BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech: Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand & Malaysia Startups, Founders & Venture Capit

Episodi

• 
  AI Has Changed The Way We Create, Consume And Value Content | Adriel Yong - E730 14.09.2026 43min

  Adriel Yong is the Co-Founder and COO of Clouted, the AI-native clipping and distribution company that turns long-form content into short video and routes it to the right platform and audience. Clouted has raised a $7M seed led by Slow Ventures, following a $4.45M round backed by a16z SPEEDRUN and AppWorks under its former name, Clout Kitchen. The team also produces &FRIENDS, one of the largest dance and pop-culture festivals in the Philippines.  Adriel joined Jeremy Au to work through what AI has done to media. Five or six years ago, making this podcast meant cutting every "um" by hand and building cover art from scratch, and Adriel's estimate is that roughly 80% of that work no longer exists. What moved into the space are faceless pages and fully synthetic creators, plus a third feed inside the AI apps competing for the ten hours a day. Social was meant to be the escape from bought media and is now entirely paid, and the answer engines are going the same way: people used to shape human perception, now they shape the model's. Which leaves the question of what still competes, and Jeremy's answer is not sleep, the way Netflix once put it, but real life. They work through the evidence and the strategy underneath it, from the K-shaped cinema rebound to Costco's private-label discipline mapped onto AI marketplaces, and close on the framework that AI shortens the route to purchase for things and places, but not for people. Watch, listen or read the full insight at https://www.bravesea.com/blog/ai-content  BRAVE is Southeast Asia's leading tech podcast, hosted by Jeremy Au. Honest conversations with the region's top founders, investors, and operators on building startups in Southeast Asia. New episodes every week. Subscribe so you never miss one. Listen & Subscribe YouTube (English), YouTube (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (English), Spotify (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (Chinese), Spotify (Vietnamese), Apple Podcasts Follow BRAVE LinkedIn, X (Twitter), Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp Follow Jeremy Au LinkedIn, X / Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Threads, Twitch Resources Get transcripts, startup resources & community discussions at www.bravesea.com #AI #Media #SoutheastAsia #Singapore #Philippines #TechPodcast #ContentCreation #CreatorEconomy #FacelessContent #AIVideo #GenerativeAI #GEO #AISEO #MediaStrategy #Startups #Founders #SEAstartups #Indonesia #Vietnam #Malaysia  00:00 Introduction 00:55 How AI collapsed the production workflow 03:28 Faceless creators and AI-generated creators 05:16 The ChatGPT feed vs the Instagram feed 07:12 Social is now paid social, and the GEO scramble 09:25 Content's biggest competitor is real life 10:37 IRL experiences as a go-to-market motion 12:09 The K-shaped cinema economy: IMAX, the Sphere, F1 14:15 Do you need more AI tools than ChatGPT? 15:17 The atom of work AI actually replaces 16:22 Free time, the senses, and omnichannel shopping 18:33 Costco, Kirkland, and AI marketplaces 19:59 A24's barbell versus the blockbuster bet 22:19 Fandom, IP, and imaginary characters 24:27 Know the real estate you are standing on 25:39 How media consumption habits changed 27:31 Why podcasts survive: edutainment and opinion 30:14 What we consumed in the last 24 hours 32:14 The insurance arbitrage AI found 34:08 Toilets, Wirecutter, and shopping with AI 36:02 Things and places, yes. People, no. 38:55 Word of mouth is still the filter for people 40:44 The Comfort Crisis and rethinking the cinema
• 
  What 500 Harvard Case Studies Actually Do To Your Brain - E729 09.09.2026 55min

  Jeremy Au takes the hot seat in a reverse interview hosted by Edric Poon to unpack the true value of a Harvard MBA and the fundamental principles of business leadership. Jeremy unbundles the prestigious degree into three core components: practical utility and learning, building a long-term global network, and acquiring a costly social credential. He shares actionable frameworks for effective leadership, emphasizing the necessity of decisive strategy, ruthless prioritization, and the ability to mobilize resources and capital. The conversation also explores the psychology behind the Harvard case study method, how pattern-matching helps leaders spot corporate fraud, and the harsh, irreversible realities of founder burnout. Finally, Jeremy contrasts Western and Asian leadership styles, explaining how regional GDP per capita and Wall Street’s shareholder supremacy dictate corporate culture across the globe. Watch, listen or read the full insight at https://www.bravesea.com/blog/harvard-mba-leadership  BRAVE is Southeast Asia's leading tech podcast, hosted by Jeremy Au. Honest conversations with the region's top founders, investors, and operators on building startups in Southeast Asia. New episodes every week. Subscribe so you never miss one. Listen & Subscribe YouTube (English), YouTube (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (English), Spotify (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (Chinese), Spotify (Vietnamese), Apple Podcasts Follow BRAVE LinkedIn, X (Twitter), Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp Follow Jeremy Au LinkedIn, X / Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Threads, Twitch Resources Get transcripts, startup resources & community discussions at www.bravesea.com #Leadership #SoutheastAsia #HarvardMBA #Singapore #TechPodcast #MBA #BusinessSchool #Management #Founders #Startups #VentureCapital #CareerAdvice #Burnout #FamilyBusiness #CorporateGovernance #AsianLeadership #SEAstartups #Malaysia #Indonesia #Philippines #Vietnam #Entrepreneurship  0:00 500 case studies, and what they're actually for 0:52 Introduction: Jeremy in the hot seat 1:43 What a Harvard MBA is actually for 5:01 The half-million-dollar signal 6:38 How to unbundle all three yourself 9:17 Decide, prune, mobilise 10:43 Atari, Nokia, and BlackBerry's own prototype 14:24 Manager versus leader 16:15 The campfire, and who walks into the dark 21:00 Authenticity is not permission to be your worst self 22:59 The case method and the supercomputer brain 26:21 Enron, and pattern matching fraud 29:59 The mistake Jeremy made twice 35:27 Two bad nights of sleep is two drinks 37:34 So what is Asian leadership? 39:12 GDP per capita, and where trust lives 44:49 Wall Street versus everybody else 50:52 Community over the individual 54:08 The MBA in your pocket
• 
  The Truth About China's Competitive Advantage - E728 06.09.2026 30min

  Jianggan Li returns for a China read: Europe's run on Chinese air conditioners, the humanoid robot games, Shein's discounted Hong Kong listing, and what breaks when Chinese firms go abroad. One thread runs through all four. China's advantage is not invention. Midea did not build a better aircon, it read Europe's building codes and engineered to them. Robot hardware raced ahead because engineers ground at it for a year while the software did not. Temu went from someone suggesting a Super Bowl ad to the ad being made in thirty days. The moat is iteration, and Chinese firms are mostly competing with each other, not with you. Also: why the robots still need a human holding a remote, why humanoids substitute for cheap labour instead of complementing it, and the advice one operator gives about expanding abroad, which is to stop trying to change how things are done there and change yourself instead.  Watch, listen or read the full insight at https://www.bravesea.com/blog/china-competitive-advantage  BRAVE is Southeast Asia's leading tech podcast, hosted by Jeremy Au. Honest conversations with the region's top founders, investors, and operators on building startups in Southeast Asia. New episodes every week. Subscribe so you never miss one. Listen & Subscribe YouTube (English), YouTube (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (English), Spotify (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (Chinese), Spotify (Vietnamese), Apple Podcasts Follow BRAVE LinkedIn, X (Twitter), Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp Follow Jeremy Au LinkedIn, X / Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Threads, Twitch Resources Get transcripts, startup resources & community discussions at www.bravesea.com #China #HumanoidRobots #SoutheastAsia #China #HumanoidRobots #SoutheastAsia #Shein #Temu #Unitree #Midea #Robotics #Ecommerce #Manufacturing #Singapore #Startups #SEAstartups 00:00 Introduction 01:45 Europe's aircon panic, and the 12-hour drive 03:08 Designed to the regulation, not to be better 05:07 It's not China vs you. It's China vs China. 05:55 The World Humanoid Robot Games 06:52 Why the robots still need a human with a remote 08:20 Hardware outpaced software, and the data problem 11:19 Unitree's IPO, and a founder who wasn't smiling 11:53 Humanoid robots vs cheap human labour 15:02 Complement or substitute: where humanoids land first 16:43 Shein: $100B to $26B 19:25 Temu, de minimis, and the marketplace squeeze 20:43 The Super Bowl ad built in 30 days 23:12 Nobody writes the story of iterative engineering 25:41 Going global, and the driving seat problem 28:49 What to watch: the Xi-Trump meeting
• 
  Itamar Novick: Where AI Replaces People, and Where It Does Not - E727 02.09.2026 46min

  "How are you going to stay ahead of the competition in a world where two kids can vibe code a clone of your product over a weekend?" Itamar Novick is a solo capitalist and the founder of Recursive Ventures, a pre-seed fund focused on AI and emerging tech startups. He has supported over 50 successful startups, including Deel, Honeybook, Placer, Credible (IPO), MileIQ (acquired by Microsoft), Automatic Labs (acquired by SiriusXM), Tile (acquired by Life360), SafeGraph, and Armory. He's been recognized by Business Insider as a Top 100 global seed investor (#17 in 2021, #29 in 2022). As an operator, he helped take Life360 from Seed to IPO, scaling the business to over $250m in revenue. Itamar joined Jeremy Au to talk about what still counts as a moat in AI, why proprietary data is only the starting point, and where AI actually replaces people instead of augmenting them. He also looks back on twelve years at Life360, joining as VP of Product and leaving as the CFO who took the company public, and why he now writes the first check at pre-seed. Itamar’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/itamarnovick/ Recursive Ventures: https://www.recursiveventures.com/ Watch, listen or read the full insight at https://www.bravesea.com/blog/itamar-novick-recursive-ventures  BRAVE is Southeast Asia's leading tech podcast, hosted by Jeremy Au. Honest conversations with the region's top founders, investors, and operators on building startups in Southeast Asia. New episodes every week. Subscribe so you never miss one. Listen & Subscribe YouTube (English), YouTube (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (English), Spotify (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (Chinese), Spotify (Vietnamese), Apple Podcasts Follow BRAVE LinkedIn, X (Twitter), Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp Follow Jeremy Au LinkedIn, X / Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Threads, Twitch Resources Get transcripts, startup resources & community discussions at www.bravesea.com #AI #VentureCapital #AIStartups #SoutheastAsia #Startups #Founders #Fundraising #PreSeed #SeedFunding #DataMoats #VerticalAI #ReinforcementLearning #VibeCoding #SiliconValley #Singapore #Malaysia #Indonesia #Philippines #Vietnam #TechPodcast #Life360 #SEAstartups #Entrepreneurship  00:00 Introduction 02:01 Coding at 11, and the army cybercrime unit 04:12 Product management before Agile 06:00 Gigya, and meeting Zuckerberg in 2008 07:27 Morgenthaler Ventures and the first inning of SaaS 08:37 Twelve years at Life360, VP Product to CFO 11:36 "Kids are never gonna have smartphones" 13:53 Raising $500M and 11 corporate VCs 16:31 The VC story problem, and which VCs got it 22:26 Going full time into venture, and why pre-seed 27:48 How Itamar picks: team, TAM, and moat 30:06 Data as the moat, and the customer data flywheel 35:48 Where AI can and can't replace humans 40:33 Taking the one big swing
• 
  $70,000 Per Child: What Singapore's New Family Package Actually Changes - E726 31.08.2026 43min

  Jeremy Au and Shiyan Koh take apart Singapore's new SG Child Support Package: almost $70,000 per Singaporean child paid out over 17 years, more childcare leave, and preschool fees heading towards $150 a month. Jeremy on why the number only means anything relative to income. Shiyan on why the preschool change matters most. Whether the extra leave actually gets taken, or quietly costs you at work. And the change nobody articulated: every Singapore Citizen child now qualifies regardless of their parents' marital status. Plus nuclear, transhipment, and their wishlist for the next budget. Watch, listen or read the full insight at https://www.bravesea.com/blog/singapore-child-financial-support  BRAVE is Southeast Asia's leading tech podcast, hosted by Jeremy Au. Honest conversations with the region's top founders, investors, and operators on building startups in Southeast Asia. New episodes every week. Subscribe so you never miss one. Listen & Subscribe YouTube (English), YouTube (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (English), Spotify (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (Chinese), Spotify (Vietnamese), Apple Podcasts Follow BRAVE LinkedIn, X (Twitter), Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp Follow Jeremy Au LinkedIn, X / Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Threads, Twitch Resources Get transcripts, startup resources & community discussions at www.bravesea.com #Singapore #NDR2026 #SoutheastAsia #NationalDayRally #SGChildSupportPackage #BabyBonus #ChildcareLeave #FamilyPolicy #SingaporeStartups #VentureCapital #FundingWinter #AngelInvesting #NuclearEnergy #Logistics #SupplyChain #TechPodcast #SEAstartups #Malaysia #Indonesia #Vietnam #Philippines #HustleFund #Entrepreneurship 00:00 Introduction 01:33 The $70,000 package, explained 03:26 Why preschool is the biggest piece 06:26 Cash today, or shares that compound to 18 09:03 Sweeping unused payouts into a nest egg 12:15 A voucher society, or a shareholder society 13:38 The pushback: SMEs and the colleagues covering 16:49 Reservist, and the cost of stepping away 21:38 Who qualifies: citizen children, foreign parents 25:34 What about single parents? 29:45 Nuclear: island mergers and a China pact 32:41 Vietnam, transhipment, Dockware and Portcast 36:20 Wishlist for the next budget 39:24 Fifty $50M companies beat one unicorn 43:10 Outro
• 
  The Next 3 Years Will Deliver 30 Years of Innovation | John Lin - E725 26.08.2026 39min

  The next three years should deliver what the last thirty did. That is John Lin's argument, and it is why he thinks the ground under founders has shifted. John Lin is the Founding Partner of Linea Ventures. Previously, he helped start F-Prime Capital's west coast tech practice and was also a Principal at Trinity Ventures. He has invested in 50+ companies, including Numeral, Squire, Branch, Side, Weights & Biases, Triumph and You.com. Prior to that he led Product and Engineering at Roomi and worked at McKinsey and Yelp. John graduated with degrees in Business and Computer Science from UC Berkeley. He joined Jeremy Au on why AI coding has made good engineers five to ten times more effective, why everything in AI is both overhyped and undervalued at once, and where value still accrues now that a model costing billions to train can be built for tens of millions. Then the part most founders have not priced in. A Series A used to mean $800K in revenue and a $40M round. Today it is closer to $3M and $70M, and by John's reading only 1 in 5 to 1 in 7 companies make the jump. Round to round survival has fallen from about half to somewhere between a third and a sixth. Plus how he picks: a $1B market, a path to 25x, companies between $1M and $10M in revenue, and the one question every founder has to answer. John’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-lin-39a18921/ Linea Ventures: https://lineavc.com/  Watch, listen or read the full insight at https://www.bravesea.com/blog/john-lin-ai-investing  BRAVE is Southeast Asia's leading tech podcast, hosted by Jeremy Au. Honest conversations with the region's top founders, investors, and operators on building startups in Southeast Asia. New episodes every week. Subscribe so you never miss one. Listen & Subscribe YouTube (English), YouTube (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (English), Spotify (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (Chinese), Spotify (Vietnamese), Apple Podcasts Follow BRAVE LinkedIn, X (Twitter), Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp Follow Jeremy Au LinkedIn, X / Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Threads, Twitch Resources Get transcripts, startup resources & community discussions at www.bravesea.com #Singapore #TechPodcast #AIInvesting #SeriesA #SeedFunding #Startups #Founders #Fundraising #AIInfrastructure #VerticalAI #SiliconValley #EmergingManagers #SEAstartups #Malaysia #Indonesia #Philippines #Vietnam #Berkeley #Entrepreneurship  00:00 Introduction 00:43 From Berkeley to Trinity, F-Prime, and Linea Ventures 02:59 Is AI huge, or overhyped? 04:34 AI coding, and 30 years of innovation in 3 07:44 Where the economic value of AI will accrue 11:26 Overhyped, undervalued, and no longer defensible 13:10 How John picks: market, founder, inflection point 15:12 Case study: Numeral and US sales tax filing 18:08 Red flags, and how to validate an AI idea fast 20:26 Are billion dollar seed rounds the new normal? 24:41 A tale of two cities in startup funding 26:50 Only 1 in 5 to 1 in 7 reach Series A 30:04 Personal investing versus investing out of a fund 35:56 What a decade of reps teaches you
• 
  The Innovation Playbook of 3 Southeast Asian Founders - E724 23.08.2026 27min

  Where does innovation in Southeast Asia actually start? Not in a lab. In this compilation from the BRAVE archive: a lock that took eleven hours to install, a Peter Thiel put-down at Harvard, and customers using a real estate website to sell food. Anthony Chow built Igloo's first smart lock from parts bought in China, watched the first shipments fail, then invented an offline PIN lock (Google Authenticator, but for doors) because vacation rentals have no Wi-Fi. That invention won the Airbnb partnership and now runs more than half of Australia's tennis courts, fully unmanned.  Kelvin Teo heard Peter Thiel tell a Harvard room that Asia doesn't need innovation, just execution ("annoying, but factually accurate") and turned it into the method behind Funding Societies, which underwrites SMEs by asking for more documents than the banks, because its real competitor is the money lender charging 48% a year.  Dennis Velasco burned $150K on a broken real estate market before his users showed him the pivot, launched Prosperna three months before the 2020 lockdown, and argues that none of it counts until small businesses trust you to stay. Watch the full episodes: E676 Anthony Chow, Co-Founder & CEO of Igloo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rU1-wIvarVk  E678 Kelvin Teo, Co-Founder & Group CEO of Funding Societies | Modalku https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ob9Wq9DMpko  E692 Dennis Velasco, Founder & CEO of Prosperna https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVw0B8m3eN4  Watch, listen or read the full insight at https://www.bravesea.com/blog/innovation-playbook  BRAVE is Southeast Asia's leading tech podcast, hosted by Jeremy Au. Honest conversations with the region's top founders, investors, and operators on building startups in Southeast Asia. New episodes every week. Subscribe so you never miss one. Listen & Subscribe YouTube (English), YouTube (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (English), Spotify (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (Chinese), Spotify (Vietnamese), Apple Podcasts Follow BRAVE LinkedIn, X (Twitter), Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp Follow Jeremy Au LinkedIn, X / Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Threads, Twitch Resources Get transcripts, startup resources & community discussions at www.bravesea.com #Innovation #SoutheastAsia #Startups #Singapore #Philippines #Indonesia #Malaysia #Vietnam #TechPodcast #Fintech #Proptech #Ecommerce #SmartLock #SME #MSME #VentureCapital #Founders #SEAstartups #Entrepreneurship 00:00 Intro 00:25 Anthony Chow: the lock that took 11 hours to install 06:20 Kelvin Teo: "Asia doesn't need innovation" becomes a playbook 11:01 Dennis Velasco: the customers showed us the pivot 15:23 Kelvin Teo: more documents than the banks 20:50 Dennis Velasco: the trust factor gap 23:37 Anthony Chow: half of Australia's tennis courts, unmanned 27:03 Outro
• 
  Leadership Lessons From Best-Selling Authors - E723 19.08.2026 31min

  An offhand compliment from a leader becomes praise. An offhand insult becomes a verdict. Nobody in a leadership role gets to opt out of that. Three conversations from the BRAVE archive with three best-selling authors, and one thing they share: all three went and checked what everybody already assumes about leadership, and found the data pointing the other way. Adam Galinsky is a professor at Columbia Business School, currently spending a year at NUS Business School in Singapore, and the author of Inspire. He explains the leader amplification effect, why the people we call great are characterised on two dimensions and excused on the third, and what he found after asking people on every continent to describe an inspiring leader and an infuriating one. The answers were the same everywhere, with one variation: hypocrisy comes up more in Asia. Eric Ries wrote The Lean Startup. Fifteen years on, he went back to the founders who used it and found many of them miserable, and many of them no longer recognising the company they had built. His argument: we taught people how to build and never how to protect it, trustworthiness is the most underrated asset in business, and since 2008 the companies rated bad on governance have outperformed the ones rated good. Nir Eyal has written three books on why we do what we do. He starts with the most uncomfortable pattern in his own office hours, which is people waiting months for a call to report that the step they never did didn't work. Then the mechanism: what stands between us and what we want is not information, motivation is a triangle of behaviour, benefit and belief, and we quit because we have never separated pain from suffering. People, then institutions, then yourself. Watch the full episodes: E709 Adam Galinsky, Professor at Columbia Business School https://youtu.be/MhVfGQ8iI7I  E700 Eric Ries, Author of The Lean Startup https://youtu.be/8wihh7uYpRo  E706 Nir Eyal, Author of Hooked, Indistractable and Beyond Belief https://youtu.be/4eM2OOMyruA  Watch, listen or read the full insight at https://www.bravesea.com/blog/leadership-authors  BRAVE is Southeast Asia's leading tech podcast, hosted by Jeremy Au. Honest conversations with the region's top founders, investors, and operators on building startups in Southeast Asia. New episodes every week. Subscribe so you never miss one. Listen & Subscribe YouTube (English), YouTube (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (English), Spotify (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (Chinese), Spotify (Vietnamese), Apple Podcasts Follow BRAVE LinkedIn, X (Twitter), Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp Follow Jeremy Au LinkedIn, X / Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Threads, Twitch Resources Get transcripts, startup resources & community discussions at www.bravesea.com #Leadership #SoutheastAsia #Founders #Singapore #TechPodcast #Management #Startups #VentureCapital #BusinessBooks #LeanStartup #Psychology #FutureOfWork #Productivity #CorporateGovernance #SEAstartups #Malaysia #Indonesia #Philippines #Vietnam #Entrepreneurship 00:00 Three findings that contradict what you believe 00:41 Adam Galinsky: you don't get to choose your impact 03:01 The Steve Jobs defence, and Mother Teresa 05:10 The captain of Flight 1380 07:07 Inspiring vs infuriating, and what Asia judges differently 08:57 Eric Ries: they built the companies and ended up miserable 12:09 Since 2008, bad governance has beaten good 16:31 Costco, Sol Price, and the locks that were changed 20:19 Nir Eyal: they read the book, they didn't do the book 23:48 Why visualising success backfires 26:52 Pain is not suffering 30:35 The thing nobody checked
• 
  The New Architecture Of Tech: Seat Pricing, Orbital Rings & Superstar Employees - E722 16.08.2026 27min

  Software has been sold by the seat for twenty years. Nobody has ever had to promise it worked. Three conversations from the BRAVE archive, on what changes when software starts getting paid for outcomes instead of access, and what has to be rebuilt underneath it. Andres Klaric spent a decade in private equity watching SaaS scale before co-founding Fuse, an enterprise lending platform. His argument: current pricing has no accountability in it, and the profit pool should sit in the outcome rather than the operating system. Rohit Jha co-founded Transcelestial in Singapore to move data over laser links. When the profitable telco side of the business was going well and his own board told him to drop space, he and his co-founder quietly moved capital into it anyway. Ori Sasson, Founder of S2T.AI, on the barbell splitting the tech workforce, and why employers now have to design jobs around outcomes rather than hours. Watch the full episodes: E710 Andres Klaric, Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Fuse https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aHsI3gj1c0  E698 Rohit Jha, Co-Founder & CEO of Transcelestial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoQXHJnLV04  E702 Ori Sasson, Founder of S2T.AI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axxDAQvqtF0  Watch, listen or read the full insight at https://www.bravesea.com/blog/ai-saas  BRAVE is Southeast Asia's leading tech podcast, hosted by Jeremy Au. Honest conversations with the region's top founders, investors, and operators on building startups in Southeast Asia. New episodes every week. Subscribe so you never miss one. Listen & Subscribe YouTube (English), YouTube (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (English), Spotify (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (Chinese), Spotify (Vietnamese), Apple Podcasts Follow BRAVE LinkedIn, X (Twitter), Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp Follow Jeremy Au LinkedIn, X / Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Threads, Twitch Resources Get transcripts, startup resources & community discussions at www.bravesea.com #SaaS #SoutheastAsia #AI #Singapore #TechPodcast #EnterpriseSoftware #B2BSaaS #DeepTech #SpaceTech #FutureOfWork #AIAgents #Startups #VentureCapital #Founders #SEAstartups #Malaysia #Indonesia #Philippines #Vietnam #Entrepreneurship  00:00 The "what" of AI, and the "how" 00:26 Andres Klaric: "We're at peak SaaS" 04:03 What an outcome actually means in lending 09:57 Rohit Jha: the backbone outcomes need 12:09 A ring of satellites to replace undersea cables 16:43 The space pivot the board said no to 18:03 Ori Sasson: redesign the job around the outcome 20:15 The Hollywoodization of the workplace 23:51 The barbell: superstars and everyone else 27:25 The new architecture of tech
• 
  AI in Healthcare: Will it work for you? - E721 13.08.2026 25min

  What is technology actually doing to healthcare, and what can it still not touch? Four conversations from the BRAVE archive, on the gap between what medicine can do and what a doctor actually has time to do. Dr. Thomas Kelly walked away from vascular surgery to build Heidi, an AI scribe and care partner now used by clinicians in more than 100 countries. He argues a doctor's paperwork is a patient safety problem, not an inconvenience. Jay Fajardo started over as a solo founder at 58 to attack "pajama time," the 40% of a doctor's day that disappears into admin. Ed Booty spent two years learning that a pure-play tech platform will not reach a rural village, and rebuilt reach52 around community health workers instead. Joshua Wang works upstream, on why we keep catching cancer too late to treat it well. And Dr. Tom closes on what it actually takes to make medical AI work across Malay, Hokkien, English and Singlish. 00:00 Intro 00:40 Dr. Thomas Kelly: paperwork is stealing clinical capacity 04:47 Jay Fajardo: pajama time and the 40% problem 09:59 Edward Booty: why pure-play tech doesn't reach rural patients 14:32 Joshua Wang: we catch cancer far too late 19:53 Dr. Thomas Kelly: Malay, Hokkien and Singlish, and the cost of localisation 25:19 Outro Watch the full episodes: E716 Dr. Thomas Kelly, Co-Founder & CEO of Heidi Health https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yA5jzWf4V_Y E694 Jay Fajardo, Founder & CEO of BetterClinic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIOCY_LtObM E502 Edward Booty, Founder & CEO of reach52 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pE0LFpCp_Q E628 Joshua Wang, Founder & CEO of Verimmune https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roXPyXASiRk Watch, listen or read the full insight at https://www.bravesea.com/blog/ai-in-healthcare  BRAVE is Southeast Asia's leading tech podcast, hosted by Jeremy Au. Honest conversations with the region's top founders, investors, and operators on building startups in Southeast Asia. New episodes every week. Subscribe so you never miss one. Listen & Subscribe YouTube (English), YouTube (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (English), Spotify (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (Chinese), Spotify (Vietnamese), Apple Podcasts Follow BRAVE LinkedIn, X (Twitter), Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp Follow Jeremy Au LinkedIn, X / Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Threads, Twitch Resources Get transcripts, startup resources & community discussions at www.bravesea.com #HealthcareAI #SoutheastAsia #HealthTech #Singapore #TechPodcast #MedicalAI #AIScribe #DigitalHealth #Philippines #Australia #Startups #VentureCapital #Founders #SEAstartups #Malaysia #Indonesia #Vietnam #Biotech #Entrepreneurship
• 
  Navigating Southeast Asia: Jeremy Au on Building, Investing, and Career Pivots - E720 10.08.2026 54min

  Jeremy Au joined Rohit Malhotra on Life Self Mastery to talk about the moves between founder, VC, and operator, and what each seat actually teaches you. Now leading Cosmetic Physician Partners Asia after Bain, CozyKin, Monk's Hill Ventures, and Lucence, Jeremy is candid about what does not transfer between roles. They cover the three things every founder has to get right (the product, the team, and the business), the Southeast Asia story that still is not told at ground level, why angel investing is an Olympic-level race rather than a pass-fail test, why coaching someone and investing in someone are two completely different prisms, and the two-by-two he uses to advise emerging fund managers who have deployed capital without returns. Support the original show: Life Self Mastery with Rohit Malhotra: https://www.youtube.com/@LifeSelfMastery  Watch, listen or read the full insight at https://www.bravesea.com/blog/navigating-southeast-asia  BRAVE is Southeast Asia's leading tech podcast, hosted by Jeremy Au. Honest conversations with the region's top founders, investors, and operators on building startups in Southeast Asia. New episodes every week. Subscribe so you never miss one. Listen & Subscribe YouTube (English), YouTube (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (English), Spotify (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (Chinese), Spotify (Vietnamese), Apple Podcasts Follow BRAVE LinkedIn, X (Twitter), Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp Follow Jeremy Au LinkedIn, X / Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Threads, Twitch Resources Get transcripts, startup resources & community discussions at www.bravesea.com #VentureCapital #SoutheastAsia #TechPodcast #Founders #Singapore #AngelInvesting #Startups #CareerPivot #EmergingManagers #Leadership #SEAstartups #Malaysia #Vietnam #Indonesia #Philippines #Harvard #Entrepreneurship 00:00 Intro 01:19 Founder to VC to operator, and back again 03:10 The three things: product, team, business 07:33 Scaling a clinic group from the US into Asia 10:54 The Southeast Asia story nobody is telling 18:30 Why a regional thesis is too broad a brush 22:20 Angel investing is an Olympic race, not a pass-fail test 25:41 Coaching someone vs investing in someone 28:08 Advice for emerging VCs who have not returned capital 35:07 The thread: high-performing teams 41:59 The comfort crisis and the 2% idea 46:54 What he would tell his younger self 50:20 Why Flow Club is his favourite tool 52:37 Where to find Jeremy
• 
  Stop Chasing Unicorns - E719 05.08.2026 41min

  Jeremy Au joins an episode of The Accidental VC podcast. Hosted by seasoned founders and VCs from ANZ and SEA, this show reveals how unlikely beginnings can lead to extraordinary outcomes. Whether you’re building, backing, or just curious—tune in for stories, strategies, and sharp takes from those who’ve been there.  In this episode, we explore the thought that “Everyone wants a unicorn. But what if that's the wrong goal?” Mohan Belani and Jeremy Au join Milan Reinartz to challenge what founders and investors think they know about building in Southeast Asia, from venture capital and AI to startup exits, global expansion, and the future of entrepreneurship. Support The Accidental VC: https://www.youtube.com/@TheAccidentalVC  Watch, listen or read the full insight at https://www.bravesea.com/blog/stop-chasing-unicorns  BRAVE is Southeast Asia's leading tech podcast, hosted by Jeremy Au. Honest conversations with the region's top founders, investors, and operators on building startups in Southeast Asia. New episodes every week. Subscribe so you never miss one. Listen & Subscribe YouTube (English), YouTube (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (English), Spotify (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (Chinese), Spotify (Vietnamese), Apple Podcasts Follow BRAVE LinkedIn, X (Twitter), Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp Follow Jeremy Au LinkedIn, X / Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Threads, Twitch Resources Get transcripts, startup resources & community discussions at www.bravesea.com #VentureCapital #SoutheastAsia #StartupFunding 00:00 Intro 02:44 What 2026 actually looks like in Southeast Asia 07:10 Big problems, small wallets: who in the region can actually pay 10:00 Why a $50 million exit is a real outcome 11:14 Power law investing vs micro private equity 17:13 Block lays off 40% and blames AI 18:43 Is Southeast Asia facing a K-shaped economy? 26:21 Future shock: a Waymo, a Costco chicken and no jobs 27:59 What founders should focus on now 31:03 Moat building in the age of AI 36:48 Quick fire: biggest wins and fails in VC
• 
  Navigating the Longevity Market | Dr. Sue-Anne Toh - E718 02.08.2026 59min

  Dr. Sue-Anne Toh, CEO and co-founder of NOVI Health, joins Jeremy Au to discuss the critical intersection of metabolism, longevity, and health policy. They explore the "War on Diabetes" in Singapore, unpacking why Asian populations are predisposed to insulin resistance and visceral fat accumulation even at lower BMI levels. Dr. Toh shares her transition from healthcare administration at NUHS working with MOH, to launching a health-tech "speedboat" to bridge the implementation gap in preventive care. The conversation covers the 80/20 of longevity, the role of GLP-1 medications in hormonal balance, and actionable strategies for "banking" muscle mass to ensure quality of life during aging. Watch, listen or read the full insight at https://www.bravesea.com/blog/sue-anne-toh-novi-health  BRAVE is Southeast Asia's leading tech podcast, hosted by Jeremy Au. Honest conversations with the region's top founders, investors, and operators on building startups in Southeast Asia. New episodes every week. Subscribe so you never miss one. Listen & Subscribe YouTube (English), YouTube (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (English), Spotify (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (Chinese), Spotify (Vietnamese), Apple Podcasts Follow BRAVE LinkedIn, X (Twitter), Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp Follow Jeremy Au LinkedIn, X / Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Threads, Twitch Resources Get transcripts, startup resources & community discussions at www.bravesea.com #Singapore #Longevity #Healthspan #SoutheastAsiaTech  00:00 - Introduction: Dr. Sue-Anne Toh's background 02:14 - Choosing medicine over law: curiosity and impact 03:51 - From policy to founder: the "impatient" path to NOVI Health 10:49 - Navigating the "Snake Oil" noise in longevity 12:39 - The 80/20 of health span: sleep, steps, and nutrition 22:30 - The ROI of treats: behavior change vs. restrictions 30:02 - TOFI Phenotype: Thin Outside, Fat Inside 33:04 - The Insulin Resistance "Pancreas Factory" 37:56 - Public Health strategies: Enforce, Empower, Educate 40:35 - GLP-1s and the future of weight care 45:01 - Why muscle mass is the ultimate longevity asset
• 
  AI: State of Industry and Investment | Aravind Kandiah, Jun Wakabayashi, John Homer Alvero - E717 29.07.2026 29min

  Everyone has the same access to the same frontier models. So what's actually left to compete on? Jeremy Au moderates a panel at the Crosscurrents Summit in Parañaque on where enterprise AI adoption really stands. Aravind Kandiah is CTO and Co-founder of Bifrost, a robotics infrastructure company that simulates the world to evaluate robots. Its simulations power some of the largest robotics companies, from Mars exploration with NASA to high-risk industrial work. Bifrost is backed by Sequoia Capital, Lux Capital and Airbus Ventures. On the panel he splits enterprises into those running pilots to hit an R&D spend target and those facing a real forcing function, like Korea's birth rate leaving factories unstaffed. Only the second group ships. Jun Wakabayashi is a Venture Principal at AppWorks, one of Asia's leading accelerators and VC firms. He rose from Analyst in 2017 to Principal by 2023 and leads its Beacon Funds arm, a fund-of-funds backing emerging venture managers across Southeast Asia and web3. He holds a B.S. in Finance from NYU Stern and previously worked at PwC. He puts engineering at 60 to 80% of enterprise token spend and tracks teams accidentally burning $5 million a month. John Homer Alvero is Head of AI Engineering at Converge ICT, one of the Philippines' largest fiber broadband and digital infrastructure providers. An AWS architect across fintech, telco and gaming, he was previously Cloud Solutions Architect at SM Investments. His blocker isn't the technology: governance and cybersecurity teams can't write credible guardrails until they're AI-literate themselves. Where they split: Aravind says the moat is everything except the model. Jun says it's distribution, the one thing the labs lack. Crosscurrents Summit, presented by Clouted Watch, listen or read the full insight at https://www.bravesea.com/blog/enterprise-ai  BRAVE is Southeast Asia's leading tech podcast, hosted by Jeremy Au. Honest conversations with the region's top founders, investors, and operators on building startups in Southeast Asia. New episodes every week. Subscribe so you never miss one. Listen & Subscribe YouTube (English), YouTube (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (English), Spotify (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (Chinese), Spotify (Vietnamese), Apple Podcasts Follow BRAVE LinkedIn, X (Twitter), Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp Follow Jeremy Au LinkedIn, X / Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Threads, Twitch Resources Get transcripts, startup resources & community discussions at www.bravesea.com #EnterpriseAI #AIStrategy #AIAdoption #BuildVsBuy #AIROI #PhysicalAI #Robotics #SoutheastAsia #TechPodcast 00:00 Introduction 00:40 Meet the panel 03:02 Is enterprise AI adoption actually real? 05:34 Engineers have stopped typing code 08:21 What's really holding enterprises back 10:30 How to measure ROI and cap token spend 15:32 Where the returns show up internally 18:36 Build or buy, and why services came back 23:23 Advice to a three-years-younger self 26:02 Model, brand, or distribution?
• 
  Building the World's Most-used Medical AI | Dr. Thomas Kelly of Heidi - E716 27.07.2026 46min

  Dr. Thomas Kelly was a vascular surgery trainee in Melbourne before he walked away from medicine to fix the problem he hated most: paperwork stealing time from patients. Today he is co-founder and CEO of Heidi Health, an AI medical scribe and "care partner" used by clinicians in more than 100 countries, valued at US$465M after its 2025 Series B led by Point72. In this episode, Jeremy Au and Dr. Tom break down how GPT-4 nearly destroyed the company, forcing a brutal pivot from an AI model company into a product company, and how that near-death moment led to becoming one of the world's most-used healthcare AI tools. They dig into why great AI scribing is far harder than a demo, how Heidi is expanding into clinical decision support and medical-device territory, why he isn't scared of OpenAI in healthcare, and why Singapore, Japan, and the rest of Asia are core to the roadmap. A must-watch for founders, venture capitalists, and operators building AI, health tech, and vertical software across Southeast Asia. Watch, listen or read the full insight at https://www.bravesea.com/blog/heidi-health-tom-kelly  BRAVE is Southeast Asia's leading tech podcast, hosted by Jeremy Au. Honest conversations with the region's top founders, investors, and operators on building startups in Southeast Asia. New episodes every week. Subscribe so you never miss one. Listen & Subscribe YouTube (English), YouTube (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (English), Spotify (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (Chinese), Spotify (Vietnamese), Apple Podcasts Follow BRAVE LinkedIn, X (Twitter), Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp Follow Jeremy Au LinkedIn, X / Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Threads, Twitch Resources Get transcripts, startup resources & community discussions at www.bravesea.com #HealthcareAI #AIScribe #FounderStory #AIinHealthcare #StartupPivot #SoutheastAsia #VentureCapital 00:00 – From vascular surgery to AI: meet Dr. Tom Kelly 01:38 – Why he became a doctor: the "platonic ideal" GP 02:55 – Maths, machine learning, and the pre-med detour 04:22 – GAMSAT YouTube videos to his first business 07:06 – Building Oscer, an early AI clinical tutor 08:58 – Why doctor paperwork is a capacity crisis 13:05 – Is an AI scribe easy or hard to build? 17:35 – From scribe to full AI care partner 18:28 – Clinical AI and medical device regulation 21:32 – Roadmap: tasks, primitives, and on-prem hardware 26:24 – Going global: Singapore, Japan, and Asia 28:50 – Localizing for Malay, Hokkien, and Singlish 32:52 – Why clinicians drive the innovation 34:21 – The GPT-4 pivot that nearly ended Heidi 37:20 – Competing with OpenAI and how to run a pivot
• 
  Spent $1.5m On One Sperm Race and It Went Viral | Eric Zhu - E715 22.07.2026 32min

  An 18-year-old got kicked out of high school, built a data startup from a bathroom stall, and now raises millions to race human sperm on live television. In this episode of the BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast, Jeremy Au sits down with Eric Zhu, founder of Aviato and Sperm Racing, to unpack one of the strangest venture-backed stories in tech. Eric explains how he ran founder calls from an Indiana high school bathroom using a green screen and hall passes bought from drug dealers, why a billionaire dared him to turn sperm speed into a spectator sport, and how the first race cost $1.5 million and went viral overnight. He also breaks down the real business behind the memes: biomarker sports, rolling up e-commerce and software brands, and running them with AI agents. Along the way he shares why he bets on young, hungry, underpriced talent, why he thinks founders are "degenerate gamblers" chasing asymmetric upside, and why AI may be the biggest inflection point since the early internet. Watch, listen or read the full insight at https://www.bravesea.com/blog/eric-zhu-sperm-racing  BRAVE is Southeast Asia's leading tech podcast, hosted by Jeremy Au. Honest conversations with the region's top founders, investors, and operators on building startups in Southeast Asia. New episodes every week. Subscribe so you never miss one. Listen & Subscribe YouTube (English), YouTube (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (English), Spotify (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (Chinese), Spotify (Vietnamese), Apple Podcasts Follow BRAVE LinkedIn, X (Twitter), Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp Follow Jeremy Au LinkedIn, X / Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Threads, Twitch Resources Get transcripts, startup resources & community discussions at www.bravesea.com #SpermRacing #Startup #VentureCapital #TechPodcast 00:00 The High School Bathroom Startup 03:02 - Moving to San Francisco 04:20 - Building a Data Engine 08:14 - Lessons in Leadership 09:13 - The Genesis of Sperm Racing 10:09 - Production Chaos in LA 14:02 - The Business of Biomarker Sports 21:35 - Hiring Gen Z Talent 23:44 - The Reality of Silicon Valley 26:39 - AI and The Future of Work
• 
  Zombie Unicorns: Southeast Asia's Structural VC Problem | Kristie Neo - E714 20.07.2026 58min

  Southeast Asia's venture market is not in a downturn. It is in a structural winter, and mid-2026 is when that distinction stopped being academic. Kristie Neo returns to break down what is actually happening across the region: Singapore's IPO revival is real but is being carried by data centres and REITs rather than homegrown tech; allocators now rank Southeast Asia at the bottom of Asia behind China, India, Japan, Korea and ANZ; and a generation of growth-stage companies is being kept alive past the point where a merger or a wind-down would have served everyone better. Jeremy Au and Kristie also work through what could actually restart the funding ladder, from encouraging tech M&A and fixing university IP commercialisation, to tax incentives for angels and support for syndicate leads who can assemble the $1 million to $5 million rounds that Singapore currently cannot fill. If you are a founder raising in Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand or Malaysia, or an LP trying to work out where capital goes next in Asia, this is the honest state of the market. Watch, listen or read the full insight at https://www.bravesea.com/blog/kristie-neo-southeast-asia-zombie-unicorns  BRAVE is Southeast Asia's leading tech podcast, hosted by Jeremy Au. Honest conversations with the region's top founders, investors, and operators on building startups in Southeast Asia. New episodes every week. Subscribe so you never miss one. Listen & Subscribe YouTube (English), YouTube (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (English), Spotify (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (Chinese), Spotify (Vietnamese), Apple Podcasts Follow BRAVE LinkedIn, X (Twitter), Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp Follow Jeremy Au LinkedIn, X / Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Threads, Twitch Resources Get transcripts, startup resources & community discussions at www.bravesea.com #SoutheastAsia #VentureCapital #SingaporeIPO 00:00 Intro 01:00 Singapore's IPO revival and what is really lifting SGX 06:30 Safe haven status and the Indonesia allocation problem 09:34 Why Southeast Asia sits at the bottom of the allocator stack 14:58 A generation of zombie companies 18:07 The case for mergers, folds and consolidation 21:50 Fixing the funding ladder: who writes the first check 23:55 The IP commercialisation gap and university tech licensing 35:15 Rethinking how governments seed VC funds 41:24 Where can an LP put money today 45:00 Incentivising angels, syndicates and family offices 52:43 The information gap and parting thoughts
• 
  Climbing the Wrong Mountain: Why I Walked Away from Big Law and PE | Daniel Suh - E713 16.07.2026 42min

  Daniel Suh spent a decade optimizing for prestige. Korean immigrant parents who left careers behind to start a small business in the US, a childhood spent moving apartments through bankruptcy, UCSD, five years in consulting to put his brother and mother through school, then an accelerated JD-MBA at Northwestern. He landed the big law summer and a private equity offer, the American dream on paper. He was elated for about ten minutes. "It felt like climbing a mountain for ten years. You get to the summit, and then you realize you climbed the wrong mountain the whole time." Today he is General Partner at Gold House Ventures, the cultural capital fund backing founders at the intersection of AI and creativity.  In this conversation with Jeremy Au, Daniel breaks down the second-generation guilt that pushes immigrant kids into careers they never chose, the high school demand letter that won back his family's security deposit in 24 hours, and why Gold House evolved from an Asian founder fund into something broader. He gets specific about what "cultural capital" actually buys a founder that money and introductions cannot, and why the backlash against AI is a narrative problem rather than a technology one. If nobody trusts the model, adoption stalls no matter how good the model is. Culture, not capability, is what moves people. A conversation for founders, VCs and operators across Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia who are quietly wondering whether they are climbing someone else's mountain. Watch, listen or read the full insight at https://www.bravesea.com/blog/daniel-suh-gold-house   BRAVE is Southeast Asia's leading tech podcast, hosted by Jeremy Au. Honest conversations with the region's top founders, investors, and operators on building startups in Southeast Asia. New episodes every week. Subscribe so you never miss one. Listen & Subscribe YouTube (English), YouTube (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (English), Spotify (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (Chinese), Spotify (Vietnamese), Apple Podcasts Follow BRAVE LinkedIn, X (Twitter), Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp Follow Jeremy Au LinkedIn, X / Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Threads, Twitch Resources Get transcripts, startup resources & community discussions at www.bravesea.com #VentureCapital #StartupPodcast #GoldHouse #SoutheastAsia  00:00 - From San Francisco to Manila 01:31 - Korean immigrant parents, bankruptcy and growing up in poverty 03:56 - Three prisms: parent expectations, family money and your own dreams 07:38 - Five years in consulting to put the family through school 09:45 - The Northwestern JD-MBA: decent at law, miserable doing it 13:39 - The big law and private equity offer and climbing the wrong mountain 17:04 - Finding Gold House on LinkedIn and getting emotional over a website 19:46 - The security deposit fight that made empowerment personal 24:42 - Building the "Asian YC" and the fund thesis 27:26 - The Fund II rebrand: cultural capital 32:12 - The AI backlash: jobs, deepfakes and paying creators 34:45 - Bravery, optionality and choosing yourself by telling the truth 39:22 - "A winner is a loser who tried one more time"
• 
  The Career Advice Harvard Never Taught: Burnout, Fear & Flow | Pooja Venkatraman - E712 13.07.2026 47min

  Executive coach Pooja Venkatraman (Harvard College, Harvard MBA, ex-BCG, ex-Capital One) explains why burnout has almost nothing to do with how many hours you work, and everything to do with the mental soundtrack running while you work. She breaks down the two flavors of burnout high achievers miss, why "just quit" is bad advice, and the framework she uses to help Ivy League grads and operators get unstuck. For founders, VCs, and operators across Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, and Malaysia, this is a candid look at building a career that feels as good on the inside as it looks on the outside: navigating career pivots, imposter syndrome, and high-pressure decisions without burning out. Pooja also shares her non-linear path from aspiring screenwriter to coach, and why every move was a hypothesis worth testing. Learn more about Pooja: https://poojavcoaching.com/ Watch, listen or read the full insight at https://www.bravesea.com/blog/pooja-venkatraman-burnout-fear-flow  BRAVE is Southeast Asia's leading tech podcast, hosted by Jeremy Au. Honest conversations with the region's top founders, investors, and operators on building startups in Southeast Asia. New episodes every week. Subscribe so you never miss one. Listen & Subscribe YouTube (English), YouTube (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (English), Spotify (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (Chinese), Spotify (Vietnamese), Apple Podcasts Follow BRAVE LinkedIn, X (Twitter), Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp Follow Jeremy Au LinkedIn, X / Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Threads, Twitch Resources Get transcripts, startup resources & community discussions at www.bravesea.com #Burnout #CareerCoaching #ExecutiveCoaching #SoutheastAsia #Podcast #TechCareers #Leadership #Founders #HighAchievers #CareerChange #MentalHealth 00:00 The biggest misconception about burnout 00:39 Intro: from HBS classmates to executive coach 03:35 The writer years: Harry Potter to Harvardwood 08:22 Pivot to business: Capital One and the secret writing job 10:28 HBS, BCG, and the hypothesis that broke 13:12 The Clay Christensen fellowship and the shelved book 17:44 Back to Capital One: "You're not being brave" 23:44 The circular career and the wrapping paper trap 28:56 Hiring a coach, then becoming one 35:17 Burnout is not about the hours 38:44 Why not just quit? The internal tug of war 42:05 Being brave, advice to her younger self, and takeaways
• 
  AI, Zeitgeist and Algorithmic Warfare | Justin Banusing - E711 09.07.2026 42min

  Host Jeremy Au sits down with two-time founder Justin Banusing, who returns to BRAVE to explain why he shut down a startup that was already working, near $1M ARR and freshly funded, and what that call taught him about building across Southeast Asia and the US. Together they unpack the value-chain trap Justin calls "sharecropping on someone else's land," why college gaming and esports could not become venture-scale businesses, and how the cultural shift from campus gaming to music festivals reshaped his entire thesis on where to build. From AcadArena, the Philippines' first Series A gaming startup, through the AI-companion era of Clout Kitchen, to Clouted, the a16z Speedrun-backed AI virality engine he runs today, Justin traces the difference between revenge founders and missionary founders, why he chose to build again instead of moving into venture capital, and how he thinks about winning what he calls "algorithmic warfare." Jeremy draws out the emotional side of pulling the plug and the discipline behind it. For founders, operators, and investors in Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, and Malaysia, this is a candid look at product-market fit, distribution, and knowing when to reset. Watch, listen or read the full insight at https://www.bravesea.com/blog/justin-banusing-clouted-ai-virality  BRAVE is Southeast Asia's leading tech podcast, hosted by Jeremy Au. Honest conversations with the region's top founders, investors, and operators on building startups in Southeast Asia. New episodes every week. Subscribe so you never miss one. Listen & Subscribe YouTube (English), YouTube (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (English), Spotify (Bahasa Indonesia), Spotify (Chinese), Spotify (Vietnamese), Apple Podcasts Follow BRAVE LinkedIn, X (Twitter), Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp Follow Jeremy Au LinkedIn, X / Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Threads, Twitch Resources Get transcripts, startup resources & community discussions at www.bravesea.com #StartupFounder #VentureCapital #ArtificialIntelligence #SoutheastAsiaStartups #CreatorEconomy #GoingViral #TechPodcast #Philippines 00:00 Introducing Justin & Clouted 2:31 What Makes Justin a Founder 4:14 The Rise and Fall of College Gaming 6:51 Why Esports Doesn't Scale 10:44 The Messy Exit and a Deliberate Sabbatical 13:16 Founder, Not Investor 17:54 Revenge Startup vs. Missionary Founder 19:51 Building Backseat, the AI Gaming Companion 24:53 Knowing When to Pull the Plug 27:03 Falling for Music and Finding the Real Problem 33:34 Algorithmic Warfare: Why Virality Is Now Engineered 36:57 Inside Clouted: The AI Media Buyer 39:14 The Brave Question and Takeaways