Entrepreneurship is not just for those living in Silicon Valley. High-impact entrepreneurs exist everywhere, and nowhere has that become more evident in recent years than in Southeast Asia. In this talk, Endeavor co-founder & CEO Linda Rottenberg shares groundbreaking research from Endeavor’s over 26 years of experience building entrepreneurial ecosystems around the world. Rottenberg will dive into what makes a particular market a unicorn breeding ground, while others become entrepreneurial deserts. She will also dispel some closely-held myths about where successful founders come from, and share some advice for prospective entrepreneurs looking to build businesses in Southeast Asia.
The session will be moderated by Yale-NUS President and Professor of Social Sciences (Economics) Joanne Roberts.
About the speaker
Linda Rottenberg
Co-founder & CEO, Endeavor; Board Member; New York Times Bestselling Author
Named “Innovator for the 21st Century” (TIME) and one of “America’s Best Leaders” (U.S. News), Linda Rottenberg is co-founder and CEO of Endeavor, the leading global community of, by, and for high-impact entrepreneurs. Operating in more than 40 markets spanning the globe, Endeavor identifies, scales up, and co-invests in the most innovative, rapidly growing businesses in emerging and underserved markets.
She also serves as President of Endeavor Catalyst, the rules-based, investment arm of Endeavor with $500 million in assets under management across four funds. Launched in 2012, Endeavor Catalyst has invested in 300+ companies. The portfolio comprises 24 exited investments and 50 “unicorn” companies valued at over $1 billion.
Rottenberg currently serves as a Director on two public boards – Globant, a software leader in digital transformation (NYSE: GLOB); and OLO (NYSE: OLO), the top SaaS-based food-ordering platform – as well as the board of Pershing Square SPARC Holdings. She was formerly a Director of ZAYO, a global bandwidth infrastructure company. She is a member of YPO, World Economic Forum, Anchor Fund Advisory Board, Yale Ventures Advisory Board, and Vice Chair of Yale President’s Council on International Activities.
Author of the New York Times bestselling book, CRAZY IS A COMPLIMENT, and an accomplished public speaker, Rottenberg has been the subject of six Harvard Business School case studies and one Stanford GSB case study. Other honors include the Silicon Valley Forum Visionary Award; Heinz Award for Technology, the Economy, and Employment; Babson College Honorary Doctorate; and the Yale Law School Award of Merit. A graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School, Rottenberg lives in Brooklyn with her husband, Bruce Feiler, a bestselling author; and is mother to identical twin daughters.
About the moderator
Professor Joanne Roberts
Professor of Social Sciences (Economics), and President, Yale-NUS College
Joanne Roberts is the third President and Professor of Social Sciences (Economics) at Yale-NUS College. Prior to becoming president, she served as the College’s Executive Vice President (Academic Affairs) from 2018 to 2022. As Executive Vice President (Academic Affairs), she oversaw all academic and student programming. She is deeply committed to broad inclusive models of education in supporting students’ academic and personal development.
Prof Roberts did her undergraduate training in economics at the University of Waterloo and her graduate work at Queen’s University in Canada. In 1998, she joined the faculty at the University of Toronto, and in 2008, the University of Calgary, before joining Yale-NUS in as Associate Dean (Faculty Development) in January 2017. Prof Roberts is a public economist, interested in how incentives affect behaviour in broad number of situations. She has published papers in journals such as American Economic Review, Review of Economic Studies, The Journal of Public Economics and International Economic Review.
She has served as a member of the executive of the Canadian Economic Association, President of the Canadian Economics Women’s Network, and co-editor of the Canadian Journal of Economics. A Polanyi research prize winner, Professor Roberts previously held the Canada Research Chair in the Economics of Organizations at the University of Calgary. She serves on the advisory panel of NINEby9, advancing gender parity in Asia, management board of the Asia Research Institute, NUS and the jury of the Steward Leadership 25 awards. She also served on the board of the Calgary Immigrant Women’s Association.
Watch the full recording here:
