Power Laws at SEA Scale: Why 50–250M Exits Matter More Than Unicorns

In this episode of Emerging Forward, I sit down with Kevin Brockland, CFA, Founder & Managing Partner of Indelible Ventures, a seed-stage fund focused on Southeast Asia’s B2B ecosystem. We unpack what power-law investing actually looks like in a nascent region, why 50–250M exits matter more than unicorns right now, and how emerging managers and founders should recalibrate their mental models.We cover:Why Southeast Asia is still in an extended funding winter – and why each market (Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore) has its own funding “personality”.The “single-source funding” trap created by government money, CVCs, or family groups dominating early capital – and what that does to the early-stage pipeline.How Kevin designs Indelible’s fund model around realistic 50–250M exits – and why power law still holds even when the numbers are smaller than in the US.Failure rates as a structural fact of life, and where value-add can and can’t move the needle.What this all means for emerging managers trying to raise their first fund in SEA or comparable markets.A grounded discussion of programs like VC Lab: how they help compress the emerging-manager learning curve without replacing the need for deep local context.If you’re an LP, GP, or founder operating between Europe, Southeast Asia, and other emerging markets, this episode offers a candid look at how to think about power-law returns at the scale your ecosystem actually operates in.Episode linksIndelible Ventures - https://indelible.vc/Kevin on LinkedIn - https://linkedin.com/in/kbrocklandEmerging Forward newsletter – https://emergingforward.substack.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emergingforward.substack.com