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Hello reader,
My dad has always been my first port of call for career advice.
This is probably because he’s never been shy about dispensing it, like when he regularly reminded me as a teenager that if I arrived late to work as often as I did to school, he would “be the sort of asshole who would have to sack you.”
His advice always comes from a place of experience, so I value it a lot. One important lesson was when I was stressed about not performing well in my bachelor’s degree and he explained that once I had a few years of work experience under my belt, no employer would care about my results in various modules.
He said that in most careers, getting a degree is just a box you have to check off rather than something of earth-shattering importance. Showing you could commit to your studies for long enough to get a degree indicated that you could be counted on in the workplace, he told me.
Is getting a degree so important that it’s worth lying about, though? In my opinion, it’s not worth your integrity, but today’s premium story and recent revelations about another founder indicate that not everyone agrees with me.
Today we look at:
- The Octopus CEO’s degree drama
- Byju’s seeks to raise funding at a valuation far below its peak
- Other newsy highlights such as Grab taking the top spot in the regional food delivery market and VinFast’s plans to expand to the Philippines.
Premium summary
The Octopus CEO’s tangled web
Image credit: Timmy Loen
Indonesian waste treatment startup Octopus is cleaning up a mess of its own making these days.
Three separate online sources claim the firm’s CEO and co-founder Moehammad Ichsan graduated from University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley). But that appears to be untrue.
- Inconsistencies: Ichsan’s old LinkedIn profile, a Substack article, a description of him in an event hosted by the British Chamber of Commerce in 2020, and his Tech in Asia Conference 2022 speaker’s profile all say that he either studied at or graduated from UC Berkeley. However, the CEO told Tech in Asia that he has “never told anyone” that he “graduated from UC Berkeley,” though two former Octopus staff contradict this.
- Troubled: Octopus focuses on the collection of post-consumer products through a circular economy model, having raised US$5 million in funding in 2022. However, it has faced challenges recently, with Indonesian media reports late last year accusing the company of salary freezes and payment delays.
- Investors react: Tech in Asia contacted two of Octopus’ investors – Openspace Ventures and Orbit Startups – to ask for more details about the startup. In a statement, Openspace said it takes “these issues very seriously and appropriate actions have been taken,” without specifying which issues it was talking about. Both VC firms also appear to have removed mentions of Octopus from their websites.
Byju’s seeks to replenish war chest
Quick bytes
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