Ashley Talks Asia Tech Podcast

Podcast highlights: 14:58 You are investing a lot in China while many of your colleagues in the San Francisco area do not. How does this usually work? -- Each investor has a different style in terms how they want to attract companies. It tends to be easier if you're vertically focused on a particular market, for example blockchain. If you are a founder, it's necessary to find the people who are vertically focused on the products or markets you are interested in. You should know when you reach out who you want to be contacting regarding potential investments. 24:24 Turning now to the topic of blockchain, what is your vision of the future of blockchain? -- Multiple parts to this answer. Excited because it represents a change in how we think about the ownership of data. From a technology side, it's changed how people think about a lot of relationships. Obviously distributed ledger technology is not new, but what is new is the idea of tokenization. It helps creators and investors get the capital and resources

Podcast highlights: 11:15 If you look around Asia, what is the most exciting market you see going forward? -- Just because of it's scale, China is the place. There is no comparison to what China is doing in terms of the amount of resources being poured into innovation in China now. India is starting to rise. Indonesia is massive; but it is lacking in some of the basic infrastructure that make technical systems thrive. It's a massive problem to figure out how to offer services in a market and ecosystem that is completely different. 32:15 How do you choose the right companies to work with? -- In the end we don't know if we've chosen the right companies. Maybe there are some we've missed along the way. We tend to look for very classic things. Does the startup have the right team? Do they have the skills to build with? Are they coachable? What is their market potential? What is their technology potential? Then we look at their prototype. This tells us a lot about whether the team is capable. 54:13 For people

Podcast highlights: 13:00 In your career of studying people, what are some things people in business should know and try to apply in their daily life? -- Consider whether you're dealing with customers on the one hand, or members of your team on the other. With customers, follow them. Don't develop solutions that don't respond to a need. Get inside their behavior and don't make them do something they don't want to do. With your team, always listen. Be open and receptive to what you see. 24:50 Let's talk about social media. What is your favorite social network and what do you think is the future of social media? -- Today social media is like a shopping mall. Younger people don't watch TV, but they are all on social. This means social media is the most effective way to reach your target audience. The problem for most companies is turning social media interest into sales. In terms of platforms, Facebook and Instagram are the two highest drivers of converting interest into sales. 59:00 How does one get on the

Podcast highlights: 12:45 What is the Bobble keyboard? 28:00 Does Ankit think Asia is a bit more narcissistic in social media? Will places like Europe or Latin America also hop on that train or is it something unique or heavily used in Asia? Also, does Ankit feel that this social media trend will continue and if so, what's next after emojis? 49:15 Right now, so many companies out there are obsessed with data to feed future AI machines. In Ankit's view, what is the right way to use data? Podcast notes: 00:05 ASH18 - Ashley Talks with Ashley Galina Dudarenok 00:10 Welcome Ankit Prasad to Ashley Talks 01:00 Ankit programmed his first thing when he was six years old! 02:45 Does Ankit think that ingenuity - when it comes to technology, this skill or curiosity - is learned or inborn? 03:45 Ankit went and built a company when he was 16. Is he coming from an entrepreneurial background or is his family in business? How does that happen to a teenager? 06:15 How did Ankit's parents react when he dropped out of colleg

Podcast highlights: 00:55 Tell us more about Makeblock -- Makeblock is a company whose aim is to help people create. Often people have an idea but need help on the mechanical, software, or electronics side of things. What we do is provide a platform to unify these elements and help people create. 12:15 What advice would you offer people in terms of how to get started? What things do you think are necessary to be successful in this field? -- You have to have an interest in what you're doing. Running a business is very very hard, so having that interest is important. Another recommendation is think differently. Many people fail because they just try to copy what someone else is doing and don't bring new ideas and products to market. 51:30 If you can leave listeners with some wisdom, what would it be? -- Do things that help people remain in the physical world. Keep building and creating! Podcast notes: NOTE: This episode contains explicit language. 00:05 Welcome Jasen Wang, Founder and CEO of Makeblock t

Podcast highlights: 12:50 How does Fransiska motivate herself to always stay curious? How can everyone keep being curious? 22:00 What role does Fransiska want to play in the future of humanity with regards to programming? 32:00 What can people learn from Fransiska being strong and successful even as a "minority"? Fransiska's key lessons - believe in yourself and have the right mentors Podcast notes: 00:05 ASH16 - Ashley Talks with Ashley Galina Dudarenok 00:10 Welcome Fransiska Hadiwidjana to Ashley Talks 01:00 Fransiska tells why she's so interested in STEM and how she went about achieving all these fantastic things 09:50 What does Fransiska have to say to people who say tech, math, physics - stuff she's interested in from early on - is not a "girl thing"? 12:50 How does Fransiska motivate herself to always stay curious? How can everyone keep being curious? 13:50 Who are some of Fransiska's inspirators, mentors, cheerleaders - people who she looks up to and who drive her forward? 14:40 Why programming? Wh

Podcast highlights: 10:06 As videos become more popular, are copywriting and words becoming less relevant? Videos vs the written word 25:03 Amy talks about her favourite social media platform LinkedIn and how it has transformed itself into a content creation platform 29:42 The importance of being perfectly imperfect and showing authenticity as well as vulnerability on social media Podcast notes: 00:05 ASH15 - Ashley Talks with Amy Blaschka hosted by Ashley Galina Dudarenok 00:55 Amy's story - how did Amy become a business owner, copywriter and brand strategist? 06:26 Is writing a skill that can be learnt by anyone? Amy's perspective on this 10:06 As videos become more popular, are copywriting and words becoming less relevant? Videos vs the written word 14:27 Amy's opinion of ghostwriters and the ghostwriting industry 18:36 More about ghostwriting, from having a template, the time it takes and how much it pays 24:03 Why hasn't Amy authored a book by herself yet? 25:03 Amy talks about her favourite social m

Podcast highlights: 00:51 What is your story? Why China? -- I studied Chinese at university, it seemed a very challenging thing to do. I came to China on a study-abroad and it was obvious China was the place to be. In 2010, I joined a non-profit called Teach for China (link to Chinese language website). What better way to plan for a long-term career in China than to start from the ground up? 25:15 How would you define modern Chinese consumers? -- Young Chinese consumers are slowly moving in a more socially-conscious direction. Things you already see are environmental awareness, health, and a desire for a cleaner, more simplistic lifestyle. This is completely brand new in China. One thing you see is companies who try to copy this model don't do too well because they lack the authenticity. This is really important if you are going to succeed in this space. 39:30 What has been your experience as a foreigner doing business in China? -- As a foreigner you have a ceiling. There are places you can't go and thing