After more than two decades of investing...
I believe we’ve found the next big hidden opportunity:


Most LPs exploring venture capital funds as an investment vehicle are concerned with media sentiment.

"Capital at risk"
"Growth at all costs"
"Long-term"

The numbers don't lie. If well managed, venture investing reaps very attractive ROI versus most other alternatives.

And, you won't even need to find the next unicorn to do that.

Today, sustainable, sticky growth is the holy grail for any investment office looking for longevity with attractive returns.

Some years ago my partner, Murli, and I started Tin Men Capital in pursuit of that.

Our fund's unique focus:
- B2B and Enterprise Tech Startups
- With a strong focus in Southeast Asia
- Who are in Series A stage and beyond

Our thesis:
SouthEast Asia's legacy industries are still largely undigitised.
B2B tech in large TAM > High-gross margins > Sticky recurring revenue > Quicker pathway to profitability

We've already proven that these ideas our sound with measured results from our inaugural fund.

Family offices and institutions that work with us appreciate our ethos in running the fund:

⚙️ DISCIPLINED DEAL-SOURCING : 
Carefully scrutinising every deal for the right valuations, founder mix, and expertise. No exceptions.

⚙️ HIGH-CONVICTION: 
We only invest in a handful of teams that apply. Sounds counterintuitive, but It's seeing above-market returns with below-average failure rates.

⚙️ EXPERIENCED B2B OPERATORS AT THE HELM: 
Murli and I bring collectively more than 40 years of experience in investing and management, having sat on boards and brokered large M&As. Our thoughts have also been featured on TechInAsia, Peak Magazine, and more.

Some of our portfolio companies:

🔵 Hubble (Series B)
Resource management platform for parties in the construction value chain to track and optimise processes

🔵  Zipline (Series A)
Australia's #1 workplace management platform for the aged care and health sectors

🔵  GlobalTix (Series A)
Software and marketplace software for tourism attraction operators and travel product distributors 

We’re always on the lookout for new partners and startups to join us.

If keen to chat, shoot me a DM/email or head over to our website to drop us a line.

Jeremy Tan

What no one tells you about running a VC fund (until you find out yourself).

People who’ve founded, or started, a VC fund know this:
It doesn’t just take a good investing team to run a fund.
You need an army of professional services firms to keep the clockwork going.

Most people see the obvious work.
 - Fundraising
 - Sourcing
 - Investing
 - Exiting

But there’s so much more running behind the scenes.

+ Capital calls
+ KYC / onboarding investors
+ Periodic reports to Limited Partners
+ Regulatory filings
+ Audit

None of these are optional.
If we want a well-functioning ecosystem, we need dependable service providers who can do these at a cost structure that makes sense.

However, that’s not we see today.
Come audit season, we’re still getting questions like:

“Why are your startups burning cash?”
“Can I have a DCF model for your investment?”

Audits are important. They’re a third-party opinion on how we value the portfolio.

But many auditors here are still (stubbornly?) looking at VC portfolios with a mature company lens.
And the pricing often follows: ~US$2k per year per company for a fair market valuation.

For VC funds (typically smaller than PE funds), that adds up fast and eats painfully into net returns.

It’s not sustainable. 
We’re in severe need of a step change in approach.

One bright spot for us has been working with good folks like those at Carta. (this is not a sponsored post 😅)

They’ve taken a tech-enabled approach to an archaic part of fund admin.

🔺 Capital call calculations done faster, with fewer errors.
🔺 Financial details available online, with enough granularity.
🔺 Onboarding, KYC, subscriptions, all in one platform.

To be clear, they’re not perfect.
Beyond the tech, the people we interface with…
They listen. They hear the pain points. 
And they keep iterating.

Eventually, investors should be able to access investment-level financials seamlessly, straight from source data.

If SEA wants a world-class VC ecosystem, the services layer around fund management, legal, accounting etc. has to keep evolving.

As it is right now, there is much room for improvement. 

For an aspiring financial hub of Southeast Asia, I don’t think this is too much to ask.

PS. If you know good individuals who are bright spots in the services layer of tech in SEA, do tag them in the comment section for visibility.

Backing brilliant B2B founders 🦓 in Southeast Asia | Co-founder at Tin Men Capital | Linkedin Top Voice

Avet Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Avet provides high quality generic medicines that help patients and practitioners achieve affordable healthcare solutions. Our global supply chain network is built around centers of manufacturing and scientific excellence to provide you with the highest level of quality, safety, value and service in generics.

Head of Supply Chain

#EverydayLeaders Interview Series

What's the Most Effective Leadership Tool?

Brady Pyle had great advice...

----

I often tell leaders that your most powerful leadership tool is a mirror

You need to start by knowing yourself, your strengths and weaknesses

I like to surround myself with people who are different from me in a variety of ways--how they grew up, personality and communication style, and leadership strengths

I also regularly seek customer feedback about the performance of my team members

Brady Pyle

Bill Castengera had this bit of advice to new and emerging #leaders:

It is easy to get caught up in tasks, but people want leaders who slow down, listen to concerns and take actions that address those concerns.

The question of whether we should push our employees or pull our employees can be a tough one.

Have high standards. If you lead correctly, your employees will want to do their best to match or exceed those standards.

Bill Castengera

1906

Nuka Foods is a privately held firm that manufactures the highest quality cannabis-based tablets.  Its 1906 brand of plant-based tablet and chocolate experiences are market leaders in this emerging industry.

Teva Pharmaceuticals

Oversight of supply from seven strategic internal manufacturing sites focused on the North American markets.  Program manager for a transformational shift focused on fixing foundations and inventory optimization with 11 initiatives incorporated within.

Director, Supply Planning

Change Management Lead for an SAP Implementation.  For this long-term project, I have responsibility for project communications, stakeholder engagement, business process change impact, change readiness, organizational alignment and training for a more than 10,000 end user base.

Director, Organizational Change Management

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (Teva) is a global pharmaceutical and drug company. It develops, produces and markets generic drugs in all treatment categories.

Director, Supply Chain Planning

Teva Animal Health, Inc. is engaged in the research, development and manufacture of veterinary pharmaceutical products for North America and the worldwide animal health community. Teva Animal Health is the largest US manufacturer of generic pharmaceutical formulations for the animal health market, and our proprietary brand line, DVM Pharmaceuticals, leads the industry in the development of companion animal dermatological products and nutraceuticals.

Director, Supply Chain

RPI Lally School of Management

Member of external advisory board for the Master of Supply Chain Management program at the Lally School of Management.

Located in the heart of Upstate New York's Tech Valley, the Lally School of Management is the business school at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. We develop aspiring business leaders who have a passion for innovation with the ability to work across business functions.

Supply Chain Advisory Board Member

The Refractive Thinker

The Refractive Thinker is a new, innovative outlet for doctoral scholars who want to publish their research. It is unique because it meets the critical standards of peer-reviewed literature while still appealing to readers outside of the world of academia. 

Vol. VIII: Effective Business Practices for Motivation and Communication
Ch 4: Five Steps to Navigating the Social Exchange Perspective Landscape

Download at no cost at:  http://goo.gl/wpnKbu

Contributing Author

Hospira

Manager, Capacity Planning and Project Management

Hospira is a global specialty pharmaceutical and medication delivery company driven by its vision of Advancing Wellness™. Bringing proven leadership and experience, Hospira provides solutions to help improve the productivity, safety and effectiveness of patient care.

Supply Chain | Capacity Planning Manager

Section Manager, International Deployment

Supply Chain | International Deployment

Systems Analyst, Centralized Materials Management Group

Supply Chain | Systems Analyst

Supply Chain | Materials Manager

Supply Chain | Section Manager, SVP Finishing

Supply Chain | Section Manager, Materials Management

Supply Chain | Material Control Supervisor

Section Supervisor, Materials Management, Large Volume Parenterals

Supply Chain | Section Supervisor, Materials Management, LVP

Manufacturing Supervisor, Propofol Filling

Supply Chain | Manufacturing Supervisor, Propofol Filling

Supply Chain | Manufacturing Supervisor, Actiq

Corning Incorporated

Corning Optical Fiber, part of Corning’s Telecommunications segment, invented the first low-loss optical fiber in 1970 and today remains the worldwide market leader, offering a full line of single-mode and multimode optical fibers for all network applications.

Positions Held:
New Technology Receiver (Project Engineer / Production Management)
Shift Supervisor

Production Engineering and Manufacturing Supervision

GE Silicones

GE Silicones, Inc. offers specialty silicones, such as silicone surfactants, emulsions, catalysts, organomodified, and reactive fluids. It serves personal and household care, coatings, paints and inks, crop protection, textiles, oil and gas, paper, food and beverage, tissue and nonwovens, automotive, furniture and bedding, appliances, and shoes markets.

Process Safety Analyst

I profile the extraordinary work being done by #EverydayLeaders. Leaders from the front lines of industry

WHAT I DO: 

I’m on a quest to profile the extraordinary work being done by #EverydayLeaders.  Leaders from the front lines of industry.   

HOW I DO IT:  

I start genuine conversations with real people.  We discuss what it takes to lead people in the real world.  And I help them share or develop their wisdom. 

Over the last two years, I’ve interviewed and profiled dozens of people and published their stories in Volume 1 of the Everyday Leaders Series.  Here are few examples:

➡️ Kerry Wekelo on listening to your teams —  https://goo.gl/BgU8Ma 
➡️ Ross Wirth on asking the right questions — https://goo.gl/zKjf9H
➡️ John Reagan on the art of teamwork — https://goo.gl/UPRcGn

I also help Emerging Leaders discover their innate brilliance. We use a time tested framework to align your desires and preferences with your those of your peers, teams, managers, and organization. No tricks, no secret formulas.  But the techniques are so simple my 4-year-old could do it.

CURIOUS TO KNOW MORE?  

Let’s connect and see how we may help each other.

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The Battle

Jeremy Tan

Dr. Ernest Jones

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The Battle

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Dr. Ernest Jones

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Engagements

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