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Analyse Asia with Bernard Leong
Analyse Asia with Bernard Leong

Analyse Asia with Bernard Leong

Analyse Asia with Bernard Leong is a weekly podcast dedicated to dissecting the pulse of technology, business and media in Asia. We interview thought leaders, and global & regional leading industry players and gain their insights into how we perceive and understand the market.

Available Episodes 10

 

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).

"The global adoption index is something that we put out once a year and it comes strictly within the research domain and it's our attempt to really elucidate just how much activity is happening around the world. Crypto is a global asset with activity in over 150 countries around the world, but people feel like it's a black box because they don't really understand who are these crypto users. Where are they? But in reality, we don't have answers to those questions because we don't have survey data around them. The government does not collect that data. So it feels like a black box, but it's kind of a created black box in its own right. And we're trying to show that that's not the case, that there's a lot of transparency here, and we can see where adoption is happening, and we can see which countries are the leaders in crypto adoption." - Kimberly Grauer

 

Fresh out of the studio, Kimberly Grauer, the director of research from Chainalysis provided an in-depth analysis of the Global Crypto Adoption Index 2023, highlighting Asia's burgeoning crypto and web3 activities. We discussed how Asia is currently leading the crypto activity from the Philippines to Pakistan, and highlighted what users are doing with their cryptocurrencies in their respective markets. We discuss the surprise in India's crypto and web3 activities despite strong anti-crypto regulation and how Asia's favourable regulation is bringing innovation from the US to the rest of the world. Last but not least, Kim described great would look like for the Global Crypto Adoption Index report in the next few years.

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).

"But today,  the clouds are the new silos. They're like the silos in the data center, only they're public. But AWS is a bit of a data silo, as is Azure. We used to call it Hotel California - you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave. Right?  A big part of what Snowflake does is tear down those silos to allow customers to have the data where they want it. Because if it's on Snowflake, it doesn't matter which physical infrastructure is behind it; and to share that data easily around the world, that's a major change in the whole kind of cloud-silo infrastructure problem that we're facing today.” - Jon Robertson

 

Fresh out of the studio, Jon Robertson, President of Asia Pacific and Japan for Snowflake discussed the company's global vision & mission and their current expansion into the Asia Pacific and Japan region. Jon discussed the customer stories and how Snowflake's cloud data platform facilitates diverse workloads, from artificial intelligence to cybersecurity. Continuing the conversation, he explored the evolving trends in the data and AI landscape, amplified by notable advances such as ChatGPT and where it is heading. Last but not least, he shared what great would look like for Snowflake in the Asia Pacific region for the next 3-5 years.

 

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).

"Now the fundamental motivation is customers don't just want to buy a server, right? They want to buy an outcome. They want something to happen. They want to get business value. So, the SSG [Services & Solutions Group] is Lenovo's pivot to meet our customers where they are, and also to lead our company into the future because as they have more sophisticated requirements, they need a simple way to manage and deploy all that I T across their organizations. When they want that holistic view, providing the services via something which is now SSG gives them that integrated offering. In a single contract, they can focus on using their technology in a smarter way. So that's where the SSG is within the context of Lenovo, and as the technology and delivery officer, I'm responsible for helping think about how new technology can make the experience better. It can make the outcomes better for our customers, as well as running the teams that are often because we have managed services that are delivering for customers 24 by 7. All year round. And so the global team of delivery network and experts is also what I run to help bring those outcomes to the customers today." - Arthur Hu

Fresh from the studio, Arthur Hu, SVP & Chief Information Officer at Lenovo, discussed the transformative role of the Solutions and Services Group (SSG) in the era of Generative AI. He shared his career journey and Lenovo's mission to assist customers end-to-end in their journey with the Lenovo Solutions & Services Group (SSG). Hu explored SSG's impact and Lenovo's sustainability initiatives in the Asia Pacific. He emphasized the promise of AI for businesses, including Lenovo's approach and shared a glimpse into the future of SSG's contributions to the tech landscape in the Asia Pacific and beyond.

Episode Highlights: [0:00] Sponsor Announcement: Esevel [0:50] Quote of the Day from Arthur Hu [2:00] Introduction to Arthur Hu, CIO, Lenovo. [4:46] Arthur Hu shares his lessons on his career journey [7:04] Arthur's thoughts on remote working and how Lenovo is re-imaging the workplace by designing thought interactions between employees [10:02] Introduction of Lenovo and its global vision and mission [12:07] Lenovo Solutions and Services Group (SSG) and its role in Lenovo's enterprise business [14:54] Arthur balancing between two roles in Lenovo: Global CIO and CDTO in SSG [18:10] How does Lenovo SSG approach problem-solving for customers? [22:49] Success customer stories of Lenovo SSG in Asia Pacific [25:19] What is the one thing Arthur knows about Lenovo SSG that very few do? [26:17] Lenovo's focus on ESG [33:37] Challenges & Prospects for Lenovo SSG in the Asia Pacific [37:31] The myth of the talent gap in the Asia Pacific [39:91] Advice for CIOs on digital transformation [43:00] Opportunities for AI in the Enterprise [47:56] Lenovo's Role on AI in the Enterprise [50:03] What does great look like for Lenovo SSG in the next decade? [51:13] Closing

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).

 

"Evangelism comes from a Greek term, meaning bringing the good news. So fundamentally, what an evangelist does is bring the good news.  And so with Macintosh, the good news was that this personal computer can increase your creativity and productivity. The good news with Canva was that this product, it can increase your ability to communicate by a democratizing design. That's the good news. My podcast can help you become a remarkable person because you listen to what other remarkable people have done and how they did it. That's the good news of my podcast.  So what an evangelist does is bring the good news of his or her product. Now, this assumes that your product is good news.  So if you don't have a product that is good news, it's very hard to use evangelism to make it successful." - Guy Kawasaki

 

Fresh from the studio, we had an enlightening conversation with Guy Kawasaki, Chief Evangelist at Canva, who delved into the essence of product evangelism and revealed how the power of positive messaging propels Canva forward. Guy also dissected the transformative role of generative AI in democratizing design, explaining how it amplifies productivity and sparks greater creativity among users. To cap it off, he offered a glimpse into what great would look like for Canva's future trajectory.

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).

"It is not just cheaper, faster, better. I'm not gonna deny that. If we go forward a number of years, it's gonna cause what we've been calling economic singularity. The value of labor drops to zero and you got all kinds of problems from that. But in the immediate future, what's gonna be interesting is this is the first technology that enables us to automate relationships. Basically, the AI can interact with us the way we interact with us. This sounds very trivial,  but if you look at tech and you look at what has enabled tech to scale up to an incredible size around the world is our ability to automate the transaction. It's just that thing, and the problem with that is you end up with conversations of six months, LTV - Lifetime Value. What sense is in that?  You are talking about a human being and your lifetime values over six months. And it's for a simple reason. When you automate transactions, all you control is a transaction. So you take a human being and you transact, and you drain the relationship out of that relationship and you throw it away, and then get another one and keep going." - Ong Peng Tsin

 

Fresh out of the studio, Ong Peng Tsin, co-founder and general partner of Monk's Hill Ventures, delved deep into the realm of Generative AI in Southeast Asia. Reflecting on his journey as a venture capitalist, Peng Tsin shared insights into the evolution of his daily role after eight years of team building at Monk's Hill Ventures. He emphasized the unparalleled potential of generative AI, likening its transformative impact to the iPhone revolution, and addressing the booming generative AI market in Southeast Asia, catalyzed by technologies like Chat-GPT and how it presents significant opportunities in the region. Last but not least, he shared what a great AI startup would look like in the region.

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).

"We might not have old rundown houses or shacks that are converted into brand activations, but we have boats and we have parks, and we have so many different opportunities for organizations and brands to profile themselves during South By, in interestingly different ways. When you're putting together an event like South by Southwest, I go back to what I said before about understanding what it means to different people, what industry they're from, what does success look like for them and what are their goals for the event? Right from the beginning how I've approached this and how our team has approached this and TEG, who is producing the event in Australia; We are building the stage. It's up to our creative communities to perform we're providing the platform. We're bringing everyone to Sydney. You are only limited by your imagination of what you can do or achieve." - Colin Daniels

Fresh out of the studio, we had the pleasure of hosting Colin Daniels, the managing director of SXSW Sydney, who enthusiastically shed light on how the famous SXSW conference plans to make its debut in the Asia Pacific via Sydney. Unfolding the layers of planning and coordination involved, Colin gave us a sneak peek of what participants can look forward to - from film and music to arts, culture, technology, and innovation. Last but not least, Colin described what success would look like for the first-ever SXSW Sydney happening in October 2023.

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).

"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

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.

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).

 

"You talked about the market opportunity. When you look at the landscape of the billionaire population today, statistics show that you expect that population to grow by about 34% in the years to come. And from that population, at least a third is going to come from Asia Pacific, and in the next five years time, we expect Asia Pacific to be growing by about 40%. So the market is large in relation to the space of wealth to be managed. And we look at the growth of family office space in Singapore has been exponential. So between 2017 to 2019., according to the statistics, the family office space grew by five times. In 2020 at that time they were looking at around 400 family offices. By the end of 2022, it has grown to more than 800. So if you look at today, I think it is actually a very conservative estimate to say that the number of family offices in Singapore has crossed a thousand. you can easily expect it to be much more than that. So I think it's a very exciting area to be in." - Lee Wong from Lombard Odier

 

Fresh out of the studio, Lee Wong, head of family services from Lombard Odier and Co, joined us to discuss the firm's footprint in the Asia Pacific and the key trends in family offices across the Asia Pacific. We began with Lee Wong's background and how she entered into the private banking sector as a lawyer, specializing in the family offices industry. From there, she provided a comprehensive background on how family offices are built in the Asia Pacific, their purpose and structure with the right governance and framework to ensure their longevity. Last, but not least, Lee Wong shared the key trends in how the family offices market is growing in the Asia Pacific and what it means for the future due to the current geopolitical volatility

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).

"With both Web3 and VR, if you thought that was interesting a year ago, it's still interesting. Nothing's really changed. Like 98% of all the nonsense has gone away. But if it was early 2022 and you thought VR headsets are going to be a device that two or 3 billion people own, well nothing's changed in the last year to change that.  If you think that we might build a billion-scale, consumer software, consumer internet service on a blockchain. Which is really what Web3 means. Yeah, ok.  If you thought that a year ago, fine, but you should probably think that is still five years away, but it's just as interesting now as it was then. But it's five years away. Whereas this second wave of AI had been kind of bubbling away very quietly for five years. I mean, the first demo is using generative networks to make faces and things in 2014. And they look terrible. They don't look very interesting. And then suddenly in the last six months, as I've said, suddenly this has worked. Or something's working. And then the growth thing. Well, what is it that's working and what will it become?" - Benedict Evans

 

Fresh out of the studio, Benedict Evans, the independent analyst and venture partner from Mosaic Ventures & Entrepreneur First, joined us to talk about his recent annual presentation on the technology business: The New Gatekeepers. Benedict shared his perspectives on the evolution of Web3 and AI given the major shift from the metaverse to generative AI. Last but not least, Benedict delves into the exciting possibilities and potential outcomes for the emerging wave of AI startups and explains what success would really mean for them.

 

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).