​Startup conferences rarely address the real, gritty challenges founders face day to day.

​We want to change that.

​Founders Only is a one-day, no holds barred forum for founders to come together and trade war stories, unload their challenges, inspire and support each other.

​Join a community of founders (with a focus on pre-seed / seed stage startups) for practical, hands-on conversations. Learn from seasoned founders and Iterative’s partners, all of whom have been where you are now. Share your challenges in our small group office hour sessions, hear from our keynote speakers in a fireside chat, and connect with other founders throughout the day. No investors, no pitches, no trend-watching — just founders, together.

​Event Highlights:

• ​Keynote Fireside Chat
  The day kicks off with a keynote fireside between Sam Wen (Co-Founder of Square, a US$38BN public company) and Hsu Ken Ooi (Managing Director and Co-Founder of Iterative, a 2x founder whose first startup was sold to eBay).
  
  This is a rare opportunity to hear the unfiltered, early days stories of what became a very valuable (2x more valuable than Grab!), very large company.
  
  

• ​Learning session: How to Grow 5% to 7% Weekly by Hsu Ken Ooi
  If you've ever wondered how we help Iterative companies grow 5% to 7% a week, this is an insider look for how we teach our founders. Learn why growth is the only thing that matters, how to turn your business into an equation and how to use that to engineer growth.
  
  

• ​Challenges Faced by Early Stage Founders
  Hosted by Cathy Guo, a founder turned investor and Iterative’s Head of Investments, this panel deep dives into the challenges we see early stage founders face daily – and how you can avoid very common mistakes in your own startups. Iterative has invested in 150+ startups and over 300 founders, so this is one session you don't want to miss.
  
  

• ​Group Office Hours
  One of Iterative’s signature sessions, built to help founders tackle real startup challenges together with the support of fellow founders.
  
  

• ​How to Fundraise by Cathy Guo
  Learn what investors actually care about, how to generate FOMO among investors and what you should do in difficult fundraising environments. If you've ever wondered what Iterative teaches its companies about fundraising, this is it.
  
  

• ​Connect ≠ network
  Iterative prides itself on building a community of supportive, like-minded founders. This is an opportunity to build meaningful connections in a focused, supportive environment, not network.

​Event Itinerary:

​9.30am - 10.00am Registration
10.00am - 5.00pm Event sessions & lunch provided
5.00pm - 7.00pm Dinner and networking

​For the full itinerary and event updates, follow Iterative's LinkedIn for updates.

​Who should join this event?

​Founders at all stages are welcome, particularly founders at seed-stage startups. Come ready to dive in: this event is designed for founders who are already running a startup and want to tackle real challenges alongside peers.

​Seats are limited, and attendance is by approval only.

​This is a ticketed event (to help us cover basic costs! We're not charging for profit). A light breakfast, lunch, and dinner will be provided.

​🎟️ Early Bird Offer:
Get your ticket for $10 if you register and are approved by Friday, 10 October.

​After that, standard tickets will be $30.

​KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

​Sam Wen, Co-Founder of Square (a US$38BN public company)

​We’re thrilled to have Sam join us in our keynote fireside chat. Sam was the Co-Founder of Square, where he built the first hardware prototype and scaled the engineering team alongside Jack Dorsey. Square’s launch was featured at an Apple keynote, with Steve Jobs himself presenting the product — a testament to the product’s impact and vision. Square started as a small device that plugged into an iPhone’s headphone jack to read credit cards, and has since grown into a fintech giant used by over 4 million sellers, from small businesses to Starbucks. Today, Square is a US$38B business.

​Sam is currently a General Partner at Green Visor Capital, where he invests in early-stage companies across fintech, AI, and more. Having been both a founder and now an investor, he brings a rare perspective shaped by experience on both sides.

​Hsu Ken Ooi

​Hsu Ken Ooi is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Iterative. He was previously the Chief Product Officer of Workmate, an on-demand blue collar staffing platform in Southeast Asia. In 2014, he was VP of Product at Weave (YCS14). In 2009, he started Decide.com an early machine learning company that predicted the future price of consumer goods. It was acquired by eBay in 2013.

​HOSTED BY

​Iterative

​Iterative was founded for founders, by founders. We are a YC-style program focused exclusively on Southeast Asia. No fees, an upfront investment of up to USD $500K and 3 months of targeted growth and fundraising support, which culminates in a Demo Day to a network of 400+ investors. Apply for our upcoming W26 batch.

​Since we’ve been founded in 2020, we’ve invested in 150+ companies and 300+ founders. These companies have gone on to raise $168M and are collectively worth over $1.2B.

​Our mission is to increase the GDP of Southeast Asia through entrepreneurship. To do that, we need to (1) make entrepreneurship more accessible to more people and (2) give founders the tools and support to be successful. As part of this mission, we run events like this to help founders solve their biggest problems.

​SUPPORTED BY

​BLOCK71

​BLOCK71 isn’t just another startup space. This is a launchpad for founders who dare to do things differently. Powered by NUS Enterprise and backed by industry and government partners, BLOCK71 connects you to the mentors, markets, and muscle to scale. Since 2011, more than 1,600 startups have taken off with us across Singapore, the US, China, Japan, Indonesia and Vietnam - and we’re just getting started.

​OPENAI

​Our mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence—AI systems that are generally smarter than humans—benefits all of humanity. The OpenAI API provides a simple interface to state-of-the-art AI models for text generation, natural language processing, computer vision, and more.