APAC Marketers Roundtable Podcast: Recent Episodes
David Fallarme
Listen to insights, ideas and case studies from Marketing and Growth leaders in APAC. APAC Marketers Roundtable is hosted by David Fallarme. Join the community at apacmarketers.com
Raphael Cohen, CEO of Deskimo, was formerly Rocket Internet's Head of Asia, where he was the launcher for Foodpanda in Vietnam. I ask him what it takes to bootstrap supply and demand for a marketplace business
Where do you start, supply or demand?
Practically speaking - how do you get supply?
How to convince skeptical supply to sign up
How to drive demand
Raphael Cohen on LinkedIn
Learn more about Deskimo
Raphael Cohen, CEO of Deskimo and fmr Rocket Internet Head of Asia, gives us a short recent history of the last decade of the tech ecosystem in Southeast Asia.
What life was like pre-Grab, pre-Gojek, pre-Shopee
Lazada, Zalora, Foodpanda in the same office
How building a company was different
The distinct change in investor appetites
Raphael Cohen on LinkedIn
Learn more about Deskimo
Romka Walkowiak, Sales Director at HubSpot, talks about why you need to run pilot tests and experiments in APAC.
I also add my 2c on the "key question" that all APAC teams have to answer, especially when expanding into Southeast Asia.
Romka on LinkedIn
David on LinkedIn
I chat with HubSpot Asia Sales Director Romka Walkowiak about how she coaches and manages team members all across APAC.
Sales and marketing leaders in APAC usually have to manage teammates from a variety of nationalities and cultural backgrounds. With 10+ years leading teams in the region, she gave a great answer (that honestly left me feeling a bit dumb! in a good way.)
Romka on LinkedIn
David on LinkedIn
I chat with Jean Thomas (CMO @ Pomelo Fashion, ex-CMO Lazada SG/Redmart) about growing brands in Southeast Asia, how he runs his marketing team, and what he learned by crashing servers during a livestream.
We discuss:
What to ask before expanding into SEA
How to set up a marketing roadmap in a competitive industry
How to set up a marketing strategy based on principles
His view on current state of Shopee vs Lazada
Adventures in ecommerce livestreaming
Jean Thomas on LinkedIn
David Fallarme on LinkedIn
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A clip from an upcoming episode with Jean Thomas (CMO Pomelo Fashion, ex-Lazada/Alibaba) where he answers questions that companies usually ask when starting to expand into Southeast Asia.
Jean advises companies looking at APAC and SEA expansion, and he shared some of the things he usually covers with them:
How to manage the "awful" unit economics vs EMEA or USA
Hiring talent - bringing in home country operators vs hiring local
Should you start in just one country or go cross-border / multi-country right away?
Jean Thomas on LinkedIn
Pomelo Fashion
David Fallarme on LinkedIn
Career frameworks, advice and stories from APAC marketing leaders across big tech and startups. We cover when to quit your job, how to think about your 20s 30s 40s and 50s, and other ideas that help you navigate the middle of your marketing career.
We cover:
How to think about your career in decades
How to avoid chasing the wrong things in your career
How to create a career "north star"
How to leave a job that's paying you really really well
Guests on this show:
James Gilbert, Sr Director Partnerships Marketing @ HubSpot
Yi Ning Lim, Head of Global Marketing @ Entrepreneur First
Dexter Zhuang, Product Lead @ Xendit
Robert Lai, CEO @ Kaliber Performance Marketing Agency
Connect with David Fallarme on LinkedIn
How do you build a career GPS or a career north star? Here's a framework from Dexter Zhuang, Product Leader @ Xendit, former Growth PM @ Dropbox and career coach to people in tech.
In this clip:
A simple exercise to identify your career values
Stories of people who have course-corrected their career
How and Why Dexter left Silicon Valley for Southeast Asia
Connect with Dexter Zhuang
Connect with David Fallarme
Regional marketing within APAC is one thing, but what about global? Gabriel Lim (CEO @ Salewhale) gives the B2B SaaS view while HY Teo (marketer @ crypto / blockchain startup) shares how it could work in B2C.
What's in this episode:
Why adapting messaging globally is counter-intuitive
How crypto companies grow w/o relying on FB and Google ads
Do you have to create a zillion personas to cover all your markets?
Examples of global companies doing regional marketing
Discussions on org charts and team structures
Practical tips on working with a remote/distributed team
Is there a stigma to being based in Asia?
. . .
This was the first full-length episode this season! Could you DM me your candid, honest af feedback? My LinkedIn is below. If you're on our private Slack team (apacmarketers.com) please shoot me a message in our group!
Connect with Gabriel on LinkedIn
Connect with HY on LinkedIn
Connect with David Fallarme
Join our private slack team for APAC marketers
A clip from an upcoming episode on marketing globally from APAC. You'll hear from HY Teo, a marketer at an international crypto startup and how they handle all the personas and use cases that make up their target audience.
In this clip:
Dynamics of different regions, like Latam vs Europe
Knowing incentive levers for each region
Geo-based, JTBD-based personas
Connect with HY on LinkedIn
Connect with David Fallarme
With so much VC money flooding APAC today - especially SEA and India - you may be tempted to jump to a startup. How do you know if it's the right choice for you? Hear from Yi Ning Lim (Global Head of Marketing at Entrepreneur First) about how she would approach this, drawing from her experience of working in big tech and startups.
You'll hear about:
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A framework to evaluate startups
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Questions to ask before you join a startup
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How to think about your career and financial "opportunity cost"
This is a clip from an upcoming episode about careers. Stay tuned!
Connect with Yi Ning on LinkedIn
Read Yi Ning's AMA
Connect with David on LinkedIn
This is a clip from a longer conversation with Jean Thomas, CMO of Pomelo Fashion. Jean was formerly the CMO of Lazada SG/Redmart and so I had to ask him what he thought about Shopee vs Lazada. Here's his candid take.
You'll hear about:
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Lazada finally "punching back" after letting Shopee take the lead in SEA
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The inside view of what happened during the Alibaba/Lazada merger
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Jean's take on what's allowed Shopee to grow so quickly
You may also be interested in my deep dive on Shopee.
Connect with Jean on LinkedIn
Pomelo Fashion
Connect with David Fallarme
When doing business across the USA and APAC, you're going to run into a lot of situations where "what works over there doesn't work over here." Once you really start executing, you'll find that one of those things is messaging and positioning.
The messaging you have for a market like Australia (English-speaking and resembles America in many ways) has to be different from the one you use in the Philippines (which also speaks English, but also has many singular qualities.)
The inevitable second hurdle then becomes finding an answer to the question of "well, how different does my messaging have to be?"
In this short clip, Gabriel Lim (CEO @ Saleswhale) describes their experiences tweaking their messaging when speaking to APAC audiences vs speaking to their prospects in the USA.
Summary of this episode: https://apacmarketers.com
Gabriel Lim on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/penguingab/
Saleswhale: https://saleswhale.com
David Fallarme on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dfallarme/