AppWorks Secures Investment from KVIC, Launches Korean Accelerator Cohort to Help Startups Go Regional
Anne Chen
September 29, 2025
in General

AppWorks, a leading startup accelerator and VC firm headquartered in Taiwan, has signed an MOU with Korea Venture Investment Corporation (KVIC) to strengthen support for Korean startups. With KVIC’s strategic commitment into AppWorks Fund IV, AppWorks and KVIC will work together to help Korean founders access new markets, capital, and networks across Asia—empowering them to scale beyond Korea and compete on the global stage.

AppWorks is launching a Korean cohort to accelerate cross-border expansion

AppWorks Accelerator—the renowned startup accelerator originated in Taiwan and has since expanded across Asia—has built its alumni network the region’s largest founder community of 624 active startups and 2,029 founders, and will soon launch a Korean cohort for growth-stage startups ready to expand beyond their home market. Admitted startups will gain access to AppWorks’ valuable mentorship and connection to key strategic partners—including leading regional VCs and top-tier corporates from key sectors such as telecom, world-class electronics manufacturers driving the AI supply chain, cutting-edge media companies, and leading retail players to fast-track their entry into Taiwan, Southeast Asia, and beyond. More importantly, they will join AppWorks’ alumni network across Asia, pioneering frontier technologies such as AI and IoT, while connecting with the corporate partners to accelerate growth and collaboration. 

AppWorks connects Korean founders to one of Asia’s most vibrant startup ecosystems and network for capital & strategic partnership.

Founded by one of Taiwan’s most successful and influential founder-turned-investors, Jamie Lin, in 2009, AppWorks has since built a thriving pan-Asia community of 2,029 founders and 624 active startups, all together valued at $32.1 billion and pulling $16.3 billion in annual revenues.  These companies span across diverse tech sectors. Built by founders, for founders, this community thrives on peer learning, shared networks, and collaboration. By joining, Korean founders gain a platform to scale beyond their home market and accelerate their path from local champions to regional leaders. 

Taiwan is a strategic market, profitability center, and AI hub for startups

Taiwan is quickly becoming a leading hub for AI, with strong ties to the world’s semiconductor supply chain and a growing network of AI startups and corporates. AppWorks connects founders to key industry players and corporates eager to adopt AI and IoT solutions. For Korean startups in AI, Taiwan provides exceptional access to advanced technology and a rapidly expanding market, offering a solid base to grow regionally and globally.

In addition to its strategic position within the AI supply chain, Taiwan is also an ideal market for consumer-facing startups. With strong purchasing power supported by a high GDP per capita of US$34K, and a digitally savvy population eager to try new products, Taiwan serves as both a testbed and a profitability center, where startups can refine their business models and unit economics before scaling to larger markets.

Global players have already proven Taiwan’s strategic value. Coupang selected Taiwan as one of its first overseas markets, quickly gaining traction due to high average order value, dense urban populations, and strong local demand for Korean products in beauty, F&B, and fashion. LINE has built Taiwan into one of its strongest markets outside Japan, reaching nearly the entire population with over 20 million active users. Today, LINE operates as a true super-app, offering messaging, payments, banking, and media services woven into everyday life.

For Korean founders, Taiwan offers both the accessibility of a nearby market and the growth potential of a leading AI ecosystem, making it a powerful bridge from Korea to the broader Southeast Asian region.

AppWorks is doubling down on Korea’s fast-growing tech ecosystem

In recent years, AppWorks has steadily nurtured a growing community of Korean founders, backing ambitious startups and supporting their growth beyond domestic borders. With partnership with KVIC, AppWorks is doubling down—providing Korean entrepreneurs with the networks, capital, and regional know-how they need to scale across Asia.

AppWorks, a leading regional VC with a proven investment track record

Alongside its accelerator, AppWorks manages four venture capital funds with US$370M total funds raised, investing from seed to Series C stage startups. AppWorks has invested in more than 100 companies, including category leaders such as Lalamove, Carousell, ShopBack, KKday, 91APP, 17LIVE, Animoca Brands, and Dapper Labs/Flow. Its portfolio has produced 6 IPOs, 8 IEOs, 1 hectocorn, 2 decacorns, and 8 unicorns—cementing AppWorks’ position as one of Asia’s most impactful founder communities and VC platforms.

AppWorks and KVIC, together, share a commitment to helping Korean startups grow into global players

Jessica Liu, Partner leading AppWorks’ initiatives in Korea:

“We are excited to partner with KVIC to empower Korean founders. Korea is home to incredible founders and culture, and with the right networks across Asia, we believe these startups can grow into the next wave of regional and global champions.”

 

Less is More! The Power of Simplicity in 91APP’s 10-year journey from start to a successful IPO
Nathan Alexander
September 23, 2025
in View

 

Nathan Alexander, Associate
Nathan joined AppWorks in 2024 as an Associate in the Southeast Asia Arm, dedicated to meeting and supporting founders in the region. He brings forth over 7 years of experience in startup advisory, investments and M&A. He started his career at PwC Indonesia where he was first exposed to the investment world and developed his initial acumen for analyzing companies. In 2021, Nathan moved to the venture capital industry, taking on the position of Senior Analyst at Alpha JWC. In his most recent role, Nathan served as the Head of Investments for Telkomsel Ventures where he focused on sourcing startups and underwriting investments for Telkomsel, Indonesia’s largest telecom operator.

It might be uncomfortable but less is often more in making a tech product. In this article, I want to highlight a company in our ecosystem that grew rapidly not by piling on features, but by consciously removing complexity.

Why Simplicity Matters: Learnings from 91APP

Here’s something founders often overlook: users don’t actually crave more features; they crave less friction. Adding more features might sound impressive, but every extra click, screen, or step can turn users away.

I see a strong case of 91APP, one of the startups in our community that had successfully gone IPO in Taiwan. 91APP is a storefront SaaS solution for merchants. Unlike many other solutions that overwhelm merchants with complicated setups, convoluted integrations, and steep learning curves, 91APP built their entire platform with one core principle: make omnichannel retail ridiculously easy. No complex integrations, no tech-heavy setup, just effortless retail management.

91APP helps merchants to quickly create a fully functional online store/website and branded mobile app within days, sparing them all technical complexities. Its unified, simple dashboard integrates everything, from online and physical retail to payments and marketing channels, allowing brands to manage their entire omnichannel retail experience all in one platform.

91APP’s success stems from its deliberate simplification of complex retail processes. The platform makes it easy for anyone, even non-tech-savvy merchants to quickly launch and manage an omnichannel retail experience. But 91APP’s simplicity mindset extends beyond just the product:

  • Intuitive User Interface: Easy-to-navigate interfaces with clear, jargon-free language.
  • Straightforward Pricing: Transparent, simple subscription models with no hidden fees.
  • Seamless Integrations: Effortless OMO integration to sync inventory, member data, employee performance, and loyalty programs across their online store and physical shops with ease, eliminating the need for manual management after launching.

By deeply understanding their customers, 91APP added a simple built-in referral mechanism, giving each store staff a unique code that earns them a commission on sales from both e-commerce and physical stores. This OMO integration not only boosts staff bonuses but also encourages them to embrace digital channels to maintain customer influence. Many businesses benefited a lot through increased sales performance after adopting this straightforward, yet highly effective feature. This enables 91APP’s merchants to scale faster and spend less time on problems that don’t move the needle.

Timberland was struggling to unify their offline and online operations. 91APP’s OMO (Online-Merge-Offline) solution allowed Timberland to integrate inventory, member data, and loyalty programs across both their online store and physical shops, eliminating the need for manual management. After implementing this solution, Timberland saw 70% of online sales from the brand’s official e-commerce, and their OMO members spent twice as much as single-channel customers. 

91APP’s success demonstrates that simplicity is not just about removing unnecessary features—it’s about deeply understanding user needs and creating an experience that minimizes friction. Their approach shows that when technology is simplified and made intuitive, it can lead to faster growth, higher engagement, and stronger customer loyalty—proving us one thing: simplicity matters.

Keeping Simplicity in the Age of AI

Talking about product development right now would be incomplete if we don’t consider AI. The truth is AI brings immense potential and…complexity. 91APP recognized that adding AI shouldn’t mean adding friction. They integrated AI silently and intuitively:

  • Retail AI Jooii: Automatically recommends the best pricing and promotions using real-time shopper data, no manual setup, just smart suggestions built into the dashboard.
  • One-Click Copywriting: Generates product descriptions and ad copy in seconds, removing the need for writing or marketing expertise.
  • Smart Insights: Converts raw data into clear, actionable reports, so even non-technical users can make fast, informed decisions without digging through spreadsheets.

The beauty of 91APP’s approach here is they make AI feel like part of the background, not the focus. Instead of overwhelming users with tech, they’ve built tools that simply work, helping merchants with things like pricing or copywriting without adding complexity. That’s the real power of AI: when it becomes invisible, solving big problems without anyone noticing. It’s proof that even in the age of AI, simplicity isn’t just possible, it’s the best way to grow.

Why simplicity is harder than it looks

 

When I found out the power of simplicity, then the next question would be: if simplicity is so valuable, why not more companies do it? People often hear “keep it simple” and nod along, until they try to do it. On paper, stripping features sounds easy. In practice, it’s one of the hardest things a company can pull off. I tried to dig deeper and found there are at least three main reasons why it’s difficult to achieve.

First, simplicity means saying “no” over and over. It’s easy to keep adding features because every “yes” feels like progress. But each “no” risks disappointing a customer, investor, or salesperson. Most companies simply don’t have the courage and discipline.

Second, simplicity isn’t cheap. Behind 91APP’s’s easy storefront are years of hidden engineering effort. It takes huge technical depth, custom infrastructure, optimized code, and endless tweaking to make complex technology feel invisible. It’s easier to expose complexity than hide it. The shorter the grass, the deeper the root.

Third, simple products must be opinionated. A customer-centric founder will know exactly what their customer needs. 91APP deeply understood the needs of merchants and how they wanted to manage omnichannel retail, so they built a platform that streamlined the process and removed unnecessary complexities. This deep understanding of their customers allowed them to focus on the core value they were delivering, even if it meant overlooking other potential use cases. Many companies fail to be so customer-obsessed, and that lack of focus can lead to overcomplicated products that don’t truly address what users want or need.

Simplicity only looks easy from the outside. It actually requires cultural discipline, technical depth, and a customer-centric mindset. Few teams are willing or able to invest in all three, which is why true simplicity remains a competitive moat rather than a commodity.

Conclusion

The big lesson here is clear: complexity might seem impressive, but simplicity holds real value. Founders are often tempted by new technologies, mistakenly believing complexity equals sophistication. Yet, the real winners succeed precisely because they reject unnecessary complexity and maintain relentless focus on their users’ needs.

But embracing simplicity isn’t easy, it’s incredibly difficult. It demands the courage to say “no” repeatedly, even when it disappoints stakeholders. It requires deep technical mastery to hide complexity beneath the surface. And it needs bold, opinionated decisions coming from deep understanding of the customers, which will clearly define the product’s direction, despite the risk of alienating some users and stakeholders.

True simplicity is a competitive advantage precisely because it’s so hard to achieve. It involves deliberate cultural discipline, constant technical refinement, and unwavering commitment. When done right, simplicity doesn’t just grow businesses, it transforms them.

 

AppWorks 基金為何投資：周益鑫，JTCG創辦人 (AW#13)
Bill Hsu
August 28, 2025
in Investments

從大學生寫 App，到打造雙引擎的創業者

JTCG 的創辦人周益鑫 (James) 是 AppWorks 加速器第 13 屆校友，也是少數同時具備產品、成長與企業銷售全方位能力的創業者。2016 年加入加速器之後，讓他在創業初期便透過豐富的社群活動結識許多同後屆的創辦人與導師，之後更進一步加入 AppWorks「六次方」社群，與 20–30 人規模的新創 CEO 定期討論招募、薪酬結構與營運難題，讓他不論在招募、募資或是找客戶，都能從社群中獲得支持。

在大學期間，他就打造了 Colorgy，一款幫助大學生整理課表與社交互動的 App。這產品最早從他自己手動匯入大學課表開始，一邊寫程式、一邊和同學測試，不斷修正介面與使用流程。他發現大學生其實對社交更感興趣，課表只是入口，因此他把焦點放在社群功能設計上，比如能看到同學選課、揪團開課等模組，讓用戶之間自然形成互動。他也從早期的數據中觀察到，不同科系的使用習慣差異極大，於是設計了模組化的彈性架構，以支撐多樣化需求。 Colorgy 最高曾達到 200 萬註冊用戶，深受大學生族群歡迎，整個過程讓 James 累積了完整的產品開發與使用者研究歷練。

後來他注意到法國的新創 Zenly 正在崛起，做的是即時地圖分享與朋友定位的社交 App。因為經營過大學生課表產品，James 對這個年齡層的生活模式與校園擴散節奏非常熟悉，他敏銳地意識到 Zenly 如果能搭配台灣校園的地推與產品優化，有機會快速打開市場。於是他主動寫信給 Zenly 的創辦人，分析台灣市場的成長潛力與校園推廣策略，爭取加入團隊。他不只提出想法，還親自拉了一群學生實測不同的 onboarding 流程與功能 A/B 測試，最後正式接手台灣與韓國的在地化與增長工作。短短一年內，他帶隊把月活用戶從 5 萬推升到 120 萬，並把這套成長模式複製到韓國，實際操演一次跨國市場的 go-to-market 策略。

從大學就開始創業，也讓他洞悉自己對於企業正規軍的策略理解不足。當他看到 LINE 要收購 Choco TV，覺得這是一個難得的機會，可以親身觀察國際公司是怎麼做併購與整合的。剛好 Choco TV 的創辦人 Davidd 也是Colorgy 的天使投資人，兩人相談合拍下，James 就加入整合團隊。參與了整個過程，從資料與技術對接、流程重新設計，到如何讓兩邊團隊建立共識、對齊預期。這段經歷讓他對大企業如何運作、如何協調文化落差有了第一手的理解，這些經驗也成為他日後共同創辦 MetaCRM、處理企業銷售與 B2B 合作的重要底氣。

James 能從零打造產品，也能在面對大型企業與通路夥伴時穩健談判，並且擁有實戰經驗：從一個大學生寫 App 的工程師、到主導國際產品落地、再到參與企業併購與跨部門整合，最後又成立 B2B SaaS 軟體新創。這些經驗讓 JTCG 能夠同時運作 PLG（product-led growth）與 SLG（sales-led growth）這兩種成長引擎，使其 AI 產品能快速打入市場並有效擴張。

解痛點、建資料飛輪，打造 AI 客服的持續競爭優勢

James 在經營 Zendesk 代理商期間，完整接觸企業客服流程，從大量客服工單與報表看見了兩個關鍵問題。第一，傳統規則式聊天機器人resolution rate (解決率，指顧客問題能被解決) 通常不到一成，而客服人力卻有七成時間進行重複「查詢系統資料、確認資料、回覆客戶」的工作；其二，多數國際大型客服 AI 工具雖功能強大，但價格昂貴且不夠接地氣，對本地語言與系統整合也缺乏彈性。這些觀察讓他意識到一個結構性機會：當地的 SI 可以造自己的 AI agent，取代國際 SaaS 工具，取代昂貴的國際 SaaS 預算，並提供更貼近需求的在地服務。

這些第一線經驗促成了 Raccoon AI 的誕生。機器人不僅能對話，更能直接喚用「查訂單、取消、退款」等後端 API，把客戶真正需要的動作一次完成。舉例來說，顧客詢問『我的訂單出貨了嗎？』時，Raccoon AI 不只回覆流程，而是會即時查詢電商後台的訂單管理系統，調出該訂單狀態，確認是否已出貨並提供物流單號，若尚未出貨還能進一步協助取消或改期。這是與傳統規則式聊天機器人最大不同，透過串接公司後台資料庫讓機器人有更多 context ，進而提高工單 resolution rate。

Raccoon AI 自推出以來在實際專案中展現出明顯差異化優勢。以台灣電商與旅遊業為例，系統可自動解決六成以上的客服工單，而同類 LLM chatbot 的平均 resolution rate 通常不及三成。這部分優勢來自於 Raccoon 長期累積的在地產業語料，例如電商常見的「出貨查詢」「修改地址」「訂單取消」等對話範式，甚至包含繁體中文語境下的客服語氣、商品分類邏輯與品牌風格調性，這些內容被整理成超過一百萬筆的向量知識庫，能讓 AI 在第一天上線就接近人類客服的回答品質。加上即將推出的 low code 客服流程編輯器（V2 版本，目前進入 Beta 測試階段），新客戶可在兩天內完成概念驗證，並預期在四週內完成正式上線。

每解決一張客服工單，系統會將意圖、回答與品牌語調回寫至該客戶專屬的向量知識庫，進一步優化客服機器人的涵蓋能力與回應品質。這種「資料飛輪」機制讓每家商戶的 AI 隨使用逐步成長，搭配 Raccoon 極短的導入時間，能快速開始累積語料、加速學習與優化，有效鞏固其 first mover advantage。

另一方面，James 已與 Zendesk、91APP、Omnichat、與 Shopline 等夥伴建立合作關係，也為 JTCG 建立起穩定且具規模化潛力的銷售管道。這些通路目前已貢獻 20–30% 的潛在客戶來源，讓團隊得以專注在產品與語料的持續打磨，不必從零開始冷啟動。

透過資料飛輪、快速導入與通路槓桿的三方協作，JTCG 已建立一套具有持續複利效應的擴張模式，清楚展現其在效率與速度上的結構性領先。

把握時機，搶占生成式 AI 客服的成長浪潮

相較於歐美大型客服 SaaS，JTCG 的優勢在於更「接地氣」。國際客服平台在亞洲的本地化落地仍有落差，例如多數歐美主流客服工具並不會優先支援 LINE 或台灣主流電商平台，對本地企業而言導入門檻相對較高。因此在客服與售後支援領域，JTCG 面對的是一個成熟產品未充分覆蓋的市場，正是一個可以快速切入、卡位成為關鍵供應商的機會。

我們在 2025 年第一季看到，JTCG 交出了年成長超過 100%的成績。基於團隊過往累積的產品能力與渠道優勢，以及生成式 AI 正全面改寫客服產業的市場時機，我們選擇領投 JTCG 的 Pre‑A 輪，加速 Self-Onboarding 產品開發與銷售團隊的建置，並成為亞洲 AI 客服的領先者。歡迎任何有意導入 AI 客服、自動化售後流程的品牌與 JTCG 或 AppWorks 聯繫，攜手打造新一代的客服體驗。

Why We Invested: James Chou, Founders of JTCG (AppWorks #13)
Bill Hsu
in Investments

From College App Developer to a Dual‑Engine Entrepreneur

James Chou, Founder of JTCG, an AppWorks Accelerator Batch #13 alumni, stands out as one of the rare entrepreneurs who can seamlessly switch between product design, growth hacking, and enterprise sales.

In college, James built Colorgy, an app to help students manage class schedules and connect with peers. It started with him manually inputting his own timetable, coding at night, and testing during the day with classmates. Feedback led him to realize students cared more about the social side than schedules. So he pivoted, adding features to help them find classmates and form study groups. As usage patterns varied across departments, he developed a flexible backend to support different needs. At its peak, Colorgy reached over 2 million registered users and became a campus favorite among college students. The entire journey gave James deep, hands-on experience in product development and user research.

When French start‑up Zenly began to rise with real‑time friend‑location sharing, James noticed the perfect fit for Taiwan’s campus culture. Drawing on his Colorgy experience, he cold‑emailed Zenly’s founders, outlining growth playbooks and offline campus seeding tactics. He even assembled a student squad to A/B‑test onboarding flows. In just one year he led Zenly’s Taiwan & Korea localization and growth, pushing monthly actives from 50 K to 1.2 M and later duplicating the playbook in Korea—his first taste of cross‑border go‑to‑market.

When LINE TV moved to acquire Choco TV, James saw a chance to observe a global‑scale integration from the inside. Choco’s founder Davidd Liu—an early Colorgy angel—invited him onto the post‑merger task force. James managed data & tech hand‑offs, redesigned workflows, and brokered cultural alignment between the two teams. The experience gave him first‑hand insight into how large enterprises negotiate, integrate, and manage product roadmaps—knowledge he later applied to enterprise sales and B2B partnerships.

James knows how to take an idea from zero to one, and he’s just as comfortable pitching enterprise clients as he is building products from scratch. His journey covers everything from building student-focused apps and scaling international consumer platforms to navigating corporate M&A and launching a B2B SaaS company. That blend of experience is exactly what enables JTCG to run both product-led growth (PLG) and sales-led growth (SLG) side by side—helping their AI tools hit the market fast and scale even faster.

Solving Real Pain & Building a Data Flywheel—The Raccoon AI Edge

During his time as a Zendesk reseller, James reviewed thousands of support tickets and spotted two systemic gaps:

  1. Rule-based chatbots had a resolution rate (the percentage of customer issues that are ultimately resolved) of less than 10%, yet 70 % of agent time was spent on repetitive look‑up → confirm → reply loops.
  2. Global CX‑AI suites were pricey, inflexible, and poorly localized for Mandarin and Taiwanese integrations.

He realized that local system integrators (SIs) could build their own AI agents, under‑cutting global SaaS while serving local needs better. Hence Raccoon AI was born.

Raccoon AI not only chats but also acts: calling backend APIs such as Look Up Order, Cancel, Refund in real time. Example: When a shopper asks “Has my order shipped?”, the bot fetches status, delivers the tracking code, or even cancels/reschedules if needed—compressing what used to take 3–5 human interactions into a single exchange.

Since its launch, Raccoon AI has demonstrated a clear competitive edge in real-world projects. In Taiwan’s e-commerce and travel sectors, the system can autonomously resolve over 70% of customer service tickets, whereas the average resolution rate for comparable products typically falls below 30%. This advantage stems from Raccoon’s long-term accumulation of localized industry data, including common dialogue patterns such as “shipment inquiries,” “address changes,” and “order cancellations”—as well as nuanced Taiwanese customer service phrasing, product categorization logic, and brand tone preferences. These elements are compiled into a vector knowledge base of over one million entries, enabling the AI to deliver near-human response quality from day one. Additionally, with the upcoming release of the low-code customer service flow editor (V2 version, currently in Beta), new clients can complete proof-of-concept within two days and are expected to fully go live within four weeks.

Every solved ticket writes back intent, answer, and brand tone to that merchant’s private vector store, widening coverage and improving quality. Fast onboarding means data starts compounding early, reinforcing JTCG’s first‑mover advantage. Long-nurtured partnerships with Zendesk, Omnichat, Shopline, 91APP, and others now contribute 20–30% of inbound leads. Their ecosystem connections help the team avoid cold starts and stay focused on improving product and data quality. 

The trio of data flywheel, rapid deployment and channel leverage forms a structural lead in both efficiency and speed.

Seizing the Moment: Riding the Generative AI Customer Support Wave

Taiwan’s total addressable market includes approximately 71,000 support seats in the e-commerce, travel, and logistics sectors. Even automating just one-third of those would redirect an estimated NT$4.5–6 billion (US$140–190 million) annually toward AI customer service SaaS. Global CX giants still lack proper integration with platforms like LINE or local commerce infrastructure, creating friction for Taiwanese firms. Meanwhile, local MarTech players such as Super 8 and Appier primarily focus on marketing funnels rather than post-sale support, leaving this sector under-served and primed for rapid adoption.

In the first quarter of 2025, JTCG recorded over 100% year-over-year growth and a gross margin exceeding 60%. With a proven track record in product development, data moats, and robust distribution channels, we led the Pre-A round to accelerate self-onboarding product features and secure JTCG’s leadership position in Asia’s first wave of AI-driven customer support.

We welcome any brands interested in implementing AI customer service and automating after-sales processes to contact JTCG or AppWorks. Let’s work together to create a new generation of customer service experiences.

Why We Invested: Mike Hahn, Founder & CEO of Vaudit
Angie Jeng
August 26, 2025
in Investments

Some founders are relentless. Mike Hahn is one of them.

Over the past two decades, Mike has built five startups, completed multiple exits, and held intrapreneurial roles—all while demonstrating a rare tenacity to keep pushing, not for headlines or capital, but because he genuinely loves solving hard problems. With Vaudit, his sixth venture, Mike is applying everything he’s learned to build a more transparent and accountable digital advertising ecosystem.

The Hidden Leak in Ad Spend

Today, advertisers are spending more per click than ever. Yet a surprising portion of that spend never reaches real, verified users. During early customer discovery, Mike and his team uncovered that a large share of digital ad budgets was leaking into non-compliant, invalid traffic before it ever hit the final invoice. The lack of real-time auditing tools made this invisible to most.

Vaudit was born to address this head-on. By introducing a pre-bill audit layer, it helps advertisers reclaim wasted spend and restore integrity to the funnel. In a market where trust is assumed but rarely verified, this solution hits a nerve. In one case, an early customer discovered double-digit discrepancies, something they had never seen before.

Humble Beginnings, Global Impact 

Mike’s story begins in a trailer park in Indiana, the son of very young parents in a low-income household. Alongside his two brothers, he relied on athletic scholarships just to afford college. But when a serious injury ended his American football career, Mike was forced to pivot, redirecting all his energy toward entrepreneurship.

That shift led to a surprise introduction to tech, thanks to a referral from his brother. He landed an entry-level role at Oracle, where he quickly made his mark, designing a new go-to-market model that would scale into a global revenue engine. In just three years, he rose to lead a team of over a thousand people.

He left to solve what he saw as the next big inefficiency, client onboarding, by building a streamlined implementation platform. Oracle later brought that solution back in-house. At a legacy marketing firm, he led the digital transformation, developing new products and scaling a national franchise business. Later, he founded a data platform acquired by a global marketplace. 

After years of building in the U.S., Mike began exploring opportunities abroad. Through a mentorship role with PwC advising startup founders in Shanghai, he was exposed to the fast-growing innovation landscape across Asia. It was during this time that he recognized the immense, untapped potential of Southeast Asia and identified Vietnam and Thailand as rising hubs of technological excellence, an ideal launchpad for his next venture.

He went on to build a GenAI-native intent engine, successfully leading the company through product-market fit and into its growth phase. But Mike wasn’t done. He had identified yet another blind spot—a hidden inefficiency quietly draining ad budgets at scale. That insight pulled him back into the arena, ready to take on his next big challenge.

Through each chapter, a pattern emerges: Mike spots overlooked friction and builds systems to remove it. Not once, but repeatedly.

Rebuilding Trust in Digital Advertising

Digital advertising is a $600B+ industry running on assumed trust and partial verification. Small and mid-sized businesses, especially, lack tools to confirm what they’re paying for. As regulatory pressure grows and platform opacity deepens, the need for audit-grade visibility has never been clearer.

Mike has proven he can find product–market fit, scale meaningful solutions, and navigate uncertainty with clarity. With Vaudit, he’s channeling that experience into one of the most overlooked pain points in modern marketing. His vision is matched by a magnetic leadership style—so compelling that it drew AppWorks’ most charismatic principal, Jun, to join him full-time in building the company. It’s not often you see a VC trade the investor’s seat for a founder’s desk, and even less common to find a founder who can inspire that move. Since AppWorks’ pre-product investment in 2023, Jun has been side by side with Mike, helping bring Vaudit to life. We feel fortunate to back a founder whose blend of execution, insight, and leadership is exactly what it takes to build this missing layer of accountability.

We’re proud to support Mike in this next chapter.