SHIYAN KOH

Front-load the hard trips

Halfway down a 200-foot cliff wall, I was clinging to a ladder. The rungs and ropes were wet and slippery from the mist of Mooney Falls right next to …

LIFE +150 XP 29 OCT 2026

The dinner group, eight years in

Almost six years ago, I wrote about starting a dinner group for women in tech in Singapore. We’d just moved back from San Francisco, I …

COMMUNITY +180 XP 2 SEP 2026

Your Traction Is Real. The Money Says No. (Part 1)

I’ve had a version of the same conversation maybe a dozen times in the past few weeks. A founder — different founder each time, same …

INVESTING +270 XP 24 AUG 2026

The Map for Illegible Founders (Part 2)

In Part 1, I wrote about the founders I keep talking to — real traction, real customers, no investor interest — and why that’s happening: …

INVESTING +120 XP 24 AUG 2026

Southeast Asia doesn't have a builder problem. It has a buyer problem.

I got invited to a lunch a little while ago on “redefining Southeast Asia’s value proposition.” Fourteen people around a table, …

INVESTING +300 XP 30 JUL 2026

Depth Is the Thing You're Selling

This past Saturday I got to sit on a panel with Jeff Paine (Golden Gate Ventures), Michael Blakey (Cocoon Capital), and Roy from Crane. It was one of …

INVESTING +180 XP 20 JUL 2026

The interview was already happening

Last night at our Founder Friends event, a guy walked up to me with the kind of opener you don’t forget. “This might be a little weird — …

COMMUNITY +120 XP 5 JUN 2026

Pick Your Table

Urgency is a social phenomenon, not an internal one We talk about drive like it’s a character trait. I believe it’s mostly a downstream …

COMMUNITY +120 XP 24 APR 2026

Can a VC with Claude Code find better keloid treatments?

I have keloids. If you don’t know what those are, consider yourself lucky. They’re raised, rubbery scars that grow way beyond the original …

LIFE +330 XP 31 MAR 2026

Consider Living Near Your Kids

There’s a poster by Tim Urban that shows your entire life in weeks. 4,000 little boxes. It’s sobering. But for parents, there’s a …

PARENTING +90 XP 25 MAR 2026

Zero-Based Budgeting for Your Engineering Team

A founder I back asked me last week if I knew anyone who could help them rethink their engineering org from scratch. Not a layoff consultant. Not a …

INVESTING +300 XP 21 MAR 2026

Why My Starbucks Name Is 47

Starbucks asks for your name because someone in a boardroom decided it would “foster connection.” The barista says your name, you feel …

LIFE +90 XP 5 MAR 2026

Belief Is Contagious

There’s a negativity problem in Southeast Asia’s startup ecosystem right now. And look — there are reasons for it. Markdowns, down rounds, …

INVESTING +150 XP 5 MAR 2026

Forget the Deck. Watch the Founders.

Last year, I sat through a forty-five minute pitch where the CEO answered every single question — including deeply technical ones — while the CTO sat …

INVESTING +210 XP 3 MAR 2026

Writing Code Is Dead. Long Live the Meta Engineer.

Everyone keeps saying writing code is dead. They’re not wrong — but not quite right either. What’s dead is the value of typing code. AI …

LIFE +150 XP 26 FEB 2026

Teach Them to Be Human. AI Will Handle the Rest.

Every parent I know is asking some version of the same question: what should we actually be teaching our kids now that AI can do… most things? …

PARENTING +150 XP 26 FEB 2026

The Art of the Group Chat

You know a group chat has gone off the rails when someone asks for credentials. “Well, what’s your background in this?” Or worse — …

COMMUNITY +180 XP 23 FEB 2026

Three Books Every Startup Founder Should Read (That Aren't About Startups)

The best books about building startups aren’t really about startups. They’re about people — how they work together, why they fall apart, …

INVESTING +180 XP 21 FEB 2026

Humans Hate Change. Your Job Is to Help Them Through It Anyway.

Most startup advice is about strategy, metrics, hiring. Very little about how people feel — and yet feelings are usually what determines whether a …

INVESTING +240 XP 20 FEB 2026

Press the Buttons, People!

My computer science grad cousin and his data scientist wife are peering at my laptop screen, looking at a little app I built — the bane of every …

LIFE +150 XP 19 FEB 2026

Forest City: A Ghost Town Finds Its Residents with the Network School

There is a certain irony in finding one of the most vibrant communities I’ve encountered in what was designed to be a ghost city. I recently …

COMMUNITY +180 XP 9 DEC 2025

Chef's knife? Or Kiwi peeler?

A chef’s knife can do almost anything in the kitchen — chop, slice, dice, even peel if you’re determined enough. A kiwi peeler? It does …

INVESTING +120 XP 29 APR 2025

How much reality should you give a child?

If you’re a parent, or involved with small children through blood or friendship, chances are you’ve been forced/privileged to observe a …

PARENTING +120 XP 1 OCT 2024

Welcome 2024!

A new year is always a great opportunity to reflect and set some goals - inspired by Der Shing’s blog, thought it useful to jot down priorities …

LIFE +60 XP 1 JAN 2024

A year of podcasting

Late last year, Jeremy Au invited me to do a weekly podcast with him, riffing on the latest news in the Southeast Asia Tech scene. Now I love …

LIFE +90 XP 1 JAN 2024

Early entrepreneurial efforts

One of my favourite childhood memories was picking fruit from my best friend’s yard, loading up her red radio flyer wagon, and wandering around …

LIFE +90 XP 27 MAR 2023

First Day of School

I’ve always loved first days - of school, work, trips - it is a moment bursting with possibility and anticipation. (and of course the school …

PARENTING +90 XP 3 JAN 2023

Understanding Silicon Valley: A Discovery Operating System

This article was published as part of the book “America: A Singapore Perspective” edited by Tommy Koh and Daljit Singh. The full book can …

INVESTING +360 XP 4 JAN 2022

On building communities

I’ve been building communities all my life. In the beginning, it was accidental - I noticed that most groups were willing to do things if …

COMMUNITY +240 XP 8 DEC 2020

Metrics - what matters and why (to a pre-seed investor)

The idea of metrics for a pre-seed startups can feel rather oxymoronic; what does it even mean to have metrics when the business is so early? To add …

INVESTING +120 XP 16 AUG 2020

Race, power and what we can do about it

If you’re watching the news, and face it, who isn’t, it’s disheartening to watch what’s happening in the US right now. …

LIFE +210 XP 1 JUN 2020

Pandemic baking and remembering how to learn

I’d taken up baking like everyone else during the COVID-19 pandemic, precipitated by a friend’s kind gift of a 3 year old sourdough …

LIFE +90 XP 1 JUN 2020

Strategy, and why product-market fit alone isn't good enough

Every week I write a note to our portfolio, and in each one, I share one thought that I think is relevant for our founders to noodle on. This …

INVESTING +180 XP 26 MAY 2020

Scaling - The Agony and Ecstasy of scaling a high-growth business

I’ve given various versions of this talk, and thought it might be worth sharing out the slides here for folks. Will add a transcript of the …

INVESTING +60 XP 2 MAY 2020

So you want to start a company...here's a reading list

I recently met with an incoming MBA student, who is leaving his cushy PE job for business school so that he can start something of his own. He asked …

INVESTING +150 XP 31 JUL 2019

How to write a great investor update

One of my portfolio CEOs recently asked me for some examples of a great investor update newsletter and I thought that was a good opportunity to …

INVESTING +150 XP 22 MAY 2019

Building a Product Management Community in Southeast Asia

Picture: From L to R, Shiyan Koh (Hustle Fund), Radhika Dutt (Radical Product), Anna Gong (Perx), Reshmi Roy (Skyscanner) Last night, I had the …

COMMUNITY +90 XP 14 FEB 2019

Why I decided to join Hustle Fund

After almost 6 years at NerdWallet, and having had the chance of a lifetime to build a business from scratch with my friends, I was looking for …

INVESTING +90 XP 11 SEP 2018

What I've been doing since leaving NerdWallet

After nearly 6 years building NerdWallet, I left at the end of March to move back to my home country, Singapore. It’s been nearly 18 years since …

LIFE +90 XP 5 SEP 2018

Communities and the Cul-de-sac

“Wouldn’t it be great if we could all be neighbors with our best friends? We could come home from work, trade stories over a glass of …

COMMUNITY +90 XP 24 JAN 2018