Shao Ning: Southeast Asia’s Startup Winter, Founder Discipline & How Angels Are Shaping the Next Wave – E640
episode
BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech: Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand & Malaysia Startups, Founders & Venture Capital VC (English)
38 min
1 speaker
8 chapters
transcribed 17 days ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is your business. If you're told to spend money that you instinctively, intuitively know it's too early or not the right time, you should have spoken up. Maybe not directly. You still need to know how to couch the response, but you definitely shouldn't you don't want to get into the bad books. But the thing is you should know when is the right time to do this. Because the thing is, you are in the trench. You are the one dealing with your team, you're the one dealing with your customers. The must The investors are not. So they will say what they need to say because their experiences are different too, right? So I think that's the that's a challenge.
Welcome to Brave. Learn from Southeast Asia's best tech leaders. Build the future, learn from our past, and stay human in between. No BS and Success. I'm Jeremy O, Venture Capitalist, Sarah founder, Harvard MBA, science fiction nerd, and dad of two daughters. Every week, we debate startup news, interview change makers, answer listener questions, and share personal insights. Join our movement of over 40,000 members and get transcripts, resources, and community at www.bravessea.com. Stay well and stay brave. Hey Shauning, so excited to have you back on the show. Good Jeremy. It's good to see you again. It's like you were last on episode 267, which was April 2023. Two and a half years ago. Oh my gosh, two and a half years and almost 300 episodes between now and then.
So you were back then, I think, in online audio only interview, and now we're in person. Yes. Crazy, right? Yes. Good to have you. I'm so excited. Because I think you're such a resource, role model, and inspiration for so many founders and angels in the C. Very tight. Seriously. Hey, I look up to you. So if I look up to you, a lot of people will look up to you. No,
I think we first met when and we were still a founder. So you transitioned a lot from founder to V C. Yes. Now you're back in a in a start up scene again.
Yes, it was a very unknown a lot of people don't know that, but yes, at the time I just sold my company, I was a GM there for a year. I came back to Singapore in the pandemic and I was exploring having and starting a startup. So I was pitching to you the higher level idea. At the same time my wife was pregnant with a skill. And then I had agreed with her that I would also explore other roles and talk to recruiters.
What did Southeast Asia’s startup boom look like before the market turned to winter?
And one of them was Mong Sil, as well as some other The high growth startups, series B, series C at a time they're different roles.
Yeah.
So I remember pitching you, we were interested and then I pulled out because I decided that I will become a VC at Monksil for the next three plus years.
I think that's what people sometimes are are blindsided by. Being a founder, you are actually pretty much a person who was making a commitment and sometimes the commitment might become too much at the same time You gotta remember that you are not the sole person. You have your spouse, you have your partners, you have your family, you have obligations. And sometimes things just happen and I'm just learning this concept called polarity. Companies care for performance, but the thing is can you drive it so hard that you forget about the well being of your staff? You can't go the extreme. So it's the same thing for lives. Right, we progress, there's seasonalities in life too. The time that you got to focus on yourself, but times that you gotta remember what you committed in.
And that the thing is, entrepreneurship is such a term, right? It's actually a career choice. But I like to say that it's not just a career choice, it's actually a life choice. It's different from committing yourself to become an accountant. You get a CPA and you become an accountant. But the thing is if the Working environment is something that you do not enjoy, you change your environment, you're still an accountant. But the thing is you could quit your job. But when you become a founder, I think you when you decide to quit, the domino effect is not that simple. It's not just simply changing the name card or changing the office address.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–2:24
2
What did Southeast Asia’s startup boom look like before the market turned to winter?
2:24–4:39
3
How have fundraising timelines changed from 6‑9 months to 18 months?
4:39–7:24
4
Why are founders being urged to focus on traction and cash‑flow over rapid valuation growth?
7:24–9:40
5
How should founders balance investor advice with their own operational instincts?
9:40–15:20
6
What investment discipline has AngelCentral adopted in the current funding climate?
15:20–20:48
7
How are angels and VCs adapting their support programs for post‑seed founders?
20:48–29:13
8
What advice does Shao Ning give her four sons about thriving in an AI‑driven future?
29:13–38:29
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech: Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand & Malaysia Startups, Founders & Venture Capital VC (English)
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