Do More - Take Charge of Your Life

He Built & Sold 19 Businesses. Here's The One Rule That Saved Him | Ray Chou

Ray Chou burned through capital in five countries before learning a brutal lesson: regional expansion feeds your ego while starving your bank account. 

After building and exiting 19 businesses and coaching founders across Southeast Asia through Malaysia's growing entrepreneurship ecosystem, he's exposing the uncomfortable patterns keeping business owners permanently stuck.

This conversation reveals: 
→ Why your loyal Day-1 employees might be the reason you can't break your revenue ceiling 
→ The "Who Moved My Cheese" principle that separates founders who scale from those who stagnate 
→ How to profile your future buyer years before you're ready to sell 
→ The generalist trap: why hiring people who "do everything" is killing your growth

CHAPTERS:
00:00 - Intro
01:45 - Biggest mistake Southeast Asian founders make when scaling
04:27 - Growth vs profitability: why growth can kill your business
06:52 - When is the right time to scale a business? (Key fundamentals)
11:21 - The 3 principles behind scalable businesses: repeatability, consistency, predictability
13:11 - When should founders get a business coach? (The real role of a coach)
19:44 - How to prepare your business to sell in 3–5 years
21:45 - Founder syndrome explained (and why buyers hate it)
23:41 - How to think about your future buyer before you sell
25:27 - Why founders get stuck at revenue plateaus (and how to break through)
30:10 - One brutal message every entrepreneur needs to hear
31:48 - Ray’s personal founder “warning label”
32:35 - One rule every founder should follow going into 2026

Follow Ray here:
Owners Circle: https://ownerscircle.asia/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theraychou
LinkedIn: https://my.linkedin.com/in/theraychou
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/raychoukl/
Bloom Growth: https://www.bloomgrowthcoach.com/coaches/ray-chou/

Malaysia Needs a National Myth, Not More Tolerance | Former UMNO Information Chief, Shahril Hamdan

Malaysia talks endlessly about tolerance, unity, and 'Satu Malaysia'. Yet it remains fractured. Shahril Hamdan's insight after a decade in politics: the problem isn't that Malaysians are intolerant. It's that we have no shared story.

America has the American Dream. Singapore has meritocratic excellence. Malaysia has... what?

This conversation deconstructs what a national narrative should look like when you can't rely on meritocracy, when ethnicities will always matter, and when resentment runs deep.

The TL/DW of the episode:
→ Why every ethnicity in Malaysia feels like a victim (and why that matters)
→ The 10-year project to reform UMNO from inside and why it collapsed
→ What "group advancement" policy should really look like beyond race
→ The one narrative Malaysia desperately needs but refuses to build

Follow Shahril Hamdan here:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shahrilh
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@shahrilhamdan
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shahrilsufianhamdan
LinkedIn: https://my.linkedin.com/in/shahril-hamdan
The Keluar Sekejap Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@keluarsekejap

...

CHAPTERS
00:00:00 - Intro
00:02:52 - Why People Assume I’m Privileged
00:05:04 - How Race Shaped Me as a Kid
00:07:04 - Why I Joined a Malay Nationalist Party
00:09:13 - Merit or Privilege? The Uncomfortable Truth
00:13:10 - You Never Escape Affirmative Action
00:14:09 - Why Malaysia Can’t “Graduate”
00:16:19 - Why Political Reform Always Fails
00:17:53 - The Truth About Malay Resentment
00:21:38 - Trying to Reform UMNO From Inside
00:27:31 - The Moment UMNO Turned Back
00:30:13 - The Siege Mentality in Malay Politics
00:32:00 - Malaysia Has No National Story
00:34:36 - What Should Malaysians Believe In?
00:39:34 - Why I’ll Never Be a Populist
00:44:35 - How Our Podcast Accidentally Took Off
00:48:53 - Getting Malaysians to Hate Less
00:54:36 - Malaysia Is Stronger Than We Think
00:58:31 - If I Had the PM’s Ear
01:03:45 - Why We Don’t Celebrate Entrepreneurs
01:07:17 - When GLCs Must Let Go
01:10:16 - The PM Is Stronger Than You Think
01:17:21 - Three Things I Want for 2026

Malaysia’s New Investment Framework: What Investors Need to Know | MIDA’s Masni Muhammad

Vietnam is cheaper. Indonesia has scale. Thailand has labor. So why would a semiconductor, biotech, or aerospace company choose Malaysia in 2026?

Because MIDA is explicitly steering capital toward complexity & not assembly lines. MIDA's Masni Muhammad breaks down how the New Investment Incentive Framework rewards R&D spending, high-income job creation, and domestic supply-chain integration in ways that turn Malaysia into a destination for actual innovation, not just manufacturing.

The TL/DW of the episode:
→ Why the government is deliberately pushing away "low-value assembly" and betting on high-complexity sectors
→ How the six-pillar scorecard (complexity, jobs, integration, inclusivity, clustering, ESG) makes innovation profitable, literally
→ The "domestic integration" play: how MIDA connects multinational supply chains with Malaysian suppliers to build ecosystem resilience
→ Less-developed states getting better incentives: how Kelantan's specialty chemicals beat Penang's overcrowded semiconductor corridor

Malaysia isn't competing on cost anymore. It's competing on what you can build here that you can't build anywhere else.

Follow MIDA here:
Official Website: https://www.mida.gov.my/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/officialMIDA/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officialmida/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MIDATVChannel
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/malaysian-investment-development-authority
X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/officialMIDA

Why Dads Are the Last Line of Defense for Lost Boys | Better Dads Malaysia's Jason Leong

The formative years are 7 to 11. The irony? That's when fathers are busiest climbing corporate ladders.

Jason Leong (Co-Founder of Better Dads Malaysia) has sat with thousands of men; CEOs, paupers, engineers, laborers and discovered something radical. The problem isn't income inequality. It's presence inequality.

And it's destroying an entire generation of boys.

Between 2019 and now, Malaysia has seen mass stabbing, suicides on university campuses, and a prison population that's 94% male. The through-line? Absent fathers. Not just physically, but emotionally.

The TL/DW of the episode:
→ How prosperity creates weak men (and why hard times create strong ones)
→ The one job no other man can replace you in
→ Why your son will remember the bicycle lesson at age 5 for the next 60 years
→ The exact framework to transform from corporate drone to intentional father

The solution exists. It just requires sacrifice.

Follow Jason / Better Dads Malaysia here:
Official Website: https://www.betterdadsmalaysia.my/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/betterdadsmalaysia/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/betterdadsmalaysia
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@betterdadsmalaysia4967

Chapters
00:00:00 - Intro
00:01:22 - The Shocking Truth About Planned Violence Among Young Men
00:02:21 - The 4 Hidden Factors Destroying Boys Before They Become Men
00:04:18 - Why Fathers Are Failing Their Sons (And Don't Even Know It)
00:07:00 - How the Industrial Revolution Stole Fathers From Their Children
00:09:39 - The Toxic Masculinity Trap That's Radicalizing Your Son
00:13:28 - The One Gift That Prevents Your Child From Becoming Violent
00:16:59 - Why Good Intentions Aren't Enough to Save Your Family
00:19:20 - The Brutal Choice Every Father Must Make
00:22:45 - How to Redefine Success Before It's Too Late
00:26:12 - The Memory Test That Reveals If You're a Good Father
00:30:58 - The Job Only You Can Do (That No One Can Replace)
00:38:24 - The I.C.A.N. Method: How to Become the Father Your Child Needs
00:46:06 - Why Malaysian Fathers Are Finally Waking Up
00:53:17 - The 3.8x Suicide Crisis Among Malaysian Men
00:58:18 - The 3 Words Every Child Must Hear From Their Father

Debt Recovery Secrets Revealed (by a debt recovery lawyer)

When someone owes you money in Malaysia, most people send a demand letter and pray. Rudi Cheu has spent a decade recovering debts, and he's discovered something uncomfortable: less than 10% of cases are actually solved that way.

Most people think debt recovery is about sending letters or going to court. The reality is far more psychological. It's about understanding how debtors prioritize payments, and making sure you're NOT on the bottom of their list.

The TL/DW of this episode:
→ Why being "nice" is the #1 reason creditors never recover their money 
→ The three-pronged strategy that forces prioritization (without being brutal)
→ When to sue and when it's actually smarter to take a tax write-off 
→ How a woman recovered alimony using the most obscure legal tool in Malaysia

CHAPTERS
00:00 - Intro 
02:06 - Is a Letter of Demand Actually Powerful? 
04:04 - Malaysia's Criminal Code: Can You Get Jailed For Owing Money
07:03 - Three Tactics To Reduce Bad Debts Dramatically 
11:03 - How Small Are Small Debts Worth Pursuing? 
15:01 - What Makes Creditors Never Get Paid 
16:41 - The True Cost of Going to Court 
19:03 - Judgment Summons: Jailing People For Debt (Legally)

Follow Rudi here:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rudicheu/
LinkedIn: https://my.linkedin.com/in/rudi-cheu-82548342
Threads: https://www.threads.com/@rudicheu
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rudicheu/

Relooking Malaysia’s Policy: NEP, Happiness, Aging and AI | Dr Lee Hwok-Aun

For decades, Malaysia's policymakers have been analyzing inequality with the wrong lens. Dr Lee Hwok-Aun , a political economy researcher at ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute unpacks how lumping rural and urban together, ignoring regional divides, and oversimplifying ethnic categories creates policies that miss the mark (and fuel division instead of solving it).

This conversation explores:
→ Why comparing all Bumiputeras to all Chinese obscures the real gaps (and ignores Indians entirely)
→ How B40 inequality between ethnic groups is actually narrowing, but nobody's talking about it
→ What universal basic pensions could mean for Malaysia's elderly crisis

...

Follow Dr Lee here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hwok-aun-lee/
ISEAS: https://www.iseas.edu.sg/about-us/researchers/lee-hwok-aun/
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=n_UUp7oAAAAJ&hl=en
More writing at Fulcrum: https://fulcrum.sg/contributors/lee-hwok-aun/

Articles mentioned in video:
NEP:
https://www.ehm.my/publications/articles/interethnic-income-inequality-in-malaysia-revisiting-old-records-exploring-new-narratives
Happiness:
https://fulcrum.sg/all-that-money-cannot-buy-patterns-of-satisfaction-in-malaysias-happiness-index/
Aging:
https://fulcrum.sg/malaysia-must-address-ailing-security-of-its-aging-society/

...

CHAPTERS
00:45 - Stepping back from the "for or against" trap
03:27 - Defining group advancement vs. need-based policies
07:31 - The data deception: why national averages lie
15:40 - How to explain inequality to your 17-year-old
21:55 - The real scandal of housing discounts and scholarships
25:47 - A balanced approach: merit + need + identity in universities
35:04 - Malaysia's happiness paradox & why Terengganu beats KL
43:04 - Can Malaysia afford universal pensions?
52:59 - The future of work, AI, and group advancement policy

Sabah's Future Revealed: Bridget Welsh on Autonomy, Youth Power & Hajiji's Return

Malaysia's federal model just entered its most unstable period yet. After Sabah's election shock, political analyst Bridget Welsh reveals why East Malaysia's demand for autonomy is a fundamental restructuring of how power flows in this country. The 40% revenue dispute, the kingmaker role of Borneo, and what happens when neglected regions suddenly have leverage.

The TLDW of this episode: 
→ Why the "Madani moment" is actually a fragmentation moment disguised as stability 
→ How autonomy becomes independence in slow motion (and why that matters) 
→ The decentralization decade that West Malaysia didn't see coming

The uncomfortable truth: Malaysia's one-party dominance era is dead. What replaces it will determine whether we compete with Vietnam or become a cautionary tale.

Chapters
0:16 - Three Things Sabah's Election Revealed About Malaysia
2:44 - The 10-Year Decentralization Nobody Noticed
5:36 - The Catch-22 Anwar Can't Escape
12:28 - Why Position Deals Won't Fix This
14:33 - The 40% Revenue Question That Could Break The Federation
20:14 - East Malaysia vs West Malaysia: The Competitiveness Crisis
24:14 - Energy, Resources & Who Controls Malaysia's Future
26:52 - The Xenophobia Problem Hiding in Migration Policy
31:00 - Geopolitics: Why China Matters More to Sabah Than KL
35:02 - Autonomy Isn't Independence (But It's Getting Close)
38:46 - AI Governance: Southeast Asia's Next Fault Line
43:31 - Does Malaysia Have Leaders for the Next Decade?

 

FOLLOW BRIDGET HERE: 
URL: https://bridgetwelsh.com/bio/
Podcast: www.straighttalkseasia.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bridget-welsh-424691a0/
X: @dririshsea
MalaysiaKini articles: https://www.malaysiakini.com/en/author/Bridget%20Welsh

What Every Property Owner Must Know (About Fire Safety)

Most Malaysians own fire extinguishers they've never touched, sitting expired in corners while new fire threats such as EV batteries, power banks & lithium devices, multiply in their homes. 

Brian Soo reveals why traditional fire safety thinking fails and how the Mont Kiara fire exposed critical gaps in how we protect our property investments from catastrophic loss.

The TLDW of this episode, though we recommend you to watch it :) 
→ Why smoke kills more than flames & where fatalities actually occur in home fires 
→ The RM50-100 investment that protects your property wealth (and what makes cheap ones dangerous) 
→ New fire threats from EV cars and lithium batteries that traditional extinguishers cannot fight

Follow Brian here
LinkedIn: https://my.linkedin.com/in/brian-soo
Fire Fighter Industry Sdn Bhd: https://www.firefighter.com.my/

How This Indie Research Firm Powers Billion-Dollar Public Debuts | Smith Zander's Stephanie Ng

Most Malaysian IPOs fail before they start. Not from bad businesses, but from founders who treat the listing as a finish line instead of a starting gun. 

Stephanie Ng has spent years translating complex enterprises into 300-page prospectuses that unlock billions in capital. Yet she's discovered most investors never read past the financials, and most companies exhaust themselves reaching debut day, then go silent.

This TL/DW:
→ Why 50% of IPO attempts fail (and it's not the business model) 
→ The "marriage analogy": why debut day is just the wedding, not the relationship 
→ What minority shareholders actually need to read in those intimidating documents 
→ How social media storytelling could save Malaysia's overlooked mid-cap companies

CHAPTERS:
00:00 - Intro
01:12 - Why IPO Is Like Marriage: One Shot, Years of Consequences
06:43 - The 1999 Certificate That Can Kill Your Listing & Why Half of Companies Quit Halfway
16:32 - The Fastest IPO Takes a Year... If Nothing Goes Wrong
19:01 - The Risk Factors Chapter: Where Companies Confess Everything
26:00 - The Secret Weapon No One Reads (Independent Market Research)
38:00 - Public Bank's 30-Minute Early Habit That Explains Everything
46:22 - Why Strong Companies Go Silent After Debut Day
50:08 - Your Prospectus Has $500K of Ready-Made Content Just Sitting There
55:01 - Why Young Investors Buy Shitcoins Instead of Your Shares
56:22 - Last 7 Days: TV vs TikTok—Where Capital Markets Are Really Happening
01:02:00 - Core Values on Walls vs Real Culture: What Predicts Who Survives Crashes

Follow Stephanie here:
SMITH ZANDER: https://www.smith-zander.com/team/
LinkedIn: https://my.linkedin.com/in/ngsteph

(Shoutout to @Ruma for the chairs keeping us comfortable through these long conversations. Makes a difference when you're not thinking about your back the whole time. Explore Ruma Home’s collections: https://ruma-home.com/)

 

 

The Accidental LinkedIn Strategy That Got Her Headhunted Weekly | Crystal Lim, the 'B2B Influencer'

Most professionals treat LinkedIn like an online resume: updated once, then forgotten. Crystal Lim, one of LinkedIn's Top 20 creators, reveals it's actually career insurance. She went from corporate marketer to B2B storyteller through one insight: people don't buy products, they buy the stories behind them. Her "toifie" (toilet selfie) strategy accidentally became her personal brand, proving that authenticity beats perfection.

The TL/DW of this episode:
→ Why your LinkedIn profile matters more than your CV when recruiters decide your salary → How "toilet selfies" taught Crystal that noticing what others notice reveals your hidden strengths 
→ The corporate storytelling framework that turns employees into company ambassadors without being cringe 
→ Why starting with zero followers today is actually an advantage in 2025

Follow Crystal here:
LinkedIn: https://my.linkedin.com/in/limcrystal
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glowlikecrystal/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@glowlikecrystal

Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction
02:14 - The Accidental Path: From Employee to LinkedIn Creator
07:17 - The “Toifie” Philosophy: When Toilets Reveal Corporate Culture 
14:08 - LinkedIn as the New CV: Why Recruiters Check Your Profile First
18:18 - Career Insurance for Regular Employees
23:45 - The Employer's Dilemma: Why Companies Fear Active Employees
29:08 - Starting From Zero in 2025
33:43 - Employee-Generated Content: The UGC Strategy Companies Miss
36:32 - The "I Don't Know What I'm Doing" Connection
39:47 - For the Technical Founders: Bridging Product Excellence with Storytelling
42:19 - Social Capital Over Virality 

(Shoutout to @Ruma for the chairs keeping us comfortable through these long conversations. Makes a difference when you're not thinking about your back the whole time. Explore Ruma Home’s collections: https://ruma-home.com/)