By SGN | 20 Aug 2025
“It’s like being on three different shows at once – Shark Tank, because you’re trying to pitch it to investors, The Bachelor, because trying to find a co-investor you click with is like trying to find love, and Survivor, because you will be cut if you don’t make traction or perform well.”
That’s how a Silicon Valley native described landing a spot on an entrepreneur program with Singapore-based venture capital firm, Antler, after building his career across giants like Microsoft (Xbox), Riot Games and LinkedIn.
Growing up in a tech-savvy state
“I was born in the same city Apple was born in,” Derek Wong points out.
Born and raised in the suburbs of California’s Silicon Valley and Bay, his predisposition towards gaming and technology in general, should not come as a surprise. As an avid gamer, Titles like League of Legends, Dark Souls, Elden Ring, and Lies of P are all the rage at his home.
“For me, gaming is the pinnacle of entertainment. I’ve always put the gaming experience on a pedestal,” he explains. “It is deeper and more immersive than movies. The storytelling makes it more compelling than standalone pieces of music or film.”
Growing up, Derek lived less than 3 kilometres from the garage where Steve Jobs founded Apple.
“Ironically enough, my parents now live within walking distance of Apple’s “Mothership” (located in Cupertino, California), but I’ve never owned an Apple product,” he laughs. “I’ve always been Team Microsoft.”
And Team Microsoft is where he inevitably ended up. While still at university, he landed an opportunity to join his dream company — a role that took him from sunny SoCal to the historic American city of Redmond, Washington, a world apart from what he had known.
Making moves at Xbox
As a 22-year-old fresh graduate, Derek felt like he had been thrown into the deep end with his colleagues at Microsoft. Naturally, being around such heavyweights inspired him to try to match their pace.
“These people had been at Microsoft since the time I was born,” he recalls. “They had walls full of patents. It was incredible working alongside all these seasoned professionals, both on the business and engineering side.”
Derek’s time on the Xbox team was particularly exhilarating. As a Product Marketing Manager for Xbox Platforms and Devices, he was tasked with supporting the launch of Xbox One in 41 countries. His efforts would impact over 5 million consoles, raking in US$ 2 billion in revenue in the process.
“Being able to launch a whole new video game console was incredible and memorable,” he says. “I got to attend all these industry conferences, like E3 and Gamescom. I went to places like Ireland, Spain, and England for training. And was nominated to attend an MBA course in Chicago.”
Levelling up in gaming
After a few years at Microsoft, Derek made his way back to California to work as an Associate Brand Manager for Riot Games, the creators of the one-and-only League of Legends. As a long-time fan of the game, and one he continues to play to this day with friends, Derek found the opportunity surreal.
“Riot Games’ office is Disneyland for gamers,” he explains. Every conference room is named and decorated after a character from League of Legends. Even the coffee shop was designed to look like a pirate tavern.”
His time at Riot was rife with creative highs: being on the creative publishing and development team that ended up creating the hit Netflix TV series Arcane; receiving Chinese language coaching from an Olympics translator, when he expressed interest in building a career in China; and creating publishing campaigns to promote “skins” (character appearances) for League of Legends characters, which ended up raking in more than US$1 billion per year.
But one of the most unforgettable moments of Derek’s experiences at Riot came during a ten-day trip to Beijing for the League of Legends World Championship finals, which was held at the iconic Beijing National Stadium.
He’d first seen the outline of the stadium under construction in 2007, during a family trip to Beijing. “Ten years later, the video game I helped to build was hosting an epic tournament in the same stadium, which was a mind-blowing moment for me,” he says.
A short break from gaming
While millions are clamouring to break into the gaming industry, it is one that, over the years, has racked up an unsavoury balance sheet of scandals, controversies, and lawsuits. And despite having dedicated years of his life to gaming, Derek was growing weary.
Disappointed at the cancellation of a gaming project he was excited to work on, he decided it was time to explore greener pastures.
“I didn’t want to pigeonhole myself as a ‘video game person’,” he reasons. “I thought this would be the perfect moment for me to diversify my professional portfolio, and try my hand at consumer tech.”
Derek reasoned that joining LinkedIn would help revitalise his personal and professional brand.
“Working as a product manager at the company revitalised my interest in consumer tech. Just like games, LinkedIn calls for continuous retention and engagement – it’s a fascinating, fascinating product.”
Setting sail for halfway across the world
After leaving LinkedIn, Derek was contemplating his next moves in life. Torn between returning to what he had always known; corporate life in America, and taking the risk of going after what he had always wanted to do deep down – having his own startup – he was faced with a series of choices.
A few months into his travels across Asia, Derek reconnected with an old friend who told him about an entrepreneurship programme offered by Singapore-based venture capital company Antler.
He first applied to the Antler entrepreneur programme, which in turn provided him with an EntrePass — a flexible visa that allows foreign entrepreneurs to launch and run a business in Singapore without being tied to a specific company at the time of application.
“The application process for the visa was handled by the Antler team, and was very smooth,” he shares. Antler, headed by Norwegian founder Magnus Grimeland, is an early-stage venture capital firm founded in Singapore to back founders from day zero.
In January 2020, Derek relocated to Singapore, just weeks before COVID-related shutdowns hit. Fortunately, the timing still worked in his favour — it was during the programme that he met his future co-founder. Together, they launched Moneko, a venture that lasted only a year but offered the duo invaluable lessons on entrepreneurship and building a business from the ground up.
A culmination of both Derek and his co-founder’s backgrounds, which lay in gaming and finance respectively, Moneko was designed to help people spend smarter and invest better. After a year, neither founder found it prudent to continue.
“The economics didn’t make sense, and the product wasn’t taking off. The path to building a product like this requires a lot of time, resources, and licences. We quickly realised that a product like this is beyond the scope of a startup, and decided to close shop,” he explains.
Marrying artificial intelligence and gaming
While Derek may no longer be at Riot or Microsoft, he has not strayed from his gaming roots. At present, he is Chief Product Officer at Reforged Labs, a marketing AI technology outfit in mobile gaming.
While mobile gaming may appear lucrative, with gamers paying millions on in-app purchases, the industry is trapped in a Sisyphean cycle of relentless user acquisition fuelled by costly marketing campaigns.
On average, mobile gaming companies allocate 40% to 60% of their revenue to attracting new players — a spend that far exceeds most other industries.
Derek and his colleagues at Reforged Labs want to solve this. “We’re building an AI platform that makes the creative research, performance analysis and campaign management seamless and streamlined,” he explains.
“How can we use AI for good, and to empower these companies to make data-driven decisions? That is the current conundrum we hope to solve.”
Singapore’s maturing startup ecosystem
Prior to moving to Singapore, Derek had been weighing his options, with both Singapore and Hong Kong in the running. He nearly chose to move to Hong Kong, with the Microsoft APAC team at the time encouraging him to migrate.
However, when Crazy Rich Asians was released in 2018, he took it as a sign to visit Singapore. “I felt really welcome – the weather patterns were a little different, but still largely pleasant. The language barriers were non-existent, and I found Singapore to be very inspiring,” he explains.
In terms of community, Derek finds people in Singapore to be more reserved. “This is a stark contrast to the US, where everyone is outgoing, and meeting a new person feels like finding a new best friend,” he comments.
In his view, one of Singapore’s strengths lies in its vibrant network of community groups that makes it easy for people to connect. “Singapore creates these environments for people to meet one another. They offer startup founders these spaces to thrive, whether through university groups, or communities like Singapore Global Network. I would recommend other budding founders in Singapore to explore these options,” he shares.
As someone with insights into both San Francisco and Singapore’s startup scenes, Derek observes, “San Francisco has the advantages of both size and scale. If you build in this city, it’s not just for Americans – it’s global. Singapore, on the other hand, is all about regional play, because of the wider ASEAN region it’s located in.
“In the US, innovation is usually associated with disruption, whereas Singapore is more ‘by-the-book’. You don’t operate without a licence. You have your paperwork in order. You need to have a framework, you need alignment. It’s a slow-and-steady way of doing things,” he elaborates.
“That said, there are lots of young people who are hungry, eager to learn, and are building cool things. So, I’m optimistic.”
Meet Derek
A Microsoft (Xbox), Riot Games (League of Legends) and LinkedIn alumni, Derek Wong left corporate America in search of adventure and entrepreneurship in Singapore. Currently, he is Chief Product Officer at Reforged Labs, a YC-backed startup building an AI-powered creative insights platform for mobile game marketers.
Connect with him here.
