Plentina is a Techstars startup that focuses on building a digital micro-credit application for everyday purchases; it has started its Philippine operations this year gearing up for the launch. As a co-founder of Plentina, we asked ourselves, who would be the best marketing minds that could help shape our marketing strategy for the Gen Z and millennial segment?

We quickly realised that even with our deep backgrounds in technology, data, and artificial intelligence, there is no substitute for customer empathy, especially coming from the generation that you want your product to serve.

Because of this, my co-founder Kevin and I decided to search for some of the smartest marketing interns in the Philippines to join our startup programme. Not just to do admin tasks, but to actually lead a critical part of our marketing strategies.

We kicked-off Plentina’s Marketing and Product Summer Cohort on June 30 with five starry-eyed interns: Ericka, Franco, Robin, Carlos, and Aby. The interns were put in-charge of three streams: Brand, Product, and Company.

Their internship coincided with the start of the Techstars programme. Starting on July 13, it focussed on financial access. Anyone in our company, including the interns, was welcome to attend any session during the programme –this was a part of the experience.

Six weeks into the internship and four weeks into Techstars, we asked them about their reflections on building a fintech startup and the lessons they have learned during the experience. Here is what they told us:

Also Read: Roundup: Ryde launches cryptocurrency wallet; Techstars-EG partnership to drive more investment into APAC

Lesson 1: Mentors enable your growth

“Compared to established corporations, I believe that startups offer a lot more room for growth as we are given more responsibilities and are constantly challenged to keep up with the fast-paced, action-driven work environment. Additionally, working in a startup usually means working closely with the founders of the company’s core team,” said Ericka Frances Chan, students at the University of the Philippines – Diliman.

“As someone who would want to have her own business in the future, this was the best opportunity for me to get a better grasp of the realities of entrepreneurship and gain a deeper understanding of what it takes to start and scale up a business,” she added.

“I believe that Plentina’s co-founder, Earl Valencia, and general manager, Alexander Capulong, both played key roles in guiding us, interns. They were both very welcoming and valued all our contributions and ideas. Having this open and trusting work environment encouraged us to experiment with new ideas and to just learn from one another.”

Lesson 2: Responsibilities hone your skills

According to Franco Dytianquin, a student at Ateneo de Manila University, Plentina gave him opportunities for growth and to experience how startups work intensively.

“We were given a lot of responsibilities with Plentina’s branding and their product’s marketing. The interns were grouped into different streams according to a specific function in the company, having certain interns lead each stream. We’d have weekly meetings for each stream where we’d present our deliverables and check-up sessions with the entire team to see our progress,” he said.

“Though it seemed difficult, the co-founder, Valencia, ensured that we’d be guided all throughout the internship programme.”

Lesson 3: Your attitude towards work and colleagues matters

Carlos Dimailig of the University of the Philippines – Diliman said, “I learned that kindness and success can exist in a working space.”

“I learned multiple things about starting a business, primarily teamwork. Valuing the team’s opinions, regardless of hierarchy, is one of the best ones I’ve learned. My insights as an intern were given the same attention and value as other people in the team. I also learned that, as an entrepreneur, you must be ready to juggle multiple responsibilities,” he elaborated.

“Because Plentina is still in its grassroots, Earl and Kevin are tasked to juggle multiple responsibilities. We, interns, were tasked to deliver multiple outputs concerning several departments. This just goes to show the extraordinary ability that is required from those working in a startup. But, most importantly, I learned that kindness and success can exist in a working space.”

Also Read: Techstars community leader on how to save yourself from the gloominess of a pandemic

Lesson 4: Everyone compliments each other

“The most impactful thing that I was able to realise is that everyone is different, and it’s this difference that makes us complement one another well,” said Robin Oo from Ateneo de Manila University.

Oo added, “With the time I’ve spent with the interns throughout the programme, I have nothing but love and appreciation towards them. The most impactful thing that I was able to realise is that everyone is different, and it’s this difference that makes us complement one another well.

“An example of this is that we have interns who take more initiative, while others are better exchanging thoughts and ideas. Despite being very quiet, everyone’s gradually opening up through our weekly meetings and team-building initiatives. Moreover, each intern has been very responsive and considerate with one another, trying to align all deliverables to create one cohesive output. I think all of us will keep this internship programme as a fulfilling experience where we make new friendships that can last as we continue to progress into our respective careers.”

Lesson 5: Passion and purpose are important

Abelyn Bunagan from University of the Philippines – Baguio, said, “I am thrilled to design something that generates a type of culture in the corporate space.”

“Unlike the other interns, I am already three years into my career. After a couple of major research projects, a teaching and media job, I felt being back to square one. Figuring out what I want to do for a career and finding my passion. The Plentina internship couldn’t have come at a better time.”

“It has given me a purpose after a few months. What I love about this experience is how much involved we are in building the company, this means that we were given a lot of responsibilities. It is tiring but fulfilling at the same time.”

Also Read: Lessons from a student entrepreneur on building a successful startup

“I am also part of the HR stream for Operations. One of my tasks is to create an employee handbook. The handbook may look insignificant but it is actually the bedrock of company culture. As a Social Anthropology graduate, I am thrilled to design something that generates a type of culture in the corporate space. This is something that I have never done before but I am grateful to have mentors to guide me along the process.”

Despite being interns, their insights and commitment have helped Plentina to rethink and reshape its marketing strategies and have served as key members of the team to contribute towards its product launch.  You can never underestimate the amazing knowledge and potential of this digital generation.

They have all the information at their fingertips because of the internet and can get up to speed much quicker than I might have done at that point in my career.

–

Register for Meet the VC: DTribe Capital

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Ever since its 2017 launch, blockchain company Binance has quickly established itself to become the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world in terms of trading volume, holding a market value of US$1.3 billion. There is clear competition around the crypto space but Binance has successfully managed to outgrow its competitors.

The company has a decentralized model and no single HQ. Its team members operate from all over the globe.

Last year, the company managed to launch a new platform called Binance Futures, which attracted billions of dollars of daily volume on average. Close to a year since its launch, the platform averaged 35 per cent in market share, making it one of the company’s most successful offerings.

Dive deeper on scaling and building a new product line as Vice President of Binance Futures Aaron Gong shares tips, strategies and lessons learnt from building a new product line to e27.

In this article, you will learn about:

• Who adopts cryptocurrency and why it matters?
• How to build and scale effectively in a market with niche customers
• 6 things to take into account when building and scaling into a new market
• Acquiring new users in a future-forward business

Also Read: Freelancing video platform Eristica partners with Binance to promote charity

Who adopts cryptocurrency and why it matters?

The entire cryptocurrency market is driven mostly by millennials around the age of 18-34 years old. The older population –above 55 years old– are generally not familiar with it. The market is categorised by having a base of niche users with the majority hailing from Asia. While there is plenty of data to back the fact, there are both economics and demographic factors behind this.

One reason behind the mass adoption of the digital currency is due to economic factors: It suggests that the Chinese yuan has been weakened by international trade disputes. Meanwhile, Kunal Barchha, CEO of India-based exchange CoinRecoil, believes that population plays a key role as “even a couple of percentage rise in users can show a boost to the overall crypto market.”

Barchha also predicts that “Europeans and Americans will lead the adoption side of the market, while Asians will act mostly as traders and investors.

While the cryptocurrency bubble was predicted to burst by some sceptics, the recent pandemic has given it an extra boost, with Bitcoin (the most popular crypto) being traded at its highest in comparison to the 2017 and 2018 boom.

The high liquidity of the currency makes it a good investment for someone who is looking for short term gains.

That being said, unarguably there have been a lot of doubts around the technology. One of the most common questions being “How does it have so much value when it is invisible?”

Safety concerns have also been raised as most countries have not issued regulatory laws around it. This is one of the reasons why scaling in such a market could be challenging at times.

Also Read: Binance Singapore partners with Vertex Ventures to set up fiat-to-crypto gateway

How to build and scale effectively

In his own words, Gong shares how Binance Futures managed to establish and scale its product line within just a year.

Start investing in customer feedback to enhance your new product line

Everybody listens to the community and customers. How did you approach customer feedback so that it brings maximum return?

User-centrism is one of our key focus from the beginning and that’s our key differentiation from our key competitors.

When we first announced Binance’s new product line Binance Futures, we also created our communities in Telegram and other social media platforms. And I was personally managing these communities. I was also the one who was personally doing customer support for our users.

As such, I was lucky to get direct feedback from users on what are the issues with our products and suggestions. Getting first-hand information is very important. We also hosted AMAs (ask-me-anything sessions) to get a better understanding of what users really want.

The next that we got is Binance Angels, which is a network of volunteers who are passionate about cryptocurrency and exchanges, and who are already a supporter of Binance.

We have a wide range of Angels working in different countries which act as our eyes and provide feedback to our investors and the Futures team. We work together with them to engage community members in different regions.

We offer these volunteers perks such as access to events as privileged guests, access to members of the Binance team, invitations to meetups and limited edition gifts.

Customer feedback is one of our most important modes of innovation and we invest and engage in it heavily.

Also Read: Today’s top tech news, May 8: Crypto exchange Binance is hacked

How do you organically acquire new users in a new market?

At Binance Futures, we have never used metrics or tools to scale but we never stop trying new strategies and innovations to provide better user experience to communities. Our goal is to increase the adoption of organic users for the new crypto industries and we do it through the following ways:

1. Product Innovation

The first one is product innovation which is something that has been reflected in almost all our strategies widely since day one.

For example, a lot of our users find that options trading is too difficult to understand with all the matrix as such, so we launched a more user-friendly version where they do not need to understand complex ideas such as charts, strike price, time decay.

Through Binance Options, users can simply trade based on views, simply as the prices go up or down.

Another example is when we first launched futures we only had USDT margined, which means that the futures contract was only priced in USDT (US dollars). However, we later observed demand from users who wanted their contracts to be margined in the crypto itself.

When we started, it was just that one product line Bitcoin perpetual futures, margined or priced in USDT. But as we grew, we offered futures margined in the respective cryptocurrencies. Now people can trade using both USDT or crypto.

2. Day-to-day campaigns

The second is to focus on day-to-day campaigns. We, for example, announce a global range of campaigns once every quarter and also every two weeks. We have region and token specific campaigns to engage communities.

We are also organising and planning a campaign next month for our first anniversary, which will be introduced in the next months. So this helped to increase the adoption of the new users, and I think fundamentally, in the long term, we want to get more adoptions from our traditional industries.

Also Read: Crypto exchange Binance hacked, loses US$41 million in bitcoin

That’s actually where I come from and where most of our team members are from. For us, we want to have more similar products as traditional industries to be introduced to the industry.

3. Business model

I would like to highlight that the reason why we managed to get a tremendous success organically is also because of our main foundation –to build on a low taker fee model.

We had the most efficient price point for traders in the market. So we constantly focus and think about what our true strengths are and what we can bring to users.

Focus on creating one successful thing

Most importantly, we have extremely strong foundations as a company. Our philosophy is called The One Thing Philosophy which applies to our work.

Instead of devoting 100 per cent of our efforts to 100 different things, we dedicate 100 per cent of our efforts to only one part at a time, especially during the first few months.

We want to ensure that our first product is successful before we introduce any new products. So, everyone is very hard and devoting 100 per cent resources and efforts to the one thing. Our team is working 14 to 60 hours a day and seven days a week. We got to make sure that we can skill and learn from the experience, learn from the mistakes.

We spend a very, very long time to make sure our system can perform and it is tested many times from the market drawbacks since Binance Futures launched in September.

Also Read: 3 simple and valuable tips for startup productivity

6 things to take into account when building and scaling in a new market

• Listen to customer feedback, create channels to directly get in contact with customers. First-hand information is extremely crucial. don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty
• Be creative about creating new channels for yourself where customers can connect with the company easily
• Use feedback from users to improve your existing product or introduce a new product. Continuous innovation will help to stay ahead of competitors
• Invest in awareness and create day-to-day campaigns and invest in growing awareness for new customers
• Build a strong foundation. Learning should happen before
• Don’t be afraid to experiment with strategies, but focus to create one successful product before you move on to the next

–

Image Credit: Binance

 

 

 

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Singapore-based home interiors and renovation platform Livspace announced that it has raised US$90 million in an oversubscribed round led by Kharis Capital, a Switzerland based investment firm, and Venturi Partners, an investment platform in the consumer space in India and Southeast Asia (SEA).

Participating in the funding round are new investors EDBI and Peugeot Group’s holding company FFP. Existing investors Ingka Investments, TPG Growth, Goldman Sachs, UC-RNT, and Bessemer Ventures also participated.

Livspace shared in its official statement that the latest capital infusion will be utilised for further development of the technology platform, fund new market expansion, creation of new market offerings, expansion of supply chain, and private labels in Asia Pacific (APAC).

Livspace said it is eyeing countries such as Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia as well as the Middle East regions.

According to Livspace, the mentioned markets are where the interior and renovation industry is equally fragmented, therefore providing an opportunity for Livspace’s platform-based market entry.

In India, where Livspace is already present in nine metro areas, the company is evaluating dozens of new cities including Kolkata, Lucknow, and Ahmedabad.

Also Read: Home design and renovation platform Livspace raises funding from IKEA

Founded in 2014 by Anuj Srivastava and Ramakant Sharma, the company operated in Bangalore in 2015 before launching its services in Singapore in October 2019. Its three-sided platform brings together homeowners, a curated community of studios as well as vendors, and brands.

Homeowners get access to interiors for all rooms in a home, designed and delivered in a predictable manner.

In 2016, Livspace launched Canvas, its proprietary design-to-installation platform, a first for the interior design industry; which seeks to create unique experiences for homeowners and scales the job of interior designers.

Speaking about the investment, Anuj Srivastava, CEO, and Co-Founder of Livspace, said, “The Livspace model allows us to launch new offerings and expand to new markets rapidly and efficiently. We focus on the ability to digitise the large and complex home improvement industry verticals and integrate thousands of contractors, designers, home improvement professionals, and some of the largest brands and OEMs on our platform.”

Last year, Livspace raised Series C funding led by global investment funds TPG Growth and Goldman Sachs.

–

Image Credit: Livspace

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The COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating consequences for economies across the globe. On one hand, the pandemic has impacted businesses negatively, on the other hand, it has also pushed organisations to rethink conventional knowledge and open up newer avenues.

More and more companies have adopted remote working, digital infrastructures, and more tech-based solutions to operate their businesses. All these changes have pushed the boundaries of what is possible and have helped companies, especially startups, wade through these turbulent times.

Startups have been the hardest hit during these past few months, while many have been pushed to the brink of survival; others have had an early demise. Hence, now more than ever, startups need to devise strategies that are crisis-proof, and here are a few ways in which this can be achieved.

Financial planning

Due to their nascent presence in the world of business, startups are particularly prone to financial turbulence. And crises like this pandemic can only exacerbate financial crunches.

According to a survey conducted by Startup Genome, a research and policy advisory organisation, the pandemic has led to a shocking 41 per cent of startups globally being in danger of slipping into a “red zone,” defined as having three months or less of cash runway left.

Such scenarios can be better managed, if not avoided when strong and strategic financial plans are put into place. A financial plan usually entails outlining business goals and setting aside enough money to achieve those goals. It also provides a sort of guidebook for expenses and in case of an economic crisis; it can help entrepreneurs come up with financial plans beforehand.

Also Read: Out of the woods: Why the Malaysian startup ecosystem will survive this pandemic

Taking charge of cash flow and cash reserves

This step is an appendage to sound financial planning. Several startup entrepreneurs often lack the appetite for number crunching and understanding financial data. This isn’t a good sign because understanding cash flow and being able to read balance sheets is crucial to the survival of any business.

Making sure the company has enough money to weather financial storms is important because the longer a business can sustain during a crisis, the more likely it is to survive harsher times in the future.

Maintaining investor trust

Investors today don’t just want to see great ideas; they want to understand the plans that entrepreneurs have to sustain their business through crisis situations. Startup leaders, therefore, need to be armed with risk mitigation strategies along with business vision and roadmaps for the future.

A key part of gaining investor confidence is showing them that your turnaround strategy in case of unforeseen situations is going to work and that the business will only emerge stronger. Startup entrepreneurs have to view crisis situations as opportunities to reinvent and reshape and not as a doom and gloom scenario.

Be willing to adapt

Adaptability is the only way for companies to come out on the other side of this pandemic. Companies that cling to old models of operations are only accelerating their demise. A good example here would be that of the fitness industry; at the start of the pandemic, predictions for the fitness world were bleak, with social distancing and hygiene concerns on everyone’s minds, gyms, and fitness trainers were staring into an abyss.

However, this industry has quickly made a turnaround because it adapted and made the best out of a bad situation. Most gyms and fitness brands have adapted to digital fitness and provide more than just boring exercise tutorials to their customers.

Fitness brands have created a whole new digital infrastructure equipped with virtual work-out sessions that are tailor-made for a variety of customers. Fitness trainers around the world are offering sessions via Zoom, Skype, Instagram, Facebook live streaming, and a host of other platforms. All of this has led to several fitness brand apps seeing a spike in customer subscriptions.

Empathetic marketing

Customers are literally the key to any business and they should be any entrepreneur’s number one priority. During a crisis like this pandemic, scores of people have been furloughed, thousands have lost their jobs, and countless others have witnessed their loved ones dying; therefore this isn’t the time for hard-sell marketing. Instead, brands and companies need to focus on communicating empathetically.

Brands have to walk the tightrope of subtle marketing and public service. A lot of brands have successfully done this during the pandemic, automaker Toyota that would usually have high-powered ads selling top-notch cars recently came out with its ‘We Are Here For You’ ad campaign.

Also Read: 3 essential crisis communication strategies every entrepreneur should know

The ad is a great example of empathic marketing attuned to the needs of customers. It reassures people that Toyota stands with people and will support communities through these tough times. It manages to strike the right tone of heartfelt empathy and brand recall.

Customer engagement

Now more than ever, people feel the need to be connected to each other. Just because people are not venturing out of their homes, doesn’t mean that they do not wish to be in sync with what their favourite brands are up to.

Hence, engaging with customers is important; out of sight does not have to mean out of mind. Several fashion startups have managed to harness the true power of social media during this pandemic by asking their customers to come up with style ideas and sketches of outfits. Such engagement activities can help keep the brand alive in audiences’ memories and lead to creating a loyal customer base.

Startups are at a clear advantage in this space because of the young workforce they employ.  Entrepreneurs must be willing to fully exploit the digital medium to their advantage; from putting out the right kind of content to creating brand recall, startups must cement their presence on social media.

Crisis situations are hard on everyone, but it is important to remember that companies who survive through this will be the ones to emerge stronger and more resilient.

–

Register for Meet the VC: DTribe Capital

Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. Become a thought leader in the community and share your opinions or ideas and earn a byline by submitting a post.

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As we are headed down a path of recession or even depression, societies and governments reflex and protectionism take the lead.

While understandable from a perspective of fear (people losing their jobs and livelihoods) and the need for governments to implement policies that reflect the demands of a society (“locals first”), protectionism is not the solution and never will be.

History has shown us that ‘open’ societies always win from those that are ‘closed’. Protectionism can bring us on a path that is very dangerous and we simply don’t want to go there.

In its most innocent form, protectionism just freezes the problem and doesn’t take us anywhere.

Focus on creation

We need to focus on finding and supporting architects, sunbirds, and integrators. These are the people that can create regardless of the circumstances. They are resilient enough to pivot when everybody else is ducking.

Exceptional entrepreneurs can create job opportunities and prosper regardless of the economical situation.

The categories have been made famous in The Creators Code by Amy Wilkinson:

Architects

Those that see problems (“What’s missing”) and are capable to come up with a solution where others didn’t even know they were missing something.

Examples: Elon Musk and SpaceX. Apple.

Sunbirds

Those that see analogies (“What if I could use this solution for problem X?”). They see a solution in an unrelated field and are able to copy them to a whole new place.

Also Read: The 6 types of entrepreneurs

Example: Starbucks, inspired by the coffee culture in Italy to enrich the ‘third place’ in society.

Integrators

Those that combine existing solutions and create a whole new product or service by smartly combining existing products and services.

Example: Chipotle.

Curiosity

All creators are driven by curiosity and an open mind (typically found with immigrants) and they disregard race, borders, and, to a certain extend, rules.

Creators are very hard to find and the country, ecosystem, or government that is the most welcoming will be the one that ultimately wins. The opposite is also true; creators might leave if they find that their existing surroundings are not ideal.

The solution is clear

We need leaders that don’t give in to fear or populism.

Also Read: What should be the vision of an entrepreneur?

Curiosity and creators are the solutions to any problem, it doesn’t matter where they come from. And honestly, we are looking for a needle in a haystack when it comes to these kinds of entrepreneurs.

So bring them in, embrace them and any society or economy will thrive.

–

Register for Meet the VC: DTribe Capital

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