I've sat on every side of the table.
I’m Hardesh Singh, Hardy to most. I’ve been the risk officer asking the hard questions, the founder asking for money, and the coach in the room with other founders. Today I run a corporate venture studio, deciding what gets built and what gets stopped.
Where the view comes from
I trained as a lawyer at the University of Melbourne, then led group ethics and compliance across Asia, the Middle East and Latin America, advising boards on regulatory and counterparty risk. It taught me how large organizations protect themselves, and how that same instinct can quietly kill anything new.
I co-founded and led an applied-AI regulatory compliance platform for financial institutions in Southeast Asia, backed by institutional seed investors. I built the product, the team and the sales from nothing.
I built and validated ventures inside multinationals across Asia-Pacific, and coached founders across legal tech, health tech, deep tech, energy and sustainability. Seeing many ventures at once taught me which patterns repeat.
I lead the venture arm of one of the Philippines' largest conglomerates. I rebuilt the studio from first principles, designed its stage-gated governance and investment committee, turned around ventures, closed the ones that didn't earn their place, and sit on portfolio boards.
What I've come to believe
Good governance gives a new venture room to move. Bad governance smothers it.
Old companies own things no startup can copy. Most never use them.
Knowing when to stop is as important as knowing what to build.