Insignia Ventures Partners

Why your startup needs a "day one" storyteller Because startups are often in the business of innovation, there is an element from day one that cannot give way to the necessary corporate and operational maturity the company grows into over time. That element is the “day one” story. The "day one" story is about a moment of realization. It is realization that the impossible is possible. These moments are also often turning points or crossroads, when founders have to decide whether to go all in or call it a day. These stories can make for great bedtime stories and drama series but where it really applies to a business is how these stories are documented and communicated across stakeholders, from employees to shareholders, from end users to regulators. Communicating these stories matters all the more in periods of heightened tension, when there is a key decision that is not clear cut. Being reminded of these core motivations can bring clarity into decision making. In the company leadership, that requires a “day one” storyteller. No matter how much the company grows and pivots are made, you still need to have a storyteller leading the way. Someone needs to be able to tell the “day one” story and remind stakeholders why the company exists in the first place. We share some examples of these stories in action: (1) How Fazz stays true to its "day one" story of developing solutions for the unbanked and underbanked amidst increasingly cashless consumer behavior in Indonesia (2) How Tonik focuses on its "day one" story of solving for credit inclusion amidst the various pressures and directions for growth in the digital banking industry (3) How Konvy continues to grow with its "day one" story of digitalizing beauty retail, 12 years on (4) How VNSC by Finhay has continued to remain competitive, 7 years on, by developing its governance maturity while leveraging its technology roots Full piece on what day one storytelling looks like for a startup: https://lnkd.in/gJ-WZ82Y 📸 L-R, T-B: Finhay CEO and founder Huy (Shayne) Nghiem from Vietstock interview Tonik's Shop Installment Loans launch in Cebu building on their day one story of closing the credit inclusion gap in the Philippines, Konvy's 12th anniversary celebration as they continue to innovate retail technology in Southeast Asia's beauty market, Fazz co-founders Tianwei Liu and Hendra Kwik speaking to one of the Fazz agents in Indonesia as they revisit the day one story of the company's financial inclusion mission

Creating Clarity Amidst Uncertainty: How This Dental Care Company Grew Against The Odds A few months ago, we announced our investment in Dr Clear Aligners Group (DCA), a dental care company making clear aligners more accessible across Asia. While we could explore more about the confluence of demand in aesthetic orthodontic care and advancements in dental technology, how DCA has tapped into this market opportunity with a presence across seven markets, or how its user experience boasts shorter duration, affordable pricing, and remote monitoring vs the industry status quo... ...what has been really interesting about DCA has been their growth from an initially unclear (pun intended) position. 1️⃣ Not a first mover, but learned from previous players. Not being a first mover has actually put DCA in a position of strength. Given how nuanced the industry can be and how important trust and relationships are in the dental community, being the first mover could have been a lot more costly in terms of experimentation. DCA took learnings from predecessors and existing players in the space to develop a more sustainable operation. They focus on establishing themselves as a healthcare partner to dental clinics and creating a superior experience especially in post-treatment monitoring. 2️⃣ Not experts initially, but working with a diverse ecosystem of dental care providers. While the founders started DCA from personal experiences in dental care, actually building in the space is a whole different ball game. In spite of being outsiders initially, they quickly built key relationships in the industry and developed not just their clear aligner product but more importantly an ecosystem of partner clinics and dental care providers that would make these clear aligners more accessible across markets. From being fresh players on the scene, DCA has become thought leaders in driving clear aligner adoption in the region. 3️⃣ Not VC backed, but scaling across seven markets and beyond. A combination of this ecosystem approach with their diverse supply chain and dental care partners (building the market instead of just building the product) and the quality of their product allowed them to reach several markets across Asia in a short amount of time without venture funding. With the recent funding they aim to grow their market reach even further, among other strategies. This seemingly counterintuitive trajectory DCA has taken has made it even more exciting to be partnered with them on this journey moving forward. These paths they took to get to where they are today reflect the company’s execution ability in treatment dental care — a space that has more at stake than customer satisfaction. After all, they are in the business of smiles. From this article: https://lnkd.in/gA3GKREi 📸 Stills from Dr Clear Aligners intro video on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/gy9mgWuz

How these founders’ journeys go against the grain of the usual founder story In our most recent podcast episodes, we went on call with two founders tackling financial management for businesses from two different angles: treasury and B2B payments: Finmo’s David Hanna and Fluid’s Trasy Lou Walsh. While we of course talked about the nuances of their industries and their businesses, what was just as interesting has been learning more about their journeys as entrepreneurs, from deciding to start these companies to securing their first customers and raising their first rounds. These two stories are not the usual founder stories in popular media. They share similarities that go against the grain of the usual “tropes” of sartup founders and the stereotype of the young, lone outsider. (1) When the founder is an insider unlocking insight Where more popular narratives have illustrated founders as outsiders “breaking into” an industry, both Trasy and David were no strangers to the industries and processes they were trying to revolutionize. Granted, building Fluid and Finmo are entirely different ball games on their own. But they would not have arrived at the conclusion of starting these ventures if they had not been in a BNPL company or a global fintech risk and compliance role respectively. “From my perspective, I spent the last 20 years in the regulatory space, typically in global chief risk officer roles and the like...I saw the same problems in many different organizations and across various merchants that we were working with.” - David (2) When the founder's catalyst is a co-founder Entrepreneurship is often viewed as a lonely journey. While this can be true, it is a lonely journey that one doesn’t have to take alone. In both stories, David and Trasy ultimately decided to take the leap when they found their tribe — other equally passionate individuals who shared in their desire to build something together. “Starting a company is always difficult without a co-founder, so I pretty much put the idea on the back burner until Steve, my co-founder, reached out."- Trasy (3) When the founder is not going through a “coming-of-age” journey but culminating uniquely lived experiences Popular culture has often framed founders as young upstarts in “coming-of-age” arcs. But there is merit to starting a company much later in life, even when the founding team have other priorities in life. For one, a longer life lived through could mean thicker skin, and more resilient mindset. “As a founder with a couple of decades of experience, you develop a relatively thick skin for these things. You know that tackling certain problems comes with a kind of maturity and mindset.” - David It could also mean a more meaningful support system to juggle the demands of running a company, among other responsibilities the founder may have. Full article: https://lnkd.in/gXEiBtRX

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What does it really mean to have a “Day 1” mentality? Ever since it was coined by Jeff Bezos, embracing the “Day 1” mentality has become a go-to company value for tech startups But what does it really mean, especially as the company matures and the literal day one increasingly becomes part of the history books? Who better to talk about Day 1 mentality than with leaders who have been with their company since Day 1 Two of the earliest employees in regional fintech group Fazz, Tania Desela and Tewi bowo, joined the company when it was still building the foundation for an financial services agent network in rural Indonesia Since then, that network has become one of the largest in the country, the company has secured several licenses to launch and experiment with various products, and even expand regionally forming a fintech group that now includes infrastructure for digital assets Through all that Tania and Tewi remain focused on the company’s mission of financial access for all, regardless of what that means for the product “We do our best to plan, strategize, and execute quickly, but along the way, many things don't go as planned. Humility keeps us grounded...For Fazz right now, especially in Indonesia, the biggest challenge is how we stay relevant in the context of our agent network. In the coming years, Indonesians will be using less cash...we need to cater to their evolving problems and needs.” - Tania Desela, Principal Product Manager In learning about their journeys in Fazz, it is interesting that what they consider to be their most significant achievements are products that were not necessarily rolled out in the market but products from which they gained new insights into the problem they are solving. At the end of the day, the product may change but their purpose has remained the same all these years. “We need to keep tracking, is [the product] still relevant for us? If not, we need to change the solution…[but] my role is still the same from back then. I need to build the best experience for the users. My goal is to build the best experience for the unbanked and the underbanked for them to have easier and more usable tools to access the financial services.” - Tewi Bowo, Head of Experience Their experiences over the last seven years of working with Fazz speak to a more common phenomenon of how companies innovate over time. It often starts with a company looking to change (i.e., disrupt) the environment around it (the industry, customer behavior, etc.). But as the company becomes more established in the market, it is less about changing the status quo around it and more about innovating the status quo within the company itself. The organization needs to continue to resist inertia, guided by the bigger picture on which the company was founded in the first place. Such is the core of the Day 1 mentality. Stay tuned for more stories like this on Insignia Press: https://lnkd.in/grY8TDy5 📸 T-B: Tania Desela, Tewi Bowo

Time is a company's biggest competitor. The road of growth is one paved with endless risks, so it's always remarkable to see companies that never settle and continue to build on their strengths over the span of many years Konvy is one example, having recently marked their 12th year anniversary! Follow the story of Thailand's leading beauty retailer... ...from a website built to house product listings with photos taken from offline stores: https://lnkd.in/gtTZXidM ...to an entire ecosystem today enabling brands both global and local to grow across channels and even beyond Thailand to other countries like the Philippines, Malaysia, and China: https://lnkd.in/gJsUZgnu The biggest learning from following Konvy's journey and working closely with them as they have grown beyond Thailand is how the company remains hungry to innovate the very industry they have established themselves in for all these years As CEO and co-founder QingGui Huang points out in an interview for this anniversary with Sanook, "The beauty retail industry is now mature, but the application of technology in this industry is still new": https://lnkd.in/gEWAq49x Konvy continues to experiment new ways of enhancing the consumer experience in beauty retail, like developing a Visual Shopping Assistant or combining the fascination for horoscopes with product recommendations: https://lnkd.in/g4qXstX8 Konvy is hiring! See roles here: https://lnkd.in/gWW4eATj Photos from Konvy's LinkedIn page and Sanook feature T-B, L-R: Konvy team, Konvy leadership (Mia Chou, QingGui Huang, Pornsuda Vangvidhayakul, Jeng Chyi (JC) Chen 陳政圻)

Why this ecommerce BNPL exec made the leap to B2B commerce Lending is not for the faint of heart. But when Trasy Lou Walsh found the right partners Steven Li and Ruoyun Yang, CFA to embark with on her first startup venture, she took the leap and started Fluid. With Fluid, she is working to bring consumer-level payment experiences to B2B ecommerce transactions, starting with handling buyer payments to suppliers (i.e., buy now pay later for B2B). 🎙️ Trasy goes on call with us to talk about: 👉 what makes BNPL for B2B different from B2C (even across industries) 👉 how they have navigated the early challenges of building a lending business model (e.g., bringing a CFO on board, securing MNC clients like Coca Cola, etc.) 👉 and how building Fluid as its CEO has impacted her own perspective on entrepreneurship and motherhood. Watch our latest podcast episode with Trasy: https://lnkd.in/gdFrzqmX

Our most extensive deep dive on building for a global market in Southeast Asia Last week at the Techsauce Global Summit 2024, Yinglan shared insights from Southeast Asian companies' various approaches to building a global presence From the macro drivers of this trend to case studies on Carro, Finmo, FishLog, and more, we share these insights on Insignia Business Review: https://lnkd.in/gb9JR2pj 📸 Yinglan at Techsauce Global Summit 2024, Konvy store in Bangkok, Brankas CEO Todd D Schweitzer at the Open Finance Revolution 2024, AwanTunai CFO Shilpa Gautam and co-founder Rama Notowidigdo with HSBC team, Finmo team winning “Best Payments and Collections Solutions Singapore” along with OCBC at the Triple A Treasuries Awards 2024

At yesterday's Techsauce Global Summit 2024, Yinglan presents our view of Southeast Asia's evolving role as fertile ground for starting companies with a global presence His keynote sums up a lot of the recent posts on LinkedIn we've made around strategies for global growth, whether that involves market expansion of a global brand (as in the slide below), vertical AI as a catalyst for SaaS to speed up globalization, or creating a differentiated narrative in the global competitive landscape to attract a wider pool of capital and talent Taking from insights we've learned working with market leading and fast emerging companies like Carro, igloo, Dr Clear Aligners Group, Intellect, Konvy, and many more, Yinglan also shares how these trajectories for growth amidst a depressed funding landscape are also impacting the role and expectations for venture capital Stay tuned next Monday for a recap of his presentation at https://lnkd.in/gXsB6nTT Thank you to the TechSauce team Oranuch (mimee) L. Sureeporn Hawanchamnankit Hillary Somboonkitchai, CEM for having us this year!