- Joined Cognition
- Apr 2026
- How they joined
- With Havana
- Before Havana
- HeadsUp (acquired by Hightouch)Head of GTM
- Status
- Current
“These days, everyone in tech goes on about how ‘cracked’ a team is. What I didn't expect at Cognition was how genuinely kind people are. It's the kind of team where someone will stay late to help me debug a problem that's not even theirs to fix.”
- Joined Cognition in Feb 2026 when Havana was acquired; LinkedIn lists his role as 'Building' at Cognition, and press identifies him as Head of Business Operations for APAC, based in Singapore.Aug 11, 2026Singapore's AI productivity gap is actually an organisational design problem (by Nathan Wangliao, Head of Business Operations APAC, Cognition)
- Announced the acquisition on LinkedIn: "Incredibly excited to share that Havana has joined Cognition!" and "Working at Cognition on our APAC presence lets us continue to do all of these things, at a bigger scale."Apr 1, 2026
- On Cognition culture (verbatim): "What I didn't expect at Cognition was how genuinely kind people are. It's the kind of team where someone will stay late to help me debug a problem that's not even theirs to fix."Apr 1, 2026
- On Cognition growth (verbatim): "It's staggering that a company of Cognition's scale is growing faster than Havana and most early-stage startups I know of."Apr 1, 2026
- Havana (tryhavana.com) built AI agents for schools - an AI student recruiter for university recruitment and enrollment teams; Nathan was CEO & Co-founder Apr 2023-Feb 2026 and the only non-technical founder.Jan 5, 2026I left McKinsey in my 20s for startup life. Being a founder taught me to stop overanalyzing and speak up more.
- Wrote an Aug 2026 op-ed as Cognition APAC BizOps head arguing "Faster code does not automatically create faster software delivery" and "Managers are no longer supervising only people. They are supervising a system that combines human and AI execution." -.Aug 11, 2026Singapore's AI productivity gap is actually an organisational design problem (by Nathan Wangliao, Head of Business Operations APAC, Cognition)
- Cognition opened its APAC headquarters in Singapore in May 2026 (launch attended by Singapore officials, reposted by Nathan) - the regional base his BizOps role supports.May 14, 2026
- Recruited for Havana by pitching his cofounder's olympiad background (verbatim): "Great essay. But the only way out is to build. If you want to work at a Bay Area standard company based out of Singapore, we’re hiring! P.S. my cofounder is absolutely cracked. 3x IOI silver medals, built self-driving cars in SF. I just bring the jokes."Sep 5, 2025Great essay. But the only way out is to build. If you want to work at a Bay Area standard company based out of Singapore, we’re hiring! P.S. my cofounder is absolutely cracked. 3x IOI silver medals, built self-driving cars in SF. I just bring the jokes.
- Head of GTM at HeadsUp (headsup.ai), a Singapore AI startup, Mar 2021-Apr 2023 as founding GTM hire; HeadsUp was acquired by Hightouch (YC S19). His site says he led Product Marketing and BizOps there.Apr 2023
- Promoted Devin on X: "Another benchmark from @greptile that shows that Devin writes code with fewer critical bugs. The team is cooking https://t.co/1UjUE2JDN8"May 16, 2026Another benchmark from @greptile that shows that Devin writes code with fewer critical bugs. The team is cooking https://t.co/1UjUE2JDN8
- McKinsey & Company consultant in London Aug 2018-Mar 2021; joined in the UK after university, moved back to Singapore during COVID and left. His first manager was a former UK doctor doing healthcare work, and a favorite boss was an ex-US Marine.Jan 5, 2026I left McKinsey in my 20s for startup life. Being a founder taught me to stop overanalyzing and speak up more.
- Leaving HeadsUp (verbatim): "I joined HeadsUp because I wanted to start a company one day. Clearly HeadsUp hasn't managed to put me off - so I'll be exploring a few startup ideas." He launched Havana that month.Apr 5, 2023After 2 amazing years, my HeadsUp adventure ... I joined HeadsUp because I wanted to start a company one day. Clearly HeadsUp hasn't managed to put me off - so I'll be exploring a few startup ideas.
AI agents for schools. Acquired by Cognition.
Founding GTM hire. Acquired by Hightouch (YC S19).
Founded Cambridge's student hackathon. Skipped class for 2 months to cold-call sponsors. We ended up with so much money we flew attendees in from the US.
Fixing trucks and jeeps.
Another benchmark from @greptile that shows that Devin writes code with fewer critical bugs. The team is cooking https://t.co/1UjUE2JDN8
Great essay. But the only way out is to build. If you want to work at a Bay Area standard company based out of Singapore, we’re hiring! P.S. my cofounder is absolutely cracked. 3x IOI silver medals, built self-driving cars in SF. I just bring the jokes.
Singapore's AI productivity gap is actually an organisational design problem (by Nathan Wangliao, Head of Business Operations APAC, Cognition)
I left McKinsey in my 20s for startup life. Being a founder taught me to stop overanalyzing and speak up more.
After 2 amazing years, my HeadsUp adventure ... I joined HeadsUp because I wanted to start a company one day. Clearly HeadsUp hasn't managed to put me off - so I'll be exploring a few startup ideas.
Alfred and SK are always shipping fun and tasteful products. If you want to make an app for your local desktop, give Booplet a spin!
Early stage startups are best built by pirates and missionaries: Pirates are looking for an adventure Missionaries want to do work they can believe in If you’re either, we’d love to meet you. (Don’t just take my word for it: LKY thinks you should join a startup too) https://t.co/2msqNL8k6y
Would highly recommend @nocodePreston if you’re a startup looking for landing page design or branding help. We got just what we needed - fast turn around, practical and within budget, but still looks great!
There are 2 little kids on the Singapore MRT clapping their hands and singing the Jeffrey Bezos song
