My (Tech) Reading List

I’ve always believed in the power of writing and words. The written form is often clearer than the spoken one and I find that writing actually forces me to think deeper. However, I am still trying to find my own writing niche and constantly fighting the procrastination bug to write more.

Ultimately, these are the key themes I care and wish to write more on:

(1) My own experience & learning as a startup operator in S.E.A,

(2) Explainer pieces on specific startups and funding news;

(3) Broader industry trends & dynamics

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Now to this reading list, I have 3 objectives for writing and sharing this reading list:

• Record down everything — so I have a permanent record where I can add on and revise accordingly;
• Share my curated (tech) reading list with others — so others can benefit as well;
• Learn from others and add on to my tech reading list — so I can benefit from sharing

More importantly, it is very easy for us to be ‘passive’ and consume content, instead of being ‘active’ and create content. I have tried in the past but stopped due to life (and various excuses I give myself), so here this is…

(1) S.E.A Tech News — Daily

These are news publications I browse on a daily basis.

1. Tech In Asia (Premium): www.techinasia.com

Summary: One of the most prominent tech news publications in the region. I was an avid daily reader since 2014/2015 and witnessed its progress from daily announcements to producing higher quality analysis

What I like:

• Analytical ‘deep-dive’ pieces for premium subscribers — I particularly love the pieces on e-commerce in S.E.A such as this piece on “the untold story behind the GMVs of SEA’s ecommerce titans”
• Higher quality of writing, even for funding announcements
• Exclusive pieces that are usually first to publish — such as the pieces on HonestBee
• The fact that they are a ‘startup’ and ‘work-in-progress’ as well — how T.I.A managed to achieve profitability and turn itself around. It’s interesting how they are still experimenting with different content types and models

2. KrASIA (www.kr-asia.com)

KrASIA: Actionable Insights for entrepreneurs

Summary: KrASIA is not as well-known as TIA. It’s the SEA version of 36Kr, a popular business/technology news portal in China. KrASIA aims to replicate 36Kr’s playbook in SEA.

What I like:

• Coverage on China and Indian tech scene and startups (in English!)
• Parallels drawn between SEA and China startups
• Variety of different content types: long-form analysis, news, insights, Q&A etc.
• It’s entirely free for now!

What I think can be improved:

• Certain announcement (news) pieces are too short and shallow

3. e27 (https://e27.co/)

Summary: e27 is another known SEA tech news outlet. I initially hestitated to place e27 in this list since I don’t frequent e27 as much as the rest.

What I like:

• Up-to-date coverage funding news for startups in the region
• I often compare e27 and TIA and I think there’s some additional startup news that e27 covers here

What I think can be improved:

• I find the quality of content and analysis inferior to that of TIA’s — e27 goes by a more community-centric approach, inviting people to post on e27. However, I find many of these pieces basic and shallow and dispensing superficial advice
• No real analysis involved, I occasionally browse e27 just to be updated on latest startup happenings in SEA

(2) Global Tech News

1. TechCrunch

TechCrunch: Startup and Technology News

Summary: To me, TechCrunch was one of the global pioneers in tech reporting. I started reading around 2013 where the site doesn’t look as polished as now.

What I like:

• Most of their writings have a certain standard to them, be it quality of analysis or writing
• Coverage of both global and regional tech news
• Pieces on “startup knowledge”
• Some opinion pieces that are highly insightful

What I think can be improved:

• TechCrunch ‘Extra Crunch’ not available to subscribers in Asia: They are trying hard to push the revenue model for this and I’m sure many of their quality pieces are increasingly in their ‘Extra Crunch’ segment
• Not a bad thing necessarily, but a strong coverage focus on larger tech companies in the Bay Area — I prefer more SEA focus

2. Techmeme (https://www.techmeme.com/)

Summary: This is not a joke. Technically, Techmeme is not a tech news outlet, but more of an aggregation of important tech news. I don’t know if it’s the archaic design of the site, but prominent founders like Zuckerberg do read Techmeme for daily news updates

What I like:

• Aggregation of different news outlets for a certain piece of news. Different outlets have different interests / perspectives, so Techmeme simply shows the different perspectives from different outlets
• Interesting ‘Leaderboard’ to see which authors & publications get published the most on Techmeme

What I don’t like:

• Maybe a SEA-version as well?

(3) Startup advice — How to Build a Startup

Building a startup is hard, really hard. I like to read what experienced founders and operators have done, tried, failed and succeeded. After reading so many such pieces, I’ve slowly learnt to tell the difference between ‘generic’ startup advice and actionable advice by people who’ve “been there, done that”.

(From Renowned VC blogs)

1. First Round Review (www.firstround.com/review)

Summary: First Round Capital is one of the top VC firms in US and First Round Review is a quality publication by them. Many people (and VCs) talk about ‘content marketing’ or ‘branding’, but most fail terribly. First Round Review is a top-tier example.

What I like:

• Extremely well-written, well-designed long-form content from the perspectives of startup operators who’ve been there, done that
• Generally actionable content and very relevant topics for startup founds & operators deep in trenches

What I think can be improved:

• Their portfolio companies are (mostly) companies in the Bay Area or New York — so advice is more applicable to US startups. That being said, there are still many golden nuggets of wisdom — from management, growth, product, design, culture — that any startup founder can benefit from.
• Quality content — I can’t get enough of it! They should publish more.

2. a16z (https://a16z.com/content/)

Summary: Another top-tier VC and blog. They don’t produce as much long-form content as First Round Review, but a16z partners have loads of wisdom to share.

What I like:

• Actionable startup advice such as startup metrics, GTM strategy, product management and industry coverage
• Different variety of content: podcasts, videos, articles, books

What I think can be improved:

• I think some of their articles and advice are still quite “high-level” (like an overview); would love it if they can dive deeper and write more actionable stuff

3. GGV Next Billion (https://nextbn.ggvc.com/)

Summary: “The Next Billion is essentially an English-language podcast about tech and entrepreneurship in the fastest-growing markets in the world, hosted by GGV Capital. In Season 1, called 996, we focused on the movers and shakers of China’s tech industry, as well as tech leaders with US-China cross-border perspectives.

In the new Season 2, Evolving for the Next Billion, we interview local champions and global giants who are reshaping the lives of the next billion internet users. From Beijing to Bangalore, Sao Paulo to Singapore, you will hear stories about ambition, passion, ingenuity, and resilience.”

What I like:

• Very quality interviews with renowned startup founders (usually their portfolio companies). Since it’s their own portfolio company, the questions asked are more focused and “learned”. You can tell that it’s not just generic questions asked from outsiders.
• Focused content and theme (“The Next Billion”) — GGV focuses on China, India and SEA. There are analogies between the 3 regions and learnings that can be applied across
• Both written transcripts and audio podcasts
• Highly, highly recommend if you like to dive deep into startups, founders’ struggles and challenges

4. Both Sides of the Table (https://bothsidesofthetable.com/)

Summary: Mark Suster is an founder-turned VC. Currently, he’s Partner at Upfront Ventures.

What I like:

• Actionable advice for founders — I particularly love the part about preparing and attending board meetings (a section that is quite rare in startup content), and how to run effective board meetings.
• Both sides of the table — Bill Gurley is an successful operator-turned VC so his advice is highly actionable and relevant
• I also love his perspectives as a VC and what founders should look out more

(Startup Operators)

5. Julie Zhuo — https://medium.com/@joulee

Summary: Julie Zhuo started as a Product Designer before turning VP in Facebook. Currently, she runs her own advisory firm. The transition to a “manager” from an individual contributor is hard and Julie Zhuo details the honest struggles and learnings she gleaned in her journey.

What I like:

• Beautiful, “feel-good” writing about being a manager (I mean she literally wrote a book called The Making of a Manager”)
• Authentic, raw content
• I particularly like these pieces on how to be a better manager, being more strategic, working with PMs

What I don’t like:

• Advice is not actionable sometimes
• Advice is not applicable sometimes — more applicable to large tech companies in the Bay Area (given her background)

6. Andrew Chen — (https://andrewchen.co/)

Summary: Andrew Chen . Somehow, for some reasons, many people know Andrew Chen in the startup world, especially if you’re into “growth”.

What I like:

• Content on the more analytical and data-driven sides for startup growth — they don’t really “teach” you new things, but gives you more perspective
• Generally actionable from his background as a startup operator
• There are certain featured essays that are pretty good, especially those on metrics, growth and product/market fit

What I don’t like:

• To be frank, I’m not sure if there’s survivorship bias in his writings

7. Brian Balfour (https://brianbalfour.com/)

Growth, Strategy & User Acquisition

Summary: You might have known Brian Balfour from his famous Growth+Retention “Reforge Course”.

What I like:

• Deep writings on growth strategy, retention, engagement
• Brian tries to use certain frameworks to guide your thinking — they do give me new perspectives on how to think more rigorously about growth/retention/engagement

What I don’t like:

• Sometimes, the advice is not actionable. In Brian’s writings, he often assumes that there is “clean” data
• He doesn’t publish that often

8. Tal Raviv (medium.com/@talraviv)

Summary: Tal Raviv isn’t as well-known as the other growth practitioners. He’s ex-Product at Wix, DuckDuckGo, Patreon and currently at AppsFlyer.

What I like:

• His experiences at Patreon in the growth team, email squad, product rebrand team, developer platform team
• Teardowns on customer onboarding and generally honest startup musings
• His writings about growth

(Tech Company Resources & Blogs)

8. Amplitude’s Blog

Good content sells itself.

Summary: Amplitude is a product intelligence and analytics tool. They produce quality content on product analytics and product strategy

What I like:

• Focused and actionable writings about North Start Metrics (they also wrote a playbook on North Star Metrics recently; check it out!)
• Comprehensive content on product strategy and product analytics, occasionally startup best practices as well

What I don’t like:

• Clearly, their content aims to guide you to use (and pay for) their software.

(4) General Tech Strategy

1. Stratechery (https://stratechery.com/)

Summary: Stratechery is the project of Ben Thompson. To quote him: “Stratechery provides analysis of the strategy and business side of technology and media, and the impact of technology on society”.

What I like:

• Good, general content about the strategy of technology companies
• Helps to give a simplified “framework” to analysis and thinking (check out his more popular pieces like Aggregation Theory)
• Stratechery splits its contents into various key themes (Aggregation Theory, Disruption Theory, Incentives, Society, Evolution, Media, Strategy) or dives into companies (Amazon, Baidu, too many to name…)
• Relatively affordable rates for premium content (US$10/monthly, US$100/annual subscription) — and he produces one long-form piece of content every day in his ‘Daily Update’ for subscribers

What I don’t like:

• Stratechery’s key focus on U.S and Europe, less focus on Asia — which is strange considering he lives in Taiwan now
• Content is strategic and high-level. It’s meant to force you to think deeper about strategies and not teach you about operational execution.

4.2 The Ken (Southeast Asia) (https://the-ken.com/sea/)

Summary: The Ken started off with India. Finally, it has come to Southeast Asia. Note: I have 3 free quarterly subscriptions for The Ken.

What I like:

• Finally, a focused analytical outlet on SEA! Directly quoting them: “they value depth, analysis and an informed point of view over mere quantity. Because in their careers and jobs and companies, they realize the value of clarity of thought, forward-thinking and unbiased analysis. That is why they value The Ken for not overwhelming them with breathless me-too coverage of daily news, but instead taking time to report, analyze and narrate the most significant stories from Indian business. Whether they be our analysis of business models and VC funding games for startups; or stories we broke, often weeks or months in advance; or our comprehensive reportage on sectors like fintech or healthcare.”
• Very strong, well-researched content that seeks to go beyond the surface — through interviews with key personnel in the reported companies, The Ken (SEA) tries to highlight different perspectives in tech companies’ rise (and fall)
• I particularly love the deep-dives on Go-Jek, GoPlay and

What I don’t like:

• Generally slower in writing, but not unexpected considering their small staff strength and them being new

3. No Mercy, No Malice by Professor Scott Galloway (https://www.profgalloway.com/)

Summary: Musings of an ex-entrepreneur and current NYU professor, most famous for his books

What I like:

• Funny and cynical writings
• Highlights different perspectives of tech companies — especially those that are not doing as well as what the media show

What I don’t like:

• Analysis is shallow sometimes — for instance, using superficial profitability metrics to judge Caspers

(5) Analysis (Venture Capital)

1. Above the Crowd (https://abovethecrowd.com/)

Summary: Bill Gurley is one of those legendary VCs and his writings do show how he thinks about tech and venture.

What I like:

• Analytical pieces on Uber, LTV and more
• Very interesting writings on issues that I won’t really think about

What I don’t like:

• He probably writes 1 article every year

2. AVC (https://avc.com/)

Summary: AVC is the blog from renowned USV VC, Fred Wilson. He publishes daily updates and musings.

What I like:

• Daily writings and updates, more of “feel-good” content
• I especially love the bit on MBA Mondays — where he has bite-sized, actionable advice on building a startup, from management to accounting advice

What I don’t like:

• No deep dives or analytical pieces mostly; more of a general overview of how Fred Wilson views certain issues
• Still very “high-level” — Fred Wilson will tell you what the important things to look out for are, but not exactly how to do these important tasks well

3. A Junior VC (https://ajuniorvc.com/)

Summary: I first came across A Junior VC on LinkedIn and started reading about them more — I love their way of writing and how they manage to write about complicated stuff in a way easy to digest.

What I like:

• Good, beginner-friendly explainer pieces on specific companies and introductions
• Introductions to Indian tech companies and startups (of which I honestly won’t know about), sometimes drawing parallels to what’s happening in SEA

What I don’t like:

• Like the title, it’s writings on how (junior) VCs view and analyze companies. Therefore, some metrics are still “high-level”
• Analysis of SEA companies is still “nascent” from an outsider perspective

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And that is all. I will continue to update this list.