Female Founders: Caecilia Chu of YouTrip On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder

As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Caecilia Chu.

Caecilia is CEO and co-founder of YouTrip — Southeast Asia’s leading multi-currency neobank for consumers and SMBs. Prior to YouTrip, she worked at Citi growth capital investing division and at McKinsey advising financial institutions on product and growth strategies. She was named to the global list of Top 50 Financial Technology CEOs in 2021, and Top 25 Women Leader in Financial Technology in 2020. Caecilia has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a bachelor’s degree (summa cum laude) from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

My YouTrip story started when I first returned from the US to Southeast Asia. I was struck by the fact that even in well-banked places like Singapore, people immediately become unbanked the moment they cross the border. As a whole, Southeast Asia is made up of different countries and it’s this fragmentation that makes it unique. But this also means payment problems for consumers and businesses operating regionally. We were very much drawn to solving the fragmentation in the region’s financial infrastructure. Using technology, we believe that we can make a huge impact on the lives of people and SMBs by providing them with a seamless and inexpensive product for their multi-currency payments.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

Four years ago, my co-founder and I met up with the CEO of EZ-Link, a wholly-owned Singapore government subsidiary that owns the market for local travel payments. Almost immediately, our visions aligned, and he was on board to take the Singaporean travel payment experience global. We co-developed and launched the product together and within a year, we managed to grow our user base by ten times. I’m always thankful to EZ-Link for taking a chance on us, and the rest they say, is history.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Rather than a mistake, it was one unconventional step that we took that has since become our most valuable asset. That was making the deliberate decision to hire and train industry outsiders to become true experts in the field. We want our people to solve problems from a first principle standpoint, without carrying over conventional ways of doing things from the traditional banking world. This has enabled us to stay nimble, innovative and customer-first in our product development.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

Running a startup is a marathon with countless ups and downs. What’s important along the way is to work with people that you genuinely connect with, respect and give their all.

One of the people that I’m fortunate to have on this journey is Juthasree (June) Kuvinichkul, Founding Partner of YouTrip Thailand. Both June and I have known each other since our MBA days at Harvard Business School. She’s a hardworking and savvy businesswoman that I respect, and is seasoned in the industry, having co-founded Grab in Thailand. I’m thankful to have a partner-in-crime who shares the same ambition of developing simple and inexpensive multi-currency payments for Southeast Asia.

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. According to this EY report, only about 20 percent of funded companies have women founders. This reflects great historical progress, but it also shows that more work still has to be done to empower women to create companies. In your opinion and experience what is currently holding back women from founding companies?

The truth is: women can do anything when they put their minds to it. Starting from a young age, girls need to look beyond their gender, dream big and aim high. In today’s modern business world, there are many successful and inspirational female role models that girls of any age can look up to. But I’d say we need even more of them, so women truly feel empowered to become the best version of themselves.

Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?
What’s really important is for employers to consciously provide the support for women to succeed in their careers in the workplace.

Modern-day women typically hold multiple roles in the household. Having a flexible and supportive working environment ensures that they can give their 100% in their professional lives without compromising on their personal responsibilities.

This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?

I do appreciate being highlighted as a woman in my line of business. But what I am optimistic and greatly looking forward to is the day when being a female founder becomes the norm in the society — there’ll be an equal number of successful female and male leaders out there such that women are no longer spotlighted based on their gender but solely on their achievements.

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?

While a lot of spotlight is placed on the founder alone, building a startup is truly a team sport. One key differentiator among the more successful founders is the humility and skills that they possess to recruit the right people, who often come with specific expertise that is even stronger than them. The founders’ commitment to further identify the colleagues’ potential and develop them into even better professionals is really important in forming the best entrepreneurial team in any geography.

Is everyone cut out to be a founder? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful founder and what type of person should perhaps seek a “regular job” as an employee? Can you explain what you mean?

Pursuing the path of a founder is a deeply personal choice. It is impossible to tell if you are cut out to be a founder until you become one yourself. That said, one belief observed among all the better founders I know is seeing success beyond themselves. Success is when they witness growth in the people they journey with, and the bigger impact that they bring to the society.

Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)

• Brace yourself for the journey. Being an entrepreneur is a long process. In fact, it may take many years before you attain the level of success you are looking for. But once you’ve set your mind to it, embark on this journey with conviction and more importantly, enjoy the process.
• Embrace your differences. Entrepreneurs are often contrarian by definition. So embrace being different. You are bringing a new voice to the table, and sometimes, that’s what helps you stand out
• Every challenge is an opportunity. There is a silver lining in every situation, and you will most certainly find new opportunity in every crisis. We’ve stuck by this mantra at YouTrip, staying nimble in every circumstance, and thriving even in the midst of monumental changes.
• Know your true north. Always have a strong sense of the bigger purpose and stay on track. Communicate this with your team so that everyone is consistently aligned and moving forward in the same direction.
• Be optimistic. “Optimism is an essential ingredient for innovation”. Know that the challenging times will pass and the lessons learned will shape you and your team to be more capable, adaptive and resilient.

How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

Beyond growing the business, I am deeply passionate about developing the fintech ecosystem in the Southeast Asian region. As a company, we have used our own success to-date and experience to nurture the next wave of fintech talents. On the regulatory front, I’m also serving on the payments committee with the central bank of Singapore to promote the growth and development of the local fintech industry. I am also working with a national nonprofit to champion female entrepreneurship.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

In line with this year’s International Women’s Day theme, #BreakTheBias, I want to work alongside fellow brilliant leaders to create a world where women are given the permission to dream. With societal biases and self-doubt out of the way, women shall be empowered to pursue their ambitions, no matter what field they’re in.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.