Jeff Paine is a Co-founder and Managing Partner of Golden Gate Ventures, an early stage technology venture capital fund based in Singapore. Golden Gate Ventures currently has over US$175 million under management and has made investments in over 45 companies since 2012 across Southeast Asia.

Jeff also started and manages the Founder Institute incubator in Singapore. Since 2010 the Founder Institute has graduated over 100 companies in Southeast Asia and Japan, and he received the Director Award for “Greatest Ecosystem Impact” Worldwide for his work there. He’s currently an investor and advisor to Redmart, Tradegecko, Coda Payments, and mentor at JFDI Asia, Chinaccelerator and of course at the Founder Institute.

Jeff is a Singapore native, but he spent the first eight years of his career in early stage venture and private equity in the US, and he graduated from USC, so he understands how things work in Silicon Valley and in Southeast Asia, and he's is an ideal person to help folks like me understand how to think about the region when taking technology from here to there.

Below are the topics we cover during this hour-long conversation:

How the investing and startup environment has evolved over the past 10 years in Southeast Asia, and since the pandemic began
How to think about and prioritize the markets that make up Southeast Asia
Where this region should fit in a global expansion timeline
The types of businesses that are succeeding in the region
The best places to find engineering talent, and what to look for
The first wave of regional unicorns, and lessons being applied by the second generation of entrepreneurs in SEA
Advice for founders and entrepreneurs on how to approach this region, and things to be cautious about