• Notes from Utopia: the Tropicalist discusses the history of venture capital and finds a surprising link to Furuzonfar Zehni’s ancestors.
• Hosts Jesse and Madhavi discuss:
• the increasing ability to have a global career in finance without being a product of Western institutions
• the historic Sogdian civilization of Central Asia and how it provides a template for Central Asian development today
• Central Asia’s immense strategic importance

Links:

• Eurocentrism and the Origins of Capitalism
• The Sogdians: Influencers on the Silk Road
• The Formation of Modern Turkic “Ethnic” Groups in Central and Inner Asia
• Steppe Nomads in the Eurasian Trade
• The Intricacies of Pre-Modern Asian Connections
• The Jews of Central Asia
• Siena on the Silk Roads: Ambrogio Lorenzetti and the Mongol Global Century, 1250-1350
• The Republic of Genoa and Its Maritime Empire
• The World’s First Modern, Public Bank
• Money Changes Everything: How Finance Made Civilization Possible
• Christopher Columbus and the Bank of St. George
• The Anarchy

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Furuzonfar Zehni is an entrepreneur and investor, creating and connecting local ecosystems to global ones, where the influx of diversity, new knowledge and ultimately, value can be magnified. At Fresco Capital, a global venture capital firm, Furuzonfar is involved in all aspects of investment and operations. With a portfolio of 60 promising technologies spanning holistic wellness, empowered workforce and sustainable loops, Fresco’s core mission is investing in the intersection of people and technology. 

Prior to Fresco Capital, Furuzonfar built and scaled businesses in data analytics, wealth management and investment advisory. He started his career with Ernst & Young.

Furuzonfar graduated from the University of Hong Kong with a BA in economics and finance (with honours). He is a TEDx license holder, a mentor for the Laudato Si Challenge, a mentor for the Founder Institute, and is an active member of the Hong Kong University and St. John’s College Alumni Club. He is a fellow of the Shahidi Foundation and is passionate about initiatives that develop cultural diversity and economic empowerment. Recorded on January 12, 2021.

Show Notes

• 4:11 FZ on global seed investing
• 5:50 FZ on how his unique upbringing prepared him for this relatively young field
• 8:01 FZ on the cultural differences between the Middle East and Northern Europe
• 12:44 FZ on what prompted him to shift his focus to Asia and Hong Kong and first impressions
• 15:12 FZ on the Fresco approach to investing—what are the lenses they use
• 18:30 FZ on the nexus between culture and venture capital, with specific examples
• 21: 46 FZ on the cultural differences among their portfolio companies in various markets
• 28:00 FZ on the history of venture capital and whether there are equivalent forms of financing elsewhere
• 32:46 FZ on whether there is a regional identity in Central Asia
• 34:23 FZ on the ethnic diversity of Central Asia
• 37:30 FZ on the historical economic importance and unique socio-political organization of Central Asia
• 40:40 FZ on the golden age of Central Asia
• 48:13 FZ on how Central Asia can avoid the pitfalls of over reliance on natural resources
• 50:26 FZ on the modern day economies of Central Asia: strengths and weaknesses
• 54:07 FZ Central Asia’s relationship with its neighbouring superpowers.

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• Notes from Utopia:
• The Tropicalist recounts the history of the first Crazy Rich Asian
• Jesse and Madhavi discuss:
• Singapore’s complicated relationship with Chinese culture
• how Singapore’s technocrats parlayed its cosmopolitan origins into a modern multicultural state
• Singapore- versus Hong Kong-style capitalism

Links:

• The Singapore Way of Multiculturalism: Western Concepts/ Asian Cultures
• Educating Multicultural Citizens from a Confucian Heritage
• Singapore Plans to Revive Study of Confucianism
• The Elusive Goal of Nation Building: Asian/ Confucian Values and Citizenship Education in Singapore during the 1980s
• The Crisis of “Deculturalization” and the Invention of Asian Values
• Singapore: The World’s Richest City
• A Tale of Two Cities: A Comparison of Hong Kong and Singapore’s Early Strategies for the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
• Innovation and Government Intervention: A Comparison of Singapore and Hong Kong
• Singapore Roars: Could Asia’s “Lion City” Be an Alternative Hong Kong?
• Singapore and Hong Kong: Comparative Perspectives on the 20th Anniversary of Hong Kong’s Handover to China
• Oei Hui Lan at the National Portrait Gallery
• The Counter-Imperialist: Reflections on Bogdanovich’s Saint Jack (1979) by a Singaporean

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KEVIN KWAN is the author of Crazy Rich Asians, the international bestselling novel that has been translated into more than 40 languages. For several weeks in 2018, the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy commanded the top three positions of the New York Times bestseller list, an almost unprecedented single-author trifecta, and the film adaptation became Hollywood's highest grossing romantic comedy in over a decade. Kevin’s latest novel, Sex & Vanity, was published in June 2020 and became an instant New York Times bestseller. In 2018, Kevin was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. Recorded November 20, 2020.

Show Notes

• 4:03 KK talks about his path to success and how he would advise young Asians wanting to pursue a creative career
• 10:11 KK talks about his childhood and how to parent for creativity
• 13:53 KK on the cultural difference between Asians from Asia and Asian Americans
• 17: 21 KK on how the current wave of wealthy émigrés from China are influencing the Asian American zeitgeist
• 20: 30 KK on the phenomenon of “international Asians”
• 22:56 KK on the spirit of enterprise in the new Asia and what powers the drive to achieve characteristic of so many overseas Asian communities
• 26:51 KK on connoisseurship in Asia
• 30:57 KK on how Asia will define the new modern
• 36:23 KK on world cities across the globe, what drives their rise and fall, and life in LA vs. NY vs. Singapore vs. HK
• 42:21 KK on the process behind his new novel, Sex and Vanity
• 46:03 KK on his upcoming television and film projects and the process of taking his stories from print to film
• 48:03 KK on how he feels about the Crazy Rich Asians movie
• 52:45 KK on what inspires him
• 54:46 KK on how Asia fared so much better than the West in its response to COVID
• 57:47 KK on what he’s looking forward to doing post-COVID

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Notes From Utopia:

• The Tropicalist recounts the history of previous pivotal developments in information and communications technology and how civilizations that failed to grasp the importance of such developments eventually lost out

Jesse and Madhavi discuss:

• 5G: hype vs reality
• the rollout of 5G in economically developed parts of Asia versus less developed parts of Asia
• the possibility of 5G being “galapagosized”
• the wisdom in the Chinese approach to tech regulation

Links:

• Interview with Morris Chang of TSMC (podcast)
• Silicon Valley Rooted in Backing from US Military
• Cold War Armory: Military Contracting in Silicon Valley
• Japan Considers TSMC Tie-Up to Boost Chip Industry, Yomiuri Says
• China Set to Pass Its Own Law Protecting Vital Tech From U.S.
• UK Includes Huawei Ban in Telecoms Security Bill
• Chinese Hackers Have Pillaged Taiwan’s Semiconductor Industry
• Chinese Scientists Claim Breakthrough in Quantum Computing
• Semiconductor Industry Is the New Battleground in Great Power Conflict
• Galapagos Effect: How Can Japan Capture Global Value from Japan’s Technologies and New Business Models?
• Text of Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou’s Speech at the 2014 Huawei ICT Finance Forum
• Kondratieff Wave Theory
• Paper Before Print: The History and Impact of Paper in the Islamic World
• Sanctioned: The Arrest of a Telecom Giant (podcast)
• Xi Warns Against Tech Excess in Sign Crackdown Will Widen

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MICHAEL BRUCK is a founding partner of Sparq Capital, a unique firm that collaborates with family offices, funds and high-net-worth individuals to provide venture and growth-stage funding to technology-based companies worldwide.  

Bruck’s career spans nearly four decades in senior positions in technology companies, banks and investment funds, while based in Silicon Valley, New York, Beijing, Shanghai, and now Hong Kong. He started his career as a software engineer working on chip design for Intel before moving to marketing, business development and finance.  During his career at Intel, Bruck established the “Wintel” alliance between Intel and Microsoft while he was heading up Intel’s strategy in his role as Chief of Staff to the legendary CEO, Andy Grove. Bruck opened the China market as General Manager of Intel China. 

His expertise spans advanced semiconductors, video games, enterprise software and tech finance.  He is passionate about technology’s role in society and is committed to assisting the next generation of entrepreneurs and innovators. Recorded November 7, 2020.

Show Notes:

• 04:00 In layman terms, MB charts the evolution of the semiconductor industry from punch cards to vacuum tubes to transistors to silicon-based integrated circuits
• 06:08 MB on the the role played by the US government and military in the development of the commercial electronic computing industry
• 20:26 MB on how Japan drove the invention of the microprocessor and eventually got better at designing memories than the Americans and how Intel responded by turning to CPUs and the nascent personal computing industry
• 26:07 MB on the mercantilist approach taken by Japan’s METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) in fostering Japanese dominance in the memory business
• 28:39 MB on how domestic developments in the US drove the internationalization of semiconductor manufacturing
• 31:51 MB on how international students from Asia, such as Morris Chang of TSMC, eventually helped grow key technology industries in their home countries.
• 34:00 MB on how the horizontalisation of the PC industry contributed to the globalization of its component parts
• 40:12 MB on the transition to the mobile era
• 47:30 MB on who sets the industry standards and how this impacts the geography of innovation
• 54:03 MB on the China tech landscape and one internet for China and one for the rest of the world
• 59:30 MB on why the current 5G moment is so pivotal

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Notes from Utopia:

• The Tropicalist looks at examples from history to determine whether its possible to import foreign cultural values without localizing and thus transforming them

Jesse and Madhavi discuss:

• the historical context to China’s approach to its relationship with the US
• the applicability of Cold War paradigms to a fundamentally different era and great power conflict
• whether a clash of civilizations is inevitable between the US and China?
• the difference between the rhetoric on both sides and the reality

Links:

• Confucius and the Moral Basis for Bureaucracy
• One-page summary of key events in China’s relationship with the West  
• The Chinese Experience of Rapid Modernization: Sociocultural Changes, Psychological Consequences?
• Contrasting Visions: US, China and World Order
• Cultural Bias in the Perception of Foreign-Policy Events
• Understanding China’s new “wolf warrior” diplomacy
• EU-China Investment Deal: Has China Revived Its European Diplomacy?
• U.S. Doesn’t Need Europe’s Help in China Trade War
• Why Europe’s China Deal Will Poison Transatlantic Relations
• Arrest of 53 Activists: Hong Kong’s Tightening Grip
• Lessons on diplomacy from the British empire

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Mr. Ronnie C. Chan is the chairman of the Hang Lung Group Limited and its subsidiary Hang Lung Properties Limited, and a co-founder of Morningside, an international investment group established in 1986, which is also strongly committed to social responsibility. Mr. Chan has been recognized for his immense contributions to Hong Kong society, as well as for furthering good relations between China and the United States. He is a frequent speaker at international conferences and has published numerous articles in the Financial Times,  International Herald Tribune, Newsweek, Fortune, Asian Wall Street Journal, Far Eastern Economic Review, and Japan Times.  Mr. Chan holds an MBA from the University of Southern California and was conferred honorary doctorate degrees by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Tel Aviv University. Mr. Chan is 70 years of age and resides in Hong Kong with his wife. Recorded August 6, 2020.

Show Notes:

• 2:25 RC on how cultural differences between the two civilizations have determined the course of the US-China relationship
• 11:32 RC on how the Chinese view the tradeoffs inherent in modernization and whether they see westernization as a prerequisite to becoming modern
• 16:11 RC on how very few policymakers in the West are actually familiar with China’s history nor have ever visited China, yet do not hesitate to make pronouncements on the relationship
• 19:26 RC on how American exceptionalism colours America’s approach to the US-China relationship and whether he thinks that is advisable
• 23:29 RC on how the changing tenor of the US-China relationship has impacted the EU’s relationship with China
• 29:00 RC on how European powers must navigate their transition from dominant players to client states
• 34:40 RC on the moral philosophy of the Chinese bureaucracy, which is based on extremely long-standing Confucian traditions
• 38:08 RC on the crisis in Hong Kong
• 47:31 RC on the future of the US-China relationship, whether it can be salvaged and whether China is really gunning for number one.
• 53:44 RC on what Americans could learn from the British on diplomacy.

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