2009 has been an incredible year for the startup scene in Singapore. Despite the challenges of the painful global economic downturn, we’ve witnessed many of you grow from strength to strength and bringing much needed cheer and excitement to our community.
Over the past few years, Young Upstarts, SG Entrepreneurs, E27, The Digital Movement, MY Entrepreneurs and HackerspaceSG have been actively supporting local and regional startups to grow your exposure and awareness, and even markets for your products and services. We’ve also been supporting your growth, putting up job listings for free to help you find suitable talents for your startups.
Today, we are excited to share with you a part of our plan to take this support to another level. We are glad to announce the introduction of Triple Point Job Board, a job listings service that will be rolled out across all partner sites to help startups find suitable human resource talent.
This application was developed to help facilitate and deal with the increasing demand for job listings across partner sites. In addition, we hope that through this arrangement, we can offer greater value to startups, advertisers and other partners through access to all our sites at the same time.
We would like to state upfront thatTriple Pointwill not be a free service (click here to see the rates). We recognize that some of you will not be happy to be charged for a service that you previously have gotten free from partner sites. However, we believe that the fees offered for the service are nominal and extremely fair. Any proceeds – which, as you can imagine, is likely to be a pittance anyway – go towards the development and maintenance of the service. Any left over will inherently be ploughed back into supporting the local startup communities. For a start, any existing job listings that are currently on the partner sites will be converted for free for a month on Triple Point.
We’re hopeful that you share our vision for a more cooperative, close- knit startup community. We’d love to hear your feedback on Triple Point. Feel free to contact us for any clarification.
Wishing you greetings for the festive season,
Young Upstarts
SG Entrepreneurs
E27
The Digital Movement
MY Entrepreneurs, and
HackerspaceSG
Martell VSOP’s The Ultimate Startup Space invites aspiring entrepreneurs to submit their business ideas for a chance to win business coaching and a startup space for their business.
Martell VSOP will take on the role of an incubator and provide the top ten finalists with training from industry leaders to arm them with knowledge essential to run a viable business with the help of INSEAD and Standard Chartered Bank. The ultimate winner, who will be crowned the Martell Rising Personality 2010, will also receive training in an INSEAD Executive Education programme.
Submissions will be judged by a panel of experts and the winning idea will be selected based on originality, ingenuity and potential to succeed. During the submission period, members of the public are invited to rate the submitted ideas. The ultimate winner will be granted the definitive start-up space in Clarke Quay, one of central Singapore’s most vibrant districts, rent-free for a period of six months and a funding of S$20,000 to live out the dream.
“Since its inception, Martell VSOP has championed individuals who are relentless in challenging the impossible and pushing the boundaries of success. Through the brand’s dedicated support and funding, we believe “The Ultimate Start-up Space” will provide the perfect opportunity to enable a visionary to take that first crucial leap in propelling his or her business dream into reality,” said Mr Paul-Robert Bouhier, Managing Director of Pernod Ricard Singapore.
Do you do market research before starting up? Well, you should.
90% of startups fail within their first two years of operation despite the fact every startup founder being personally convinced that people would easily buy their services during the initial phases of their startups. The key reason behind this: most startup founders never realize the importance of a detailed market research before starting their venture, which leads to a startup founder analyzing the situation wrongly and making bad decisions. A proper market research won’t only help an entrepreneur to understand how his or her target audience but would also help to decide whether or not the target audience is ready for the products they are going to launch in their venture.
In this article we discuss the tips which one should follow while conducting a market research for their startups:
Contact Your Target Audience: Search people on the basis of their age, gender, locations and monthly income who you think can be your potential customers and tell them about your new ventures or services you are planning to offer. Ask them whether they would like to try any such service in future or not. Ask them about their opinions, expectations, needs, price they would like to spend for such kind of service. These things would help you to understand your target audience’s way of thinking.
Analyze your Competitors:Research the level of competition you have to face in your new venture. Sometimes the competition in niche markets is very high that you may need a huge budget for marketing to attract customers. So if you don’t have sufficient funds, it would be better to leave such startups instead of facing loss in later stages.
Visit Local Authorities: Almost every city has a specific department which helps local people in starting small businesses. You can go to such offices and discuss with them about the feasibility of your new venture and how much initial investment would be required. Governments do give grants to startups in specific niches, so check if your venture is related to any such niche.
Local Libraries and Newspapers: You can visit local libraries and search market reports related to your niche. Every good library has a separate book section related to business and finance, where you can find books which cover the market information about your startup idea. The other thing you can do is to search the classified sections of your local newspaper. If you can find enough ads from people who are looking for your services, then there will be a good scope in the market.
Search Online: Last, but not the least, is to search online. You can find lots of free and useful information on web like latest market reports, experiences of successful founders of similar startups, resources you will need to set up your venture and everything else you can think about.
This guest post is contributed by Rudo Malequin, who works as Internet Marketing Executive for Fortepromo, which creates customized promotional products for startups and help them to promote their brand in market.
San Francisco-based online local services marketplace Thumbtack launched today to offer users a place to easily compare price, availability, location, and other detailed provider information on thousands of local services. Already, Thumbtack offers some 15,000 providers where consumers can find, compare and book local services from the mundane – tutors, caterers, handymen etc – to the quirky, such as belly dancers, henna body artists and cartoonists.
“The local service market, though enormous, is highly fragmented, fraught with inefficiencies, and largely transacted offline,” said Marco Zappacosta, Founder and CEO of Thumbtack. “Just as eBay and Amazon moved products online, Thumbtack aims to lead the transition of services online. We know this goal is ambitious, but the trend is inevitable and Thumbtack is poised to create this change.”
Thumbtack vets each of its listed providers to ensure consumer protection.
Thumbtack also offers a free personal concierge service that helps consumers find a service they need within 24 hours. An important aspect to Thumbtack is its suite of safety tools that allow consumers to verify and vet the identity of all providers – there are some 12 tools such as identity verification, criminal background screens, professional license checks, and customer testimonials and reviews to ensure that services are legitimate and trusthworthy.
The availability of verification tools have been welcomed by its service providers. “Trust is the essential ingredient when purchasing a local service,” said Thea Mason, a personal chef in San Francisco. “Thumbtack‘s unparalleled safety tools protect consumers and allowed me to build a permanent online reputation that helps me attract new clients.”
Far From A Tacky Idea
Thumbtack was founded in August 2008 by a group of twenty-somethings from a broad range of backgrounds. The inspiration first came over many conference calls amongst the founding members over startup ideas they found promising. “After months of discussion, and many dead ends, we stumbled upon the idea of a marketplace for services,” says Thumbtack‘s CEO Marco Zappacosta. “You can find any product imaginable online today, but you can’t do the same with people or services. We thought: this has to change, and change soon, and we want to make it happen.”
After over a year in private development, Marco says, they’re excited to have created a comprehensive solution to this problem. “We have put over a year of work into designing our marketplace to make it flexible and sophisticated enough to accommodate a large segment of the local service marketplace.”
Marco believes there are three types of consumers who will benefit most from Thumbtack: homeowners who need domestic services such as handymen, parents who require help around the house such as babysitters, and people who move to a new home in a different area and are unfamilar with available local services. “All currently existing mediums are highly deficient. Asking friends and family for recommendations is safe, but severely limits your network of providers. Craigslist has a deep network, but is highly unreliable and often unsafe,” Marco explains. “We are a vast improvement over both of these current options – we provide consumers with both a large and safe network of service providers.” For example, Thumbtack gives service providers a permanent webpage where they can upload photos and videos and even choose their own URL, solving the issue of trust which can be lacking in competitor offerings.
Thumbtack is focusing initial growth in San Francisco’s Bay Area.”We’ve signed up about 15,000 service providers so far, and hundreds more are signing up every day,” Marco says. “We’re excited to finally start recruiting consumers as well now.” Thumbtack is looking to continue growing its service provider database, and will begin next week reaching out to consumers via an old-school flyer campaign in San Francisco. If that is successful, Marco says, they’ll extend that to other cities around the country.
Its revenue primarily comes from three sources – a transaction fee from facilitating any online transaction through its online booking and payment system, selling marketing tools to service providers to find and recruit customers, and charging for access to identity verification tools. Currently, transactions remain free for early users.
Thumbtack received a round of financing in June of 2009 from a group of angel investors including the co-founder and former Chairman & CEO of Logitech and an early angel investor of Angie’s List. Marco declined to disclose the level of funding, but disclosed that they have enough runway for another year.
On Entrepreneurship
“I’m a big proponent of entrepreneurship,” Marco says. ” I believe that it’s the ultimate driver of growth and our increasing standard of living. ”
“If there is one thing I’ve learned so far, it’s that you should not say no to yourself,” he adds. “There are so many obstacles in your way already, you shouldn’t add another!”
The Tang Dynasty era (618-907 AD) was a period of unprecedented peace and stability in China. Chinese arts and culture flourished, and the Tang era is generally considered the greatest age for Chinese poetry.
It was also a period of notable Chinese technological progress and innovation. The development of woodblock printing facilitated the rapid spread of written works and, hence, spreading knowledge and improving literacy rates. Advancements were made in cartography, timekeeping and astronomy, such as the invention of the world’s first clockwork escapement mechanism by an innovative Tang engineer, monk and astronomer named Yi Xing (surely a curious career combination!). Porcelain was invented, and the study of medicine was advanced.
These may look like chocolate truffles, but are actually woodblock for printing from the Tang Dynasty (images from www.history-of-china.com)
During the time of Emperor Xuanzong, there were some 35,000 Tang craftsmen – many of them structural and mechanical engineers – serving the state. They were keen experimenters. Imperial engineers built a “cool” innovation for the emperor, an Imperial hall that employed water-powered fan wheels and rising jet streams from water fountains for air-conditioning! There was also fun innovation, of course. There were records of an ingenious and intricately designed mechanical device, which used a hydraulic pump to siphon wine into serving bowls – the Tang emperor must have thrown some really eye-opening parties for guests. It was truly a time of great innovation and invention during the Tang era.
Fast forward to present times, and we find that cities and entire nations – Singapore, Israel, Stockholm, amongst many others – are today rushing to be the next big innovation capital of the world. Are there any lessons we can learn from the Tang Dynasty?
An Open Connectedness
The Silk Road connected China to the rest of the known world (image from www.absolutechinatours.com).
The Silk Road was the most important pre-modern trade route that linked East and West. It allowed the Tang Chinese ready access to markets in the Middle East, Persia and Central Asia. There was active maritime trade as well, with Chinese junks plying the South China Sea, the Indian Ocean and all the way to the Horn of Africa, the Persian Gulf and even the Red Sea. Chinese goods such as silk, ceramics and lacquerware flowed into these markets, and Tang porcelain was even highly prized in Egypt.
The Tang empire’s reach to the rest of the world, coupled with its open trade policy, greatly facilitated the flow of people and ideas. This not only brought prosperity, but also gave the Chinese new ways of thinking and doing things. They embraced new ways of smithing and making ceramics. Religions flourished. They incorporated new concepts on fashion. The Tang even adopted the practice of sitting on stools and chairs, where previously they only sat on mats on the floor.
These days, such connectedness is afforded by the digital Silk Road known as the Internet. Search engines, social networking sites like Facebook or micro-blogging platforms like Twitter is all about being connected, facilitating the exchange of ideas and – driving innovation.
Idea Capital
This diorama Tang era Chang'an shows how extensive and well-organized the capital city was (image from www.chinaeu.de).
It is interesting to note that the Tang capital of Chang’an was the largest city in the world during its time. At its peak the Chang’an supported upwards of two million inhabitants, an impressive number in ancient times. According to Imperial census, many thousands of foreigners from over 70 countries worked, lived and traded within its city wards – merchants from Persia, Central Asia and the Middle East, skilled tradesmen from Vietnam and Korea, and even religious missionaries from India and Japan.
The reason that Chang’an was so cosmopolitan, was that the Tang – unlike most other Chinese dynastic eras – were incredibly open to, and tolerant of, foreign cultures. Although the Tang did employ border laws and manned checkpoints, people could move relatively freely within the empire. Its prosperity was a magnet. With such an incredible concentration of people and ideas, innovation abounded.
The Tang eventually entered into decline and collapse, more of a result of rebellions and natural calamities like famine and floods rather than poor economic management that finally shattered its prosperity.
Technological progress and innovation is intrinsically tied to a whole host of macro-economic factors. Entities – teams, organizations or countries – that are financially, socially and politically stable are best placed to reap the rewards of innovation.
Considering starting a business while in school? Companies like Dell, Microsoftand hundreds of others started in a dorm room and so can you. Here are several reasons why you should take the leap and take control of your future while in college:
1. Campus Advisory Board – Is there a school of business on your campus? If there is, you will have access to entire advisory departments: finance, management, marketing, accounting, legal and more. Professors are more than willing to help use their expertise and connections to see a student from their school succeed in the business world. Whether you incorporate in California or start an affiliate marketing venture, start your business and don’t hesitate to ask for help. These PhD’s are often well networked and experienced.
2. Word of Mouth – Word spreads quickly on campus and it will be your cheapest form of marketing. There is no better endorsement to buy a product or service than having a recommendation from a friend. It’s almost like hearing “Hey, everyone is going to this party tonight, you have to be there.” Napster music sharing service started in a college dorm room and spread like wildfire because of the students’ proximity to one another. Use this to your advantage.
3. Technology – Colleges are a hotbed of technology and people who understand it. Chances are your school offers WiFi, copy and fax machines, scanners, software, a high tech library, students walk around with cell phones, iPods, and laptops. You are in one of the most well connected places on earth – take full advantage. Everything that you need to start your business is right infront of you. In a real bind? Make friends with the IT department and they will help you out.
4. Campus Resources – Many colleges have amazing alumni networks, incubators, and entrepreneurship clubs set up already. If they don’t–look into creating a chapter of the Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization on your campus. The more entrepreneurial people you surround yourself with the more driven and motivated you will become. Entrepreneurship is a long hard battle, you will need a quality support group.
5. Access to Cheap Labor – Your college or university is full of young people trying to gain new experiences and a little bit of spending money. Need help with your business? Look no further than other college students. Many students will do unpaid internship if you make the experience worth their while. Find other entrepreneurial minded students and pay them a commission based salary or find someone who wants to work part time for an hourly wage. Need web development done? Ask around campus or post a job with your Career Services Center.
6. Now is the Time – Don’t wait until you have a mortgage and kids to start your business, do it while you have some breathing room attending college. You could be out partying 24-7 or you could make the sacrifice now. You might even have the option of moving home after graduation and bootstrapping your business from your parents basement. Tackle the challenge of starting a business while you have a crutch to lean on.
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Preetam Rai, one of the volunteer organizers of Singapore BarCamp, is an educator and technologist.
The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) office was surprisingly crowded on a Saturday morning. A youngish, somewhat geeky crowd has descended here, of all places, and the air is literally buzzing with excitement. Easy banter reverberates throughout, punctuated by squealing laughter. Some call out as they spotted familiar faces, and eyes, none too subtly, check out the opposite sex.
This almost collegiate atmosphere seems totally out of place in the offices of the government agency that’s tasked to enhance Singapore’s global economic competitiveness, attract foreign investment and sustain the nation’s long-term GDP growth through technology development. Not quite so evident is the fact that a few in the crowd are amongst Singapore’s youngest and brightest technology talents – web developers, UI designers, programmers, and yes, even hackers.
A BarCamp, for those who’ve never been to one, is a user-generated event comprising of multiple open-style participatory workshops and discussion sessions whose content is provided by the participants. BarCamps are usually put together by volunteers, and it’s mostly free.
To those who’ve never been to one, the experience can be strangely familiar, yet jarring, at the same time. Preetam Rai, one of the volunteer organizers of BarCamp Singapore 4, says it’s a way to bring together technology developers, the creative arts people, educators and people who don’t call themselves geeks but are interested in technology, together on the same platform. “When people get together this way, we can get interesting conversations,” he adds.
Presenters at a BarCamp are primarily chosen by votes from the audience. Someone who’s interested to speak on a particular topic, for example, would write down their topic on a Post-It note and stick them on a wall. Participants would then vote for the topics they’d like to hear. During BarCamp Singapore 4, suggested topics ranged from the downright technical, such as “Augmented reality on mobile” and “YouTube APIs”, to the outright quirky “How to explain difficult concepts to lesser beings” (which turned out to be a massive hit with the crowd).
The BarCamp Singapore 4 crowd peering at yellow Post-It notes - some scribbled almost unintelligibly - on the wall, and voting on the sessions they want to attend.
Post-It notes stuck on the wall of IDA's reception area. The little red dots are stickers used by the audience to vote for their preferred topics.
Sharing and Learning From One Another
It’s the first BarCamp for Ho Sun, an entrepreneur and founder of LittleLives.com, who relished the chance to meet so many “techies” and attended Guyi Shen’s “Lessons from my three web startup failures”. “It’s humbling to see someone openly discussing what he thought were the reasons for his web startup failures,” says Sun, “and not many people will stand up to their mistakes.”
“Perhaps I’ll present the next time.” She was particularly surprised at the sessions’ simple voting process.
Fellow participant Arul Kumaran, a freelance multi-platform developer who is on the verge of starting a product development company, is at his third BarCamp and presented on an open source tool called Titanium. He’s impressed at how BarCamps in Singapore have grown. “Geeks are so disconnected in the real world, but yet so connected in the digital social networks,” he says. “Events like this help to attach a face and soul to the friend we have in the virtual world.”
“I’d really love to see more such events happening.”
Arul Kumaran was at his third Barcamp and presented on an open source tool for mobile development.
Connecting People
Supporting BarCamp is one of the ways IDA is hoping to encourage Singaporeans to lead digital lifestyles. “Organising BarCamp is part of a two-year outreach programme to build a new infocomm-powered vibrancy through a sophisticated digital lifestyle,” says Ng Wan Sin, a senior consultant from IDA‘s Technology & Planning Group. “BarCamp Singapore 4 is a great social platform for us to be engaged with social media enthusiasts, experts and strategists, who could play important roles as force multipliers and influencers in this outreach.” She adds that any industry can derive opportunities, partnerships and ideas from such grassroots- and community-led events.
Preetam agrees. “Such community events helps bring up interesting projects that local developers and enthusiasts are working on. It also helps local technologists from various fields come together and find people to collaborate with.”
“For example, if I am an iPhone developer looking to do some server-side module for my game, I might look for a PHP guy. I might also find a UI designer who can help me improve my design. I could talk to local iPhone end-users and figure out what local solutions they want develops to build. A musician I meet might give me ideas on improving my audio score.”
One can say the possibilities are endless.
Daniel Tsou (left) and Justin Lee of local technology podcast Tech65.org bantering before their recording session. Justin also helps out at Hackerspace.sg.
BarCamps – The New Conference?
Will freestyle BarCamps challenge the traditional conference anytime soon?
One key advantage that a BarCamp has is its extremely low barrier of entry to participation compared to the thousands of dollars a partipant has to pay to attend a regular conference. “We are able to run such events at very low cost”, says Preetam. “We avoid the overhead of inviting speakers and accommodating them.” And because it’s free, it’s open to anyone who desire to learn. One Singapore Polytechnic lecturer mandated her Media and Communications students to attend BarCamp Singapore 4, even assigning credits for workshop participation and online discussions.
“BarCamps are informal events, there is are no reserved seats, no VIP areas. We think every one has some expertise in some unique area, every can ask a question from a different perspective. We hope BarCamps will accelerate sharing and presenting ideas and help us make connections outside our professional space and geographical region.”
On the other hand, being almost completely freestyle also means that participants don’t know what to expect when they attend one. In BarCamp Singapore 4, some participants complained of an affiliate marketer who took up three precious speaking slots.
But one thing is for sure – BarCamps are here to stay. Upcoming are a couple of mini topic-specific BarCamps – TravelCamp for travel enthusiasts, and FilmCamp for filmmakers.
BarCamps Around The Region
BarCamps are also getting increasingly popular across the region, and the recent ones in Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok were heavily subscribed (the one in Bangkok drew over 700 participants). The next Barcamp happening in this region will take place in Saigon on the 13th of December. “Having attended a few of these, I am amazed at the knowledge and energy that I see in South East Asia,” Preetam says. “Regional travel is inexpensive and it will be well worth your time.”
If you can’t attend the regional BarCamps, BarCamp Singapore 5 is likely to happen in March 2010. Look out for it.
Daniel Cerventus of Malaysia Entrepreneurs wearing a BarCamp Bangkok T-shirt.
The JamiQ team (from left to right) - employee No. 2 Li JiaYi, employee No. 1 Kelvin Quee, and employee No.3 Benjamin Koe.
Just as social media has been growing and will continue to grow at an incredible rate for the foreseeable future, social media monitoring services – those that measure such online buzz and conversations on blogs, forums, news and social networking sites – are increasingly coming into demand. Companies like Syndacast, Media Monitors and Dow Jones have developed solutions to service this need, and even Singapore startups such as Brandtology and ThoughtBuzz (interviewed here), have sprung up.
Enter yet another Singapore-based startup, JamiQ, the latest (they announced their launch earlier this week) to provide such services for the market.
Monitoring the Social Media
“JamiQ is a professional social media monitoring and measurement solution provides the largest coverage of the social media in any language,” explains Benjamin Koe, Employee No. 3 at JamiQ (they don’t use titles in the startup, employees are simply known by the order in which they join the company).
“(We use) advanced data mining methods and natural language processing technology to produce real-time buzz trending, sentiment detection, influence scoring, and market segmentation, giving our customers the critical insights they need for immediate and strategic decision-making.”
Tracking the amount of conversations happening for a brand.
“Listening to what’s being talked about can help companies manage their reputation, public perception, and even strengthen their communication and engagement strategies,” says Benjamin. “Social media monitoring can also be seen as a natural extension of traditional media monitoring often performed by PR agencies or corporate communication teams.”
“While traditional media monitoring can be performed easily by humans clipping a few newspaper articles, monitoring thousands of website for millions of posts requires intelligent machines to get the job done.”
Measuring the sentiment - negative or positive - of online conversations.
The demand for social media monitoring is huge. Brands are increasingly interested – worried, really – about their online reputations. It’s also commonly agreed that monitoring the social media and analyzing the data is a crucial first step in any social media strategy.
JamiQ was founded by Kelvin Quee (aged 25), Lee JiaYi (27) and Benjamin (29), all who come from disparate disciplines but who share similar passion for social media, understanding of the industry and technical know-how to put this together.
Benjamin admits that their product is not the first social media monitoring product on the market. But he is quick to point out that their service covers social media in any language, something that many US-based solutions cannot provide and is critical for non-English, and multi-lingual markets. “We set out from the get-go to provide a service that provides the widest coverage and to do so in every language. Today, we are proud to say that we have done that.”
Benjamin says they like to pronounce JamiQ as Jamie-Que, and the name doesn’t really mean anything. “It was just an available, pronounceable .com domain name that had a nice ring to it. We like how it also has a feminine feel about it, adds balance to the all-male company,” he laughs.
As JamiQ is pretty much a software-as-a-service (SaaS) product, Benjamin says they are most strongly geared to be a support tool for marketing agencies and brand owners. “We have found that the demand for our product stretches far beyond our expected customers to include many in government and research organizations who want to use our solution beyond the scope of marketing. We currently have customers in government, advertising, public relations, market research, and a couple of brand owners too.”
Crowded Market, Interesting Possibilities?
Competition is likely to be very tough, with close to 200 social media monitoring providers worldwide. JamiQ competes directly with all of them, especially when it comes to the English language market.
But Benjamin is quietly confident. “The advantage of JamiQ lies in its massive reach and coverage of all languages and markets. So it does not matter if you’re in English-speaking California or French-speaking New Caledonia, JamiQ can meet your localized monitoring needs.”
“Also, JamiQ has developed advanced algorithms that can determine the location of a blog or site even if its not hosted locally. For example, if Peter from Australia wrote a blog on peter.blogspot.com, most systems will look at the IP address and determine that this blog is in the US. But because Peter constantly writes a lot about Sydney on his blog, JamiQ is intelligent enough to know that Sydney is in New South Wales, which is a state in Australia. JamiQ also has other advanced technology including influence scoring, and sentiment detection through the use of natural language processing. The opportunity for JamiQ is really in Asia where multiple languages and markets come together under a single region.”
JamiQ has an initial investment from Singapore’s Media Development Authority (MDA), but is mostly self-funded. “We are open to investors who believe strongly in what we do and want to grow with us,” says Benjamin.
Benjamin believes that the social media monitoring industry is very much like the customer relationship management (CRM) industry, when a day will come where every company would require a solution. “For JamiQ, the most scalable plan is to offer our service as a software and maturing into offering consulting down the road. Salesforce.com is a good example for us to follow.”
The development of its technology, Benjamin reveals, has been their greatest challenge. “Creating a system this powerful and complex is no mean feat, and our technology team has done a brilliant job making a product that meets the needs of the customers that need us the most.”
“We are most proud of how far we’ve come. We set our mind on creating a product that does a good job and have succeeded in doing so.”
Startups.com works with entrepreneurs, small business owners, academics, and seasoned business people to help answer your questions.
Startups.com Network, Inc. earlier this month announced the launch of Startups.com, a collaborative startup community that lets aspiring and experienced startup entrepreneurs share information and answers concerning their businesses.
“We’ve finally found what was missing from the business resource landscape: a place for entrepreneurs, business people and small business owners to ask their business questions, respond to the ones they know, and create the ultimate resource for business questions on the web,” says Pepe Amorin, vice-president of marketing for Startups.com Network.
Gary W. Whitehill, founder of New York Entrepreneur Week.
New York Entrepreneur Week (NYEW) is taking place in New York during the week of 16-20 November – that’s five full days worth of top-notch entrepreneur-focused events ranging from keynote speeches from recognized business leaders, inspired panel sessions to the NYEW Relentless business plan competition.
NYEW is a 501c(3) non-profit organization started in July this year by 26 year-old Gary W. Whitehill, who wanted to pull together the many disparate resources available in New York for entrepreneurs.
“There are many great organizations with visionary missions who are achieving great things in the entrepreneurship space,” Gary says, “however, the issue is that each of these organizations is micro-focused on execution of their own individual missions.”
“As a result, the entrepreneur suffers greatly.”
“I realized the mammoth importance of having an organization which looked at the entrepreneurial landscape from a 20,000 or 30,000 foot view,” says Gary, who believes that entrepreneurship is the fundamental growth engine of the US economy.
If you happen to be in New York during that week, you’d do well to catch some of the events, and speakers such David S. Rose, the founder of Rose Tech Ventures and Chairman & CEO of Angelsoft, Marc Ecko of Marc Ecko Enterprises and Scott Heiferman of Meetup.com.
Willin Low, owner and chef at Wild Rocket, Wild Oats.
Why would a legal eagle ever give up a comfortable, high-paying desk job for the heat and toil of a kitchen? But Willin Low, chef-owner of Wild Rocket and Wild Oats, did exactly that some seven years ago.
At that time, Willin was already exploring his culinary side as a private chef-for-hire during weekends in 2002 and 2003. But when he finally quit his job after eight years in the legal profession, it was truly the start of his culinary adventure. He first joined Italian eatery Ricciotti – part of the Garibaldi Group – as a trainee in its pastry department in October 2004, honing his trade baking breads and making pastries. His talent must have been evident to his bosses, for he was quickly promoted to Chef de Partie in December that year and was moved to Ricciotti‘s sister establishment, the fine-dining Garibaldi.
Going Wild
But it wasn’t long before the entrepreneurial bug bit, and he finally left to start his own bistro. The culmination of a lifelong dream, Wild Rocket opened in October 2005 – a quaint joint set in lush, tranquil grounds on Mount Emily along Upper Wilkie Road. This was followed by chill-out bar Wild Oats in February 2007, a mere stone’s throw away from Wild Rocket, and burger joint Relish in December 2007 at Cluny Court. So far, he’s pumped more than a million dollars into the business.
An example of Willin Low's culinary creativity: A deconstructed cheesecake at Wild Rocket that looks nothing like a regular cheesecake - but tastes a lot more.
“Wild Rocket is my dream to open my own restaurant to serve food I love to eat – Western food with a local twist,” Willin shares. “Wild Oats’ inspiration is that there are very few places where one can chill in a nice environment and have a drink without having to compete with loud thumping music.”
“Since I love cooking, eating and hospitality – it became very clear what business I should get into,” explains Willin of his decision to venture on his own. “I rather regret the things i do rather than regret the things I don’t do – so I just did it.”
He’s come a long way since he first learnt how to cook as a student in England, when he cooked for homesick classmates as a way to cheer them up – and to avoid the resident food service which he says ‘made his tastebuds sad’.
The People Business
“Cooking is about providing happiness. Providing good food and service is the most basic need anyone requires. I think that is why I love cooking – and eating – so much,” Willin says.
Willin is quick to point out that food is just one aspect of the restaurant business. “The bigger picture is actually hospitality.” He’s worked some four-and-a-half years as a lawyer at what he calls one of Singapore’s best hospitality companies – Singapore Airlines. “I am sure part of its hospitality culture has rubbed off on me!” Willin laughs.
Each of Willin’s eating establishments may target different audiences, but they all share a distinctive personable hospitality. That, Willin says, is Wild Rocket‘s unique selling point and – everything they do ‘is personal’. It’s the result of having the outlets run by people who own the business – the majority of Willin’s full-time staff has a stake in his business – and their dedication and commitment shows in the customer’s dining experience.
It’s telling how much he values his people. When asked what has been a key achievement for his business, Willin replies, in mock-seriousness, ‘being able to provide salaries to all his staff’.
The first objective he has for starting any establishment is ‘to treat staff fairly’. “(Burger joint) Relish came about partly because we wanted the staff to be able to grow professionally and if we have only one restaurant, very quickly staff would outgrow the restaurant and they will have to leave,” Willin explains of his business’ expansion, “As we open more restaurants, the staff will also have the opportunity to grow.”
“The most important lesson I learnt is that you need a team to deliver,” Willin reveals, “and in order to have a team to deliver, you need to manage and lead the team.”
Recognition
Willin’s culinary career has been illustrious, with accompanying accolades. He has been with invited to cook for events in New York City and Tokyo, and has been featured as a TV cooking show host.
Willin currently has no plans for further expansion, however. “There are tonnes of restaurant ideas that I have but I am unable to pursue all of them because of limitation of resources,” he says.
On Entrepreneurship
“You need a higher purpose to drive any business and to me that is passion”, says Willin. “It could be passion in the product or passion to pursue something for any reason for example it could be a passion to earn lots of money so as to contribute to society.”
Don’t just concentrate on making money, Willin says, just pursue what you are good at and enjoy – then the money will come. And when the money comes, help the less fortunate, he urges.
“Without a higher purpose, any business will just be a money-making machine without soul.”
You can find Wild Rocket at Mount Emily, hangout Hotel 10A Upper Wilkie Road.
Most people think entrepreneurship is one of the riskiest decisions they can ever make in their life. Not Taggo‘s Aneace Haddad. The 49 year-old CEO and owner of the mobile card solutions provider says that entrepreneurship is the safest career path he could have chosen.
“I have always felt that working for someone else, or in a large organization, is very risky and boring,” says Aneace, who has spent 25 years in the payments, real-time marketing, smart cars and point-of-sales systems business. “There are very few opportunities for radical creativity once a company reaches a certain size. Organizations become much more self-centered and focused on their own internal politics once they grow beyond the startup phase.”
Aneace has written many articles about his trade and is even an author of a couple of books – A New Way To Pay: Creating Competitive Advantage Through The Emv Smart Card Standard and Using Smart Cards to Gain Market Share – both of which are available on Amazon. Aneace was a programmer early in his career, although the last 17 years were spent as a founder, CEO and chairman of various marketing and payment-related companies. It’s such familiarity with tap and go RFID technology and contactless payments that led him to the idea of Taggo.
Inspired
The inspiration for Taggo came one evening at dinner at a small restaurant near his home here in Singapore. The restaurant he was at a flyer on the table announcing a brand new discount card program. The problem was – it could only be used in just the restaurant’s two outlets. What a hassle, Aneace had thought, to fill out a form for a card that could only be used at just one restaurant.
“Then it dawned on me that if joining the program were painless, with no need to fill out a form and no need to carry another card, then I would probably sign up,” Aneace says. “I knew that the retailer would need the customer data just as if a form had been filled out. The next steps were to find a way to make the process as simple and easy as possible without disintermediating the retailer.”
Taggo basically provides a convenient and affordable way to use a mobile phone to replace plastic loyalty, prepaid and membership cards. Customers no longer need to carry as many cards in their wallets, and can join new programs with a simple text message, without the hassle of filling out forms. Retailers benefit too – they can sign up new customers easier, at lower cost, and can achieve higher usage than with plastic cards that tend to be left at home.
An example of a discount coupon used by a coffee chain employing Taggo.
Setting Itself Apart From Competitors
Aneace says the companies that compete most closely with Taggo are those that provide RF-ID stickers similar to Taggo, but which can generally only be used with a single retailer. “There are currently no companies offering the full solution that Taggo offers, including a general purpose RFID sticker that can be used with many different programs, as well as a card storefront that allows customers to add new programs to their Taggo account either through SMS or the Taggo website,” Aneace explains.
To date, four CRM (customer relationship management) companies have already integrated Taggo into their offerings, and together they serve a large number of retailers in Singapore and across Southeast Asia. A key advantage is that Taggo‘s patent-pending technology works with all mobile phones and carriers, ensuring easy scalability.
To ensure the company’s continued growth, Aneace says his strategy is two-fold. “First, we are helping our four existing resellers deploy their Taggo-enabled solutions for retailers in Singapore. Second, we want to sign up as value added resellers (VARs) another 50 CRM companies in 20 countries.”
“We expect to achieve this milestone by the end of 2010.”
On Entrepreneurship
“Entrepreneurship is a wonderful opportunity to express one’s creativity,” Aneace says. “Good ideas will be rewarded through market acceptance, and bad ideas can be discarded quickly so there is no wasted time and efforts.”
“That’s when I found that I could patent the solution and build a company on this simple idea.”
Hear from Elim Chew, founder and president of streetwear retail chain 77th Street, Dennis Goh, founder and managing director of Singapore food and restaurant online guide HungryGoWhere.com, as well as Saeed Amidi, the founder and CEO of Silicon Valley incubator Plug and Play Tech Center as they share their first-hand experiences on the life of an entrepreneur. The panel discussion will be moderated by Alvin Yap, founder of TheMobileGamer (TMG), himself a young entrepreneur. (Our previous interview with Alvin here).
Sign up here for the event by 12 November. Admission is free.
Learn from three prominent entrepreneurs at Entrepreneurs Unplugged.
I’m a huge fan of business and current affairs magazine Monocle, and its latest issue is a must-have for anybody who’s even remotely thinking about starting their own business.
The latest issue of Monocle is all about entrepreneurship and starting a business – it even comes with a supplement called the “The Monocle Small Business Guide 2009/10” that contains many great interviews with small business owners all over the world, sharing their passions and stories.
If you’re thinking of being an entrepreneur, get a copy today.
From the 16th to 22th November, participating countries around the world will be joining together to celebrate the spirit of youth and entrepreneurship during Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW), and partner organizations will be conducting a range of activities ranging from simple speeches to comprehensive competitions designed to inspire and engage the next generation of entrepreneurs.
In Singapore, the Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) opening ceremony will happen on the 16th November, 4pm at the HDB Hub Auditorium. The opening ceremony will kickstart more than 30 activities centered around entrepreneurship organized by some 25 partner organizations.
You have the chance to participate in this momentous event – the first 10 readers of Young Upstarts to email Beatrice Wong of Spring Singapore at beatrice_wong[at]spring[dot]gov[dot]sg will get a complimentary pass to catch the opening ceremony. Don’t miss this opportunity to network with like-minded people during this event.
Last month I had the opportunity to attend a TEDx event organized by MIT Club Singapore. Entitled “The Craftsman”, the event featured four speakers from different walks of life to share their experience and passion for their individual crafts.
I particularly enjoyed the session by Jeff Murphy, a brewer at one of Singapore’s leading microbreweries The Pump Room, who shared on his quest for a better beer:
24-year old Jeremy Parker has always been interested in the idea of creating something out of nothing.
“I’m sure this could be applied to many other jobs as well, but it definitely applies to being an entrepreneur,” says the president and founder of VoteforArt.com, “After producing films, I wanted to get involved and challenge myself by starting company in an industry that I had no prior experience in.” Jeremy had graduated from Boston University in 2007, majoring in film production. During his time in university, his feature-length documentary One Per Cent even won an Audience Award at the 2006 Vail Film Festival. After graduation, Jeremy started a high-end T-shirt line called Tees and Tats, featuring designs by world renown tattoo artists.
“I am now hooked (on being an entrepreneur).”
Drawing On a Good Idea
The idea for Vote for Art came, ironically, after his earlier T-shirt venture Tees and Tats lost out in University of Maryland Cupid’s Cup business competition run by Kevin Plank, founder and CEO of Under Armour. “We didn’t win, but after the competition I went to the campus bookstore to buy a magazine for my train ride home to NYC.” When Jeremy was looking through the bookstore, he realized that the T-shirts available looked pretty much the same. “If college students were the ones buying the T-shirts, I’m sure they would want some variety and maybe they would want to show their school pride with a little more style.” During the train ride home, Jeremy wrote up the business plan for Vote for Art.
Vote for Art, Jeremy admits, is similar to Threadless, but with a collegiate focus. Vote for Art is partnering six major universities to host graphic design contests, where winning designers will get their artwork printed on T-shirts and sold through university bookstores. The winners earn a cash reward as well as a percentage of T-shirt sales.
“What sets us apart is the opportunity we give our artists to use licensed logos for institutions that Threadless doesn’t have licensing agreements with,” Jeremy explains. “For example, Threadless couldn’t legally sell Purdue T-shirts designed by their community, while we can because of our parent company’s licensing contracts.”
“Additionally, we’ll be selling the winning T-shirts in the college bookstores.” Vote for Art will only sell designs that get voted for. Jeremy says other sites may have similar voting mechanisms, but are not always committed to the winning designs.
It helps, of course, that Vote for Art is backed large apparel company David Peyser Sportswear, which owns brands such as Weatherproof and MV Sport. “David Peyser Sportswear is an amazing company run by an amazing family. I met Alan and Eliot Peyser when I was doing work for Tees and Tats. They really helped me out and introduced me to many people in the fashion world, from manufacturers to PR people.”
“I approached Eliot with the Vote for Art idea and he set up a meeting with Josh Peyser and Alan who run MV Sport.” It was an ideal partnership for the apparel chain with its established sales channels in college bookstores, resorts, golf shops, and military exchanges. “MV Sport already has deep, vendor relationships with many university bookstores, allowing the Vote for Art platform to take a large bite out of the cool, crowd-sourced T-shirt market,” Jeremy explains. He roped in Michael Weber, a 23-year old recent graduate of University of Maryland, to do marketing and who has since become an integral part of the team.
Opportunities and Challenges
Jeremy believes that their biggest achievement so far have been partnering with some of the best universities in the country, as well as well-known art sites such as Myartspace.com. Of course, it’s also been fulfilling building and launching a robust site for Vote for Art. The biggest challenge facing the site, Jeremy admits, has been trying to getting all of the pieces and fitting them in place, from the site to the partnering school bookstores to university licensing.
As part of its growth strategy, Vote for Art will focus on partnering up with more major universities and appealing to graphic artists from all over the world. Jeremy says their platform has the ability to help artists from all over the world make money and earn national exposure for their work.
Vote for Art is currently hosting a contest to design its logo. Members of the community will be able to design and vote for the actual logo to be displayed on its site, with the final design emblazoned on all of the tees sold online and in book stores around the country. “Not only will Vote for Art members create all the products sold in our stores, but they’ll also create the brand of the entire community!”
Vote For Art is looking to crowdsource the design of their logo.
The site will officially launch in November. In the meantime, you can follow Vote For Art on Twitter.
Views on Entrepreneurship
Jeremy advises would-be entrepreneurs to be really sure that they love their idea before starting a company. “You need to love the idea and believe that you can make it successful. Because if you don’t, the first set back will make you discouraged and make you question your business.” If the market research shows potential and you’re convinced, Jeremy says, be prepared to work.
“Nothing is going to be given to you. You have to make your own success.”
There are two case studies posed to participants: (1) revamp local F&B chain Sakae Sushi’s range of merchandise, putting it enroute to its vision in becoming a global brand, or (2) develop a marketing plan for women’s fashion brand bYSI to penetrate into the Asia Pacific market. Winners stand a chance to win a S$1000 cash prize and a one-week internship opportunity.
Where should you turn to when you need help with homework? From friends, via the Internet, of course. That was what college friends Sean McCleese and Nikhil Sreenath believed when they founded California-based StudentofFortune.com.
Back in 2005, Sean, 26, was frustrated with the lack of friendly homework help available on the Internet. During Sean’s senior year in Occidental College, the Physics major had a class in quantum mechanics where homework was due every day or two. Sometimes, his class would encounter some problems they couldn’t solve, and if the professor had already gone home for the day they were pretty much out of luck. “We didn’t need an hour’s worth of tutoring or anything – we only needed help with one single problem,” Sean recalled. With a large number of college friends who were on significant financial aid – and therefore dying for spending money – he realized there was a great combination there. “Kids with a lot of expertise who could use extra money and their classmates who needed help with homework or studying.” That was when the idea of amortized homework help came about. Sean roped in his friend Nikhil, 25, and built a website to help students get the homework help they need and earn money tutoring. StudentofFortune was born.
StudentofFortune.com
Students Helping Students
The idea behind StudentofFortune is amazingly simple. Students post questions they need answered on the site with a corresponding bounty. Those who can answer them collect the bounty. Alternatively, students can upload tutorials for others who pay to learn them. The site targets college students, graduate students – basically anyone who has some expertise in an academic area. The key to StudentofFortune, Sean says, is its egalitarian marketplace. “We don’t have any ‘ivory tower’ of (people who answer), we let anyone join the site and contribute their knowledge to the site, helping others out and earning money in the process.”
Sean, who has a degree in Physics with a background in computer science, works full time in an aerospace agency. Nikhil, with a Masters degree in computer science, also has a full-time job. Whatever spare time they have is spent on StudentofFortune. “We kept our full-time jobs while building Student of Fortune, working on nights and weekends for years in order to build the site the way that we dreamed it, not to match some sort of projected EBITDA profile or something.”
StudentofFortune is entirely privately owned by the founders, and have been built entirely from scratch without taking outside investments of any kind. “We’ve built the entire thing out of pocket, by hand, and never ran headlong into the funding rounds that can, in my opinion, stymie innovation,” Sean reveals.
“We were, and still are, extremely cost conscious about every move we make – we didn’t have the sudden influx of investor cash to spend on fancy desk chairs or anything. We’ve tried to build the most lean, effective and perfect company we possibly can because, in the end, it’s our blood, sweat and tears that make this thing work” These days, now that the site has grown, it’s increasingly getting the attention of potential investors. “I think I can look back and say that while it’s been a strange and unusual way of building a startup, I’m glad we did it.”
Right now, however, Sean says the site is focused on growing its core market – by building a strong community and staying focused on customer needs. “We spent our available hours addressing exactly the developments that would build our community and address the needs of our customers as effectively as possible.” For example, they try to avoid adding unnecessary features that bloat to the site – instead they focus on refining the core functionality of the site where there is consumer confusion.
“I know that sounds a little bit cliche but I think it’s an unusual thing in this industry. That, in and of itself, has really been a challenge.”
Views on Entrepreneurship
Sean believes that entrepreneurship should be something you do because you have to, not from the desire to get rich or famous.
There are side benefits too, especially the intangible. “I got an email from one of our users a couple weeks ago telling me that he and his wife had lost their jobs in the recession, and with a new one-year old baby, they were facing one of the most terrifying situations I can imagine,” Sean shares. “They told me how they had managed to support their family entirely through money earned off StudentofFortune. Having come up with the idea in college to help kids earn a bit of spending money, this story brought tears to my eyes.”
“I feel deeply honored and grateful that I’ve had the chance to be part of something that’s changing lives in such a way, especially when the family is earning money by helping students in need.”
The Design for Enterprise Centre, located at MICA Building, is a haven for those looking for design inspiration for their businesses.
Design is not merely about aesthetics. American designer Charles Eames, who is most famous for designing some of the most important examples of 20th-century furniture, once said that “design is a plan for arranging elements in such a way as best to accomplish a particular purpose”. For enteprises, therefore, design thinking can be applied to help solve business problems, identifyand implement efficient processes, realize new potential and create tangible business outputs.
The problem is, this is always easier said than done – resources on enterprise design is not always readily available. Sure, you can spend countless hours trawling books at the National Library, or you could simply visit the Design for Enterprise Centre.
There’s a whole host of design materials and information available here for your perusal, and you can consult centre managers available onsite who can help you analyse business needs and design possibilities.
The Design for Enterprise Centre has a whole host of design materials and information available here for your perusal.
Alternatively, you can check the Design for Enterprises online portal. The portal contains case studies of local and international businesses that have successfully adopted design to their advantage, a design directory to facilitate access to design services, and even a design diagnostic toolkit for an initial assessment of where an enterprise stands in terms of design.
If you run a startup or enterprise, you owe it to yourself to learn how design thinking can help set you apart from your competitors.
Nanyang Optical's exhibit at the Design for Enterprise Centre shows how the optical store incorporates design thinking into its products and displays.
Where do you go if you have a question about startups? Answers.OnStartups.com may have the answer.
Dharmesh Shah of OnStartups.com has launched a new community Q&A site for startup entrepreneurs, and have invited some of the – according to him – smartest entrepreneurs he knows to contribute to the site. Some of these entrepreneurs include: Adam Smith of Xobni, Drew Houston of DropBox, Sachin Agarwal of Posterous and VentureHacks’ Nivi.
If you need any startup advice, it’s a good place to ask.
SocialWok at TechCrunch50 - (From left) COO Vikram Rangnekar, CTO Navin Kumar, and CEO Yong Ming Guang.
Singapore startup Socialwok recently emerged as a Demopit winner to present at last month’s TechCrunch50 Conference 2009, the massive showcase of the latest cutting-edge technology startups in San Francisco. I took the opportunity to ask Socialwok CEO Yong Ming Guang of their experience there.
1. Describe for us the whole process of applying for, and being selected, as one of the startups to present at TC50.
The original aim of Socialwok‘s USA trip in September was not TechCrunch50, but meetings at Google that we have arranged for. Hence, we did not plan to apply to TC50 till the last few weeks when the application was due. As Socialwok was not in stealth mode (we did a version 1 launch in May at Unconference 2009 in Singapore), our application was turned down but we were offered a place at the TC50 Demopit.
TC50 is a two-day conference and each day there are over 50 Demopit companies. Each TC50 attendee is given two poker chips to vote for their favorite TC50 Demopit company out of a total of 100 companies over the two conference days. The Demopit winners chosen by the audience would then go onstage to pitch to the audience. There would be 2 Demopit companies chosen for each day of TC50 conference.
2. Describe to us your feelings when they made the announcement that SocialWok was selected as a Demopit winner..
It was quite the whirlwind of emotions in a short amount of time. The Demopit event ended at 2:30pm where they counted the chips from each of the Demopit companies of the day. We knew about the win at around 3pm and went backstage to prepare around 4pm. When the results was announced, we were very excited and happy about getting the opportunity to present on stage.
3. How did you prepare for the presentation? Any mentors, good advice you received?
We did not know that we were going on-stage till only 2 hours in advance. We were notified that Socialwok won the TC50 Demopit for Day Two around 3pm, and by 3:30pm we were backtage where we did a few run through of our presentation with (CTO) Nik Cubrilovic of Techcrunch.
4. What was the key point about SocialWok you wanted to drive to the judges?
Our key aim for the onstage pitch was to deliver a clear message of the pain that the Socialwok service is trying to address.
5. Which judge was the scariest? Who gave the best feedback?
Honestly, things were happening so quickly that we did not really even know who the judges were on the panel. We were too busy on the second day with trying to win the Demopit award! It was quite the blur even on stage. As we did not have much time to prepare going on stage, Vikram and I literally practiced just 3 times during the 1 hour before our actual pitch. I was focused on trying to be on sequence handling the demo and Vikram was trying his best to deliver the message while following my lead.
6. OK, that was a politically-correct answer. How do you rate the experience? Would you do it again?
Winning the TC50 Demopit also helped us be credible and get meetings with different seed VCs and angels in the Valley.
SocialWok with renowned Silicon Valley tech blogger Robert Scoble of Scobleizer.com.
7. What advice would you give to other startups who want to present at TC50? Words of caution?
Make sure you are in stealth mode before you apply to TC50. You cannot have much public information of your product or service before the TC50 event. Otherwise, they will not consider you for TC50. If you want to be at TC50, plan in advance your product roadmap so that your launch date will coincide with TC50 that occurs annually during middle-to-end of September. If you get successful at TC50, there will be a tremendous spike in web traffic to your website, make sure your service is highly scalable. To increase the effect of publicity for your service, do follow up meetings with tech bloggers who have shown interest in your product or service.
8. Final words – Do you have anybody to thank for this whole experience?
We would like to thank Nik Cubrilovic for the tips he gave in preparing us for the pitch on stage as well as Lux and Kal of iTwin for the support they gave us during the conference. I would also like to thank Mohan Belani of e27, Bernard Leong of SGEntrepreneurs, James Chan and all the Singaporean folks in the tech community for their kind tweets and referrals.
Innovation & Enterprise Week 2009 is organized by Exploit Technologies, a part of A*STAR.
Exploit Technologies is organizing the first-ever Innovation & Enterprise Week (IEW) in Singapore, a week-long extravaganza that aims to promote innovation and technology adoption amongst Singapore enterprises and support entrepreneurship. From 19 to 23 Oct 2009, IEW will feature a technology exhibition, talks, workshops, industry roundtable sessions and networking activities.
If you’re a young talent – musician, sports personality, scholar, or an accomplished entrepreneur – who happened to be born and delivered at the Thomson Medical Centre, your hospital wants you.
Thomson Medical Centre will be selecting 12 young talents (under 30 years of age) for its upcoming Thomson Talents Charity Calendar 2010 featuring children with outstanding achievements and talents who were delivered in the hospital. you could be one of them. They’ll put your face and achievements in 3,000 calendars which will be printed and distributed to partners and sold to help raise funds for its adopted charity, The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund.
If you fit the bill, contact Aelino Senitro at aelina[at]tmc-sin[dot]com[dot]sg.
The inaugural launch of Invent Singapore last year. Dr Ting Choon Meng, president of the Fellowship of Inventors (FOI), can be seen far left in the picture.
Invent Singapore ’09, the second such conference following a successful inauguration last year, will comprise of dynamic discussions and workshops that cover the topics of creativity, intellectual property, branding, funding and product development. The event will feature speakers such as venture capitalist Dr. Gideon Tolkowsky, managing director of BME Capital Management, Singapore creative guru Dr. Kirpal Singh, brand expert Jörg Dietzel and president of the Fellowship of Inventors (FOI) Dr. Ting Choon Meng. Dr. Ting, for those who didn’t know, founded Healthstats International which was awarded the prestigious World Economic Forum’s Technology Pioneer status for inventing BPro, a watch that measures blood pressure.
Invent Singapore, a conference for SIngapore innovators and inventors.
Deng Jian Guang, Raziuddin and Aseem Thakur of Give Singapore.
If giving is a blessing, GIVE.sg wants to make it easier to bless others by democratizing the act of giving.
I first met Aseem, Jiangguang and Raziuddin of GIVE.sg at the recent TwestivalSG, part of the global Twestival movement and Singapore’s first “Tweet.Meet.Give” event to raise funds for the Children Cancer Foundation. They were also there to raise awareness and funds for a mission to bring clean water to the homeless children in Taiwan devastated by Typhoon Morakot, and were more than glad to explain what GIVE.sg does.
Inspire To Give
“Each and every day, there are people who still struggle to get clean water or fill their growling tummies. That makes us frustrated. Why can’t we do something about making the world a better place when here today, all around us in Singapore are the technological means and the resources needed?”
This was the question that the founders of GIVE.sg asked themselves some 15 months ago, on 12th May 2008. The answer, when it came, says Aseem Thakur, one of the members of GIVE.sg who looks after business development, was simple – the problem is too big for a single individual. “(But) if we stopped acting alone but rather come together and join our efforts, the result would be a social movement that amplifies the impact we can make together and magnifies it beyond the sum of our collective individual effort.”
This formed the inspiration for GIVE.sg – a platform that matches the needs of charities with the resources of a community formed for a single, philanthropic purpose. After all, what one person gives can be negligible; when an entire community gives, the impact is felt.
“Every individual effort counts,” says Aseem. “We want to make fundraising easy, fun and convenient so anyone can take part. (We’re) opening up a world of rewarding and enriching experience such that everyone can make a big difference and experience the joy of giving.”
“This is what democratizing the act of giving means – An open and collaborative effort by everyone from all social standing forming a social movement together for charitable causes they believe in,” Aseem explains.
“Our goal is to provide the tools to help charities continue their great work in the Information Age. By listening to the advice of our GIVE.sg community and the charities, we will continue to innovate and leverage on technology to provide them with the best value for all the services to meet their needs.”
It’s a new take on philanthropy; a KIVA.org that helps charities.
The GIVE.sg website.
There is, unfortunately, a frustrating lack of a clear explanation on the website of what GIVE.sg really does – a “What We Do” would be really useful. Perhaps it’s still early days – GIVE.sg is slated to officially launch on 1 November this year.
Look beyond that (and the annoying use of repeated pop-ups), however, you’ll find a sense of noble purpose. The kind that aims to change the world for the better.
The Team
The team at GIVE.sg comprises a group of young adults in their early 20s from diverse backgrounds. They come from all over Asia – lead designer Kota Matsuda hails from Japan, you have Singaporeans Gary, Donald, Khairul and Zwee of SavantDegrees who created the website, and a business development team comprising Malaysian Yu Ming, Aseem from India, Singaporeans Zhi Heng and Razi, and Jian Guang from China.
If GIVE.sg‘s team seems huge – it is. After all, it’s a community project where team members and other individuals volunteer their time and energy.
“Looking from the sidelines, starting out on your own can seem like a risky and daunting task,” Aseem said. “But if you believe in what you do, enjoy the journey of trails and tribulations, team up of friends you trust your life with – startups are very fun and an extremely rewarding experience.”
“We at GIVE.sg love working into the wee hours of every night because we know that every bit more we give, the more difference we can make at helping the people who need it most in this world.”
If you go away with only one message – GIVE.sg wants you to go away with the thought that philanthropy is not only for the rich or for when we are old, but should be part of our daily lives and a lifestyle choice we enjoy.
buUuk.com is a mobile location-based restaurant guide application for the iPhone and Android devices that helps you locate the best eating and drinking places around town. The service covers Singapore, as well as various cities in Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and other countries.
BuUuk.com's opening screen.
We grabbed hold of Jon Petersen, founder of buUuk.com, for a short interview. In the spirit of all things brief, British-born Jon decided to do things a little bit Twitter-esque – in answers less than 140 characters each:
1. Tell us a little bit about yourself and the team that developed buUuk.com.
28,44,45.
Malaysia, Singapore, England.
Biologist, Entrepreneur, Economist. (75 characters)
People need to eat near where they are. Restaurants need customers near where they are. (87)
4. How did you come up with this idea, or what was the opportunity you saw that prompted you to start this?
The smartphone will be your life in your pocket. (48)
5. What do you think is the key USP behind buUuk.com?
Changes regularly depending on how fast we can innovate. (56)
6. What kind of users are you targeting?
People who eat; restaurants that sell. (38)
7. How many users has the service signed up so far?
70,000. (7)
8. What is buUuk.com‘s business and revenue model?
Long term: match buyers and sellers in real time, by location and take a cut of the proceeds. Short term: last until the long term. (131)
9. What have your achievements been so far?
1) 70000 users in 10 months. 2) Building a scalable platform for providing information on location-based, real-time services. (125)
10. What have been the key challenges?
Staying sane while dealing with the telco providers. Negotiating the Apple app store maze. (90)
11. Who are your key competitors?
Time, energy and intellect. And maybe Yelp and Urbanspoon. (58)
12. Who are your investors and backers, and how much have been pumped into the company to date? Any support from the Singapore government or the various startup funds?
Parable of the ten talents - A question of grasping opportunities presented to you?
I was recently reading The Fall of Rome: A Novel of a World Lost when I came across an interesting part which I thought contained an interesting life lesson. One of the protagonists of the story, a disgraced and exiled noble wracked with questions about his destiny, comes across a religious hermit who shares with him the parable of the ten talents from the Bible.
If you’re not familiar with the parable, here it goes:
The Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25: 14-30)
14 “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. 15 To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. 17 So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. 18 But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
19 “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’
21″His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
22 “The man with the two talents also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.’
23 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
24 “Then the man who had received the one talent came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’
26 “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
28 “Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. 29 For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
Interestingly, the hermit asks the noble – what if there was a fourth servant, a man who takes his talents, uses instead of hiding them, yet loses the talents anyway? Would he also suffer the same reaction from the master as the third servant? Or would he still receive a pat on the back from the master, who’d say “at least you tried”?
The lesson I learnt here was about taking hold of the opportunities that are presented to us.
What do you do when God (or life, if you’re an agnostic) presents you with an opportunity? Would you invest it, or bury it? Will we shirk away from our destiny, by missing out life’s opportunities? If you took up an opportunity but lost, would it still be worth the while?
I ask these questions of myself every day. It’s just that I’m afraid the answers will scare me.
If things don’t change, our startups will start to wither on the stalk here despite the acclaim they get overseas. And they’ll start leaving by the droves, despite whatever carrots the local government agencies dangle in their faces.
C’mon folks – it’s ridiculous that we put aside $25 million Entrepreneurial Talent Development Fund (ETDF) to look for and seed new startups, yet cannot give any love to those who ARE ALREADY IN THE GAME.
