Analyse Asia with Bernard Leong Bernard Leong

"Consumer demand will accelerate the need for security, privacy and regulation. Like zero-knowledge (ZK) where you can prove something is true without revealing all information. And of course, security infrastructure, which is very interesting and important at this current moment, even before the next bull market. For example, one of the companies we invested into Ledger, a digital asset hardware wallet. You basically have an app store interface where you can trade, you can stake. We see a lot of adoption of crypto in not just a retail space because of increased awareness, in the media, and new DeFi applications coming up, but also in the adoption of enterprise space. So a lot of these enterprises will be thinking to themselves, okay, in my treasury, not just do I need to hold USD and other currencies, maybe I need to also hold Bitcoins, or something else. DBS Bank, They're now holding some of this Sandbox Land, but where do they hold it? They can't hold it just in a wallet and then they throw it into some cabinet somewhere. They need to have the right, security hardware. So we believe this, will accelerate the adoption of applications like ledger, which is like a hardware wallet, for both retail and enterprise. So we believe that age-old saying of selling shovels during a gold rush is still very true." - Kelly Choo Fresh out of the studio, Kelly Choo, founding partner from True Global Ventures discusses the state of generative AI and crypto in 2023 and what to look forward in 2024. Kelly started with his take on the recent departure of CZ from Binance and the ouster and return of Sam Altman in Open AI and how this impacts the AI and crypto landscape. From there, he broke down how they are looking at the next wave of generative AI companies specifically in the education, metaverse and legal space and crypto companies from ERC 6551 in non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to zero-knowledge proofs. Last but not least, Kelly defines what success would mean for both AI and crypto in 2024.
Episode Highlights:
[0:50] Quote of the Day #QOTD from Kelly Choo
[1:43] What has Kelly Choo been up to?
[3:19] CZ, Binance, and the Rise of Singaporean CEOs
[4:32] SamAltman OpenAI and Microsoft
[7:30] OpenAI Developer Event 
[10:05] The Current State of GenAI
[14:41] What Kind of Business Models are Going to be Proving Successful in the GenAI Space?
[16:48] True Global Ventures and AI Startups 
[19:23] Review of 2023 Web3 Megatrends
[28:03] What is ERC6551? AKA Programmable NFT's
[30:44] Web3 Tech We Should be Paying Attention To
[32:36] Impact of AI and Web3 on Gamer User Experience
[35:02] The Saudi Government Gets into Crypto
[38:55] Is the Apple Vision Pro a Game Changer?
[39:31] AR and VR Market Predictions
[41:01] BTC ETF and their Impact
[44:26] Regulatory Changes
[45:39] What Does Great Look Like for Crypto and Web3 in 2024?
[46:38] Closing
Podcast Information: Bernard Leong (@bernardleong, Linkedin) hosts and produces the show. Proper credits for the intro and end music: "Energetic Sports Drive" and the episode is mixed & edited in both video and audio format by G.Thomas Craig (@gthomascraig, LinkedIn).

We've got a 330 trillion dollar industry here, which arguably a lot of it, we talk about stranded assets, CRREM pathways to stranded assets, et cetera. I talked to a lot of funds. I've talked to a lot of developers. They're getting very worried about this. And it's not just about their existing portfolios. It's about how they are going to exit portfolios. Because many buyers now actually build in the cost of retrofitting a building to bring it up to sustainability when they're looking at acquiring an asset. So, that might bring the price down. So, for us, we look at everything you've just mentioned. We look at materials. We look at hardware. We look at software and anything that gets us to some of these impact targets we want to achieve in the built environment and also is something which is commercially viable and fixes some particular pain point within this ecosystem. - Alexander Bent" Fresh out of the studio, Alexander Bent, founder & managing partner from Undivided Ventures, joined us in a conversation on why this is the time to invest in sustainability within the built environment. Alexander started with his background as a real estate developer and the inspiration behind starting his venture capital firm. He dived deep into his investment thesis and shared his perspectives on how transforming technologies from AI to materials engineering will transform the real estate industry. Last but not least, Alex shares what great would look like for Undivided Ventures.
Episode Highlights:
[0:50] Quote of the Day #QOTD by Alexander Bent.
[1:40] Welcome Message from the host.
[2:20] Introduction to Alexander Bent and his career journey.
[6:40] Perspectives on investing in climate adaptation rather than mitigation.
[7:30] Lessons from Alexander's career journey.
[9:40] The Vision and Mission of Undivided Ventures and why focus on built environment.
[11:50] The total market opportunity behind the real estate industry.
[13:20] The investment mandate for Undivided Ventures.
[14:20] Undivided VC is based in Hong Kong but invests globally.
[15:20] Typical day of a venture capitalist for Alexander.
[17:20] What are the traits of founders & startup teams that Alex index for?
[19:10] Business Models for Startups focusing on sustainability and built environment.
[21:20] What are the red flags in founders that you would watch out for?
[23:20] How Undivided VC helps their portfolio companies.
[25:30] Interesting companies under Undivided VC.
[28:10] The one thing that Alexander knows about investing in sustainability & built environment that very few do.
[28:35] Advice to startups focusing on positive impact in sustainability & built environment.
[31:50] #AI in sustainability & built environment.
[34:40] #internetofthings #iot in sustainability & built environment.
[36:20] #blockchain in sustainability & built environment.
[40:20] #materialscience & #materialsengineering in sustainability & built environment.
[42:50] Putting AI into materials science
[43:50] What does great look like for Undivided VC?
[48:00] Closing
Podcast Information: Bernard Leong (@bernardleong, Linkedin) hosts and produces the show. Proper credits for the intro and end music: "Energetic Sports Drive" and the episode is mixed & edited in both video and audio format by G.Thomas Craig (@gthomascraig, LinkedIn).

"I think in the past, we've looked more at inclusion and access, but actually we've made so much inroads over the past years. Now again, we're talking about participation because what we're seeing is that 30% of the highest spending customers who we call high-value users (HVUs) - they make up over 70% of the digital economies' transaction value. So 30% Are leading to 70% of the digital economy. We want to make sure that we don't leave users behind and we continue to drive growth and drive their participation. So we need to make sure that we are not ignoring this very important group that presents a 1.9x growth opportunity of that of high-value users. And for this reason, it's really important for us to talk about digital participation." - Sapna Chadha Fresh out of the studio, Sapna Chadha, vice president of Google Southeast Asia, and Florian Hoppe, partner at Bain and Company shared the key takeaways from the Google e-Conomy SEA 2023 report. Sapna and Florian discussed how start-ups are navigating the current declines in venture capital funding and introduced how high-value users presented a new way of visualizing what goes behind the digital economy in Southeast Asia. Last but not least, they discuss what great looks like for businesses in Southeast Asia.
Episode Highlights:
[0:00] Quote of the Day #QOTD from Sapna Chadna
[2:00] Welcome Message from the host
[2:48] Introduction of Sapna Chadha, Vice President, Google Southeast Asia
[5:02] Key Takeaways of Google e-Conomy Southeast Asia Report 2023
[8:40] Southeast Asia's economic performance against global macroeconomic headwinds
[10:30] The one most interesting data point that Sapna and Florian found interesting about the report
[12:50] Does the global shift in venture capital align with Southeast Asia? [
14:00] Will high-quality start-ups still be able to raise capital in Southeast Asia?
[15:01] Are funding declines differentiated by funding stages or by countries?
[16:00] Can Southeast Asian VCs return capital to their LPs?
[17:10] Advice to Southeast Asia startups in surviving the current funding winter
[18:20] Do we see more startups focusing on monetization accelerating across the digital economy?
[21:43] What are the potential avenues of growth for fintech companies? 
[24:15] Definition and Context behind High-Value Users (HVUs) in Southeast Asia
[26:56] Comparison between HVUs and non-HVUs across different Southeast Asia economies
[29:50] Are smartphones and digital infrastructure in tier 3 and 4 cities bringing non-HVUs online?
[33:23] Can Southeast Asia reach 1 trillion GMV in 2030?
[35:35] What would success look like for businesses in Southeast Asia for the next few years?
[39:37] Closing
Podcast Information: Bernard Leong (@bernardleong, Linkedin) hosts and produces the show. Proper credits for the intro and end music: "Energetic Sports Drive" and the episode is mixed & edited in both video and audio format by G.Thomas Craig (@gthomascraig, LinkedIn).

"And so what we do at Dow Jones, very specifically, is look at - What are the regulators demanding? What do they want you to do? What are the specific data points that you require? And which workflows do you want to use them in? And, there are very different workflows, which within, for example, a financial institution. You have the onboarding of your new customers, and in those situations, you may have a little bit more time. Obviously, there's the service level in terms of opening a bank account is faster and faster. But you have a little bit more time in that regard. You want to look at potentially more data. Then once you are a customer of a bank, you're gonna be amongst millions of customers. How do banks can then adapt to check additional data points? And, today the customer may be clean and have no adverse media, may not be sanctions, but that could change." - Joel Lange Fresh out of the studio, Joel Lange, executive vice president & general manager of risk and research from Dow Jones, discussed how the company is leveraging artificial intelligence and data analytics to help companies tackle risk and compliance and combat financial crimes and money laundering. Joel also explored generative AI's role in risk management and concluded by envisioning the future of Dow Jones Risk & Compliance and what great would look like in the Asia Pacific.
Episode Highlights:
[0:00] Quote of the Day #QOTD from Joel Lange
[0:50] Introduction to Joel Lange, EVP & GM, Risk & Research, Dow Jones
[1:28] Support for freeing Evan Gershkovich from Wall Street Journal on his 32nd birthday.
[2:20] How did Joel start his career and eventually end up in his role with Dow Jones 
[3:58] Lessons learnt in Joel's career journey
[5:40] Introduction to Dow Jones and its global vision & mission
[8:20] Risk Management, Money Laundering and Financial Crimes 101
[10:08] Impact on businesses and other organizations if their risk is not well managed.
[12:00] How Dow Jones Risk & Compliance division helps businesses to navigate the challenges
[14:50] The challenge of cross borders makes managing risk and compliance difficult on a global level
[17:00] RiskCenter Advanced Screening and Monitoring (ASAM) solution based on AI and big data
[19:50] What makes ASAM different from other risk management solutions out there?
[21:00] How the AI solution tackles false positives and the tradeoffs made between the specificity and sensitivity of the data.
[24:30] How does the diversity of APAC both economically & politically impact the complex anti-money laundering processes?
[27:00] The mental model to balance between economic recovery & anti-corruption efforts
[29:05] Perspectives on Generative AI and how it impacts combating financial crime & AML
[32:05] Advice to C-suite executives and government officials on risk management with AI
[33:40] What does great look like for Dow Jones for market expansion and ASAM in the APAC region?
[35:30] Closing
Podcast Information: Bernard Leong (@bernardleong, Linkedin) hosts and produces the show. Proper credits for the intro and end music: "Energetic Sports Drive" and the episode is mixed & edited in both video and audio format by G.Thomas Craig (@gthomascraig, LinkedIn).

“It is useful both to internal and external, but it's also a really great litmus test. If you sit down to write your public letter and you can't explain why you're doing something, if it doesn't fit in with your overarching strategy, it goes back to that first thing we said as PMs [product managers], which is sometimes you have to say no to it. You're like, I actually can't explain to anyone why we're spending time on this particular feature. It doesn't fit any of the four themes we said we're doing this year. Does that mean we have a fifth theme or does that mean we shouldn't be doing that? And that clarity and that kind of litmus test. Is really, really useful as a leader when few people say no to you.” - Tom Verrilli Fresh out of the studio in SXSW Sydney, Tom Verrilli, former Chief Product Officer of Twitch joined us in a conversation to discuss the intricacies of product management. Tom shared his perspectives based on his experiences from navigating the delicate balance between feature addition and reduction in product roadmaps and managing normal and power users' expectations. With the recent advances in generative AI, Tom offered his insights on how this new wave will bring about changes in user behaviour and interfaces, and how it will bring about new thinking in product management. Last but not least, he laid out what great would look like for product managers in the next decade.
Author's note: We thanked SXSW Sydney and Sennheiser ANZ for the podcast stage and appreciated the opportunity to have our episode recorded live on 18 Oct 2023. 
Podcast Information: Bernard Leong (@bernardleong, Linkedin) hosts and produces the show. Proper credits for the intro and end music: "Energetic Sports Drive" and the episode is mixed & edited in both video and audio format by G.Thomas Craig (@gthomascraig, LinkedIn).
 

 
Stripe isn't just payments. We actually build economic infrastructure for the global economy. And so we've got a lot more technology beyond payments. Our Stripe Tour is a cool venue where we get a chance to bring customers, partners and thought leaders together and talk about the current state of technology and future technologies - in a local Asian context. So it's been a lot of fun. And by the way, we're really enthusiastic about Asia here at Stripe. Not only because 60 per cent of the world's population is in Asia, but also because the Asian markets are very tech-forward. And you can see that by just looking at global trends, sometimes Asian markets completely leapfrog the trends like what happened to mobile. And so you got this great market that's huge, that's really tech-forward. And there's so much innovation possible.” - Mike Clayville, chief revenue officer of Stripe Fresh out of the studio, Mike Clayville, Chief Revenue Officer of Stripe, joined us in a conversation discussing Stripe's business in the Asia Pacific and shared invaluable insights into the evolution of financial infrastructure. Mike dived deep into how Stripe is adapting and expanding while at the same time with interesting customer stories in the Asia Pacific. He delved into Stripe's current innovations specifically on online payments & financial infrastructure within the dynamic Asia Pacific region. Last but not least, Mike shared the key trends in the financial infrastructure landscape and defined what great would look like for Stripe's future in APAC.
Podcast Information: The show is hosted and produced by Bernard Leong (@bernardleong, Linkedin) and Carol Yin (@CarolYujiaYin, LinkedIn). Proper credits for the intro and end music: "Energetic Sports Drive" and the episode is mixed & edited in both video and audio format by G.Thomas Craig (@gthomascraig, LinkedIn).