I have sat through hundreds of pitch decks. I have seen countless presentations from founders brimming with passion and caffeine. And in almost every single one, there is the inevitable slide labelled TAM (Total Addressable Market).

It is presented as the cornerstone of the investment thesis. Look at this huge number! Look at the billions we could capture! It is meant to inspire confidence, but to a seasoned eye, it often signals one thing: a profound lack of imagination.

Let me be clear: in the current economy, obsessing over a predetermined, static market size is intellectual laziness. It represents a fundamental misunderstanding of how exponential value is actually created. Your market-size slide is useless. It is the metric of the incremental thinker—the person who assumes the world today is the final, finished product.

The tyranny of the existing pie

The typical market analysis starts with an established industry, slices it up into tidy segments, and then claims a tiny percentage of the existing revenue stream. This approach is profoundly limiting. It commits the entrepreneur to a war of attrition where one fights aggressively over the same customers that two dozen well-funded competitors are already fighting for.

This mindset forces you to think vertically: How can I get ten per cent more of the market already defined by my incumbent rival? It anchors your ambition to the current state of affairs, assuming that customer behaviour, technology, and needs will remain exactly as they are right now.

The largest, most enduring companies of the last two decades — the true titans of value creation — did not win by taking a tiny slice of an existing, defined market. They won by performing a strategic judo move: they created entirely new markets that were invisible to the old way of thinking. Before these companies existed, their market size was functionally zero.

Also Read: Gold hits US$4,500 while Bitcoin bleeds: The year-end market disconnect explained

Lateral movement: The key to invisible markets

The strategic move that matters is lateral movement. This is the ability to look at an existing, painful problem and solve it by linking two previously unrelated concepts, thereby defining a whole new category of demand.

Consider the example of the modern smartphone. Its initial market size wasn’t based on the “mobile phone market,” which was finite. It’s true, a massive market size was created by linking three separate, previously unconnected markets: mobile communication, digital photography, and personal computing. The market was created in the overlap, not claimed from the existing carriers.

Lateral thinkers use the existing market size only as a base, a launchpad for understanding the current customer’s frustration. They don’t see the figure as a ceiling; they see it as a springboard. They ask: What is this customer trying to achieve today, and how can I invent a solution that makes their current behaviour obsolete?

From analysis to strategy

This is the main strategy of entrepreneurship: transforming a rigid, defined need into a fluid, limitless opportunity. It requires moving the focus from the external metric (the size of the market) to the internal insight (the depth of the customer pain).

The strategic conversation should not be: Our TAM is US$50 billion. The strategic conversation must be: We are solving a problem that is so severe, so expensive, and so pervasive that it will compel the creation of a new, US$100 billion category of spending.

Also Read: Holiday liquidity warning signs emerge across stocks gold and crypto markets simultaneously

For the founder, this means abandoning the easy comfort of benchmarking against rivals. It means looking for the latent demand, the unvoiced frustration, and the structural inefficiency that no one has dared to tackle because it required combining resources in a way the old industry structure deemed impossible or illogical.

So, the next time you are building a pitch deck, use the existing market size figure for two purposes only: context and contrast. Use it to show the investors what the existing, poor solution looks like, and then immediately pivot to demonstrating how your lateral strategy will invalidate that entire number, compelling customers to flow into the vibrant, wide-open space you have just engineered.

If your sole competitive strategy is to capture five per cent of a market that already exists, aren’t you just admitting you plan to be marginally better, rather than truly indispensable?

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Meta has announced the acquisition of Manus, confirming that the Singapore-based artificial intelligence company is joining the US tech giant to scale its autonomous agent technology to billions of users and businesses worldwide.

In a joint announcement, Meta stated that Manus has built “one of the leading autonomous general-purpose agents,” capable of independently executing complex tasks such as market research, coding, and data analysis.

The Manus service will continue to operate and be sold as a standalone product, while also being integrated into Meta’s consumer and business offerings, including Meta AI.

Meta said Manus is already serving the daily needs of millions of users and businesses globally. Since launching its first General AI Agent earlier this year, Manus has processed over 147 trillion tokens and enabled the creation of more than 80 million virtual computers. Meta added that it plans to scale the service to reach many more businesses across its platforms.

As part of the acquisition of Manus, the Manus team will join Meta to help deliver general-purpose agents across Meta’s products. Meta said the combination of Manus’s tech and talent would help unlock new opportunities for businesses and improve the lives of billions of people who use its services.

Also Read: How an AI cybersecurity company harnesses the power of AI for optimal business performance

Manus, in a separate statement, described the deal as a significant milestone and a validation of its work on General AI Agents. The company said it has focused on building a general-purpose agent designed to help users tackle research, automation and other complex tasks through continuous product iteration.

The company positioned itself as an “execution layer” for AI, transforming advanced capabilities into scalable and reliable systems that can perform end-to-end work in real-world settings. It reiterated that its agent has already processed more than 147 trillion tokens and powered over 80 million virtual computers in just a few months.

Manus stressed that the acquisition would not disrupt its customers. The company will continue to offer and manage its subscription service through its app and website, and it will maintain its operations in Singapore.

Manus said its solution is already driving value for millions of users worldwide and that, over time, it hopes to expand its subscription offering to millions of businesses and billions of people on Meta’s platforms.

Also Read: Navigating the trust labyrinth: My perspective on ethical AI marketing

“Joining Meta allows us to build on a stronger, more sustainable foundation without changing how Manus works or how decisions are made,” said Xiao Hong, CEO of Manus. “We’re excited about what the future holds with Meta and Manus working together, and we will continue to iterate on the product and serve users who have defined Manus from the beginning.”

Both companies framed the Manus acquisition as a step towards accelerating the adoption of autonomous agents across consumer and enterprise use cases, while maintaining continuity for existing Manus users.

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Image Credit: Manus, Meta

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The playbook is getting clearer every year. Sell into the U.S. and other mature markets, build using Southeast Asia’s talent engine. It’s not just about lowering costs anymore. It’s about creating leverage, speed, and scale by combining global revenue opportunities with regional execution advantages.

As founders, we’re watching the geography of tech shift in real-time. And those who understand how to bridge this gap—between customer and creator, headquarters and build hub, AI strategy and human capital—will win the next decade.

From cost centre to growth engine

For years, Southeast Asia was viewed primarily as a cost-saving destination. Offshoring, outsourcing, and BPOs dominated the narrative. But what’s changed is the quality of talent. Whether it’s engineers in Ho Chi Minh City, product managers in Manila, or designers in Jakarta, the region has grown a mature, hungry, and technically fluent workforce.

What’s more, countries like Singapore have positioned themselves as financial and regulatory gateways, helping global companies establish local HQs while tapping regional labour. Government incentives, English-speaking populations, and increasing venture capital activity have all accelerated the trend.

At NewCampus, we scaled our learning experience and delivery teams in Cebu and Manila to build a high-quality, cost-efficient training engine rooted in local expertise. Our Philippines team adapted content and operations for regional nuance, while our coaches in Vietnam and Indonesia delivered programs in local languages.

By hiring locally and thinking globally, we deepened engagement, boosted learner outcomes, and scaled delivery without sacrificing quality. This approach turned Southeast Asian talent into a competitive edge, enabling us to serve global clients with authenticity, agility, and cultural fluency from the ground up.

What used to be a back office is now a growth office. Product teams. Growth squads. Customer success pods. These aren’t secondary, they’re integral. And increasingly, they’re led from Southeast Asia.

Also Read: From lead generation to pipeline hygiene: What startups often miss

Global ambition, local execution

Take Canva for example. A multi-billion-dollar design platform built with deep Australian roots, but with a heavy operational and engineering footprint in the Philippines. Their support and design operations run lean but powerful, giving them the scale to service a global base while retaining product velocity.

Then there’s Xendit, the Stripe of Southeast Asia. Headquartered in Indonesia, they’ve used their deep regional knowledge and infrastructure to serve both local and international businesses. Their growth is a case study in how local teams, armed with global playbooks, can outcompete bigger, slower players.

Another standout is Deel. While not SEA-born, Deel has leveraged Filipino, Vietnamese, and Malaysian teams across operations, sales, and customer support. It’s a key part of how they scaled to a $12B valuation while offering 24/7 service and onboarding customers globally.

The takeaway here isn’t just that you can build cheaply in Southeast Asia. It’s that you can build well—with speed, quality, and cultural fluency that rivals any major tech hub.

The future is distributed (and competitive)

With AI reshaping how we work, there’s a misconception that geographic labour advantages will disappear. But the reality is more nuanced. AI is great at scaling what you already do well. That includes well-run, geographically diverse teams.

A support agent in Manila using an AI co-pilot will outperform one in San Francisco, still toggling between tools. A product manager in Kuala Lumpur working async with a design team in Bali can ship faster than an under-resourced team co-located in NYC.

Also Read: Startups, is your email strategy driving growth, or just gathering dust?

But only if the systems are in place. Founders need to think deeply about documentation, time zone overlaps, tooling, and most importantly, culture. Distributed teams don’t work by accident. They work because leaders design for clarity, autonomy, and shared rituals.

That means building AI literacy into onboarding. Investing in good managers who can lead without micromanaging. And recognising that time zones don’t kill productivity, unclear priorities do.

Moving forward

The arbitrage between Western revenue and Eastern execution is narrowing, but it’s not gone. In fact, it’s becoming more valuable as companies are forced to become more capital efficient, more globally aware, and more operationally excellent.

If you’re a founder today, you don’t just have an opportunity, you have an edge. The ability to tap top-tier developers in Vietnam, growth hackers in Singapore, or CX leads in the Philippines is no longer reserved for Fortune 500s. It’s accessible at Seed, Series A, and beyond.

And as the next wave of tech companies emerge—those built on crypto, AI, climate, and commerce—the ones who master this balance will win. Build globally. Sell globally. Operate locally. That’s the new startup stack.

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We live in an age defined by paradox.

The world has never been more connected — yet opportunity has never been more unevenly distributed. Technology has lowered the barriers to entry, yet raised the bar for participation. Knowledge flows freely, yet economic mobility feels increasingly restricted.

Economists once used the phrase “islands of modernity in a sea of underdevelopment” to describe colonial economies: pockets of advanced activity built for exports and foreign capital, surrounded by a much larger local population trapped in low-productivity subsistence sectors. Two economies exist side by side, with almost no bridge between them.

Today, that pattern has returned — only now, these islands are digital.

The K-shaped economy: One country, two systems

It’s not just inequality; it’s economic bifurcation.

A modern dual economy, unfolding in real time.

On one side, you have the tech-enabled class: remote workers earning in USD, SMEs using automation to scale, founders leveraging AI, and professionals selling their skills globally rather than locally. They belong to a borderless economy where geography matters less than capability, and where global demand rewards speed, skill, and systems.

On the other side, you have the local economy, where opportunity remains limited by geography, wage ceilings, and the slow pace of traditional industries. Here, jobs are replaced faster than they are created. Retail, F&B, manual labour, and low-skill office roles face both automation and competition. The hardest hit are the young — university graduates entering a job market where entry-level roles are disappearing, replaced by AI or consolidated into senior roles requiring experience they never had the chance to gain.

This divergence forms what economists now call a K-shaped economy — an economy where some groups accelerate upward while others stagnate or decline. The upper arm of the K rises: tech workers, global freelancers, AI-enabled founders, cross-border teams. The lower arm falls: retail, hospitality, local services, admin-heavy roles, SMEs struggling with digital adoption.

These two economies operate in the same country, but rarely interact. They use different tools, speak different economic languages, and respond to different incentives. One ascends; the other treads water.

Also Read: How to thrive in digital entrepreneurship in Asia today

The uncomfortable truth

The uncomfortable truth is this: The digital revolution was supposed to close gaps, but instead, it has deepened them.

Technology increases productivity, but only for those who know how to use it. Remote work increases income, but only for those with global-facing skill sets. AI amplifies talent, but only for those who are trained to leverage it.

Everyone else is left running on a treadmill that only gets faster, as they compete for limited opportunities in slower, smaller, and more fragile markets.

And this is where the danger lies. The gap is not personal — it is structural.

The technological trends of the 2020s have recreated a dual economy, accelerated by digital transformation. The globalised class becomes more mobile, more valuable, more connected. The localised class becomes more fragile, more replaceable, and more exposed to shocks.

What we’re witnessing is not merely different income groups. It is two different economies living in the same country, the same industry, sometimes the same company, but moving in opposite directions.

The digital “islands” have systems, tools, and global connectivity. The “sea” around them has talent, ambition, and potential, but lacks infrastructure to turn it into mobility.

Yet this divide is not inevitable.

Also Read: Asia’s digital gold rush: How to win in the US$600B digital economy

Bridging the digital divide

The gap widens when people and SMEs cannot access the tools that plug them into global markets — when they are trapped behind information barriers, trust barriers, and capability barriers.

The solution isn’t charity: It is access, systems and infrastructure.

It’s giving traditional businesses and workers the means to participate in the modern economy rather than watching it from the sidelines.

This is where market infrastructure matters. Not platforms that merely facilitate transactions, but systems designed to bridge structural economic divides. To give SMEs the same leverage, data, and operational discipline as the global players. To transform local businesses into regional ones. To bring clarity where the market runs on opacity. To give talent, vendors, and entrepreneurs the infrastructure to compete on merit, not connections.

Because if the world is splitting into islands of digital prosperity surrounded by seas of stagnation, then the real work — the necessary work — is to build the bridges.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic.

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The majority of Singapore retailers are still using a POS system with simple inventory management instead of a comprehensive ERP system for retailers.

Singapore’s retail landscape remains heavily reliant on traditional Point-of-Sale (POS) systems. While these systems provide basic inventory tracking and transaction processing, they fall short of delivering the integrated capabilities of modern Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions. ERP systems offer end-to-end visibility across supply chain, finance, membership management, and customer engagement. Yet, many small and mid-sized retailers in Singapore continue to operate with legacy POS systems, citing cost concerns and resistance to change. This reliance on outdated systems could hinder competitiveness in a market increasingly shaped by digital transformation.

Johor-Singapore Train: Good news or bad news for Singapore retailers?

The upcoming Johor-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link, expected to be operational by 2026, presents both opportunities and challenges for Singapore retailers. On one hand, easier cross-border travel could increase footfall from Malaysian shoppers, boosting sales in Singapore’s retail hubs. On the other hand, Singaporean consumers may find it more convenient to shop in Johor Bahru, where prices are often lower due to reduced operating costs. Retailers in Singapore must therefore rethink their strategies, leveraging ERP-driven insights to optimize pricing, promotions, and membership programs to retain customer loyalty.

Also read: Why Singapore manufacturers must embrace MES for the future

What are the other challenges of retailers in Singapore in 2026?

Retailers in Singapore face a complex set of challenges in 2026:

• Rising rental costs in prime retail locations
• Intensifying competition from e-commerce platforms
• Labor shortages and rising wages
• Shifting consumer expectations for personalized experiences
• Regulatory compliance in data privacy and digital payments
• Sustainability pressures, including demand for eco-friendly supply chains

These challenges highlight the need for integrated ERP systems that can streamline operations, manage memberships, and provide real-time analytics to support decision-making.

What are the differences between Retail ERP and POS System?

A POS system focuses on front-end sales transactions (billing, payments, receipts), while a Retail ERP system manages the entire back-end business operations (CRM, inventory, accounting, HR, supply chain, etc.). POS is about selling, ERP is about running the business.

Comparison: Retail ERP vs POS System

Risk of sticking with simple yet outdated POS systems

According to Stanley Pang, a veteran ERP expert from Multiable with over 15 years of experience in enterprise management systems, “Retailers who continue to rely solely on outdated POS systems risk falling behind in a rapidly evolving market. These systems may handle daily transactions, but they lack the agility and intelligence needed to respond to modern consumer demands. Without ERP integration, retailers face blind spots in inventory forecasting, membership engagement, and compliance management. The longer businesses delay upgrading, the greater the risk of losing competitiveness and profitability.”

Also read: How the top 10 best HR systems in Singapore reveal the new standards for HR technology

How will Retail ERP benefit Singapore retailers?

Retail ERP helps Singapore retailers by centralizing operations, improving inventory accuracy, enabling omnichannel sales, and enhancing customer experiences. In Singapore’s fast-paced retail market, ERP systems give businesses the agility and insights needed to stay competitive

Benefits of retail ERP for retailers

Why we write this article

PRbyAI aims to share updated market news using our team’s tech knowledge, helping B2B customers make informed decisions.

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