Heang Chhor's path is unusual for a venture investor: born in Cambodia, a French citizen educated in Europe, he spent 26 years at McKinsey—including leading its Japan office and sitting on its global board—before founding Qualgro in Singapore, and he judges founders through an explicit "DNA, skillset, mindset" lens that looks for courage, resilience, and straight answers to hard questions. He also pushes founders to check whether investors can actually help in the next 12–18 months and stick around during rough patches, argues Southeast Asia needs homegrown tech innovation tied to university research rather than copies of Western models, and evaluates consumer startups by real customer loyalty and spending patterns rather than app download numbers.