Low Level Barbarians (LLB)

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Lets Connect!

* https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexanderle/

* https://www.linkedin.com/in/jianggan/

* https://www.linkedin.com/in/cblakelarson/

This a cross collaboration with Momentum Works Recorded in Singapore!

In this episode, you’ll gain rare, cross-regional insights into venture scaling across Southeast Asia, China, and the US. Blake, Alex, and Jianggan—key players during the golden age of ridesharing—share their experiences from scaling Easy Taxi in Southeast Asia and beyond. Jianggan has since become a global expert on connecting China with the rest of the world, especially Southeast Asia. Alex, one of the earliest employees of Rocket Internet during their global expansion, offers first-hand knowledge from those high-growth days. It’s rare to find expertise that spans multiple regions with such depth, offering unique perspectives on navigating diverse markets and scaling ventures across continents. This episode is a must-listen for anyone looking to understand the complexities of global expansion and entrepreneurship.

00:00 The Lonely Journey Of A Founder

01:00 Self Reflection In Venture Scaling

03:10 Challenges of Scaling and Personal Alignment

07:54 Reflections Of Cour Career Progressions

12:26 Entreprenerial Journey vs Corporate

13:47 Strategy of No Strategy - Rocket Internet

22:17 Positives of Rocket Internet

25:51 Comparing Nascent China Tech Scene vs Rocket Global Expansion

30:03 Insights from Scaling Lalamove

31:13 More Insights From Chinese Perpsective on SEA ecosystem

34:19 Challenges of Chinese International Expansion

37:36 Adapting Business Models for Different Markets

38:22 Strategic Global Expansion

43:24 Using VC Dollars to Change Consumer Behavior

45:31 Strapping Dumpsters to Rockets

47:28 Reflections on Leadership and Management Across Asia & US

54:35 Defining Values For Your Company

57:32 Scaling in America - Cultural Differences In Industries

01:00:55 Chinese Modern Business Culture

01:02:22 Building Culture In A Venture

01:09:01 Final Thoughts and Future Plans

Need help with market expansion, product market fit, growth, or fundraising? Reach out!

https://forms.gle/PkKjvfqCUjq4MgGk6

Support the pod!

https://buymeacoffee.com/lowlevelbarbarians

Lets Connect!

* https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexanderle/

* https://www.linkedin.com/in/jianggan/

* https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidqchang/

In this episode, the hosts dive into a lively discussion covering a broad range of topics including the controversial comments made by Eric Schmidt on work-life balance and Google's competitive edge, the issue of leadership succession at major corporations, Kamala Harris's new price fixing policy, and the impact of work-from-home arrangements on Gen Z. Additionally, they explore the challenges and innovations in the Southeast Asian tech market, with a focus on companies like Shopee, Lazada, Grab, and Pinduoduo.

00:00 should you be working HARDER!? | E:44

00:48 Eric Schmidt On People Not Working Hard Enough

01:16 The Context Of Eric Schmidt Comments

07:11 Work Life Balance = Failure?

10:29 Issues of Handling Leadership Succession

16:35 Wworking Harder Is Not Controversial

18:32 Why Work From Home is Bad for Gen Z

22:20 Kamala Harris Price Fixing Policy

26:36 The Algos Exagerate Things That Are Not Really Controversial

27:53 Back to working harder or not

30:43 Big Profit Machines Are Social Goods? Chinese Tech Productivity vs US Tech

37:08 Which Southeast Asia Company Is the Most Innovative and Productive

39:02 The Conumdrum of International Expansion

45:33 Back to the most innovative company in SEA

46:17 Looking At International Exapansion

49:25 Work Harder If It Makes Sense For Your Context

55:38 Tangent on Pinduoduo Logistics

58:27 What Does Hard Work Mean?

Need help with market expansion, product market fit, growth, or fundraising? Reach out!

https://forms.gle/PkKjvfqCUjq4MgGk6

Support the pod!

https://buymeacoffee.com/lowlevelbarbarians

Lets Connect!

* https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexanderle/

* https://www.linkedin.com/in/jianggan/

* https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidqchang/

In this episode, we dive into why Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) strategies often fail at scale, with examples from major brands like Nike and insights on the importance of omni-channel approaches. We also discuss recent developments in Indonesia's consumer market and the challenges of balancing online and offline business models. Bonus discussion at the end on US election updates.

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 why D2C FAILS at scale & learnings from Indonesia | E:43

00:29 D2C Failures At Scale - Importance of Omni-Channel

08:14 Dave's D2C Experience with Althea

09:36 Wastage in E-commerce Marketing

18:00 Are You A Brand Play or Optimization Play?

21:32 Does E-commerce At Scale Lead you Back to Offline (F&B - CPG innovation?)

25:05 Jianggan's Biggest Take Away From His Indonesia Update

30:42 High Speed Rail in Indonesia

34:56 Dave's Updates From US (US Politics)

41:58 Jianggan On US Immigration Issues

50:37 Dave's Update On His US Industrial Real Estate Fund

The LLBs delve into a wide range of topics including carbon capture technology, tech investment trends in Southeast Asia, updates from the Tech In Asia Malaysia 2024 event, the innovative business model of Temu, and insights on the upcoming US elections. Our hosts Dave, Jianggan, and Alexander share their thoughts and engage in lively discussions about the latest developments and future prospects. Don't miss out on this informative and engaging episode!

00:00 Intro

00:30 Joon's Biochar Start-up

01:11 Challenges in Biofuel and Biochar Businesses

02:42 Pitching and Investment Insights

04:43 Tech In Asia - Malaysia - 2024 - VC Trends In SEA

08:53 F&B - Consumer Facing Brands (Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore)

12:57 Malaysia Only Mandated VC Funds

15:29 Indonesia Update (New Gov't, Cross Border Trade, Consumer Businesses)

20:17 Temu's Business Model and Market Impact

32:45 Global Manufacturing Shifts

33:46 China's Dominance in Clean Energy

35:25 Subsidies and Economic Policies

37:36 Operational Insights on Temu

41:12 US Political Landscape and Elections

57:05 Concluding Thoughts and Personal Anecdotes

57:23 Pre-Show Talk

Mak Choong Moon is an expert business coach who coaches over 40 CEOs a month as a Vistage chair here in Malaysia. His career spans IT services, manufacturing, insurance, gaming, and property development. His family has a long rich history of doing business in Malaysia since post World War II. In this episode we cover his main job these days in coaching, and later on talk about some of his career and how it unfolded and some of his family history. This episode is from the last EOA episode. Officially all EOA type videos will be put under LLB. There will be a few throwbacks and short videos from the old content library from time to time, with more planned episodes like this.

Timetamps:

0:00 Mastering Leadership: Key Coaching Insights from 40+ CEOs & Entrepreneurs Monthly | E:41

00:31 Why Do You Need A Coach?

01:38 What is Vistage?

02:19 What is a Vistage Chair?

03:52 How To Coach 40 People A Month

05:13 What Qualifies One To Coach?

06:25 Important Ratio of Listening vs Speaking

07:55 Systems and Frameworks For Coaching

11:00 Establish A Foundation and then...?

11:43 Coach and Coachee Compatibility

12:44 How to Tell If One Is Coachable Or Not - Manufacturing Trust Through Vulnerability

16:04 Coaching Before Vistage vs After Vistage

18:09 Developing A Coachable Mindset

21:06 Coaching Gen X vs Gen Y

22:20 Unexpected Lessons in Coaching

23:56 Tracking Coaching Performance

26:31 Worse Experience Coaching?

28:11 The Ultimate Ends Of Coaching?

32:02 Most Important Lessoned Learned From Coaching

32:46 Convincing Young People Without Money To Enjoy Life

33:43 The Most Common Problem Across All Clients? Ideas & Diversification

35:09 CEO major concerns for 2023

36:42 Mak's Critical Path in 2023

39:02 Wealth Preservation or Wealth Generation

39:41 Property Development in 2023

44:30 Investment Thesis for Property Development

50:05 Angel Investing In Property Development

53:29 Why is PropertyTech not Bigger in SEA

58:47 Mak's Early Career Property Development and Cowboy Private Equity

01:02:26 The Rise Of Makok

01:08:40 Masebe Group International

01:11:01 Leaving the Family Business Again - The Role of COOs

01:14:15 Lack of Talent and Professionalization of Family Business

01:19:30 The Isola @ KLLCC A Business Case

01:26:50 Malaysia In The Next 10 Years

01:29:55 Mak's Greatest Superpower?

01:31:49 Selling your Superpowers

This week's podcast was a bit of an unplanned episode. Alex and Jianggan catch up and discuss the many nuances and blurred lines of a countries economic power/growth and how soft power relates. Updates not included; Dave make's his annual migration to US for a longer period of time so we are missing him and Joon has joined the Antler program in search of a new idea.

Timestamps:

0:00 Exploring Asia's Economic & Cultural Power | E:40

01:53 Chinese Tech Stocks Recovering + Property Restrictions Lifted

05:29 Will Growth Come From Planning & Infrastructure Development?

08:22 Does Culture Liberalize With More Interational Connections And Trade

09:08 Gov't + Strong Entrepreneurship Needed (Tesla China Example)

11:47 Does Future China Policy Continue Like EV Policy

18:44 Do Algorithms Flaten Culture?

22:53 Shaxian Government Sponsored Food Expansion

24:01 Where Is Singaporean Culture Now

24:56 National Identities

27:49 Nation State Policy Based On Empire Asset Inheirtance

35:30 Baidu PR Head Gets Canceled Using Shorts

38:08 Personal Update For Alex

Jianggan's finished his immersion tripe to Shenzhen and is now back in Beijing again! Alex is just back from his US trip. In this episode we explore the value of Cross-border learning between China and Southeast Asia. Jianggan shares insights in the difference of business cultures between SEA and China. What do Chinese companies want to learn from Southeast Asian companies? What to Southeast Asian companies want to learn from China. What does the cross-border business landscape look like in 10-15 years. Tune in to find out!

Raw Transcript: https://share.descript.com/view/3pUj2Q8mHxK

00:00 Intro

01:27 Live - Immersion Trips to China

02:38 Chinese Business Culture

07:04 What are MCN's

07:45 What Is the Value For Doing Immersion Trips

10:37 How to Improve Cross Boarder Collaboration

12:00 Diversity of Business Cultures Within China And Outside China

15:45 Who is Competing With Who in Latin America

18:08 Building Cross Boarder Trust

19:45 What Does Cross-border Business Look Like in 10-15 years from now

27:33 Geo-politics of starting a new tech company today

31:27 Looking Ahead

Taylor Swift Eras tour finally winds down. Jianggan and Alex discuss the Swifty movement. Is it a cult or the greatest business empire ever? Is Taylor Swift the ultimate manifestation of capitalism or is her character genuinely representative for millions around the world? Stay tuned towards the end for business ecosystem updates from Jianggan's trip to Cambodia and Alex's vacation in Vietnam.

raw transcript: https://share.descript.com/view/BqmL4KNsODO

0:00 Taylor Swift Super Stonks Singapore's GDP | E:38

00:26 Taylor Swift Concert In Singapore

05:06 Emotional Connection To Artist

06:18 Swifty Movement, Business Cult, Or Empire?

19:22 Taylor Swifts Character or Business Acumen

20:20 Singapore Bribed Taylor Swift

21:43 1975 Debacle - East vs West Culture Clash?

23:08 Censorship for Peace? = Big Appeal for Business?

28:31 Cambodia and Vietnam Updates

37:45 Jim Rogers On Cambodia

40:45 Quick Vietnam Update

This episode is a cut from E:31 pre-show talk. Are you curious about licensing I.P. from a big name like Hasbro? Look no further Joon dives into of aspect of the family business that focuses on building an events business while licensing big names like My Little Pony, Transformers, Monopoly, and much more. Take a peek of what it is like building an events based I.P. business in Southeast Asia.

00:00 Hasbro Licensing Events Based Business

01:06 Learnings From Running I.P. Driven Events

01:36 How Do You Work With Hasbro?

02:57 Do I.P. Branded Hotels Sell or Add Value?

05:58 Working With Hasbro + Events + IP Business Model

08:00 Process Of Running Events

09:43 Offline vs Online Businesses

10:21 Technology In Events

11:50 Marketing Strategies For Events

12:05 Social media + Events Trend Changes

14:25 How To Iterate Events To Improve

14:53 Shorts Is The Way Forward

15:27 Which Hasbro IP To Choose?

17:56 Convenience Is King

In this episode, we catch up with Jianggan during his Chinese New Year celebrations in Jiangsu, China. Offering a personal and reflective update, he shares insights from his recent travels and conversations with friends involved in the Chinese business landscape. From observing the impact of e-commerce on local retail to discussing the anxieties surrounding the property market and the global expansion of Chinese businesses, Jianggan provides a nuanced look at the current economic and social climate. While this episode serves as a gentle introduction to the complexities of life and business in China, it hints at the broader challenges facing the Chinese economy. This light, anecdotal approach sets the stage for a future, more in-depth discussion on these critical issues. Join us for this soft update that explores the festive spirit and resilience in China, teasing the groundwork for a deeper dive into the economic hurdles ahead.

raw transcript: https://share.descript.com/view/HNp7QBmVQGM

00:00 Intro

00:31 Chinese New Year Quick Update - Jiangsu

02:39 Coldest Recorded Temperatures Around Shanghai

03:27 Decline of Physical Retail Rise of Services

04:59 Looming Concerns: Property Market, Macro Economy,

05:53 Global Expansion Of Chinese Businesses

08:58 Nature of Chinese Businesses Abroad

10:45 Mixed Business Sentiment or Life As Usual

12:34 Heavy F&B Ad's on China's Tiktok (Douyin)

14:07 Live Selling Around Jiangsu?

16:00 Momentum Works Live Streaming Immersion Event

18:52 Final Thoughts