show episodes
 
Artwork

1
Making An Impression

Sound Sapien Podcasts

icon
Unsubscribe
icon
icon
Unsubscribe
icon
Monthly
 
Making An Impression is an upbeat yet revealing dive into the lives of young people in music, the arts, and culture. Tom Platts finds out how his guests are succeeding, what they are struggling with, and how one might go about solving these issues. He also does silly voices in the intros.
  continue reading
 
The XA Network (formerly Xoogler Angels) was founded in 2018 as an exclusive investment network comprising senior executives from leading global and regional technology companies. Our mission is to provide smart capital to early-stage companies across Southeast Asia. The XA podcast brings together voices from the ecosystem that powers early stage investing across this vibrant region. Our guests include entrepreneurs, Venture Capitalists and of course XA Network investors.
  continue reading
 
Loading …
show series
 
Natalie Bennett is one of two Green Party Peers sitting in the House of Lords. She was the leader of the party through the 2015 general election - the ‘Green Surge’. Natalie has a new book out now called Change Everything: How we can rethink, repair and rebuild society. I ask Baroness Bennett to share her vision in the book, covering the potentiall…
  continue reading
 
Rayan Telleria is a recording engineer trained by the Abbey Road Institute, and an already prolific producer and composer of film music, songs and lofi music, at only 23 years of age. He was also the drummer of the latin/neo-soul band Naia for several years from its birth, and more recently the band’s producer. In this episode, Tom Platts and Rayan…
  continue reading
 
Faith Norman is a singer-songwriter in the duo Bring Me Flowers with the single ‘hi,’ in collaboration with the producer Rayan Telleria. Whilst music remains a huge part of her life, Faith has achieved the Himalayan feat of working whilst converting to get into medical school after studying Music and Drama as an undergraduate. In this episode, they…
  continue reading
 
Kharesma Ravichandran is a British-Tamil playback singer in the South Indian movie industry who shot to stardom with the 2015 song ‘Kadhal Cricket’ in the film Thani Oruvan, composed by Hiphop Tamizha. In this episode, Tom seeks to understand how Kharesma became a successful artist from a young age, including her steps to get so good at singing! He…
  continue reading
 
Accountants can play an important and multifaceted role in promoting and reporting sustainability for their clients. From their position of influence and with their expertise in reporting and disclosure, performance measurement, and in providing data-driven insights to facilitate informed decision-making, accountants are well-placed to support thei…
  continue reading
 
Sustainability and the construction industry don’t often go hand-in-hand. The industry generates an estimated 39% of the world’s carbon emissions according to the World Green Building Council. With organisations and companies across the globe trying to change this, HandsOn was founded with a focus on trying to develop more sustainable practices and…
  continue reading
 
The Automotive industry might not come to mind when considering sustainability. However, as the leading supplier of high-performance transmissions for top-level Motorsport, Xtrac is forging a new path with their ESG practices. Stephen Lane, Xtrac's Chief Financial Officer, talks to us about the changes he's seen within the industry in the last deca…
  continue reading
 
Are you a senior tech executive wondering how to level up with a board position? Why would they appoint you? And what would be the expectations, risks and rewards once you actually make it onto one? Find out in this latest instalment of the XA Governance Series. Our SpeakersHowie Lau is the Managing Partner, Corporate Development, & Partnerships of…
  continue reading
 
The wellness space often suffers from a bad reputation including accusations of greenwashing. This is why we are kicking off Episode 1 with Kate Prince, CEO and Founder of Ancient + Brave. Kate shows us that we don’t have to compromise our sustainability values for our wellness rituals. Ancient + Brave exemplify an uncompromising commitment to sust…
  continue reading
 
When everyone is saying No, how do you eventually get to a Yes? Sheer persistence. Roger Egan, Co-founder of and former CEO of RedMart joins Reza Behnam to discuss his journey of founding RedMart, overcoming many naysayers on the path to acquisition and what he's working on now. Our Speakers Roger Egan is a serial entrepreneur and the co-founder an…
  continue reading
 
What would you say about a VC that uses all its profits to help establish economic opportunity in emerging markets? Or one that professes to back entrepreneurs for life, rather than on the strength of their business plan? Hear all about it from Allen Taylor, managing partner of Endeavor, a one-of-a-kind VC explicitly trying to use capitalism for go…
  continue reading
 
In this episode, a little reminiscent of a Shark Tank investing recap, we bring together a founder and their investor to hear both sides of the investment story. Why did the founder, Damien, choose the XA Network and what value did he get from it? And what did Keemin, the investor, see in iPiD to make him want to invest? Plus, get a peek into the p…
  continue reading
 
There’s a lot a Board of Directors can do for a company. Its efficacy and vision play a tremendous role in a company’s success. Needless to say, a lot of thought goes into who should be on the board in the first place. Abby Adlerman and Sze Meng Soon join guest host Reza Benham to discuss this in detail. Our Speakers Abby Adlerman is the CEO and fo…
  continue reading
 
They say the third time’s a charm. And it really was for Eric Cheng, whose third attempt at a start-up turned out to become a leading car e-commerce platform. Were the previous two ventures in vain? No. He took their lessons and applied them to perfect Carsome. He reveals all in this episode. Our Speakers Eric Cheng is the co-founder of Carsome, th…
  continue reading
 
Starting and building a successful start-up is no mean feat. And Max Bittner has seen it all—from founding and building the Lazada Group to seeing its rapid growth across a span of just 4 years to it finally being acquired by Alibaba. Listen to his conversation with host Michele Ferrario to know about his journey. Our Guest Max Bittner is the CEO o…
  continue reading
 
Startups are expected to move fast and break things. But too much of that and you land in hot water! That's why high quality startups spend time establishing a responsible and active Board. Find out how in this episode jointly presented by Singapore Institute of Directors and the XA Network Our Guests Carmen Yuen is a general partner at Vertex Vent…
  continue reading
 
Hear from an acclaimed tech recruiter on how he got started in the business, the challenges of finding the perfect C-Suite fit, the importance of self-awareness and generalist skill-sets and some of his most memorable projects Our Speakers Alex Gold is the MD for True Search in South East Asia. True Search hires leadership for privately held, growt…
  continue reading
 
How do you build a great founding team? How do you handle moments of disruption, such as mergers or the mental health issues and increased isolation caused by working from home? And in a fundamentally people-oriented function, do you rely on your gut or act based on data and experimentation? In this episode we have Vicky Chai and Sergio Salvador di…
  continue reading
 
Netflix has a unique approach to people and culture that is well known across the world. How did it maintain its strong culture through hyper-expansion? And what are some of the lessons in that for growth-stage founders? Our Speakers Shweta is the founder of The CultureGram, a platform for honest conversations about culture, the future of work, lea…
  continue reading
 
Startup founders often associate government organisations with being plodding creatures, slow to adapt and reluctant to embrace change. But what if the organisation in question is a tech startup of it's own, tasked with implementing the tools and tech needed by a future-friendly and forward-looking government? What does it take to build a culture o…
  continue reading
 
What worked as a new startup invariably stops working as you scale, especially so with people and teams. But the changes you need to make through various stages of growth can be surprisingly simple yet very effective. Our Speakers Sunil Setlur is the Global Chief People Officer at Gojek. He joined Gojek in 2019 and currently leads all aspects of hu…
  continue reading
 
Many startups aim to be disruptive and revolutionary, but how many can claim to be changing habits ingrained in us since the dawn of evolution? In this episode we discuss the opportunities and challenges faced by foodtech entrepreneurs as they navigate the consumer adoption, regulatory and production challenges of changing the way we eat. In this e…
  continue reading
 
What do successful angel investors look for in South East Asian startups? What are they advising their investees to do in the current market environment? And how does an influential angel network like the XA Network help with business growth and sustainability? Find out in this episode with Alap Bharadwaj (Director, Google), Tony Zameczkowski (VP, …
  continue reading
 
Have you ever wondered what it takes for a company to go public? How does the CEO prepare for the journey? What do investors look for? Find out directly from Hari Krishnan, CEO of recently-listed PropertyGuru about the steps and mis-steps they had on their journey to IPO. Hari Krishnan is the Chief Executive Officer at the Property Guru Group, Asia…
  continue reading
 
Could you ever imagine your “hobby” landing you in a position to impact millions of people around the globe? Or, better yet, heading down the path to IPO on just a single funding round? Well, that’s the story of Le Hong Minh, whose interest in playing online games led him to venture into the field of technology and founding his own company in 2004.…
  continue reading
 
What do you expect from a market that doesn’t have a developed ecosystem? Many investors are extremely cynical about it and rightly so. But these markets have asymmetries that come with a huge potential for investors to discover ;building themselves and in turn the market as a whole. If you want to listen from an expert about how he entered and saw…
  continue reading
 
Before you have funding, or product-market fit, or a business even, you have your co-founders. And it has been said that the co-founder relationship is almost like a marriage. It can be a magical partnership, where you see each other through thick and thin. Or it could be a match made in hell, ending with your startup imploding. How does one create…
  continue reading
 
Join as as we discuss some of the key challenges facing startups with Peng T. Ong, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Monk's Hill Ventures. Peng is a startup industry veteran with over 25 years of experience as an entrepreneur, founder, and investor in Silicon Valley and in Asia. After stints as an early employee in multiple startups, he went on to…
  continue reading
 
We host Abheek Anand from Sequoia Capital and get under the hood on what drives the legendary venture capital firm forward. Abheek talks about how the firm focuses not on what could go wrong, but could go right, the incredible market upside of backing missionary founders, and what makes Southeast Asia more like Silicon Valley than India or China. M…
  continue reading
 
We are honored to host Steve Chen, Co-Founder YouTube, and an XA Board Member. Hear from the internet hall-of-famer on working with legends such as Peter Thiel, Max Levchin, Elon Musk at PayPal, creating and building YouTube, the importance of being deliberate about a multi-market strategy and the promise that innovation holds in APAC! You can find…
  continue reading
 
We host Wisnu Nugrahadi, Co-Founder & CEO of Sampingan, an XA Portfolio company. Hear from Wisnu on the importance of connections and friends in an entrepreneurial journey, navigating a tough 2020 and the future of work in Indonesia! Do check out Sampingan at https://www.sampingan.co.id/. You can find out more about the XA Network at https://xanetw…
  continue reading
 
We host Ian McKenna, Co-Founder & CEO of Infradigital Nusantara, an XA Portfolio company. Hear from Ian on his entrepreneurial journey from day zero to solving digital payments pain points for Indonesia’s schools, why he’s excited about startups in Indonesia, and his love for “hard” sci-fi! Do check out Infradigital at https://www.infradigital.io/.…
  continue reading
 
We host Jussi Salovaara, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Asia at Antler. We hear his unique take on startup success in Asia and SEA, Antler's rise globally and how he he focuses on life long learning. Having evaluated thousands of startups, Jussi's breadth and depth of understanding across the early stage space in unparalleled - leading to one of ou…
  continue reading
 
In partnership with Tigerhall (www.tigerhall.com) We host Maya Hari, VP & MD, APAC at Twitter. We have a wide ranging conversation on diversity and how our ecosystem can do better, scaling leadership styles and advice to aspiring startup founders. Do check out Maya at maya_hari@ on Twitter and you can find out more about the XA Network at www.xanet…
  continue reading
 
We host Akshay Bhushan, Partner and Head of Southeast Asia with Lightspeed Ventures. Akshay talks about his journey through venture, unique insights on founders, why he believes Southeast Asia is the future and much more! Do check out Lightspeed at www.lsvp.com and you can find out more about the XA Network at www.xanetwork.co and follow us on Twit…
  continue reading
 
We host Fengru & Max, an awesome founding team at Turtletree Labs, an XA Network portfolio company. They walk us through their unique company, how they came together, phenomenal advice on reaching out to experts in their industries and what makes them so bullish on SEA. Do check out Turtletree Labs at www.turtletreelabs.com and you can find out mor…
  continue reading
 
We host Will Hanschell, Co-Founder & CEO at Pencil, an XA Network portfolio company. Will walks us through his journey to being an entrepreneur, advice for founders and investors and delves into his thoughts on Southeast Asia, the way he learns and the best piece of advice he's received. Do check out Pencil at www.trypencil.com and you can find out…
  continue reading
 
Loading …

Quick Reference Guide

Copyright 2025 | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | | Copyright
Listen to this show while you explore
Play