The Southeast Asia Investment Landscape with Jeremy Au
Fresh out of the studio, Jeremy Au, chief of staff & venture capitalist from Monk's Hill Ventures joined us in a conversation on how to navigate the challenging investment landscape in Southeast Asia. The conversation began with his career from an entrepreneur to now venture capitalist & podcaster. Jeremy drilled down specifically on the venture capital and angel investing scene and dived deep into the emerging trends shaping the different key markets from Indonesia to Vietnam, and elucidated startup expansion strategies driven by changes in technology, language and markets. Last but not least, he offered his take on what great would look like for a successful venture capitalist in Southeast Asia.
"Southeast Asia is a very exciting market and I think lots of folks, and probably guests have talked about it, but let's just rattle off the list; obviously you have a rising middle class, you have that openness to trade, openness to immigration, and openness to keep growing from a policy perspective. Of course, there's the urbanization and the internet technology digitalization wave. So these are all the first three slides of every VC fund and LP deck, but also the first three slides of every market report. There are so many great ones out there. But I think when we double click a little bit further, what we're also thinking about is what are the industries that are ripe for change. You can call it disruption, you can call it digitalization, but I think that's the crux of it. When we look at venture capital, how do you build that a hundred million dollar revenue business within 10 years and create that 10x multiple? I think that's the home run that VC funds are geared towards. That's something that is currently still in motion. 10 years ago it didn't exist." - Jeremy Au
Introduction
- Jeremy Au (@jeremyau, Linkedin), Chief of Staff & VC from Monk’s Hill Ventures and Host of Brave Southeast Asia Tech Podcast (Main Site, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts)
- How did you start your career?
- What interesting lessons can you share with my audience about your career journey?
The Southeast Investment Landscape with Jeremy Au
- How would you describe the venture capital and angel investing landscape in Southeast Asia?
- How does it compare to the US or China?
- What do you see as the most significant trends in the venture capital industry in Southeast Asia in recent years?
- How have changes in technology and markets influenced the types of startups that investors from Southeast Asia are interested in?
- What does a typical day look like for you as a venture capitalist?
- What are the key traits you look in the founding teams or startups for when deciding to invest in a startup?
- Reversing the question, what are the red flags that you would look for that deter you from investing in the founders and their startups?
- Could you share examples of interesting startups that you have invested in and talk about how you ended up writing the investment cheques?
- What are the unique strengths and challenges of the startup ecosystems across the different countries within Southeast Asia?
- In terms of government support and regulations, how does the US compare with Singapore and other SEA countries for startups and venture capital?
- How does the availability of skilled talent for startups compare between countries within Southeast Asia vs the US or China?
- Other than being an angel investor, you are also the host of Brave Southeast Asia Tech podcast, can you talk about the main themes of your podcast and the intended audience?
- What have you learned from your interviews with the guests?
- What are the differences between running a video podcast vs an audio podcast?
- What does great look like for a successful venture capitalist in Southeast Asia from your perspective?
Closing
- Any recommendations which have inspired your life?
- Jeremy's recommendation: Ann Leckie, "Translation State" and "The Pod Generation" starring Emilia Clarke.
- Bernard's recommendation: Read the list of Hugo and Nebula award winners sequentially from the first winner to now over a summer.
- How can my audience find you?