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Tinkering with OCE

🤔 Backpackers vs. Builders: Which Are You?

Published about 2 months ago • 1 min read

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Hey changemakers,

Have we gotten soft?

Today, the typical youth adventure in Southeast Asia is a backpacking trip — a farewell tour before “real life” begins. The biggest decision? Which island has the best yoga retreat backdrop for Instagram.

But the real builders? They see Southeast Asia differently. Not as a vacation destination, but as the arena — a place to test ideas, face failure, and wrestle with challenges that matter. They show up, get the market wrong again and again, but never stay on the sidelines.

But FIRST

If you are new, welcome to OCE’s weekly newsletter curated for the ambitious youth…here are some articles you missed from previous weeks:

📈

Why No One Successful Wants to Mentor You

​Read More →​

🎨

Best tools for building your passion project

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​Read More​ →​

📘

The Future Belongs to Borderless Thinkers

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​Read More​ →​

In the Arena Right Now

Elon Musk – He recently traveled to Bali to bring Starlink satellite internet service to Indonesia — the world’s largest archipelago, with 17k islands, three time zones, 270m+ people, and an endless supply of Instagram Stories showing people on yoga retreats - irony intended.

Jack Zhang – Co-founder of Airwallex, the Aussie fintech unicorn that relocated its global HQ to Singapore and is doubling down on building payments infrastructure in Malaysia, Vietnam, and Indonesia — unlocking cross-border commerce in some of the toughest markets.

Olivier Pomel – CEO of Datadog, the U.S. cloud infrastructure giant that is setting up shop across Southeast Asia. He’s betting that ASEAN’s rapid digital transformation is the next frontier for tech infrastructure.

The lesson? Southeast Asia is not just a playground — it’s the next frontier for bold ideas.

When you see a problem, do you think like a traveler or like a builder?

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Like what you read? Share with friends!

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PS. This summer, we are going to tackle pressing global issues and drive innovation in regions (such as your own community) where it is needed the most. Want in?

We run a summer cohort for ambitious youth (high school and undergrads) to work directly with world-class founders while learning from Silicon Valley leaders.

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You can also explore purposeful opportunities through our Impact Internship Opportunities Database.

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Get Curious.

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Lena

​https://www.openclassroomexperience.com/​

113 Cherry St #92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2205
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