SEA of Startups

This week we are joined by Julie Ng of Vase.ai, which is a consumer insights company breaking the long-cycle times of market research to deliver agile research in 24 hours.

This was a great conversation as went from the origins of the co-founders meeting at a hackathon through to a critical pivot which meant turning away from 70% of revenue at the time.  It is an insightful conversation about the journey in the early days and the thoughtful processes that have enabled them to scale successfully.

I’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Julie Ng. If you’d like to be considered as a guest or have someone that you’d like to hear me speak to, drop me a message.

Listen now on Apple, Spotify, Google, Overcast, Pocket Casts, and YouTube.

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Where to find Julie Ng and Vase.ai:

• LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/julieasia/

• Vase.ai:  https://vase.ai/

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Where to hear more from The Indelible VC:

• Newsletter: https://insights.indelible.vc

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/IndelibleVc

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kbrockland/

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In this episode, we cover:

[01:22] Originating in a hackathon seeking a solution, they experienced the problem for which they ultimately created a solution.

[6:25] Going out to market for initial validation and feedback

[9:50] Cracking open the enterprise segment

[13:03] Looking at the levers they can activate to build marketing around  

[16:44] Typical SaaS origins involving a pivot from agency model to a scalable tech product.  This means saying goodbye to 70% of revenue.

[21:56] The impact of Covid on the trend line when looking at their own data

[23:08] Fit within the existing consumer research market

[25:48] Defining success as an impact basis rather than on a revenue basis

[32:01] Being intentional in hiring when scaling an organization

[34:01] Closing questions

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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit seaofstartups.substack.com

This week we are joined by Joe Khoo of iStore iSend, which is a holistic end-to-end e-fulfilment company providing Warehousing-as-a-Service (WaaS) solutions, serving more than 1,000 businesses across 6 different countries, as of this recording.

This was a great conversation as we touched on some great milestones in the Founder journey, including a pivot which meant turning away 90% of revenue.  The Company has evolved and grown across the region with a constant focus on optimizing processes and driving efficiencies for themselves and their clients.  A truly impressive story of a Malaysian company going global.

I’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Joe Khoo. If you’d like to be considered as a guest or have someone that you’d like to hear me speak to, drop me a message.

Listen now on Apple, Spotify, Google, Overcast, Pocket Casts, and YouTube.

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Where to find Joe Khoo:

• LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-khoo-49a41293/

• iStore iSend:  https://www.istoreisend.com/

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Where to hear more from The Indelible VC:

• Newsletter: https://insights.indelible.vc

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/IndelibleVc

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kbrockland/

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In this episode, we cover:

[01:38] Origins of the entrepreneurial journey among childhood friends.  Recognizing the boom in e-commerce was coming to Southeast Asia which led to targeting logistics.

[3:40] Breaking the taboo of logistics among family who had an outdated view of the industry.

[5:03] Shifting the business from what it became towards what they originally intended.  They dropped 90% of their revenue to make this shift.

[10:42] Technology focus in building the business and to optimize the human labor component and the space component.  

[13:35] Expanding their business model to Warehousing as a Service, leading them towards an expansion to 29 warehouses across 6 countries.

[18:11] Two founders, without background in logistics, focused on optimizing the process by dissecting each part into components and modules.  This enabled them to design a process that optimized efficiency of labor and space.

[22:47] Overcoming the hurdles of commercializing internally developed software.

[30:54] Growth of an organization’s headcount, the “Founder’s Playground”, and from multiple hats to specialized

[38:14] Defining success for the organization

[41:52] What are the metrics that guide if they are on track

[44:47] Closing questions

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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit seaofstartups.substack.com

This week we are joined by Francesca Chia of GoGet, which is a technology platform connecting businesses to on demand workforce of verified workers, called GoGetters.

This was a great conversation as we navigated the origin story which involved a couple of pivots.  Through the conversation there are great pieces of advice on building a business, including the bottom-up/top-down way to prioritize goals and create OKRs.  We close with a great piece of advice on the importance of passion as the motivator for coping with the toughness of entrepreneurship.

I’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Francesca Chia. If you’d like to be considered as a guest or have someone that you’d like to hear me speak to, drop me a message.

Listen now on Apple, Spotify, Google, Overcast, Pocket Casts, and YouTube.

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Where to find Francesca Chia:

• LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/francescachia/

• GoGet:  https://goget.my/

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Where to hear more from The Indelible VC:

• Newsletter: https://insights.indelible.vc

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/IndelibleVc

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kbrockland/

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In this episode, we cover:

[01:22] Origin story from Food to Consumer-Centric on to a B2B model

[04:40] Analyzing power users’ behavior to drive the product roadmap

[09:00] Scaling the community of GoGetters in the early days

[12:07] Pioneering in the early days of “gig work” and building trust

[16:45] Expanding to other cities while balancing job urgency and localized networks

[19:43] Scaling the two sides of a marketplace model

[22:22] Process to translate business priorities to a focused roadmap

[24:54] Regular reviews to track OKRs

[27:30] Evolving how to hire and retain talent

[31:22] Closing questions

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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit seaofstartups.substack.com

As the initial launch of the SEA of Startups podcast, we are highlighting clips from the upcoming episodes that we are bringing to you.

In this episode you will hear from

- Effon Khoo from Kakitangan.com

- Yienyee Soh from Avana

- Francesca Chia from GoGet

- Joe Khoo from iStore iSend

- Julie Ng from Vase.ai

- Ramachandran Muniandy from Asia Mobiliti

- Whei Meng Wong from Speedhome

You will find these and more in the coming weeks of the show. Be sure to click subscribe.

Indelible Ventures: https://indelible.vc/

The Indelible VC (newsletter): https://theindeliblevc.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit seaofstartups.substack.com