Discussion

Just got back from Money20/20 Bangkok. Three trends I can't stop thinking about: (1) Embedded finance is eating traditional banking in SEA, (2) CBDC pilot programs are accelerating across ASEAN, (3) BNPL 2.0 with credit scoring. Thread below.

Just wrapped up a 3-month pilot of 4-day work weeks (32 hours, same pay) with our 45-person team in KL. Productivity stayed flat, employee satisfaction +47%, sick days down 62%. Happy to share our implementation playbook.

The new Singapore PDPA amendments go live next month. Our legal team briefed us yesterday — the consent requirements for AI-driven decisions are much stricter. Anyone else scrambling? Sharing our compliance checklist for free.

Our engineering team grew from 5 to 40 in 14 months. We're feeling the growing pains — PR reviews take 3+ days, on-call burnout, knowledge silos. What team structures or processes actually worked for fast-scaling startups?

We're a Series A startup in the logistics space and struggling to find the right pricing model. Freemium vs usage-based vs flat — what's working in 2026 for B2B SaaS in Southeast Asia?

We're experimenting with skill-based hiring (no degree requirement) for our product design roles. First 3 hires from this pipeline are outperforming traditional hires. Anyone else tried this at scale?

Just analyzed Q2 data — the ASEAN cross-border e-commerce market grew 28% YoY. Thailand and Vietnam are the breakout stars. Who else is seeing this? Logistics costs dropped 12% with new trade agreements.

Has anyone successfully implemented zero-trust architecture in a hybrid cloud setup across multiple ASEAN jurisdictions? Our compliance team flagged cross-border data issues with Malaysia and Indonesia.

Interesting shift in the Philippines: BPO companies are aggressively hiring AI trainers instead of traditional agents. 40% of new BPO job postings now require ML/data annotation skills. The outsourcing model is evolving fast.

What's the current equity benchmark for a CTO hire at pre-seed stage in Southeast Asia? Seeing ranges from 3% to 15% and that's a massive spread. How are you structuring vesting and cliffs?

Anyone interviewed at ByteDance Singapore for a senior product role? I have my final round next week — 4 hours of case studies and system design. What should I focus on?

We need to implement SOC 2 Type II for the first time. We're a 20-person startup — what's the realistic timeline and cost? Any recommended audit firms in Southeast Asia that work well with small teams?

Looking to expand our HR SaaS from Singapore into Japan. What are the biggest cultural and regulatory hurdles for HR tech specifically? Anyone with first-hand Japan market entry experience?

Golden 7 Minutes has been my morning routine for 3 months now. Results: launched 2 side projects, wrote 40K words, and got promoted. The key is consistency, not intensity. What's your 'first 7' ritual?

Our research lab at NUS has developed a novel NLP model for understanding Singlish and Manglish with 94% accuracy. Looking for industry partners to productize this — customer support chatbots, sentiment analysis, content moderation.

The 'AI Everywhere' piece resonated deeply. But the question isn't just about human pace vs machine pace — it's about who controls the definition of productivity. We need a workers' rights framework for AI-augmented workplaces.

For the ASEAN Trade Show next month — which exhibitors are bringing interactive demos? We're showcasing our IoT asset tracking and would love to coordinate booth placement with complementary tech.

We're building an open-source API gateway for ASEAN fintechs and looking for beta testers. Already partnered with 3 banks in Singapore. Next: Malaysia and Thailand. If you're a developer at a regional bank or neobank, let's talk.

We're producing a 6-episode podcast series on 'ASEAN Tech Founders' and looking for guests and sponsors. Target audience: 50K+ monthly listeners across Spotify, Apple, YouTube. Episode topics: fintech, agritech, edtech, healthtech, greentech, spacetech.

The serpent defence framework article is brilliant. But I'm curious — how does it handle SYN flood attacks specifically? Anyone tested the 7-layer approach against Layer 3/4 DDoS while Layer 7 filtering is active?

SME Growth Summit attendees — let's do an informal dinner on day 1. I've booked a table for 20 at Lau Pa Sat. DM me to confirm your spot. Also, who's interested in a pre-summit golf session on Saturday morning?

For sCard Networking Night next week — who's attending from the fintech crowd? I'll be there representing Meridian Capital. Looking to connect with payment gateway founders and regtech startups.

Grateful: our Discord community for ASEAN developers just crossed 15,000 members. We're hosting a free AMA with 3 engineering leaders from Grab, GoTo, and Shopee next Friday. All experience levels welcome.