About the founder
The comeback is the proof.
Biomedical PhD. Fifteen years leading corporate open innovation, a decade building deeptech ventures, a decade in strategic foresight. Adjunct Associate Professor. CEO of ArrowBiome. And, in 2026, a returning full-distance Ironman, building the system in public, on his own body.
Biomedical PhD
Science is the home field, not a citation.
~15 yrs open innovation
Including P&G and Avery Dennison.
Deeptech & foresight
A decade building ventures, a decade in foresight.
Adj. Assoc. Prof., NUS
Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Foresight.
CEO, ArrowBiome
Operator, currently building.
16× 70.3 · 2× full
All-World Bronze, SG age-group top ten.
Bert never fit a single category, and stopped trying to. A scientist who became an operator. An operator who stayed an athlete. The instinct that the world rewards specialists was, for him, the wrong lesson. The edge was always in refusing to choose.
It starts with a Biomedical PhD and runs through the whole career that followed: roughly fifteen years leading corporate open innovation (including P&G and Avery Dennison), a decade building deeptech ventures as an entrepreneur, a decade in strategic foresight consulting, and an operator's seat as CEO of ArrowBiome today. He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore, teaching Innovation Management, Entrepreneurship, and Strategic Foresight. The science isn't borrowed. It's his field.
Before 2020, Bert built the body this whole system describes: 16 Ironman 70.3 finishes, 2 full-distance Ironman finishes, an All-World Athlete Bronze ranking, and a place inside Singapore's age-group top ten. That was the peak. The comeback only matters because there is a peak to climb back toward, and a fall worth respecting in between.
Based in Singapore by design. The center of gravity for the next decade of founder energy is shifting east, and IronPreneur is built from inside that shift, a strategic Asia advantage rather than a Silicon Valley afterthought.
The comeback is not a metaphor. It starts at Cairns IM 70.3 in June 2026 with Roman, builds through two more IM 70.3 races still to be confirmed, and peaks at Da Nang IM 140.6 in May 2027. Every framework on this site is being tested against the clock on a real return to full-distance racing, the living proof of the system.
The team
IronPreneur started with one founder living the system in public. It's being built by a small core that refuses the false choice, and the room is intentionally growing.
At the Ironman Village, where the work shows up.
More core members join over time. This is a growing team, by design.
The comeback races
The road back to full distance, run in public. Cairns kicks it off, two build races fill the gap, and Da Nang is the peak: Bert's return to IM 140.6, and a standing invitation for Roman to make it his first.
ConfirmedCairns IM 70.3
June 2026
The half-distance return. Bert and Roman on the start line together.
To be confirmedIM 70.3 (TBC)
Build race · 2026
One of two 70.3 sharpeners on the road to Da Nang. Venue to be confirmed.
To be confirmedIM 70.3 (TBC)
Build race · 2027
The final tune-up before going long. Venue to be confirmed.
ConfirmedDa Nang IM 140.6
May 2027
The full-distance peak. Bert's comeback to 140.6, and Roman, your first full is calling. The arch is waiting. 😏
Community on the start line
IronPreneur is a community, and the proof is collective. As members commit to their own races, we'll line them up here: start lines around the region, run by people living the same refusal to choose.
CommunityIM 70.3 Bangsaen
Early 2027
Thailand · a community member taking on the Gulf of Thailand. First of many.
Your start line here
More community start lines added as commitments come in. Racing in 2026–2027? Tell us, your race belongs here.
Officially registered IRONMAN TriClub
Every result on this calendar can count for more than the individual. IronPreneur is a registered IRONMAN TriClub, so when our members race, the points stack for the whole club, cumulatively, all year. Race for us, climb together.
Race for IronPreneur on IRONMAN