In Your Opinion Podcast
Can S’pore grow the next Apple or Nvidia?
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What can we do more to foster a culture of innovation in Singapore?
Synopsis: Conversations and interviews that give you something to think about. Each Wednesday, In Your Opinion speaks to thinkers, leaders, and the people shaping our lives and the issues of the day.
Following a recent parliamentary debate on growing Fortune Global 500 companies in Singapore, we ask if Singapore can ever grow a homegrown startup into a global tech giant like Apple or Nvidia? Or do our cultural attitudes toward risk and failure limit this potential?
To explore whether Singapore has the ecosystem and vision to build game-changing products that are similar to Creative Technology’s sound card or the Apple iPhone, Lynda Hong sits down with Hian Goh, founding partner of Openspace Capital.
Managing a billion-dollar portfolio, and having served as the investment banker to Creative Technology’s founder Sim Wong Hoo, Hian discusses the realities of the venture capital world.
In this episode, they examine the role of the Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX) in unlocking private capital, and the challenges of commercialising deep-tech R&D.
The discussion also touched on what it takes for Singapore to cultivate its own Silicon Valley, the necessity of tolerating setbacks, and the value of backing founders with an unreasonable mindset.
Highlights (click/tap above):
1:03 What is actually missing in Singapore’s private capital ecosystem?
6:01 Working with Sim Wong Hoo and hitting the structural ceiling
12:35 Love, Bonito and the challenges of scaling a brand out of Singapore
17:38 The “No U-Turn Syndrome” and why younger Singaporeans are breaking the mold
19:11 Silicon Valley’s risk appetite vs. Singapore’s fear of failure
21:22 The ChatGPT-4 lesson: Why celebrating uncertainty is the key to deep-tech innovation
28:29 Why the art of investing means backing the “crazy” founders
32:29 Overcoming investor trauma for a more vibrant SGX
35:47 Should national R&D focus only on creating unicorns?
44:49 Block 71 and trusting the ecosystem to build a uniquely Singaporean Silicon Valley
Read ST’s Opinion section: https://str.sg/w7sH
Host: Lynda Hong (lyndahong@sph.com.sg)
Produced and edited by: Teo Tong Kai
Executive producers: Danson Cheong & Lynda Hong
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