Posted on

What I learned from reading 50 books in a year

Books are the gateway to a world of bountiful knowledge

books

A year ago, I set a challenge for myself to read 50 books in 2018. That is a 10x jump from the average of 5 books I read per year. That bold step stemmed from the cognizance of how little I still knew of the world. At one point, I decided to start using my time seriously to make a meaningful mark in the world. But I knew I won’t be able to do that with the knowledge and mentality I had then. I knew there’s more to life and my potential that are fenced in somewhere. I need to unlock it.

It’s like driving with a broken GPS. You can continue driving faster only to get to the wrong destination sooner. So before I start racing, I decided to first upgrade my GPS. Before I embark on the bumpy transformational journey, I wanted to first equip myself with the right armour for the game called ‘life’. I figured there’s no better way to do that than absorbing the wisdom from people who have dedicated their life into the subjects and do it as many times as possible, from as many experts as possible to completely upgrade my mindset in a year.

Just two days before the end of 2018, I did it. I completed 50 books and diligently posted my takeaways for each book on social media.

Finishing the challenge made me feel badass, but the comments that came from the challenge were even more gratifying. There was a lot of kind encouragements, and many asked about book recommendations, what I’ve learned and tips to do the same. Because of that, I’m dedicating this post to all my friends out there, hoping that the lessons will spark meaningful ideas just they certainly have in my life.

I will break down the rest of the post to 3 sections: summary of lessons from the 50 books that I read, reflection on the impact of finishing the challenge and the strategy that I used to complete the challenge.

Lessons from 50 Books

This is a hard question to answer because I took away a lot of things from different aspects of life. Saying one thing will not do justice to the many things that I have learned. And that’s intended. I put a concerted effort to diversify the books that I read in this challenge. Almost all the books that I read previously were either on self-development or start-ups. In the spirit of widening my horizon, this time I consciously chose to stretch my area of interests to the realms of spirituality, economy, neurobiology and more.

So here goes my attempt to consolidate my learning into bite-sized lessons from the various subjects I dabbled in. For those who asked for book recommendations, I’ve also listed down the top books I drew the lessons from for each category.

Death

When Breath Becomes Air, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, The Denial of Death

I’ve come to feel more in touch with the notion of death. Not that I didn’t know or denied I will die one day, but death is just something that was too out of reach and out of touch to surface my conscious mind to make a profound daily presence. Immersing myself in the idea of death centres myself closer to what’s true. In the face of death, people redefine and connect with their authentic self. All the symbols and facades that have been veiling what is true inside of us will fall apart.

Humans have an intrinsic biological fear of death, just like any animals do. Over time, this terror of death evolves into a denial. The yearning to transcend death inevitable progressed into the symbolic system we live in today which serves as a vehicle for heroism. It’s designed for us to earn the feeling of cosmic meaning to our existence. Science, money, romance, goods are the products of our pursuit of externalism. They are man-made means created for us to escape from our terror of death.

All of the above do a good job of distracting us from our flaws and fragility. But the terror doesn’t disappear, they laid low in the back of our head, ready to make their appearance at moments of weakness and solitude. They will haunt us in the form of esteem issues and feeling of imperfection.

The only way to permanently deal with this is practising to look inward instead of constantly numbing our emotions with what we get outward. Looking inward is hard because it requires dealing with pain and insecurities and causes mayhem in the bubble which the society has perfectly constructed for us. That’s why many people, mostly to their ignorance, choose to stay in the external and live an effortless, meaningless existence.

At the moment of death, there are only two things that count: what we have done and the state of mind we are in. The constant practice of looking inward can free ourselves from suffering and self-grasping. It will allow us to assess the level of illusion which we live in in the face of the majesty of the universe. Over time, we’ll grasp that impermanence is the only thing we can hold on to. By letting go of self, we rise from the repression of death. We become fluid to fit ourselves creatively between limitations and possibilities.

Also Read: How apps help seniors with better mobility, safety, and quality of life

We can work in reverse and ask ourselves, what values, connections, and impact do we want to leave behind when death looms? Then align our everyday action with the end game that we strive towards. If we dared to face our demons, embrace our fears and flaws as they are, we will have a fair chance toward liberation and reconnection with our authentic selves. For those who practice and prepare, death will not appear as a defeat but triumph, a moment that marks the most glorious moment of life.

Mindset

Principles, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Compound Effect, The Six Pillars of Self Esteem

Think and act from your higher self— that’s the overarching theme I observed in many of the books in this area. It is our natural instinct to react to the first thing that demands our attention. But with the amount of noise that exists today, it is our responsibility to guard what’s truly important to us. A lot of things may appear important but are actually transitory urgent matters in disguise.

Everything always looks bigger up close. What’s happening today always seems like a much bigger deal than it will appear in retrospect. That’s why we need to develop the skill to notice when we’re too drawn into the details and step out to see the bigger picture. When we find ourselves reacting to an urgent matter that repeats itself, resist the temptation to jump into it directly. Look deeper and take the time to diagnose the root cause.

Don’t procrastinate to face the truth because it’s uncomfortable. Create a system that will take care of the issue entirely so we can make time for what’s truly important. There is so much willpower that we have amidst the sea of distractions out there. We can sail through the storm by automating most of our decisions through a series of routine and systems. They will make sure we stay on course with our mission and prevent us from being acted upon by external conditions.

Powerful principles are created through a continuous reflection on meaningful experiences. Meaningful experiences are only attained by pushing our limit. By default, that involves going through pain. There’s no avoiding pain in growth, so embrace it. Develop the muscle reflex to seek after and reflect on pain rather than avoid it. Mental domination is what makes one unstoppable.

The formula is simple but not easy, show up, do the work, follow the principles, every single day. Do something we don’t want to do. Push past laziness and fear. Take full control of our body instead of letting it control us.

Many people underestimate the impact of small everyday decisions. They seem inconsequential at the start but give them time, they will compound into the life quality we get. Nobody intends to break up or become obese.

They result from a series of small poor choices. Inconsistency to our daily commitments bears a lot bigger cost that we thought. It’s not just the loss of tiny immediate result, but also the collapse of the momentum in our progress. Rather than starting and stopping repeatedly, it’s disproportionately more effective to take off once and maintain regular speed along the way.

It’s important to stick to our principles and have the courage to live with integrity, especially when nobody is looking. There’s a feedback loop between our actions and self-esteem. The more that we act consistently toward our values and goals, the more confidence we ingrain in our mind to achieve and become more. Soon, we’ll find joy from being who we are, not in being better than anyone else. We’ll stop proving our worth and start living our possibilities.

Neurobiology

Stealing Fire, Head Strong, Bulletproof Diet, The Rise of Superman

Apart from moulding the right mindset, the vitality of our brain and body plays a big role in determining our life quality. Manifesting our big intention will require our energy and focus to be on top of their game. The good news is, we can have control over our neurobiological levers.

There’s no question that our diet is the foundation of good health. But what not everybody is conscious of is how what we choose to put in our body affects the quality of our days. A lot of the food out there today contains toxins that do our brain big harm. Eating just a little toxin food can trigger a widespread inflammatory response in our body that saps energy away from our brain. As much as possible, avoid the followings: sugar, milk, gluten, MSG, soy sauce, GMO food, alcohol, unsaturated fat or anything fried.

On the other hand, inducing strategic and temporary stress in our body can enhance our mitochondrial functions to fuel our brain with more energy. Mitochondria are the main bacteria in our body responsible for delivering energy and boosting our cognitive performance. Intense exercise, caloric, and oxygen restriction can trigger autophagy — a biological process in which our body repairs or kill dysfunctional mitochondria so we can generate stronger ones that perform better in stressful situations. Additionally, beware of lights. Junk lights like white LED and blue lights from our screens stress our mitochondria. Get natural light or use halogen bulbs as much as possible.

Also Read: For food delivery, machines won’t replace humans any time soon

A layer above the foundation of good energy is Altered State, or as most people refer to as Flow. When we get into a flow state, there’s no more space for our brain to oscillate between the past and future. We’re plunged into the “deep now” where we experience an expansion of self, a prolonged present, and creative breakthroughs. Getting into the zone means giving our slow and limited conscious mind a break and letting our expansive and intuitive subconscious take over.

One of the ingredients to enter Flow is a high-risk environment. It typically has a combination of novelty, unpredictability, and complexity. By that nature, entering Flow requires going through a period of struggle. The mental struggle and physical exhaustion will get worse to a critical point when it suddenly blends in the background and we immerse into the zone. So when facing an insurmountable mental struggle, hang tight a little longer. That could just be a sign that we’re about to enter Flow.

The knowledge in this area gave me a big sense of autonomy over how I want to feel every day. My mindset has shifted from succumbing to “ugh, another off day” to an inquisitive, proactive “what did I eat, what tools can I use to enter Flow”. Instead of treating my mind like an OS, I see it as a UI, with different apps and tools I can deploy to access altered states. Train the mind to see what is really happening so we can liberate ourselves from the limitations of our psychology and take advantage of the levers of our neurobiology.

Cognition

Thinking Fast and slow, Everybody lies, Nudge, Fluent Forever

Our intuition is a lot more unreliable than we think. “Trust your heart” they say. But our heart only has access to the information stored in our head. That’s what intuition really is, a shortcut to our collective memories. Because our decision making power is limited to what we know, our knowledge pool is not a reliable source for making high-stakes decisions. Worse, our mind is heavily bias-prone. Many of our decisions are influenced by subconscious priming from events around us instead of coming authentically from us. It’s not natural but in a lot of situations, we need to train our mind to not immediately follow our instinct and look for the evidence instead.

Having said that, even evidence can mislead when translated wrongly. Don’t mistake correlation with causation. Things are not linear, we need to be cognizant of the many variables involved. Saying people who drink a moderate amount of alcohol have better health is most likely a correlation, not causation. But it could be reverse causation — maybe having good health causes people to drink more moderately. It could also be omitted variable bias —maybe spending more time with friends is what leads to both moderate alcohol consumption and good health. Facts don’t necessarily tell the truth, always question the vehicles that lead to the conclusion.

Humans are susceptible to all sorts of slip-ups in making important decisions. Ironically, the more important a decision is usually the rarer it occurs hence we have the least practice to make the right choice. In that sense, people don’t always know what’s best for themselves and as a result, often don’t make choices that are in their best interests. That is when people who have developed the expertise in the important areas need to step in and nudge the rest into making better decisions while upholding people’s free will.

On the other hand, there are various ways we can intentionally engage our brain to remember things. Our brain forgets because the things we want to remember only engage a few neurons in our head. Neurons that wire together, fire together. So to remember something, deliberately form a connection with the object. Engage various parts of our brain through images, sound, and personal memories. Make it meaningful. Have a dirty mind even — our brain is good at remembering visuals that are violent, sexual, funny or combination of the three.

Starting up

Creativity Inc, Business Mastery, Where Good Ideas Come From, Bold

When thinking of starting up a meaningful project, choose something with mission and vision that is bigger than ourselves. That’s the only thing that will keep us at dark nights when it feels like nothing is working. Resources are never the problems, it’s the question of resourcefulness. Our emotions are our ultimate resource so that’s why it’s critical to have a compelling vision and purpose that serve more than ourselves.

The question is, how do you come up with such a compelling bold idea? Epiphany doesn’t happen with a few neurons firing. The trick is not to sit still and think big thoughts all day. Go out, experience and learn more instead. Make our neural network densely populated to allow many neurons to wire and fire together.

This is what Steve Jobs meant by connecting the dots. A lot of the great innovations out there didn’t begin with a concrete idea from the get-go. They all started from a hunch. An idea is parked at the back of our head, and as we feed our brain with more inputs, at one point all the memories will be released and put into motion to mould into something intricate. The sweet spot between the known and unknown is where originality happens. The key is to be able to hang in there without panicking.

Strong vision follows strong execution and strategic innovation is key in its process. Instead of constantly living in reaction, make the time to notice the opportunities around for making strategic shifts. The reward of executing and thinking differently can be disproportionate. Thinking big like 10x also creates
Flow because Flow follows focus and big risks catch our attention. We no longer have to put the effort to concentrate, flow does the job for us.

Starting anything bold, by nature also means that it will involve many failures so it’s critical to master risk management. Outstanding entrepreneurs are not only good at risk-taking but also risk-mitigating. Uncertainty is part of life’s beauty. Things will constantly change and problems will always come. Acknowledge and embrace uncertainty so we can respond constructively when the surprise comes and most importantly, enjoy the ride.

World

Homo Deus, Why Nations Fail, Guns Germ and Steel, 21 Lessons for The 21st Century, AI Superpower, Doing Good Better

Luck plays a big role in determining the present state of any given country. Those who happened to have access to the prerequisites for food production and inherited a location that allows for ideas to proliferate are mainly the ones who flourish. Five of the richest country in Africa for example, are those located near the river.

European societies were the particular ones who rose to the top of social rank for the same reason. Not denying the array of variables, the one that stirred it all was surprisingly geography. The attributes of their land allowed for the early development of agriculture. As more men were freed from having to hunt, social institutions arose. More food fed more people which allowed for more armies, organization, and inventions. Many first lethal diseases also germinated from domesticated animals. So through years of evolution, Europeans developed substantial resistance to new illness. Diseases have caused more deaths than all wars combined and they became the most effective weapon for Europeans to win wars when they spread it as they were colonizing the native inhabitants.

After independence, the one that set the trajectory for many of the failed nations today is the corrupt elected leaders. They constructed a negative spiral with economic and political institutions that allow narrow elites to extract wealth for their own benefit at the expense of the people in their country. They make a deliberate attempt to impoverish the country. Innovations are curbed and media is silenced in fear of the threat to their power. In order to break the mold, it requires an extraordinary force from a coalition of diverse groups, rather than just a narrow group seeking power who would just replace the existing despot with another.

On the bigger picture and global level, the world is healthier, more prosperous and peaceful than ever. Starvation, plagues, and violence which were the most deadly problems centuries ago are now non-existent in most countries. More people have died from eating too much than too little today.

The three main threats to humankind are now more global and connected: nuclear war, climate change, and technological disruption. At the time where all our actions are interconnected, the greatest crime is no longer just from hatred and greed but even more so from ignorance. In contrary to the rising appeal in regressive nationalists, more than ever we need global cooperation and mindset to solve global problems affecting the entire humanity.

Also Read: How to logically decide when it’s time to pivot

On the side note, I came to learn about how privileged I am. Because of the bubble I live in, I tend to benchmark my life with the millionaires and billionaires portrayed in the media. Little did I know that earning above $52K per year already puts me in the 1% top earners in the entire world. We who live in developed countries are comparatively so rich that the same amount of dollar that benefits us can bring 100x more benefits to many millions of people out there.

With the multitude of impact we can make, in the most human sense, it is only logical that we give back. However, due to our limited resources, our investment needs to be channelled toward causes that improve the most lifespan and quality of life. We shouldn’t get easily drawn to evocative and widely publicized issues. Base our choice off of the scale of the severity instead. GiveWell.org is a good place to scout for such causes to stretch the most impact of the dollar we donate.

Moving to the future, computer algorithms will soon be able to understand us better than we do ourselves. We will rely more and more on them to make many important decisions. Today, a lot of what we understand of the world is oversimplified due to the limitations of the human mind, not the limitation of science. Computers will be able to make complex sense of big data and thus uncover many advancements that we can’t fathom today, hopefully to the benefits of humanity.

The real threat of AI is undisputed inequality. At one point, the majority of the jobs we have will be automated and it will cause widespread social disorder. Most of us attach our identity to our work so when it’s taken away from people, many will find their life purpose threatened. So transitioning to the age of AI, it becomes more crucial for us to break free from the mindset that equates our economic value with our worth as a person. For all AI’s astounding capabilities, the one thing that we need most and only humans can provide is love. It’s far simpler yet more profound than anything AI can ever produce. If we leverage AI’s superintelligence and couple that with humans’ ability to love, we will have a shot at a future filled with economic prosperity and spiritual flourishing.

Spirituality

The Untethered Soul, Beyond Religion, Train Your Mind Change Your Brain, The Surrender Experiment

To me, spirituality is about transcending our earthly self. It’s a state of inner peace and connection to something grander and more cosmic than the fragile self. In that state, we are no longer bound to our conditioning and fight-or-flight instincts. We are free to act from a high level of consciousness.

Being aware of the fog that exists in our head is the first step to rising up in consciousness. We are not our thoughts and emotions. We are simply the observer. Detaching our consciousness from the voice in our head can liberate ourselves from the entrenchment in physical limitations. Because what we experience is a model of reality, we are in control of how the externals translate into our inner experience. We can experience a tremendous space and expansiveness inside us without relying on external conditions.

Mental training like meditation can get us to that state and rewire our emotional circuits to elevate our happiness baseline. Unlike external sources that bring us joy that is only fleeting, disciplined mental exercise can create an enduring physical change in the circuitry of our brain to elicit sustained positive emotions. That’s how we can escape the unending chase for materials and forever alter our sense of well being.

Focusing on ourselves often leads to suffering. Acts of compassion, on the other hand, give us a deep sense of genuine bliss. Universal compassion lies in the simple awareness that every conscious being aspires for happiness and avoids suffering just like us. It’s usually not the first thing that comes to our head, especially when we run into jerks. That’s why it requires practice and discipline. It requires developing a high degree of sensitivity to our energy flow. When we start noticing negative emotion stirring up inside, choose to let our consciousness get drawn into it. Simply be aware of it. Don’t fight it, just observe without judgment, relax and let it fall behind.

Since our true self is so fluid, we shouldn’t be fixated on our desires and wants. Let go of ourselves and open ourselves up to possibilities. It means not forcing things to go our way. Surrender to the flow of life instead. It doesn’t mean to be lazy. It means to serve whatever force unfolding in front of us with all our heart and soul. Life can surprise us in a magical way if we allow ourselves to open fully it.

The outcomes of finishing #50BooksAYear

Reading 50 books from many branches of life has indeed widened my horizon. Obviously reading 50 books is barely enough to turn me into the next Socrates. Knowing these lessons is one thing, but another to apply them or even surface them to your conscious mind every day. Having said that, I definitely notice the subtle shift in my outlook on life. More than ever, I feel a lot more connected to the world, in both intellectual and spiritual level. I understand better about how the world and mind operate. I learn to look at the bigger picture of things. I’ve become more in tunes with what seemed abstract emotions and concepts. There are just a lot more nuances in life that I started peeling and paying attention to. It felt like I’ve peeked into the Narnia door left ajar all this while.

The other noticeable impact from this challenge is the elevated confidence in myself. Obviously completing this challenge is anything but easy. But it’s the fact that I could accomplish what’s not easy that has done so much good to my self-esteem. It’s like telling my stubborn inner voice, “hey if I could accomplish this, I could also accomplish other bigger things in life”.

Also Read: How to turn your Instagram into a money-making machine quickly

In that sense, this lesson doesn’t necessarily apply to just reading. Give yourself any challenges. Something that is outside your comfort but still attainable if you put your mind to it. Start with something small and make sure to finish it to taste the subtle but palpable confidence boost in yourself. Slowly, what seems hard will become the new normal and the sky will be your ceiling.

Beyond myself, I am humbled and touched by all the messages that I received from my friends during this challenge. Many have reached out to me saying that they benefitted from the takeaways. More surprisingly many have said that they were inspired to do the same and a lot of them have started their own reading challenge. Seeing a change in me is definitely good but the feeling of inspiring change in people, especially those close to you is even more profound.

How did I accomplish it?

For those who are embarking on your own reading challenge, here are some tips from what I found useful.

The short answer

Make time. We all have 24 hours a day. If you deduct 7 hours of sleep, 9 hours of working time, 2 hours for logistics, we still have 6 hours to spare. It’s all about allocating and protecting the time. Instead of using willpower to decide to read, turn reading into a habit instead. Block time on your daily schedule and dedicate it to read no matter what. I rigorously followed my routine to read almost every morning and evening. Because it’s ingrained in my subconscious, there’s no need for me to decide, I simply followed the cues and as a result, read a lot I did.

The long answer

Fixing a time to read will already up your chance of success by 80%. However, I also can’t discredit the following factors that have played a pretty significant part along the way.

First, make use of public accountability. Unlike what other people think, I’m actually pretty bad at holding myself accountable. If nobody’s watching, I can easily get swayed and throw in the towel early when things get tough. So I leveraged social media. Remember, high-risk environment gets you in Flow. Announcing my commitments and updating my progress on social media induced a high social risk. For each book I finished, I posted my takeaways online. As more friends saw them and acknowledged this routine, there’s just no turning back for me. I needed to uphold my self-esteem and identity by honoring my words to finish what I promised.

Another important element is tracking. Without consciously knowing where we are in the process, there will be little motivation and urgency to progress. From the time I declared this challenge, I did a consistent weekly and monthly review of my reading progress. I tracked my pacing. Literally calculating how many books I have read, and how many days on average I can take left to finish each of the remaining books.

To be honest, I wasn’t great at this, I was behind my pace since the second quarter and I rushed through 6 books in the last week of December. However, it certainly helped with my confidence by making what seemed lofty and far feel attainable. Instead of seeing the many books left I need to finish until the end of the year, I aim for the one to two books I need to finish for the week. Plus the healthy pressure works like a divine church bell in my head every time I wanted to procrastinate. My inner voice will shout “YOU’RE BEHIND” and the next thing I know, I will have my Kindle sitting on my hands.

Speaking of Kindle, it is absolutely a god-sent for any avid readers. It makes a lot of difference in convenience. When you’re working on a challenging goal, a small resistance and mental excuse are enough to tumble your progress. With Kindle, I can read anytime on the go, especially in the dark and during travels.

The transition between one book to the other also can’t be any more seamless. I don’t have to make any trip to a bookstore. I purchased my e-books from Amazon and they’re instantly transferred to my Kindle. Once I’m done with a book, there is zero transition time for me to hop onto the next one. The last thing I like about Kindle is highlights. For those who think I have super memory when I summarized the books, I don’t. I highlight important ideas while reading on my Kindle, and when I’m done I can view all the highlights in one place and drew the summary from there.

Speed-reading helps. I took lessons to speed-read and it allows me to read three to four words at a time instead of word by word. That means I can read the same amount of content with three times the speed. Of course, I need to balance speed with retention. That’s where reviewing my Kindle’s highlights come in and for more complex reads, I’d take my time.

Also, don’t be afraid to skip some content in your book. Don’t assume that all authors are good at expressing their ideas or all details of the ideas add value to you. Don’t feel obliged to read page by page from start to end of the book. I played by ears. If the book was getting too deep into the details, I moved on to the next chapter. If you’re not reading to become an expert in the field, the big concept and examples of the subject are mostly good enough to draw good wisdom from.

On deciding what to read next, it’s a mixture of both free-flowing and being conscious of the type of books I read. As mentioned, I tried to diversify the content to broaden my views. So if I feel that I’ve read a little too much in a particular area, I’ll mindfully pick a book from a different one. Most often, a book will also have reference to other books on the same topic. So on the flip side, when I felt that I wanted to dig deeper into a subject, I would look into the books referred. I’m also fortunate to be surrounded by friends who are invested in developing themselves. So often when I talked about my challenge or when they saw my book summary, they will recommend a good selection of books to me.

In essence, make time, have an accountability system, remove as much friction as possible and don’t forget to enjoy the process.

What’s next?

Many asked if I’d do the challenge again or even, jokingly, double the number of books I read. For this year, I actually decided to read less.

The habit of vigorous reading will definitely stick with me for a long time if not for forever. But now that I’ve touched the surface of various subjects, I’d like to delve deeper into a few selected topics. While learning is definitely important, I also want to make time to actually doing. I’ll probably still do one book a month but use the spare time to work on other goals in my life.

I learned that knowing something doesn’t necessarily mean that it will translate to anything. Understanding the meaning of death doesn’t mean I’m ready to throw everything away today, crush all my insecurities and become a monk in Tibet. And that’s okay. While I definitely strive to integrate the learnings in my system, I accept that some lessons will stay as a hunch. When the time is right, as I experience more in life, I’m sure the dots will connect and manifest into something profound.

I certainly will carry the momentum and leverage my expanded inner confidence from this challenge to stretch myself further. I don’t know where exactly life will take me or what my next challenge will be. But one thing is certain, I will never stop growing.

This post first appeared on Medium.

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

 

The post What I learned from reading 50 books in a year appeared first on e27.

Posted on

Asian online travel agency Zuji ceases operation

Hailed as Asian pioneer in online travel agency, Zuji was launched back in 2002 and now has gone out of business

Zuji, one of the first names to take a plunge in online travel agency business, has ceased operation. It is reported by Skift that Zuji failed to pay debt to airlines and missed out on renewing travel agency licenses in Singapore and Hong Kong, leading to its doom.

Zuji translates to “footprints” in Mandarin, and was in business since 2002. Singapore Tourism Board’s record shows that the company’s license has ceased since January 1, and January 9 according to the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau.

Also Read: Indonesian fashion e-commerce site Sale Stock changes its name to Sorabel

Earlier, it is reported, Zuji’s websites in both markets showed “New site coming soon” message all December. Now, it has returned error message.

There’s no report on the amount the company owed to airlines. A source from the Travel Industry Council in Hong Kong reported that it had received a total of US$32,000 worth of refunds case.

Zuji was a product of 16 Asia Pacific airlines that collaborate to create an online travel agency. The airlines include All Nippon Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, China Airlines, EVA Airways, Garuda Indonesia, Hong Kong Dragon Airlines, Japan Air System, Japan Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Northwest Airlines, Philippine Airlines, Qantas Airways, Royal Brunei Airlines, SilkAir, Singapore Airlines and United Airlines – and Travelocity who was owned by Sabre Corporation.

All 16 airlines are said to have invested from US$50 million to US$100 million (2001 figures). At that time, online travel was a boom in Asia and China, and these top airlines tried to find ways to cut distribution costs and bypass travel agencies.

At that time Zuji’s product development plans included what it said to be the “roll-out of a state-of-the-art” air booking engine and tours and packages capability. Scott Blume was the first CEO of the company in January 2003, and was optimistic about Zuji’s chance of leading the industry.

Also Read: Mobile-based food order-ahead startup Eatsy secures US$550K from East Ventures

However, the company ended up being acquired by Travelocity in 2006, sold to Webjet in 2013, who then sold it to Uriel Aviation Holdings in 2016.

The International Air Transport Association gave a confirmation that Zuji has been terminated from its billing and settlement plan, the clearing house for payments between travel agencies and airlines.

Photo by Yeray Sánchez on Unsplash

The post Asian online travel agency Zuji ceases operation appeared first on e27.

Posted on

Does your startup need funding or exposure? Here’s your chance, TOP100 is back for 2019

TOP100 this year is going to be much bigger and more competitive

This year, we’ll be expanding our TOP100 pitching competition to more countries outside of Southeast Asia , which includes Australia, Japan, Russia, and China.

Each year, our team travels to various countries in search of the most promising startups. Shortlisted startups will be invited to pitch their startups to a panel of judges in a private pitching competition and given scores based on the overall evaluation of their ideas, companies, and teams. The top hundred startups with the highest scores will be invited down to our flagship event, Echelon Asia Summit 2019, where they will have the opportunity to get exposure for their ideas, seek funding from investors, and find partners to expand their businesses.

Our Echelon Roadshow will also be taking place on the same day as TOP100. It involves a series of panel discussions, fireside chats and workshops held to educate the public on pressing topics in the startup scene. The results of TOP100 will also be announced during the roadshow, so we urge you to stay and connect with like-minded people and expand your network and opportunities.

Also read: Believe it or not, it is liftoff for #Echelon2019!

The final champion of Top100 will receive attractive prizes and most importantly, exposure and funding for their business, which is the most crucial factor for emerging startups. We will do the work and help to connect you with potential investors in your field.

There have been many success stories from our past TOP100 competitions, with over $120 million raised and over 600 investors involved, mainly from their participation in Echelon Asia Summit, the biggest tech startup conference which will be happening in May in Singapore this year.

So what are you waiting for? This is your chance to mingle with investors, gain publicity for your business, increase your knowledge of the tech startup ecosystem in the region and get the opportunity to partner and work with others!

If you think your idea is capable of making changes, challenge yourself in TOP100 — we trust that there will be nothing but benefits for you and your team.

—-

 

The post Does your startup need funding or exposure? Here’s your chance, TOP100 is back for 2019 appeared first on e27.

Posted on

A quick guide to digital marketing a blockchain project

In an increasingly saturated and noisy space, how do you make your project stand out?

digital_marketing_curve

In a world where everything needs to be marketed blockchain projects are no exception. Today only 19 per cent of consumers are aware of the blockchain. A recent Gartner poll of Chief Information Officers (CIO) states as much as 77 per cent of the CIOs it surveyed indicated that their organization had “no interest in the technology and/or no action planned to investigate or develop it”.

Cryptocurrencies don’t fare much better in terms of adoption and usage. A whopping 87 per cent of those who are aware of Bitcoin have not used it in any way.

These challenges are why one of the most prevalent global trends is shifting from crowdsales that involve masses of small investors to working with funds and venture capital.

Creating buzz is what attracts investors, users and builds community. In this guide you will learn: — How to create highly visible posts and threads on social media networks — How to grab the attention of journalists and bloggers — The top digital marketing tools and services to bring targeted traffic to your posts and website and more.

Here’s the digital marketing secret sauce for your project to take off.

What you need to know before launching your digital marketing campaign

Which digital marketing tactics would make blockchain projects take off?

It may be difficult to get users to adopt your project. Blockchain technology and crypto are still in relative infancy compared to the Internet. But the more the target community knows about your project the more they will appreciate the coming benefits. But there has been a tightening of the “rules of the game”. Facebook, Twitter, IG, Google etc. ban ICO advertising.

Find your audience and target market

If you intend to raise most of the money for your project from private investors through a crowdsale then the community plays a key role.

On the other hand, if the project initially seeks to raise money from funds and institutional investors, then public relations will play a vital role.

Build a reputation in the community (or buy it)

You can engage with the community on platforms like BitcoinTalk with posts, questions and bumps. Additionally purchasing various positions on relevant blockchain-related websites is an effective tactic.

Create cool

Build the expectation that this is a cool project. Generate buzz and hype. What is the problem that you want to solve?

Community partner

Make your reputation trustless with proven value. There are some key elements of value for Altcoins. Speculation, Usage case, Community, Ecosystem, Team, Technology, Security Concerns. What are your elements of value?

Does it make sense to scale all out this out?

Craft a story

Develop a high quality whitepaper that includes your roadmap, tech and team woven into a compelling narrative and story. Make the user an integral part of your product roadmap.

Find a model that sells

For blockchain projects, you have to paint a picture of success that engages and excites your audience. Are you the next Uber, Berskshire Hathaway or Google? Explain this simply.

Also Read: FAQ: Paid-up capital and incorporating in Singapore

Blast your mentions
Get quality mentions of your product in the media, blogosphere and influencers. Then generate backlinks, buzz and hype in related community forums.

Advanced tactics for promotion

Strong press

Sending press releases to a great number of blockchain, crypto and business media. The stronger the media coverage, the more views you can expect to receive.

Thought leader

Choose an interesting topic and talk about it as the founder or leader of your project. Then approach current columnists of major media outlets and offer this content or commentary. In the case of a blockchain project, PR is not needed for traffic, but to build trust in the new company and product.

Court controversy

Can you create controversy by showing how your product disrupts an industry norm or kills a sacred cow? If you can passionately defend your position an audience of loyal followers can be your reward. Think classic themes like “Us against Them”, “David versus Goliath” or “New Innovation takes on Old Inefficiency”.

Top of mind

Keep reminding people about your blockchain project every 2–3 days. Use a mix of locations, techniques and platforms. AMAs on Reddit, bumps in BitcoinTalk, answering questions on Quora and a new release on ProductHunt grab attention.

Tools of the trade

This requires a great deal of effort, so you should plan the promotional campaign in advance
Promotional campaigns require a great deal of effort, so plan in advance.

Airdrops.io

Many crypto companies distribute free coins to their communities to increase their project’s visibility, increase the circulating supply and stimulate trade. These free distributions are commonly known as “airdrops.”

Bountyhive.io

Bounties have become a valuable component of the marketing ecosystem for crypto and blockchain projects. They reward participants with tokens for following specific rules and completing simple social media tasks (joining their Telegram group, reposting on Twitter and such). The “bounty hunters” advance the goals of the ICO or STO.

Reddit

Reddit is a powerful platform for engaging an audience, research and driving traffic. Reddit Insight is an analytics suite for Reddit.com using their public API, combined with real-time data analysis and graphic visualizations of historical data.

Blog on your website

This is a great way to improve page rank, search results and connect with your audience. Blogging is still the most cost effective way to get users and customers to buy your product or service.

LinkedIn profiles

If your team and advisors do not have strong LinkedIn profiles then you’re waving a red flag at your audience. LinkedIn presents an cost-effective way to connect with users, investors and media professionals.

Email marketing

There is a marketing adage, “the money is in the list”. This applies for blockchain projects. Capture email addresses and mobile numbers so that you can build your audience and reach them directly for free.

Github.com

Want an excellent community to reach the tech audience? The GitHub platform can host your open source code for review and collaboration with million of developers from around the world. Git is a revision control system, a tool to manage your source code history. One of the biggest advantages of Git is its branching capabilities.

Popular communities

Here are some popular subreddits for blockchain and crypto communities:

  1. Blockchain – 56, 000 subscribers
  2. Bitcoin – 1,000,000 subscribers
  3. Ethereum trader – 204,000 subscribers
  4. Ethereum – 424,000 subscribers
  5. Cryptocurrency – 787,000 subscribers
  6. Altcoin – 79,000 subscribers
  7. Cryptomarkets – 171,000 subscribers
  8. Crypto ICO -72,400 subscribers
  9. EOS blockchain – 62,000 subscribers
  10. Bitcoin Beginners – 65,100 subscribers
  11. BTC – 237,000 subscribers

How much money should you spend?

What will you be doing for the money you take?

Every blockchain project requires promotion since they want to take money, time or other resources from people. The industry is nascent and competitive. More often than not these ideas and products are still developing. There is no long track record of success in this space and the best marketing can separate winners from losers.

People ask how much should we spend or budget for marketing our blockchain, ICO or STO? The actual number will vary based on your specific situation. We advise that if you have a hard cap of US$10 million then you should spend a minimum ratio of 1 to 10 which equates to US$1 million on marketing. Be sure you consider your timeline, sentiment and the market landscape.

Also Read: How to logically decide when it’s time to pivot

The best teams use all of the marketing and public relations tools. This requires a great deal of effort, so you should plan the promotional campaign well in advance. Typically a minimum of 2–3 months is required for the preparation of announcements, images for social networks, columns and commentaries for the media and blogs.

Strategic marketing plan

Blockchain projects have many different aspects including financial, legal, political, technical and sociological. These very different viewpoints across numerous fields demand an effective digital marketing strategy.

Despite the level of interest in project questions often exist in terms of scalability, security, performance, adoption, utility and decentralization. The cost of effective marketing is increasing. Google, Facebook, and Chinese portals are banning a lot of things. Investors are warier and conversion rates are decreasing.

Summary

Every blockchain project requires promotion because they are developing and lack a final product.

To advance will require a lot of money or support from people internally or externally. How can you communicate to them that you are going to do something with these resources?

By definition, resources are always limited and competing with other potential use cases. Follow the steps indicated above to market your project.

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

The post A quick guide to digital marketing a blockchain project appeared first on e27.

Posted on

How to acquire your first 1,000 loyal users and get them to actively use your product

Marketing done right for a small-scale target audience

Starting a company is never easy. You can have the most innovative ideas that you see the potential of solving real consumer pain points whilst making a profit out of it. You may even know talented and passionate people to join your team and managed to pique the interest of financial backers. But once you mix these all together to create your product, the next step that comes is the hardest part: marketing it and validating it for the market.

When it comes to taking your product off-the-ground, oftentimes is not about you being the first to hit the market; it’s about how you put into your consumers mind how it can make a real and positive difference in their lives.

Tech start-ups today may not be aiming to take the world by storm and may have smaller target audiences, even at 1,000 users. But the lessons that can be learned from such strategies – on discovering the real-world benefits of said product or service; getting to know core target audiences; and understanding what competitors are doing – remain salient and should serve as key guidelines of how marketing, when done right, can help your innovative idea take off.

Step 1: Do a pilot

Meaningful innovation doesn’t just happen in a bubble. That may be so for the development process but when it comes to seeing if it’s useful for others, start-up founders should first gauge their market needs and the gap that is apparent.

But this doesn’t mean that they should go all-in and release their product to the market straight away. Not only would that be a poor utilisation of costs needed to create and distribute the products for the mass market, it can even garner you a reputation of releasing the product before it’s been market-tested and ready.

Therefore, a pilot marketing study in a closed setting should be done – a litmus paper test strategy that many tend to overlook. By preparing a pilot, obtaining data and extrapolating the insights gathered, start-ups can be placed more firmly in control to identify how consumers view the product. The study then helps them determine the most glaring drawbacks and help them improve on the product before releasing it to the world at large.

However, it’s important to note that even biggest companies prefer to not conduct these pilots alone. It’s vital that start-ups work with the enablers present in their ecosystem, and they could include personal networks, the deals made to finance the development of the products used for the study and even platforms to generate the content used for the pilot (i.e. market research agencies such as YouGov or tools such as SurveyMonkey to run research and polls).

Also read: Use these psychology-based marketing principles to attract, convince, and convert more people

Step 2: Identifying product-market fit to get the first 1,000 users

When your product is being eagerly snapped-up by consumers to the point that your supply can’t meet your demand – then you’ve achieved the holy grail of marketing that is the product-market fit. But getting there isn’t easy as many start-ups have failed by burning away their cash before understanding what customers really want. The next step would be finding the cohorts that may give higher life time value compared to the others. This is a valuable data set that goes into your marketing strategy

Having already tested the product at the pilot stage; this part is all about the consumer. The product ideally needs a strong value proposition and therefore be positioned as a solution to underserved need(s). But a company’s products are its babies, so it’s natural to be proud of them if we know it works, but others may not see it that way. It’s therefore crucial to first specify the product’s minimum viable feature set to help ensure that it can create at least some volume and inform you if it’s heading into the right direction.

The next part of this step is market segmentation. The way the product is positioned should not cater to the lowest common denominator of all your intended target audiences. Although different groups may share some similarities, people want to know how a product can help their specific needs ; They may not be interested if they see that the marketing messages have a catch-all nature and aren’t directly geared towards them.

Step 3: Iterate and pump those dollars!

After doing the steps above, often you’re still not ready to push your product out to the real market.

Even if you manage to get all the above right and your hypotheses have been confirmed, you still need to keep repeating the process – continually revising it as you learn, refine and tweak your product’s features to improve upon it until you know it’s fully-ready & get someone to pay for it eventually. B2B2C platform are tricky because the business models may take time to be created.

The process of iteration is something that is taken for granted by founders who are either impatient or have investors breathing down their necks to get their solutions market-ready.

In a tech environment that is being increasingly characterised by the need to introduce disruption, many start-ups are setting themselves up for failure if they keep cutting corners and leave stones unturned when ensuring their product is truly ready for the audiences they are aiming to reach out to.

Also read: Shoot for the moon: Identifying your target audience and developing a superb marketing plan

Conclusion

However, this three-step process is only a guideline. The idea is to get a minimum set of validation to gain confidence to move forward. It will not ensure success as failure can come in many guises and may be external to marketing per se. A good product does not need marketing, it marketing will give growth momentum. But what these steps can help companies with is how to make the use of limited resources more efficient and how to raise the start-up’s confidence before they attempt to take the world by storm. If there is no validation, then it’s probably time to fix the problems or make a pivot.

This may help start-ups who don’t achieve success at first as they are likelier to go home with more money in their pocket to try something else in the future; instead of putting all their eggs in one basket and setting themselves up for unrecoverable ruin.

Lastly, when you are staring at failure, I suggest that you listen to every advice you get, be confident to discard every ‘expert’ opinion but always follow your intuition.

—-

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

Photo by David Travis on Unsplash

The post How to acquire your first 1,000 loyal users and get them to actively use your product appeared first on e27.

Posted on

It’s difficult to explain my job to my in-laws: Touchten’s Nilwafa Praduta

In addition to talking about the best and worst things of working for a startup, Touchten’s Art Director dishes out advice for budding game designers

Nilwafa.P-fin

When Art Director Nilwafa Praduta recalled the time he first applied to work at Touchten, e27 found out he was one of the company’s earliest full-time employees.

“It’s fate!” he laughs.

“I was working in this Jogjakarta-based French game developer. Then I saw a vacancy from Touchten on Twitter … It was a walk-in interview that started at 8 PM that day, in Jakarta. When I saw the tweet, it was already 7 PM and I was still in Jogjakarta,” he explains.

It did not stop him from giving his best effort, though. Praduta did a quick research of Touchten’s company profile and portfolio, then he emailed CEO and Co-founder Anton Soeharyo. Apart from introducing himself, he also pitched a list of things he can help Touchten achieve if they hire him.

Three months and countless emails later, his perseverance paid off. Praduta joined the company and worked on the visual aspect of Touchten’s portfolio games such as Redhead Redemption, Ramen Celebrity, Teka Teki Saku, Ramen Chain, Cute Kill and Infinite Sky.

As an Art Director, his job description involves designing characters’ look, background, and even colouring and filters.

“Basically, anything that can be seen in the game,” he shares.

Here are the edited excerpts of our conversation with him:

Also Read: Indonesia scores fastest growth in Southeast Asia’s mobile gaming industry

What are the best and worst thing about working in a startup, especially one that works on game development?

I’ll begin with the worst: It’s hard to explain [your job] to your family. Especially to your in-laws! (laughs)

I mean, if you’re working in a bank, then they usually wouldn’t ask questions. But if you tell them that you work for a game developer, they’d be like, “There is a game developer? I thought only properties have developer! How do you create games? Do you draw them?”

Maybe the profession is just not mainstream yet, even though it is a unique one. I’m really passionate about games because it gives me chance to express myself artistically, combined with technical elements. Programmers with their left brain, artists with their right brain, working together to create something people can enjoy.

[Working in startup] also gives artistic freedom, compared to bigger game developer companies. Creativity is very tightly controlled there.

Also Read: Why is Israel, a land of startups, weak at gaming?

What’s the most memorable moment of working in a startup?

One time we gathered at Anton’s apartment, doing a heart-to-heart talk. We talked about all the things we want to achieve, and we realised that we have already achieved them. Right here, right now.

What Anton wanted, what Roki [Soeharyo, COO] wanted, what we all wanted … All of them were fulfilled. It’s very memorable.

Also Read: Kakao sees drop in gaming, advertising revenue in Q3 2015

Any pro-tip for aspiring game designers?

Create a good portfolio. There’s no need to include all of your works, only three or four of the best. Then search for experience from internships.

And play lots of games. As a game designer, you need to understand about lots of things. I initially wanted to be a movie director, and many of my inspirations come from there. [Watching/playing plenty film and games] helps me notice if something is off with a film or game.

You need to have real-life experience. If you’re into character designing, you can’t just stick into a particular style that you like, such as anime. Study all kinds of character designs — from classic Disney to European styles.

Because you’ll never know what your next game will be about. When we developed Ramen Chain, I tried to think of the things I love about food. One of them is how it looks, so we designed details such as boiling water and the glints of the food when it is served. We even thought of the noise we usually hear in restaurants.

Enjoy 2-for-1 tickets to Echelon Indonesia 2016 now. Do not miss out on Indonesia’s biggest international tech conference!

The post It’s difficult to explain my job to my in-laws: Touchten’s Nilwafa Praduta appeared first on e27.

Posted on

AI is becoming more human, and 3 additional trends to watch in this space

We’re no longer worried about the intelligence of our computers, but rather whether we can tell the difference between AI and humans

Prelude: Is AI Getting More Human?

50 years ago, legendary director Stanley Kubrick introduced the world to HAL 9000, the autonomous killer A.I. from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Then, we laughed at the idea that we would ever live in a world where a computer could match or even exceed the intelligence of humans.

Today, we’re not laughing anymore. We now live in a world wherein A.I. is as ubiquitous in our daily lives as our reliance on the devices they power. No more are we worried about the intelligence of our computers– today, we’re worried that we won’t be able to tell the difference between A.I. and humans.

“The Uncanny Valley”

That’s the name given by Masahiro Mori in 1970 to the experience we feel when we see something that acts almost like a human but something about it just isn’t quite right. While this feeling is most common in the physical world – for say, when you see a robot that has a human face but inhuman expressions – this feeling can also come from computer animations or even conversations over the phone with an A.I bot.

Yet, our inquisitive nature demands progress and so, current and future research in A.I. means that computers will become ever smarter and A.I. ever more human-like. With this inevitability, if we humans cannot beat back that progress, we can work together to make A.I. human enough that we no longer experience the Uncanny Valley effect.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at the top trends to watch in humanizing A.I. in 2019.

Trend #1: The Adoption of AI In Our Daily Lives

2019 is the year of artificial intelligence. It may be only January but A.I. is starting the year with a splash. Once a buzzword used only exclusively by techies and technology first adopters, after the year that A.I. has had, 2019 is the year that A.I. really becomes a part of our every day lives.

Every year, people turn to the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show to see what are the trends and new products that companies are investing in. In 2019, A.I. is going to be a major theme at the CES, showcasing in a variety of products from home products to entertainment to even sports equipment.

And it is not just CES where A.I. is going to play a major role. From fighting hackers to protecting humanity from itself, this year is shaping out to be the year where A.I. moves from the laboratories of universities to becoming as common a system in your home as your bed, think I, Robot common.

Also read: How artificial intelligence is disrupting education

Trend #2: AI x Blockchain

The Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence and blockchain are but some of the buzzwords that have been thrown around. If the past few years were being used to develop the technology behind those buzzwords, 2019 is the year when those technologies will converge and work with each other instead of operating in independent silos.

In as technologically reliant a world as we live in now, we generate massive amounts of data. On average, Internet users generate 2.5 quintillion bytes of data every day (that’s 2.5 billion billion bytes). In fact, we generate so much data that 90% of the world’s data was generated in the past two years alone!

To parse through all this data, scientists use a method called Deep Learning to train their Artificial Intelligence systems. The problem however, is that most of the time, we don’t know what our A.I. is doing most of the time. Here’s where we note the trend of converging the technologies between Artificial Intelligence and blockchain–there are already startups doing that– such as Connectome, which builds virtual human agents. If blockchain is used to keep an indelible record of processes made and we struggle to understand what A.I. do because we don’t have a good record of what they do, then using a GeneFlow system allows one to create that record.

GeneFlow refers to a method whereby the traceability of an A.I.’s learning and execution history is realized in a blockchain. When an A.I.’s processes an be reliably traced, it allows for a chain of accountability to emerge, making the A.I. more reliable because we can see into the blackbox that is its decision making process.

Also read: Want to make blockchain mainstream? Then speak the mainstream language

Trend #3: A.I. To Sound More Human

If there is one thing that makes HAL 9000 so incredibly scary, it’s that HAL talks to us like how we talk to each other.

In this famous movie scene, HAL says, “I’m sorry Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that,” because HAL knows that Dave is trying to disconnect it. In 1968, to listen to a computer respond and rationalize their actions was only possible in the realm of science fiction. In 2019, it’s an every day occurrence. Siri and Alexa aren’t just names of people anymore. They’re the names we use when we want to activate our Apple, Amazon or Android assistants.

However, unlike the movie, our A.I. agents do not just randomly slap words together to make a sentence. They require massive data sets to be used to train them. That is why tech companies around the world are now hiring not just computer engineers but social scientists and linguists to help them make their A.I.’s more human. To make them more human, it is both about how they sound and how they feel. When you can make your A.I more human, not only do they help in banishing the Uncanny Valley effect, you make your A.I more trustworthy and relatable.

It is that feeling of relatability and trustworthiness that makes us want to use these A.I more. When we can relate to them, we become more comfortable speaking aloud to them. When we can rely on them like a secret invisible friend, we know that our secrets are safe (mostly).

To do that though, we need to have them start sounding more human. We’re all familiar with how robotic a, well, robot sounds. One of the most famous voices in the world, the late Stephen Hawking, used a voice synthesizer and that is one of the first images that come to mind when we think about a robotic voice.

Technology has improved to the point that our virtual human agents now sound human only because their voices were made from voice clips recorded by actual humans. However, because there are only so many clips that are available, additional phrases are often synthesized by cutting the relevant words and putting those clips together. Sometimes that method words, often, it’s a mess. However, we are near that goal of realistic sounding voice, as Google just recently showcased, and 2019 is that year when we cross the finish line.

Also read: China vs US: Who is winning the big artificial intelligence battle?

A.I., Humanized: Where Do We Go From Here?

From companies like Google and Amazon to the US Army, Artificial Intelligence is here to stay. As our smartphones get smarter, computers faster and virtual agents more common, 2019 will showcase the power of artificial intelligence like never before.

However, as the Uncanny Valley effect shows, there is a danger that if A.I. becomes more robotic and less human, regardless of how powerful a tool it becomes, we will still reject it. Technological convergence in making A.I. more accountable and creating A.I. that sounds and feels like a human will be a challenge.

And that makes 2019 all the more exciting.

—-

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

Photo by Rock’n Roll Monkey on Unsplash

The post AI is becoming more human, and 3 additional trends to watch in this space appeared first on e27.

Posted on

The Story of You with Antler Founder and CEO Magnus Grimeland

Antler will showcase their first batch of companies after 5-months under their leadership on Jan 10, 2019 at the Google campus, hosted by the Google Cloud Startup in Singapore during Demo Day SG1.

On Episode 12 of The Story of You, we had Magnus Grimeland, CEO of Antler, a startup generator and an early stage VC.

Antler is unlike a regular accelerator because it helps connect founders to mentors and potential co-founders in the very early stages of building a company. It leverages a rigorous selection process and funding — only 3 per cent  of applicants are accepted into their programme — to find the best candidates.

Magnus leads a global team to develop the next generation of companies, while creating a pipeline for top talent to pursue a career in entrepreneurship and innovation.

62 founders from 22 countries have founded 29 companies. Antler has invested in 13 from their first cohort in 2018. The companies created are from a wide range of industries including real estate, e-sports, hiring, robotics and automation, and e-commerce.

Here are some highlights from our conversation with Magnus.

How is Antler distinctly different from other accelerators, especially in its approach to building companies?

We focus on talent first. We really believe that all great businesses are created by amazing co-founding teams and while other accelerators and VCs invest in companies and help them make it better, we bring in great talent from around the globe in specific teams and build companies. We then invest in the companies. That is very unique.

What makes a great entrepreneur?

There are 3 factors that make an amazing entrepreneur- this is what we are looking for.

  • People who have a spike- this can be different for each person. It can be a
    personality trait or that you are deeply entrenched in a particular industry—everyone
    can have a spike or strength and if you know it, you can utilise it to make something
    amazing.
  • Inner engine —  the drive that enables you to execute that comes from passion.
  • Tenacity — on paper everything looks amazing but in real life, all these things are
    really hard. Everyone will hit walls, but the ones who succeed in something big are
    usually the ones who never give up achieving their dreams.

What’s are the biggest takeaways after the first batch of companies?

The first major learning is that it really works—that if you put a group of passionate people in a room committed to solving a problem, it will work.

Also Read:  The Story of You with Homage Co-founder and CEO Gillian Tee

We learned a lot about forming teams- some organically, some with input from our side. How you go deep on a business model and iterate that was another.

The only way to create a great product is to get something out there quickly for the customers to use.

What have you learned about Southeast Asia’s startup ecosystem?

The digitalisation of Southeast Asia is happening faster than almost anywhere else in the world—there are massive customer bases to reach in the region. We have seen giants like Go-Jek, Traveloka, Grab, Lazada emerge over the last few years.

The ecosystem has developed a lot and right now we are at this inflexion point where you have some great companies that have been built, the regulatory environment has really picked up. It has never been a better time to build something in this region. Now is the time.

What did you notice about this cohort and the way they approached building
companies?

We focus on building companies that solve problems, not follow trends. The issue with trends is people will build companies for the sake of technology. For example, when you saw the Blockchain trend, you saw a lot people trying to build businesses based on blockchain technology.

This is really the wrong way to build a business. For us, we ensure we tell the founders the way to do it is to find a real problem that needs to be solved and make people’s lives better. Then we help them get the right team to execute it and then it’s going to be an amazing business. Start with the problem.

What are the expansions plans globally?

We are a global company who want to build companies so we can support companies who want to expand globally. That’s why a global platform is better than a localised one. We will be able to execute out of Singapore. You have be international and bring in people who can add something to the company who are either stronger or have different spikes.

Also Read: The Story of You with Smartkarma CEO Raghav Kapoor

We are not creating a franchise, we are building a global partnership and all the partners coming in now as we expand into the US, Europe, Australia and Africa add amazing talent to support our companies.

The post The Story of You with Antler Founder and CEO Magnus Grimeland appeared first on e27.

Posted on

Online investment startup Ajaib secures US$2.1M from SoftBank

The Indonesia-based online investment app completed a US$2.1-million seed funding round co-led by SoftBank Ventures and few others notable investors

SoftBank, Y Combinator, Alpha JWC, Insignia Ventures Partners, and an undisclosed former Sequoia partner joined together to invest a total of US$2.1 million in Ajaib, a smart online investment application based in Indonesia, as reported by Deal Street Asia.

The funding is said to be used for product and engineering team improvements.

Ajaib just launched this month and was a product of Y Combinator (YC) startup incubator. It works by providing access to personal investment services for the country’s middle-class users.

Also Read: KinerjaPay signs agreement to receive US$200M investment from Wahana Group

“Our plan is to become the “Ant Financial of wealth management in Indonesia” by democratising access to personal investment services,” said Ajaib CEO and co-founder Anderson Sumarli.

The company has already obtained a license from the Indonesian Financial Services Authority (OJK) to run legally.

Ajaib will compete head-to-head with existing players in the online investment space like Bareksa that offers financial data, online tool, news, and analysis on investment and market.

With this latest investment coming from the country, Ajaib is added to the long list of startups backed by SoftBank Ventures which include the unicorn Tokopedia.

Also Read: Carput shifts roadside assistance into top gear with its on-demand service

Bearing its new name, SoftBank Ventures Asia said it is looking to expand its presence beyond Seoul, Beijing, San Francisco, and Tel Aviv by hiring investment professionals in Singapore and Shanghai.

Image Credit: Ajaib

The post Online investment startup Ajaib secures US$2.1M from SoftBank appeared first on e27.

Posted on

Fitness and beauty tech startup WeFit secures US$1M pre-Series A funding

The Vietnam-based startup raises funding led by CyberAgent Capital

Lifestyle tech startup from Vietnam WeFit announces that it’s just closed a pre-series A funding for US$1 million from CyberAgent Capital.

Joining the round is some other regional VCs, all done in this early January 2019.

Khoi Nguyen, the founder and CEO of WeFit shared that the investment will push the next phase of WeFit’s product development and also expand to a new market.

“We’re extremely excited to have cooperated with overseas venture capital firms. We believe this partnership will dramatically shorten the process of exploring the market and widening the accessibility of our services,” said Nguyen.

Also Read: Carput shifts roadside assistance into top gear with its on-demand service

Previously in 2017, the company also raised a seed round from ESP Capital and VIISA.

WeFit has been around since 2016 and claimed to be the pioneer in mobile-based user subscription packages for both fitness and beauty services across Vietnam’s two busiest cities, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. To date, the company said it has been available for booking over 1,000 locations.

WeFit works by allowing users to search and book for fitness and beauty sessions located nearby the users. WeFit partners with fitness centers and beauty spas to help them optimize operational costs and increase profit with WeFit’s traffic.

“According to a data provided by WHO, Vietnam is currently on the top rank of country with the lowest body mobilization over the world due to the lack of convenience and diversity of the solution for everybody. WeFit aims to solve this issue, we seek to bring people more benefits and less time-consuming services, as well as added value for commercial entities,” said the company’s official statement.

Currently, WeFit said that it serves more than 150,000 bookings every month.

“We believe WeFit will formulate a completely different behavior of beauty and health care in the near future,” Nguyen Manh Dung, Head of CyberAgent Capital in Vietnam and Thailand on its investment.

Also Read: KinerjaPay signs agreement to receive US$200M investment from Wahana Group

WeFit projects a million users in 2019 and plans to move forward with its Series A funding within 2019.

Image Credit: WeFit

The post Fitness and beauty tech startup WeFit secures US$1M pre-Series A funding appeared first on e27.