Low Level Barbarians (LLB)

E27: A rare appearance from the Master Debater himself. This episode is cut from a longer episode posted from EOA (to be released soon). Andrew is deeply concerned about where AI is heading. Andrew covers some broad topics of where we are in AI from the development of transformer architecture, the development of neural networks and the implications on how the technology unfolds. It took me a while to understand Andrew's main point as we were talking parallel about different issues. Understanding the negative implications of AGI vs already inherent existing dangers of the current technologies regardless of AGI. Ultimately we need to have a more clear and concise episode which will hopefully come in the near future. Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 02:16 High Level Update Of Where We Are with AI 29:23 Brief On Unsupervised Reinforcement Learning 33:21 The Inherent Dangerous Without AI Alignment

E26: Another test run for the new studio. Joon Chan (https://www.linkedin.com/in/joonchan/), has been living a quieter life since his venture building days. He stopped by the studio and shared his thoughts on Geopolitics in the context of countries aligning East vs West and the impacts on Southeast Asia. Joon also briefly gives some insights into Gdex's diversification plans, the latest happenings in the Palm Oil Industry in 2023,  if it's possible to make money crypto trading, and his thoughts on how useful AI can or cannot be.    00:00 Intro 00:27 Against the Mainstream Geopolitics  02:56 Nord Stream 14:47 Nature of Malaysian/SEA geopolitics. 16:13 Building Business and Investing Along Geopolitics 22:19 Southeast Asia Beneficiary of Volatility 24:50 Gdex Moving Beyond Logistics 26:44 Palm Oil Industry 2023 and Innovations 32:51 Crypto Trading 36:55 What To Do With AI

Chong Siong, Principal, from Team Rocket Research happened to be in my neck of the woods. I used him as a guinea pig for testing the new studio equipment. This episode was completely unscripted and off the cuff. It was a good learning experience to improve the format in the future. Team Rocket Research (TRR) is a research outfit specializing in DeFi and GameFi, that also actively does angel investing in the space. In this episode we touch upon the global macro environment and its effect on risk capital. We briefly discuss how AI has taken over the current investing and building narratives. More importantly, we talk about Team Rocket Research's main focus on creating research around GameFi and Social Fi and some thought processes around early stage investing in this space. Towards the end we discuss where the VCs have gone and when they will come back and where Crypto Regulation is headed.    Last Episode with TRR: Youtube: https://youtu.be/hZrdP6IDVFE Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5uX3fK6Wiy1XwZYDvqsKJU?si=734ef988caa24bc8   Referenced Material: TRR 2023 Report - Digital Assets Report 2023 by TRR.pdf https://teamrocket.substack.com/   Intro - 00:00:00 Macro Environment - 00:01:16 AI Brief - 00:03:07 GameFi in 2023 - 00:09:02 Investing in GameFi Fundamentals - 00:11:33 GameFi vs Trad Gaming - 00:17:22 DaPPs - 00:22:19 State of NFTs - 00:25:21 SocialFi - 00:26:28 2022 to 2023 in Crypto (CEX, Governance, Centralization) - 00:30:21 Where are the VCs: 00:33:58 State of Crypto Regulation: 00:36:42

Last episode of 2022. In this episode we review all the predictions we made in 2022 and review the topics we discussed. We covered a lot of ground from the Grocery sector, 15 minute delivery, Macroeconomic conditions, Food Tech, Payments in SEA, Quality of VC in SEA, where the money and talent is heading, and the trends of ChatGPT-3. We close out with some loose personal updates. Tune to get updated!

Recorded Nov 30th; late due to end year obligations. A very interesting episode that focuses on a thesis that says Malaysia is the best country to invest in SEA. Along with this sentiment, Jianggan and Alex discuss the big opportunities to build or invest in Southeast Asia that are not related to tech. Did the foodtech platforms have the right investment and execution thesis? Jianggan provides great insights and nuance to the China Covid situation you usually won't hear from anywhere else.    Intro (00:00:00) Malaysia vs Singapore - Most Investable Country Malaysia (00:01:25) Non-Tech Investment Opportunities (00:07:36) Bubble Tea & Beverages (00:10:54) Backend Supply Chain Innovation (00:13:27) Front End F&B Innovation (00:21:30) FoodTech Platforms (Grab, GoTo, FoodPanda, DeliveryHero) (00:25:37) Poland vs Indonesia (00:34:05) Truly Regional Businesses (00:38:46) China CCP Covid Situation (00:40:44)

  Justin Ahn, Co-Founder of Quid.li, is building a startup that sits in a very similar space to FTX. Quidli enables crypto as micro-rewards with top collaborators and community members through Web 2.0 tools such as browsers, email, Slack and Discord. In this episode we cover two important aspects missing from current coverage of the FTX fallout. 1.) We have all heard from experts, but what are the users of crypto concerned about, and what are they asking? 2.) More importantly, can we make the case of “Trust Me Bro!”? In this episode we also cover the silver lining of the FTX fallout, the harsh realities of the current risks to crypto, how Quidli is bridging new users to DeFi, the best use cases of crypto today, what is severely missing in the ecosystem, envisioning decentralized work, the nature of trust, and Quidli raising funds. Tune in to get the details!   Topics: Pre-Show Talk (00:00:00) | Intro (00:05:01) | Crypto User Concerns (00:08:43) | The Case For CEX (00:15:03) | Harsh Reality Risks (00:23:43) | Silver Lining (00:34:25) | Bridging DeFi (00:35:27) | Crypto Use Cases (00:39:13) | Decentralized Work (00:53:24) | “Trust Me Bro” (00:57:23) | Quidli Value (01:11:47) | Quidli Fundraising (01:15:39) | Outro (01:20:38)

Description: FTX doom and gloom seems never ending, however Don Phan, crypto researcher, indicates that price action around bitcoin and ethereum possibly signal that fallout and contagion seems contained for now. Realistically, we are all waiting to see what happens. What are the results of the possible contagion, where exactly does the crypto frontier regulation need to be, are some of the topics we explore. The most interesting discussions happen around how ICO's still hold the promise of the future, and how to think about, build, or invest in the GameFi space.

The FTX drama ensues. In this episode Patrick Ambrus helps break down the Alameda Research and FTT structure and explains why it was wrong. He gives a very clear and succinct timeline of how the crash happened with new and unique insights. I have known Pat since 2006, and he is one of the best critical thinkers I know. His applied work, research, and insights in the crypto space are definitely worth paying attention to if you are interested in this space. Some big insights revolved around the nature of Alameda and FTX and why this was allowed, where we are realistically in crypto currency adoption, what is needed to build the future of crypto, and the possibilities of cohesion vs bifurcation. Overall, despite the doom and gloom, Pat paints a very optimistic future. Tune in to hear it!   Topics: Pre-Show (00:00:00) | Show Intro (00:01:13) | Patrick Ambrus (00:02:32) | What Happened With FTX (00:05:40) | Alameda Structure (00:14:55) | The Biggest Problem With FTX Structure (00:18:09) | CEX Bankruns vs Real DeFi (00:21:45) | Coinbase vs FTX structure (00:27:33) | Technologist (00:29:40) | TradFi/Crypto Intersect (00:32:17) | Crypto Infra/App Layers (00:40:24) | Talent/Dear Leaders/Bridging Worlds (00:50:37) | Crypto Fracturing & The Future (00:57:19) | Human Nature/Maximalism Explored (01:05:21)

If you have been lost on the FTX story this podcast is for you. If you want to know more about the background of FTX, what caused the collapse, and the long term consequences tune in.    Follow Team Rocket Research:  https://twitter.com/rocketresearchx https://teamrocket.substack.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/chongsiong/    Topics Covered: Intro (00:00:34) | Main Topic - FTX (00:05:35) | Before the Fall - Luna/Celsius (00:06:50) | Systemic Contagion (00:12:29) | On-Chain Fiat? Impact of Retail/Institutional $ (00:15:29) | Why No Bank Run Infrastructure (00:19:02) | Alameda Research Scandal (00:23:03) | Beginning of FTX Fall (00:24:22) | Why Is There Lack of Clarity (00:26:02) | The Crash of FTX (00:27:33) | Crypto Corporate Governance (00:35:52) | Binance Pull Out (00:38:11) | Broad Implications From Fallout (00:51:09) | Generational Appeal to Crypto (00:59:15) | The Future of Crypto into 2023 (01:04:45) | On White Papers (01:08:03) | Regulation & Crypto Winter Coming (01:16:24) | Crypto Regulation/Crypto Fracturing (01:18:18) | Long Term Impacts - Crypto Winter (01:23:55)

This episode is a high level dive into the world of AI, featuring a close LLB friend, Ken (Noppadon Kamolvilassatian), an AI practitioner. Part of the episode broadly covers AI so feel free to skip around to what interests you. We also cover how the AI field is developing, recent developments in the hardware and software powering modern AI, the evolution of Large Language Models (LLMs), and even some fun speculation on AGI unfolding. Overall, if you are unfamiliar with AI, this is a great episode to dip your toes in the water and get some exposure.    Intro (00:01:04) | Introducing AI (00:5:16) | Modern AI (00:09:37) | Symbolic Logic with Neural Networks (00:13:41) | AI Development (00:18:21) | AI vs ML vs NN vs DL (00:23:49) | AI Hardware/Software (00:25:25) | Large Language Models (00:27:33) | AGI Concern (00:30:11) | Data Hardware Limits on AI (00:39:04) | On OpenAI & GPT (00:42:17) | Speculations on AGI (00:47:41) | Closing Thoughts (00:54:19) | Pre-Show Talk (01:05:17)

Time Stamps Below of Each Section. Feel free to skip the short banter section. This episode starts up with Dave and Alex catching up on Dave's latest project in Industrial Real Estate in the US (00:00:00) and comparing the space to Asia (00:08:25). When Jianggan finally joins the session, we kick of the episode by discussing the CCP elections (00:22:12) and its 2nd and 3rd order effects (00:25:59) on how they affect founders building in the region and how capital allocators are diversifying beyond Chinese borders. This also leads to a very fruitful discussion on the real nature of how technology companies navigate building and growing their businesses in a CCP dominated world (00:54:17). We end the session with some insights on whether is possible to really learn from other founder stories (1:00:54).

While Dave and Andrew are off hiking in a mountain in Bulgaria together, Jianggan and Alex discuss the Great Singaporean Migration. Will this big talent shift to Singapore be permanent this time? They also discuss some of the changes in the SEA tech landscape, especially in fintech. Jianggan shares some context to the Shopee layoffs and an interesting dynamic of excess funding liquidity relative to the founder talent that can get funded. Lastly Jianggan finally introduces his magnum opus of a book he just released; Seeing The Unseen (Behind Chinese Tech Giants)

LLB is back. It was a long hiatus and we appreciate feedback from those who encouraged us to continue. Episode 15 starts off with everyone's personal updates for the past quarter discussing early stage investing, building profitable companies with optionality, and overcoming personal struggles. The second half tackles our old friend's SEA Group's 2nd Quarterly result of 2022. Glad to have everyone back!

What is going on with Goto's stock price? Why hasn't GoTo's stock dropped further? Will Goto's stock price sustain? What-in-the-what is Zilingo and what happened with their CEO Ankiti Bose? Netflix has lost subscribers for the first time, what is the fate of Netflix's future? Elon Musk finally pulled it off and owns Twitter. Is Twitter big in Asia? What should the future of Twitter look like? Tune in to find out!

Southeast Asia is open! Come and travel one and all! In this episode the Master Debater gives us a rundown of where acquisition marketing is headed and where we are now. Is quick commerce headed to a demise or is this just the beginning of a new wave of consumer behaviors that last past the pandemic? If you missed the latest on the Axie Infinity Ronin hack, tune in to episode 13 to find out what's going on!

The Master Debater's Corner. If you haven't noticed our usual cheery co-host Andrew G has been missing from the past few podcasts. In this episode we get to catch up with him to hear about what he has been working on, his views on Russia & Ukraine, insider insights on the Lazada stalled IPO, and a more bullish view on Goto and Grab. 

Low Level Barbarian Special! Barbarian Bestie, Dimitry Levit, from Cento Ventures, joins us to discuss a highly delicate topic, as a Russian National, the war in Ukraine with Russia. Dmitry shares insider views around how the war has been viewed in Russia, the nature of the Russian social contract, information warfare, media bias and propaganda. How is propaganda leaking into Southeast Asia? How bad will economic sanctions get, and what will it look like in the coming year? Tune in to find out!   Links Mentioned: * https://carnegiemoscow.org/2020/05/07/putin-regime-cracks-pub-81726

The war in Ukraine and Russia continues. The barbs discuss the potential ramifications and effects seen globally and Southeast Asia. Don't look at your stock portfolio any time soon! This episode covers the drop of KWEB index and the Didi debacle along with events that caused its recent massive drop in stock price. Lastly, its a hard topic to avoid, but we rehash and add some new perspectives to the ongoing Grab and SEA saga along with GoTo's recent IPO announcement.

Why does the world care about Ukraine? Lazada stalls an IPO spinout. What are the implications for Alibaba, the future of Lazada, and competition in the e-commerce space here in Southeast Asia? Shopee is exiting France before barely settling in, and lastly Siam Commercial Bank is creating waves in the Fintech ecosystem with their latest investment in Akulaku. Tune in for episode 11 with the Low Level Barbarians!

The fintech space is heating up again. Malaysian startup Curlec, a direct debit fintech company, was acquired by India's Razorpay. In this episode we discuss the unique founding partnership Zac has with his co-founder Steve, how Zac managed to avoid founder conflicts all the way through an acquisition, the fintech landscape, and why Zac decided to sell now vs later.

Is covid over and should it be considered over? Have you avoided the cancel culture brouhaha? Where are we with Crypto? If you have been missing out on any of these topics the first half is here to get you caught up. In the second half the Low Level Barbarians discuss SEA's rapidly dropping stock price due to India banning Free Free on national security concerns. Lastly we end on a brief overview of the food landscape here in SEA and what the Delivery Hero results mean.

The first episode of 2022. What lies ahead for the Low Level Barbarians. Jianggan, Alex, Dave, and Andrew discuss what they are planning for the new year personally and professionally. They also cover some predictions and the outlook for the new year. Tune in to hear about remote work, the macroeconomic environment, and changes to the investment industry.

The last episode of 2021. The gang had a long break from holiday travels and celebrations but came together for one last episode. The final episode of 2021 discusses Grab's IPO and its performance, the idea of shallow unicorns; raising too much money and the effects of firing employee's en masse, and lastly what the metaverse is and its future potential.

Shopee is going global and has hit a 200B market cap making it one top 20 largest tech companies in the world. What has contributed to Shopee's global domination and can they hold up to any potential competition? The discussion naturally moved to the evolution of gaming companies into platform players. We dig further and explore 2 of Vietnam's latest unicorns Sky Mavis with their current hit Axie Infinity, and Amanotes with Magic Tile 3. Tune in to learn how SEA unicorns will continue to pop up and thrive in the region.

In this episode the LLB gang sets the foundation for a future episode around media and the metaverse by discussing the recent launch of Diablo 2 Resurrected, and its business model. The main topics for this week's episode discusses the viability of a local hero company, One Championship. Can One Championship find its footing to become a media giant or will it flounder? Secondly, the group discusses what it takes to successfully build an insurtech company in SEA along with the pain points and opportunities at hand. Lastly, the group outlines “how buy now pay” will unfold for the Southeast Asian region. Tune in to hear the details!

For this special and entertaining episode, barbarian Dave calls in from his motel in Wisconsin. The gang arrives on time to discuss Grab Q2 results, the global expansion of SEA group, the rise of Tik Tok E-commerce, and Carousell's most recent raise, which makes them a Unicorn. Are there any surprises for Grab? Will raising USD6.5B hurt or help SEA group in the long run, and do they have what it takes to win? What makes the Tik Tok e-commerce experience special? Can Carousell prove the haters wrong and justify its unicorn valuation? Tune in to find out!

Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and South Africa central banks are banning together to develop an interbank system that removes intermediaries by using digital currencies. The LLB gang discusses the nature of digital currencies along with the context for blockchain ledger technologies. The second topic covers what the future of saas in Southeast Asia looks like. Will sass in SEA be home grown emerging markets focused, or can Southeast Asia produce global dominant saas companies that compete with the best. Lastly, the barbarians discuss what the role of governments should be for fostering innovation. What are the ingredients that allow governments to harness innovation? Tune in to find out.

Can AirAsia build a superapp? We dig deep into the ambitions of AirAsia and look at their core business and see if they have what it takes to compete in superapp space. Man of the high ground, Dave Chang, gives a great presentation on the state of VC and we discuss the driving trends we see in the Southeast VC/Angel scene. Lastly we touch upon the tip of the food iceberg with the Zomato IPO.

With Grab's release of Q1 results the LLB gang couldn't resist from following up from episode 1 in discussing the performance and health of Grab. This discussion however goes much deeper into the ecosystem and the broad ranging effects from the type of labor developing, and how substantial the results were. With China continuing crackdowns from education, gaming, and music we get to hear more nuanced views on why this is happening and compare systems from the East to the West. Lastly, we briefly discuss two new exciting business models that have been exploding in growth towards the end, BukuKas and BukuWarung.

The maiden voyage of the LLB podcast. Alex Le, Dave Chang, Andrew Gnananantham, and Jianggan Li band together to launch the Low Level Barbarians podcast. A podcast dedicated to discussions and debate about technology, business, startups, economics, society and more! In this episode the barbarians in arms discuss the Grab Spac IPO, Antitrust in China, and the Covid Situation in Southeast Asia.