Deal done: SPH Media completes Tech in Asia buyout

Dear TIA folks and readers,

Happy 2024! Last year was a rollercoaster ride, with tech and VC investments taking a hit.

Despite the challenges, we used the opportunity to get leaner and stronger for the future. We’ve also hit a huge milestone with SPH Media’s acquisition of Tech in Asia (TIA).

I’m happy to share that the deal has officially concluded.

Image credit: SPH Media

I’m deeply convinced that the momentum and partnership with The Business Times will push TIA closer to its mission of building a vibrant tech community.

We’ll continue to double down on a few key areas. Here’s a summary of the annual letter I sent to my team and shareholders.

Be customer-focused

We are committed to producing the best content and events for our customers. This year, we’ll expand our conferences into a few more markets based on positive signals from customers, readers, and our internal data. We will also invest in better UX and tech to deliver quality experiences and engagement.

We will have some wins and failures. Either way, we will learn from these experiences, guiding us to do better in the future.

Stay “boring” and focused on first principles

We’ll continue to use data and first principles to guide decision-making. This ensures every team at TIA is empowered by data to make sound investment and ops decisions. We will also continue to be the “boring” company that’s financially disciplined and sensible.

This doesn’t mean we aren’t long-term thinkers; it just means we’ll make prudent investments to achieve our long-term goals.

Culture and mission-focused

I’ve repeatedly reminded our team to stay true to ourselves and our startup roots. TIA’s culture follows its people and behavior. It’s critical to us to remain us.

So, what exactly is culture? For me, it’s about how fast and well we make decisions and the organization’s willingness to accept failure when trying out new things. When it comes to decision-making, we must remember not to let the process control us (it is the other way around, and we must be goal and mission-oriented).

(From left) The Business Times editor Chen Huifen, Tech in Asia COO Maria Li, SPH Media editor-in-chief of English/Malay/Tamil Media Group Wong Wei Kong, Tech in Asia CEO Willis Wee, and Tech in Asia editor-in-chief Terence Lee / Photo credit: SPH Media

As for failure, we need to be okay with taking risks. We won’t succeed in every experiment, but it’s crucial to keep innovating and pushing our limits.

We will do very well sticking to the three things above to double down on the virtuous loop we have created over the years.

Many, many thanks

I can’t thank you enough. Without you, there’s no TIA, and there will be no digital media publication truly rooting for founders in Asia. There will also be no one to keep the community accountable, connected, and united – many, many thanks.

It’s still day one at TIA, and I can’t wait to see what we can build together with SPH Media!

P.S. You can catch my interview with The Business Times here.