By bringing together Southeast Asia’s best, Thailand is geared for great things in the digital space

It’s no secret that the startup ecosystem in Southeast Asia is growing at a rapid rate. The region is home to 10 unicorn startups and has been earmarked as one of the most attractive destinations for investors. Thailand is a particularly nascent market for entrepreneurship — having ranked 71st out of 137 countries globally, and 15th out of 28 countries in the Asia Pacific region in the Global Entrepreneurship Index 2018.

The government of Thailand has been pouring efforts into building up the country’s tech ecosystem in recent years. The National Innovation Agency, a government agency aimed at encouraging innovation, overhauled its financial support programme for startups to help move progress along quicker and allowing them to access THB44 billion in funding. The agency’s main goal is to build 3,000 innovation-based startups in the next decade, to nurture the startup ecosystem and generate growth.

It also works in partnership with True Digital Park (TDPK), the country’s first and Southeast Asia’s largest digital innovation hub. Based in Bangkok, the global startup destination is a playground of sorts for startups, providing space for work and daily living in an integrated community. Initiatives like these really emphasise Thailand’s dedication to a digital transformation.

Digital transformation in the land of smiles

When we talk about digital transformations, the first thing that comes to mind for most people is simply shifting daily manual processes and activities into a digital framework — but it is far more than that.

According to The Enterpriser’s Project, a digital transformation in the business context is about “fundamentally changing how you operate and deliver value.” It also involves a “cultural change that requires organisations to continually challenge the status quo, experiment, and get comfortable with failure”.

This applies to ecosystems as well, and is the driving force for innovation, which is the reimagining of a process that has already been established. For example, social media gave the entire world a brand new way of communicating and sharing experiences, overhauling society in ways we couldn’t have imagined before. Innovating the way people connect with one another has sparked a digital transformation and resulted in vast generational changes.

While there are countless areas of business and life that are in the midst of being transformed, social media remains to be one of the most obvious examples of how innovation throbs at the core of digital transformation. It is so prevalent that it has become part of everyday life not just for people, but businesses as well.

Thailand’s TDPK is where such digital transformations in the region could plant its roots. With the sheer amount of talent and investment that the park brings together, it provides crucial knowledge creation that is supportive to digital innovations. By positioning itself as a hub where innovation thrives and sprawls, TDPK empowers the region’s startup ecosystem and boosts its potential exponentially.

Togetherness of possibilities — bridging the region together

In September 2019, TDPK held a tech conference, Togetherness of Possibilities, which aimed to inspire and share knowledge and experiences among startups, businesses, and government agencies. The conference featured new technologies and innovation labs exhibited by partners of the space, from public and private sectors, as well as top executives and entrepreneurs whose work is designed at driving more sustainable digital economic development in Thailand and the SEA region.

Mr. Suphachai Chearavanont, CEO of the Charoen Pokphand Group and Chairman of the Board of True Corporation, said: “Innovation and digital technology is the driving force of digital transformation especially for enterprises and industries that need to change their business model and apply digital technology to create added value for products and services.

“Meanwhile digital technology also plays an important role in digitising — making communities, societies, healthcare, and the environment better. It also reduces the income divide and helps to sustainably create prosperity for Thailand. True Digital Park has been developed to increase Thailand’s competence through innovation, creativity, and technology. All these factors combine to create sustainable economic growth in the long run.”

TDPK’s Togetherness of Possibilities 2019 conference provided an excellent opportunity for budding entrepreneurs to meet with experts and highly-rated speakers from leading companies and startups from Thailand, as well as other countries.

Some of the notable attendees were Dr. Chinawut Chinaprayoon, Executive Vice President of the Digital Economy Promotion Agency; Pariwat Wongsamran, Director of Startup Thailand, the National Innovation Agency; James Tan, Deputy Chairman of Action Community for Entrepreneurship (ACE Singapore); Phi Van Nguyen, Chairman of Saigon Innovation Hub; S. Ryan Meyer, Managing Director of APAC, General Assembly; Nicholas Nash, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Asia Partners; and Khailee Ng, Managing Partner of 500 Startups.

The conference was held over the course of a day and the agenda was jam-packed with talks, forums, and networking opportunities for attendees to discuss and brainstorm. Keynote speaker Dr. Lu Gang, founder and CEO of Technode, talked about future-proofing China’s future with global innovation and tech, while panel discussions hashed out issues and thoughts on corporate transformations, the evolution of players in Southeast Asia’s tech ecosystem, and unicorn opportunities in the region.

Integration and support from the region

The biggest takeaway from the conference was the need for Southeast Asian tech ecosystems to integrate and support one another. Pariwat Wongsamran said during one of the panels: “Actually, all of us (Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand) have the programmes to help ASEAN startups already. We can [join them] in the same programme.”

He added, “We can share data together and [help them] to go for investments. Venture capitals don’t just think about investing in one country, but instead investing in Southeast Asia as a whole. That’s why we should [work] together and use existing programmes like landing and launching pads, and exchange programmes, to help startups.”

Congregations of tech players like TDPK’s Togetherness of Possibilities are essential in building networks and strengthening local startups in the region. It gives every stakeholder in the ecosystem the opportunity to look beyond their own horizons and ideas, and it ultimately creates a wider bird’s eye view on the region as a whole, which helps keep everyone on track. It prevents repetitive ideas or homogenous business communities, while at the same time encouraging healthy competition among startups and businesses.

The importance of synchronicity in Southeast Asia

Such gatherings also attract foreign startups and investors, who might be looking for a way into the vast Southeast Asian market or to expand their portfolios with innovative new businesses. Thailand is privileged to be at the heart of Southeast Asia, and has the potential to be used as a base for foreign startups who want to tap into the region and spread their wings.

Investors are taking an active interest in the region as well, with acquisitions of Southeast Asian tech startups more than doubling in the first half of 2019, according to the Financial Times. The takeovers amounted to US$4.9 billion during that period and were led by unicorns like Indonesia’s Go-Jek.

Also read: One roof, all possibilities at the heart of Bangkok

A report by Golden Gate Ventures in Singapore and the Insead business school predicts that this trend will increase, and estimates a minimum of 700 startup exits between 2023 and 2025. Michael Lints, a partner at Golden Gate Ventures, told FT that the research showed a high number of global investors who are seeking to deploy capital in the region, with the US showing the highest level of curiosity, followed by Japan, Korea, and some parts of Europe.

TDPK reflects Thailand’s commitment to sustainable development in both the country and the region. It recognises the difficulties local startups face when it comes to accessing investors or the wider market, and how they lack deep technology and are actively creating opportunities and putting in measures that will help these startups gain a more global perspective. Despite being slow to start with, the Thai ecosystem is gaining speed and attracting attention from all around the world.

During Togetherness of Possibilities, TDPK announced the completion of its startup ecosystem, reinforcing how prepared it is to drive the regional digital economy forward. The potential for Thailand to become a major innovation and entrepreneurial hub in Asia feels well within reach. TDPK’s focus on building a complete startup ecosystem that encourages connectivity and knowledge-sharing has driven its mission to help startups and tech entrepreneurs reach their full potential forward.

In order for this innovation hub to thrive, TDPK and other Thai agencies, both public and private, must seek out more collaborations and capital from other Southeast Asian hubs. This is something they are already doing in earnest and has seen success in the form of partnerships and interest in the country’s entrepreneurial activities. If they continue in this vein, there’s no stopping Thailand from achieving its goals.

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There is a level of enthusiasm that comes with starting a business for the first time. A lot of first-time business owners get too excited, act blindly, running their businesses down and land themselves in debt as a result.

According to a report on Forbes, in 2018 the Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Advocacy posits that roughly 80 per cent of small businesses survives the first year. That number sounds quite high because there is a common belief that most businesses fail in their very first year. It is safe to say that there are no guarantees, just principles to be followed and pitfalls to be avoided.

Capital may be a limiting factor, but if you repeat the same startup mistakes as older business founders, you are bound to fail worse than they did.

Starting a business requires that you do plenty of research, part of which includes how not to run a business. From research and expert opinions, here are 5 pitfalls to avoid when starting a business.

1. The pitfall of a wrong market notion

Business is business. That something interests you so much does not make it a viable business pursuit unless you know how you can turn your hobby to a business. Many businesses have become history just because of this wrong notion.

In business, you sell what the market wants, not what you feel like selling.

If you ignore the needs of the market, you set yourself up for failure. When you ignore the needs of the market, you quickly lose relevance. Discard the notion that the idea in your head is good enough until market research proves its viability.

2. The pitfall of not building an email list

Business is a game of numbers. The more channels you explore in driving sales, the more your chances of succeeding. Start early to build an email list for your business.

Also Read: The real reason why you should launch your startup faster (which is not talked about)

The start-ups who fail to pay attention to this end up at the bottom of the pyramid. Make email marketing a vital part of your business marketing plan.

A good email marketing service would enable you to create highly engaging email newsletters with an easy user interface (ideally drag & drop), mail automation, contact management and performance tracking of email marketing campaigns.

3. The pitfall of shabby negotiation skills

There is no law that says you must use up your start-up capital. Simply because you have enough to spend and go round for a start, does not mean you should do things without a proper negotiation.

Negotiation is a key part of business; it is an essential business skill.

You don’t negotiate because you don’t have enough, you negotiate because it is part of the business process. Shabby negotiation skills would drive faster down than calculated debt would.

Whether it is negotiating with employees, investors or suppliers, the key is to put your best foot forward and keep the emphasis on your business idea.

At this level, your target is to sell them your business plan or idea in the stead of a track record, which you don’t have because you are just starting out. Everything on the table is negotiable, master the skill and use it always.

4. The pitfall of not having a concrete business plan

Not having a business plan can be likened to flying blind or shooting without aiming. Every business must exist first on paper before it exists in reality. Your business should be so clearly represented on paper that it is near impossible for a willing investor to skip.

Creating a business plan takes time, thought and effort, and may seem like an impediment to getting on with opening or growing your new business, it is imperative in today’s competitive business climate for you to have all relative information available and evaluated before opening your doors.

With a thoughtfully prepared business plan, you will enter the business world prepared, ready to run your business and ready to compete.

Business plans are gradually becoming a cliché, but its importance remains undeniable. Along with depicting your business idea end-to-end on paper, painstakingly crafting your business plan helps you gain a better understanding of your business and increases your chances of success.

5. The pitfall of talent acquisition

Don’t be in a hurry to answer employer of labour. It is nothing more than a tag often too heavy on those who wear them. If you speak with successful business owners, you may be shocked to find out that they would do everything themselves if they could.

Before you employ anyone for the first time, make sure you really need to. The burden of paying salaries is real. Don’t hire anyone until it becomes necessary.

Also Read: 11 annoying business buzzwords you use without thinking and what to say instead

If you don’t put pen to paper and do your due diligence, failure is inevitable. Avoiding the pitfalls highlighted in this piece helps you keep your head in the game while making the most of your business.

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Between picking up her kids from school and future entrepreneurs in the world; Hong Kong-based VC Carman Chan lives an exciting life. Founder and leader of Click Ventures, an early-stage investor in technology startups in Asia and North America; she wants to enable the ecosystem to make it future-ready.

Value education

Although she ditched her PhD offer at a London University 20 years ago to fuel her venture; Chan sure does understand the value of education and training. No wonder then, that her first shot as a VC is strongly built on “nurturing innovators”. Driven by this mantra, she started the Click Academy within Click Ventures. It is a global initiative to give back to startup ecosystems by nurturing innovators and ecosystem stakeholders.

They do so by running training programmes, workshops, periodical reports, etc. “As a VC, we should spend at least 80-90% of our time learning. When we share knowledge, we learn, so it’s a win-win,” said Carman. With the Academy, she hopes to share observations and learnings from decades of building and supporting early-stage ventures to aspiring entrepreneurs.

But aren’t there a slew of accelerators, academies, and incubators aiming for the same? She instantly hit back with, “yes they are dime a dozen, but what about the people outside the ecosystem?”

In 2020, Chan wants to tackle this challenge and she is working with corporates and Universities to design an education programme of sorts to usher in curious minds who are not a part of the startup ecosystem. As a fair bit newbie to the environment, what I like about this notion (and hope to see it to fruition soon) is that there is no prerequisite i.e. unlike an accelerator or incubator one does not need to have a startup idea, team or a startup yet.

“Just bring in the curiosity,” Chan added.

Also read: Click Ventures’ Carman Chan on the most exciting changes in Hong Kong

She believes this kind of knowledge encryption has dual benefits. Not only will it create more entrepreneurial value but also enable businesses, investors, and corporates to understand the needs of startups and entrepreneurs. When you inspire a fresh graduate or student or even a mid-level employee with necessary knowledge and tools about the ecosystem there is a high chance they will be better empowered to become entrepreneurs.

Similarly, traditional businessmen jump into the ecosystem by becoming investors without knowing it too well and sometimes end up placing harsh terms (sometimes suffocating startups). Chan said, “I have seen investors ask for a personal guarantee from founders before funding. Or inflating success rates. If business investors were more educated (about the ecosystem), it could lead to better synergy.”

Women in tech

As one of Nikkei Asian Review’s Women to Watch in Asian Tech, Chan’s journey as a tech columnist-turned-serial entrepreneur- turned VC is inspiring for women entrepreneurs in Asia and the world. So I could not help quizzing her on if and how this education will empower women in the tech and business world?

“There is a lot of discussion about unconscious bias and it is very real,” said Chan. “I am often the only woman on the advisory board and I have to put in a lot of extra effort just to be heard.” She pointed to a “big inertia” when it comes to women in the fraternity and said that not a lot was being done to address the gender gap.

Women need to organise themselves and come together to tip the scales. Women-only investor networks, women entrepreneurs’ groups, and founder groups are growing and are a good sign. Chan herself is a part of SheVC, HK Female Founder and Funder, and WomenVC Network.

She likes their decentralised nature and says, “these networks can be game-changers for traditional Southeast Asian societies.” Startups need a global network to grow as every startup sooner or later will expand. Being a part of these networks come in handy. At Click Academy, she also runs a programme to discover and empower women-led or women empowerment projects to keep her company in the VC/startup world.

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WeWork further expands in Singapore amidst job cuts [press release]

WeWork today announced the official launch of its new space at 9 Battery Road in the heart of Singapore’s Central Business District (CBD).

The co-working space operator will also be opening two new locations beyond the city’s traditional CBD at 83 Clemenceau Road and 30 Prinsep Street in December 2019.

WeWork entered the region through the acquisition of Spacemob and its leadership, where the first location at WeWork Beach Centre was opened in December 2017. WeWork plans to have a total of 12 locations in less than two years in Singapore.

The company has been going through a rough patch in the past two weeks and is reportedly planning to fire thousands of people across the world.

Indonesia’s OJK grants new licences to six fintech lenders [DealStreetAsia]

Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority (OJK) has granted fully business operational licences to six fintech startups as of September this year.

The six startups are Modalku (the Indonesian arm of Funding Societies), KTA Kilat (Pendanaan), Kredit Pintar, Maucash, Finmas (Sinarmas and Oriente-backed fintech firm) and KlikACC.

OJK had previously granted licences to seven fintech startups in August this year to Danamas, Investree, Amartha, Dompet Kilat, KIMO, Toko Modal, and UangTeman.

In total, there are 13 companies granted fully business licences from OJK. So far, there are 127 fintech companies registered under OJK.

E-hailing drivers unhappy with ‘AH’ vehicle code [TheStar]

E-hailing drivers have expressed dissatisfaction with the Transport Ministry’s decision to change their vehicle’s code to ‘AH’, which denotes that it is a “private e-hailing” car.

Ng Kian Nam, representing a group of disgruntled drivers, said although the ministry had clarified this does not change the car’s status to that of a commercial vehicle, it was still a change in category.

On Wednesday (Oct 9), Transport Minister Anthony Loke said the change to the “AH” code is only in the Road Transport Department (JPJ) ‘s MySIKAP system, and will not be reflected in the vehicle’s ownership grant.

“What is the difference if there is a status change in the grant, or just in the MySIKAP system? It is still a change in category.

KK Fund-backed Drivehub looking for regional expansion [press release]

Thailand-based online car rental marketplace Drivehub has reached breakeven and is looking to expand service into other Southeast Asia markets.

Started in 2017, Drivehub connects thousands of rental vehicles from nationwide (such as Hertz, National, Sixt) and local car rental providers with potential renters. Since then, it has expanded its presence into 33 locations over Thailand.  

The startup is backed by KK Fund.

 

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Technology is reshaping the business landscape faster than ever. Moving from connected cars and homes to self-driving cars and smart environments, intelligent technologies are pushing us to innovate beyond traditional boundaries.

But is Singapore’s technology and innovation ecosystem—involving startups, incubators, accelerators, corporates, and venture capital investors—ready to harness the enormous potential of the future smart economy?

A change is urgently needed to unify the ecosystem, to stimulate deeper collaboration and innovation, and ultimately to help Singapore stay competitive in the fast-evolving world in which we live.

Breaking out of silos

The rapid evolution of technology as a key engine of growth has given rise to an ecosystem of investors, innovators, and integrators who are connected, but often in circuitous ways.

Startups, who inherently face an uphill battle to enter a market dominated by incumbents, are pressured to attract clients and scale quickly. Focused on their immediate customer acquisition priorities, startups have little opportunity to engage with the wider ecosystem.

Meanwhile, innovation companies at various stages of growth face an array of incubators and accelerators, with each providing specific kinds of support. Through competitions and boot camps, companies may win access to a few months of office space, technical expertise, or business guidance.

When the programme ends, the cycle begins again to search for the next stage of support. This patchwork system — short-term, selective, and uneven — leaves companies without consistent exposure to the support networks needed throughout their lifecycle.

Also Read: Cynthia Siantar leaves her position as co-founder and director of Call Levels

Those startups who come under the wing of corporate or VC players may receive longer-term support, funding, business networks, market exposure, and exit opportunities. But, corporate initiatives remain focused on solutions immediately relevant to them and are driven by a handful of leaders across a few industries.

Startups must then weigh the access to long-term support against other shortfalls — the risk of being limited to one corporate parent and tying their growth to another business with its own decision-makers and strategic plans.

Meanwhile, VCs are often tied to select verticals, geographies, and fund structures.

In recent years, the rise of co-working spaces has signalled an interest in a more community-oriented environment. Riding on the wave of demand for flexible workspaces, such business models attract a range of students, freelancers, creative professionals and startups.

While providing a viable alternative to traditional work offices, such spaces don’t directly address the business needs of tech and innovation-driven community. This includes supporting services for startups, access to deal opportunities for investors, and most importantly, the opportunity to bring new innovations to the market.

As pressure increases for Singapore to be a regional and global hub for innovation, we need to move beyond the challenges of the current ecosystem, towards a more intelligent, deeply synergistic community.

Building smart ecosystems

What is the alternative?

To start with, a smart ecosystem would provide innovators, integrators, and investors with direct access to what they need to do business, rather than having to jump through hoops.

Startups need ongoing professional support to grow; investors need greater exposure to deal flows; businesses need to tap on a network of high potential partners, regardless of where they are or when the next conference comes around. This will allow players to focus on the end goal—bringing innovation to the market and to society.

Having cut through the noise, the next step would be to deepen connections, to allow a new level of learning, brainstorming, ideation and innovation processing.

Through deep information sharing and mutual learning opportunities integrated into daily business spaces, Singapore can make it easier to encounter other players within the innovation value chain.

Hopefully, the result would be increased engagement with an ever-expanding network of like-minded projects beyond one space or city. A deeply connected community will bring the kind of proactive self-learning capacities of a smart ecosystem that can capitalise on opportunities across multiple levels, verticals, and locations.

Also Read: AMA with David Moskowitz and Gaurang Torvekar from Attores to talk all things blockchain

Furthermore, all players will gain from a solution which distinguishes Singapore as a uniquely connected and interconnected hub, where tightly woven players work hand-in-hand to drive innovation at the national level and beyond.

In the same way that intelligent technologies are connecting to wider information ecosystems and environments to develop new insights, we must also re-imagine a technology and innovation ecosystem where the various players expand beyond their default silos, to engage in more sustained, holistic cross-pollination and collaboration.

Those who can help Singapore accomplish this change will bring unique value to the current ecosystem.

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Image Credit: Dose Media

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