Asia Tech Podcast

By Michael Waitze Media

All Things Asia, All Things Tech... more

· Technology

Download on the App Store

Download on the App Store

Get it on Google Play

FAQs about Asia Tech Podcast:

How many episodes does Asia Tech Podcast have?

The podcast currently has 405 episodes available.

Asia Tech Podcast episodes:

September 17, 2021EP 142 - Greg Krasnov - Founder and Chief Bulldozer - Tonik Bank - What I Need Is a Bank That Will Help Me Save
Asia Tech Podcast was joined by Greg Krasnov. Greg is the Founder & CEO of Tonik, the first neobank in the Philippines. Tonik is backed by major international Venture Capital investors, including Sequoia Capital and Point72.
Prior to Tonik, Greg co-founded many other successful Asian FinTech companies (FORUM, Credolab, and Solarhome) and a consumer bank in Emerging Europe (Platinum Bank). An entrepreneur at heart, Greg launched his first business at the age of 18, earning his way through college through coding and PC repair.
Some of the topics Greg discussed:
Greg was born in Ukraine and moved to the United States when he was 16 years old

Most of his early career was in finance and private equity

FORUM was set up as an investment vehicle for Southeast Asia after watching what occurred in emerging Europe

Reviewed GDP per capita comparisons of the penetration of unsecured consumer finance in Southeast Asia

What he found was that in emerging markets at about USD 3K to 5K GDP per capita, you start to get exponential growth in the penetration of consumer finance

Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines are all at that cusp of the GDP per capital inflection point

Why the team decided to launch in the Philippines

Putting your cash in a stash

One of Tonik's corporate values is having a sense of humor

Data and predictive analytics

Financial literacy and why it matters
Other episode titles we considered:
We’re the Opposite of That

A Fundamental Reshaping of the Value Chain
...more
32min
September 14, 2021EP 141 - Bianca Ho - co-Founder and COO of ClareAI - Small Businesses Need Different Things
Asia Tech Podcast thoroughly enjoyed speaking with Bianca Ho, a co-founder, and COO of ClareAI and WATI. Bianca is an ex J.P. Morgan Banker turned tech entrepreneur. ClareAI helps companies to have personalized conversations at scale by building customer engagement software based on WhatsApp Business API.
Some of the topics covered in this great conversation:
Business processes matter

Where can AI technology serve enterprises better

The impact of the NOW economy on the B2B landscape

Expectations for small businesses are very different than large enterprises

Walked through an example of how WATI can be used for a small business

The emergence of a no-code, low-code movement

The necessity to communicate and be close to your customers

Sequoia Surge

The importance of taking time out to think
...more
35min
September 09, 2021EP 140 - Shiyan Koh - Managing Partner at Hustle Fund - We Should Stick To the Process
The Asia Tech Podcast welcomed Shiyan Koh, a Managing Partner at Hustle Fund. Watch the video...it will all make sense. So many great nuggets came out of this conversation. One of my favorites was, "Great execution meeting high velocity."
Some of the other great topics we covered:
Built a financial services marketplace while living in San Francisco called Nerd Wallet

Prior to founding Nerd Wallet, did a tour of the financial services industry including a year working at Bridgewater Associates in Connecticut

Getting the right dev team in place and learning how to communicate the customer insight and customer problems effectively

Leaving the United States after living there for almost 20 years

Joining the Hustle Fund after being an LP in the first fund

Traveling around Southeast Asia talking to founders and realizing there was definitely a need for investors that had operating experience

The thing you are trying to optimize for in the early stage is learning and the faster you learn the better

The Angel Squad and the importance of angel investing

One of the goals is to get more women and minorities on cap tables
Other titles we considered for this episode:
I Was the Trains-On-Time Person

The World Is Incredibly Connected In Ways That You Could Never Expect

We Were Figuring Things Out as We Went Along

Survival Is a Prerequisite for Success
...more
42min
September 06, 2021EP 139 - Ee Ling Lim - 500 Startups - Uplifting People and Economies Through Entrepreneurship
The Asia Tech Podcast hosted Ee Ling Lim, Head of APAC Business Development at 500 Startups. I first met Ee Ling when we recorded her first ATP episode about Smarter Me. As the startup ecosystem in Southeast Asia continues to mature, we wanted to bring her back on the show to talk about the importance of entrepreneurship and ecosystem building.
Some of the topics covered include:
The sheer amount of change that has occurred since her last appearance on ATP

The continuing inspiration Ee Ling gets from young (even teenage!) founders

The synergies between 500 Startups and Smarter Me

Customer centricity is not just a buzzword

Creating value and delivering impact

Empathy for Founders and startup stakeholders

Maintaining an emphasis on team culture

How 500 Startups works with governments that want to build and nurture startup ecosystems

Corporate innovation and facilitating internal startups

What will the next five years look like?

Digitalization, Virtualization, Health and Wealth Security, Education, and Sustainability
...more
40min
September 02, 2021EP 138 - Bryan Falchuk - Insurance Evolution Partners - From Disruption to Evolution
The Asia Tech Podcast switched gears a bit and welcomed Bryan Falchuk to the show. Bryan is the Founder and Managing Partner of Insurance Evolution Partners. Bryan is an extremely talented and experienced advisor to the Insurance industry and a former C-level Property and Casualty Insurance and InsurTech executive.
Bryan is the best-selling author of "The Future of Insurance: From Disruption to Evolution: Volume I. The Incumbents" and "The Future of Insurance: From Disruption to Evolution: Volume II. The Startups"
Some of the topics covered in our discussion included:
Moving from the carrier side to the InsurTech side

The subtle differences between mutuals and reciprocals

Selling technology to incumbent insurers

Capacity needs to be treated strategically

Communication between re-insurers, insurers, and InsurTechs is paramount

Capacity, Underwriting, Reinsurance and what these terms mean

Some of the incredible stories in his most recent book

Purpose - The idea that you can not imagine NOT doing it

Do incumbents worry about Amazon

The future is about partnerships and collaboration

Parametric insurance
Some of the other candidates for this episode's title:
I Like Fixing Things

Taking the Risk Out of the Equation

The Grass Is Not Green Anywhere Unless You Garden
...more
59min
August 31, 2021Asia Tech Podcast - EP 137 - Florian Reichert - Partner at Picus Capital - Entrepreneurial Pragmatism
The Asia Tech Podcast welcomed Florian Reichert, a Partner at Picus Capital. Picus invests in early-stage technology ventures and follows a very long-term investment approach investing significant amounts throughout the lifecycle of a company.
Some of the topics that were covered included:
Florian has been brainstorming FinTech ideas for as long as he can remember

Picus is the perfect combination of investing and entrepreneurship

Why Picus focuses on early-stage investing

Leveraging the network and having a great sparring partner

Viewing sustainability as having a positive impact on society

A growing focus on India and Southeast Asia

How Asia is not one monolithic market

Government support is good but ecosystems can evolve without it

Already making some investments in Africa
...more
36min
August 28, 2021Asia Tech Podcast - EP 136 - Weerada Sucharitkul - FilmDoo CEO - It's Like Cooking Ethnic Food Without the Spices
The Asia Tech Podcast welcomed Weerada Sucharitkul, the CEO of FilmDoo to the show for a truly inspiring conversation. The mission of FilmDoo has always been to connect to the world through film. While the method for making these connections continues to expand and evolve, the mission remains the same.
Some of the topics that Weerada and I covered included:
Being the daughter of a Diplomat and the impact of being a third-culture kid on cultural understanding

Her role models for entrepreneurship included her Mom and Christoph Schmidt

The influence media has on real life and vice versa

The role of media and film in inspiring change

How FilmDoo helps people discover international films

The different pressures on male and female founders

Getting accepted in 500 Startups Global Launch Singapore program

80% of FilmDoo's traffic was coming from language-related searches

Leveraging the power of film to help with language learning and diversity and inclusion training

FilmDoo Academy and the future of learning

FilmDoo's fundraising status

Southeast Asian School Competition at FilmDoo Academy
...more
50min
August 24, 2021Asia Tech Podcast - EP 135 - Christian Mischler - co-Founder of Deskimo - It Does Not Make Sense to Trade Time for Money
The Asia Tech Podcast finally had the chance to catch up with Christian Mischler, a co-Founder of Deskimo. Christian is really so much more than that...
Christian grew up in a family of educators, with no substantive business experience, yet he was always interested in business. He started his first business in high school, building websites for Swiss-based SMEs. While at university, Christian started his second company - making flashcards and writing summaries to help students get into university and rolled this out across Switzerland.
Some of the other topics Christian and I discussed:
The Swiss Army and joining Credit Suisse after graduation

Worked at CS for two years and enjoyed the work, but made more money from his ventures

Came to Asia with Rocket Internet to help build FoodPanda, his bosses at CS thought he was a bit crazy

The great story behind the founding of HotelQuickly

The birth of the Swiss Founders Fund

Not living paycheck to paycheck, but not living a luxurious lifestyle

How entrepreneurs see the world through the lens of opportunity, not problems

The excitement of building things and working with a cool team on something new

How the pandemic has changed the way people collaborate and work

The evolution of Central Business Districts and the repurposing of office buildings

Deskimo - an asset-light extension of a corporate office
...more
1h 1min
August 17, 2021Asia Tech Podcast - EP 134 - Kiran Mysore - Principal at UTEC - Entrepreneurs Can Come From Everywhere and Anywhere
The Asia Tech Podcast had a killer conversation with Kiran Mysore, a Principal at The University of Tokyo Edge Capital (UTEC). UTEC is a seed/early-stage technology-focused venture capital firm associated with Japan's University of Tokyo.
Some of the many topics that Kiran and I covered:
Kiran comes from a 'small' city in India that helped shaped many of his views

He studied engineering at university and noted that a lot of people do that in India and then graduate and figure out what they really want to do

He started studying entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial models when he was 21 including Indian pioneers like Tata, Americans like Carnegie and Rockefeller (ruthless capitalism), and Shibusawa Eiichi from Japan

His inspiration from Indian Mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan

An explanation of stakeholder capitalism

What is University of Tokyo Edge Capital

Deep tech is anything that is Intellectual Property led and difficult to replicate

Building long-term relationships in Japan matters

Operational excellences matters

It is never too early to talk to your customers

Portfolio companies Bugworks and OPALai

The concept of adjacent possible
...more
46min
August 11, 2021Asia Tech Podcast - EP 133 - Helle Priess - Founder and CEO DoersCircle - Daring To Do
The Asia Tech Podcast was honored to have Helle Priess as a guest. Helle is currently the Founder and CEO of DoersCircle.com. Originally from Denmark, Helle has spent more than half of her life in Asia (I know how that feels!).
Helle launched DoersCircle in March of 2019. With more than 23 years of experience establishing and scaling businesses internationally, Helle is well-positioned to empower the global community of independent workers. She is motivated by reshaping the world to support this huge and ever-growing group of independent people - the future of work.
Some of the topics that Helle and I discussed:
Moving to Beijing to study at university as an 18-year-old

Most of her peers were more likely to go to the United States or London

Always moving out of her comfort zone

The biggest challenge in her career was her age...was always quite young for her position

Always acted like an entrepreneur, even inside a larger organization

Making the leap to self-employment

The idea that being an entrepreneur is not stability driven

The poor treatment of independent workers and the genesis of DoersCircle

Close to 50% of the global workforce are independent doers

It should be just as easy for an independent doer to get a credit card, obtain insurance, and purchase other products and services as it is for a corporate employee
...more
40min

FAQs about Asia Tech Podcast:

How many episodes does Asia Tech Podcast have?

The podcast currently has 405 episodes available.