The Bigger the Event, The Harder It Became to Connect | The Story Behind Hong Kong FinTech Week

After starting his career as a journalist, Anthony Sar spent years interviewing founders, CEOs and industry leaders.

Until one day, he realised he didn’t want to just tell their stories anymore, he wanted to build.

In this episode, we talk about what it takes to move from observing to building, pivot across industries and stay relevant over time.

Anthony shares how he built Finoverse, the company behind Hong Kong FinTech Week, one of the leading fintech events globally and how he’s now entering a new chapter in AI.

We also explore something deeper: why, in a world increasingly shaped by AI, human connection might become your biggest advantage.

In this episode, we cover:

– The shift from observer to builder

– Leaving journalism to start from scratch

– Building Hong Kong FinTech Week With Finoverse

– Why most founders misunderstand “staying relevant”

– How AI is changing the way we connect

– Why human relationships matter more than ever

Timestamps:

(00:00) Teaser

(00:36) Podcast and Guest Intro

(01:49) Meet Anthony Sar

(02:06) Journalism Roots

(03:26) From Observer to Builder

(04:20) Entrepreneurship MBA Pivot

(06:17) Comfort Zone Trigger

(08:46) Moving to Asia

(10:34) First Startup in Hong Kong

(11:08) Discovering Fintech

(13:11) Founding Finoverse

(14:07) Reinventing Conferences

(16:45) Scaling the Hong Kong Fintech Week

(19:11) Expanding the Platform

(20:31) Challenges and Trust

(22:38) Holding the Vision

(23:16) Winning Team Trust

(23:54) Co-CEO Dynamics

(25:22) Why Pivot to AI

(27:20) The Event Networking Problem

(29:22) Samantha AI Explained

(30:15) AI Voice Calls and Matchmaking

(33:25) Business Model and Insights

(34:27) AI for Real Human Connection

(38:02) Ethics of Humanising AI

(40:11) Relevance Through Values

(44:14) How to Stay in the Game

(45:59) Closing and Outro

👉 To find out more:

Finoverse

Check out Anthony on LinkedIn

To follow my journey:

💬 abo.pod

📲 Find me on LinkedIn

🎧 Subscribe to Asian Business Owners wherever you listen to it!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.