Indonesian mPOS platform Cashlez announces IPO plan – DailySocial

Indonesian mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) platform Cashlez announced a plan for IPO in 2020, DailySocial reported.

Cashlez CEO Teddy Tee said that the company plans to get listed on the development board instead of the acceleration board, which was prepared for startups such as Cashlez.

He also stated that the company is currently preparing for the public listing.

Cashlez claimed to have worked with more than 6,000 merchants in Indonesian cities such as Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya, Jogjakarta, Denpasar, and Medan.

Indian ride-hailing giant Ola to IPO in “less than two years” – Dealstreet Asia

ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd, the operator of Indian ride-hailing giant Ola, is reported to be planning for an IPO in less than two years after meeting profitability goals required for such listing in the country, according to Dealstreet Asia.

Citing two people aware of the discussions, the report also stated that Ola is expected to have turned its maiden annual profit in the year ended 31 March, the first step towards the goal of an initial public offering (IPO).

Local exchanges require companies to be profitable for at least three years before they go public.

Ola’s investor ARK Impact Asset Management has recently set up a pre-IPO trust fund.

Also Read: Aiming to add 4 new startups, Mandiri Capital Indonesia targets insurtech, investment management sectors

The US, allies call on Facebook to drop encrypted messages plan, citing concerns for terrorism and child abuse – Reuters

The United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia are to call on Facebook to drop its plan to introduce encrypted messages to its platform, Reuters reported.

The report stated that the three countries plan to sign a special data agreement that would fast track requests from law enforcement to technology companies for information about the communications of terrorists and child predators.

The agreement would enable law enforcement to get information in weeks and even days, instead of the current waiting period of six months to two years.

Facebook’s plan is being seen as a potential barrier to this goal.

The agreement will be announced alongside an open letter to Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg.

SoftBank, OYO jointly acquired Japanese rental apartment operator – Nikkei Asian Review

Indian hospitality startup OYO and its investor SoftBank Group have jointly acquired 80 per cent stake in Japanese rental apartment operator MDI, Nikkei Asian Review reported.

Citing a person familiar with the deal, the acquisition is said to cost over US$100 million.

OYO confirmed the transaction but declined to comment on the price and its stake in the company.

SoftBank and MDI had also declined to comment.

According to the report, the deal signals SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son’s appetite for new investments despite WeWork’s recent IPO “disaster.”

Also Read: Mandiri Capital Indonesia prepares fresh funds for 4 startups this year

Indonesian fishery platform Aruna raises funding – Dealstreet Asia

Indonesian integrated fishery platform Aruna has raised a funding round from SMDV and East Ventures as lead investors, Dealstreet Asia reported.

Aruna is a platform that uses digital technology to help fishermen in Indonesia improve livelihoods through better market access and fairer trading opportunities. It recently won The Alipay-NUS Enterprise Social Innovation Challenge, and has raised a seed funding round in 2017.

A spokeperson for East Ventures has declined to comment on the report.

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Image Credit: M. B. M. on Unsplash

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One of the keys to success in a start-up journey is to perfect the elevator pitch.

Whether you are meeting with investors, recruiting like-minded individuals, acquiring customers or users to your start-up platform, a good elevator pitch instils the necessary confidence not just in your start-up, but fundamentally the people who are running the start-up.

Why? If you can distil the philosophy, unique selling points and execution path of your start-up in a clear and concise manner, it shows that your start-up is the brainchild of much careful planning and a clear direction.

After all, whether a start-up grows spectacularly or crashes and burns instantly is only 30 per cent the function of a brilliant idea, and 70 per cent a function of execution.

So what makes a good elevator pitch?

Know your business

It goes without saying that knowing your business inside and out sets out the foundation for a good pitch. One of the first investors that I pitched to jumped onto the idea within two sentences of my pitch.

The beauty lies in the simplicity of the pitch. In those two sentences, I explained that my start-up is aimed at allowing retailers to offer a commission to users who successfully refer customers to retailers.

The benefit to retailers is that they do not pay any upfront fees but the only reward upon customer spending (a win-win!), and the benefit to users is that they earn from word of mouth referrals and social media sharing, which are activities that they already engage in any way.

There is a clear mapping out of the benefits to both sides of the platform, and the gaps in the current market which the start-up aims to solve.

Immediately, the opportunity was clear to the investor. If private car hires are a success because they leverage on idle assets which users have, and the problem of not enough taxis on the roads when people need them, why not pay for word of mouth referrals where the idle asset is the social media presence, and the problem is not enough advertising solutions that reward for sales conversion.

Also read: The art of the hustle — in elevators, on flights, and even in the toilet

Know yourself

What makes a start-up more compelling is not just the brilliant business idea, but that the people running the start-up have a clear idea of what the flaws are, and what needs to be done to address the flaws.

A start-up that claims to have no flaws cannot be a credible one because the founders are not able to see where the risks and threats are.

Where there are these blind spots, it is very easy to be trapped in unbridled optimism and squander precious opportunities, whether it be well-meaning advice from other people in the community or areas in which partnerships could be critical to the survival of the start-up.

And no investor, employees or customers would want to sign-up with a start-up that claims to have no flaws, only to be taken by surprise and burnt when the start-up fails. Because start-ups are tough, and failure common, everyone wants to, and should, go in with their eyes open.

One of the questions I’ve had to address in my startup is knowing that as a founder, while I have a clear idea of the direction I want the company to go, I also have to recognise that I am not an expert in all the areas critical for the growth of the company.

The question is, therefore, how do I find the right people to fill in those gaps, and properly incentivise and motivate them to do their best for the company? I also have to ask myself seriously whether the market is ready for my platform.

How do I grow this new category and actively condition the behaviour of retailers and merchants to use our app when no one else is currently doing this in the market? What are the strategies that the company will need to have in place, and how is the company going to go about implementing these strategies? These questions form a big part in a realistic elevator pitch.

Know your audience

An elevator pitch may only take a few minutes, but it is still easy to lose the attention (or worse, bore) the listener if the pitch is not nuanced to the interest area of the listener.

For investors, they want to know the trajectory to growth, revenue projections and exit strategies. For employees, they want to know what the career development and mentorship would be. For customers, they want to know what the benefits are to them, and why, of all the start-up noise out there, your platform is the one they should entertain.

The struggle for the short attention span of listeners is real. Focus on keywords that you know will get the listeners to perk up. “Revenue”, “exit plan”, “training”, “scalability”, “no upfront fees”, “limited downside risks”, “ease of making cash”, “idle resources”.

These are the keywords that work in the context of my start-up. However, the same keywords do not work for all elevator pitches and all start-ups, which is why knowing your audience comes after knowing your business and yourself.

At the same time, do not throw in words that are the flavour of the month just because you think that these are what the investors, employees and customers want to hear. For example, “gig economy” and “sharing economy” – these are the hot buzz words, but do they capture the essence of what your start-up is about?

It is perhaps more important to coin a new buzz word that captures your essence than to use terms that are not appropriate. In my context, we are starting a “referral or ripple economy”. After all, it is the next new wave and opportunity that matters. Once a concept has become a buzz word, you’ll need to ask yourself whether the opportunity has already peaked, and space is starting to become overcrowded.

Also read: How to pitch your startup on Facebook without being too salesy

A final word

Finally, this is not a point for the preparation of the elevator pitch but one of implementation. It is important to make sure that the entire start-up team is clear on the elevator pitch.  I’ve had the shocking experience of finding out that a senior executive had misrepresented what our start-up is about to a customer.

This can easily happen because as a founder, we are the ones taking most of the time on the vision and business plan of the start-up, but how often do we get our own employees, and senior executives to repeat the vision and business plan back to us in their own words to ensure that they truly understand what the start-up is about?

As a founder, we cannot be everywhere all the time, and we will have to delegate. The executives represent the company and the experience has taught me to never assume that because someone has heard the same elevator pitch 100 times that the person has internalised it the same way that it is intended to be.

So practice the elevator pitch, and have your staff repeat the elevator pitch back to you whenever you can. Make sure that the people who represent you on a day to day basis are able to represent in a fairly accurate manner, or you risk undermining your start-up from the inside when there are already so many challenges in ensuring the survival of your company.

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Join our e27 Telegram group here, or our e27 contributor Facebook page here.

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Malaysia’s Oil and gas company Petronas has set up a US$350 million venture capital fund, which aims to make direct investments in technology startups around the world, as per reports.

The corporate venture capital will pick a minority stake in early to growth-stage firms.

“A US$350mil fund for investment has been allocated for Petronas corporate venture capital (CVC) to target direct investments in technology startups in industry 4.0, advance materials and specialty chemicals, future of energy as well as access into new markets,” the company said in a statement.

Also Read: Petronas teams up with 500 Startups to launch startup accelerator in Malaysia

Petronas, in partnership with 500 Startups, recently launched a startup programme, called Petronas FutureTech, which aims to discover and nurture home-grown technology entrepreneurs, scale them up to global standards, as well as build and influence the tech-driven startup ecosystem in the country.

FutureTech’s focus themes for the first batch are Industry 4.0, specialty chemicals and advance materials, future of energy, digital transformation and retail innovation. Up to 20 local startups will be selcted to undergo an intensive 8-week programme. At the end of the programme in November, the startups will pitch their to Petronas, investors, potential collaborators, and the media.

“Petronas CVC will be immersed in the venture capital ecosystem, be it in the Silicon Valley or Kuala Lumpur, to scout visionary entrepreneurs to solve critical problems in industrial and energy space through breakthrough technology and innovative business models,” the company said.

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A statement of intent between ABAC Indonesia, the country’s name for APEC Business Advisory Council and UNDP has been signed in New York on September 30. The agreement seeks to accelerate financial inclusion for SMEs through the creation of ABAC Indonesia Impact Fund (AIF).

“The partnership that we have between ABAC Indonesia and UNDP aims to support the achievement of continuous programme in Indonesia to provide access to social investment or impact fund for SMEs, in line with the SDG, or Sustainable Development Goals,” said Shinta W. Kamdani, who represent as member of ABAC Indonesia signing the statement of intent.

Kamdani signed the agreement alongside NDP Acting Regional Director for Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific (RBAP), Valerie Cliff on “Leveraging Blended Finance for the Sustainable Development Goal” event last Friday, September 27 in United Nation General Assembly, New York.

The event was organized by UNPD jointly with the Government of Indonesia, the Government of Canada and the Government of Jamaica, as well as Tri Hita Kirana Forum for Sustainable Development

The event highlights the crucial role blended finance mechanisms play in financing the SDGs. It draws on the commitment and experiences of these countries and discusses methods to attract private capital towards achieving the SDGs — which could be applied to other countries.

Also Read: Singapore’s data protection framework gets a boost with new appointment, initiative

Present to witness the signing are Coordinator of Maritime Ministry Luhut Binsar Panjaitan, Head of UNDP Achim Steiner, as well as the representative of international regional and multilateral organisations.

The initiation of the impact fund, Kamdani noted, is the first of its kind in Indonesia. “We hope that the arranged structure can attract more investors to contribute for the development of SMEs and SDGs, and to also take into consideration not only the financial sustainability, but also the measurement of social impact with numbers to give the right and impactful decision,” Kamdani added.

Head of UNDP Achim Steiner also expressed the importance of having a domestic and international financial ecosystem through an innovative partnership between public and private, including the blended finance scheme and impact fund to increase the number of funding needed for SDG and leave no one behind.

“Blended finance can unleash much-needed opportunities to fill the massive gap of global funding in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but faster actions to harness the financing are needed to meet the development agenda, the head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).”

Also Read: In a recent APEC workshop, we learned that SMEs must learn to “survive” digital attacks

“The real issue is that the global financial system is not channeling financial flows effectively towards investments for sustainable development. Reorienting even a fraction of the global stock of financial assets would accelerate sustainable development. That requires creating domestic and international financial ecosystems that accelerate the deployment of public and private finance including through innovative partnerships and finance instruments,” said Steiner.

Furthermore, the partnership will see ABAC Indonesia and UNDP focusses on identifying potential SMEs and UNDP’s support in developing ABAC Impact Fund-backed SMEs, encourage inclusive finance for small and medium enterprises.

ABAC Indonesia Impact Fund uses blended finance – combining public, private, and philanthropic funds – to support impact ventures and SDGs in Indonesia.

ABAC Indonesia will provide guidance on the local investment ecosystem and facilitate the mobilisation of seed funding, up to US$5 million, as First Loss Capital, to attract further investors and encourage the capitalisation of the Fund. UNDP will provide technical assistance to identify and evaluate potential impact ventures, using the IMM (Impact Measurement Management) parameters.

UNDP is working alongside governments and other stakeholders to raise awareness, build institutional capacity and increase understanding of the gaps and opportunities in financing the SDGs.

In Indonesia, UNDP has established the Innovative Financing Lab as a collaborative space, bringing all stakeholders from the government, investors, entrepreneurs, religious organisations, financial institutions, and development partners to leverage new finance for the SDGs.

Under the Lab, UNDP has supported the successful issuance by the Government of Indonesia of the first Green Sukuk with a total amount of US$2 billion.

UNDP has also tested blended finance instruments with Islamic charity funds, resources from a state-owned Bank and GEF funding to give access to energy bank to poor community in remote areas, which are currently being scaled up.
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Terra Capital, Bangkok-headquartered investment firm, announces that Singapore-based Dr. Reckendorfer & Partners, has acquired a minority stake in Terra Capital in order to support the firm and its current investment portfolio in reaching their expansion and revenue goals.

Dr. Reckendorfer & Partners has seven worldwide offices in addition to Singapore, whichare located in Bangkok, Hong Kong, Kaohsiung, Belgrade, Limassol, and Vienna.

Terra Capital CEO Stefan Gunnarsson commented, “The acquisition of a minority stake in Terra Capital by Dr. Reckendorfer & Partners validates the strength of our portfolio and gives us the backing of a firm with a global network and valuable local insights in Asia and Europe. We are scaling the companies in our portfolio across the region.”

“We view the partnership with Terra Capital as an ideal symbiosis of two companies involved in innovative business models and technologies,” said Dr. Reckendorfer & Partners Chairman Dr. Wolfgang Reckendorfer.

Terra Capital CEO and founder Stefan Gunnarsson established Terra Capital in 2017 for early stage investments in Southeast Asia.

Also Read: Online cashback platform RebateMango acquires Thai rival DeeDee Cashback

Over the past three years, Terra Capital has invested US$2 million in total in eleven startups in pre-seed and early stage rounds. The firm aimed to invest US$5 million within the next twelve months.

Terra Capital’s notable additions to its portfolio include Singapore-headquartered online property rental marketplace Flat Monthly, Vizoport; Asia-based producer of 3D immersive content, and JobExpress, a recruitment startup that seeks to minimise operating costs.

Being onboard, Dr. Reckendorfer & Partners said it provides strategic, investment, business development, and operational services to create and accelerate establishment of businesses in Asia and Europe.

Dr. Reckendorfer & Partners, or DR&P, is an international and interdisciplinary consultancy company, specialisung in representing European high tech companies in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region.
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Picture Credit: unsplash.com/@jarvisphoto

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Being perfect isn’t cool anymore

Pastel-perfect colours, bright facades, and smashed avocado toast – hallmarks of the Instagram trend were all the rage back in 2017. Then something happened. 

People got tired of it.

Consumers, especially millennials and Gen Z, are becoming increasingly sceptical towards influencers and their hyper-curated content. 

A study by media agency UM found that internet users are becoming more distrustful of social media content with only 8 per cent believing most information on social media. When it comes to content provided by influencers, this number declines even further to 4 per cent.

Engagement rates are also down. As seen in the chart below, influencer sponsored post engagement rates have declined 40 per cent from 2016 to 2019 – hitting an all-time low of 2.4 per cent in 1Q19.

Show me something real

Unglam is in

To their credit, some influencers have begun adapting to the new climate. Trends like “Instagram vs. reality” have gained traction as people poke fun at themselves in an effort to become more relatable and authentic.

Zero One Partners has been granted permission to feature photos by Rianne Meijer 

Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/BzGbpdfIUY4/?utm_source=ig_embed

 

Apps like Tiktok that celebrate the embarrassing and cringe-worthy have also shown astronomical growth – recently crossing 500 million monthly users. 

Compared to Instagram’s neat and carefully crafted aesthetic, Tiktok users upload videos of themselves lip-syncing, dancing, and making fools of themselves (Jimmy Fallon convinced people to roll around like tumbleweeds on Tiktok).

The rise of more authentic micro-influencers

Distrust towards artificial, perfectly curated content has also spurred the rise of another kind of influencer – friends, family, and people from shared interest groups. 

After all, given how easy it is to spoof follower numbers across social media and how many people have now become essentially shills for products online, it’s much easier to trust someone you already know or someone who has to maintain some sense of credibility within a shared community group.

Anyone can be an influencer for as little as $12.95! Photo from idigic.net

 

Consumers today are smarter than ever and winning their trust is all about presenting authenticity. Just look at the American beauty startup Glossier, who has achieved massive success with Millenials by doing just this. 

“Beauty inspired by real-life,” says the Glossier website the moment you arrive. One scroll down the page you see “Real people share their real-life routines”. Then in the “Glossier in real life” section, the company showcases the Instagram posts of real customers using their products (many of whom have less than 1000 followers). 

Everyone knows a model with perfect photo editing will look good in makeup, but what about real people? What about imperfect me? This has proven far more compelling content than purchased mega-influencer posts or professional photos of perfect models.

Screenshot from https://www.glossier.com/shop-the-look

Glossier is killing it by tapping its customers as authentic micro-influencers; started in 2014 the company has already achieved a reported market valuation of US$1.2 billion and is outcompeting far more well-established brands.

Leveraging micro-influencers isn’t just a developed market trend either. In India, the Y-Combinator and Sequoia-backed social commerce startup Meesho leverage its users as micro-influencers to resell products into their social circles via mobile phone chats.

 

Think of it as an Avon or Tupperware business model built for the smartphone generation.

Meesho takes care of all the backend including product sourcing and inventory management, allowing anyone to easily resell products via Whatsapp or Facebook Messenger with a higher conversion rate because they are selling to people they know, rather than being mega-celebrities blasting out paid posts to an audience of complete strangers.

With social blending into commerce, authenticity & trust have never been more important 

Social is commerce

It’s tough to predict the future of any industry, but from how social and commerce have been intersecting over the past few years, it seems all but inevitable for the two to blend into one another.

Since 2018, social media companies have begun launching commerce-related initiatives in earnest. 

Facebook launched its marketplace feature in Singapore last year, while Instagram has begun rolling out its new shopping & checkout features. Messaging app LINE also just announced their plans to build a new e-commerce platform offering an assortment of products from 15 major marketplaces.

In turn, e-commerce companies have also become more social.

In 2017, Amazon launched a social network-like featured called “Amazon Spark” where Prime users could share pictures of their latest purchases allowing customers to discover new products. While Amazon eventually shut down this feature, the Company has incorporated what they learned into #FountItOnAmazon, which is still active.

Alibaba Group’s Taobao app is also blurring the lines between e-commerce and social through its live streaming feature. Thousands of merchants showcase their products over the video while answering questions and offering advice in real-time. Merchants host their products in the stream allowing customers to seamlessly purchase products while never leaving the video.

User-generated content: higher content authenticity = higher impact

With every social interaction increasingly becoming an opportunity for brand awareness, advertisers need to learn how to adjust their marketing strategies.

According to statistics from Stackla, 90 per cent of consumers finds authenticity to be important when deciding which brands to support with individuals being 2.4x more likely to find user-generated content (“UGC”) authentic compared to brand-created content. 

The perceived authenticity has led to consumers finding UGC to be 9.8x more impactful than influencer content, and 6.1x more effective than a brand’s own content.

Chart from Stackla – Bridging the Gap: Consumer & Marketer Perspectives on Content in the Digital Age

 

Already, many firms across the world have leveraged the power of UGC to great success.

Xiaohongshu (小红书), a Chinese startup founded in 2013, has seen rapid growth thanks to its engaged community and a plethora of recommendation-focused features. 

Compared to other shopping apps, Xiaohongshu doesn’t allow one-click ratings or anonymous reviews. Instead, the app is known for 笔记 or “Notes” – extensive product feedback often accompanied by images & videos – which has lent a higher level of credibility to products on its platform.

Screenshots from Xiaohongshu’s mobile app

 

This has, in turn, led to higher conversion rates. According to Econsultancy, 8 per cent of users makes orders on the Xiaohongshu app after reading reviews vs. 2.6 per cent on Tmall (China’s largest marketplace for brands).

Many firms in the US have also begun leveraging UGC. 

Thanks to Yotpo, a New York-headquartered startup, it’s easier than ever for brands to leverage user-generated content in their marketing. 

Yotpo collects user-generated content (such as social media posts, reviews, and photos) and allows companies to embed the UGC everywhere across the web – from home pages, social media platforms and also e-commerce sites. Companies such as GoPro, Steve Madden, and Everlast leverage Yotpo to augment their UGC marketing campaigns.

Intuitively, the success of user-generated content makes sense. From relying on stock images, then influencers, and now micro-influencer or consumer-produced UGC, there has been a continuous push by consumers for more transparent and authentic content – things we can more easily trust. 

The now mature TripAdvisor has shown us the success of leveraging this for years, actually, providing us user-snapped pictures of actual hotel rooms to trump the perfectly-edited photos every hotel tries to sell us.

So while “cool” picture-perfect posts may momentarily capture our eyeballs, these days consumers are more suspicious than ever that influencers are bought or content is heavily edited.

To paraphrase Kendrick Lamar from his hit song Humble: “We’re so sick and tired of the photoshop… show us somethin’ natural like stretchmarks”.

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

Join our e27 Telegram group here, or our e27 contributor Facebook page here.

Image Credit:

 

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“The jail cells in Singapore are not bad, food is quite good, too,” quipped an entrepreneur when we sought his comment on the new ‘fake news law’, enacted by one of the world’s wealthiest countries.

Singapore’s new fake news law, or the ‘Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act’ or POFMA, came into effect on October 2. The law gives government ministers powers to order social media sites to put warnings next to posts authorities deem to be false. In extreme cases, ministers can order to take a news item down.

Yes, a law to curb fake news is a good step in the right direction. But the moot question is who discerns what fake news is? Will it serve the purpose? And what will be its repercussions?

“There are good intentions behind this new law, taking into account the importance of multiculturalism, strength in unity and international relations,” believes Roshni Mahtani, CEO, Tickled Media, which owns media sites theAsianparent.com and AsianMoneyGuide.com .

“Time will tell if there are repercussions on the dynamic digital media ecosystem in Singapore. For now, it encourages accountability and a responsible media presence,” she says.

“I think this is a good and bold step in the right direction. No other countries have taken such a step yet,” Adrian Liew, CEO, Beknown, a reputation management company, agrees.

“When fake news is identified, it is important to stop its spreading as soon as possible to protect the public interest. I read in papers that some fake news in India had caused panic among the public and that led to lynching. My only concern is how the government will execute this law in Singapore, or will it be seen as a way to stifle dissent. A tool is a tool and must be used in a manner for the public good,” Liew added.

Also Read: The world should wish the Singapore fake news law is Fake News

Logan Tan, Founder and CEO of Eezee, another local startup, can’t agree more. “In my opinion, the fake news law, although controversial, is a necessary step to protect the people. As the era of digitisation comes into full effect, information is spread across fast and vast. Platform owners have the responsibility to regulate and control the information being posted on their respective platforms.”

“Ultimately, the law is just a tool. It still boils down to how the authorities exercise this right. If used properly, I believe there will be greater benefits than there is zero regulation,” Tan added.

Several others view the fake law from a different angle. For them, this is not a regulation or technology problem, but a societal problem. “People are just too addicted to having everything served to them fast and easy, to the detriment of society,” says a digital media entrepreneur. “I think the only way to eradicate fake news is by investing our energy in learning to be better critical thinkers. I feel the ‘fake news law’ is just another knee-jerk reaction.”

For several others, POFMA is fair if used with the explicit intention of preventing falsehood from spreading. “However, it would not be fair if the laws are used to stifle controversial debates or dissent,” says a guest contributor of e27. “But this has been clarified publicly by various representatives of the Singapore government that POFMA focuses only on falsehoods of news.”

“Speaking in a context as a guest contributor on e27, it ensures that the articles I write should be double-checked for facts, and the information should be obtained from credible sources. This is an ethical code of conduct of journalism, which I am already adhering to. As long as I follow these guidelines, I would not worry about breaching POFMA,” the contributor said.

But not all founders we spoke to subscribe to this view. “The law sucks,” says one. “What if some news stories are real, but the government refuses to acknowledge them?”

He has raised an important question: How will the government decide a piece of news is fake or not?

“It will be more effective if online voting is conducted to verify and establish the authenticity of certain content,” suggests Bandanjot Singh, Product Manager with a local startup. “This can also be done via crowdsourcing from the members of social media, rather than the authorities mark a news item fake. This will remove the bias. There is always a risk factor that certain content may be marked fake and removed from the sites if it doesn’t match government views.”

“That’s a terrific idea, but what if the votes are also biased,” asks another founder. “Let’s take the Cambridge Analytics issue. Enough of misinformation. Here, the voter can also vote knowingly in favour of the perpetrator. My point is that the crowd is not a good judge, either.”

There is already a law in Singapore, the Computer Abuse Act, top executive of a startup points out. This law is to penalise the fabrication and spreading of falsehood. However, the new law is specific to online and falsehood.

“Singapore’s government doesn’t need new laws to force action on the part of publishers — it’s always been able to silence its critics through legal action. POFMA presents a dangerous precedent by empowering ministers to issue directives, instead of the courts,” argues Alan Soon, Co-founder and CEO, of Splice Media.

“The fake news problem is a media literacy problem. Not a government policy problem or a technology problem,” another one opines.

Agrees another founder: “Misinformation has been around since long. Until recently, with the amplification of social media and instant messaging apps, it became a serious problem. The solution is well, be smarter. It’s not something tech, or government policies can fix,” he quipped.

Image Credit: Elijah O’Donnell on Unsplash

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What do you think of the Singapore government’s new law? Please post your comments below.   

 

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Malaysia threatens to fine grab US$21M – Bloomberg

The Malaysia Competition Commission announced that it could impose an MYR86.8 million (US$21 million) fine against ride-hailing giant Grab, Bloomberg wrote.

According to the report, the regulator provisionally found that Grab prevented drivers from providing ad services for its peers during rides, distorting competition in the market.

The investigation itself has started in 2018, as a response to multiple complaints accusing Grab of monopolistic practices, following its acquisition of Uber in Southeast Asian.

In a press statement, Grab said that it was “surprised” by the proposed decision.

“We believe that it is common practice for businesses to decide upon the availability and type of third-party advertising on their respective platforms,” wrote a spokesperson.

Hillstone Networks conducts IPO in Shanghai – Press Release

Vickers Venture Partners today announced that its portfolio company Hillstone Networks has been listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s sci-tech innovation board (STAR market) as of 30 September 2019.

The Silicon Valley-based network security solutions provider raised CNY949 million (US$132 million) from the IPO. Its stock price also rose by 112 per cent after the first day of trading, with a market cap of CNY8.1 billion (US$1.1 billion).

“Network security plays a critical role in China, especially in cloud computing, 5G development and IoT. Back in 2009 when we were looking to opportunities to invest in the field, Hillstone stood out as a startup with the best technology and most experienced team. We are delighted to be one of the early backers of the company and supporting their growth to this day. Listing on STAR is a major milestone for Hillstone as it recognises the quality of its solutions, in addition to cementing its market-leading position,” said Linda Li, Vickers Venture Partners’ Managing Director.

Also Read: Today’s top tech news: Grab faces anti-monopoly investigation from Malaysia

President Barack Obama to speak at The Growth Faculty – Press Release

President Barack Obama is set to speak at The Growth Faculty event in Singapore on December 16.

The former president will discuss his time in office and his thoughts on leadership in the world.

The Growth Faculty is a platform that provides business communities with access to speakers through events and online programmes in the areas of business, politics and personal development. Previous events presented by The Growth Faculty have featured Hillary Rodham Clinton, Malala Yousafzai, Indra Nooyi, Simon Sinek, Malcolm Gladwell, Jim Collins and George Clooney as headline speakers.

Bukalapak, Qiscus team up to launch chatbot on the online marketplace – DailySocial

Indonesian chatbot developer Qiscus announced a partnership with e-commerce giant Bukalapak to launch a chatbot service on the online marketplace platform, DailySocial wrote.

Through the partnership, Bukalapak expects to maximise server usage by four times, bandwidth use by 20 times, and be more cost-effective.

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While social media platforms like Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook seem to be all the rage lately, you can’t do without email in your marketing efforts.

A study found that, despite all the noise about social media, old school communication methods like email account for 75 per cent of all communications.

Whether you want to reach out to the press, solicit partners, or market your offer to prospects, you have to use email — and often, the same principle can be used to ensure maximum success with all your emails.

Below are five email outreach tips that will help your startup marketing efforts.

1. Embrace The KISS Principle

While it is easy to want to succumb to the temptation of writing emails that are wordy, “don’t”.

It is important to come to the realisation of the fact that you don’t necessarily have to include all the information you want your recipient to know in your initial email.

As such, you should keep your end goal in mind; if the end goal is to get a response, then keep it short and simple. If the purpose of your email is to get users to click to a product or offering, you should follow the same principle as well. Your email isn’t, and shouldn’t be, a sales page; rather, it should drive prospects to your sales page.

Here’s how you can employ the KISS principle for your email messages:

1. Keep paragraphs short and to the point.

2. Learn to use numberings and bullets to make your points stand out.

3. Make sure your email has just one purpose and call to action; you want to avoid having too many choices.

4. In a lot of cases, plain text emails will outperform design-heavy emails. You want your email to appear well and consistently across devices.

2. Use a research-backed approach to follow up with emails

Whether sending personal emails to influencers for strategic purposes or promotional messages, it is essential to follow up if you don’t get a response — and to do it the right way.

Following up becomes all the more important when you realise that, depending on your industry, average email open rates could be as low as 15 per cent. The marketing rule of seven also suggests that you might need to reach some prospects up to seven times before they notice and act on your message.

Also Read: The 5 elements of the perfect cold email

So what’s the best way to follow up then? By following up soon enough but not too soon. The sweet spot is 48 hours.

This is according to data from the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, which is based on an analysis of 16 billion emails from more than 2 million users. The study found that 90 per cent of people will respond to an email within two days; if there’s no response then, you’re highly unlikely ever to get a response.

So, if you send an email and there’s no response, wait 48 hours and send a follow-up.

3. Make sure the timing of your emails is data-driven

Do you know that there is the best time to send emails?

Data from MailChimp’s Send Time Optimisation algorithm that analyzed billions of email messages sent to users on the Mailchimp server found that there are a best time and day to send emails.

Mailchimp’s study found that sending emails on weekends could result in a 50 per cent drop in engagement with the email message and that most people interact with messages they receive on a Thursday.

Furthermore, MailChimp found that most subscribers engage better with messages when the message gets to their inbox around 10 AM.

Your audience should most certainly determine when you send your messages, but people rarely engage as much with emails on weekends. Therefore you must avoid sending important messages on weekends. Besides that, use third-party data as well as your own internal data to find out when people best engage with your emails and leverage this data when sending emails.

4. Segment and automate

Do you know that automated emails get 119 per cent higher click-through rates compared to broadcast emails? Or that properly-segmented emails drive 18 times more revenue than broadcast emails?

One of the smartest things you can do when trying to promote your startup is to learn how to segment and automate your emails effectively.

In fact, in a particular study that compared general emails sent to an entire email database and emails sent to a segmented list, marketing research institute MarketingSherpa found that segmented emails resulted in 208 per cent higher conversions than batch-and-blast emails.

You can segment your email list in so many ways: most email service providers will let you segment your email list by gender, location, and activity of a subscriber based on interaction with your site.

Also Read: How to increase at least 15 per cent ROI by running a successful email outreach campaign

For example, you could send a different message to a male segment of your list from what will be sent to females.

You could also segment such that the message sent to someone who just recently subscribed to your list is different from that sent to someone who has been subscribed for a long time and has been engaging with your messages.

5. Focus on your subject line

Your email subject line can make or break your outreach efforts. In fact, research shows that more than a third of email recipients open email messages based on the subject line of an email alone.

If your email subject line is weak, it will affect response to your message. The following tips can help, however:

1. Make sure your email subject lines are specific and to the point. As tempting as it is to want to take advantage of readers’ curiosity, this could quickly backfire.

2. You might also want to try to make things a bit personal; research by Adestra shows that including the name of your recipient in your email subject line can increase your open email rate by up to 22 per cent.

3. It is also important to keep your subject lines short; the fewer the words required to pass across your message, the better. You don’t want your recipient’s email client to trim your email’s subject line and lessen its effectiveness.

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I’ve been incredibly fortunate to be involved with the world’s largest online network of entrepreneurs and to have interviewed many of the most successful founders and executives of today’s most valued startups.

Some have worked directly for the likes of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. Being a successful and great leader isn’t always as tidy, easy and fun as you think. There are a lot of myths. A lot of articles written by others who mostly seem to name the traits they’d like to see in a boss. Those aren’t always what you get, or is possible if you are going to build a billion-dollar company.

Here are ten things I have found that do actually make great leaders that get results.

1. Build a team of great leaders

To be a great leader you don’t just need followers and employees, you need a whole team of leaders under you. Think Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway, and all of their companies.

Think about the structure of any military. The leader in command is only as effective as the leaders of the smallest groups of troops in training, technology development and execution in the field.

As a fun fact many of the guests that I have interviewed on the DealMakers podcast, where some of the most successful entrepreneurs share how they did it, used to be in the military.

2. Cultivate admiration

This doesn’t necessarily mean being a nice guy who is friendly and is everyone’s best friend in the office. Not by a long way. People are scared when they finally get to level up to meet with people like Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates.

They often have a reputation for being hot-headed and tough but are not necessarily regarded as tyrants.

Also Read: Mind your emotions: why emotional agility is the key to personal growth

If you’re great at what you do, you can have great personal conversations with these leaders. Admiration comes from respect. Not necessarily likability, but recognizing the leader’s talent and the way they do their job.

Richard Branson has been named one of the most admired entrepreneurs of all time, but you can bet he is demanding too.

3. Self-care

We’ve all heard that we need to lead by example.

Those we have influence with are much more likely to copy what we do without saying a word than to do what we say and don’t do ourselves. This applies to every area of business. Though today’s leaders are also talking a lot more about self-care.

Being wary of burnout. Having a real life. We want our teams and vendors and partners and even investors and board members to work hard. Yet, if paying attention to, and actually following through actions required to avoid burning out so we can perform at our best is so important for us, it is really important for teams too. Show them by example.

4. Be inspiring

To lead you to have to inspire others.

You have to inspire cofounders to join you. You have to inspire yourself to leap and keep going. You have to inspire workers to join your team. You have to inspire investors to take a risk on you. You have to inspire customers to buy from you.

5. Be humble

This may not be the first trait that pops into the mind when thinking about many leaders. Business or otherwise.

Yet, off-screen, when you really talk to those that are most successful, they are often far more humble and generous than you would expect. They are eager to learn what they don’t know, to hire those who are more talented and experienced than themselves, and to consult others for help.

Also Read: Startups must embrace Blue Ocean strategy

6. Put the mission first

Great leaders put the mission, business and others first. The best definitely put their investors and staff before themselves. They do this when it comes to making big and tough decisions for the business itself. It’s not what will best satisfy my ego or bank account, or what is easiest, but what will create the greatest result.

That may mean jumping in to wash the dishes, hiring an outside CEO to lead, accepting someone else’ input, or selling the company to an acquirer who can take it to the next level.

7. Extreme ownership

Even if you have co-founders aboard, it is really up to you as an entrepreneur, CEO or chairman to make it work. You might get some credit when things go well. Though you’ll definitely get all the blame when it doesn’t, and have to own that.

Approaching this with the right mindset from the start can make a huge difference. Hold yourself accountable, own the need to make decisions and whatever the results are.

8. Be curious

The number one trait that you’ll find in the greatest leaders is their curiosity. They’ve been through enough to realize they often don’t know what they don’t know. They’ve been wrong enough to want to hear other ideas. They wouldn’t have gained the chance to lead unless they were curious in the first place.

Allow yourself to be curious. Just a few minutes of curiosity can be as good as a few moments of courage.

9. Listen

I believe we have two ears and one mouth for a reason. You don’t have to act on every critical review or change your mission based on the harshest investor rejections. You don’t have to adopt every idea your staff comes up with. Though do listen.

Do ask for input. Do learn. Do log that data. Just taking the time to listen can make a huge difference.

10. Think big, not fluffy

There’s a lot of talk about thinking big, dreaming big, and being a visionary. This isn’t a pass to just get lost in fluffy daydreams and be overly optimistic. You do have to be pragmatic. You do have to be willing to start with very small steps and to do those pressing tasks.

Great leaders will embrace what others believe is impossible or maybe ten years before their time. Yet, they also use the data and they strategize.

They breakdown the mission to tangible steps. They know their total addressable market. They find ways to compel enterprise-level clients to buy, invest and even acquire them.

Whether you are looking at building your own business or scaling the ranks in the corporate sector you will always need to surround yourself by the right people. This could be an executive coach, fundraising consultant, etc.

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