Backing the Bold is a primer on the venture capital industry, business, and profession in Southeast Asia. The goal of the book’s thirteen chapters has initially been to guide students of the Insignia Ventures Academy — Asia’s first experiential venture capital accelerator — in their exploration of the venture capital industry and profession, specifically in the context of Southeast Asia’s startup ecosystem and from the perspective of Insignia Ventures and its portfolio founders.
Rather than being a book in the traditional sense of the word, such an origin and context for Backing the Bold has inevitably made this book a dynamic piece of literature, continuously growing and improving thanks to every new group of people who become part of the VC accelerator — as organizers, mentors, or participants.
Now in print and in distribution, this first edition is available for all as a snapshot of Backing the Bold’s progress as a continuously evolving repository of insights, best practices, and frameworks. It is for readers of any background or motivation to gain a better understanding of the venture capital investment process, portfolio management, and profession in the context of Southeast Asia’s fast-growing technology markets.
The book accompanies Insignia Ventures Academy‘s flagship experiential course, Certificate in Venture Capital and is the basis of the self-learning version of this course, LearnVC.
About the Authors
Paulo Joquiño is a writer and content producer for tech companies. He is currently Editor of Insignia Business Review, the official publication of Insignia Ventures Partners, and senior content strategist for the venture capital firm, where he started right after graduation. As a university student, he took up multiple work opportunities in content and marketing for startups in Asia. These included interning as an associate at G3 Partners, a Seoul-based marketing agency for tech startups, running tech community engagements at coworking space and business community, ASPACE Philippines, and interning at workspace marketplace FlySpaces.
While in university, he was also a member of YouthHack Manila, an independent student-led startup organization, where he organized local and international events in Manila and Seoul, including hackathons, pitching competitions, and accelerator programs. He graduated with a BS Management Engineering at Ateneo de Manila University in 2019.
About Insignia Ventures Partners
Insignia Ventures Partners is a Southeast Asia early-to-growth stage venture capital firm partnering with unstoppable founders to build great companies. Since 2017, we have invested in emerging technology companies across industries and geographies in the region, including Carro, Ajaib, GoTo (IDX: GOTO), Appier (TSE: 4180), Fazz, Shipper, Tonik, Flip and Super, and many other technology market leaders. We partner early with founders and support them from seed through growth stage as their companies create meaningful impact for millions of people in Southeast Asia and beyond. With our team of investment and operating professionals who bring together decades of experience and proprietary networks, we equip our founders with the tools they need for growth. We manage capital from premier institutional investors including sovereign wealth funds, foundations, university endowments and renowned family offices from Asia, Europe and North America.
Learn more on our website, Insignia Business Review, our podcast On Call with Insignia (new episodes weekly on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube), and these case studies from HBS and INSEAD.
Check out our public access toolkit for founders and investors looking into region, including term sheet generators, market statistics, cybersecurity scanner, and more. We also provide venture capital education programs for C-levels and senior execs through Insignia Ventures Academy.
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