WorkOptional.aiAutomate Work, Amplify Life.
East/West AI research, education and investing.
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As seen on Bloomberg Businessweek Vietnam
Vietnam's Alibaba-Amazon moment in AI.
San Eng on AI agents and the Global South, interviewed at the Autumn Economic Forum, Ho Chi Minh City, 28 October 2026.
Video and original article: Bloomberg Businessweek Vietnam. Read the original in Vietnamese.
Bloomberg interview, 15:58Our story
Strong roots. Flexible branches. East and West.
Vietnam calls it bamboo diplomacy: firm roots, a strong trunk and flexible branches. You stay rooted in who you are, bend with the wind, and stay friends and partners with East and West. We read AI the same way: rooted in hard primary sources, flexible about where the next idea comes from, and open to builders East and West.
Mission
Automate Work, Amplify Life.
Help create a work optional future and a longer term age of abundance.
Your guide
Operators, academics and investors, East and West.
San Eng, with Dr. Felix Arndt and Alvin Foo.
$200 million raised, $500 million deployedReferences available on request
Invested across 15 countries
Book 1: Wall Street Journal, USA Today and Amazon bestseller
Wharton School BS in Economics (Entrepreneurial Management), CEIBS EMBA
The plan
Three steps to build and allocate with clarity.
01
Read.
The Daily, East and West, every weekday, in a few minutes.
02
Learn.
Talks, small-group sessions and our three books.
03
Put East and West AI to work.
See where AI capital is moving, East and West, and make your own calls with more confidence.
About
The team behind WorkOptional.
San Eng, Chairman
East/West AI Strategist, Board Director and Adviser.
- $200 million raised, $500 million deployed, as both the salesman and the engineer for the companies he co-founded and led, and with his own capital and, in earlier roles, capital for funds, families and other institutional investors
- Coauthor of The Ten Commandments of Investing, a Wall Street Journal, USA Today and Amazon bestseller
- Teaches in the University of Waterloo's Chief Technology and AI Officer (AI-CTO) Program
- Guest lecturer and speaker at CEIBS, Sasin, University of Nottingham Ningbo China and Bangkok University International, and at Wharton alumni events
- Wharton School BS in Economics (Entrepreneurial Management), CEIBS EMBA. Wharton Executive Education, Investment Strategies and Portfolio Management
- Member, Global Advisory Council, AiSEAN
Dr. Felix Arndt, CAO and coauthor
Professor and Eyton Director, Conrad School of Entrepreneurship and Business, University of Waterloo. Chief Academic Advisor.
Alvin Foo, CMO and coauthor
Former head of Google Mobile China.
We drink our own medicine
Meet the ikiCrew.
WorkOptional drinks its own medicine. The company, this website and the East/West AIpha newsletter are run jointly by San's team of AI agents, the ikiCrew, supporting San, Dr. Felix and Alvin. Every message and newsletter is the view of San, his coauthors and partners.
Client matters are led by San and his coauthors personally. Confidential client information is never used to train AI models and is shared only with service providers bound by confidentiality. Our AI agents are not lawyers, accountants or licensed advisers.
ikiChief of staff. Runs the team day to day.
ikiBrainOur shared second brain.
AlphaEdits the Daily.
MavenChecks facts and figures at the source.
MoolaChecks numbers and disclosures.
EagleChecks risk and wording.
PandaReads Asian-language sources in the original.
StudioMakes the visuals.
ViralShares each issue on social.
Commandment Four
Don't Be a Dead Fish.
A dead fish only goes where the river flows. So we read the sources ourselves, East and West, every day.
Contact us
Advisory, teaching, talks or press.
Write to [email protected]. We read every message and reply within 2 business days.
General research and education. Not investment advice. See our Disclaimer.