Investment VP
AppWorksCheck size: Firm-level: AppWorks publishes a US$200K to US$15M per-deal range across Seed through Series C, with capacity to lead or follow and reserve capital for follow-ons. This is not Michelle's personal allocation range.
Michelle backs technology that modernizes large, operationally fragmented Southeast Asian industries. Her investment cases combine a clear structural tailwind with deep founder-market fit, resilience through adversity, measurable operating improvement, and a path from a focused workflow to a broader platform. Her M&A and accounting background adds attention to cost structure, cash flow, asset intensity, and scalable unit economics.
Founders with the technical skill to execute a bold vision and the grit to navigate major shocks. Her published investments favor deep local insight, hands-on operating experience, the willingness to pivot cost structures, clear customer pain, rapid iteration, and ambition to build a regionally important platform.
No explicit pass list is public. Her investment cases imply weaker fit for founders without direct problem knowledge, asset-heavy models that cannot adapt, technology without measurable operating value, marketplaces without a credible supply-demand advantage, and teams that move slowly despite short runway or changing market conditions.
Quantify the operational failure in a specific Asian market, including current cost, leakage, delay, or utilization. Show founder-market fit, customer discovery, transaction or workflow evidence, unit economics, cash conversion, asset intensity, and the exact way AI, IoT, or software changes the outcome. Explain the first scalable wedge, the path to a broader platform, and how the model adapts under demand or capital shocks.
Quantify a recurring operational loss or delay, prove that data or software removes it for both sides of the market, and test whether the first workflow creates the information and distribution needed to expand into a platform.
Look beyond endurance alone: examine how founders changed cost structure, asset intensity, cash-flow planning, and customer focus when conditions shifted, then verify that those changes improved durable unit economics.
Michelle's investing combines M&A discipline, personal exposure to entrepreneurship, public-company business-model analysis, and hands-on support for founders across Greater Southeast Asia.
IoT, real-time data, and an asset-light operating model can reduce parking revenue leakage and urban congestion when paired with a resilient founder and measurable transaction growth.
A founder with hard-won garment-industry insight can digitize Vietnam's fragmented manufacturing network, reduce turnaround times, and expand from production execution into a full-stack supply-chain platform.
No podcast appearances are linked yet. Ask Kit to check for interviews that reveal how this investor thinks.
“We're always looking for founders with not only the technical skill to execute a bold vision but also the grit to navigate every twist and turn.”
— https://appworks.tw/why-we-invested-kenneth-darmansjah-co-founder-ceo-of-soul-parking/
Michelle joined AppWorks in 2022 and was promoted to Investment VP in 2025. Before AppWorks, she spent roughly five years at Deloitte Financial Advisory, working on cross-border and domestic M&A, pharmaceutical restructuring and joint ventures, and public tender offers. She holds a bachelor's degree in Accounting from National Taiwan University and a Master of Management Studies from Duke University. Her published investment work includes Inflow and Soul Parking.