Best XA Network Podcasts (2025)

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XA Podcast 030 | How to Secure Your First Board Position | Su-Yen Wong and Howie Lau | Governance Series 34:00

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2+ y ago34:00

34:00

Are you a senior tech executive wondering how to level up with a board position? Why would they appoint you? And what would be the expectations, risks and rewards once you actually make it onto one? Find out in this latest instalment of the XA Governance Series. Our SpeakersHowie Lau is the Managing Partner, Corporate Development, & Partnerships of…

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XA Podcast 029 | The Entrepreneur Gene | Roger Egan, Co-Founder, Nurture and RedMart 32:37

2+ y ago32:37

32:37

When everyone is saying No, how do you eventually get to a Yes? Sheer persistence. Roger Egan, Co-founder of and former CEO of RedMart joins Reza Behnam to discuss his journey of founding RedMart, overcoming many naysayers on the path to acquisition and what he's working on now. Our Speakers Roger Egan is a serial entrepreneur and the co-founder an…

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XA Podcast 028 | Backing founders for life | Allen Taylor, Endeavor Catalyst 26:30

2+ y ago26:30

26:30

What would you say about a VC that uses all its profits to help establish economic opportunity in emerging markets? Or one that professes to back entrepreneurs for life, rather than on the strength of their business plan? Hear all about it from Allen Taylor, managing partner of Endeavor, a one-of-a-kind VC explicitly trying to use capitalism for go…

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XA Podcast 027 | Two sides of the startup investing table 40:46

2+ y ago40:46

40:46

In this episode, a little reminiscent of a Shark Tank investing recap, we bring together a founder and their investor to hear both sides of the investment story. Why did the founder, Damien, choose the XA Network and what value did he get from it? And what did Keemin, the investor, see in iPiD to make him want to invest? Plus, get a peek into the p…

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XA Podcast 026 | Board Composition with Abby Adlerman and Sze Meng Soon | Governance Series 41:23

3y ago41:23

41:23

There’s a lot a Board of Directors can do for a company. Its efficacy and vision play a tremendous role in a company’s success. Needless to say, a lot of thought goes into who should be on the board in the first place. Abby Adlerman and Sze Meng Soon join guest host Reza Benham to discuss this in detail. Our Speakers Abby Adlerman is the CEO and fo…

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XA Podcast 025 | Eric Cheng on Building a Leading E-Commerce Marketplace | Founder Series 26:56

3y ago26:56

26:56

They say the third time’s a charm. And it really was for Eric Cheng, whose third attempt at a start-up turned out to become a leading car e-commerce platform. Were the previous two ventures in vain? No. He took their lessons and applied them to perfect Carsome. He reveals all in this episode. Our Speakers Eric Cheng is the co-founder of Carsome, th…

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XA Podcast 024 | From Inception to Acquisition: Tracking the Journey of a Successful Start-Up with Max Bittner 39:53

3y ago39:53

39:53

Starting and building a successful start-up is no mean feat. And Max Bittner has seen it all—from founding and building the Lazada Group to seeing its rapid growth across a span of just 4 years to it finally being acquired by Alibaba. Listen to his conversation with host Michele Ferrario to know about his journey. Our Guest Max Bittner is the CEO o…

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XA Podcast 023 | Board Fundamentals for Startups with Carmen Yuen and Ferish Patel | Governance Series 40:06

3y ago40:06

40:06

Startups are expected to move fast and break things. But too much of that and you land in hot water! That's why high quality startups spend time establishing a responsible and active Board. Find out how in this episode jointly presented by Singapore Institute of Directors and the XA Network Our Guests Carmen Yuen is a general partner at Vertex Vent…

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XA Podcast 022 | Alex Gold on C-Suite Hiring, Self-Awareness and Culture | People and Talent Series 40:07

3y ago40:07

40:07

Hear from an acclaimed tech recruiter on how he got started in the business, the challenges of finding the perfect C-Suite fit, the importance of self-awareness and generalist skill-sets and some of his most memorable projects Our Speakers Alex Gold is the MD for True Search in South East Asia. True Search hires leadership for privately held, growt…

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XA Podcast 021 | Relationships, Experimentation and Founding Teams with Vicky Chai | People and Culture Series 34:48

3y ago34:48

34:48

How do you build a great founding team? How do you handle moments of disruption, such as mergers or the mental health issues and increased isolation caused by working from home? And in a fundamentally people-oriented function, do you rely on your gut or act based on data and experimentation? In this episode we have Vicky Chai and Sergio Salvador di…

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XA Podcast 020 | Resilience, Change and Culture with Shweta Shukla | People and Talent Series 28:19

3y ago28:19

28:19

Netflix has a unique approach to people and culture that is well known across the world. How did it maintain its strong culture through hyper-expansion? And what are some of the lessons in that for growth-stage founders? Our Speakers Shweta is the founder of The CultureGram, a platform for honest conversations about culture, the future of work, lea…

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XA Podcast 019 | A Startup Approach to Nation-Building | People and Talent Series 26:18

3y ago26:18

26:18

Startup founders often associate government organisations with being plodding creatures, slow to adapt and reluctant to embrace change. But what if the organisation in question is a tech startup of it's own, tasked with implementing the tools and tech needed by a future-friendly and forward-looking government? What does it take to build a culture o…

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XA Podcast 18 | Driving Change During Hypergrowth at Gojek | People and Talent Series) 29:26

3y ago29:26

29:26

What worked as a new startup invariably stops working as you scale, especially so with people and teams. But the changes you need to make through various stages of growth can be surprisingly simple yet very effective. Our Speakers Sunil Setlur is the Global Chief People Officer at Gojek. He joined Gojek in 2019 and currently leads all aspects of hu…

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XA Podcast 017 | Opportunities and Challenges in SE Asian FoodTech w/ Andre Menezes, Fengru Lin and Saurabh Bajaj 33:41

3y ago33:41

33:41

Many startups aim to be disruptive and revolutionary, but how many can claim to be changing habits ingrained in us since the dawn of evolution? In this episode we discuss the opportunities and challenges faced by foodtech entrepreneurs as they navigate the consumer adoption, regulatory and production challenges of changing the way we eat. In this e…

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XA Podcast 016 | XA Network and the South East Asia Angel Investing Landscape 45:40

3y ago45:40

45:40

What do successful angel investors look for in South East Asian startups? What are they advising their investees to do in the current market environment? And how does an influential angel network like the XA Network help with business growth and sustainability? Find out in this episode with Alap Bharadwaj (Director, Google), Tony Zameczkowski (VP, …

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XA Podcast 015 | From Inception to IPO: Culture, Economics and Timing w/ Hari Krishnan, CEO of PropertyGuru 27:46

3y ago27:46

27:46

Have you ever wondered what it takes for a company to go public? How does the CEO prepare for the journey? What do investors look for? Find out directly from Hari Krishnan, CEO of recently-listed PropertyGuru about the steps and mis-steps they had on their journey to IPO. Hari Krishnan is the Chief Executive Officer at the Property Guru Group, Asia…

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XA Podcast 014 | One and Done: Building a Profitable Company on a Single Funding Round w/ Le Hong Minh, Founder of VNG Corporation 27:31

3y ago27:31

27:31

Could you ever imagine your “hobby” landing you in a position to impact millions of people around the globe? Or, better yet, heading down the path to IPO on just a single funding round? Well, that’s the story of Le Hong Minh, whose interest in playing online games led him to venture into the field of technology and founding his own company in 2004.…

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XA Podcast 013 | Active Intelligence and the Early Days of VC in SEA w/ Hian Goh, Co-Founder and General Partner, Openspace Ventures 29:53

3+ y ago29:53

29:53

What do you expect from a market that doesn’t have a developed ecosystem? Many investors are extremely cynical about it and rightly so. But these markets have asymmetries that come with a huge potential for investors to discover ;building themselves and in turn the market as a whole. If you want to listen from an expert about how he entered and saw…

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XA Podcast 012 | The Roxy Dynamic: Building Great Co-Founder Relationships w/ Ronald Ros and Rexy Dorado, Co-Founders, Kumu 26:56

3+ y ago26:56

26:56

Before you have funding, or product-market fit, or a business even, you have your co-founders. And it has been said that the co-founder relationship is almost like a marriage. It can be a magical partnership, where you see each other through thick and thin. Or it could be a match made in hell, ending with your startup imploding. How does one create…

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XA Podcast 011 | Coffee or Froth? Challenges in Finding Sustainable Businesses w/ Peng T Ong, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Monk's Hill Ventures 19:06

3+ y ago19:06

19:06

Join as as we discuss some of the key challenges facing startups with Peng T. Ong, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Monk's Hill Ventures. Peng is a startup industry veteran with over 25 years of experience as an entrepreneur, founder, and investor in Silicon Valley and in Asia. After stints as an early employee in multiple startups, he went on to…

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XA Podcast 010 | "Sequoia's relentless focus on Endurance" w/ Abheek Anand, Managing Director, Sequoia Capital 25:14

4y ago25:14

25:14

We host Abheek Anand from Sequoia Capital and get under the hood on what drives the legendary venture capital firm forward. Abheek talks about how the firm focuses not on what could go wrong, but could go right, the incredible market upside of backing missionary founders, and what makes Southeast Asia more like Silicon Valley than India or China. M…

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XA Podcast 009 | "Building for Billions" w/ Steve Chen, Co-Founder, YouTube 1:03:36

4+ y ago1:03:36

1:03:36

We are honored to host Steve Chen, Co-Founder YouTube, and an XA Board Member. Hear from the internet hall-of-famer on working with legends such as Peter Thiel, Max Levchin, Elon Musk at PayPal, creating and building YouTube, the importance of being deliberate about a multi-market strategy and the promise that innovation holds in APAC! You can find…

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XA Podcast 008 | "The future of work in Indonesia" w/ Wisnu Nugrahadi, Co-Founder & CEO, Sampingan 45:39

4+ y ago45:39

45:39

We host Wisnu Nugrahadi, Co-Founder & CEO of Sampingan, an XA Portfolio company. Hear from Wisnu on the importance of connections and friends in an entrepreneurial journey, navigating a tough 2020 and the future of work in Indonesia! Do check out Sampingan at https://www.sampingan.co.id/. You can find out more about the XA Network at https://xanetw…

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XA Podcast 007 | Ian McKenna, Co-Founder & CEO, Infradigital 50:11

4+ y ago50:11

50:11

We host Ian McKenna, Co-Founder & CEO of Infradigital Nusantara, an XA Portfolio company. Hear from Ian on his entrepreneurial journey from day zero to solving digital payments pain points for Indonesia’s schools, why he’s excited about startups in Indonesia, and his love for “hard” sci-fi! Do check out Infradigital at https://www.infradigital.io/.…

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XA Podcast 006: Jussi Salovaara, Co-Founder & Managing Partner Asia, Antler 50:57

5y ago50:57

50:57

We host Jussi Salovaara, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Asia at Antler. We hear his unique take on startup success in Asia and SEA, Antler's rise globally and how he he focuses on life long learning. Having evaluated thousands of startups, Jussi's breadth and depth of understanding across the early stage space in unparalleled - leading to one of ou…

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XA Podcast 005: Maya Hari, VP & MD, Twitter APAC 32:52

5y ago32:52

32:52

In partnership with Tigerhall (www.tigerhall.com) We host Maya Hari, VP & MD, APAC at Twitter. We have a wide ranging conversation on diversity and how our ecosystem can do better, scaling leadership styles and advice to aspiring startup founders. Do check out Maya at maya_hari@ on Twitter and you can find out more about the XA Network at www.xanet…

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XA Podcast 004: Akshay Bhushan, Partner at Lightspeed Ventures 45:55

5y ago45:55

45:55

We host Akshay Bhushan, Partner and Head of Southeast Asia with Lightspeed Ventures. Akshay talks about his journey through venture, unique insights on founders, why he believes Southeast Asia is the future and much more! Do check out Lightspeed at www.lsvp.com and you can find out more about the XA Network at www.xanetwork.co and follow us on Twit…

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XA Podcast 003: Fengru Lin & Max Rye, Co-founders at Turtletree Labs 37:55

5y ago37:55

37:55

We host Fengru & Max, an awesome founding team at Turtletree Labs, an XA Network portfolio company. They walk us through their unique company, how they came together, phenomenal advice on reaching out to experts in their industries and what makes them so bullish on SEA. Do check out Turtletree Labs at www.turtletreelabs.com and you can find out mor…

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XA Podcast 002: Will Hanschell, Co-Founder & CEO, Pencil 44:52

5+ y ago44:52

44:52

We host Will Hanschell, Co-Founder & CEO at Pencil, an XA Network portfolio company. Will walks us through his journey to being an entrepreneur, advice for founders and investors and delves into his thoughts on Southeast Asia, the way he learns and the best piece of advice he's received. Do check out Pencil at www.trypencil.com and you can find out…

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XA Podcast 001: Alap hosts Tony & Chirayu 40:01

5+ y ago40:01

40:01

Alap hosts fellow XA Network members Chirayu W. and Tony Z. for a laidback chat about seed and angel investing in Southeast Asia. Expect great insights, surprising admissions and some fun towards the end!