There’s no understating COVID-19’s impact on businesses across Asia. As economies across Asia start to emerge from lockdown, business leaders are reassessing their plans and projections to accommodate the ‘new normal,’ and creating opportunities for startups.

Many startups already possess one of the qualities that could prove most beneficial in the post-pandemic world – business agility. But being agile and moving fast is just the beginning. Startups also have to look for opportunities to pull unnecessary costs out of their business, forge new links to partners and customers, and ensure their employees are continually developing new skills. With this focus, startups can lay the groundwork to survive and thrive in the new normal.

The urgent need for digital transformation

During these challenging times, we are seeing companies of every size, including startups, express their desire to transform more quickly into the cloud as a way of breaking free of the legacy on-premises infrastructure that holds them back from trying new ideas.

According to Daphne Chung, a research director at IDC, the pandemic has underscored the importance of digital transformation across all industries. Cloud continues to be the underpinning platform for all digital transformation initiatives and has therefore seen an acceleration in demand in the wake of the pandemic.

In Singapore, the public cloud services market is expected to grow by 13 per cent from 2019 to 2020. All that cloud promises when it comes to elastic consumption, agile development, and global reach are in demand, and the value is being realised across Southeast Asia.

The education and health sectors have embraced digital solutions in an unprecedented way.

An example of healthtech responding to changing business conditions, is Japanese telemedicine startup, MICIN, a company that offers a free app for virtual doctor appointments, and other features like medical questionnaires and billing. MICIN experienced a substantial surge in demand for their telemedicine app, Curon, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Also Read: How Salesforce attained its clout in cloud computing in Southeast Asia

Running on the cloud, they were able to sustain a near ten-time increase in new patient registrations from January to April. Curon runs on services including Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS), Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS), AWS Lambda, and Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3), which many startup customers rely on to scale quickly and accommodate unpredictable growth or demand.

As consumers continue to embrace digital services, their behaviour change creates opportunities for agile startups that quickly innovate with cloud technology to deliver great experiences online.

At AWS, we are helping startups rise to meet this opportunity. One example is the Indian health and fitness startup, Cure.fit. When COVID-19 hit, the company had to shut its physical gyms, but quickly saw they could stay connected with customers by running virtual workout classes, and creating personalised online programs.

The success of this new offering led to a sudden spike in traffic to Cure.fit’s website, which they were able to manage by leveraging Amazon CloudFront, a fast content distribution service that securely delivers data, videos, and applications to customers globally.

Saving money

Running a startup can be a stressful experience at the best of times, and one of the most critical factors underpinning their success is how well they manage their cash. And that means making sure they are only spending money on things they absolutely need.

AWS offers several ways for startups to save money on their cloud expenses. We work with startup customers to make sure they are using the most cost-effective pricing models and are not using more AWS services than they actually need.

The AWS Trusted Advisor online tool helps startup customers reduce costs, increase performance, and improve security by checking their use of AWS services, and making suggestions to help optimise performance.

In Singapore, we worked with fintech, MoneySmart to help reduce their cloud spend by more than 28 per cent per month through cost optimisation exercises. As an example, Spot Instance usage enabled the personal finance portal to achieve a near 50 per cent savings compared to On-Demand usage.

Also Read: From Archives: How startups can get a big boost from cloud computing services

Attracting customers

One of the hardest tasks of bringing a new idea to market is simply making people aware of it, and by identifying platforms to facilitate these introductions. At AWS, we work hard to forge connections between startups and potential customers and partners.

We regularly connect executives from large organisations with startups to hear about new solutions that might be of interest. These connections often involve ‘reverse pitches,’ where large organisations discuss their challenges and startups propose solutions.

And finally, while we know that startups rarely have spare time on their hands, it is important to never stop learning. Keeping up to date with the latest products and developing the skills to use them is more critical now than ever.

There is a variety of free online education and live-streamed or on-demand training events for startups across Asia at every growth stage, including AWSome Days and the AWS Builders Online Series for early-stage founders new to the cloud. AWS Innovate conferences are for startups looking to accelerate their cloud skills.

The natural agility of startups gives them the capacity to adapt quickly to market changes and presents a chance to win new customers. By using this time to take stock of their business and the opportunities available to them, startups can move forward with confidence into 2021 and beyond.

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What is weakness?

Everyone has at least one or two weaknesses that afflict them. Even people you look up to and admire are still human inside, and they still have problems to deal with.

My biggest weakness is sugar, and it’s why I slowly gained 50 pounds (25ish kilos) over the last decade without realising it, leading me to now have to eat very carefully and workout six days a week with a trainer to get the weight off. But weaknesses can be more than just excess fat or atrophied muscles. It can also be a lack of knowledge or experience in an area of life/work, or a fear that prevents you from making a decision. What matters most is how you think about and handle weakness. Every entrepreneur has their own attitude towards their weaknesses, and that mindset will determine future failure or success.

Avoiding weaknesses is the first step towards failure

Some entrepreneurs avoid their weaknesses because, for them, it’s easier to pretend they don’t exist, and ignoring them may feel like the fastest, safest bet to make them go away. While this may work in some instances, like being afraid of snakes, in other instances, it can be catastrophic, like not knowing how to manage your finances.

In this situation, a weak financial foundation can be why she never grew a business beyond just herself working like a mad dog for years before burning out, since she didn’t take the time to arm herself with the knowledge to manage the accounting and correctly deploy capital to hire employees to offload tasks so she could focus on business development. Her company fell apart because she avoided making a crucial decision early on about getting rid of her fear of understanding her numbers.

Another example of avoiding weakness could be when he tried to develop an application without a technical leader and didn’t spend time learning to fill that gap personally since he was afraid he was too dumb to develop technical skills, or he just felt inundated by the process, and instead outsourced the development of his baby to a team somewhere else in the world and the team completely screwed up the development and wasted all of his capital. His company fell apart because he avoided making a crucial decision early on to find someone he could trust and empowered them to help manage the technical development who would also be passionate about the company’s future. I think you get the point.

Also Read: Malaysia as springboard to the ASEAN: A tech pass for global entrepreneurs

Acknowledging weaknesses is the first step towards success

Now let’s look at another personality type, the entrepreneur who acknowledges their weaknesses, and works intelligently to resolve them. Those who acknowledge their weakness are more self-aware than those who avoid them, which leads them to be more capable of understanding why they have this weakness, and then decide the best course of action.

One example of an entrepreneur who acknowledged their weaknesses was a non-technical founder with no co-founder who hired an amazing technical employee to guide him through the process of becoming knowledgeable. Then, the founder was able to make better decisions about what languages to code with, how to hire the best developers and give them the tools they need to develop the MVP smoothly. He could have tried to learn how to become a CTO on his own, and he may have found success, but he certainly would have spent a long time and the team would have suffered until he found his footing, so by trusting someone to give him advice, he found a way to learn over the long-term while minimizing the negative effect on the company at large.

The second example of an entrepreneur who acknowledged their weaknesses was someone who was great at the product and leading a team to develop it but had no idea how to market it. Instead of spending the time to learn about marketing, she found someone who was an expert in marketing and empowered them to develop a marketing strategy, and the product launched successfully. If she had tried to learn and do it herself, she may have found success, but it would have taken time away from her larger responsibility of managing the product and developing the business. See the differences between these examples? Those who dealt with their weaknesses through learning or trusting others to handle them, they found success, but those who avoided their weaknesses failed miserably.

How to turn your weakness into a strength?

Is it really possible to deal with weakness though? The answer is of course, yes! But only YOU can take the first step on this long journey. So how do we do this? As mentioned above, there are essentially two paths you can follow to turn a weakness into a strength, and it depends on your personality which path you take.

The first path is to learn the skills yourself and take on the responsibility and develop the systems so that when you inevitably hire someone to take over for those tasks, you know you can trust them because you understand deeply what you need to expect of them to perform at a high level.

Also Read: Lightspeed launches Extreme Entrepreneurs 3.0 for high potential startups in SEA, India

The second path is to find someone you can trust who already has the skills, and work with them to do what is necessary, and give them the tools they need to get it done and empower and encourage them to develop the systems so they can automate and hire people to run them so they can manage those people.

Tackle each weakness separately for the best results

Before you decide which path to take, remember that it’s dangerous to take one path for all of your weaknesses. This is because if you learn every skill for yourself, you may never have the time to develop the systems to then hire people, and your company could fail because you lack the energy to focus on the most important thing, which is getting and serving customers. If you find someone to handle every task without knowing anything about those parts of the business before you find them, you may be hiring the wrong people without realizing it, and they could damage your company long-term because it would take you a long time to figure out who is doing the damage, what the damage is, and how to fix it. So based on your current situation and your personality, take all of this to heart when deciding how to handle each of your weaknesses.

Your brain is a muscle

If you are afraid of the path where you learn a skill first, develop the systems, then hire someone to take over, consider that every part of your body is a muscle. When you do a push-up, you are targeting your chest, back, and shoulder muscles. Every time you do a push-up, your chest gets bigger and stronger. The more times you do it, the greater the results will be, but remember it will always take TIME to see those results because nothing is immediate.

Learning a new skill is the same thing: the more you read about it, the more you apply what you’ve learned, the more likely you’ll be to get better at it and eventually be able to teach your team how to do it, why? Because your brain is a giant muscle. So, consider that any weakness in your mind is something that can be “exercised,” the more you exercise it, the higher chance is that it will become a strong muscle. Makes sense, right? But before you can exercise your weakness, you must first understand how to exercise it and why.

Foot in the door theory

There is an idea in psychology called “foot in the door.” What this means is if you want to do something big, you should first try something small. If you succeed, then you will feel more confident in trying something bigger. Instead of looking at how some people are masters at this new skill, you are working towards learning, look at ways to just get started.

Also Read: How youth entrepreneurship and social innovation can overcome the COVID-19 hurdle

Let’s use fear of water as an example. Imagine you were thrown into the deep end of a pool as a kid, but because no one taught you how to swim and you almost drowned, you avoided going into the water again for fear of dying. Now as an adult, you have kids and want them to enjoy the water, so to be a good role model, you decide to deal with your fear.

The first natural step you would take is to put your toe in the water. Doing that didn’t kill you, did it? If it did, please tell your family, I’m sorry. I’m going to assume you didn’t die, so let’s move on. The next step would be to put your ankle in the water and walk around, then your knee and continue to walk around. You are slowly becoming comfortable with the water, and realizing that you did not need to fear it. Before you know it, you’ll be learning how to swim, and possibly even scuba diving to see what’s underneath the water, causing your friends to be jealous of your confidence and strength!

Takeaways

Use the “Foot in the Door theory” to help you quickly break down the different parts needed to learn how to become skilled with whatever it is you are interested in. If you decide to go down the second path, you should ask for people you trust to recommend someone they trust with the skills you need. Interview them, get to know them, see if they will be a good fit for the culture you are establishing, and test their hard skills in a way that proves they know what they are talking about. From there, we can only hope they thrive! And remember, entrepreneurship is a marathon, not a sprint.

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This article was first published on We Live To Build.

Image Credit: Michal Czyz on Unsplash

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We are nearing the end of 2020 and we can now say for sure that WFH is here to stay.

While it saves commute time, WFH comes with a series of its own issues. We want to take this time to reflect on the struggles of working from home and try to resolve some of them, so we invited Yuying Deng, Founder and CEO of Esevel, to help us out at a recent e27 webinar.

Deng launched her company during Singapore’s circuit breaker because she saw that COVID-19 has accelerated the trend to work remotely. Her passion lies in empowering people to work from anywhere and still be capable of achieving their best work possible.

Her startup, Esevel, is a Singapore-based company that offers premium home office furniture to help you work from home comfortably and boost your productivity. From actual furniture to virtual ergonomic assessments, and packages for individuals and businesses, Esevel aims to be an end-to-end remote work platform that helps companies reduce the complexity of managing a dispersed workforce.

At the webinar, not only did she share some insights on how this trend is evolving and some legal angles to keep in mind for both employees and employers but also demonstrated ergonomic positions one can easily create with everyday items at home.

Also Read: The future of startup financing in the WFH age

Key takeaways

• Avoid bright and bad light. Sit away from a window.
• 20-20-20 rule. Every 20 mins looks away to something 20 feet away for 20 minutes.
• Screen has to be at eye level. Use an inexpensive laptop riser if you need.
• Switch hands ever so often while using the mouse.
• A good chair must be stable have a hand rest, and adjustable height and not more than 5 cm gap between seat band and back of knees
• You can add a monitor screen for a laptop at least 23 inches and above for better viewing.
• If you are working at a cafe, make sure your lower back is supported.
• Most importantly, keep it dynamic and don’t be in any posture for too long.
• Standing desks are a good investment. Follow the 1/3rd: 2/3rd standing: sitting rule
• At an average you can stand for 20 minutes or 30 minutes and then take a break

Resources

Watch the live demo and check out the full video for a special discount on Esevel services:

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Image credit: Andrew Neel from Pexels

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In 2016, Nam Dang, a farmer hailing from a countryside in Vietnam, chanced upon a report, titled Edible Insects: A Solution for Food and Feed Security by United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

The report documented how cricket, an insect, could play a key role in addressing food security, climate change and rural development as an efficient and environmentally-friendly food source.

“I was stunned by one finding of the report that to produce one kilogram of crickets, only two litres of water is required, whereas to make a single pound of beef, it costs about 10,000 litres of water,” says Dang.

Himself a farmer, he knew the importance of saving water, and he used water from a well to irrigate his crops.

“Back in the 2000s, a ten meter-deep well could provide enough water for a hectare of agriculture. But nowadays, even we drill down 100 metres below the surface, finding water is hard,” he adds.

When he learned that a tropical country like Vietnam would be suitable for farming crickets, he decided to try his luck.

Also Read: No animals were harmed in the making of this ‘meat’ burger

And Cricket One (C1) was born.

Established in 2017 by Dang and Bicky Nguyen and located in Binh Phuoc Province, C1 is a startup that cultivates and processes cricket, which is rich in protein and minerals, as an alternative source of food.

Cricket eggs hatch after a 7-day incubation period. From hatching to harvesting, it takes a total of 32-35 days. The company then processes crickets into products such as protein powder, high omega oil, soluble protein and meat analogue products and food ingredients.

Artificial Intelligence plays a vital role in the production and processing of crickets. The tech is used to improve the yield and enhance the process, thereby rising the economic base of farmers and ensuring the productive use of agricultural lands.

Currently, C1 claims it processes more than 100 million crickets a month. Its signature product Cricket One — cricket powder consisting of 60-70 per cent protein and seven per cent fibre — is exported into many markets around the world.

The startup has shipped the product to over 15 countries, globally. Dang said its products are used by bakeries and chip manufacturers in the EU, the US and Asia.

Aligning with UN goals

C1 aims to achieve three key Social Development Goals of the UN — namely zero hunger, climate action and no poverty.

“We use crickets as a solution to address malnutrition and global food insecurity. As an efficient protein and mineral-rich food source, crickets have the potential to sustainably feed to the bottom of the pyramid of the society,” he shares.

When it comes to climate action, livestock production is responsible for the 45 per cent of the global land use, 23 per cent of the global freshwater usage and 25 per cent of the greenhouse gas emission.

Compared with the production of beef, pigs and chicken, crickets requires just a fraction of land, water and feed, and it produces little greenhouse gases.

Also Read: Why Sesamilk thinks plant-based milk is healthier than cow milk and has a bright future

“Another fact is that modern farming ignores smallholder farmers. With crickets farming, we believe this community has what it needs to build a sustainable competitive advantage. We help them build their capability and improve their livelihood through training, supporting, and buying from them,” elaborates Dang, who leads a 20-member team at C1, who works in farming technology, food-tech and production.

The market size

A report by Barclays Investment Bank finds that the global edible insect market will reach US$8 billion by 2030 with a 24 per cent CAGR.

As per another report by UBS, the alternative protein market grew to about US$5 billion in 2018. It expects the industry to grow exponentially to US$85 billion within the next decade.

While it holds massive potential, the alternative protein segment, however, is still in its early phase. In the edible insects market, Thailand, Canada and Europe are ahead.

The market has not progressed to a stage where there is fierce competition.

Adds Dang: “When one player makes some noise, the whole industry reaps the benefits. I guess what we all are trying to do is drive consumers to conscious consumption and educate about its health and environmental benefits.”

In the alternative protein segment, Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods have outstripped smaller players and have found a place for themselves around the world.

However, Dang feels that food production is a vast market where there is still more than enough room for new players. The concept of winner-take-all cannot apply here.

“So we never know whether we are competing with plant-based meat players. Nevertheless, we both promote environmentally-friendly food and have our own unique selling points,” Dang observes.

In his opinion, although edible insects have always been part of the human diet, there are certain prejudices and misconceptions in some parts of the world when it comes to its consumption.

“Our mission is to make this earth-friendly food part of our daily diets. When we built the roadmap for crickets to go mainstream, we thought it had to come in a familiar form — a meaty texture. We developed a meat analogue technology for this reason — to bring crickets to a wider audience. The burger patty is just one of them,” he shares.

Also Read: Thailand’s plant-based meat startup battle intensifies as the annual Vegetarian Festival kicks in

COVID-19 has been a boon for many alternative protein companies. However, for Dang and team, the crisis has been a dampener; the pandemic hit his business in the initial months as logistics were disrupted, air freight cost went through the roof, and sea transport became almost standstill.

“Demand was also disrupted in some countries. However, in other countries, the demand was growing rapidly during the peak time. Since the start of Q4, we could sense everything is getting better.

Funding

In October last year, C1 received an undisclosed amount of funding in a round co-led by 500 Startups and Singapore-based Masik Enterprises. The startup has also secured another round of funding, which will be announced in the coming weeks.

What are your future plans? “Well, keep up with what we are doing, always find innovative ways to bring our crickets to consumers, be loyal to our social and environmental mission,” he concludes.

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Image Credit: Cricket One

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The changing dynamics of startup investment impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic have pushed investors and business to pivot their business.

But exit strategies that eye on mutually-beneficial remain critical for both investors and startup firms to discuss from early on.    

As exit discussions can be seen as negative, the dynamics and challenges from an exit strategy should be seen as positive.

An exit is essentially the first step of a potentially long business journey. When it comes to exits, there is either a true exit (where a company is acquired out right), or a partial exit (where all the funds and capital get released as a result of that).

Also Read: Stakeholders often prioritise glitzy exits, not the long-term longevity of the firm

There are three key things that both investors and founders need to hash out from the start. They are:

• Good investment returns (paybacks) always need an exit strategy.
• Investors will shy away from startups that have no exit plans.
• Preference by entrepreneurs for startup roles that avoid the big-company roles.  

As a corporate venture capital investor, UMG IdeaLab sees an exit as one of the means to provide funding — when and if needed — and as a stepping stone to invest in different startups.

If we combine startup entities in an M&A, we need to consider how they can synergise and the potential financial benefit from the merger.

An M&A should also take into account the shared visions and objectives of the startups that we try to grow that contribute to users.  

As for partial exit — or a complete exit — it requires a lot of preparation. It is important that all shareholder agreements and data room are properly sorted in advance to ensure proper and responsible data display. 

These are all important steps to ensure that the startup you have invested in is clean and remains attractive for other investors to potentially step in.

Also Read: Busting the 5 popular myths surrounding startup exits

The process of listing a company should be considered as a capital strategy to achieve the next business milestone.

Other options that can be taken into consideration as exit strategy — but not recommended due to possible negative perceptions — are asset liquidation and cash out investors. 

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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.

Join our e27 Telegram group, or like the e27 Facebook page

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