We started Ohmyhome in Singapore in 2016, with a goal to establish a one-stop Property solution. Since then, we have expanded to Malaysia and, later this year, our third market. While every startup faces unique challenges in attempting to expand, a common denominator for success has been early investment into building technology that will eventually serve us when the time calls for it.

Whether you’re developing an app, integrating e-payment options, or trying to build a website for your company, the sooner you make a conscious investment into integrating tech to your everyday business and its operations, the earlier you will see dividends.

This is especially so when it comes to expanding into Southeast Asia which looks to add 50 million new middle-class consumers by 2022 and is set to become the fourth-largest market in the world by 2030. It is only possible to serve all of this population growth with the deployment of technology.

Moreover, the growth of these areas is focused on its tech sector with the region’s digital economy projected to reach US$300 billion by 2025.

Here are some of the key reasons how we have benefited from our technology. Hopefully, it can help you too.

Also Read: How tech startups can transform the supply chain in Southeast Asia

Automation and a lean Workforce

Repetitive, menial tasks are inevitable in any operation but the tedium and effort expended to complete them need not be. Business Process Automation (BPA) has been on the rise and it is not hard to see why. By automating administrative tasks as much as possible, your staff will be freed up to do higher-value work that brings more value to your company and more value to themselves on a personal level, keeping them more engaged in their jobs.

Salespeople are able to meet clients who have been pre-filtered to match the salesperson’s personality, expertise and knowledge, allowing them to know the customer even before meeting them, saving time in potential missteps. Customer relations can respond quickly to enquiries and focus on building relationships.

On a fundamental level, automation also means equipping your staff with the skills and mindset to spot inefficiencies and address them with technological solutions. To that end, we provide training for staff in simple automation tools like creating and utilising macros in excel.

Our staff have created macros to automatically scrape information from forms and organise them into databases, and when the solution is more complex they are able to communicate effectively with our tech team on what improvements can be made because of their training. Minimising mundane tasks makes your staff more efficient, improves morale, and saves cost.

This is especially important for startups expanding to new markets. Not only does automation let you hit the ground running in a new market, BPA solutions often also allow you to keep track of progress on different tasks without having to be physically present. This proved to be invaluable when we had to make a quick engineering decision affecting our overseas office that required re-scheduling of work for multiple teams.

Also Read: Disaster Tech innovation is key in mitigating the impact of natural disasters


Using Trello, we were easily able to assess which tasks could be moved and adjust various task deadlines easily. When you’re managing a regional tech team, Trello makes adjustments like this seamless. Managing multiple offices across different countries is a tall order but it can be made simpler through automation.

Information drives results

Information is powerful. In the case of expanding to new markets, it is indispensable. Before embarking on a new product feature or deciding on the next market, it is crucial that startups gather and analyse data sets to assist in crafting market entry strategies to avoid costly mistakes.

Getting started on data analytics early also means that you can proactively alter your strategy, business model and decision making skillsets based on the results you are monitoring.

While people can debate about the interpretation of data, in the current business landscape data analytics is fundamental in ensuring that you have what you need to make informed decisions. Otherwise you are flying blind and working on hunches.

An added benefit of investing early in tech as a startup expanding to new markets is being able to decide where to base your tech team. For instance, while Singapore has ready access to a skilled workforce, it can be expensive to host your tech team here and for small startups, this cost might be prohibitive.

Many companies, instead, have remote teams in Malaysia, Indonesia, India, or the Philippines where manpower costs can be up to 40 per cent lower.

Also Read: Indonesia’s beauty-tech startup Social Bella raises US$58M Series E from Temasek, Pavilion, Jungle Ventures

In our business, our data analysis has enabled us to match buyers to sellers even before the viewing of a property. This allows us to consistently be the fastest transacting platform since our launch.

Adaptability

The pandemic has underscored just how vulnerable businesses can be to major disruptions. Companies struggle to cope with the new reality of business because of their lack of a digital presence and infrastructure.

On the other hand, companies that have integrated tech into their core operations were better able to adapt. For instance, our business continuity plan depends heavily on tech solutions which our team were already experienced in using.

As the world slowly begins to move forward from the pandemic, it is likely that many business practices will be irrevocably changed. We have already observed how quickly a service such as Zoom can become ubiquitous because it fulfilled a need for video conferencing at scale and made it easy to host and share meetings.

Investing early in tech allows you to see opportunities to fill gaps in the market such as Zoom did in an already saturated market with established players such as Skype and Google. Or at the very least, it means having the capacity to quickly adopt new technologies and integrate them into your operations.

Scaling up

One thing you hear a lot about expanding to new markets in Southeast Asia is how important localising your product is. That often means enabling features or services that are region-specific which in turn necessitates that your tech solutions are flexible and robust enough to accommodate these changes.

Also Read: Here are the real reasons why the tech startup scene in Asia is thriving

Early investment in tech coupled with a strong vision for the future means you are more likely to make the right tech decisions for the long term and avoid mistakes that limit your growth. Overhauling your code architecture is a time-consuming and labour-intensive endeavour that slows down progress on new feature development and improvements to your app but might be necessary if the structure is untenable in the long run.

Speaking from experience, this was a hard lesson to learn. When we were preparing to launch Ohmyhome, like many startups, we were under intense pressure to launch quickly which forced us to make choices that we eventually realised was limiting our growth. In the short term, making quick fixes to avoid making services unavailable seemed sensible.

However, with each new addition and hotfix, we built an increasingly unstable house of cards. Ultimately, we made the difficult decision to put new developments on hold to revamp our code architecture with a sustainable foundation.

The above is a non-exhaustive list of the ways that early investment in tech will help your startup when expanding to new markets. In todays’ world, whatever your business might be, investing early in tech is one of the most advantageous moves you can make as one builds towards sustainable success.

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When it comes to economics, buyers and sellers are generally assumed to always act in their own interests. But this is not how we behave in real life.

Behavioural economics takes into account the irrational human being, resulting in new pricing strategies that influence what and when we buy. Pricing for products and services is easier when you understand Anchoring and The Decoy Effect.

Let’s examine them using a couple of real-life examples.

Anchoring in product pricing

Watch this video of Steve Jobs announcing the price of the iPad on stage in 2010:

“What should we price it at?” asks Jobs.

Jobs adds: “Well if you listen to the pundits, we’re going to price it at under US$1,000 – that is, US$999.”

“US$999” appears on the big screen.

On the screen, the price of US$999 goes out of the picture and US$499 appears as soon as Jobs says, “I’m thrilled to announce to you that the iPad pricing starts not at US$999, but at $499. At US$499, a lot of people can afford an iPad.”

Jobs was a true showman, always quick with mental triggers. What catches our attention in this example is the price anchoring. By placing the number US$999 in the audience’s mind, he makes US$499 look like a bargain. The proof of this is that Apple sold 300,000 iPads on the first day.

Also Read: Infographic: Consumer behaviour and shopping trends in Southeast Asia visualised

Anchoring may be one of the simplest and most powerful tactics you can use in your pricing.

One way to do this, using Jobs’ US$999 tactic, is to talk about the real value your product will deliver. If your human resources management software can help your client save US$200,000 in recruiting costs, use that as your price anchor.

When you reveal the price of US$50,000, he will realise what a great deal you’re offering. Without the anchor, the US$50,000 may seem like a high price.

The Decoy Effect: How a bag of popcorn can explain the way we make decisions

The “decoy effect” is a technique identified by Dan Ariely in his book Predictably Irrational (2008). In short, it’s about using the human need to make comparisons in order to make supposedly rational and correct decisions. It allows us, in effect, to hack our customers’ brains, influence their decisions to a certain extent, and direct them to the best path.

Don’t think that’s possible?

Let’s do a quick experiment. You go the cinema to watch your favourite actor’s movie. The tempting thought of popcorn laced with salt and butter compels you to buy popcorn. Upon arriving at the food kiosk, you’re faced with the following products:

What size would you choose?

I bet you ended up choosing the bigger one. After all, for just extra US$0.50 you get a lot more popcorn, right?

What if you only had the options below?

In this scenario, possibly, you might have chosen the smaller size – depending on how hungry you were – since there’s no longer the medium-size decoy, which reinforced the benefits of buying the largest size in the previous scenario.

This same experiment was carried out several times and with different products and services. The decoy effect always elicited this same behaviour and generated greater financial gain.

Usually, this effect is created by linking three elements, with one of them playing the role of decoy, which reinforces some important attributes of the purchase and influences the buyer’s decision.

Let’s take another example. Suppose you’re looking for a place to take a vacation and your travel agent recommends two destinations, Rome and Paris. Both trips include airfare, hotel, tours, and breakfast in the package. Which will you choose?

Also Read: Coping with consumer behaviour during the COVID-19 crisis

Difficult, isn’t it? To make this decision, you’d need a lot of time, as both places have their advantages and disadvantages. But what if we add a third option, called (Rome) which doesn’t include free breakfast? It would look like this:

– Package 1: Rome: Tickets, hotel, tours, and breakfast included

– Package 2: Paris: Tickets, hotel, tours, and breakfast included

– Package 3: (Rome): Tickets, hotels, and tours included in the package. Breakfast will be paid separately.

Notice that the comparison with the last option (Rome) makes the package to Rome with the free breakfast look even better. In fact, it makes it look even better than the option for Paris, which has no other comparative option.

How does this happen in digital environments?

If you have a Netflix subscription, your plan is likely to be either Standard or Premium. And now you know why. The “uglier” plan basic is just a decoy to make you spend more.

How can we use this cognitive bias?

If you want to use a decoy price to help guide customers to buy your best products, consider offering different options or packages that add an anchoring effect and highlight the value of the option you really want to sell.

On the other hand, customers will find this useful because they can make comparisons and feel that they’re making the right choice by choosing the best-value-for-money option. This is why you need to create internal competition among your products.

Now that you know more about product and service pricing, it’s time to apply it to your business and start growing again.

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Vietnam’s accelerator VIISA has announced the three startups graduated from its batch 7.

The 4-month journey of the three startups culminated with an ‘Investment Day’ at MoonLab co-working space in Ho Chi Minh City on July 2.

The hybrid event saw more than 100 active investors, corporations, and startup community builders to both the on-site location, as well as to an exclusive virtual event via a conference call.

Also Read: How early investment in tech pays off when startups expand to other markets

The three startups are:

Ask Locals: A traveltech startup which focuses on tourism mapping services. Its mapping platform integrates the beauty of traditional paper maps with the technology of online map infrastructure to provide authentic experiences for independent travellers.

Whether in print or online, the expressive Ask Locals maps help tourists navigate around their desired destination by promoting local culture, traditional delicacies, and unique experiences.

Medigo: A medtech startup driven by the mission to provide remote healthcare 24×7 with top-notch quality for everyone. The team started with a mobile application where users can upload doctors’ prescriptions, search for pharmacies, be advised by pharmacists and have medicine quickly delivered to their doorstep.

Since launching in September 2019, Medigo has been serving customers in most areas of Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi 24 hours a day. The team is working on expanding to major cities throughout Vietnam and providing online consultation with doctors via the same mobile app.

Gring: An employee training platform for corporates that can fit any size and type of company, anywhere.

This B2B subscription model has five key components, including a mobile app, a content recreation mechanism to digitize content from words to video, audio and infographics, an interactive internal community, a management system with automated testing and reporting, and an external resources library distributed by third parties. Together, all components enable Gring to solve and to serve complex corporate training needs.

Also Read: Meet the 15 startups graduated from Endeavor Malaysia’s scale-up programme

Established in January 2017 by FPT Ventures and Dragon Capital, VIISA is an acceleration programme and seed-stage fund that invests to build global-ready startups from Vietnam.

After six batches, there have been 32 graduates, with some highlighted names such as UrBox, WisePass, VDes, BoxShop, EcomEasy, and TripHunter, which have created more than 400 jobs and raised a total committed US$5 million from other investors.

VIISA is looking to launch batch 8 in August 2020.

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Image Credit: VIISA

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Indonesia’s Social Bella raises US$58M Series E from Temasek, Pavilion, Jungle; The firm runs online platforms SOCO, Beauty Journal, Sociolla, Lilla by Sociolla; The startup claims it is estimated to serve around 30M users in 2020; Local beauty and personal care market is expected to grow to US$8.5B by 2022. More here

Who is leading your transition to remote working?; If remote working proves not to be the way forward, there is a potential emergence of a third format called ‘Work Near Home’; A challenge for remote workforce is to find the required level of connectivity, collaboration, community and communication to drive a culture of innovation and growth. More here

Indonesia’s Payfazz secures US$53M; Lead investors are B Capital, Insignia; Payfazz is an agency-based platform that can help the underbanked carry out financial transactions and payments digitally; The firm’s total funds raised so far is US$74M. More here

Sequoia raises US$1.35B for new India, SEA-focused funds; Of this, US$825M is or growth fund and US$525M for venture fund; SEA accounts for 20-30% of its investments by value; Its investments in SEA include gojek, Tokopedia, One Championship, Kopi Kenangan, Hmlet, Circles.Life. More here

Disaster-tech innovation is key in mitigating the impact of natural disasters
; Almost half of the world’s natural disasters happen in APAC; China, India, Indonesia, Philippines are top 4 natural disaster-prone countries; Tech can help gov, communities, businesses reduce the impact of these disasters. More here

5G’s balancing act in powering and greening networks; 5G is expected to be about 100X faster than 4G networks; It can also handle a much larger no. of connected devices than current networks to power AI and ML; 5G brings new meaning to smart ambulances or telehealth, air and water quality monitoring and smart security. More here

Innovate and go: How Traveloka revamps its services to comply with changing travel behaviour; The trade unicorn has launched a new feature for users to book and schedule rapid COVID-19 tests; But it doesn’t mean it’s shifting focus to healthcare. More here

Why Taiwan’s AI ecosystem is a fast-emerging opportunity during the pandemic; As Taiwan gradually becomes a major AI centre for the development of Greater SEA, tech companies are starting to pay attention; AI is thriving in digital marketing and medical sector. More here

As Oyo Indonesia furloughed 400 staff, some workers and hotels pushed back; According to Oyo’s country head, the occupancy rate in its hotel chain is around 40%; Oyo has also changed its partnership model with property owners. More here

Fundraising in time of crisis: More advice for startup founders from Antler’s Jussi Salovaara; The most important thing for the early-stage funding scene is LP capital; He says don’t underestimate the power of cold reach-outs, persistency, hustle; If there’s anything +ve that comes out of a crisis, it’s new ideas and ways of doing things to adapt to circumstances. More here

Is VR next big marketing channel?; VR is going to make groundbreaking innovations this decade; The virtual experience is more than asking the audience to put on a virtual headset; It’s a fully immersive event that gives the audience the control to make a better purchase decision. More here

Decentro raises funding from Y Combinator, Plug & Play; It’s an automated API-based platform that enables financial integrations with just a few lines of code; The startup has 3 banks as its clients; Founder Rohit Taneja has earlier founded Mypoolin, which is currently owned by Naspers. More here

Singapore’s gaming-focused Play Ventures to launch Fund II in Q4;  DealStreetAsia reports that the VC firm aims to raise US$80-100M; As per DSA sources, Play has already secured US$40M; To date, Play has invested in 22 early-stage startups. More here

Why is Vietnam going to emerge the strongest post-COVID-19?; The innovation ecosystem is attractive to e-commerce, software outsourcing, AI, fintech, healthtech startups; With 3K+ startups, total investment in Vietnam startups increased 6x between 2017 and 2019. More here

Japanese QSR chain Pepper Lunch sold to J-Star investment fund for US$79M; The sale is expected to provide a much-needed cash injection to the debt-ridden Pepper Food business; It also operates the struggling Ikinari Steak brand; Pepper Lunch has a presence in Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand. More here

Indonesia’s Svara in talks for US$8M Series A, eyes Myanmar’s broadcast market; The fund will be used for accelerating growth and to acquire new users and content; It earlier raised pre-Series A from UMG Idealab; The firm currently works with 100+ broadcasters. More here

Will smartphones become the mall of the future?; Research find 90% of shoppers are more likely to purchase a product if it’s visually searchable on smartphone; Consumers today expect their shopping experiences to be enhanced by smart, mobile tech, especially visual search and product recognition. More here

Petronas VC arm invests in renewable SOLS Energy; It is a one-stop solution company that designs, distributes, maintains and installs high-quality solar energy systems at a competitive rate in Malaysia; Last month, Petronas invested in agritech startup Braintree Technologies. More here

US Big Tech builds appetite for startup pie in SEA; The strategic moves by Facebook, Visa, etc. are likely to be fuelled by the rise of the region’s internet economy and favourable demographics for growth; US tech firms appear to have a preference for building or partnering in SEA, rather than acquiring or doing high-profile investments. More here

Indies Capital hits first close of US$100M for third Special Opportunities Fund; Pavilion Capital is one its anchor investors; Fund III will focus on structured credit and PE opportunities in SEA, particularly Indonesia. More here

Openspace Ventures has reportedly hit first close of US$200M third SEA fund; Temasek and Stepstone Group have invested; Openspace invests in early-stage startups across Series A and B stages; gojek, Biofourmis, Finaccel are its investees; Its notable exits include Redmart (acquired by Lazada), Jualo (acquired by Carro). More here

Singapore’s TurtleTree wins US$1m green challenge with cell-based milk; The Temasek Foundation-organised challenge saw 4K+ participants from over 60 countries; The startup leverages cell-based methods to produce full-composition milk by reducing the carbon footprint of milk production by 98%, compared to that of dairy milk. More here

GovTech, Qlik team up to enhance public sector’s data science capabilities; Both will build capabilities within the public sector in data discovery and visual analytics, in line with Singapore’s Smart Nation initiative; The deal will offer public officers access to learning resources and tools to enhance their skillsets in data literacy and visual analytics. More here

Vietnam’s Realstake secures seed funding from 500 Startups; The startup aims to digitise and democratise consumer investment in SEA; The platform claims that its rate of selling a property has increased 200% in less than a year since its launch; It plans to offer a wide range of sophisticated investment products (ETFs, bonds, term deposits). More here

Singapore led ASEAN with US$177M funding for agrifoodtech startups last year; This money was deployed across 37 deals; The largest deal was retail tech provider Trax’s US$100M Series D; One key, unique opportunity in Singapore is the expertise among the ecosystem of corporates here to help startups commercialise and also scale into Asia’s other markets. More here

Smartbite is looking to change catering in Malaysia through tech; The firm is focused on continuously developing a set of easy-to-use tech tools that enable caterers to go online and capitalise this broad and growing demand; In Southeast Asia, the catering market is estima

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The rise of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a surge of popularity for telemedicine services in various markets, including Southeast Asia.

In their insight, Bain & Company points out that as regular doctor visit becomes risky or even impossible, patients are turning to internet-based options for diagnosis and treatment.

In fact, even before the pandemic hit the region, telemedicine services such as HaloDoc in Indonesia was one of the most well-funded medtech startups in the country.

This opportunity was also one that SSIVIX LAB is looking into with their MyCLNQ mobile app.

The e27 team first got in touch with the startup when they take part in TOP100 APAC 2019. Ever since then, it has gone on to become an e27 Pro member.

Catching up with them, we learned some of the latest updates from the company.

Also Read: A guide for medtech startups: What is ICD 10 or 11?

Everything in one go

In offering their services to the users, SSIVIX LAB uses a one-stop approach with their platform by including a range of healthcare services from telemedicine, non-emergency medical transportation, medical caregiver, to medical product marketplace.

The company started out by offering booking services for GP consultations.

Like many other startups, its founding began with a personal challenge faced by its founders.

“In the current environment, where most of the healthcare services operate in either a traditional way or some extent of digitalisation, getting each service requires patients to visit a website, make a call, or download an app. Quite a hassle for end patient and community,” says SSIVIX LAB Director Naghma K.

“Neighbourhood clinics or GPs average waiting time is 30 to 45 minutes where the majority of them are not using any digital booking system,” he continues.

In promoting the use of their app, the startup also faced some other unique challenge. Many of GPs in Singapore are of the older generation, making them reluctant to try out new technology to improve their practices.

To tackle this, SSIVIX LAB allows GPs to use their booking platform for free, while the startup charges specialists and monetise from their other services instead.

Also Read: [Updated] These 4 medtech startups will help you bust health myths during COVID-19 crisis

The next step

So far, the company claimed to have secured more than 10,000 downloads and saved more than 40,000 minutes of waiting time for patients.

“Our aim is to save 90 per cent of waiting time using artificial intelligence in our system,” says SSIVIX LAB Director Anupama Jha.

The startup is also a Social Enterprise Member of raiSE Singapore.

The startup said that it is currently fundraising for its seed funding round and aiming to expand its services to new markets such as India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand.

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Image Credit: SSIVIX LAB

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Karana funding

The story: Singapore-based whole-plant based meat brand Karana has closed US$1.7 million in seed round funding.

Investors: Henry Soesanto, CEO of Monde Nissin Corp; Big Idea Ventures; Germi8, a Japanese and Singaporean fund linked to Leave a Nest and Real Tech; unnamed Asian FMCG distributor; Hong Kong-based F&B entrepreneurs Kevin Poon and Gerald Li.

Plans

• To use the funds to launch its first range of whole-plant based meats and dim sum products in Singapore and to accelerate its research and development (R&D) capabilities to develop its product portfolio in the region.
• The funds will also be used to build out an experienced regional food tech team.

What is Karana: Its solutions deliver a new second generation meat alternative. The startup has used proprietary techniques to transform responsibly sourced organic jackfruit into a ‘pork’ that comes shredded or minced. No harsh chemicals, no heavy processing, just innovative mechanical techniques that enhance the texture of the naturally meat-like main ingredient.

Additional details: Karana is set to launch its whole-plant pork made from jackfruit in mid 2020 in Singapore in collaboration with some of the country’s top restaurants. The products will be available through retail in early 2021.

Aiculus funding

The story: Singapore-based software security provider Aiculus has raised US$670,000 seed financing round.

Investors: Cocoon Capital (lead) and an unnamed angel investor.

Plans: To grow its technology team and accelerate growth across Australia, Singapore and Southeast Asia.

What is Aiculus: Provides intelligent cybersecurity capabilities to businesses that use application programme interfaces (APIs). The company secures operational APIs without having to access confidential user data, maintaining compliance with privacy protection legislation.

Additional details: 

• Aiculus earlier participated in ICE71 Accelerate, a three-month accelerator programme for early-stage cybersecurity startups.
• As part of the programme, it received funding from Singtel Innov8 and NUS Enterprise.
• In 2019, Aiculus secured pilots with large financial corporations based in Singapore and Australia.

GoGoVan rebranding

The story: Hong Kong-based GoGoVan has rebranded as GoGoX.

What is GoGoX: Started in 2013 as an on-demand van services provider for individuals and businesses, it expanded to offer other logistics services, serving over 2 million customers in Hong Kong.

Additional details:

• GoGoBusiness unit is dedicated to providing logistics services to MSMEs and e-commerce merchants. Its features support multiple user accounts, bulk ordering, and easy access to GoGoX’s customer service team.
• GoGoDelivery caters to individual users who want to send gifts, make urgent purchases, or order fresh groceries. Users can have their orders delivered immediately, within four hours, or on the same day.

Ola invests in PhonePe

The story: India’s leading mobility platform Ola has made a strategic investment in payments platform PhonePe.

The synergy

• Ola customers across the country can now pay for their ride using PhonePe. This feature is currently rolled out on Android and will soon be available on iOS.
• This partnership will also enable PhonePe to offer their services to the millions of customers on the Ola platform thereby reaching a wider audience.

Additional details

• Ola is a large mobility platform and ride-hailing company, serving 250-plus cities across India, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK including key global markets like London and Sydney.
• PhonePe is a leading digital payments platform with over 200 million registered users. Using PhonePe, users can send and receive money, recharge mobile, DTH, data cards, pay at stores, make utility payments, buy gold and make investments.

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Image Credit: Karana

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According to both Startup Genome’s 2019 and 2020 reports, Singapore has secured its position as one of the world’s most well-known regional hotbeds for startup ecosystems. Much of this reputation is due to the country’s notable track record of successful startups buttressed by the extensive funding pool, and ushered in largely by innovative and knowledgeable talents.

There are many factors that ultimately contribute to this feat, from government policies that support local research, innovation, and strong connectedness to global ecosystems; to robust local infrastructures and networks of private accelerators, incubators, and venture capital firms. Moreover, with the addition of Southeast Asia’s first and only student venture fund, Protégé Ventures, Singapore now has a nationwide programme anchored on hands-on venture capital training to add into the mix. This further strengthens their commitment to promoting entrepreneurial education, and by extension, a vibrant startup ecosystem.

The importance of VC training

Venture Capitalists (VCs) empower entrepreneurs in converting their knowledge and passion into viable projects by providing support through assistance and funding. They help new products and modern technologies become commercially feasible.

In order to successfully navigate through the complex business ecosystem, VCs need to learn how to read the markets and build their decisions around qualitative and quantitative data. VCs also dig deep into a startup’s business plans and operations as they conduct due diligence and assess each startup’s potential for investment. Most exceptionally, VCs hone their abilities to navigate through the unknowns, in our disrupted world today.

Traditionally, due to the shortage of university-level VC training programmes, in order for a person to step into the world of VC, they have to first obtain years of investment banking or management consulting experience to be considered for an analyst or associate role in a VC firm.

Protégé Ventures powered by SMU Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship

While conventional entrepreneurial education has already been booming across the region for many years, Protégé Ventures is enhancing the dimensions of entrepreneurial education by being the first to offer leadership training grounded by and leveraging on the investor’s perspective and the techniques of the trade.

First established as a pilot programme by the Singapore Management University Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in 2017, Protégé Ventures has recently received an MOE grant at the beginning of 2020 to scale this initiative into a national student VC training programme.

As Southeast Asia’s first student-run venture fund programme, Protégé Ventures offers unique training and mentorship that zooms in on startup investment and the full suite of decision-making involved in the process. With its peer-learning model, coupled with in-depth advisory by industry veterans, including seasoned VCs from Wavemaker Partners, Openspace Ventures, and MassMutual Ventures, students in Protégé Ventures are able to gain practical insights to the industry by standing on the shoulders of giants.

Protégé Ventures’ model focuses on early-stage deal activity where students assess and fund startups at the pre-seed/seed stage. Part of the groundwork inculcated in the hands-on and real-life quality intrinsic to the curriculum are actual deal sourcing, deal evaluation, and due-diligence work, with opportunities to meet with founders and pitch deals to an investment committee. True to its emphasis on hands-on learning in investing, Protégé Ventures students have the opportunity to deploy real capital into startups with cheque sizes from $25,000 to $50,000, ultimately making real impact.

With this in-depth hands-on VC training, students are equipped with critical skills as they cultivate the mindset and acumen to negotiate our unprecedented times. These are important competencies to develop in our next generation of entrepreneurial leaders both within and beyond the VC industry, and will go far to enrich our ecosystem.

Protégé Ventures Making Real Impact

Witnessing significant success since the beginning of its inception, Protégé Ventures has trained a total of 78 students under the programme. Also, more than 70 percent of Protégé Ventures students and alumni have secured internships and job placements in VC firms and startups such as Wavemaker Partners, MDI Ventures, Qualgro Ventures, Grab, and Shopback.

Protégé Ventures stays true to its ‘for students, by students’ mantra by making at least 80% of their investments in campus startups led by students and recent graduates. To date, Protégé Ventures has invested in 6 startups, spanning across different verticals that include IoT waste management, human resources, edtech, and mental health.

One of Protégé Ventures’ investments, Lumitics, has since received follow-on investment from external funders. Previously known as Good For Food, Lumitics utilises IoT and data analytics to assist hotels and commercial kitchens in managing their food waste. Protégé Ventures invested in the pre-seed round in 2018, endorsing confidence in the company that went on to raise S$750,000 in its seed round which closed in January 2020.

The programme leaves not only a lasting impact on student founders and their startups but also the students who have joined the programme. Some of the former students have shared their experiences and impressions of the programme.

Lionell Loh, Managing Partner from Class of 2020, said that Protégé Ventures has developed his business acumen, critical thinking, and passion for learning new things especially from other smart and ambitious founders and outstanding entrepreneurs. Currently, Loh has secured a position with Facebook in the US and is eager to start as soon as the global health crisis subsides.

Meanwhile, Theodora Boo, Managing Partner from Singapore Management University Class of 2021, said that the programme helped develop her interest in spotting deserving and successful ventures using both qualitative and quantitative data. It has also shown her how a VCs can provide game-changing value for a startup. Having been in the programme for 2 years, she has also managed to secure internships in Cento Ventures and MDI Ventures.

Want to join the Student VCs of Protégé Ventures?

As the world faces new challenges, Protégé Ventures believes that the disruption will also change the face of the startup ecosystem. Taking risks in known-unknowns and unknown-unknowns has never been more important and Protégé Ventures is now looking forward to recruiting its 4th batch of driven, analytical, and fearless student analysts.

Students will be expected to commit at least one year with the programme to master venture capital and entrepreneurial skill sets. During the programme, Student VCs will get access to industry events, networking with regional VCs, and receive bi-weekly mentorship from industry leaders.

To learn more about this nationwide programme, you may join Protégé Ventures’ virtual information session on 17 July by registering here.

The application to the programme is open until 31 July. If you think you are up for the challenge, apply now by clicking here to register.

For more information, visit the Protégé Ventures website.

The post SMU’s Protégé Ventures as a catalyst for entrepreneurial education appeared first on e27.

Last night, to be very precise, past midnight, over a long, long call, someone said ‘founder’s depression’ is on a rise in the pandemic. I was blissfully unaware of the term but very familiar with living that nightmare for exactly three times now.

My life as a startup CEO has been anything but glamorous on the internet, social media, LinkedIn, and on some leading media platforms. As a three-time founder, I had a jet setting lifestyle, the world-class, an envy-invoking gorgeous apartment, the crown of the CEO, power, authority, media attention, honours, and awards.

For the longest time, I was the poster girl for topics like ‘women in tech’, ‘women empowerment’, ‘women CEO’, ‘women in power’ and got an opportunity to voice my opinions and thoughts at INSEAD, French Chambers of Commerce and UN Women, to name a few.

And all this on the Brink of the ’30s. It sounds so much fun!

However, underneath, as a startup CEO, I was living an emotional rollercoaster, unlike anything I had ever experienced in my life before. It flipped rapidly from day-to-day. One day I was euphorically convinced I am going to own the world, to another day in which doom seemed only days away and I felt completely ruined, and then the very next day back to euphoria again.

Also Read: Founder depression and how to tackle it

This went on over and over and over. And by the way, this is something that happens when the startup is on stable grounds. Imagine what would happen if the startup was not doing well or if there is no capital runway, disputes with the co-founders and investors, pending litigations, regulatory issues?

If you are unfamiliar with this dingy, dark world of entrepreneurship, I would say just imagine the magnitude of the stress I mentioned above amplified to 100 times.

There are immense uncertainty and unexplainable risk associated with practically everything that a startup CEO does. The level of stress that I was under, would magnify the incredible highs and unbelievable lows at whiplash speed and huge magnitude.

And that coupled with a difficult relationship marked with long-distance, an abusive individual and a huge cultural gap between us. Sounds like fun? Not anymore, right? This difficulty is the living nightmare of 99 per cent of the founders.

Double-edged sword

This isn’t just my story but that of all the entrepreneurs. In addition to the professional woes, for most founders, a personal relationship is perpetually on shaky ground because their partners cannot truly comprehend the demands and challenges associated with the crown of a CEO. A double-edged sword I would say. And it is the combination of these very circumstances that drown most startup founders into depression, including me.

The paragraphs above articulate the mere situation but the core of the fragility lies in the individuals and entrepreneurs; it is a gap that leads to depression. Over the past year, I have spent significant time on self-reflection and self-awareness and I understood the key factors that led to depression in my case, as mentioned below:

Impostor syndrome

I suffer from the sense that I don’t belong where I am; that eventually I will be exposed as a fraud. This led me to chalk up success to luck, but to take all the blame for any failures of my company.

I-am-my-company syndrome

In my head, I blurred the line between myself and the company in such a way that I started believing company failure is my personal failure. Losing employees, declining revenues, missed targets, failure to secure additional funding– felt like a deep deep personal rejection.

I-am-a-superwoman syndrome

Investors, founders, and poorly trained middle managers all perpetuate a myth in the startup ecosystem that the only way to be successful is to grind yourself inexorably to the bone. And I am thoroughly guilty of treating myself so bad, working 18 hours a day, seven days a week, catching sleep only on flights, and carrying on without any vacations, or breaks.

To be honest I am yet to meet a founder who has a budgeted line item for self-care or who takes guilt-free vacations. I wish I would have understood earlier that I am not a superwoman and I don’t have to fix it all.

Feeling of loneliness

The all-encompassing nature of a startup often caused me to spend less time with family and friends, and required me to relocate away from my support networks. As a result, I often found myself alone when I needed others the most. I felt that I cannot talk with the co-founders, especially when the problem is with the co-founder, I could not pass the burden of worry on to the employees and felt like friends and family do not understand or are tired of hearing about my issues. This was probably the loneliest I ever felt in my life to date.

Financial uncertainty

I had a high paying job in management consulting and Private Equity previously, with pay in excess of US$240,000 annually. In addition to opportunity cost, as a founder for the longest time, I went without a paycheck and/or coughing up a lot of my savings into the project.

This created a scenario where a business failure would actually lead to financial ruin. I suffered from acute anxiety, such that the thought of failure would make me sick physically.

Also Read: Why failing your startup does not mean you are a failure

I strongly feel that everyone who participates in the startup ecosystem contributes to the problem of poor founder health. Few of the things that we can do immediately is to circumvent this curse is to:

• Destigmatise mental health
• Connect, connect, connect and create a stronger support system
• Prioritise and make time for personal well-being and relationships
• Set aside resources and funds for mental and physical well-being

I also strongly believe that the investors should make sure that the founders they work with know that they take mental health issues seriously. Investors, in their on-boarding process with founders, should explicitly touch on their support for the founders’ seeking mental health services when they feel compelled to do so. Being an investor is different from being a founder.

If investors want to support their founders, they need to be authentic and vulnerable in front of them. Investors need to show founders it’s okay to open up and that it’s OK to have doubts or to struggle with mental health.

Building a company is inherently hard – mentally, physically, and emotionally, but the ecosystem is a toxic one, with dozens of factors all contributing to make it even more so. As entrepreneurs and founders, we are literally killing ourselves and thereby sabotaging our long-term competitiveness.

At the end of the day, I believe most of the actions boil down to treating each other and ourselves as human beings. If we recognise and embrace our weaknesses and support our own imperfections, we will start seeing a healthier and more sustainable entrepreneurial stint.

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