‍Read time: 5–7 min

I always told my college friends I wanted to be a professor someday. Not the traditional kind — not someone who had spent their career in academic buildings studying entrepreneurship from the outside. A practitioner. Someone who had actually built things, broken things, and could stand in front of a class and say: here is what I got wrong, and here is what I learned from it.

I am still working toward that version of myself. But running this course at Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Engineering — my father's alma mater, the place he always hoped I would study — feels like getting closer.

Where it started

I went to USC studying two things at once: Business Administration, and Linguistics and East Asian Languages and Cultures. A double major within a double major, which tells you something about how I approached decisions at twenty.

The business degree was practical. The linguistics degree was something I genuinely loved — the way language shapes how people think, how culture lives inside the words people choose. I eventually focused on the business side, not because the other stopped mattering, but because I needed something I could act on.

My early ambition was not entrepreneurship. It was investment banking, then management consulting — the paths that seemed serious and credible to a first-generation Thai student in Los Angeles. I worked hard to get there. I interned at Deloitte's Financial Advisory Services in Singapore and Bangkok. I worked at Sony Pictures, at Amazon, and at Belkin — all while finishing school, fitting work around classes, sleeping when I could.

Then one afternoon in an elevator at the Deloitte FAS office, I ended up in a conversation with the visiting Managing Partner. He said something I was not expecting: go pursue entrepreneurship. Not as a polite suggestion — as a real challenge. I pushed back. He pushed harder. I went home and started thinking about it seriously for the first time.

The long way around

After graduating magna cum laude from USC's Marshall School of Business, I wanted to stay in San Francisco. The dream was Silicon Valley — the place where the things I had been reading about actually happened. I drove up from LA, slept in my car, did video interviews from a parking lot, and stayed on a friend's floor. I got scammed by a fake job posting. I got rejected a lot. I eventually landed at Product Madness as my first full-time role, working on a social casino app that was generating over twenty million dollars a month when I was there.

It was good work. Fast, data-driven, genuinely interesting. But I kept having the feeling that I was building someone else's vision. Big company → smaller company → startup. That was the direction I was drifting. The further down that path I moved, the more it felt right.

Building, failing, and learning in that order

I co-founded Kulina in Indonesia — a meal delivery platform operating in Jakarta at its peak. We grew quickly. Partnerships with Coca-Cola, Danone, Unilever. Daily orders from thirty to three thousand. Represented Indonesia at the World Economic Forum in Hanoi. And then, like many startups that move fast without the right foundation underneath them, things fell apart in ways I did not fully anticipate.

I have since built, advised, and co-founded more companies. Some did well. Some did not. I got cheated by partners. I made expensive bets on timing and market conditions that turned out to be wrong. I made hiring decisions I regret. I also made some good ones.

I am not telling you this to seem relatable. I am telling you because it is true, and because the failures are the most useful parts of what I can offer you. Anyone can tell you what worked. The patterns in what did not work — those take longer to accumulate and are harder to find in a book.

The book you will read

Before this course began, you were asked to read The Startup Mindset. I wrote it before turning thirty — twenty-nine lessons from building and observing ventures across Southeast Asia, the US, and Europe. It is not a how-to guide. It is a collection of real situations, written to spark thinking rather than prescribe answers.

A few things from the preface are worth knowing as you read it: I have had the chance to meet genuinely extraordinary people — Warren Buffett at a lunch in Omaha when I was twenty-two, world leaders, prime ministers, people who have built significant things from very little. Every one of those encounters happened because I reached out when it seemed unlikely to work. That pattern — bold contact, honest conversation — runs through everything in this course.

Why I am here

Beyond building companies, I have spent years working on the ecosystem itself. I sit on boards at the Thai Chamber of Commerce, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, and the Thai Startup Association. I advise universities across Thailand and the regionbecause understanding how education and entrepreneurship connect matters to me more than the fee.

I care about Thailand and Southeast Asia getting better at building things. Not just faster at copying what works elsewhere — actually building from the region's own strengths, with the region's own talent. That is why most of my board and advisory work is in education. It is where the longest-term leverage is.

I am a visiting lecturer here at Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Engineering — the Computer Engineering and Digital Technology program. I am also completing an Executive MBA at Sasin School of Management. I am still learning. I expect to be for a long time.

What I want you to know before we begin

I am not the most successful person who could be standing in front of this class. I have not built a unicorn. I do not have a perfect track record. What I have is a wide and honest view of what building companies in this region actually looks like — the struggles and the wins, the decisions that compounded well and the ones that cost me.

I will share both. I will tell you when I think your idea is weak. I will ask questions that are uncomfortable. I will bring in practitioners who will do the same. That is not unkindness — it is the most useful thing I can do for you.

I also genuinely want to see you build something real. Not a class project. Something that could continue after this course ends, if you are willing to keep going.

That is what I am here for.

What previous students say

The best way to understand what you are walking into is to hear from people who have already been through it. These are real reflections from last year's cohort — unedited, in their own words.

"ตั้งแต่คาบแรกที่เห็นพี่เล่าเรื่องที่ไปนัดกินข้าวกับ Warren Buffett มันก็ inspire และจุดประกายในตัวให้ผมอยากทำอะไรในชีวิตให้ได้เจอกับโอกาสมากมายแบบพี่ครับ"
‍(From the first class, hearing the story about having lunch with Warren Buffett — it sparked something. Made me want to chase opportunities the same way.)

"Honestly, I did not like you when we first met. I had many biases and ego — wondering why I had to do this or that. However, when I realised how much you taught me, I found it very useful. I have no regrets about being part of this class. Maybe you do not remember me or notice that I am in the class because I do not participate much, but I want you to know that I will not forget this class, and especially you, P'Kasper."

"At first I often complained to my friends: 'Ah, this again. I already have plenty of things to do. Why do we need to go find someone to talk to? I just wanna sleep.' But now I don't feel that way anymore."

"ผมประทับใจที่วิชานี้ไม่ได้สอนแค่ทฤษฎีในตำรา แต่บังคับให้เรา 'ลงมือทำจริง' การที่ต้องออกไปหา Angel Customer หรือสัมภาษณ์ผู้ประกอบการตัวจริง มันทำให้ผมเห็นภาพโลกธุรกิจชัดกว่าการนั่งฟังเลกเชอร์เป็นร้อยชั่วโมงครับ"
‍(This course didn't just teach theory — it forced us to actually do things. Going out to find Angel Customers and interview real entrepreneurs gave me a clearer picture of the business world than hundreds of hours of lectures ever could.)

"ผมแอบเสียใจนิดนึงที่พี่แคสอาจจะไม่ค่อยมีเวลาว่างมากเท่าที่ควรกับ class... แต่พี่ต้องบินไปประเทศนู้นนี่ แต่ยังกลับมาสอนแล้วบินไปต่อ ผมนับถือใจจริงๆ"
‍(Honestly a bit sad that P'Kasper sometimes didn't have as much time for class as I'd have liked. But he'd fly back from wherever he was, teach, then fly out again. I have deep respect for that.)

"The interview homework is the craziest and most valuable homework I've ever had in my entire life — so please don't change it."

"วิชานี้หนักมาก แต่คุ้มค่า อะไรที่ไม่คิดจะทำจะได้ทำ เป็นสีสันให้กับชีวิตมาก"
‍(This course is very heavy. But worth it. You end up doing things you never thought you would. It adds colour to your life.)

"ขอบคุณที่นั่งด่าไอเดียผม กดดันผมให้ผมและทีมหาทางรอดให้ได้ด้วยตัวเอง"
‍(Thank you for tearing apart my idea. For pressuring me and my team to find our own way through.)

"I remember almost nothing about the course content, but I remember the night at Punpro when we had Somtam dinner together. It was fun, and the food was really good."

"ผมคิดว่าอยากให้มีอาจารย์แบบพี่เยอะๆนะ ผมรู้สึกเป็นกันเองตั้งแต่แรกๆ ทั้งๆที่ไม่เคยรู้จักมาก่อน เอาจริงๆ อาจารย์มหาลัยที่เรียนอยู่ตอนนี้ตั้งแต่ปี 1 เอิทไม่เคยรู้สึกแบบนี้มาก่อน"
‍(I wish there were more teachers like this. Felt approachable from day one, even as strangers. In all my years at this university, I've never felt this way about a lecturer before.)

"ถ้าจะเข้าคอร์สนี้ สิ่งแรกที่อยากให้รู้คือ มันไม่ใช่วิชาที่นั่งฟังแล้วผ่านไปเฉย ๆ แต่มันคือการลงสนามจริงแบบ mini-startup เลย"
‍(If you're thinking about joining — the first thing to know is that this is not a course you can just sit through. It is a mini-startup. For real.)

"อยากให้ improve เรื่องการตอบแชทนิดนึงครับ ที่เหลือดีมากครับ"
‍(Could improve the chat response time a little. Everything else — very good.)

"วิชานี้เป็นวิชาที่คุ้มที่สุดใน 3 ปีที่เรียนมาเลย เพราะรู้สึกว่าสิ่งที่สนใจอยากเรียนรู้เอง ต้องหาเอานอกห้องเรียนตลอด แต่วิชานี้เหมือนเป็นวิชาเดียวที่เปลี่ยนจากการหาความรู้นอกห้องเรียน มาใส่ในห้องเรียน"
‍(The most worthwhile course in three years of university. The things I always had to find outside the classroom — this course finally brought them inside.)

Now you know a lot more about who you are about to learn from