Empowering Next Wave of Entrepreneurs in Southeast Asia — Alto’s Manifesto

9 min readNov 11, 2023

Our Vision

In today’s world, marked by a turbulent mix of economic instability and swift technological advancements, we firmly believe that entrepreneurs stand as a pivotal force for positive change. Our vision at Alto is rooted in the conviction that these entrepreneurial minds, with their capacity for innovative business solutions, are equipped to address the complexities of today’s world. They stand not just as business operators, but as agents of wider societal and economic progress.

This period of challenge is also one of unprecedented opportunity, especially for entrepreneurs. The emergence of generative AI technology represents a pivotal shift in the business landscape, particularly beneficial for small and medium-sized enterprises. This technology empowers them to achieve significant impact with relatively fewer resources, thus greatly enhancing their productivity and operational efficiency.

At Alto, we are dedicated to unlocking this potential. Our mission is to empower Southeast Asia’s entrepreneurs to harness the power of AI, transforming their businesses and, by extension, the broader economy. We aim to provide them with the tools and knowledge necessary to effectively integrate AI into their business models, ensuring they are well-equipped to navigate and succeed in this new technological era.

We want to start off first by bringing our vision to life in our home-country, Thailand.

Read more about the impact of AI on the world (both good and bad):

Challenges Facing Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs in Thailand

Dominance of Established Corporates: One of the primary obstacles for small businesses and entrepreneurs in Thailand is the dominance of Thai Corporate Venture Capitals. These corporations often absorb innovative startups by investing in them and bringing them in-house. This trend has led to a stifling of fresh corporate development, allowing established companies to maintain their control over the market. These established entities tend to favor business ideas with immediate returns, often overlooking groundbreaking innovations. This issue has been highlighted in a Bloomberg opinion article, illustrating the challenging environment for new ventures in Thailand.
The Education Gap: Another significant barrier is the education gap. There’s a lack of emphasis on entrepreneurship and tech innovation in the current educational framework. Most institutions are geared towards producing good employees rather than fostering entrepreneurial skills. This gap in education means that fewer people are equipped with the knowledge and mindset needed to launch and grow their own businesses.
Need for More Community Building: While there’s a resurgence in community building for entrepreneurs in Thailand, with events like the Techsauce Summit and the Secret Sauce Summit gaining traction, there’s still a need for more. These existing platforms are a good start, but there’s potential for more micro-communities that can provide education and networking opportunities. Alto sees an opportunity to contribute to this landscape, helping to build and nurture these entrepreneurial communities.
The Funding Challenge: A critical hurdle for Thai startups is the funding gap, particularly in the early stages of business development. Venture Capitalists (VCs) in the region have become increasingly cautious, primarily due to a pattern where Thai startups struggle to scale effectively. This hesitancy has led to a noticeable shift in investment strategies, with VCs preferring to allocate funds to more established ecosystems in neighboring countries like Singapore, Indonesia, and Vietnam. As a result, emerging Thai businesses face difficulties in securing the necessary seed funding, which is crucial for their initial growth and development. This trend reflects a broader investment shift away from nascent Thai startups towards more mature companies, creating a challenging environment for new entrepreneurs seeking financial backing.

Read More About Startup Ecosystem In Thailand:

Our Unique Approach:

Here’s how we plan to tackle the problem and go-to-market.

Step 1: Capturing Attention through Content

Our initial step is to draw the interest of the Thai audience with captivating content about AI and entrepreneurship. This will be achieved through various digital platforms, where we’ll share insights and information about AI technologies and their potential in business building. This content aims to reach a broad audience, raising awareness and curiosity about the capabilities of AI in the business world.

Our Content:

Reviews:

Step 2: Converting Followers to Doers

Once we have captured their attention, our goal is to transform these followers into active participants in our workshops. These workshops will offer in-depth, practical education on utilizing generative AI to expand and realize business visions. Participants will be equipped with practical tips and engaged in business case-driven projects, providing them hands-on experience in applying AI to their business.

Types of Workshop:

Public Form Workshop (20–50 attendees)
Private 1on1 Coaching
Company Training Workshop (20–100 attendees)
Executive Seminar

Topics we will teach:

Prompt Engineering with ChatGPT
Strategic Framework with ChatGPT
Workflow Automation with Zapier
Conversation Bot Design using ChatGPTs Custom Bots

Testimonial:

“Workshop with Alto has been eye-opening for me. I started to understand how to prompt the AI well to start using it to build performance evaluation system for measuring people’s performance in the startup I am working in”
Head of People at FMCG Startup in Bangkok, Thailand

Step 3: Fostering Community

Post-workshop, our strategy includes maintaining engagement with attendees through an exclusive online community, such as a Discord group. We will host regular networking and knowledge-sharing sessions (both online and offline), featuring industry practitioners in AI and startups. These sessions aim to foster a sense of community, encourage idea exchange, and facilitate networking among members. This ongoing engagement is crucial for building a supportive ecosystem where members can collaborate and innovate together.

Step 4: Spreading AI Adoption and Ethical Use:

Through our educational initiatives and community building, we aim to promote the widespread adoption of AI in everyday business operations. We believe that effectively harnessing AI technology can significantly improve outcomes for businesses and, by extension, the economy. However, we are also cognizant of the challenges and risks associated with AI. Therefore, we are committed to integrating ethical principles in AI use throughout our customer interactions with Alto, ensuring that our approach to technology remains responsible and beneficial to society at large.

Revenue Streams:

[Implemented] Public Workshop ($200–$1000 per person) and Private/Executive/Company Training ($1000–$5000 per person)
[Implemented] AI chatbot consulting and implementation fee for organization ($1500–$5000 per project)
[Considering] Content monetization through sponsorships
[Considering] Membership fees for access to exclusive network ($15–$50 per person/monthly)

Early Traction

We’ve been developing the concept of Alto for 3 months, while working on it alongside our full-time job. We are excited to fully jump on this ship beginning January 2024.

In October 2023, we launched our Private Workshop series, focusing on one-on-one sessions. Since then, we’ve successfully taught over 10 attendees from renowned startups and multinational companies, many of whom are looking to transition from their full-time roles into entrepreneurship. These attendees are now equipped with the skills to start their businesses, utilizing AI to minimize the need for extensive funding or resources to kickstart.

We have a promising pipeline with over 30 prospective customers ready for our Public Workshop slated for January 2024.

In November 2023, we started our educational AI for Business series called “The Rise of Intelligence” and kickoff our Tiktok channel:

Our YouTube series “The Rise of Intelligence,” has been met with positive feedback. We’ve achieved over 60 hours of watch time on YouTube, grown to 50 subscribers in the first two weeks of launch.
Alongside this, we started a TikTok channel which has quickly gained traction. In the first two weeks post-launch, we’ve amassed 1500 followers and over 15,000 likes. Our top video on TikTok has reached over 130,000 views.

This shows market reception to the ideas we’re spreading.

Looking Ahead: Goals for 1H’2024

Q1'2024: Build engagement and prove business model validity

Launch of our public workshop in January 2024
Reach profitability within the first 2 months of operation
Introduce Alto Chatbot, designed to assist entrepreneurs in finding new business productivity solutions through AI
Debut of a new channel featuring English content to engage an international audience
Target to reach 50K followers on TikTok and 1K subscribers on YouTube

Q2'2024: Testing new markets

Launch at least 1 workshop in two additional markets in Southeast Asia
Increase our TikTok following to 100K and YouTube subscribers to 3K

This overview highlights our initial achievements and sets the stage for our ambitious plans in the first half of 2024, as we continue to grow and impact the entrepreneurial landscape.

Our Founding Journey

Early Involvement in Startups: Alvin’s journey in the startup ecosystem began in 2014, at the age of 16, when he joined a young HR tech startup, WorkVenture at 5 employees stage, as an analyst. This was a time when the startup scene was just taking shape in Thailand, and today’s unicorns were in their infancy. His early engagement in this space, attending networking events and meeting new founders, provided him with an understanding of the market’s potential and pitfalls.

The Genesis of Alto: In 2018, Alvin and Mark laid the groundwork for what would eventually become Alto. This began as ‘Business Common,’ a media project initiated during their second year at university. Here, we conducted over 100 interviews with founders within the startup ecosystem, gaining insights into the keys to success and the challenges faced by these entrepreneurs. This experience offered us a nuanced perspective of the startup landscape.

Personal Why: We are both leaving a rising career with good pay because we believe the time to act is now. We both share a deep sense of purpose and mission to drive this country and region forward and we believe that with this new technology (generative AI) on the horizon, the landscape of business will change and we want Southeast Asian entreprenuers to be among the first in adopting it.

Our Commitment

Commitment to Profitable and Sustainable Growth: From the outset, we are dedicated to building a profitable business that supports long-term strategic thinking. Our approach is grounded in sustainability, ensuring that our growth aligns with our core values and vision.

Sustainable Scaling: Our experience with blitscaling startups have taught us valuable lesson that blitzscale often comes at high cost of foregoing your values. We are determined to grow Alto thoughtfully, avoiding the pitfalls of rapid expansion at the expense of our principles and vision.

Optimism and Vision for the Future: We hold a hopeful outlook for the future, aspiring to create and share a positive vision that inspires others. Our goal is to contribute significantly to enhancing Thailand’s standing on the global stage, fueled by our passion for technology and business. We are driven to nurture the next generation of entrepreneurs, equipping them with the tools and knowledge to succeed.

We Won’t Get There Alone

We’re looking for supporters on this journey:

Angel Investors: We are looking to raise 100K USD from angels with the same vision, within Q1'2024
Content Collaborators: We are actively looking for experts and practicioner in AI and startups to contribute their thinking and experience with our community
Advisors: We are two young founders bringing fresh face and perspective on the table, but self-aware enough to know that we would not be able to make it far without the mentorship from thoughtful leaders looking to share their experience and guide us on this path. We look forward to your advice

As an investor you can expect:

Stable growth business with healthy profits
Learn a lot together about the developments of AI and how it will transform the world
Get to see and help entrepreneurs across Southeast Asia build their business thru Alto as a community builder

Reach out to us via 📪 at: achiravid@gmail.com

DM us on LinkedIn:

Follow us for more:

Website: www.altoai.co
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@alto_official_th
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Alto_official_th
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alto_official_th/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/alto-leapfrog