My Interview with Andrew Baisley: Managing Director of Tech in Asia Studios and Former Facebook Partnerships, APAC
My Interview with Andrew Baisley: Managing Director of Tech in Asia Studios and Former Facebook Partnerships, APAC
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I had the great pleasure of interviewing Andrew Baisley, Managing Director of Tech in Asia Studios and former Facebook Partnerships, APAC.
Andrew led strategy and international expansion at a number of New York based adtech startups before moving to Singapore in 2016 to build out Facebook's data partnerships business internationally. Today, Andrew is Managing Director for Tech in Asia Studios, connecting brands to Asia's tech community.
Andrew was kind enough to share his perspectives on working in Asian tech and media. You can find him on LinkedIn.
What are the most exciting trends you are seeing in Asian tech today?
What’s exciting is that tech companies are being born, growing up and exiting right here in Southeast Asia. While the regional HQs of western tech giants are still important for the stability of talent in the region, it’s becoming more normal for world class talent to surface from Indonesian and Singaporean companies.
It’s also exciting to see, as these companies grow, the flywheel effect created in the ecosystem. We’re already seeing the impact of the Lazada and Zalora mafia, next came the Gojek and Grab mafia and now we’re seeing the Sea mafia. Nick Nash, who left Sea in late 2018 to start Asia Partners, is predicting 20 unicorns in SEA by 2030. If that’s not exciting, I don’t know what is.
How has the coronavirus affected your business and other businesses in your industry?
There are ups and downs. I believe times of crisis carve out opportunities for startups - ourselves included. Current economic conditions have forced our sales and accounts teams to take the sales process itself more seriously. For the first time our business is really unpacking pipeline metrics, building a sales process and scaling up our sales teams. That discipline is getting us through a hard time, but I also believe that it’ll have an exponential effect once economic conditions also improve.
What is one thing people outside of Asia misunderstand about the region?
That it’s not monolithic.
I used to get so frustrated back in my Facebook days when I would hear a product person in California say that a product was successfully tested “in APAC” with a rollout in Australia. Even within Southeast Asia, consumer needs and startup ecosystems between more developed countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam can vary wildly.
Indonesia is so much more advanced (and larger) than most people in the West realize. With 250 million people, it’s poised to be one of the largest economies in the world and, while it’s been hit hard by 2020, has few signs of slowing down long term. Developing markets like Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos all have vibrant startup communities and young, fast growing populations. I bet most don’t know that just Myanmar is home to more than 50 million people.
The Philippines is chronically underestimated and very closely aligned to the US, although that alignment is at risk and needs to be invested in. Taiwanese consumers and businesses are more similar to Americans than anyone realizes. They use Facebook and support same-sex marriage. Even Singapore is overlooked as more than a corporate HQ and launching point.
I’ve certainly rambled on well past your question for “one thing.” The West holds so many misconceptions about this part of the world that it’s hard to know where to start - and I guess that’s the whole point of East West Hurricane.
What are some companies you admire in Asia?
I admire Sea Group. They’re the real deal. Shopee’s growth is astounding. Even Alibaba’s Lazada can’t keep up. Garena is an incredible tech company. Sea is powering growth and investment in a Singaporean talent pool of engineers, designers and developers.
I’m also a bit enamored by Singaporean companies that build really cool shit that most people have never heard of. Trax is a billion dollar company that powers retail analytics. Sesto Robotics is building autonomous warehouse robotics. SecretLab is shipping the world’s best gaming chairs to their biggest market: the US. Transcelestial is replacing fiber with ultra-high speed laser systems for telecom. Shiok Meat is growing prawn meat in a lab. You literally can’t turn around without bumping into something incredible here. There are dozens more like these on this little island.
What is the single most important piece of advice you would give to someone trying to get their business to thrive in this time period?
Understand your customers, what pain you’re solving and what their buying journey looks like. Realize that they may be hurting - economically, mentally, emotionally - and be empathetic to that, but that doesn’t mean business needs to stop. Take it slow, understand and offer help while you build relationships with your customers.
Quickfire Questions…
A - What’s the best thing you have watched recently? (Film, TV Show, Ted Talk, Youtube Video, etc.)
Lately I’ve found escape in watching farmers and homesteaders on YouTube. Nothing like lockdown to get you dreaming of the farm life. I’ve sketched out some designs for chicken tractors that I’ll never build. (FYI: A chicken tractor is a small chicken coop that you can pick up and manually move around your farm. It helps protect your chickens from predators, but keeps them on fresh grass.)
B - What’s the best thing you have read recently? (Book, Article, Research Report, Tweetstorm, etc.)
Time for a plug? Best thing I’ve read recently are Tech in Asia Premium articles! Honestly, our journalists are amazing. Stick with me here, cause I know it sounds boring, but we recently published a fascinating long read about the business of shared/rental powerbanks. When you think about how important phones are - especially in markets where you use them to do literally everything, from payments to transport to getting a meal - it starts to make sense, but we took it a step further by doing a full business analysis of the entire industry.
If your readers want to check it out, they can grab a 30-day trial membership for $1 using this link: https://techin.asia/StudiosTrial
C - What’s the best thing you have listened to recently? (Song, Album, Artist, Podcast, Audiobook, etc.)
I love podcasts and listen to a ton of them. Here’s a list of 20 (!!) that I listen to on a regular basis: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/5-podcasts-sales-business-you-need-listen-plus-15-bonus-baisley/
Here are 15 more that Tech in Asia recommends if you care about startups in Asia: https://www.techinasia.com/15-podcasts-startups-entrepreneurship-asia-follow
*Thank you Andrew!*