UVC: Hian Goh takes us through Openspace Ventures, the reasoning behind his The Unreasonable Podcast, and ‘magic’ that grows businesses
Understanding VC is a deep dive on how Venture Capitalists work. In this episode, I speak with Hian Goh, Founder and General Partner at Openspace Ventures, a leading venture capital firm focused on Southeast Asian companies. Hian shares with us his own meandering journey towards becoming a VC, and how the genesis of Openspace came about. He takes us through the intricacies of Openspace’s operations, divulges some thoughts about his The Unreasonable Podcast, and how he filters criticism and feedback to incorporate the best improvements and changes in everything he does.
In this episode you will learn:
- Hian’s meandering journey from Singapore to England, from computers to law, and how he ended up becoming an investment banker.
- Why does Hian liken entrepreneurs to underdogs? How can entrepreneurs transcend the underdog mentality?
- The success story of Kumu, a Filipino video sharing and e-commerce social networking service
- How does the face-off between tradition and innovation complicate decision making in VCs and startups? What is the best way to tackle such a situation?
- What was Hian’s vision for creating the The Unreasonable Podcast?
- Why does Hian ascribe immense importance to humanizing VCs? What personal efforts has he made to meet that end?
- What’s the best way to sift through and imbibe feedback?
- Hian’s definition of a ‘magical’ product
- How and why does Openspace nurture largely variegated expertise?
- Openspace’s data-driven approach to investing which employs active intelligence
About
As a co-founder of Openspace in 2014, Hian has worked side-by-side with Shane Chesson to build the firm and lead significant investments. He sits on the Investment Committee, focuses on new growth strategies, and represents Openspace on the Boards of some of our fastest growing investments, including Kumu, Nutrition Technologies, Love, Bonito and FreshKet.
He also led the first institutional fundraising round for Gojek. He has a great deal of practitioner experience having founded and built Asian Food Channel, a 24-hour pay TV channel, which was sold to US media giant, Scripps Interactive in April 2013. He is currently active on the Board of the Singapore Science Centre and sits on the A*STAR portfolio management committee.
Hian holds an MBA from INSEAD Singapore and a Law Degree from Trinity College, Oxford.
Hian Goh
Founder and General Partner at Openspace Ventures
As a co-founder of Openspace in 2014, Hian has worked side-by-side with Shane Chesson to build the firm and lead significant investments. He sits on the Investment Committee, focuses on new growth strategies, and represents us on the Boards of some of our fastest growing investments, including Kumu, Nutrition Technologies, Love, Bonito and FreshKet.
He also led the first institutional fundraising round for Gojek. He has a great deal of practitioner experience having founded and built Asian Food Channel, a 24-hour pay TV channel, which was sold to US media giant, Scripps Interactive in April 2013. He is currently active on the Board of the Singapore Science Centre and sits on the A*STAR portfolio management committee.
Hian holds an MBA from INSEAD Singapore and a Law Degree from Trinity College, Oxford.
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