Paloe | CFO Advisory

Paloe is one of the pioneer CFO advisory firms in Singapore. We have partnered with more than 100 companies at various stages of their growth.

Regardless your company size, industry or stage of growth, Paloe understands the unique challenges of your business. We work hand-in-hand with you to build robust CFO functions and formulate proven financial strategies to manage your cashflow, maximize profits and supercharge your growth.

Beyond overcoming short-term challenges, we at Paloe help you transform the way you do finance through our holistic approach to set you on the trajectory of sustainable, long-term growth.

Sam Lee leads Corporate Finance & Advisory segment at Paloe. Over the past seven years, he has served many prominent technology companies including Artisan Green, Dedoco, Detrack, Geniebook, Haulio, Kegmil, MICEPad, Moovaz, Overdrive IOT, USEN, etc.

At Paloe, we partner CEOs and CFOs in technology companies to:
- build and maintain financial model
- design performance dashboards on Power BI
- analyze performance and perform scenario analysis
- prepare dataroom and co-ordinate Q&A process during due diligence phase
- support and run M&A / fundraising process
- optimize and automate finance and operational processes
- identify potential partners in new markets

Sam Lee is also a Registered Management Consultant accredited by Institute of Management Consultant. With this endorsement, he is able to lead projects that qualify for Enterprise Development Grant.

If you are interested to find out more, feel free to email sam@paloe.com.sg.

Managing Partner

Partner, Corporate Finance & Advisory

Sell-side M&A advisor in the sales of a Singapore-based Low Code Development Firm

Sell-Side M&A Advisor / Interim CFO - Low Code System Integrator

Provided financial advisory for a Deep Tech SaaS company in their Pre-Series A round

Fundraising Advisor -  Pre-Series A for Deep Tech SaaS Startup

Buy-side M&A Advisor in a 100% acquisition of a Singapore-based Medical Device Retail Chain

Buy-side M&A Advisor - Medical Device Retail Chain

Acted as Interim CFO to provide due diligence assistance in the proposed acquisition of a Singapore-based System Integrator

Interim CFO - Business Intelligence System Integrator

Sell-side M&A advisor in the majority stake sales of a Logistics SaaS company

Sell-side M&A Advisor - Logistics Tech SaaS Company

Prepare and co-ordinated Financial Due Diligence for an Edutech Company based in Singapore

Due Diligence Assistance - Pre-Series A Edutech Company

Provided financial advisory for a SaaS company in their Pre-Series A round

Fundraising Advisor - Pre-Series A for Future of Work SaaS company

Acted as Interim CFO during the successful exit for a regional SMB SaaS Company

Interim CFO - Exit Planning for SMB SaaS Company

Institute of Management Consultants (Singapore)

Council Member

Member - Business Development Sub-Committee

Skills Union

Venture Financing Trainer, NTU SGUnited Skills Programme in Digital Entrepreneurship - Batch 2

Venture Financing Trainer, NTU SGUnited Skills Programme in Digital Entrepreneurship - Batch 1

Action Community for Entrepreneurship (ACE)

Speaker / Trainer - Accounting and Finance Sharing

Speaker / Trainer - Financial Model and Valuation

Olea Private Limited

Olea is a boutique consulting firm founded in 2011. It is accredited by SPRING Singapore to provide financial advisory services under Innovation and Capability Voucher ("ICV") scheme. Over the years, Olea has served over 30 clients under the ICV scheme.

Projects that can be covered under the ICV scheme include:
1. Financial assessment and planning for growth: To assist SMEs chart out and validate their financial needs, in view of their business expansion plans
2. Planning and budgeting: To assist SME structure and implement proper planning and
budgeting practices in managing overall financial resources
3. Cash-flow and working capital management: To assist SME identify, assess and address gaps in cash-flow and working capital management

Information about ICV voucher: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/icv-voucher-singapore-smes-sam-lee

Consultant

Maersk Group

APM Terminals is one of the biggest port and terminal operator globally with over 60 container facilities across 34 countries and over 130 Inland Services locations across 49 countries.

My role requires me to actively assist in identifying and developing terminal projects within the Asia Pacific region, including investment evaluations for new container and non-container terminals or inland services facilities, as well as major expansions in existing terminals. 

The role has a primary focus on M&A / PPP projects within South East Asia, with support for projects in other Asia Pacific countries on an as-needed basis.

Participated in McKinsey Basic Analyst Training conducted for Maersk In-house Consultants in Kitzbühel, Austria (December 2014)

Highlighted transactions and deal experiences available upon request.

Manager, Investments and Strategy

KPMG Corporate Finance Pte Ltd

Achieved Double Promotion in 2013
Service Excellence Award 2014

Spent most of his two-year stint at KPMG covering Myanmar M&A deals.
Highlighted transactions and deal experience available upon request.

Senior Associate, Mergers and Acquisitions Advisory

Standard Chartered Bank

Supported in the execution and origination of M&A and capital markets transaction in Southeast Asia

- Created Singapore Public Takeover slide template and maintained Singapore Privatization Database
- Prepared 13 Singapore privatization pitches (including a competing offer for an announced deal), 1 Malaysia privatization pitch and 2 equity raising pitches for Southeast Asian companies

Investment Banking Intern

KBC Bank

Trade Finance Intern

Featured by Business Times, CNA938, MoneyFM, TechinAsia, E27, SG Tech, BFM, SME Horizon and Straits Times

At Paloe, we help CEOs and CFOs of companies in SEA to build and scale up their CFO function. 
➨➨ For companies with CFOs, we partner CFOs to fill up any expertise gap. 
➨➨ For companies without CFO, we help CEOs to build and operate their CFO function.

WHAT DO OUR CLIENTS SAY ABOUT US?

"Paloe has been an invaluable partner in Dreamcloud's journey to acquisition. Sam Lee and his team clearly have the right ethos, and they were a real asset to have on the team. They are knowledgeable, helpful, and consistently impressed us by going above and beyond to ensure we could focus on the important things and that we reached our objectives."
- Daniel Lim, CEO, Dreamcloud (acquired by Temus, Temasek / UST JV)

"They were there when we need to rush out documents and were always willing to go the extra mile to support us. His experience in the fundraising process and understanding of the software sector helps to position the company towards a successful fundraising exercise."
- Zhi Zhong, CEO, Geniebook

"Sam has deep experience and understanding of digital business models that have helped Express Melody pin-point our key growth drivers. Their financial model has been very detailed and allowed us to simulate our business."
- Jerry Chen, CEO, Express In Music (acquired by Tokyo-listed USEN)

“Employing a full time CFO for a startup of our size is overkill yet the accurate tracking of key financial metrics is a must. That's where Paloe fits this need like a glove. Paloe’s team had been instrumental in creating financial models and actively involved in all financial matters.”
- Eric Koh, COO, IVS

"His ground-up approach wins the respect of my staff and makes transformation efforts easier. His clarity in explaining concepts helps provide direction to my team. Beyond expertise, he goes beyond his role as a consultant. His personal touch, honesty, and encouragement are what other consultants do not do."
- Janan Kwek, CEO, GlobberCo

HOW CAN WE HELP YOU?
→ Exit Planning and Sell-Side M&A for SMEs / Start-Ups
→ Preparing VC-backed companies for Series A / B Fundraising
→ Co-ordinate dataroom and manage due diligence processes
→ Interim CFO for VC-backed Companies
→ Build Financial Model for VC-backed Start-Ups
→ Conduct investment evaluation and due diligence for M&A acquisition
→ Financial and Tax Due Diligence for SaaS Companies
→ Design Power BI Dashboards to monitor performance metrics

Sam Lee

More and more business owners and founders I speak with are exploring Kuala Lumpur as a real expansion territory.

Not just for market size slides. But for hiring, building a second base, and opening new business lanes.

And honestly, the best part of KL isn’t a secret hack. It’s the relationships you build with people who are doing the work.

A few memories that stick with me:

Years ago, right after our Malacca retreat, Lin Rongjie  and I had dinner. He shared his conviction on the prospects of hiring in Malaysia.

I was skeptical, but I listened. And true enough, we eventually did it.

Then I remember my first properly coordinated KL trip was with Jeremy Foo.
Same flight.
We split up for our own meetings in the day.
Then regrouped at the airport for dinner.

Simple move.
But it started a chain of coordination.

Fast forward, what began as Jonathan Fung and I trying to find a 1 to 1 slot somehow turned into a BNI Champions Singapore ⭐ coordinated work trip.

A road trip. A group of 7.
Meetings by day, and evenings set aside to bond, compare notes, and help each other make introductions.

Big thanks to Pamela Knaggs, Raymond Tan, Zachary Ang, Roy Jenpire, Benjamin Wong, and Jonathan Fung.
Also great having Timothy Liew, Kelvin Li, Zachary Lee, CFA (李惠翔), Sean Chi, and Aden Wong join along the way.

If there’s one lesson here:
Expansion is rarely a solo sport.
When you travel with the right people, you don’t just do meetings, you build momentum.

If you’re a frequent KL traveller, shout out in the comments. Maybe we plan a coordinated trip together.

Sam Lee Chengyi

CEO @ Paloe | We partner with CFOs, SME Owners & Founders to scale CFO function (People • Process • Platform) and get Transaction Ready (M&A • VC • IPO • Franchising) | Pioneer CFO Advisory Firm in SEA

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Good morning!

I’ve been spending more time listening to the sharpest minds in VC and startups on LinkedIn. There’s a lot of noise, but also some real gems.

So starting this week, I’m curating 10 posts that are worth your scroll so you don’t have to doom-scroll to stay informed.

This week’s themes:

Market cycles & fundraising reality
From why the 2015 cohort still dominates today’s unicorns (Ilya Strebulaev) to why down rounds are not death knells (Peter Walker) and the hidden “Why now? startup killer” (Michael Blakey).

AI beyond the hype
Several VCs and operators remind us: AI itself isn’t the edge. It’s how you use it, how your agents work across contexts, and who can turn hype into real, compounding value (Roberto Croci, Alex Pall, Robert Smith).

GTMs, customers & brand power
From retailers betting big on celebrity-founded brands (Scott Van den Berg), to Podium “selling to themselves” as the ideal customer (Craig Bristol Dixon), to a refreshing take on networking like a kid wanting to go to parties (Obediah Ayton).

Capital is evolving too
And yes, even Private Equity morphing into Private Credit (Hassan Awada) gets a spotlight because the capital stack founders raise from today will look very different from a few years ago.

If you’d like the weekly “VC pulse” roundup in your feed, do subscribe to my Linkedin Newsletter.

And of course, always happy to chat about what this means for your own fundraising and finance strategy.

Good morning Everyone! We will be monitoring the pulse from some of the key Linkedin personalities in the VC community. See below a curated list of Li

Open article: Global Tech Pulse: Linkedin News Feed by Sam Lee Chengyi • 1 min read

Every year at Paloe, we do one thing that’s become my favourite tradition.

We put as much of the tech ecosystem as we can… into one room.

Founders. VCs. A few carefully curated ecosystem partners.

No big stage. No hard sell. 
Just honest conversations over dinner.

This year feels extra special.
We’ve crossed 250 sign-ups, and the event is now officially fully subscribed.
We’ll be hosting it at 30 Bencoolen – now known as Oakwood Bencoolen, a new boutique hotel under the Ascott Group.

For me, this dinner has never been about “deal-making”.
It’s about relationship-building.
Trust first, transactions later (if at all).

If you’re joining us next week, a small suggestion:
Don’t rush into your pitch deck.
Pick 3 people you genuinely want to understand.
Ask what they’re solving, not what they’re raising.

I’m really looking forward to catching up
with many of the movers and shakers in our ecosystem next week.

And if you’d like to be part of future ecosystem gatherings like this,
feel free to connect or drop me a note. Happy to keep you in the loop.

#TechEcosystem #SingaporeStartups #NetworkingDoneRight

Paloe | CFO Advisory

Tomorrow will be an interesting afternoon for Paloers as we learn how we show love and care.. On my way to Batam now as the advance party. Curious about what we are doing? 

Stay tune to our updates….

Bluente

Bluente is a leading language solutions provider, driving innovation in professional communication. Our focus lies in empowering individuals across industries through cutting-edge language learning tools and precise translation solutions. Try our software now and reach out to us if we can support you in any of your language needs:

- Bluente (Learning): https://app.bluente.com 
- Blu Translate: https://translate.bluente.com

Bluente also produces our podcast series, Business Beyond Borders, where we invite senior leaders to share cross-border insights across various sectors including the legal, banking and professional services fields: https://bit.ly/3ubOycD

CEO & Co-Founder

Bain & Company

Associate Consultant Intern

Corporate Finance Intern

Citi Banking 101 Foundational Program

Completed 2 weeks of intense training in the program which included numerous lectures and case studies to understand the different lines of business in Citibank

Trainee

SPRING Singapore

Conducted research studies on Global Venture Capital Schemes and evaluated potential start-up companies for deal flow assessment

Venture Capital Intern

Daphne Tay

This has been in the works for months, and I'm really happy we can finally roll it out!

Our team just launched the Bluente Office Add-in, which means you can now translate documents directly inside Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. 

No need to export files or deal with reformatting afterward.

A lot of our legal clients have been asking for this because they're constantly working across languages and switching between tools breaks their flow. 

This keeps everything in one place.

If you work with cross-border documentation regularly, I think this could save you quite a bit of time. 

Early access is open now!
👉 https://lnkd.in/g6du-Uk9

Founder at Bluente | Ex-Bain | AI-powered translation for cross-border growth

Now in Microsoft Office. You asked, we built it. Translate your Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files directly within Microsoft Office. No switching tabs, no lost formatting.

With Blu Translate’s new Office Add-in, your documents stay perfectly formatted while your workflow stays uninterrupted.

Smarter. Faster. Seamlessly integrated. 
👉 Join the early access list: https://lnkd.in/g6du-Uk9

I joined MONEY FM 89.3’s Right Business segment to talk about something close to my own values: building a company that solves a real problem instead of adding noise. Thank you Hongbin Jeong and Alexandra Parada for having me!

Right Business shines a light on entrepreneurs who spot gaps in the market and build with intention. For me, that gap was obvious. Professionals needed a way to translate formal documents without losing accuracy or structure. Existing tools weren’t getting the job done, and people were spending hours fixing what should have worked the first time.

We talked about building a business that stays practical, honest, and focused on real needs — one rooted in usefulness, trust, and a clear purpose.

Happy to chat with anyone who has faced the same document translation challenges.

If you want to hear the full conversation, you can have a listen to the podcast here:

Open article: Right Business: Struggling to translate formal documents? Bluente is here to help professionals' translation needs by omny.fm

Right Business: Struggling to translate formal documents? Bluente is here to help professionals' translation needs

"Wouldn't it be easier if you kept the documents, so users can redownload them later?"

Yes. It would also be riskier.

When we built Bluente, we made an early decision that wasn't popular with everyone. 

We don't store client data after 24 hours. 
No cloud archives. 
No "for model improvement." 
No "just in case you need it later." 

Every document is encrypted in transit, processed, and deleted immediately after translation.

It makes some things harder:

- We can't show past projects. 
- We can't auto-train on client content. 
- We have to re-engineer efficiency from scratch every time.

But here's why it's worth it:

- Law firms handle confidential evidence. 
- Banks manage non-public information. 
- Compliance officers need zero-risk workflows. 
- Storing data would make our life easier, but it would make our clients' lives harder.

In AI, trust isn't built on convenience. It's built on discipline.

At a recent conference, we heard from a global risk company that using one of the big tech players to translate has emerged as a key risk for lawyers. 

The future of enterprise AI won't be decided by who has the biggest dataset. It'll be decided by who has the cleanest conscience.

In engineering, live coding assessments have been the norm for years. 

You want to see how someone thinks on their feet, solves problems, and writes under pressure. 

In today's world, that same logic applies to AI fluency.

At Bluente, we're building as an AI-native team. 
That means moving fast, delivering fast, and staying sharp with the latest tools. 

Every new hire, whether in product, operations, or strategy, needs to be comfortable building with AI and no-code. It's how we stay lean and punch above our weight.

For a recent Chief of Staff / Product hire, we ran a live prompt engineering assessment using Lovable  

We weren't just looking at what candidates could create. We looked at how they worked, how they asked the AI questions and adapted, how precisely and quickly they could iterate, how they broke down open-ended challenges, and how they navigated ambiguity and built with clarity.

As a former consultant, I've always tested for strategic thinking. 

Prompting well is today's version of that. 

It's structured problem solving, fast iteration, and creative synthesis using the best tools available.

If you're hiring for modern, cross-functional roles, don't just test for what candidates know.

 Test how they think and build in an AI-native world.

Are there other ways you test for AI-nativeness in a candidate?

How We Test for AI-Native Thinking

Everyone says, "We take compliance seriously." But ask how, and most answers stop at encryption.

At Bluente, we learned that true compliance isn't a feature. It's a design philosophy.

When law firms and banks started testing our AI translation engine, the first question wasn't about accuracy. 

It was: "Where does my document go, and how long does it stay there?"
 
Here's what we've built our entire architecture around:

1/ Zero data retention
No data is stored, trained on, or reused. Every document is deleted instantly after job completion.

2/ Encryption in transit and at rest 
Even temporary files exist only in encrypted form.

3/ Region-specific processing 
Data stays within the jurisdiction you upload.

4/ Auditability and access logs 
Every API call is traceable, but no content is visible.

5/ No shadow storage 
We don't use third-party caches or "temporary AI learning." Ever.

If you're evaluating any AI tool for sensitive data, here's what to check beyond the marketing claims:

✅ Data retention policies 
Is data truly deleted, or "de-identified" and reused for training?

✅ Storage locations 
Where are the servers? Are they jurisdictionally compliant (e.g., Singapore PDPA, GDPR)?

✅ Third-party subprocessors 
Are they listed transparently?

✅ Encryption scope 
Does encryption cover both at rest and in transit?

✅ User control
Can you request deletion and get confirmation?

In regulated industries, compliance becomes the foundation of trust, and the most trusted AI companies will be the ones that treat data like client privilege.

taplio

The Battle

Sam Lee

Daphne Tay

Followers

Posts

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Performance ScoreSam Lee's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreDaphne Tay's LinkedIn Performance

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taplio

The Battle

Sam Lee

Daphne Tay

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Sam Lee's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreDaphne Tay's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreSam Lee's LinkedIn Performance