Insignia Ventures and the Southeast Asia Entrepreneurial Ecosystem with Tan Yinglan
Fresh out of the studio, Tan Yinglan, founding managing partner from Insignia Ventures Partners joined us in a conversation to share the backstory, vision and mission of his venture firm and offered his insights on the Southeast Asia entrepreneurial ecosystem. He started with the inspiration behind the venture firm and discuss how he indexes founders and startup teams to fund. Last but not least, he discuss where venture capital is heading towards in Southeast Asia.
"... One of our mantra is we don't build good companies. We build great companies. I think the beauty is that we have seen enough companies to realize what great looks like. For us, we have a high bar. So one of the metrics that we mention a lot is how many founders with the means to do so that we back will invest again in Insignia?" - Tan Yinglan
Introduction
- Tan Yinglan, Founding Managing Partner, Insignia Ventures Partners (@yinglantan , Linkedin)
- For our first time guests, we want to know their origin story. How did you start your career?
- In your career journey, what are the key lessons you learned that you can share with my audience?
- From your start from facilitating the building of a fund in the Singapore government to Sequoia Capital to now, how do you see venture funding in each of these different setups?
Insignia Ventures Partners and the Southeast Asia Ecosystem
- My question for all venture capitalists who come on the show, what is a typical day like you?
- What is the inspiration behind setting up the Insignia Ventures Partners?
- What is the mission and vision of Insignia Ventures Partners?
- What are the stages of the companies in their life cycle the fund invests in?
- Do you have an investment thesis specific for the fund itself?
- What are the verticals that you typically invest in?
- What are the traits of founders or patterns in startup teams that you index that you are likely to make the investment?
- What are the red flags which you would watch out for?
- How does the fund help the entrepreneurs to achieve their goals? What are the support that you provide for them?
- What is the mental model in thinking about the valuation of a company when you invest in them?
- Can you share some interesting companies that Insignia has invested in, for example, I have seen some interesting ones like Carro and Ajaib?
- What do you think about the exits for the companies you have funded?
- One thing we do not discuss is, what is a good process in managing LPs given that the Southeast Asia ecosystem is growing and getting more sophisticated?
- How does the fund see the Southeast Asia market? How do you guide entrepreneurs to navigate geographic expansion because there are six countries with different cultures and systems which they need to adapt to?
- Where do you think venture capital is heading in Southeast Asia?
- What does great look like for Insignia Ventures Partners?
Closing
- Any recommendations that have inspired you recently?
- Yinglan's recommendation: "The Power Law" by Sebastian Mallaby, Made in America by Sam Walton (Walmart founder), Amp it Up by Frank Slootman
- How can my audience find you?