Fave founder opens up on difficult exit

IN FOCUS

In today’s newsletter, we look at:

• Fave founder on most ‘challenging’ exit and why he left
• Overstretched VinFast slows US plant opening, prioritizes Asia
• Air New Zealand scraps its emissions target, highlighting gaps climate tech is yet to fill

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Hello there,

Have your nights become longer this past week, too? Lately, I’ve been trying to catch the Filipino Olympians’ performance in their events late at night. One particular sport that has tickled my curiosity lately is gymnastics.

Coming from a country where basketball is the most ubiquitous sport, having a Filipino compete in the artistic gymnastics category in the Olympics already feels like a win. Almost every neighborhood in the country has a basketball court, but gymnastics facilities are almost exclusively available in the capital.

So when our Olympian gymnast, 24-year-old Carlos Yulo, competed in the artistic all-around event last Wednesday in Paris, it was a moment of pride for the country. Yulo was shaky, and even fell, in the pommel horse event.

By the weekend, however, Yulo’s life changed for good. The Filipino gymnast snagged the gold for both the artistic floor and artistic vault events – the most triumphant Olympic campaign for any Filipino athlete in history. It would be the first time an individual athlete from the Philippines will come home with two Olympic gold medals.

Throughout the competition, I witnessed how gymnasts fell on their faces after trying their hardest to spin on air or find their balance after a dangerous cartwheel. They stood up, recollected themselves, and tried to do their routines once more.

Sometimes they nail it the second time. Others, though, had to change their routines to ensure they finished it with both feet on the ground.

I can’t help but compare these moments in the Olympics with what Fave founder Joel Neoh shared in a conversation with Tech in Asia CEO and founder Willis Wee at the TIA Kuala Lumpur Conference on July 25.

In their conversation, which is featured in our Big Story, Fave founder on most ‘challenging’ exit and why he left, Neoh details the adjustments his team had to make after the startup was acquired by India-based Pine Labs.

Image credit: Made by Tech in Asia using Midjourney

He shares that at one point during the transition, the vision of the employees and the founders had become mismatched. The founder then had to make difficult decisions – and hold conversations with his team – to ensure that the startup was a right fit for Pine Labs’ strategy and company culture.

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