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Your Traction Is Real. The Money Says No. (Part 1)

I’ve had a version of the same conversation maybe a dozen times in the past few weeks. A founder — different founder each time, same …

+270 XP 24 AUG 2026

The Map for Illegible Founders (Part 2)

In Part 1, I wrote about the founders I keep talking to — real traction, real customers, no investor interest — and why that’s happening: …

+120 XP 24 AUG 2026

Southeast Asia doesn't have a builder problem. It has a buyer problem.

I got invited to a lunch a little while ago on “redefining Southeast Asia’s value proposition.” Fourteen people around a table, …

+300 XP 30 JUL 2026

Depth Is the Thing You're Selling

This past Saturday I got to sit on a panel with Jeff Paine (Golden Gate Ventures), Michael Blakey (Cocoon Capital), and Roy from Crane. It was one of …

+180 XP 20 JUL 2026

Zero-Based Budgeting for Your Engineering Team

A founder I back asked me last week if I knew anyone who could help them rethink their engineering org from scratch. Not a layoff consultant. Not a …

+300 XP 21 MAR 2026

Belief Is Contagious

There’s a negativity problem in Southeast Asia’s startup ecosystem right now. And look — there are reasons for it. Markdowns, down rounds, …

+150 XP 5 MAR 2026

Forget the Deck. Watch the Founders.

Last year, I sat through a forty-five minute pitch where the CEO answered every single question — including deeply technical ones — while the CTO sat …

+210 XP 3 MAR 2026

Three Books Every Startup Founder Should Read (That Aren't About Startups)

The best books about building startups aren’t really about startups. They’re about people — how they work together, why they fall apart, …

+180 XP 21 FEB 2026

Humans Hate Change. Your Job Is to Help Them Through It Anyway.

Most startup advice is about strategy, metrics, hiring. Very little about how people feel — and yet feelings are usually what determines whether a …

+240 XP 20 FEB 2026

Chef's knife? Or Kiwi peeler?

A chef’s knife can do almost anything in the kitchen — chop, slice, dice, even peel if you’re determined enough. A kiwi peeler? It does …

+120 XP 29 APR 2025

Understanding Silicon Valley: A Discovery Operating System

This article was published as part of the book “America: A Singapore Perspective” edited by Tommy Koh and Daljit Singh. The full book can …

+360 XP 4 JAN 2022

Metrics - what matters and why (to a pre-seed investor)

The idea of metrics for a pre-seed startups can feel rather oxymoronic; what does it even mean to have metrics when the business is so early? To add …

+120 XP 16 AUG 2020

Strategy, and why product-market fit alone isn't good enough

Every week I write a note to our portfolio, and in each one, I share one thought that I think is relevant for our founders to noodle on. This …

+180 XP 26 MAY 2020

Scaling - The Agony and Ecstasy of scaling a high-growth business

I’ve given various versions of this talk, and thought it might be worth sharing out the slides here for folks. Will add a transcript of the …

+60 XP 2 MAY 2020

So you want to start a company...here's a reading list

I recently met with an incoming MBA student, who is leaving his cushy PE job for business school so that he can start something of his own. He asked …

+150 XP 31 JUL 2019

How to write a great investor update

One of my portfolio CEOs recently asked me for some examples of a great investor update newsletter and I thought that was a good opportunity to …

+150 XP 22 MAY 2019

Why I decided to join Hustle Fund

After almost 6 years at NerdWallet, and having had the chance of a lifetime to build a business from scratch with my friends, I was looking for …

+90 XP 11 SEP 2018