Most founders in this part of the world say they want to build “for Southeast Asia.” Then they build for one country — usually their own — and hope it works elsewhere. It usually does not.
The assumption that ASEAN is one market is the single most common mistake I see. It is not one market. It is eleven countries, more than 680 million people, hundreds of languages, dozens of major religions, and at least three different economic eras running in parallel. A successful product in Bangkok may be a complete miss in Ho Chi Minh City. What works in Jakarta may be illegal in Singapore.
You cannot learn this from a McKinsey report. You can learn it from a friend.
If you are going to build for this region, you need to understand it from the inside. Not as a market. As a set of people with their own ways of seeing the world — including how they see your country.
One honest conversation with someone from another ASEAN country will teach you more than three weeks of desk research. You will learn what they actually think of where you come from. You will learn which of your assumptions are wrong. You will start to notice the texture of difference — the small things that never make it into reports.
Do this once and you have a data point. Do it five times, and you start to see the region.
You cannot build for ASEAN until you actually know people of ASEAN.
What does a normal week look like for them? What do they eat, where do they shop, what do they watch, what do they argue about with their family?
The answers will surprise you. Malaysian students describe a weekend differently from Filipino students. A Vietnamese founder’s version of “busy” is not the same as a Singaporean founder’s version. These differences are the real market data.
Be ready for answers you do not expect. Some will be flattering. Some will be wrong. Some will be oddly specific — an obscure dish, a famous drama, a political moment you had forgotten. All of it is signal.
This is the most uncomfortable and most useful part of the conversation. The perception of your country is already priced into how your products will be received there. You need to know what that perception is before you spend money on launch.
The start-up scene. The consumer obsessions. The political mood. What is in the news that Western outlets are not reporting. What is changing on the ground.
By the time you are done, you will know more about the region than ninety-five percent of the people who say they are “targeting ASEAN.”
Once you have learned about them, share what you are building — in simple words, without the pitch deck. Ask them honestly: would this work where you are? Why or why not? What would you change? Who would use it? Who would reject it?
You will hear things that make you uncomfortable. A price point that seems fair in Thailand will seem absurd in Laos. A marketing message that lands in Manila will feel cold in Kuala Lumpur. A product category that is booming in Indonesia may be saturated in Vietnam.
Write it down. Do not argue. Do not explain why their reaction is wrong. They are not wrong about their own country. You are wrong about it, and this is the conversation where you find out.
Spend an hour before the conversation. Learn the basics — the capital, the currency, the main religions, the political system, one or two cultural norms that matter.
Learn a few phrases in their language. Hello. Thank you. How are you. That is delicious. You do not have to be fluent. You have to show that you tried.
The person on the other side of the table will notice. They will relax. The conversation will go deeper because of it.
A few things I have learned over the years:
Ask about food first. Every ASEAN culture has strong feelings about food, and it opens people up. Starting with a business question feels transactional.
Ask what they wish foreigners understood about their country. This is the question most people have never been asked, and the answers are usually the most honest part of the interview.
Ask what the stereotype of their country is in the region, and whether it is true. You will get unfiltered commentary about their own culture that no market report will give you.
Never ask them to compare their country to yours in a ranking way — which is better. This makes people defensive. Instead ask: “What do you wish we had that you have, and the other way around?”
This is the part most students miss. The interview is not the end. It is the beginning of a relationship.
Stay in touch. Send them an update when you launch something. Ask them a small question a few months later. Recommend them for an opportunity if one comes up. Remember their birthday if they share it.
The ASEAN founders I trust most today are people I met in casual conversations years ago. Some have become investors. Some have become co-organizers. Some have become customers. Some are still just friends I can call when I need a real opinion about their market.
Your extended team is already out there, waiting to be met. The interview is how you meet them.
Your classmates in this course are your first version of this network. Your ASEAN friend interview is the next layer. Five years from now, this will be the most valuable asset you leave this course with — even more than the frameworks.
The region you are building in will reward you for taking the time to understand it. It will punish you if you assume.
Start the assumption-breaking now. Have the conversation. Listen more than you talk. And if you are going to keep one thing from this block of the course, keep this: the extended team that will carry your next decade is already out there. You just have to go find them, one conversation at a time.
📘 A Note for GVP Students
Your ASEAN Friend Interview Assignment
Complete at least two structured conversation with someone from an ASEAN country other than your own. Do it from different ASEAN countries.
Before the conversation: do the homework. Know the basics of their country. Write your questions. Learn a few phrases.
During the conversation: life first, then business, then their reaction to your idea. Listen more than you talk.
After the conversation: send a thank-you within 24 hours. Write a short reflection — what assumption did they break, what surprised you, what will you do differently now.
This is the assignment where your classmates become your network. Treat it accordingly.
Kasper-Tanakrit Sermsuksan is the Founder of SEA Bridge, Dean of SEA Bridge Institute of Entrepreneurship, and a Visiting Lecturer at Chulalongkorn University, Faculty of Engineering (Computer Engineering). Learn more →
