Shailendra Singh’s take on tech winter: a gift, not a setback

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Hello readers,

Remember that scene in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone when Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Draco were serving their detention in the Forbidden Forest and stumbled upon a unicorn?

That was the first time I heard about the creature, and it made me happy. However, the past few years have made me dislike the word, as almost all startups are focusing on crazy funding rounds and chasing after the unicorn status.

It was only in the recent funding winter that startup founders began to focus on other important things, like profitability. Maybe that’s why Peak XV’s Shailendra Singh wants it to last longer.

In today’s premium story, my colleague Miguel writes about why Singh thinks the tech winter is “a great time.”

Today we look at:

• Shailendra Singh’s take on the tech winter
• Aspire’s revenue growth amid widening losses
• Other newsy highlights such as Gogoro and Uber Eats Taiwan’s new rogram and Alibaba’s leadership reshuffle.

Premium summary

Lean times, rich minds

Image credit: Timmy Loen

In a tech landscape dominated by discussions of the funding winter, Shailendra Singh offers a unique perspective.

Speaking at this year’s Tech in Asia Conference, the managing director of Peak XV Partners sees the funding winter not as a setback but as a “gift” to the global tech ecosystem.

• Seeing winter as spring: Singh argues that the funding winter is a good thing as it fosters discipline and higher standards among startups as they deal with having limited external capital. He also sees it as an opportunity for startups to ditch bad habits.
• Prioritizing sustainability: The investor urges startups to put more weight on long-term sustainability over rapid growth based on vanity metrics. He emphasizes the significance of making enduring decisions and building companies with a decades-long vision in mind.
• Customer-centric innovation: According to Singh, startups should focus more on customers during tough times like the funding winter. He believes these situations push startups to be more customer-friendly and come up with creative ways to do more with less.

Read more: Wish for tech winter to last longer: Peak XV’s Shailendra Singh

Aspire’s revenue growth

Taking steps toward an inclusive digital ecosystem

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