FNF Alumni

Next Normal Innovators

On the 29th of October 2022, The Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom along with Samantha Kapunan (Founder of Satori Lifestyle and Co-founder at iWantSeats) and Pattrarat Tangnisaitrong (Founder of Roots Incubation Program) co-hosted the Next Normal Innovators event at The Great Room, Gaysorn Tower. The one day face-to-face event was attended by 80 participants that joined our three sessions; The Art of The Pitch, Unleash Innovation in the Next Normal, and finally Struggles and Success: Fundraising edition.

The event kicked off with a pitching workshop with start-up coach Artie Lopez for 40 exclusive participants. Coach Artie has been coaching tech start-ups in South East and East Asia for 30 years. Through his incubator Brainsparks, Coach Artie has supported countless start-ups develop their ideas, accelerate their growth, and raise funding from investors globally.

“You need to capture the audience’s attention in the first 15 seconds,” Artie said to the exclusive participants. In the workshop, Coach Artie demonstrated how to be effective on-stage, how to create a strong pitch deck, and shared some pro tips and strategies that he has learnt throughout his years. At the end of the session, the participants also got a chance to pitch and receive constructive feedback.

In the second session, our panelists Vee Sirasoontorn (Co-founder and CEO of Primo World Company Limited), Kanpassorn Suriyasangpetch (CEO and Founder of OOCA), Chinawut Chinaprayoon (EVP, Digital Economy Promotion Agency Thailand (DEPA)) and Chan Ratiromphan (Associate Director at Bluebik Group PLC) discussed their experiences, insights, and emerging post-pandemic trends

“The core of change is in the people” Kanpassorn Suriyasangpetch said “It all starts with the mindset, there has to be an embrace of change and leadership, otherwise start-up business will fail”

In our last session, Struggles and Success: Fundraising Edition, our panelist shared a light-hearted conversation about their own personal experiences of failure and success with fundraising. Our four panelists were Cindy Kua (Co-founder and CEO of Sunday Ins Co. Ltd), Kris Supavatanakul (Venture capital and Portfolio Growth at SCB10x and Non-profit founder of Cheewid), and lastly, Saijai (Kia) Pongsripetch (Venture Builder, Co-learning and Connecting of Reapra). The last session was intended to inspire the audiences and highlight that failure and success are two sides of a coin in the entrepreneurship journey.

We would like to say a sincere thank you to Samantha Kapunan and Pattrarat Tangnisaitrong for helping us to organize this event. The Friedrich Naumann Foundation is honored to be associated with connecting innovative entrepreneurs in Southeast and East Asia.