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Articles by Bernard Leong
Steve Jobs in Exile with Geoffrey Cain
ABOUT THIS EPISODE Fresh out of the studio, Geoffrey Cain, author of Steve Jobs in Exile and Samsung Rising, returns to the Analyse Podcast to argue that the twelve years between Jobs's 1985 ouster and his 1997 return to Apple were not a footnote but the forge. Drawing on private archives at Carnegie Mellon and Stanford, unbroadcast footage from inside NeXT, and interviews with the people who lived it, Cain reframes the wilderness decade as the cause, not the gap, in Jobs's transformation.
From Copier to Innovator: The Tech Titans of China with Rebecca Fannin
"Many of these AI advancements, where the U.S. is more on the innovative theoretical side of creating new models... China's really ahead on commercializing them, and that's their advantage. I think saying that China and the U.S. are equivalent in AI is probably an overstatement. I think the AI center of innovation continues to be in Silicon Valley. This could change—the gap is closing.
How AI Is Rewriting the Future of Trust and Safety with Yoel Roth
"The word I always come back to when I think of the future of trust and safety is governance. We are no longer just making moderation decisions. We're no longer just banning people or deleting posts or removing accounts. We are ultimately responsible for overseeing the health of the platforms and communities that we've created. Especially in an age of AI, I think there's a huge role for the field of trust and safety in overseeing the decisions that AI makes.
The Agentic SOC: How Splunk Security Transforms Enterprises in the Age of AI with John Morgan
Fresh out of the studio with John Morgan, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Splunk Security at Cisco. The conversation unpacks the AI inflection point reshaping security operations — from the explosion of machine data (set to more than double in three years) to the rise of the agentic SOC, where AI agents handle detection, investigation, and response while humans focus on high-stakes decisions.
Building the World's Largest Podcast Studio Network: Poddster & Podyx with Borko Kovacevic
Fresh out of the studio, Borko Kovacevic, Co-founder of Poddster and Podyx, joins us to explore how he is building the world's largest podcast studio network and the operating system behind it. He shares his career journey from nearly 17 years at Microsoft across Central Europe and Asia Pacific, to making the entrepreneurial leap and launching Poddster's first flagship studio in Dubai, followed by Singapore.
Elastic: From Search Recipes to AI Infrastructure at Scale with Ken Exner
Fresh out of the studio, Ken Exner, Chief Product Officer at Elastic, joins us to explore how Elastic evolved from the world's most popular open-source search engine into the context layer powering modern AI applications and agent systems. He shares his career journey from database programming to over 16 years at Amazon building AWS resilience practices, and now leading product strategy where search, observability, and security converge into a unified AI platform.
Beliefs Are Tools, Not Truths: Beyond Belief with Nir Eyal
"Motivation is a triangle. It requires: Behavior: What am I going to do? Benefit: Why am I going to do it? Belief. If you don’t have those three areas of your life in concert, all the advice in the world is going to go in one ear and out the other. Beliefs are tools, not truths. The majority of our problems today—cultural, geopolitical, personal—come from the fact that we think our faith is fact, and we confuse facts for what are beliefs.
The AI Industry Is Building Modern Empires with Karen Hao
Fresh out of the studio, Karen Hao, investigative journalist and author of "Empire of AI" joined us in a conversation to unravel how companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI have become modern empires reshaping society, labor, and democracy itself. Karen traces her journey from mechanical engineering at MIT to becoming one of the tech industry's most critical voices, sharing how Silicon Valley's innovation ecosystem has distorted toward self-interest rather than the public good.
How Oracle Became the Backbone of Enterprise AI with Chris Chelliah
Fresh out of Oracle AI World 2025, Chris Chelliah, Senior Vice President of Technology and Customer Strategy for Japan and Asia Pacific at Oracle, joins us to unpack how Oracle is positioning itself as the definitive enterprise AI platform across the region. He shares his career journey from a computer science geek working on distributed databases to leading technology strategy across a market representing two-thirds of the world's population.
Southeast Asia's $300B Digital Economy: How They Exceeded Everyone's Expectations with Sapna Chadha, Florian Hoppe & Cassie Wu
ABOUT THIS EPISODE Fresh out of the studio, we commemorated the 10th anniversary of the e-Conomy SEA [Southeast Asia] Report with Sapna Chadha from Google, Florian Hoppe from Bain & Company, and Cassie Wu from Temasek, celebrating a decade of tracking Southeast Asia's digital transformation. The panel reflected on the region's remarkable achievement of reaching $300 billion in GMV—exceeding the original $200 billion goal by 1.5x—alongside revenue growth of 11x over the past decade.
The Sentient Startup: Building Companies in the Age of AI with Arnaud Frade
<p>Fresh out of the studio, Arnaud Frade, Managing Partner at Mesh Advisory and author of the upcoming book The Sentient Startup, joins us to explore how AI is fundamentally transforming entrepreneurship through the radical concept of AI as a true co-founder rather than merely a tool.
500 Episodes Later: What I Learned From 11 Years of Podcasting with Bernard Leong
ABOUT THIS EPISODE Fresh out of the studio and we hit our 500th episode milestone, guest host Yana Fry from Yana TV turns the tables on Bernard Leong, CEO of Dorje AI and host of Analyse Asia, in a special ask-me-anything format.
Mastercard and The Future of Money: Crypto, AI Agents & Digital Payments with Ling Hai
ABOUT THIS EPISODE Fresh out of the studio, Ling Hai, President of Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East, and Africa at MasterCard, joins us to explore how payment networks are evolving to embrace stable coins, AI agents, and the future of digital commerce across diverse global markets. He shares his career journey from management consulting to retail banking and eventually to MasterCard.
Analyse Asia Podcast
My name is Bernard Leong, and I run a weekly podcast called Analyse Asia, a weekly podcast which focused on business, technology and media in Asia. The podcast brings together the global thought leader and industry players, observers and journalists which cover the Asia Pacific ecosystem with China and India included. The podcast has over 250+ episodes till today. Someone asked me why I have decided to start another podcast.
How to Scale Global Teams Without an Office through Esevel with Deng Yuying
Fresh out of the studio, Yuying Deng, Co-founder and CEO of Esevel, shares her transformative journey from corporate lawyer to healthcare operator to tech entrepreneur with our guest host Yana Fry from Yana TV. Yuying discusses how the pandemic's sudden shift to remote work in April 2020 revealed critical gaps in IT infrastructure for distributed teams, inspiring her to launch Esevel—a platform now serving companies across 88 countries.
Transforming Asia's Financial Infrastructure: Stripe's AI and Stablecoin Strategy with Paul Harapin
"APAC represents 40% of global GDP. So you can see that there's huge opportunity in a very, very diverse region. The needs of Japan are different to the needs of China. India is exploding with SaaS, software, AI. Australia one of our larger markets, again, very different.
The Truth About China's Generative AI Revolution Nobody Talks About with Grace Shao
"China's approach is very pragmatic. People have been saying DeepSeek did it out of necessity. There's obviously a GPU constraint and hardware constraint in China, something they're working around. In many ways, the engineering genius and engineering innovation is what set DeepSeek apart. It challenged a global narrative around needing more GPUs and more money to get better AI. It was about throwing capital at the problem.
Enabling AI at Scale: Governance as Competitive Advantage with David Hardoon
"[Question: So what was the biggest misconception for most business leaders usually when it comes to operationalizing AI governance?] Based on my interactions and conversations, now suddenly they think they have to erect a whole set of new committees, that they have to have these new programs. You almost hear a sigh from the room. Like, oh, we have now this whole additional compliance cost because we have to do all these new things.
From Startup Ecosystem Builder to Strategic Investor: E27 and Orvel Ventures with Mohan Belani
"If you take a step back and ask, how has the last 10-15 years panned out? The truth of the matter is that Southeast Asia has not done as well as it should have based on the reports and projections that existed earlier. There have been fundamental flaws from a culture standpoint with respect to how the ecosystem has been shaped.
From Accidental Hotelier to Longevity Pioneer: An Entrepreneur's Journey with Allen Law
"I think the why is so important, but it's always not really being asked. Most people want to know, 'What's your growth look like?' or 'How is this offering different from another offering?' Those are the questions we get most of the time. But going back to the real why we actually do this in the first place is the most critical question if you ask me. For myself personally, it is all about having a positive impact in society.
Building WhatsApp for 3 Billion Users with Alice Newton-Rex
"Now, some people are only ever going to want to use WhatsApp to message the people in their life, and they should be able to carry on doing that and have an incredibly simple experience in doing so. But we're increasingly seeing that users want to use WhatsApp for more than messaging close friends and family. It's why we're doing things like business messaging. It's why we built new features like channels and status and updates tab separate from your personal chats.
How Databricks Revolutionize Intelligent Enterprise AI in ASEAN with Patrick Kelly
" We did a survey with The Economist globally which obviously included Europe and APAC as well. And we asked the question, 'Does my organization's current architecture supports the unique demands of AI workloads.' Basically 85% said, 'No. We don't have the architecture to support it.' Some partially does, but it needs lots of modifications.
Interview with Kenneth Lee, Founder of Green Koncepts
We often hear about how much we can do about energy conservation and sustainable development from the activists involved in the green movement. However, there exist companies with products who are doing their small part to guide us in our household towards energy conservation and in a small part, help us towards saving the Earth.
Super apps in SE Asia: Assessing the winning strategy
In this article, we examine the super app strategy adopted by the ride hailing companies in Southeast Asia. In the same spirit, we want to validate the strategy that are adopted by both Grab and Gojek in comparison to US and China and explain the challenges which these companies has to overcome so that the strategy can succeed. A major cultural and paradigm shift in the startup scene across Southeast Asia has taken shape since the US election in 2016.
How to shut down a zombie company gracefully
In the past few years, somewhere between I left the startup world to the corporate world till the birth of my 2nd child, I have worked to help some founders of zombie startups or companies to shut down their companies and transition to move on with their lives after that. In this article, I share the process in how I helped them to work out the shutting down details and in the hope that others can help their friends who might be in this process.
Perspectives on the 9-9-6 work ethic in China
The 9-9-6 work ethic championed by technology companies in China suggests that every tech worker there should work from 9 am to 9 pm for 6 days a week. Within a year, it has gone from the envy of people outside of China to a serious pushback from the Chinese technology workers. In this article, I want to explain if the 9-9-6 work ethic is really sustainable for anyone out there and offer the perspective when 9-9-6 work ethic can work for an individual.
Episode 139: Live-streaming in China with Eva Xiao - Analyse Asia
Eva Xiao from Tech In Asia joined us in a discussion on the live-streaming ecosystem within China and debunked the major misconceptions by western media on the phenomenon itself. We dived deep to the major live-streaming apps, the business models for the live-streaming platforms, celebrities and online users and how digital gifting has become the dominant mode of monetisation that differed from the rest of the world.
Episode 109: Tencent and QQ with Eva Xiao - Analyse Asia
Eva Xiao from Technode joined us for a two parter discussion on one of the BAT companies: Tencent. We dived deep into the holding company behind the two successful messaging apps in China: QQ & Wechat. In this first part of 2 episode arc, we discussed the vision, mission & corporate structure of Tencent, how the company build up their business structures and revenue streams, and the state of QQ, their desktop messaging app and its relevance to the Tencent’s portfolio today.
How to Build the Right Product but not New Product
Over the course of past few years as a product manager and evolving now as a manager of products, I have often reflected on how I think about building products. One insight that I have developed is that you focus on building the right product and not the new product.
SingPost Alpha and the Future of Drone Delivery
Author's note: This post is an expanded version of my original contribution "The Future of Drone Delivery" published in the IMDA's IMpact news portal. On 27 Sep 2015, a joint team from Singapore Post and IDA Labs (now IMDA Pixel Labs) completed a secure authenticated mail and packet drone delivery from Lorong Halus to Pulau Ubin.
Episode 198: Samsung Electronics in 2017 with Jan Dawson - Analyse Asia
Jan Dawson from Jackdaw Research, host of Beyond Devices and Tech Narratives podcast joined us in a two part conversation discussing the tech narratives of the technology giants in Asia & the Korean chaebol: the Samsung Group. In the second of the two part conversation, we discussed the Samsung Group, and how the business is structured into various subsidiaries and the key executives who are behind the consumer electronics giant.
Episode 196: Apple WWDC 2017 and its impact on Asia with Ben Bajarin - Analyse Asia with Bernard Leong
Ben Bajarin from Creative Strategies & Techpinions joined us in a two part conversation on post Google I/O & Apple WWDC 2017 and its impact to Asia. In the second part of our conversation, we discussed the major announcements from Apple WWDC 2017 and how their focus on Homepod, AR Kit and hardware will influence their roadmap going forward. We also examined whether WeChat in China can bypass the two major mobile operating systems: iOS and Android in the road ahead.
Episode 183: The Apple Supply Chain in Asia with Tim Culpan - Analyse Asia with Bernard Leong
Tim Culpan from Bloomberg Gadfly joined us in an interesting discussion to shed a light on Apple’s supply chain in Asia. We discussed Apple’s recent Q2 2017 earnings and its impact to Asia, the tight schedule in how Apple and their suppliers such as Foxconn, TSMC and Samsung operate before the major launch of their products in September. Last but not least, we discuss on how Samsung’s strangling hold on the OLED screens might delay the next Apple iPhone launch.
Episode 170: Bicycle Sharing in China with Eva Xiao - Analyse Asia with Bernard Leong
Eva Xiao from Tech in Asia joined us in a conversation about the exciting phenomenon of bicycle sharing startups happening now in China. Eva provided a comprehensive overview of the bike-sharing space and explained why it has suddenly heated up. We also discussed the major players Mobike & Ofo on their customer acquisition, business models and investors behind them.
Episode 168: Tesla and the Jesus Car with Horace Dediu - Analyse Asia with Bernard Leong
Horace Dediu from Asymco & Clayton Christensen Institute is back with the second Asymco trilogy on our podcast to discuss the major topics that dominate the world of business and technology: modular revolution, startup strategy, Apple & cars.
Episode 166: Modular Revolution and Startup Strategy with Horace Dediu - Analyse Asia with Bernard Leong
Horace Dediu from Asymco & Clayton Christensen Institute is back with the second Asymco trilogy on our podcast to discuss the major topics that dominate the world of business and technology: modular revolution, startup strategy, Apple & cars.
Episode 162: Huawei in 2016 with Carolina Milanesi - Analyse Asia with Bernard Leong
Carolina Milanesi from Creative Strategies & Techpinions joined us for a two parter discussion from Huawei to artificial intelligence & Internet of Things. In the first part, we discussed Huawei, the leading hardware technology giant from China on their global focus on the consumer sector with smartphones in 2016, and what to expect from them in 2017 particularly in their global expansion and enterprise push with Internet of Things.
Analyse Asia 160: Post CES 2017 Part 1 with Ben Bajarin
Ben Bajarin from Creative Strategies and Techpinions joined us in a two part conversation to discuss the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2017 in Las Vegas. We discussed the major themes which have emerged from the show: the developing television sets and screens from Asian OEMs, the dominance of the Amazon Echo, the rising average selling price of personal computers and finally, the automotive industry making their appearance with cars.
Episode 153: Cloudera in Asia & the 4th Industrial Revolution with Amr Awadallah - Analyse Asia with Bernard Leong
Amr Awadallah, the chief technology & co-founder of Cloudera joined us in a conversation on the data and analytics platform’s footprint in Asia. We began with his story from how he moved from Cairo, Egypt to Silicon Valley in the US, and how he eventually become the founding team of Cloudera.
Episode 152: Cybersecurity in Asia Pacific with Vincent Loy - Analyse Asia with Bernard Leong
Vincent Loy, partner in financial Crime & cyber leader from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) joined us in a conversation on the trends in cybersecurity, financial crime & anti-money laundering across Asia Pacific and the implications of technology in fintech. We start with Vincent’s background moving from Singapore to US and UK where he has advised the Interpol & western governments till now in Asia.
Episode 150: Brinc & Shenzhen Hardware Ecosystem with Bay McLaughlin - Analyse Asia with Bernard Leong
Bay McLaughlin joined us in a conversation to discuss Brinc, the hardware accelerator in Hong Kong he co-founded that leverages on the Shenzhen ecosystem. He shared how Brinc selects founding teams and helps hardware startups to scale, and their latest drone accelerator program. Last but not least, he shared his perspectives on the Shenzhen hardware manufacturing ecosystem and the challenge of intellectual property loss for hardware founders outside China.
Episode 123: Jingdong or JD dot com with Wang Boyuan
Wang Boyuan from Technode and TechCrunch China joined us for a conversation on Jingdong or JD dot com. We discussed the backstory behind this company and the key people behind the 2nd largest ecommerce company in China. He also explained the different revenue streams behind JD dot com and Tencent’s backing of this company as a proxy against Alibaba in China’s ecommerce space.
Episode 112: The Baidu Group with Cate Cadell
Cate Cadell, editor in chief from Technode at Beijing joined us in this episode to discuss the Baidu Group, China’s largest search engine & maps and part of the BAT axis in China. In our conversation, we discussed Baidu from the perspective of the management team & board led by Robin Li, their business structures and current strategies behind Baidu that include their alliances with Facebook & Uber from the West & their heavy investments into O2O services.
The experience is the product (for Mind The Product 2016)
The field of user experience emerged to compensate for poor product management. When we recognize that "the experience is the product," it becomes clear that these two fields are closely aligned.
Episode 103: The SingTel Group with Grace Chng
Grace Chng, senior correspondent of The Straits Times under SPH Group, joined us in a conversation to discuss the SingTel Group and its global footprint across three continents.
Episode 102: ZhenFund in China with Anna Fang
Anna Fang, partner and CEO of ZhenFund joined us in a conversation to discuss early stage investment and startup ecosystem in China. We traced her serendipitous route on how she become an early stage investor by working with Xu Xiaoping, a famous super angel investor in China that led to building up ZhenFund. Anna also shared her investment thesis and the interesting companies under ZhenFund’s portfolio from China to Silicon Valley.
Episode 100: The Dawn of Augmented & Virtual Reality with Ben Bajarin
Ben Bajarin from Creative Strategies and Techpinions joined us for the special 100th episode to discuss the dawn of the augmented (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technology. Starting from an account of his recent trip to Game Developer & VR developer Summit, Ben shared why this is the year for AR and VR to break out this year.
The Art of Product Management
Product managers drive the vision, strategy, design, and execution of their product. In this presentation I share my lessons learned on the art behind each of these four dimensions of product management. Enjoyed this presentation? Subscribe to my weekly essays at sachinrekhi.com
[Podcast] 500 Startups' James Riney wants a hustler with authenticity
Analyse Asia is a weekly podcast hosted by Bernard Leong and features guests from across Asia’s vibrant tech community. e27 will republish the series covering a range of companies, topics and news analysis. To follow Bernard, and Analyse Asia, check him out on Twitter and Facebook.
Episode 56: SMART Nation and Singapore Start-up Ecosystem with Steve Leonard
Steve Leonard, deputy executive chairman of IDA Singapore joined us in an interesting conversation on the SMART Nation initiative in Singapore & his thoughts on the startup ecosystem.
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