Podcast highlights:
18:45 Cultural differences between South East Asian and Israeli startups; being outcome versus process driven, barriers in communication and having different approaches to problem solving
27:25 The inherent challenge of the South East Asian corporate innovation space compared to more developed countries; South East Asian corporates want to protect their margins by 'milking the cash cow'
33:34 Does the top down approach to start-ups and wealth creation in South East Asia build sustainable ecosystems, compared to SF or Israel?
Podcast notes:
00:05 Welcome Ramesh Raghavan to ATP Stories with Graham Brown
00:50 A little bit of background about Ramesh starting out as an agricultural commodity trader
05:17 How did Ramesh's engineering training fit in with his work in the commodity business
08:40 The move from commodity trading to the financial service industry
11:30 Going to Hong Kong in December 1997 and his career in Morgan Stanley
14:23 Getting involved in the venture capital start up stage in Asia in 2012
14:48 Ramesh's trip to Israel to understand the success of Israel and bring back lessons from Israel to Asia
16:20 Hosting the first Israeli conference in Singapore with 15 AI, big data technology, analytics, e-commerce space companies from Israel
18:45 Cultural differences between Asian and Israeli startups; being outcome versus process driven, barriers in communication and different approaches to problem solving
23:10 South East Asia as an agglomoration of different Chinas, a 'Greater Bay' of different countries instead of different regions. A wide variety in demographic profiles is the biggest advantage of South East Asia with big opportunities for frugal innovations.
27:25 The inherent challenge of the South East Asian corporate innovation space compared to more developed countries; South East Asian corporates want to protect their margins by 'milking the cash cow'
31:07 Wealth creation in South East Asia is changing from real estate to new technologies brought in by the younger generation, the real estate kids
33:34 Does the top down approach to start-ups and wealth creation in South East Asia build sustainable ecosystems, compared to SF or Israel?
37:10 Talented Singaporean graduates should leave to other more risk friendly South East Asian countries where there are bigger problems to be solved
40:26 Can entrepreneurship in Singapore be taught, when there isn't a 'hunger' to fix things?
43:45 Parallels between long term travel and entrepreneurship, from being an outsider in an unfamiliar environment to having faith that things will work out in the end
45:00 Three things in common between successful start up founders: an interest in reading fiction, an interest in multi player gaming and being an immigrant
47:45 The mindset shift when becoming an entrepreneur and having to do it all yourself
50:00 Find out more about Ramesh on LinkedIn