Fred Ng: The Einstein Visa, Getting Paid Before Building Anything & Letting AI Do the Paperwork - E736

Most founders who come to Beyond Border assume a US work visa works like an ESTA: fill in a form, get an answer in 48 hours. Frederick Ng, its co-founder, explains why a good O-1 process takes about three months and a 700- to 1,000-page petition. He joins Jeremy Au to cover the O-1 and L visas for founders and their launch teams, why a spouse's work rights often decide the visa, and how executives tied to an employer-sponsored green card can move to the EB-1A. He also walks through how Beyond Border separates human judgment from AI-assisted case work, how it found product-market fit with no website, why he went from VC to operator and back before founding, and the silent retreat and Everest base camp trek that tested him first.

Fred Ng is the Co-founder and CEO of Beyond Border, a tech-enabled U.S. immigration platform helping founders, companies and global talent navigate the U.S. immigration system.

An entrepreneur, operator and former venture capital investor, Fred previously served as Country Manager at Glints, where he helped build and scale the company’s business across Southeast Asia. He later joined Square Peg, a leading Asia-Pacific venture capital firm, where he invested in and worked with technology companies across the region.

Fred founded Beyond Border with a simple belief: where you come from should never limit where you can go. Today, Beyond Border is a trusted immigration partner to founders, highly skilled professionals and growing companies looking to build their futures in the U.S.

Drawing on his experience across entrepreneurship, operations and investing, Fred regularly speaks on entrepreneurship, venture capital, U.S. and Asian startup ecosystems, global talent and immigration, and what it takes for founders to build and expand across borders.

Fred’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frederick-ng/

Watch, listen or read the full insight at https://www.bravesea.com/blog/frederick-ng-beyond-border-o1-visa

BRAVE is Southeast Asia's leading tech podcast, hosted by Jeremy Au. Honest conversations with the region's top founders, investors, and operators on building startups in Southeast Asia.

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00:00 Introduction

01:10 Fred's path: Glints, Square Peg and Beyond Border

02:23 Hong Kong, London and multiple passports

05:16 Starting venture on the wrong side of the table

07:49 Why operators make better investors

12:48 Too impatient for a 10-year feedback loop

15:19 Finding product-market fit with no website

17:46 Empathy over the CRM

19:29 Judgment vs intelligence in immigration work

24:04 Why a US work visa takes three months, not 48 hours

25:34 The O-1 and L visas for founders and launch teams

28:02 Spouses, dependents and the EB-1A

30:46 Ten days of silence, then Everest base camp

33:42 Three takeaways

#O1Visa #Founders #SoutheastAsia #Immigration #USImmigration #GreenCard #EB1A #USExpansion #Startups #VentureCapital #Entrepreneurship #ProductMarketFit #GlobalTalent #Singapore #HongKong #TechPodcast #SEAstartups #BRAVEsea