A few friends asked me what my 2021 New Year’s resolutions were. I couldn’t give a proper answer. Still feeling 2020 drained all my energy. It didn’t feel like it would make any sense to have New Year’s resolutions. In an attempt to understand why I wasn’t all cheery about 2021, I looked back at 2020. The year going down in history as lockdown year was supposed to be a year to get my sh*t together. No travel and working from home should have led to more downtime with the family, more exercising, reflection, writing, reading, and being more productive.

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Hi Dad, it’s been a while since we talked. I hope you’re doing well. When I think of you, I can only smile because I imagine you and uncle Julius having one of your late-night disagreements after a few whiskeys. You guys argued about everything under the sun. In the end, you always dragged me into the discussion, hoping I would pick your side and reinforce the point you were trying to make. Thinking back, this must have been the root cause why I like presenting so much. I also remember the weekend barbeque sessions. You only needed one ray…

I was having coffee with a good friend in the venture industry as we were talking about corporate innovation. Wondering what hindered real corporate innovation or large-scale change, I concluded that some large corporations have become incapable of discovering the unknown. It’s not only large corporations that have this “problem.” It can easily manifest itself in our own lives. After this talk with my friend, I tried to piece together what the cause is. Why aren’t we in general capable of discovering the unknown?

You need to look up and confirm you’re running in the right direction every now and…

I can still remember Thursday, May 21st, 2020 like it was yesterday. My colleague and friend Oliver Wood asked our Saturday running crew if we would be keen to join the 4x4x48 challenge. The challenge meant we had to run for 4 miles, every 4 hours, for 48 hours. When it comes to sports, I always get over-excited, so I immediately said yes. Jamaur Bronner, one of my good friends in Singapore who was keen on the run as well, said we should add a fundraising goal to run. There were only 2 days to prepare since the challenge started…

Every morning I wake up and turn on CNN International to watch the news in the US because I want to stay in touch with how my fellow black men and women are holding up. I have received heartwarming texts from my friends asking if I’m okay and how I’m coping. The current events in the US may be happening far away but it is incredibly close to me.

In the past week, I have been paying close attention to posts on Facebook and IG. I was and still am surprised and deeply hurt to see numerous responses on Black…

We wanted to make sure everyone stays safe during the COVID-19 pandemic, so our second fundraising workshop was held fully online last March 27. Cooley LLP supported the workshop as we had 2 of their top lawyers, Ferish Patel and Matthew Bartus, with us to answer your most pressing questions about term sheets. We also discussed the current fundraising climate and how to navigate through these challenging times.

You can find the full recording of the workshop below.

Key pointers of the workshop

A few key takeaways from the workshop.

How to prepare for fundraising

As the year is coming to an end, I realize 2019 was an important year for me, although I didn’t know this until about two weeks ago.

A successful entrepreneur whom I met at an event in Bahrain recently told me: “I can always start all over again,” as we were overlooking a golf course in the middle of the night. We were talking about what makes relationships work, what is essential in life, and our definition of success. It all boiled down to two main things. First and most important is trust. Trust in yourself and trust in others…

Southeast Asia (SEA) has a young and vibrant technology startup ecosystem. An ecosystem that is maturing at a rapid pace and with capital increasingly allocated to up and coming tech startups. With the rise of unicorns, foreign venture capital and corporates, Golden Gate Ventures in partnership with INSEAD felt it was time to revisit earlier research relating to the exit landscape. In the analysis, we’re taking a deeper look at the historical exits (strategic acquisitions, IPOs, and trade sales) and make a forecast of potential exits for the next 5 years.

“There is certainly no better time to be an…