SGN Global Leaders Series: Building, Leading and Beginning Again 🌍
An intimate evening bringing together founders, investors, executives, and operators for a candid conversation on building, scaling, and leading global technology companies across Singapore and the United States.
The evening will feature a fireside chat with Abhishek Gupta, exploring lessons from his journey building Circles.Life into a $2.5B global telecom unicorn and one of Singapore’s most recognized startups, and what ultimately led him to embark on a second founder journey with Gather AI in the United States.
Through a moderated conversation and audience Q&A, we’ll explore what it really takes to build across markets — from navigating the differences between the Singapore and US startup ecosystems to identifying major technology shifts, leading through periods of rapid growth, and building companies with global ambitions.
Discussion themes will include:
- The Founder Journey — Lessons from building and scaling Circles.Life, and what Abhishek is approaching differently in his second chapter as a founder with Gather AI.
- Building Across Markets — What changes when building in Singapore versus the US, what translates across borders, and the biggest misconceptions founders have about international expansion.
- Technology & AI — How emerging technology and AI shifts are changing the founder playbook, how to recognize meaningful technological inflection points, and where founders should focus as AI continues transforming industries.
- Singapore as a Global Launchpad — The strengths of Singapore's technology ecosystem, its role as a gateway to the broader region, and how ambitious founders can leverage Singapore to build businesses with global impact.
Following the fireside and audience Q&A, guests will have the opportunity to continue the conversation over networking and light bites from Dabao Singapore.
Curated for a select room of founders, venture investors, technology executives, and senior operators interested in building and backing the next generation of global companies.
Speakers:Abhishek Gupta, Builder, gather: Abhishek Gupta is a seasoned entrepreneur, investor, and mentor with a track record of building transformative technology companies. As co-founder of Circles.Life, backed by Sequoia, Warburg Pincus, and Founders Fund, he helped revolutionize telecom by launching the world’s first digital telco SaaS platform and scaling the company to millions of customers across 15+ markets on five continents. Today, Abhishek is driving his next chapter in technology and AI in the Bay Area. Previously, he worked at Bain Capital, Standard Chartered Private Equity, and McKinsey, advising Fortune 500 companies, optimizing telecom networks, and supporting strategic acquisitions across Asia. A graduate of NTU and Singapore Airlines scholar, Abhishek is also passionate about mentoring founders and giving back, including sponsoring scholarships in India and Indonesia to support education and opportunity.
Maxine Ow, Chief Financial Officer, Open Core Ventures: Maxine Ow is Chief Financial Officer at Open Core Ventures, where she serves as CFO of the management company. She previously spent two and a half years at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) as Fund Strategy Partner, serving as a strategy partner to the firm’s venture capital and growth funds. Earlier in her career, Maxine worked in strategic finance at Toast, private equity at Fortress Investment Group, and investment banking at J.P. Morgan. Her experience across venture capital, operating finance, private equity and investment banking gives her a strong lens on company building, leadership, capital and growth across different stages.
Brought to you by:Singapore Global Network: Singapore Global Network (a division under the Singapore Economic Development Board): A global network of over 250k professionals, offering opportunities to build meaningful relationships and strengthen connections in Singapore and beyond.
Join SGN today to get access to member benefits: https://go.gov.sg/tp1eng
SGN Global Leaders Series: Building, Leading and Beginning Again
Speakers
Abhishek G.
Builder
gather
Maxine O.
Chief Financial Officer
Open Core Ventures
Tue, Sep 22, 06:00 PM - 08:00 PM (PDT)
Private Venue (San Francisco)
150 attendees
SGN Global Leaders Series: Building, Leading and Beginning Again 🌍
An intimate evening bringing together founders, investors, executives, and operators for a candid conversation on building, scaling, and leading global technology companies across Singapore and the United States.
The evening will feature a fireside chat with Abhishek Gupta, exploring lessons from his journey building Circles.Life into a $2.5B global telecom unicorn and one of Singapore’s most recognized startups, and what ultimately led him to embark on a second founder journey with Gather AI in the United States.
Through a moderated conversation and audience Q&A, we’ll explore what it really takes to build across markets — from navigating the differences between the Singapore and US startup ecosystems to identifying major technology shifts, leading through periods of rapid growth, and building companies with global ambitions.
Discussion themes will include:
Following the fireside and audience Q&A, guests will have the opportunity to continue the conversation over networking and light bites from Dabao Singapore.
Curated for a select room of founders, venture investors, technology executives, and senior operators interested in building and backing the next generation of global companies.
Abhishek Gupta, Builder, gather: Abhishek Gupta is a seasoned entrepreneur, investor, and mentor with a track record of building transformative technology companies. As co-founder of Circles.Life, backed by Sequoia, Warburg Pincus, and Founders Fund, he helped revolutionize telecom by launching the world’s first digital telco SaaS platform and scaling the company to millions of customers across 15+ markets on five continents. Today, Abhishek is driving his next chapter in technology and AI in the Bay Area. Previously, he worked at Bain Capital, Standard Chartered Private Equity, and McKinsey, advising Fortune 500 companies, optimizing telecom networks, and supporting strategic acquisitions across Asia. A graduate of NTU and Singapore Airlines scholar, Abhishek is also passionate about mentoring founders and giving back, including sponsoring scholarships in India and Indonesia to support education and opportunity.
Maxine Ow, Chief Financial Officer, Open Core Ventures: Maxine Ow is Chief Financial Officer at Open Core Ventures, where she serves as CFO of the management company. She previously spent two and a half years at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) as Fund Strategy Partner, serving as a strategy partner to the firm’s venture capital and growth funds. Earlier in her career, Maxine worked in strategic finance at Toast, private equity at Fortress Investment Group, and investment banking at J.P. Morgan. Her experience across venture capital, operating finance, private equity and investment banking gives her a strong lens on company building, leadership, capital and growth across different stages.
Brought to you by:
Singapore Global Network: Singapore Global Network (a division under the Singapore Economic Development Board): A global network of over 250k professionals, offering opportunities to build meaningful relationships and strengthen connections in Singapore and beyond.
Join SGN today to get access to member benefits: https://go.gov.sg/tp1eng
Hosts