Asia Tech Podcast

By Michael Waitze Media

All Things Asia, All Things Tech... more

· Technology

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FAQs about Asia Tech Podcast:

How many episodes does Asia Tech Podcast have?

The podcast currently has 379 episodes available.

Asia Tech Podcast episodes:

March 15, 2022EP 186 - Hoyin Cheung - Founder and CEO at Remo - The First Jump Is So Scary
The Asia Tech Podcast had a super-cool conversation with Hoyin Cheung, the Founder, and CEO of Remo(dot)co. Remo is an interactive virtual event platform that empowers you to grow and engage your audience.
Some of the topics that Hoyin covered:
Being born in a small, university town in Illinois and moving (back) to Hong Kong when he was 9 years old

The benefits and drawbacks of joining a new school and making new friends

His Mom's family were business people, Dad's not so much

Encouraged by his Dad to study bioengineering; could always transition to business

Actually doing stem cell research, loving the science but itching to do business

How working at a bank helped him understand how businesses actually work

Taking the leap and starting his own business

The inevitable bifurcation of your circle of friends

How the car mount business led to an Instagram marketing business

Building a team remotely and attending remote-work events

Remote working was still a bit fringe and parts of the experience were not great

Wondering how to replicate that feeling of working together in an office in an online setting

Making a bet that remote working was going to be a long-term trend

The importance of having a well-thought-out mission

Using technology to create human experiences, not solving problems
Other titles we considered for this episode:
It Felt Like One Massive Suburb

You Can Start Off With Something

The Whole Part of Entrepreneurship Is Discovery

I Was Done With School

One of Them Always Leads to the Other

It's a Great Idea One Day, The Next Day It’s a Bad Idea

Create Authentic Conversations that Develop Meaningful Relationships

I Want to Host a Conference. Can I Host a Conference?

Humans Do What Humans Do Best

I Was Born In Illinois

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...more
49min
March 12, 2022EP 185 - Sina Meraji - CEO and Founder of Learning Loop - The World Isn't Moving Fast Enough
The Asia Tech Podcast was intrigued by our conversation with Sina Meraji, the CEO and Founder of Learning Loop. Learning Loop is a proprietary learning framework that helps people learn one valuable and relevant unknown together, every month. Its goal is to create the point at which technology and core human values intersect.
Some of the topics that Sina and I discussed:
Growing up in Iran and moving to Malaysia when he was 15 years old

Coming from an educator family

Being motivated to solve the wealth gap with education

Breaking the traditional boundaries of nationality and race

Moving to Singapore from Malaysia because he could not open a business bank account

The mismatch between knowledge consumed and the positive output it creates

The necessity for creating a feedback loop in education

Curiosity-based learning and what it takes to keep people interested

Why companies are not asking themselves why consumers should stay

How attention management is crucial to learning

Redesigning the learning experience based on intrinsic and extrinsic motivations
Other titles we considered for this episode:
Who Is Responsible for the World's Problems?

Traditional Education Being a Means to a Capitalist End

You Need to 10X It Just to Get to Point Zero

How Would You Solve Some of the World's Hardest Unsolved Problems?

Problem Solving Is Such a Skill

These Are the Results of Man-made Systems That Are Failing

If We Want to Solve the Outcomes, We Have to Change the Systems
...more
43min
March 08, 2022EP 184 - Jason Chen - CEO at JustKitchen - Farm to Table in a Very Digital Way
The Asia Tech Podcast spoke to Jason Chen, the CEO at JustKitchen. JustKitchen operates a network of delivery-only commercial kitchens using a unique 'hub and spoke' model and markets a portfolio of both proprietary and partnered food brands.
Some of the topics Jason and I covered:
Being born in Taiwan, growing up in Canada, and moving back to Taiwan as an adult

Originally trained as a lawyer in Vancouver then got into investment banking

Got involved in the Food and Beverage business in Taiwan in 2014

The logistics behind bringing US brands to Taiwan

The wide acceptance of different kinds of food in Taiwan

The importance of brick and mortar experience for running a ghost kitchen

The growth of food delivery in the past seven years

The evolution of ghost kitchens and operating multiple brands out of one location

Data analytics are key to running ghost kitchens

How technology truly helps create economies of scale

The importance of having a robust supply chain

Just how big the market for ghost kitchens could get

The global competitive landscape
Other titles we considered for this episode:
I've Always Been a Big Fan of Food

Taiwan Has Emerged As a Culinary Hub

It Really Does Turn Into a SaaS Model

It Enables Scalability

You’re Running a Hardware Store

We All Have Our Hands Full
...more
33min
March 06, 2022EP 183 - Anshu Agrawal - co-Founder at Flint - Every Blockchain Finds Its Own Believers
The Asia Tech Podcast was joined by Anshu Agrawal, a co-Founder at Flint. Flint says that "Crypto is the best thing to happen to money since money. Flint leverages the power of crypto to deliver incredibly high returns on your stable coins."
Some of the topics that Anshu and I covered:
The impact of being born in a small village in India

The inherent kindness that develops and persists from growing up in that village

Not losing the innocence from being raised in a small town

Web 3 and building communities around common interests and not physical borders

Consumers care about the value you are creating, not about the underlying technology

Decentralized finance as a way to change the world

Humans should ideally only be bound by their capabilities and their ambitions

Building scalable systems

Passive investment vehicles are the on-ramp to the financial system

Being a cross-chain platform

Three pillars of any blockchain - security, speed, and the level of decentralization

How communities will start forming around every blockchain
Other titles we considered for this episode:
It Is In the Best Interest of Everyone To Stay Healthy

Let’s Bring Scalability To It

They Are Bounty Hunters

You Need To Have Sophisticated Customers

Building Simple Products Is the Hardest

Investment Opportunities Built On Top of Crypto

The Third Layer Is the User Experience
...more
41min
March 01, 2022EP 182 - Dylan Ng - CEO of LionsBot - Let's Make Cleaning Robots
The Asia Tech Podcast spoke to Dylan Ng, the CEO of LionsBot International. LionsBot grew out of the realization that there was a need for better and more powerful cleaning robots.
Some of the topics that Dyland and I discussed:
Founding his first company, SuperSteam Asia Pacific with his wife, Michelle Seow

Snowballed into the largest cleaning equipment distributor in Singapore

As time passed, fewer people wanted to do cleaning work

Was initially against using robots to clean

How he and Michelle changed their minds about robots

Traveled all over the world looking for the best robots to import

Being underwhelmed with what he found - too big and too expensive

Getting a call from Professor Rajesh Elara Mohan from Singapore University of Technology and Design

Professor Mohan had already taken one of their cleaning machines and added robotics to it

Quickly decided to start a robotics company together and build cleaning robots

Started with 5 engineers and will likely have almost 300 by year-end 2022

The reaction to the robots from the human cleaners was surprising

Who is the competition
Other titles we considered for this episode:
What If This Could Be Automated?

You Have So Many Tomorrows

All Roads Led To the Same Destination, Robots

The First Reaction Is Exhaustion

Humans Are Best for Creative Tasks
...more
36min
February 22, 2022EP 181 - Ewan Davis - Partner at Quadria Capital - Southeast Asia Is Just Compelling as a Region
The Asia Tech Podcast was joined by Ewan Davis, a Partner at Quadria Capital. If you are in the Healthcare space in South and Southeast Asia, you should get to know the team at Quadria. Quadria Capital has more than $2BN of assets under management and focuses on partnering with promising healthcare companies to help them grow into regional leaders.
Some of the topics that Ewan covered:
Studying Engineering at Oxford as part of a larger plan

Joining the investment banking ranks for 10 years

Leaving his job without much of a plan

Joining Quadria Capital and investing in healthcare companies across Southeast Asia

The importance of mentors and mentoring

Investing in growth while also managing through the growth of Quadria

Having empathy for Quadria's portfolio companies

Healthcare Services, Pharmaceuticals and Life Sciences, Medical Devices and Technology, and Associated Healthcare Services

Being large investors in hospitals and having a front-row view on the impact of COVID

The acceleration of telemedicine

Solving the problem of healthcare accessibility across the region

Quadria's investment into Con Cung in Vietnam
Some other titles we considered for this episode:
I Wouldn’t Go Back

At Best I’ve Considered One of Those Three

The Grey-Haired Wizards

HealthCare Is a Vast Sector

The Easy Part Is Spending the Money
...more
38min
February 19, 2022EP 180 - William Li - CEO of Akulaku - They're Punished Because They're Poor
The Asia Tech Podcast hosted William Li, the CEO of Akulaku, which recently announced a $100MM investment from Thailand's Siam Commercial Bank. Akulaku is a digital finance platform that includes credit and e-commerce, wealth management, and digital banking (via Bank Neo Commerce).
Some of the topics that William covered:
The founding of Akulaku as an outgrowth of a remittance business in Hong Kong

Built the remittance business for the overseas workers of the Philippines, Indonesia, and Bangladesh

Training as a lawyer

Getting a Master's Degree at Washington and Lee

Getting exposure to many businesses as part of the investment team at Ping An

Entrepreneurship was not a natural path

The vision of Akulaku and how it evolved

The realization that affordable and accessible financial services can help a lot of people

Pivoting from a remittance business to a lending business when they had very little cash left

Acquiring a bank in Indonesia and completely restructuring it

Lebron James or Steph Curry as a model for business
Other titles we considered for this episode:
It's Really a Giant Leap

Go Deep Also Means Go Big

People Who Believe In Data and Machine Learning Finally Win
...more
33min
February 15, 2022EP 179 - Jakob Angele - CEO APAC at foodpanda - It’s Such a Complicated Optimization Problem
The Asia Tech Podcast really appreciated the conversation we had with Jakob Angele, the CEO APAC at foodpanda. Jakob has been with foodpanda since its earliest days and his insights reflect a deeply embedded knowledge of the company. You can tell in his voice that he really cares about this company and its mission.
Some of the topics Jakob discussed:
Studying physics at university

Working at McKinsey & Company and what it taught him about management

Decision Making, Stakeholder Management, Conceptual Frameworks, Perfectionism, and Clean Communication

The pros and cons of moving to a startup from a consulting company

Joining foodpanda during its earliest days (when no investor wanted to invest)

How the foodpanda business model is very technology-intensive

Business growth was slow at the beginning as consumers and restaurants did not see the value

Getting purchased by Delivery Hero in 2016

Managing through hyper-growth

Southeast Asia's regional diversity and market inconsistencies

Hyper-localization in Asia and hyper-decentralized management
Other titles we considered for this episode:
It's Like a Very Fragile System

The First Thing You Always Do Is Prioritize

You Have a Fire In the Opposite Corner of the Room

We Can Still Run Lightning Fast

The Willingness To Make Decisions Fast

How Can We Help Develop the Ecosystem?

Everybody Consumes Food 120 Times Per Month
...more
34min
February 11, 2022EP 178 - Denise Kee - CEO at Xtremax - The Reporter and the Salesperson Are Quite Similar
Denise Kee seems to look at life through a very positive lens. The conversation Asia Tech Podcast had with her was no different. We smiled a lot during our chat...and I got the sense that her positive attitude also spills over into the culture that has been built at Xtremax, where Denise is the CEO.
Some of the topics that Denise discussed:
Worked as a journalist for Reuters and Bloomberg

Earned a Master's Degree in Journalism from Northwestern University

Xtremax was founded by her now-husband, James Leong, in 2003

Innovative ways to solve tech-talent hiring in Singapore

Finally joining James at Xtremax as Creative Director

Initially focused on usability and user experience

Her sales philosophy

The team's first experience with AWS - a playground to build things in the cloud

Solving a large and complicated problem for the Government of Singapore

Throwing away their own servers and moving everything to the cloud
Other titles we considered for this episode:
We Like to Fact-check

Life Is Really About Experience

What Is the Core Problem They Are Trying to Solve?

I Know How to Ask Questions

Everyone's Going to the Cloud

Feeling the Vibrations Before Everyone Else

The Whole Cloud Is API-Driven

When It’s API-Driven, Magic Can Happen

Rainy Days Are My Favorite
...more
39min
February 08, 2022EP 177 - Wouter Delbaere - CEO at Mangtas - Our Vendors Are Our Product
Wouter Delbaere, a co-Founder and the CEO at Mangtas, was such a great guest. With a world of experience and a very unique background, it was a pleasure to have him as a guest on the Asia Tech Podcast. As a business services platform, Mangtas aims to make business outsourcing available for all.
Some of the topics that Wouter and I discussed:
Being born in Congo and growing up in 10 different countries

Witnessing genocide in Rwanda

How playing team sports can help one integrate into almost any geography

His most formative years were on Negros Island in the Philippines

Being fluent in Cebuano

Starting Mangtas in the middle of the pandemic

Making Mangtas an equal-opportunity platform and why this is important

The necessity of having reviews linked to specific project deliverables

Outsourcing via strategic partnerships for the long-term

Gathering data to help service providers and clients make better decisions
Some things I got wrong or could not remember during this episode:
Shenzen's population growth statistics

The league in which the New York Cosmos played
Some other titles we considered:
It's a Universal Language

There Are Several Layers To This

A Lot of Projects Fail Because the Clients Are Not Ready

We Set Ourselves Up as an Ecosystem

We Love Nothing More Than Third-Party Integration
...more
43min

FAQs about Asia Tech Podcast:

How many episodes does Asia Tech Podcast have?

The podcast currently has 379 episodes available.