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Hello reader,
I started writing “for real” (in other words, with assignments, schedules, and some semblance of quality control) during my university days in Australia, for a basketball website called The Pick and Roll.
My main editor – also one of the co-founders – is a Singaporean who migrated, and over time he became a sort of mentor for me. He’s now in Singapore for the first time since Covid-19 to do some catching up with friends, and we met up for brunch over the weekend. Shoutout, Kein 👋.
Anyway, we talked about a variety of things over lor mee, and one of them was about how sometimes people can act in unexpected ways because there are just many underlying, unseen factors at play.
For example, someone might know he needs to lose weight and how to achieve that, but he continues to binge eat and not exercise.
Why does he do that? Is he stupid? Well, not necessarily – maybe he’s struggling with taking care of elderly parents; maybe his job is extremely stressful; maybe he has a legitimate eating disorder. Those on the outside can only speculate.
That also applies to the tech and startup world, and healthtech firm Biofourmis – which looked hunky-dory not too long ago – is an example of that. The firm laid off 120 employees in July, and now founder Kuldeep Singh Rajput has abruptly stepped down. Read on to find out more.
Today we look at:
- The sudden changes at Biofourmis
- A new US$40 million source of financing for Indonesian startups
- Other newsy highlights such as Free Fire’s new lease of life in India and connecting Lines in Thailand
Premium summary
Maybe the layoffs affected him, too
Image credit: Timmy Loen
The best leaders care about their employees beyond what they bring to the company. Yes, work results are important – what’s the point, otherwise? But it’s imperative that we look at and understand everyone as full human beings, and not just numbers on a spreadsheet.
The same goes for CEOs and founders. To go back to the theme of this newsletter’s opening blurb, we’ll never know for sure why Rajput suddenly relinquished his post. But we can hope that it was a decision that he made with his best interests in mind.
If you’re named Superbank, I believe you have US$40 million to spare
Apply for a seat to September 13’s closed-door dinner to get free-flow drinks!
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