First-Time Manager Training for Tech Giants in Southeast Asia | newcampus

Southeast Asia's Tech Growth Fuels Demand for New Manager Training

The rapid expansion of the technology sector in Southeast Asia is not only fostering a new generation of entrepreneurial ventures, but also creating a surge in first-time management roles. NewCampus, a Singapore-based startup established by Will Fan and Fei Yao, has recently secured significant funding to assist burgeoning companies in developing their workforce for these evolving leadership positions.

NewCampus: A Live Learning Platform for Rising Leaders

NewCampus operates as a dynamic, live online learning platform specifically designed to cultivate the skills of emerging managers within rapidly scaling organizations. Their leadership programs, termed “sprints,” concentrate on crucial areas such as knowledge retention and the creation of secure and supportive team environments. Having participated in SuperCharger Ventures’ initial edtech accelerator program, the company has now attracted substantial investor backing.

Seed Funding and Key Investors

The startup has successfully completed a $2.5 million seed financing round, spearheaded by Maia Sharpley of Juvo Ventures. Additional investors participating in this round include Zanichelli Venture, M Venture Partners, 27V, Pavan Katepalli – formerly the chief learning officer at Trilogy Education – as well as existing investors SOSV and 500 Startups.

Evolution from Membership Model to SMB Upskilling

Initially conceived as a “gym membership” for learning experiences, the 2019-founded startup pivoted to focus on an upskilling platform tailored for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) following a capital raise.

Content Creation and Program Structure

NewCampus currently develops its core content internally, subsequently incorporating the expertise and insights of industry professionals. Participants are expected to dedicate approximately four to five hours per week to the program, with 90 minutes allocated to live, instructor-led workshops. The curriculum distinguishes itself by prioritizing foundational skills – such as fostering team safety and enhancing knowledge retention – rather than purely technical subjects like introductory finance.

Competitive Advantage in a Crowded Market

Despite the presence of numerous workforce training tools – including Udemy, BetterUp, Skillshare, and Udacity – NewCampus is confident in its ability to succeed by targeting a market it believes is currently underserved: Southeast Asia.

Targeting Companies in the Southeast Asia Region

NewCampus focuses on organizations with a workforce of between 500 and 1,000 employees located within the Southeast Asia region. Fan highlighted that companies like Grab, GoJek, and Carousell frequently rely on local trainers in countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, and Singapore, presenting an opportunity for NewCampus to introduce more advanced teaching methods and branding.

Strategic Focus on Southeast Asia

While acknowledging the intense competition for talent in India, the co-founder emphasized the startup’s preference for less saturated markets.

Managing Distributed Teams

“The typical client might be a 600-person fintech company headquartered in Hong Kong, but with management based there, sales teams in Sydney and Melbourne, a development team in Indonesia, and a sales team in the Philippines,” Fan explained. “Managing these remote teams presents unique and complex challenges.”

Cross-Cultural Communication and Regional Nuances

Yao drew a parallel between the growing emphasis on diversity and inclusion in the United States and the increasing importance of enhancing cross-cultural communication within Southeast Asia. She noted that the region’s fragmented nature and rapid team growth necessitate a focused approach. She further added that many upskilling products originating in the United States lack relevance for a global audience, creating an opening for NewCampus to curate a specialized instructor pool, optimize for time zones, and tailor its product offerings.

Flexible Program Options

Smaller organizations can subscribe to annual plans for managers to access general content courses. Larger organizations can opt for customized, in-house programs designed and delivered by NewCampus. As is common in B2B models, serving institutions rather than individuals tends to be more profitable as the startup scales to support hundreds and thousands of managers. However, Yao underscored that NewCampus’s core strength lies in assisting smaller organizations with upskilling.

Supporting Underserved Businesses

“This allows us to serve businesses that lack access to traditional training facilities at comparable price points,” Yao stated. “Many of our current clients also prefer to keep training initiatives internal, so it’s a matter of finding the right balance.” Currently, the company’s revenue is split equally between individual programming and in-house programs.

Diversity and Inclusion

Currently, approximately 80% of NewCampus’ learners and 60% of its instructors are women.

Evaluating NewCampus's Growth Potential

A key test for NewCampus lies in its ability to expand its content offerings to effectively reach and engage a vast audience of emerging managers – potentially numbering in the hundreds of thousands. This expansion necessitates either a focused approach, tailoring content to specific managerial career trajectories based on industry, or a broadening of scope to encompass the needs of more experienced leaders.

Currently, NewCampus is actively seeking university accreditation. This strategic move indicates a long-term vision of positioning itself as a viable alternative to traditional degree programs. This ambition is comparable to the actions of fintech companies that pursued banking licenses several years ago, aiming to establish credibility and build consumer confidence.

According to multiple investors who have reviewed NewCampus’s business plan, the pursuit of university licensing underscores the company’s original core belief: that it can successfully function as a substitute for a traditional MBA.

The Value Proposition of Business School

A significant challenge for contemporary business schools is that the primary benefit of higher education often extends beyond the curriculum itself. The value lies heavily in the networking opportunities and the prestige associated with the institution, which enhance a graduate’s resume.

While accreditation may serve as a point of differentiation for NewCampus, the company must prioritize innovative methods for demonstrating the value of its content – and the individuals who complete it – to the broader professional community.

Yao suggests that investors may be misinterpreting NewCampus’s intentions regarding the replacement of the traditional business school degree.

“The focus seems to be on elite institutions,” she explained. “However, we are addressing a different segment of the market. Our target audience isn’t comprised of applicants who were rejected by schools like Stanford or Harvard; rather, they are individuals who never even considered applying to such institutions.”