The “RSVP” of Entrepreneurship: Powering a B2B Fintech Revolution
Learn how alumna Trasy LOU, 2013 MBA, draws on resilience, strategic agility, and a passion for building from zero to one to reshape AI adoption for finance process for traditional industries through Fluid AI.
When Trasy LOU left a stable career in hospitality to pursue an MBA at HKUST Business School, she was searching for something larger than a predictable corporate path.
“I was doing marketing strategy for a large integrated resort, but I was hoping to do more with my career,” she recalls. “I wanted to do something bigger.”
That desire for impact set Trasy on a new trajectory. Today, she is CEO and Co-founder of Fluid AI, a Singapore-based AI startup helping businesses transform finance processes using AI agents, from order to cash. Founded in 2023, Fluid AI raised US$5.2 million in Series A funding in 2024, with the aim to help make business operations more seamless.
Finding Purpose Beyond the Predictable
Before founding Fluid AI, Trasy built a career across industries that demanded agility and execution. After completing her MBA at HKUST Business School, an experience she describes as “transformational,” she moved from hospitality into technology, taking on leadership roles at Uber and Atome.
She credits the School with giving her the foundation to make that leap.
“I wouldn’t have gotten the Uber job if it wasn’t because of HKUST Business School,” she says.
At Uber, Trasy absorbed a principle that continues to guide her as a founder: think global and build local. Scaling a company, she learned, requires both global vision and local understanding.
That lesson became even more relevant at Atome, where she helped scale the buy now, pay later platform across multiple markets. As Atome grew, Trasy noticed a recurring question: if flexible payment solutions could transform consumer purchases, why not business transactions?
Many suppliers and distributors needed cash flow to buy inventory, serve customers, and extend credit terms. Yet traditional B2B financing remained slow and fragmented. That gap became the seed for Fluid AI.
Building with Vision and Resilience
Starting Fluid AI was not simply a continuation of Trasy’s corporate success. It required a new kind of resilience.
During two fundraising rounds, she spoke with around 150 investors and received more than 145 rejections. Out of that experience, she developed her “RSVP” theory: resilience, strategy, vision, and preparation.
Resilience meant learning from every “no.” Strategy meant knowing which investors to approach and when. Vision meant telling a story bigger than one product. Preparation meant mastering the details.
“Once we had a bigger vision, and we wanted to actually build the biggest payment network, then we got their attention,” she recalls.
That vision has since helped Fluid AI gain recognition in the startup and fintech ecosystem, including Forbes Top 100, Singapore Fintech Festival Fintech Awards Top 4, and Slingshot Top 50. But Trasy remains focused less on recognition than on the problem Fluid AI is solving.
As the company evolves, its work increasingly extends beyond financing into AI-enabled workflow automation. For Trasy, AI should not be limited to large corporations or technology-first businesses. Her goal is to make AI adoption practical for traditional industries, especially distributors and supply-chain players often overlooked by innovation.
“They are actually very important for the supply chain,” she says. “I feel like they’re neglected.”
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Left: More than classmates, Trasy found a lifelong network of friends whose support and encouragement continue to shape her path today.
Right: From MBA study trips to building a fintech startup, Trasy transformed curiosity into entrepreneurial ambition and a vision for business innovation.
Motherhood, Leadership, and Legacy
Trasy’s entrepreneurial journey is inseparable from her life as a mother of three. Rather than presenting perfect balance, she speaks candidly about integration, trade-offs, and endurance.
Her children sometimes join meetings, colour quietly beside her, or drift into calls asking everyday questions. She protects family time where she can, works late, and accepts that startup life comes with financial and emotional sacrifices.
“As a founder, you need to prepare that you will not be earning as much as if you are having a job,” she says.
Still, her motivation is deeply personal. Trasy wants to make her mother proud, show her children what it means to build something from scratch, and encourage younger women to take risks despite uncertainty or imposter syndrome.
“I want to leave a legacy,” she says. “To be an influential entrepreneurial leader for younger women.”
From hospitality marketer to fintech founder, Trasy embodies the spirit of HKUST Business School: curiosity, courage, and the conviction to create value where others see complexity.
For her, leadership is about moving forward with purpose, building with resilience, and making the path more fluid for those who come next.
