Portfolio
Ian Goh
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Strategic Operator · MENA & Southeast Asia

Ian Goh

I get products into markets others can't crack.

An Expansion-focused operator across MENA & Southeast Asia.

Scaled to 100M+ users across MENA and SEA. Now partnering with founders serious about expansion — operators who move fast, think independently, and need someone who's been in these rooms.

Start a high-signal conversation See the track record

For founders scaling or entering new markets.

Or reach out via X — Follow thinking  ·  Telegram — Direct line (for serious builders)

Currently partnering with 1–2 operators per quarter.

Selected Work

Featured projects

Built and scaled from the inside, not observed from the outside.

Full Portfolio ↗
Tiki
2020 – 2023
100M+
Users
Co-Founder & CEO

India's #2 social app by consumer spending. 32M MAU, ~70% D1 retention. Built the creator economy playbook for India entirely from scratch, including creator flywheels, status economies, and content tribes.

Creator EconomyIndiaShort Video
Bigo Technology
2020 – Present
$500M
Investment
Director, Strategic Growth — MENA

Secured $500M in committed regional investment. Doubled revenue in 7 months. Led cross-functional regional operations across the Middle East, including brand, gaming ecosystem, government relations, and LEAP 2024.

MENALive StreamingGov. Relations
OYO Malaysia
2018 – 2020
6
SEA Markets
Head of Growth Marketing & Partnerships

Scaled from 20 to 100+ team. Reached #1 platform across six Southeast Asian markets through growth marketing and hotel partnership development.

SEAMarketplaceGrowth
oBike
2018 – 2019
500K
Bikes
Head of APAC Strategy & BD

500,000 bicycles deployed across 10 countries. 650,000 signups in Malaysia in six months. Opened markets from Singapore to Europe in under two years.

APACMobilityExpansion
Advisory

I help founders navigate hard markets.

I operate at the intersection of operators, capital, and emerging markets. Three engagement models, all hands-on.

10+
Years Experience
In emerging markets
100M+
Users Reached
Across platforms
15+
Countries Operated
Across MENA & SEA

Most advisory stops at strategy. I focus on execution. A deck of frameworks, a few name-drops, a monthly call where someone tells you things you already know — that's not what I do.

I've been the operator. I've made the calls that kept platforms alive or quietly killed them. I know what a government stakeholder in Riyadh needs to hear, what a content creator in Mumbai requires to feel genuinely invested in your platform, and why your Southeast Asia launch will fail if you treat Indonesia and Vietnam as the same market.

When I take on an advisory relationship, I'm thinking about your problem between sessions. The introductions I make are warm because I believe in what you're building.

Market Entry Architecture
Which market first, in what sequence, and why. How to signal you're serious. What to build before you arrive.
Creator & Community Strategy
Flywheel design, status economies, quality mandates. What the global playbooks consistently miss about emerging market creators.
Government & Regulatory Navigation
Real relationships with investment authorities and licensing bodies across MENA and SEA. Warm introductions, not cold outreach.
Operational Playbooks
Team structure, partner selection, and KPI frameworks that reflect how these markets actually move.

Engagement models.

Strategic Advisory
Monthly Retainer

Ongoing strategic counsel for founders and C-suite teams entering or scaling in MENA and SEA. Market entry strategy, competitive positioning, go-to-market architecture, and operational playbooks, iteratively, as your real situation unfolds.

Includes bi-weekly working sessions, async access between calls, and a quarterly deep dive. You leave each quarter with a concrete plan: specific moves, sequencing, and the relationships you need to execute them.
Deal Facilitation
Success Fee

I connect you to the right people: investors focused on MENA and SEA, government investment authorities, distribution partners, regional operators, and category-defining companies in both markets.

Introductions built on a decade of real relationships. Not cold messages dressed up as warm intros. You pay nothing until the deal closes. We begin with one conversation to understand exactly who you need and why.
Equity Advisory
Sweat Equity / Hybrid

For early-stage companies where I believe in the mission. I take equity and optionally a small cash component, working like part of the founding team during the critical 0-to-1 phase.

This isn't a board seat arrangement. Best suited for companies building in consumer social, creator economy, or marketplace verticals in MENA or SEA. I'm thinking about your product between calls.

Who I work best with.

Consumer tech companies that have proven product-market fit and are ready to expand regionally
Founders who want operator-level counsel, not frameworks from someone who's never run a P&L
Series A to C companies entering MENA or SEA for the first time
Companies building in creator economy, social platforms, or two-sided marketplaces
Teams serious about government relations and navigating complex regulatory environments
Founders who understand that speed in these markets requires the right relationships, not just the right product

What I don't do.

Long-term advisory without a clear execution path
Passive investor relationships with no operational role
Ideas without distribution or market access
Teams that move slowly or aren't fully committed

Where I add value

MENA Market EntrySEA ExpansionCreator EconomySocial PlatformsLivestreamingTwo-Sided MarketplacesUser AcquisitionCommunity BuildingGo-to-Market StrategyGovernment RelationsInvestor IntroductionsOperational PlaybooksConsumer MonetisationPlatform Strategy MENA Market EntrySEA ExpansionCreator EconomySocial PlatformsLivestreamingTwo-Sided MarketplacesUser AcquisitionCommunity BuildingGo-to-Market StrategyGovernment RelationsInvestor IntroductionsOperational PlaybooksConsumer MonetisationPlatform Strategy
Current Focus

What I'm building.

Not every operator wants to only advise. I'm still in the work.

01

Platform Ecosystems

Building distribution infrastructure for consumer platforms entering MENA and SEA. Creator tooling, community architecture, livestreaming monetisation — the pieces that make a platform defensible.
02

Capital Deployment

Connecting expansion-stage companies with regional capital. Government investment bodies, strategic LPs, and operators who write checks with conviction and deploy with purpose.
03

Operator Networks

Building the connective tissue between MENA and SEA operators. The deals that matter happen between people who trust each other. I spend time building that trust on both sides.
04

Creator Economy Infrastructure

Advising platforms building for creators in emerging markets. Live commerce, status economies, and the flywheel mechanics that drive retention at scale — not just growth.
Playbook

The thinking behind the work.

When we built Tiki, we documented everything. What worked, what we thought would work but didn't, and the frameworks we built from scratch. That documentation became the Playbook.

Full Case Study

The Creator Platform Playbook

How we scaled Tiki to 100M users in India with a fraction of our competitors' budget. The full operating system: creator flywheels, status economies, content tribes, quality mandates, and the counterintuitive decisions that made it work at scale.

Read the Playbook →