americans waste filing taxes compared to Asian entrepreneurs?

17:50 Did you know that within a 5 hour flight you can get to markets of 3.5 billion from Singapore? (the equivalent is 460 million from San Francisco)

19:10 What is going to happen in the growing entrepreneurial shift from West to East? The 3 Stages of the Shift (The S Curve in Part 2 of the Report)

21:40 Are we now going to see a FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) with the Asian startup ecosystem?

23:40 How does Asia and The West compare for startup burn time?

26:00 Comparison of office space costs for startups around the world. Which startup ecosystems cost just 1/3 of what it would cost you to live in San Francisco (ave $4,500 a month)?

29:45 Do cities like San Francisco still have an advantage over Asia? What's changing? What's happening to the geographical arbitrage between startup ecosystems?

32:00 Why is now the time to seriously think about Asia an option for startup entrepreneurs?

33:30 How do Asia and the US compare in terms of startup funding levels?

35:50 Introduction to my Asia Matters Minute videos

36:25 Why I'm heading to Fukuoka Japan this week. An insight into entrepreneurialism in Japan.

45:10 How can governments help startup ecosystems?

Why I’m heading out to Fukuoka Japan this week to get a heads up on the startup ecosystem there

A sneak preview of the ATP Podcast Network with new podcast hosts in the pipeline

If you want to understand the rise of Asia’s Tech Ecosystem look to the Megacities covered in the new Asia Matters Report as the engines of growth, not the countries.

Asia is big, but we didn’t realise how “big” it really was until we got out there, boots on the ground and did out research for this report. No longer is Asia all about “markets of billions”. The Asia of 2018 is a market of multiple wealth centers (the Megacities), a rapidly emerging middle class and a vision to connect all these dots together with huge infrastructure investment. Why build walls when you can build bridges?

China could create 15-20 Silicon Valleys of its own in the near future.

Asia is rapidly emerging from the shadows of “The West” to become the new world leader in everything from startup ecosystems to retail malls.

66% of the world’s middle class will be in Asia within 10 years. Our “Asia Matters” presentation is the story of Asia’s rise from being a world of cheap “knockoffs” dependent on The West to becoming its own self-sufficient engine of economic growth.

Welcome back to 2018, where we're talking about the Asia Matters Report. We talk about all the key stats you need to know about Asia in 2018, and why Asia will be the most important startup ecosystem in coming years. Highlights include: the $1.3 trillion Greater Bay, Vietnam’s 6.3% growth rate, how China leads the US in innovation patents, when Indonesia will surpass the GDP of the UK, what it means for Asia and its tech startups to be home to 750 million (or 60%) of the world’s youth population. Listen to get insights into the latest trends and what it means for the Asian startup ecosystem in 2018.

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In this week’s Asia Tech Podcast, we’re back from our travels. Michael comes back from Mumbai with a field report on cross-border investment and Graham Brown returns to Japan from Thailand and Singapore. We talk about how India will create “100,000 startups” in the next 10 years (according to ex-Infosys CFO Pai) and how Mumbai is just one of the 30 potential startup cities in Asia. The scale and velocity of the startup ecosystem in 2018 could leave the rest of the world behind. Here’s why…

Podcast highlights:

Introduction to Holly Harrington and Startup Stadium Taiwan - Taiwan's unique startup accelerator program

What makes Taiwan a unique proposition for startup founders?

Why do startup ecosystems need to build relationships outside of their own cities/countries?

Podcast notes:

00:40 Some background on Holly Harrington

04:00 How did Holly end up in Taiwan?

07:35 An experience of living in Taiwan as an American

11:03 How technology has made our life easier

15:05 How did Holly get into the startup world?

19:40 An importance of diversity and bilingualism in a team

25:26 The Taiwanese diaspora

29:05 What Taiwan StartUp Stadium does

35:47 How to participate in Taiwan StartUp Stadium program

40:20 How did Holly’s company manage to build relationships with traditional companies that aren’t innovative?

43:20 Other investment partners in Japan. Conferences in Taiwan

49:43 Promoting and building connections on conferences and trips

58:55 Learning along the way with those you help. Communication and unity between startups

Holly Harrington is the General Manager at Taiwan Startup Stadium. Taiwan Startup Stadium, a program funded by Taiwan's National Development Council, is dedicated to bridging Taiwan startups with opportunities around world. Holly is passionate about mentoring startup founders, helping them get funded and is committed to helping them build globally relevant businesses. She is involved in every aspect of the programs that TSS develops and implements and is deeply focused on their outcomes. Holly is also the co-Founder of Everiii, a Taiwan-based firm founded in 2014 with a global mission to connect people and companies across cultures. We had an incredible discussion about Taiwan, startups and the challenges and thrills of helping teams go global!

00:09 Asia Tech Podcast Stories with author, founder and managing director Shaun Rein

00:56 Internet challenges in China

01:25 Background about Shaun Rein

02:40 A little bit about the previous books, The End of Cheap China and The End of Copycat China

05:24 Innovations in China especially in payment methods

10:05 'Boots on the ground' approach

11:57 Thesis around the book, 'The War for China's Wallet: Profiting from the New World Order'

14:25 China's foray into Africa

18:00 The TenCent and Alibaba duopoly

24:00 What will be the impact of Chinese companies in South East Asia?

27:05 What were the mistakes made by the Americans? How to avoid replicating them when the Chinese come in to South East Asia?

33:41 Do you get your books translated? If you do, would you want them sold in China?

37:37 Now that China has caught up, where does it go from here? What's in store for the next 5 years?

40:18 What does 'one belt, one road' mean?

43:22 What is happening in the Greater Bay region?

48:00 The domesticity of the Chinese market

We spoke to Shaun Rein about his new book, 'The War for China's Wallet: Profiting from the New World Order'. A fascinating follow up to his other books…We covered many other topics as well, including the duopoly of TenCent and Alibaba, the massive internet market in China and why it is difficult for foreign firms to succeed and how China has become a hotbed of innovation across many verticals and sectors. Shaun has been in China for almost 20 years and has seen so much change and development that informs his ongoing analyses of China, business in China and the growth of some of the world’s largest internet companies. It also gives him a unique perspective on China’s changing place on the global stage and its impact on business and geo-politics.

In this week’s Asia Tech Podcast broadcast from Bangkok and Singapore, we discuss the growing importance of Asia in the global tech startup ecosystem. We look at the latest research data from the Google Temasek study which shows just how robust the South East Asian online economy is, reasons why Nutonomy chose Singapore as testing ground for its autonomous vehicles, and the importance of the Chinese Unicorns Alibaba and Tencent in growing the Asian ecosystem. But to kick off, a quote from Michio Kaku (co-founder of String Theory) this week, “Silicon Valley no longer has a monopoly on innovation”.