Shiyan Koh
Co-founder & GP at Hustle Fund. Writing about startups, communities, parenting, and discovery.
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Press the Buttons, People!
February 19, 2026My 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 …
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Forest City: A Ghost Town Finds Its Residents with the Network School
December 9, 2025There 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 …
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Chef's knife? Or Kiwi peeler?
April 29, 2025A 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 …
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How much reality should you give a child?
October 1, 2024If you’re a parent, or involved with small children through blood or friendship, chances are you’ve been forced/privileged to observe a …
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Welcome 2024!
January 1, 2024A 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 …
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A year of podcasting
January 1, 2024Late 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 …
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Early entrepreneurial efforts
March 27, 2023One of my favourite childhood memories was picking fruit from my best friend’s yard, loading up her red radio flyer wagon, and wandering around …
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First Day of School
January 3, 2023I’ve always loved first days - of school, work, trips - it is a moment bursting with possibility and anticipation. (and of course the school …
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Understanding Silicon Valley: A Discovery Operating System
January 4, 2022This article was published as part of the book “America: A Singapore Perspective” edited by Tommy Koh and Daljit Singh. The full book can …
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On building communities
December 8, 2020I’ve been building communities all my life. In the beginning, it was accidental - I noticed that most groups were willing to do things if …
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Metrics - what matters and why (to a pre-seed investor)
August 16, 2020The 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 …
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Race, power and what we can do about it
June 1, 2020If you’re watching the news, and face it, who isn’t, it’s disheartening to watch what’s happening in the US right now. …
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Pandemic baking and remembering how to learn
June 1, 2020I’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 …
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Strategy, and why product-market fit alone isn't good enough
May 26, 2020Every 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 …
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Scaling - The Agony and Ecstasy of scaling a high-growth business
May 2, 2020I’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 …
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So you want to start a company...here's a reading list
July 31, 2019I 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 …
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How to write a great investor update
May 22, 2019One 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 …
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Building a Product Management Community in Southeast Asia
February 14, 2019Picture: From L to R, Shiyan Koh (Hustle Fund), Radhika Dutt (Radical Product), Anna Gong (Perx), Reshmi Roy (Skyscanner) Last night, I had the …
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Why I decided to join Hustle Fund
September 11, 2018After 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 …
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What I've been doing since leaving NerdWallet
September 5, 2018After 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 …
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Communities and the Cul-de-sac
January 24, 2018“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 …
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