The Borderless Podcast

Indonesia VC Perspectives: Jason Pard, Partner at Aksara Ventures


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Today’s guest is Jason Pard, partner at Aksara Ventures, an Indonesian Venture Capital firm. With a large and growing digital savvy population, Indonesia has produced notable startup unicorns like GoJek, Tokopedia, Bukalapa and Traveloka: https://bordersless.com/business/jason-pard-aksara-ventures/

About Aksara

Aksara Ventures is on a mission to discover startups with the potential to change the way we function in the future. They look to back the bold ideas and resolute operators at the edge of breaking out, backing startups at the post-product stage until the Series A stage.

About Jason

Jason Pard is a partner and cofounder at Aksara Ventures. He was previously an Analyst at Venture Capital firm Monk's Hill Ventures and had prior experience as Product Manager at Gojek and other startups. He graduated from University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.

See more here: https://www.aksara.vc/

Topics & Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Introduction 
  • 0:56 - Jason's intro, why he came back to Indonesia from the US and some thoughts on how hard it is to find jobs as an international student. 
  • 4:20 - How Jason got into VC, his career journey at Gojek, local Indonesian vs overseas graduates. 
  • 7:50 - Why Jason started his own Venture Capital firm (Aksara Ventures), what does Aksara mean, what is their point of differentiation? 
  • 15:20 - Why Indonesia as a place to invest? What are the opportunities and barriers? 
  • 19:20 - How does Jason find startups to invest in? The value of good karma, investing in the team vs numbers.
  • 24:40 - which countries in Southeast Asia is Jason interested in? Which startups & sectors is he excited about? 
  • 28:10 - Is Jason worried about the current market cycle? (low interest rates, increased competition). 
  • 31:10 - are young Indonesians getting into entrepreneurship? Issues around income inequality.
  • 34:48 - can SE Asian startups go global outside of their own region? Are many foreigners coming to Indonesia to work in tech? 
  • 39:20 - thoughts around NFTs, crypto & gaming. 
  • 43:45 - how to get into the Venture Capital industry? What traits make a good VC investor vs associate/analyst? How to contact Jason.
  • ...more
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