Southeast Asia’s startup ecosystem has a lot of heart ❤️

So far, 2020 has completely upended plans big and small. 

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed in these uncertain times. Just this week, my colleagues and I spent less than six hours in Myanmar before we were suddenly called back due to new travel restrictions, laying waste to months of careful preparations. 

However, there are also many glimmers of hope amid the chaos that renew my confidence in our community. We have seen incredible gestures, such as Jack Ma’s donation to help the US and Europe fight their worsening Covid-19 situation or education tech startups such as Ruangguru, Quipper, Zenius, and Byju’s making their platform free to help students who are quarantined at home. Here in Singapore, Razer has begun converting manufacturing lines so they can produce surgical masks intended for donation to other countries.

Many such stories abound and strengthen a core belief about our community: Southeast Asia’s startup ecosystem has a lot of heart. ❤️

It sounds simple, but we should not take it for granted. The tech revolution in Silicon Valley began with idealistic visions of using technology to meaningfully improve lives. But we have seen mission drift over the years as startups focused on products to make things more convenient, solve a niche consumer need, or merely get acquired and cash out.

But the original tech vision is very much alive and well in Southeast Asia. In conversation after conversation, our region’s founders and tech leaders have placed the notion of “building companies to serve their communities” at the center of their mission.

When it’s business as usual, this means assisting merchants in accessing new markets, helping small businesses get paid more transparently and in a timely manner, or fostering the next generation of tech talent.

In these extraordinary circumstances, a mission-driven approach can help guide the way. This year will be a test of resilience as many startups will deal with missed revenue targets, diminishing runways, layoffs, and down-rounds for the first time. 

Crises are key times for companies to innovate, develop creative solutions, and go after the thing that they were previously too scared to try. Difficult situations are also opportunities for businesses to go back to fundamentals they may have let slip.

So refocus on your mission, build products that people love and need, practice good business sense (watch that burn!), and act with empathy towards your customers, employees, and community.

Mission and heart cannot replace sound business practices, but when paired together, they can lead to innovations that can help you move past these dark times. Southeast Asia already has a head start, thanks to our strong core values. Let’s use this fertile ground to create generation-defining tech platforms, products, and services.

I know it’s been a rough start to the new decade, but I see this period as a chance to reset for the next few years. And beyond this pandemic, well, we still have a lot of work to do.