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.
Add your view
Replies
11 totalFounder at GrowthDesk
This is a useful question. The first thing I would clarify is whether the team is solving for speed, trust, or cost, because the answer changes a lot once that priority is explicit.
Strategy Lead at SEA Ventures
We tried something similar last quarter. The part that helped most was making the requirements measurable before inviting vendors or partners into the conversation.
Commercial Lead at MarketPulse
That matches what we saw too. The reference check saved us from choosing a partner that looked strong on paper but had no local delivery depth.
Operations Director at BridgeWorks
Adding one practical point: ask for two recent references in the same market. It filters out a surprising amount of surface-level experience.
Product Manager at CloudLane
I would be interested to compare notes. The pattern we keep seeing is that regional execution matters more than the headline tool or framework.