S1E8 | Truths About Building a Billion Dollar, Profitable Content Business | Joseph Phua, 17LIVE

Hard Truths By Vertex

We often think about startups as a 0 to 1 game with a team of founders working and pivoting around one theme in the hope of finding success. But that is a highly risky way to try and build VC-scale businesses. In this episode we learn of a different model, one that has led to the creation of a billion-dollar, profitable business in the highly competitive media and content space.

In This Episode

• (00:53) Sound On acquisition and building a portfolio of startups
• (03:27) How 17LIVE was formed
• (06:28) Vertex’s role in their success
• (08:55) The NYSE listing that never happened
• (11:32) Hard Truths for entrepreneurs
• (13:59) Changing trends in content distribution and monetization
• (17:27) Not being sure about doing the right thing
• (19:41) The future of content and media businesses
• (23:48) Variables affecting content businesses
• (26:42) Closing thoughts

Hard Truths by Vertex is a top 5 Entrepreneurship show in Singapore and we interview some of the most accomplished founders, investors, and experts from across the Asian ecosystem. If you are interested in the startup space, make sure you subscribe or follow so you never miss any of our great episodes.

Our Guests

Joseph Phua is Chairman at Turn Capital and the SoundOn Group as well as Co-Founder and Chairman at 17LIVE Inc. 17LIVE is a portfolio company of Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India. He also recently started the fast-growing Next Apple News media platform.

Prior to this, he founded Paktor, a pioneering dating app that has expanded beyond Singapore to the rest of Southeast Asia and North Asia, to form the largest social dating group in the region.

Links

• Show notes and full transcript for the episode

Your Host

Elise Tan is the Director of Communications and Community at Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India. Prior to joining Vertex, she had extensive experience in investor relations and partnerships at global venture funds and accelerators with more than $100m in AUM. Elise also currently runs a Southeast Asia-based startup community of nearly 800 entrepreneurs called the Asia Startup network and actively supports their startup journey through panels, meet-ups, and mentoring programs.

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Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India is a pioneer in investing in tech start-ups in this region and has helped to build a number of unicorns. In this podcast, we seek to share and uncover the Hard Truth - raw, unfiltered insights and venture capital knowledge from across Southeast Asia and India. Tune in to learn from leading founders, innovators, venture capitalists, and industry experts in the region and to gain industry insights from those in the know.

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