Ryan Thoo is VP of Marketing at Antler, the investor backing the world's most driven founders from day zero to greatness.

He has over ten years of marketing and consumer tech experience, most recently as Marketing Director and Web3 Strategy Lead at PropertyGuru, where he drove high-growth demand generation, brand, and digital marketing.

👋🏼 How would you explain your job to someone outside tech?

Antler is a venture capital firm that not only provides capital. We back founders from day zero, whether it's pre-team or even pre-idea. Apart from angels, very few investors work with founders at such an early stage. We also go beyond by supporting founders with co-founder matching, business validation, fundraising, global expansion, and more.

🧐 What's something about you or your job that would surprise us?

Rarely do venture firms have somebody like myself (a marketing practitioner) to coach and advise our founders and startups in early-stage growth, marketing, and go-to-market strategies.

🏆 What has been the biggest highlight of your career so far?

I was previously with PropertyGuru, where I led the company from Series B to IPO.

During that journey, my proudest achievement was taking Malaysia from a challenger brand to the market leader, with over 90% market share. Almost unheard of in the online marketplace business, where incumbents have strong network effects that are hard to penetrate.

🔍 What's a startup trend or space you're watching this year?‍

Fintech has already been growing, but there's still more room for it to flourish, especially in Southeast Asia, where over six in ten people remain underbanked or unbanked.

Financial access should be a basic right, and the fintechs of today are still not making enough impact. At the same time, we are one of the world's largest and fastest-growing regions. This opportunity should be better democratized for people of all ages, income levels, professions, and locations, i.e., urban and rural.

💼 What advice would you give someone starting out in your industry?

Get your hands dirty often. VCs tend to focus on the high level of market trends and financial outcomes, but it's crucial to develop deeper expertise and insights in order to become a more effective partner for business and startup operators.

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🗣 What's one thing you can keep talking about for hours?

I love talking about emerging technologies like blockchain and machine learning. These cutting-edge technologies have the potential to significantly impact and shape our future in ways that are difficult to comprehend fully. The thought of being a part of this change and being able to contribute to a different world fills me with a sense of optimism and excitement.

🎥 What's your favorite movie/TV show?

The Avengers trilogy

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🍨 What's your go-to ice cream flavor?‍

Dark chocolate