How to conquer and win the Asian market with Hande Cilingir

On this week’s episode, we host with Hande Cilingir, Co-founder
and CEO of Insider, a Growth Management category creator, hailing
all the way from Singapore.


Originally Turkish, Hande divides her time between Turkey,
Singapore and 17 other Insider offices, in order to manage what
has become a 400-people company. Started by Hande and five
co-founders six years ago, it has been global since day 1. While
the US would have been a tempting location to expand to, Insider
is only now beginning to consider it. At the beginning it was all
about Europe and APAC, regions typically seen as more difficult,
not as primed for adoption of SaaS. Yet, the lack of competition
made them far more exciting regions, especially Asia. Tapping
into it, Insider has become a trailblazer in the region, seeing
3x growth since last year alone.


What has made Insider successful in markets like Singapore,
Malaysia, Indonesia and beyond has been laser focused local
approach to each of them. If you are in any way thinking of
expanding into Asia, this episode is filled with nuggets such as:


How Insider views venturing into different Asian markets

What the expansion plan was

What has been the secret sauce in making this expansion
successful



Hande will be joining us at SaaStock Asia in Hong Kong, May 14
and 15th to talk more about how Insider won Asia and became a
category creator. There she will be joined by a stellar line up
of speakers, including Vinod Chandramouli, Global Head, Pre
Sales, Freshworks, Anna Gong, CEO & Founder, Perx
Technologies, Jeffrey Paine, Managing Partner, Golden Gate
Ventures and over 20 other speakers. Grab a ticket for SaaStock
Asia while you still can.


 


 


 


Check out the other ways SaaStock is helping SaaS founders move
their business forward: 


SaaStock Europe: 14-15 October 2025 | Dublin, Ireland
Book you tickets: https://saastock-europe.com/tickets/


SaaStock USA 2025: April 2026 | Austin, Texas
Join the waitlist: https://saastock-usa.com/


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