🍽️ From WeChat frustrations to restaurant revolution. Discover how one founder's personal pain point led to Bistrochat, now transforming how restaurants across Asia handle bookings through chat and AI

Jonathan Nguyen sits down with Hacene Taibi, co-founder of Bistrochat, exploring how a simple frustration with restaurant bookings via WeChat sparked a business that's revolutionising the F&B industry. Learn how Bistrochat consolidates reservations from multiple channels whilst building a powerful CRM that helps restaurants deliver personalised service. Hacene shares valuable insights about the true nature of entrepreneurial competition: 'It's not just a product to product competition. It's what are you ready to sacrifice for this to happen?' From coding in Phuket seven days a week for a year to strategically positioning against well-funded competitors, this conversation reveals the mindset required to build a successful startup in a competitive space.

🚀 Discover Bistrochat's expansion across Asia and why Hacene believes that in the AI age, a founder's greatest strength might be knowing what they don't know.

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► Follow Hacene

LinkedIn: https://hk.linkedin.com/in/hacenetaibi

Website: https://www.bistrochat.com/

🇭🇰 From London to Hong Kong: How Louisa Dearlove spotted a gap in Hong Kong's fashion market and turned it into Fengxiang, a clothing rental platform aimed to give women in Hong Kong access to affordable contemporary fashion and to drive sustainable fashion habits. Could shared wardrobes be the future of sustainable fashion?

In this episode, we chat with Louisa Dearlove about building Hong Kong's first peer-to-peer fashion rental platform. She shares honest insights about launching an MVP instead of chasing perfection, how she has had to adapt to the local market, and how being a generalist became her entrepreneurial superpower.

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► Follow Louisa

LinkedIn:   / louisadearlove

Website: https://www.fenxianghk.com/

Director of Accenture's FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific reveals the top tips to joining this exclusive accelerator that has helped raise $6.6 billion for alumni companies worldwide. Applications close 12 May!

Episode summary

Only 10 spots from 200+ applications. Zero cost, equity-free. Direct access to HSBC, JP Morgan, and UBS.

In this episode, Hui Jackson shares her journey from founder (e-commerce startup Souk) to running one of Asia's most prestigious fintech accelerators. She reveals the three critical traits that predict startup success: resilience, clear vision, and ability to pivot.

Learn exactly what it takes to get accepted, how the 12-week programme works, and why multiple alumni successfully pivoted from B2C to B2B after working directly with tier-1 financial institutions.

Key takeaways

• Success traits: Resilience, clear vision, and willingness to pivot
• Programme structure: 3 months, 3 stages, 3 types of mentors
• Selection tips: Clearly articulate value proposition, show POC with FS clients, demonstrate scaling plan
• Interview day: Expect 20-30 judges, come prepared, attend in person if possible
• Current trends: AI, web3, ESG, regulatory tech, and gaps in insurtech

Notable quotes

"If you're coming in with the willingness to learn, you can open up a lot of opportunities. If you're coming in with the aim to sell, then you will close off great sharing opportunities."

"The ability to pivot is very important. Some founders put blinkers on, trying to focus on improving their products, but not looking around what's happening."

"We literally got direct access to the world's top tier financial institutions meeting their senior partners, senior stakeholders."

Resources mentioned

• FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific: https://uns.sb/FILAP
• Application deadline: 12 May 2025
• Programme details: Free, equity-free, 12-week accelerator
• Global reach: Alumni from 39 countries, nearly 400 companies

About the guest

Hui Jackson is Director of the FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific at Accenture. A former founder herself, she brings unique perspective from both sides of the startup ecosystem. The Lab has been running for 12 years and is considered the anchor accelerator in Hong Kong.

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• Website: unsensible.com/podcast
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🔍 Ex-Goldman Sachs Banker Builds AI That Outperforms Nvidia, Google & OpenAI | Meet the 30-under-30 founder who raised $6.6M and secured 90+ global clients in under 2 years. His AI is transforming how hedge funds invest billions—could this change the future of finance forever?

In this revealing conversation, Jonathan Nguyen sits down with Hojun Choi, co-founder and CEO of LinqAlpha, to explore how AI is revolutionising the investment landscape for hedge funds and financial institutions. Discover how LinqAlpha's hyper-automation platform is enabling analysts to function at superhuman levels, processing vast amounts of unstructured data and extracting meaningful insights that would traditionally take countless hours of manual work. From raising impressive seed funding to landing major clients like Samsung Financial Network and KPMG, Hojun shares candid insights about building a truly global AI company.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel for more interviews, investor insights, and pitch deck tips.
Visit our website to learn more about our work with Asia's leading tech startups.

► Follow Hojun & LinqAlpha
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hojunchoi1214/
Website: https://linqalpha.com/

Ever felt locked out of investing in the companies shaping our future? Florian Spiegel, Evident's founder, aims to change that. His vision? To make "private markets" a thing of the past. How's that for ambitious?

In this chat, Florian discusses how Evident, operating from Hong Kong, is democratising access to alternative assets like private equity, using tokenisation and blockchain technology to break down traditional barriers. We explore the inefficiencies of the current system (think paper trails and disconnected platforms!) and how a supportive regulatory environment is enabling this new digital infrastructure.

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Visit our website to learn more about our work with Asia's leading tech startups.

► Follow Florian

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/florianspiegl/

Website: https://www.evident.capital/

I’ve always maintained that the biggest competitors to a startup are often the paper process they replace. And especially in big banks, the incumbent is typically the way they’ve always done things.

What I love about Jessica, Ankit and the whole Planto team is they’ve been grinding at this for 8 years now and they’re still pushing banks forward in one of the most important financial capitals in the world. And have remained curious the whole way.

Hold on to your hats, it’s a long one (well not compared to Friedman) but we touch on the work, how they got here and taking a gamble when you have the chance.

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Visit our website to learn more about our work with Asia's leading tech startups.

► Follow Jessica and Ankit 

LinkedIn:   / jessicayjliu and / ankitsuri1

Website: https://www.planto.hk/en/

What if you could prove your identity to anyone, anywhere, without sharing your personal details? Alex (David Alexander Scheer) from zkMe explains how zero-knowledge proofs could end the era of uploading ID documents to countless websites. But can a startup really take on tech giants like Google in the identity space?

In this episode, Alex shares his vision for revolutionising digital identity. From protecting medical records to transforming online advertising, zkMe's approach to data privacy could reshape how we think about personal information in the age of AI—all while letting people earn from their own data.

[01:42] Why identity is a massively undervalued industry (and how Big Tech profits from it)
[04:22] A clever approach to security: making data breaches pointless
[07:52] Real-world examples of how ZKme's platform actually works
[13:15] Why ZKme is building its own blockchain instead of using existing ones
[16:11] How they're solving the "impossible" problem of deleting data from blockchains
[21:55] The enormous opportunity in advertising (and why it needs massive scale)
[25:00] Alex's bold prediction about the end of paper documents

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Visit our website to learn more about our work with Asia's leading tech startups.

► Follow Alex

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidalexander-scheer/

Website: https://www.zk.me/

Could this simple invention reshape fashion?

In this episode, we sit down with Denise Ho, founder of KITDO(https://kitdo.co/), who transformed her 20 years of styling experience into an innovative solution that's changing how we interact with our clothes. From graduating RISD to working in New York's fashion scene, to becoming a sought-after stylist in Hong Kong, Denise shares her journey of creating a product that's both beautiful and functional.

CONNECT WITH DENISE: https://www.linkedin.com/in/denise-ho-846286169/
CHECK OUT KITDO: https://kitdo.co/

FOLLOW THE UNSENSIBLE PODCAST: https://unsensible.com/podcast

• (00:44) - Who is the stylist turned inventor behind KITDO?

In this episode of the Unsensible Podcast, Kimberley Lau and her team discuss the critical elements that can make a brand appear untrustworthy online. They explore the importance of visual presentation, the choice of words, and the necessity of testimonials and case studies in establishing credibility. The conversation emphasizes that even basic branding elements can significantly impact how a brand is perceived, especially in the B2B tech space. The team shares practical tips on how to avoid common pitfalls that can lead to a brand being perceived as a scam, ultimately guiding listeners on how to build trust and credibility with their audience.

Journey into the Future of Human Behavior Analytics with Hayk Hakobyan
If you enjoy deep dives into the intersection of technology, human behaviour, and business innovation, this conversation with InsightGenie's founder will captivate you.

In this fascinating episode, we sit down with Hayk Hakobyan, Founder and CEO of InsightGenie (formerly BizBaz), to explore the revolutionary world of behavioural analytics and predictive human assessment. From his unique background in nuclear physics to pioneering voice-based personality analysis, Hayk shares how his company is transforming the way organizations understand and predict human behaviour. Learn how advanced AI and behavioural science are reshaping everything from banking and insurance to HR and recruitment, with accuracy rates exceeding 90%.

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Visit our website to learn more about our work with Asia's leading tech startups.

• (00:24) - Insight Genie