Tea & Jam: Scaling with SEA Talent - Cost and Culture Hacking
About The Event
Everyone talks about hiring across borders. Few talk about what actually breaks when scaling teams overseas — and how to prevent it.
Tea & Jam – Scaling with SEA Talent: Cost and Culture Hacking brings founders, operators, and leaders together for an honest conversation about building high-performing teams across Southeast Asia.
Co-hosted by JDI Group and BLOCK71, the session goes beyond simple cost-saving comparisons to share the ins and outs of scaling engineering, product, and operations teams across the region, highlighting what works, what fails, and why.
Participants will learn how winning startups choose the right hiring models, tap into strong talent hubs, and scale without slowing execution, diluting ownership, or breaking culture.
📅 Date: Tuesday, 23rd March 2026
🕑 Time: 2:00 - 4:30 PM (GMT +8)
📍 Location: Microsoft
📌 Event Highlights
✨ Founder Panel — Real Wins and Hard Lessons
Get honest, practical insights from founders and operators who have scaled teams across SEA — covering what hiring models worked, what failed, and how they balanced speed, ownership, and culture.
✨ Roundtable Sessions — Learn From Peers Facing the Same Challenges
Join group discussions where leaders openly share hiring struggles, cross-border team setups, and proven strategies for building high-performing distributed teams.
✨ Networking Over Tea — Meaningful Connections, Not Sales Pitches
Connect with fellow founders, operators, and ecosystem partners through relaxed conversations designed for real relationship-building and peer learning.
✨ Hiring Humans In The Age Of AI Playbooks — Exclusive Early Access
Gain early access to actionable hiring frameworks focused on building strong, future-ready teams as AI reshapes roles, skills, and workforce strategies.
🔔 Event Agenda
13:30 - 14:00: Guests Check-In
14:00 - 14:15: Organizers’ Introduction
14:15 - 14:30: Notion's sharing on smarter workflows
14:30 - 15:10: Panel Discussion
15:10 - 15:55: Breakout Roundtable Discussions
15:55 - 16:00: Closing Remarks
16:00 - 16:30: Networking
💬 Panel Discussion Topic
Building Borderless Teams That Actually Scale
From Talent Strategy to Execution, Ownership, and Culture
As startups grow beyond their early hustle phase, distributed teams are no longer an experiment; they’re infrastructure. This panel explores how founders and operators design borderless teams across Southeast Asia that move fast, stay aligned, and scale sustainably, without breaking culture or accountability.
Discussion Points:
Hiring models that scale, not just save costs
Right talent, right market
Ownership and org design across borders
💡 Roundtable Discussion Topics
1. Cost Hacking Without Regret: Hiring Models That Scale
Focus: Choosing the right build vs buy vs hybrid model
Discussion Points:
In-house, outsourced, or hybrid — what works at Seed, Series A, and beyond
Hidden costs founders underestimate (management overhead, rework, attrition)
When cost savings compound vs when they slow teams down
2. Choosing the Right SEA Talent Market: Vietnam vs Philippines vs Indonesia
Focus: Making intentional country-level talent decisions
Discussion Points:
Core strengths of talent pools across Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia
Engineering depth vs speed of execution
Product thinking, QA, operations, and support capabilities
Common misassumptions founders make when hiring “SEA talent” as a monolith
3. Org Design for Distributed Teams: Who Owns What, Where
Focus: Structuring teams to move fast without losing alignment
Discussion Points:
Org charts that work with SEA-based teams
Clear ownership, reporting lines, and decision rights across borders
Avoiding “HQ vs offshore” dynamics through intentional design
🎤 Our Speakers, Moderators, and Facilitators
🎙️ Mr. Frank Lee | Founder & Managing Director at JDI Group
🎙️ Ms. Tiziana Tan | Founder & CEO at Brain Juice Collective
... And more speakers will be announced soon!
🎯 Who Should Attend
Scaling Startup Founders & Operators (Seed–Series B)
Founders, CEOs, and COOs are actively planning their next phase of growth
Teams experiencing hiring constraints in local markets
Startups exploring Southeast Asia for engineering, product, or operations talent
Founders deciding between in-house hiring, outsourcing, or hybrid models
Product, Engineering & Operations Leaders
Heads of Product, Engineering Managers, and Tech Leads
Operators responsible for delivery velocity, team structure, and cross-border collaboration
Leaders tasked with managing distributed teams and offshore partners
🔥 What Participants Say About Our Previous Tea & Jam
🔎 About Tea & Jam Series
Tea & Jam is a curated conversation series for founders and operators building and scaling startups. Each session brings together practitioners to exchange practical insights on real growth challenges.
The series creates space for honest discussion, shared learning, and actionable takeaways. Insights from roundtable discussions will be synthesised into a playbook and shared with the wider community.
🏢 About JDI Group
JDI is a Venture Catalyst driving forward the future of innovation. Since 2016, we’ve jump-started the exponential growth of innovative companies – from FinTech, F&B, e-commerce to education. We empower them with strategic knowledge and resources to build and scale their disruptive innovations from Asia to the world.
🏢 About BLOCK71
BLOCK71 is a global initiative by NUS Enterprise that builds and connects innovation ecosystems across key markets. Through their network of hubs, they work closely with startups, corporates, investors, and government partners to drive collaboration, open market access, and create opportunities for tech ventures to grow beyond Singapore.
📩 For Enquiries
👉 For partnership opportunities or event information, contact us at: [email protected]
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