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BRAVE: David’s Slingshot VS. Goliath, Oatly’s Rise & Southeast Asia’s VC Jungle - E635
Season 1 Episode 635
Jeremy Au explained how startups evolve from chaos to clarity and how fragmentation in Southeast Asia creates both problems and opportunities. He used the jungle-to-highway model to describe startup growth, compared founders to David facing Goliath, and showed how innovation, like oat milk or vaping turns small experiments into billion-dollar revolutions. Jeremy also reflected on how VCs spot talent early and why mastering Southeast Asia prepares companies for global expansion.
00:00 Jungle to Highway: Startups begin lost in a jungle, then build a dirt road through early customers, and finally pave a highway once they master product-market fit and scale
02:10 VCs as Recruiters: The best investors act like headhunters, identifying and closing founders before others do, while Southeast Asia’s fragmentation turns inefficiency into opportunity
05:25 Fragmentation as Opportunity: Jeremy explains how logistics and fintech thrive amid Southeast Asia’s complex, inefficient regulations, where “somebody’s inefficiency is my opportunity”
08:10 David vs. Goliath: Startups win by speed and focus, using their “slingshot”—fast execution—to overcome slow, over-armored incumbents
11:45 Oatly’s Rise: The invention of oat milk in 1994 shows how a startup can build a billion-dollar category by rethinking existing markets
13:20 Experimentation Over Scale: Jeremy concludes that small experiments often spark global trends, and founders who navigate Southeast Asia’s “jungle” can later scale worldwide
Get transcripts, startup resources & community discussions at www.bravesea.com
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bravesea
English: Spotify | YouTube | Apple Podcasts
Bahasa Indonesia: Spotify | YouTube | Apple Podcasts
Chinese: Spotify | YouTube | Published on 2 months, 1 week ago