Saison Capital Principal Qin En Looi
On his LinkedIn profile, Qin En Looi introduces himself as a venture capitalist by day, podcaster by night, and dad transitioning from Web2 to Web3.
Looi, currently principal at Saison Capital, an early-stage VC fund that has backed over 30 startups across South and Southeast Asia, has all the ingredients for a venture capitalist. In his previous avatars, he was a founder, angel investor, coach, and Forbes 30 Under 30.
He previously co-founded Glints, a leading talent discovery platform in Southeast Asia; invested in student-founded startups at Dorm Room Fund; coached students at Singapore Management University and Ngee Ann Polytechnic; and rolled out nationwide sales programmes for clients at BCG and built ventures at BCG Digital Ventures.
He speaks at Echelon Asia 2022, to be held in Singapore from October 27-28.
e27 chatted with Looi, who shares why offline events like Echelon are crucial for the region’s startup ecosystem.
Offline events are making a comeback after a break of over two years. Do you think offline startup events are still relevant?
We often have a bias toward the familiar — reaching out to familiar faces and speaking with people we already know. Offline industry events give us all an opportunity to connect with peers we otherwise may not meet.
Also Read: Nothing can truly replace the offline element of community building: Yinglan Tan
We have seen this firsthand from some of the community offline events Saison Capital has organised. What began as a once-off breakfast for ten product managers in May 2022 blossomed into eight breakfasts of 12 product managers, with more than 90 per cent saying they would return and bring a peer product manager along with them. This underscores the desire people have to reconnect offline.
How are startup events like Echelon important in times like these when the startup industry is going through a tough time?
In challenging times, it is necessary for founders, investors and startup ecosystem participants to rally together and support each other. Many challenges founders face are not uncommon, and being able to exchange ideas and brainstorm solutions in person is unparalleled.
Furthermore, founders often find themselves more candid in person, with less fear that they will leave behind a ‘digital trail’ as they open up and be vulnerable to each other.
How is Saison Capital helping its portfolio companies tackle this crisis? Has this situation forced you to become more cautious about investing?
Economic cycles or even crises become less important when you invest with a longer-term mindset, and at Saison Capital, we’re focused on growing with companies across a 10-year timeline.
The current market has offered us many more avenues to support our portfolio companies and the broader startup ecosystem. An example would be our partnership with Stripe to support portfolio founders across product, sales, hiring and legal. Another example is our first-of-its-kind employee stock option (ESOP) reports in Southeast Asia and India, which published benchmarks on best practices around ESOP as founders think about retaining and attracting talent.
Sustainability has become a new buzzword in the changing investment climate. Why is sustainable growth crucial in Southeast Asia?
Sustainable growth in Southeast Asia encompasses several components across a lens of economic sustainability, environment and social sustainability. On economic sustainability, startups would be well served to keep a close eye on business fundamentals and not pursue growth at all costs. What worked in a capital-rich, low-interest environment (as we were a year ago) does not work in today’s climate.
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Echelon 2022 aims to provide intimate and focused discussions on key topics and business matching services to facilitate business-driven connections during the two-day event. e27 will curate and invite key stakeholders of startups, investors, corporates, and ecosystem enablers to drive towards fruitful business outcomes at Echelon.
We are looking for top-notch speakers for the 2022 edition, which will be co-located with SWITCH at Resorts World Sentosa from 27 to 28 October 2022. Learn more here.
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