Introducing East Meets West

Deep dives on the companies and trends shaping the tech industry in Asia

Welcome to East Meets West by Ryan Rodenbaugh

I started this newsletter with a focus on breaking down the products, business models, and strategies of Asian technology companies. Each issue will be a deep dive into the most important companies and trends shaping the tech industry in Asia.

My goal with each issue is to be information-dense while also providing insightful, high-level commentary on trends. In most cases, such as my first issue on Gojek, I aim to provide the single most comprehensive English language overview of the company.

In Zero to One, Peter Thiel said, "The easiest way for China to grow is to relentlessly copy what has already worked in the West.” At some point, that was true. However, I don’t think it is true anymore. Western technology companies, especially consumer-focused companies, are looking to China and Southeast Asia to copy ideas coming from Asia’s best entrepreneurs. 

More often, we will see western technology companies “relentlessly copy what has already worked in the [East]” 

Frequency: Two long-form articles per month. Some will be breakdowns of specific companies while others will cover trends and more meta themes of what works in Asia. My first issue will be published on Gojek on June 21st