- The Runway Ventures
- Pages
- Slate
đ Slate
The private room for Southeast Asiaâs top 1% founders
If youâre a founder operating at a level where every decision costs you 6-7 figures â you donât need another busy WhatsApp group, public community, or ânetworking eventâ.
You need a small, vetted circle of founders who:
Understand payroll, burn, and board pressure
Have real numbers, real teams, and real stakes
Operate with speed, clarity, and no-BS honesty
Slate is that room.
A private founder community for high-growth operators across Southeast Asia.
Low-ego. High-trust. Extremely curated.
Why most founder communities stop working once you scale
(and waste your time)
Letâs call it out:
â ď¸ Youâre the âbiggestâ founder in the room
Everyoneâs still figuring out productâmarket fit. Youâre making 6-7 figure decisions alone, dealing with funding rounds, runway, churn, and executive hires. Different problems.â ď¸ Too much noise, not enough signal
Random âgrowth hacksâ, motivational quotes, and pitch spam. No oneâs actually shipping at your level.â ď¸ No one you can be fully honest with
You canât talk about existential problems (co-founder tension, down rounds, layoffs) on LinkedIn or with your team. So you shoulder it alone.â ď¸ Generic events, generic advice
Panels that feel like TED talks. Masterclasses that sound good, but donât change your P&L.
If youâre doing $500K+ a year, have raised >$1M, or already sold a company (>$2M), you donât have a âmotivationâ problem.
You have a room problem.
Slate fixes that by putting you in the right room.
Why I Started Slate
I quit my job in 2021 to build my first startup. It flopped. Hard.
What kept me going wasnât a book, a podcast, or a course. It was conversations with other founders who:
Had burned millions â and knew how to bounce back
Shared what theyâd do differently if they had to start over
Opened doors that wouldâve taken me years to unlock alone
My second startup got acquired. That exit changed my life â but what changed my trajectory was having access to the right founders at the right time.
When I looked around Southeast Asia, I saw:
Plenty of early-stage communities
Plenty of generic ânetworkingâ events
Almost no curated space for serious founders doing meaningful revenue who wanted depth, not more WhatsApp groups.
So I built Slate.
A private, vetted room for high-growth founders in Southeast Asia who want:
Candid conversations about the hard stuff
Real operator playbooks (not theory)
A trusted circle they can lean on for the next decade
What Slate is (and how it helps you grow)

Startup Fxckups event â featuring Willis Wee (Founder & CEO of Tech in Asia) and Joel Wong (Founder & CEO of Social Jet)
Slate is a curated, private founder community for high-growth operators in Southeast Asia.
Inside, you will:
Get unstuck fast: Ask one question, get 5 operatorâgrade answers from founders 1â2 steps ahead.
Borrow proven playbooks: Sales scripts, fundraising tips, GTM moves, ops checklists â whatâs working now & beyond.
Make the right intros happen: Warm connections to founders, operators, and investors.
Stay sharp: Monthly live masterclasses with top founders (recordings included) â practical, not TEDâtalks.
Belong: A safe room for open, vulnerable conversations about the hard stuff.
What you will get in Slate
![]() | The âWar Roomâ (Private Slate Community on WhatsApp)
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![]() Slate members | Private Dinners with Slate Members (Quarterly)
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![]() | Concierge Intros & 1-1 Founder Matching
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Monthly Live Masterclass with Top Founders (recordings included)
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![]() | Full Access to The Runway Vault
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![]() Startup Fxckups event at SGInnovate | Priority Access to Startup Fxckups Offline Events (Quarterly)
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đ BONUS #1: The Runway Tracker â Notion database of all failed startup stories, resources & tools (+ lifetime updates)
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đ BONUS #2: Personalised 1âtoâ1 onboarding call to help you get the most value from the Slate founder community
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đ BONUS #3: Leverage TRVâs founder & investor network for warm intros to unlock more business opportunities for you
Real founders. Real outcomes.

Peifu Hsieh (Co-founder & CEO of Karbon â a YC company)

Ryan Teh (Founder & CEO of Brokoli)

Alva Chew (Founder of AeroChat)
Why founders are joining
High-growth founders join Slate for one reason:
Better Room = Better Decisions
Members get:
Faster answers
Higher-quality connections
Real operator support
Lessons without the tuition fees
A room where vulnerability isnât punished, but respected
Because at this stage, Slate becomes your âEdgeâ â the unfair advantage that helps you move faster, avoid costly mistakes, and make better decisions.
Youâre literally one question or network away from achieving your next breakthrough by asking the right questions or connecting with the right founders.
Membership Requirements
Slate is not for everyone â and thatâs the point.
We exist to serve founders who are already operating at a high level â and who make the room sharper by being in it.
To keep the room high-trust and high-calibre, we only admit founders who meet strict quantitative and qualitative criteria.
Minimum Criteria (meet one):
$500K+ annual revenue, or
$1M+ funding raised, or
Previously sold a company for $2M+
Non-Negotiable Criteria (must meet all):
You operate with integrity
We vet hard for character. No questionable behaviour, no ego-driven drama.You share openly
Slate is a low-ego room. Members talk about the real stuff â wins, losses, numbers, and mistakes.You give as much as you take
Slate works because members show up to help, not to siphon value.You think and move like an operator
Practical, grounded, and allergic to fluff.
The Slate Vetting Process
Slate stays valuable because we protect the room relentlessly. Every applicant goes through a full review â background, traction, conversation, and community approval.
Here is exactly how to get in:

đ° WHY NOW MATTERS âł
(THE COST OF WAITING)
Now, you might be asking yourself, âWhy should I join Slate instead of waiting?â
Well, there's never a "perfect" time for anything. But there is a cost to waiting.Â
Right now, while you're figuring things out, you might be making costly mistakes without even knowing them.
Not because you're doing anything wrong â but because you haven't figured everything out yet.
And thatâs exactly where the danger lies. Every founder pays what I call the âtrial-and-error tax.â
Maybe youâre burning months testing a strategy another founder could fix for you in 10 minutes.
Or missing an intro that could have landed your next investor, customer, or hire.
Or scaling the wrong way â and only realising it when itâs too late to undo.
And that tax compounds.
The longer you wait, the more runway you burn.
Meanwhile, the founders who plug into the right room today â who ask, share, and execute with others whoâve been there â skip the tax and move faster.
Zero-Risk Guarantee
Attend at least one private dinner and one masterclass, engage in the community conversations â and if you still donât think Slate is worth it, just email me.
Iâll refund your full annual membership. No questions asked. No hoops. No forms.
Worst case: You meet great founders, learn a ton â and get your money back.
Best case: You make the smartest decision for you and your business today.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's Slate?
Slate is a highly-vetted, private founder community for high-growth operators in Southeast Asia.
What are the requirements to join Slate?
Minimum criteria (meet one):
$500K+ annual revenue, or
$1M+ funding raised, or
Previously sold a company for $2M+
Non-Negotiable Criteria (must meet all):
You share openly
You operate with integrity
You give as much as you take
You think and move like an operator
Is Slate really limiting membership?
Yes. Slate is intentionally small. We cap membership at 50 vetted founders so the room stays high-trust, high-signal, and actually useful.
What do I get as a Slate member?
Everything inside Slate is designed to help you make faster, smarter, less expensive decisions.
Your membership includes:
Private WhatsApp community of vetted founders
Quarterly private dinners with Slate founders
Concierge intros + 1-1 founder matching
Monthly live masterclasses with top founders
Full access to The Runway Vault (exclusive failed startup stories, founder interviews, tools, playbooks, and resources)
Priority access to Startup Fxckups offline events
Direct access to TRVâs network (founders + investors)
What are Slate's core values?
Radical Candor: We say the hard thing, respectfully and directly. Truth moves founders forward.
Generosity of Ideas: Share wins, frameworks, templates, and war stories. Give more than you take.
Respect & Confidentiality: Whatâs shared here stays here. High trust is non-negotiable.
Growth Mindset: We learn fast by studying failure â our own and others.
Who's already inside Slate?
A tight mix of high-growth founders (typically $500Kâ$50M annual revenue), across AI, B2B SaaS, fintech, e-commerce, agencies, and tech-enabled services â primarily Southeast Asia, with a few global operators.
Youâll see YC-backed, venture-funded, and bootstrapped founders who share candidly â what failed, what finally worked, and the exact steps they took.
How much does Slate membership cost?
Slate membership is USD 2,000 per year, billed annually.
No monthly plans â because meaningful relationships, trust, and ROI donât compound in 30 days.
Most members recover the fee quickly.
One avoided mistake, one warm intro, or one pricing tweak can easily save (or generate) 5-50x the annual cost.
And yes â for almost every founder, Slate is a 100% business write-off (a legitimate business expense).
But more importantly, itâs a decision-making advantage.
How is Slate different from other founder communities?
Stage-fit curation: Minimum revenue/funding/exit criteria = serious founders, real operators, right room.
Small by design: 50 seats max so conversations stay sharp and answers stay specific.
Failure-first lens: We study what breaks, so you donât repeat it.
Operator answers, not opinions: Members share whatâs working right now, not what sounds good.
Actual leverage: Warm intros to founders/investors/partners when itâs a fit.
Real-world cadence: Masterclasses, private dinners, and offline events that create deals, not selfies.
Can I promote my business or sell to Slate members?
Short answer: No.
Members join to learn, share, and build real relationships â not to be sold to.
If a member genuinely asks for your help or wants to work with you, thatâs perfectly fine. But unsolicited selling and promotions are strictly not allowed.
This keeps the room high-trust, high-signal, and actually useful.
You can spend another quarter in noisy roomsâŚ
Or you can join a room built to help you move faster, make better decisions, and avoid expensive mistakes.
If you meet the criteria, apply.
We review every application personally.





