Sometimes, the truth hurts and it ain’t pretty

In 2018, AngelList, the world’s leading start-up directory, listed over 4.6 million start-ups, with only 0.4 per cent listed as seed stage businesses.

All this talk of hubs, incubators, accelerators, coworking spaces and launchpads can seem like everyone’s giving it a go. This is due, in part to greater access to public and private resources, and to a new culture of entrepreneurialism sweeping the globe.

With so many of us seeking independence, it’s an uncomfortable statistic to know most start-ups don’t make it past the three-year mark.

Why?

Put simply, turning an idea into its own commercially viable business is really difficult. It takes a lot of grit, but more importantly, it takes good strategy and tactics.

Here are six tactics to help you reach three years and beyond.

Learn the lingo and decide on yours

Even if you are not planning on raising capital or joining an accelerator, learn the lingo. The conversations you’ll need to have are likely with entrepreneurial enthusiasts and they speak start-up fluently.

Some words to start with — churn rate and exit strategy. This is particularly difficult if you are transitioning from an SME into the start-up space with the focus of the conversation now on scalability and growth rather than profit margins.

While you learn the newfound culture of start-up land, listen out for the differences in business activities and decide how you are going to explain what you do.

Decide if you are a small business, a start-up, an idea, a firm, a consultant or a freelancer. Whichever you decide to label yourself as, stick to it.

Don’t be afraid to find competitors

The idea of competitors is an inherently scary one.

Similar people with similar ideas and sometimes a thousand times more capital than you. It’s important to start by understanding the commercial landscape you are about to enter, and validating your place within it.

Find competitors from all over the globe, even if your business will only be local.

If there’s genuinely no competitors because your business idea is entirely unique or you are entering an emerging industry, then find businesses in industry verticals who have a similar model in another market. Grill them, their customers, wording, branding and pricing models. A great way to do this is through analysing available competitor data.

There is a fantastic book by Seth Stephen-Davidowitz ‘Everybody Lies’ where Seth highlights just how important search data is for uncovering human truths. When you apply this logic to your business idea you can form a clear idea of what your users want, and what your competitors are already offering.

Tools such as Semrush and Google Trends can let you see what people are really looking for and how they’re trying to find it.

Be a pessimist

Aspiring entrepreneurs always have an ongoing motivator and that’s their fan club. It usually consists of very close family and friends, perhaps a few ex-colleagues.

This initial network is your support group and sometimes your seed funding. They’ll likely tell you your idea is great and although it really might be, it’s really important to keep one eye on the potential pitfalls and not focus solely on opportunities.

Large organisations hire business analysts to find potential risks. In the beginning it’s unlikely your office will consist of more than yourself, maybe a co-founder or two and some Ikea furniture.

But, as a start-up, constantly assessing your risks is really important.

Also Read: CoHive to launch 18-story co-working building CoHive 101

This is especially true in your first year. It’s not quite the glamorous start-up life you see in the movies, the key to success is often a strong pinch of paranoia.

When we launched Hassl this purposeful paranoia showed itself in many ways — extra user-testing, additional legal scrutiny of our contractual arrangements and international tax planning before we’d even left Victoria.

These sorts of actions, driven by the fear of something going wrong, means you stay on top.
A good idea and hard work can take you far but it’s the risks that you didn’t see coming that will stop you passing that three-year mark.

For example, an uninspected increase in tax or an employment contract error.

Pitch it ugly

Branding is an invaluable part of a successful business. Especially in the consumer space, creating a brand personality that oozes into every inch of your user experience is effective, but it shouldn’t come first.

Why?

First, ideas change once you’ve had more time to think it through, research the market and speak to potential customers.

With Hassl, it wasn’t until we interviewed other teams that we realised they wanted a project collaboration tool designed for the team member, not the project manager.

This is the core of Hassl’s brand, down to every piece of microscopy in the app.

If we’d created the branding first, we’d inevitably have to either redo it or the product would have ended up being moulded by a brand not that did not speak to its purpose.

Secondly, good branding takes time and time is money. Whilst there’s the temptation to start with the fun stuff, just work with a really basic logo initially and put your funds to crucial business activities.

Lastly, good ideas and great leaders should be able to pitch it ugly. Reach out to potential users and investors armed with only a word document and your voice. If people like your idea without the frills, it gives more credence to your vision and confidence to take it the next stage.

One line business plan

There are on average 200,000 people in the US alone who search for ‘business plan template’ every month. There are lots of templates out there and they range from half-page diagrams to 50-page documents.
We have never made a business plan. Instead, we set six-month goals to achieve.

At the end of each six-month period, we reflect and then build on where we’re at. I have founder friends whose business plans are the size of a book and are referred to weekly.

Whether you prefer a high-level goal approach or a detailed plan, it is important to be able to communicate what your business is going to be and how in a sentence. This is your vision.

For example, our vision is ‘Hassl will be a leading project collaboration tool built entirely for the team member through exceptional user design’. Write it down and practice it over and over again.

In the future when you need to answer many quick-fire questions about your strategies and tactics, it’ll be very useful to have your underlying vision to refer back to.

Understand your technology

This one only applies to technologically led start-ups, of which there are many.

We have an ongoing joke that most start-ups at tech conferences are looking for a technical founder. While this is funny to joke about, we do have an international skills shortage when it comes to coding and engineering.

Also Read: Hanoi TOP100 winner shows the best Vietnam has to offer

If you don’t have a technical founder, it’s essential you take the time to understand the technology that fuels your idea. Ask for documentation and a run through of the languages, disciplines and proprietary tools used.

Spend a day doing a basic online course. It’s inevitable that a potential partner, investor or user will ask you technical questions along the way, so it’s best to have a broad understanding of how it works and what the technical limitations are.

Reach out for free, local advice

If there is one thing the start-up world has it is lots of friendly faces to reach out to.
While we haven’t taken on any investors, we have had absolutely great advice along the way. Who you reach out to is really dependent on the sort of advice you are looking for.

If you are looking for financial or logistical guidance, reach out to your local council or government small business department, most of whom have a dedicated business budget that goes to a wide range of free workshops, mentor programs and walk-in office hours.

If you are looking for product or service design guidance, there is no greater value than designing for your ideal customer. Try reaching out to them.

Where possible, invite your ideal customer to be a beta user, helping you to shape your product in exchange for discounted services into the future. This will set the groundwork for a loyal customer-base too.

Lastly, for growth advice find industry experts you admire and reach out to them. If possible, find an event they are going to be part of and meet them in person. Remember their inboxes are likely to be as busy as their schedules so pick several and don’t get disheartened if you don’t hear back.

Another avenue for industry advice is service providers. Google for Start-ups offers great online resources and their local teams regularly engage with entrepreneurs. For example, Google reached out to us when we first launched and offered us free digital strategists to work alongside us for 12 months.

Whether you’ve got an idea in the back of your mind, or you’ve set up shop in someone’s basement, it’s best you take these challenges head-on. Underlying all of these considerations needs to be perseverance and acceptance of rejection.

It’s going to be hard, but it’s also going to be really, really exciting.

—

Image Credits: saksit054

e27 publishes relevant guest contributions from the community. Share your honest opinions and expert knowledge by submitting your content here.

The post Pessimistic tactics for optimistic entrepreneurs appeared first on e27.

Ernst & Young welcomes application for its early stage startup incubator program, EY Foundry

Professional services organization Ernst & Young now welcomes applicants into its incubator program for early stage startups in the accounting, tax, fintech, legal tech, and regulatory tech space in Singapore. The invitation is extended from now till 26 April 2019 here (www.ey.com/eyfoundr) for Singapore-based startups in the mentioned areas.

Also Read: CoHive to launch 18-story co-working building CoHive 101

The official launch of the program itself will be in June 2019. The participants will get a chance to win a six-month rent-free residency at the growth center of the company EY wavespace in Singapore, offered only to up to five selected startups.

During the residency, EY will provide a tailored learning program that is based on EY industry insights experience in helping startups accelerate their business growth and develop their technology. What’s interesting is that EY will take no equity in the startups and will give the startups S$120,000 worth of Microsoft Azure credits to further support the building of participants’ technology stack.

EY will also open the opportunity for participants to pitch their ideas to EY leaders and the supporting corporate community, as well as their technology, or products generated from EY Foundry’s residency time.

“By working with the smartest talent in the startup space, we are unlocking new markets and innovation, building new relationships, and ultimately better serving clients,” said Jon Dobell, EY Asia-Pacific Tax Innovation Leader.

Previously, EY Foundry had a successful run in Sydney, Australia in 2018. Singapore would make its second country.

Also Read: Cambodian internet startup company Groupin secures US$5M Series A funding

The criteria to qualify for EY Foundry program are as follows:

• Must be an early stage (pre-series A funding) startup that is technology or product-related (not a service offering).
• Must have a working prototype or working towards a prototype that is scalable and can be used internationally
• Must have a headcount of four individuals or less, with demonstrated experience in the relevant industry
• Must have a cash flow to sustain nine months of operations
• Must be able to provide a business pack in the EY Foundry application

–

The post EY to launch startup incubator EY Foundry in Singapore appeared first on e27.

Almost all business functions are turning to data-driven analytics to manage increasing complexity and market volatility

Despite the attention paid to multi-nationals, government-linked corporations and prominent local public companies, the fact is that the economies of ASEAN’s member states are dominated by small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

In fact, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises represent around 97-99 per cent of the enterprise population in most ASEAN countries.

Southeast Asia is, however, one of the fastest growing regions in the world and although small and medium businesses have an important window of opportunity, they must increase their competitiveness if they are to survive and grow in a highly competitive marketplace.

What SMEs must do is deploy the power of analytics.

Blending data across traditional silos

Global businesses of every size and in every sector are facing increasing complexity and market volatility.

In response, almost all business functions are turning to data-driven analytics and insights as a means to manage this increasing uncertainty, and pursue growth through a better understanding of their organisations’ customer bases.

Also Read: Cambodian internet startup company Groupin secures US$5M Series A funding

Responding to consumers’ demand to engage with their vendors, many SMEs are already using a variety of tools to support and track customers, manage social media, and run advertising campaigns.

However, when these tools are stand-alones — operating in silos — their value is diminished.

Combining them all in a dedicated analytics platform vastly increases the value of this data and the decisions it facilitates.

Analytics can draw on, aggregate and analyse data from marketing, sales, and customer service – and derive transformational insights into customer behaviour and preferences

The potential for growth through data and analytics

The sheer pace of change and the jargon that goes with digital transformation may be disconcerting to traditionally-run SMEs.

In fact, however, cutting through the jargon reveals basic business objectives and methods that any business owner will immediately understand and endorse.

Big data, for example, is not all about having unlimited amounts of information. It’s more a case of receiving high-quality, timely information that is specific, relevant and valuable to the business.

Putting analytics to work becomes easier all the time — new generation analytics tools integrate with third parties making the job of data scientist or business owner far easier, as the hard work of pulling all the data from disparate systems is done on their behalf.

Analytics at your fingertips

Data analytics produces numbers, and businesses that put numbers to work can expect to see numerous improvements, including better service level performance, better order fulfilment, improved supplier management, maximised customer value, lower costs and better product management.

They are more likely to outperform competitors in key performance metrics — including sales, sales growth, profit and return on investment.

Analytics tools also incorporate data mobility, aiding faster business decision making since the data is available, when and where it is needed.

AI and predictive analytics is redefining reporting

Every business runs on multiple apps depending on their own unique needs. A company might use a CRM to manage customer interactions, a support desk app to resolve customer problems, and so on.

In such cases, data is being constantly generated from multiple sources, which is why a unified data analytics platform is necessary to make sense of it.

Also Read: Pessimistic tactics for optimistic entrepreneurs

With advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, today’s machines can read, have conversations, learn and analyse previously unmanageable amounts of data. By using such sophisticated analytics tools in conjunction with AI, the value that SMEs can extract from the vast amounts of data available to them is immense.

Beyond making day-to-day business tasks simpler and more efficient, and improving the quality of interactions with customers, analytics can provide businesses with important strategic support.

Analytics can help evaluate predicted outcomes to better understand the financial impact of key decisions, and can also be harnessed to better manage risks.

Conversational analytics tools improve user experience

With conversational interfaces in BI tools, the task of making sense of your data by querying the right segment of data that you need, in the right format becomes as easy as having a conversation with your personal assistant.

Improvements in natural language processing are taking the improvements right into data interpretation making it easier for business owners to make faster decisions without having to learn or unlearn complexities that are akin to data science projects.

The bottom line is that the right data analytics tool can combine and blend data from multiple apps to provide SMEs with end-to-end insights into their business, making sure they stay agile, relevant, and able to seize every opportunity for growth.

—

Image Credits: yuryimaging

e27 publishes relevant guest contributions from the community. Share your honest opinions and expert knowledge by submitting your content here.

The post Why SMEs should harness the power of analytics appeared first on e27.

Plus SC Ventures launches fintech bridge for startups and Tookitaki raises US$7.5 million

Cambodian startup-owner raises important funding round — [e27]

Groupin, a company that owns Little Fashion and Mediaload (famous for Khmerload) announced today it raised US$5 million from Belt Road Capital Management, a Mekong-focussed private equity firm.

The company claimed that the funding is the largest in the history of Cambodian tech startups.

Little Fashion and Mediaload are now squarely one of the most important startups in Cambodia, a country that has a small-but-burgeoning startup ecosystem.

Mediaload had previously raised financing from 500 Startups.

SC Ventures launches programme to match fintechs with Standard Chartered — [Press Release]

SC Ventures, a corporate VC arm of Standard Chartered, announced today it has launched a new programme called the ‘Fintech Bridge’ which aims to connect fintech companies with the bank.

The goal is to bring startups into Standard Chartered and have the fintechs pitch solutions that may help fix problems at Standard Chartered.

The programme is making four commitments to help improve the relationship between startups and corporates. They are:

• Connecting the the correct people
• No time wasted
• Funding guaranteed for proof of concepts
• Exposure to our markets

Tony Fernandes quits Facebook after New Zealand terror attack – [CNN]

Tony Fernandes, the Founder and CEO of AirAsia, quit Facebook after the platform was used to spread a video of the New Zealand mosque attack, according to CNN.

He said that the platform needs to clean itself up and that the harm of social media can outweigh the benefits.

According to the article, Facebook removed 1.5 million instances of the mosque attack video.

OVO acquires P2P lending startup Taralite – [KrAsia]

In a bid to start making marks in online lending sector, Indonesian conglomerate-owned e-wallet OVO has bought Indonesia-based P2P lending service Taralite, as first reported by KrAsia.

The acquisition is said to be finalised in February, but no terms from the deal are revealed.

“For the larger part, the decision to join OVO is because the link-up will help Taralite diversify the types of loans and credits we offer and reach a bigger scale,” said Abraham Viktor, Taralite’s founder, who will remain Taralite’s CEO after the buyout.

Singapore regtech startup raises US$7.5 million — [e27]

Singapore-based Tookitaki, a regulatory tech company that aims to enable financial institutions to develop sustainable compliance programmes, today announced that it has raised a US$7.5 million in Series A funding round.

The funding round was co-led by Illuminate Financial, a London-based early stage enterprise fintech investor, and Jungle Ventures, a Singapore-based Southeast Asia-focussed venture capital (VC) firm.

Enterprise Singapore, Supply Chain Angels, and VWX Capital also participated in the funding round.

In a press statement, Tookitaki Founder and CEO Abhishek Chatterjee said that a “large portion” of the funding will be used to strengthen the company’s R&D capabilities.

—

The post Today’s top tech news, March 18: Cambodia’s largest funding round and Tony Fernandes quits Facebook appeared first on e27.

Marketing consultancy platform Entropia has launched IoT service called Aladdin through the joint venture it forms with Rudra Labs

Entropia, Malaysia-based marketing consultancy has formed a joint venture (JV) with Rudra Labs and launched an Internet of Things service called Aladdin.

Aladdin seeks to bring IoT opportunities to consumer businesses to help them drive growth.

Also Read: EY to launch startup incubator EY Foundry in Singapore

Entropia is based in Kuala Lumpur and Manila. It says to be specialised in evolving customer value proposition (CVP), customer experience design, data, and UI/UX.

Bringing expertise in designing and producing IoT firmware, hardware, IoT cloud and native, and IoT security device platforms, Rudra Labs was launched in 2016 with offices in Singapore and Hyderabad.

Joining together, the two companies will operate Aladdin, which seeks to deliver end-to-end from value mapping to concept development to prototyping to final production. It will also close the full customer data-to-sales loop once usage begins.

Aladdin will be led by Rajeev Bala, CEO of Rudra Labs along with a team of 22 people spread across Hyderabad, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, and Singapore.

“An IoT based brand value can establish a more meaningful value exchange between people and brands. Aladdin aims to do exactly that, supporting brands to go beyond merely campaigns and content and offer IoT utility that creates a new level of value for customers and higher margins for businesses,” Bala, who’s the Chief Inventor of Aladdin, commented.

Also Read: Cambodian internet startup company Groupin secures US$5M Series A funding

According to the companies’ joint announcement, Aladdin is aimed at innovators, marketers, and businesses with its Aladdin’s Smart Artefacts that create interconnectivity and interoperability to sense, predict, and respond to consumer’s way of life. Moreover, it also builds new revenue and margin streams for brands across industries.
–

Image Credit: Aladdin

The post Entropia forms JV with Rudra Labs, launches B2C IoT services appeared first on e27.

You’re not an entrepreneur if you can’t get investors to trust you with their money

Entrepreneurship has been a long journey for me.

In a way, it has been a culture inculcated by my parents into my brains ever since I was a child.

Here are valuable fundraising tips I’ve learnt along the way.

Clients have to be happy

My late father used to love sharing his business ideas. He would always encourage me to keep my eyes open for opportunities.

I recall going on holidays as a child and exercising business creativity skills with him. He would hold my hand while walking down the main road in Riccione (a holiday destination in Italy) and point out some stores, commenting on what they could have done better to attract more clients.

Then, later in the evening, he would bring up some business ideas during dinner, always focusing on the customer as a central point.

Therefore, I grew up thinking of ways to make clients happy.

Of course, there were many mistakes made but the foundation I received from my dad turned out to be one of the most useful skills I have learned.

The skill of connecting with investors

Over the past few years, I became interested in the startup culture as an alternative way of doing business.

My father couldn’t really grasp the concept of “Tech Valuation”. His approach was more like “brick and mortar”.

He could not clearly understand why a tech startup could have been worth billions while being at a loss.

I admit that sometimes that doesn’t make sense to me too. Take Uber for instance — worth in the billions while losing billions.

My father believed in bootstrapping businesses: you put your money in, work hard, take your profit, re-invest in your business, repeat. But, I recall a lesson I learnt from another great man and an extraordinary entrepreneur, Mr Giuseppe Fornasari, who once told me:

“An entrepreneur cannot complain about lacking capital for investment, because sourcing capital from investors is as crucial as executing.

Also Read: Innovation House Finland teams up with Mercatus Capital to open co-working space in Singapore

If you can’t get investors to trust you with their money, you are not an entrepreneur.”

As harsh as it sounds, this is the main reason why so many entrepreneurs fail in their business.

Recently I have been part of a success story, where one of my businesses was funded by a third party investor.

Although it is such a rewarding experience, the joy is somehow numbed by the fact that funding is not a goal but a start towards further business expansion.

Thus, the ability to fundraise, although crucial, cannot be seen as the only necessity.

The world is big

From an implementation perspective, everything becomes easier when a startup is funded, especially when looking at the soft spots in the market.

For instance, a startup with no funding follows the entrepreneur.

If the entrepreneur is based in a country, there most probably won’t be a relocation — even if needed — until funding is achieved.

Subsequently, after funding, an entrepreneur would need to look at the industry from a geographic expansion perspective. Ideally, such an analysis should take place even before the fundraising exercise.

Some entrepreneurs tend to look at their industry strictly within the comfort zone of their location, hence performing poorly when attempting to expand to other countries.

A wiser approach is to plan ahead which country “needs your startup” the most. Similarly, which country has the easiest regulation for your startup to exist.

Once pinpointed, fundraising becomes simpler because usually investors can be categorised by stage, industry, and geography.

This approach worked like magic during my last fundraising because I was able to look at the world map without restrictions, tailoring my pitch to investors based on their geography of interest.

Of course, the stage and the industry were already a match.

Conclusion

I believe that, firstly, a startup should keep its focus on customer satisfaction when designing the product or service.

Secondly, it is absolutely essential to have access to investors and work on gaining their trust.

Lastly, it pivotal to look at the world map and do the homework, find out where else you should go next.

Also Read: TOP100 is much more than a pitching competition

Lacking any of these three requirements would cause a possible pitfall.

I see this happening all the time with food-related businesses. For instance, one should never assume that what they like is what the rest of the world likes.

Similarly, don’t assume that if you have a habit, everyone else will have it too. That’s the unfortunate case of food delivery services — so popular in some parts of the world, and totally useless in others.

Another example is looking at the problem/solution at a local scale.

A Russian citizen might think that a professional social network is absolutely needed, but that would only be applicable to the few countries where Linkedin is not accessible or available.

In both examples, the chances of reaching investors interested in a global scale startup would be slimmed down, resulting in a potentially successful local startup or another imminent shut-down.

—
Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash

e27 publishes relevant guest contributions from the community. Share your honest opinions and expert knowledge by submitting your content here.

The post The holy grail of fundraising for startups appeared first on e27.

Higher productivity means you can do more with less, while potentially enjoying greater innovation and profitable growth

Small businesses lack the scale and resources larger businesses have — which is why it’s even more critical for them to pay attention to productivity.

So, what are some of the practical, actionable ways you can improve productivity in your small business?

Here’s a fresh look at why productivity levels drop, how this could affect your business and what you can do to improve and maintain productivity.

Why productivity levels drop

Things like poor organisational structure and culture as well as lack of employee training can have a negative impact on productivity.

In addition, ineffective supervision and communication along with low-morale causing micromanagement could be another potential driving factor behind dropping productivity levels.

Poor task planning and too many unnecessary meetings can lead to distractions, conflicts, and stress that will drain your team’s productivity.

Your team members not having the right tools to support their roles could also have a negative impact on productivity.

How poor productivity affects small businesses

Poor productivity could have wide-ranging impacts on your small business.

It could further lower morale, impede efficiency, and affect growth and profit margins.

You could experience poor sales, reduced customer satisfaction, revenue, and service performance — leading to a compromised bottom line.

High productivity could be the outcome of numerous factors, so the following strategies cover everything from technology to motivation.

1. Provide the right tools and equipment

Having the right tools and equipment could have a significant impact on your team’s productivity by helping them get more done, faster, and more effectively.

For example, Misschu the original Asian street-food “tuckshop” in Australia was looking for a way to increase their productivity.

Everything was labour intensive for Misschu until they adopted food catering software. This helped them to scale their business and grow a lot faster.

2. Implement a continuous improvement system

Improving and maintaining productivity is a continuous process, so focus on continuous improvement rather than setting and leaving it.

You can do this by defining the best practices for your industry and designing your organisation, operations, and processes to meet these targets.

Also Read: This Singapore healthtech company just raised US$25 million for APAC expansion

Regularly seek feedback from employees about areas for improvement, focus on a few priorities at a time and track your results as you go.

3. Plan roles, tasks, and processes effectively

Review the jobs, roles, tasks, processes, and workflows in your organisation and explore ways to become more efficient in each of these.

This could be with the help of technology tools to support improved workflows. Review how your staff structure their workdays and adjust this if necessary.

4. Set clear expectations and reinforce deadlines

Ensure every team member understands their employee responsibilities and has clear deadlines they can work too. A good way to do this is to lay out key duties in an employee handbook.

Managers should take time to communicate their expectations and goals, offer direction and guidance, and follow up to make sure staff members are hitting their targets.

This could make your team members more accountable yet more independent and, in turn — more productive.

5. Create a positive workplace

Review your workplace culture and look for ways to build a more positive work environment.

Also Read: Introducing our 12 most-read contributors so far in 2019

Highly stressful, antagonistic, and adversarial workplaces could be detrimental to productivity.

In contrast, a positive, supportive work environment might better motivate your team to do better.

Final remarks

Productivity can be determined by a wide variety of factors.

In your small business, you could successfully address it by providing the right tools and equipment for your staff.

By valuing productivity, your small business could realise strong growth and sustained profits.

—

Image Credits: lekstuntkite

e27 publishes relevant guest contributions from the community. Share your honest opinions and expert knowledge by submitting your content here.

The post Scale up your productivity, scale up your business appeared first on e27.

Track and Roll is ready to Rock N Roll the HR management industry! Oh, and sea eagles are the national animal of Brunei

Just two days after Ho Chi Minh City, the 2019 TOP100 qualifiers arrived in Brunei for a pitching showdown.

This time, Track and Roll Sdn Bhd took home the crown and a free booth at e27’s Echelon Asia Summit on May 23-24.

The Judges’ Choice winners and four other qualifying startups from the Brunei leg will each have a shot at competing with other awardees for over S$100,000 worth of prizes.

In attendance for the event were Javed Ahmad, the CEO of Darussalam Enterprise, a pro-business ecosystem builder, and Pengiran Haji Mohd Hasnan Bin Pg Haji Ali Hassan, the Permanent Secretary of Industry of the Ministry of Energy, Manpower and Industry.

TOP100 is a lot more than a simple pitching competition, and we broke down the entire programme in this article.

Also Read: TOP100 is much more than a pitching competition

Now, let’s find out more about the Judges’ Choice-worthy pitch:

Track and Roll Sdn Bhd

Track and Roll sees itself as a more affordable, easy-to-use solution for Human Resource (HR) management problems.

With its comprehensive services like managing attendance, time-consuming payroll processing and keeping up with important dates, leaves and claims.

Its goal is to empower small & medium enterprises to become an instant HR expert.

This is achieved through modules like centralising employee management, live streaming attendance tracking and electronically managing leave, claims and payrolls — all while supporting employee self-service.

A unique feature is that all these modules can synchronise with Payroll yet run independently.

Also Read: Our Ho Chi Minh City TOP100 winners prove that the Vietnamese dragon is awake

Founded by Simon Soo, Kannan M and Jason Ngo back in January, the company seeks to alleviate HR pain points with its monthly subscription plan. To date, Track and Roll is already rolling with seven pilot companies in both the corporate and industrial sector.

Kudos to the HR heroes for their successful pitch! Now, here are the four startups who qualified:

1. Kryptix Company – BowlUs
2. Memori MY Sdn Bhd
3. Al-Huffaz Management
4. Grominda Group

Congratulations to these five companies for their outstanding work! Catch e27 at our next roadshow in Hanoi.

—

The post Our Brunei TOP100 champion is set to fly higher than a sea eagle appeared first on e27.

Іt’s а cold wоrld оut thеrе, and sometimes you’ll get a little frosty too

Соmреtіtіоn fоr іnvеstоr funds іs fіеrсе. Тhеre’s а lоt оf tаlk аbоut hоw tо роsіtіоn уоur рrоduсt роsіtіvеlу аgаіnst thе соmреtіtіоn. Вut, hоw dо уоu соmреtе wіth thе thоusаnds оf stаrtuр еntrерrеnеurs lооkіng tо grаb а сhunk оf thе sаmе fundіng рооl?

Оnе wау уоu саn dіstіnguіsh уоursеlf frоm thе mаssеs іs fоr уоur ріtсh tо bе sееn аs а fоrmіdаblе соntеndеr. In other words, gеt іnvеstоrs ехсіtеd.

Неrе’s hоw tо аvоіd thе соmmоn ріtсh dесk mіstаkеs.

1. Don’t pіtсh thе prоduсt – pіtсh thе busіnеss

Іnvеstоrs dоn’t іnvеst іn іdеаs. Тhеу dоn’t іnvеst іn рrоduсts. Тhеу іnvеst іn busіnеssеs.

Іnvеstоrs іnvеst bесаusе thеу wаnt tо gеt а bіg fаt rеturn оn thеіr іnvеstmеnt оnе dау. А рrоduсt dоеsn’t gіvе thеm а rеturn. А vіаblе, рrоfіtаblе аnd sustаіnаblе busіnеss саn.

Іf уоu hаvе trасtіоn, lеаd wіth іt. Тhеrе’s nоthіng bеttеr tо рrоvе thаt уоu hаvе sоmеthіng thаt а mаrkеt wаnts, nееds аnd wіll buу.

2. Avoid vеrbоsе — bе suссіnсt

Тоо mаnу best pitch decks аrе vеrbоsе. Тhеу аrе соnfusіng аnd іnvеstоrs сhесk оut rаthеr thаn wrіtе а сhесk.

Frоm thе vеrу bеgіnnіng рrоvіdе sресіfіс аnd suссіnсt dеtаіls аbоut thе рrоblеm уоu sоlvе, fоr whоm аnd whу уоur sоlutіоn mаttеrs аbоvе аll оthеrs.

Also Read: Scale up your productivity, scale up your business

Rеsіst оvеr соmmunісаtіng. Gеt tо thе роіnt quісklу wіth уоur fіrst slіdе.

3. Shun wоrdу slіdеs — use vіsuаls аnd bullеt pоіnts

Тоо mаnу ріtсh dесk slіdеs аrе расkеd wіth whаt thе рrеsеntеr іs gоіng tо sау.

Еntrерrеnеurs саn rеаd – аnd thеу саn rеаd fаstеr thаn уоu саn sреаk. Іnvеstоrs ехресt уоu tо knоw уоur mаtеrіаl wіthоut hаvіng tо rеаd іt.

Instеаd оf а bunсh оf wоrds оn а slіdе соnsіdеr usіng stunnіng vіsuаls tо mаkе уоur роіnt. Оnlу рut thе рrіmаrу роіnts оn thе slіdе, а sіnglе сrіtісаl роіnt wіll dо.

Grеаt vіsuаls соmmunісаtе а сlеаr mеssаgе аnd еngаgе аudіеnсеs еmоtіоnаllу. Аnd whіlе wе’rе оn thе subјесt оf slіdе рrеsеntаtіоn, dіtсh thе аnіmаtіоns аnd trаnsіtіоns. Тhеу dіstrасt frоm thе fосus оf уоur ріtсh.

4. Don’t fосus оn tесh (оr prоduсt fеаturеs) — fосus оn dіstrіbutіоn

Yоur ріtсh dесk nееds tо shоw thаt уоu knоw ехасtlу whаt іt wіll tаkе tо gеt, kеер аnd grоw сustоmеrs іn а соmреtіtіvе mаrkеtрlасе.

Тhіs іs а сrіtісаl slіdе bесаusе іnvеstоrs wіll wаnt а сlеаr рісturе оf hоw уоu рlаn tо gеt уоur аmаzіng рrоduсt іntо thе hаnds оf lоts оf сustоmеrs.

Вrоаd gеnеrаlіzаtіоns suсh аs “sосіаl mеdіа nеtwоrkіng” іs а tасtіс, nоt а strаtеgу.

Ѕhоw thаt уоu’vе іnvеstеd а lоt оf tіmе аnd еnеrgу іn dеvеlоріng аn асtіоnаblе dіstrіbutіоn рlаn аnd lеvеrаgіng уоur unfаіr аdvаntаgе.

5. Forget onе size fits all — tаіlоr your pіtсh

Тоо mаnу ріtсh dесks аrе сооkіе сuttеr tеmрlаtе-bаsеd рrеsеntаtіоns рrеsеntеd tо аll tуреs оf аudіеnсеs іnсludіng іnvеstоrs, сhаnnеl sаlеs раrtnеrs аnd strаtеgіс раrtnеrs.

Also Read: Our Brunei TOP100 champion is set to fly higher than a sea eagle

Κnоw уоur аudіеnсе. Таіlоr уоur ріtсh tо уоur sресіfіс аudіеnсе. Ноw dоеs уоur busіnеss fіt wіth thе rеst оf thеіr роrtfоlіо?

Dо уоur hоmеwоrk, and smасk your solution іn thе mіddlе оf thеіr іnvеstmеnt “swееt sроt”.

Shаре уоur ріtсh, уоur busіnеss stоrу, tо thе specific аudіеnсе tо whісh іt іs рrеsеntеd.

–

Іf уоu wаnt аn іnvеstоr tо gеt sеrіоus аbоut уоur busіnеss, gеt sеrіоus аbоut уоur ріtсh dесk.

Lооk аt уоur ріtсh frоm аn іnvеstоr’s реrsресtіvе. Маkе surе еасh slіdе dеlіvеrs а соmреllіng аnswеr tо “whаt’s іn іt fоr mе” аnd “whу shоuld І саrе”.

Тhе mаіn thіng іs tо fосus оn thе mаіn thіng іn thе mіnds оf уоur роtеntіаl іnvеstоrs. Тurn уоur ріtсh іntо а well-told stоrу.

—

Image Credits: vincentstthomas

e27 publishes relevant guest contributions from the community. Share your honest opinions and expert knowledge by submitting your content here.

The post Save yourselves and stop making these pitch deck mistakes appeared first on e27.

The Singapore-based mobile app champions knowledge sharing and gaining soft skill via connection to Asia’s most successful people

Tigerhall, Singapore-grown knowledge sharing mobile app, has secured US$1.8 million in seed funding from investors like US-based strategic learning firm WDHB Inc, Singapore-based asset management firm Paladigm Capital, and a private investor who’s a senior banking executive in Singapore.

Tigerhall said it will use the funding to aim its target at the higher education sector.

Also Read: The Singapore-based startup that wants to cut bad sugar secures US$5M funding

The platform was launched on February 21st, founded by former leading sales and marketing recruiter for Michael Page International Singapore Nellie Wartoft. After her four years stint ended, Wartoft decided to form Tigerhall noticing the gap in people’s soft skill that caused them the job.

“Time and time again I found a mismatch. My clients wanted to hire people ready to hit the ground running with the right skills and knowledge to work in today’s business world but struggled to find them. My candidates had fantastic looking CVs with education from the best schools but couldn’t get the jobs they studied for as they lacked the soft skills and relevant knowledge needed in the fast-changing business world. I created Tigerhall to bridge that gap,” she further explained.

Tigerhall members are given access to bite-sized reads and podcasts which they can access on the go, as well as in-person workshops, mentorship, and private dinners with senior business leaders in Asia.

So far, experts on the platform already include Head of Fixed Income at Bank of Singapore, Head of People at Grab, Vice Chairman of Edelman, Executive Director at UBS, Partner at Deloitte, the former President of AirAsia, and Managing Director of DBS, who are featured every week on the app. Topics include how to manage a co-located workforce, managing a PR crisis on social media, launching products in emerging markets, handling poor performing staff, intrapreneurship, and even how to sack someone, published every day.

Also Read: VinaCapital Ventures invests in Vietnam-based UrBox and Wee Digital

Tigerhall is available on App Store and Google Play and is free to download with a subscription plan as low as 15 Singapore Dollars a month for both corporates and individuals.
–

The post Knowledge sharing platform Tigerhall secures US$1.8M seed funding appeared first on e27.