Oliver Lo

“You’ll never get anywhere in life, playing all those video games!” This was the constant refrain outside my bedroom door while I was growing up. But it was all those video games that got me into this baffling world of startups.

For those familiar with the stereotypes in the West, I was always the straight A’s Asian kid who wanted to break the mold of generations of Asian kids and do something a bit different.

A dissertation on hip-hop subculture, much to the disapproval of my Cambridge University professors.

First job in advertising when most people with my grades would go into banking.

A move to Beijing without a job, against the will of my much-Anglicized parents.

And it was there in China, that I discovered the startup world – joining a gaming startup that would soon get acquired to become part of Zynga. App Annie followed, Grab beckoned. Fifteen years later, I was irreversibly immersed in the dizzy world of hyper-growth startups.

As soon as Sequoia India & Southeast Asia came knocking on the door with Surge, I knew that this wasn’t an opportunity to be missed. The chance to help not just one, but dozens of founders every year, build their brand from scratch.