Nex AI’s founder on pulling the plug

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• ​​Lessons from shutting down an AI startup that was working
• ​​The who’s who of funded AI firms in Asia
• Insurtech firm Igloo sees revenue surge

Hello reader,

How do you deal with failure?

One of the things Nex AI founder Jonathan Liem told me when I interviewed him for today’s top story stuck with me: Founders in the US seem far more comfortable sharing publicly that they’ve shut their company down.

In the country, he said, a shutdown prompts, “OK, so what are you doing next? Can I be helpful?” In Asia, founders tend to close their firms quietly, with no social media post. He stressed there’s nothing wrong with that; it’s just the market context.

That anecdote didn’t survive the edit, but I think it’s worth bringing up, as we can all learn a lot more from what didn’t go right than what did.

The points that made it into the final story on Liem’s decision to close Nex AI are well worth checking out for founders facing similarly tough decisions. His main advice? Ask if this is really something you can do for the next 10 years.

Also today, we take a look at our data on which AI startups in Asia have raised the most funding. No surprise, many of them are based in China.

Peter Cowan, engagement editor

Top Story

Why this founder killed his AI startup despite early success

Image credit: Ulla

Liem has a useful take on saturated markets. Don’t fear a crowded space, he argues, because competitors mean demand. He thinks an empty market means you’re either a fool or a genius.

He took that lesson from Nex AI, which helped enterprises turn messy, unstructured data into usable, structured data. He shut it down despite signing seven-figure deals.

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