The accelerated digital adoption since the COVID-19 pandemic has transformed businesses. Meanwhile, cybercriminals took this opportunity to exploit the increased digital exposure to the Internet (with work from home being the norm) to tap on vulnerabilities in the computer networks of individuals and institutions, be it local businesses or global organisations.

A report by IBM shows that 2021 witnessed data breach costs rising from US$3.38 million to US$4.24 million per breach, the highest average total cost reported in the last 17 years. A cyber threat assessment of the ASEAN region by Interpol pinpointed a number of prominent cyber threats throughout 2020, which included business email compromise, e-commerce data interception, and crypto-jacking, the latter related to the increasing popularity of cryptocurrency.

The above highlights the urgency of addressing the latest challenges in cybersecurity. And with projections that digital technology, be it mobile apps or the Internet of Things (IoT), will progressively be entrenched into the daily lives of Southeast Asians, addressing and preparing for potential issues by cybersecurity experts is timelier than ever.

Bringing cybersecurity knowledge to the region

Multiple forums exist to convene cybersecurity experts, enabling a robust interchange of ideas on the latest situation and solutions. However, not all of these forums adequately create a space for such discussions to occur. To attend the most established annual cybersecurity conferences and training in the world — Black Hat USA and DEF CON, combined — can cost upwards of S$10,000 for Southeast Asians to attend. Meanwhile, the CODE BLUE in Japan and HITCON in Taiwan, which are part of the East Asian Conferences, present 50% of their content in the local languages, adds a language barrier to non-native attendees. 

The lack of techno-centric cybersecurity conferences in the region — especially ones that are tailor-fit for the specific and unique context of Southeast Asia — became the impetus behind the creation of SINCON in 2018. The pandemic has not thwarted the annual conference with SINCON announcing the Infosec in the City, SINCON 2021 which will run on November 5-6 2021.

Infosec In the City, or IIC, is an international cybersecurity capability and capacity development network that aims to enhance the global cybersecurity capacity through training, events and conferences. IIC’s Singapore network — SINCON —  is based on the principle that expanding access to the latest cybersecurity information and updates will further impel the development of the regional cybersecurity industry, which already is growing rapidly.

Also read: How startups can foster resilience and break barriers

Furthermore, SINCON has been developed as the international flagship event of Division Zero (Div0). Div0 is the leading community in Singapore in terms of cybersecurity knowledge sharing, practice and development. Leading SINCON are Adrian Mahieu, an established international cybersecurity expert and organiser of 44CON, and Emil Tan, co-founder of Div0 who has built a solid reputation after working in cybersecurity for over 10 years. 

“SINCON will address the gaps and challenges in the cybersecurity space, particularly in Southeast Asia, through affordability of conferences, accessibility to great techno-centric practice and content, and bringing the best cybersecurity conference experience to Singapore and the region,” said Emil Tan.

Emil added that SINCON 2021 stood out from the previous iterations as this year’s conference marked the “coming together of the vision of SINCON on an online platform”.

“SINCON 2018, as the first iteration, was all about the techno-centric practice, with SINCON 2019 adding on the business and community side. Then, SINCON 2020 focused on the 2018 experience due to the move to an online platform. So, it can be said that SINCON 2021 is the online version of 2019 in the sense of the features and experience,” he added.

Making cybersecurity accessible to all

On keeping prices affordable, SINCON does this to ensure that as many cybersecurity professionals, practitioners, and enthusiasts as possible can benefit from the event, which will be conducted virtually due to the ongoing pandemic. Unlike bigger conferences in Singapore that charge S$1,500 and above for their physical conferences, SINCON made it a point not to go over S$1,000 (SINCON 2019 was S$595).

Currently, with everything online, SINCON tickets go as low as S$0 during the early bird period which lasts until 24 October, with the highest being S$75 for late purchases. SINCON releases three ticket categories, with the most basic being Open Access. Up one step is the Standard Access which unlocks the entrance to all the conference tracks, with Patron Access being the top-of-the-line ticket carrying additional perks such as being listed as a patron on the conference platform.

Also read: PETRONAS FutureTech 2.0 to catalyse tech startup innovation in the energy sector

The quality of the event’s content also certainly surpasses its price tag. SINCON 2021 will feature experts, practitioners, and thought leaders who are ready to share their wealth of knowledge and perspective on innovative solutions and real-life experience connected to managing next-generation cybersecurity risks, threats, and vulnerabilities. Here are some examples of the talks at the main event:

• Alex Matrosov, Founder and CEO of Binarly Inc., will be speaking on how to manage hardware and firmware security challenges to ensure holistic platform security in the current supply-chain world
• Global automotive security experts, Alina Tan, Edmund Lim, and Kamel Ghali, will be conducting workshops on car security.
• Aaron Aubrey Ng, Strategic Threat Advisor at Crowdstrike, will be conducting an exposè of the criminal underground.

Simply put, SINCON 2021 has content for everyone – whether you’re an expert, intermediate or beginner. There is something for you to learn and be able to apply immediately back at work, home or even school. 

Helping the region learn the hoops around cybersecurity

Knowing that attendees desire more than just passively listening to experts, SINCON has designed the Workshop Track for compact training courses that help attendees sharpen their expertise and careers. Furthermore, the BizComm Track will foster open conversation among cybersecurity industry leaders, professionals, practitioners, and enthusiasts to share their know-how, be it insights or tools.

Also read: Japan’s Aichi prefecture all set to build the city of the future by co-creating with startups

SINCON has put much thought into shaping a fine conference experience by forging a community vibe because it wants everyone to be equal as practitioners, instead of just as corporate representatives. Therefore, SINCON will also set up a Conference Foyer comprising Kampungs (aka Villages) as dedicated spaces for a specific domain or topic, and Capture the Flag (CTF) competitions for those up for a challenge. These villages and community events are held on the SINCON Discord channel for people to converse and share knowledge throughout the event.

Get your tickets today with an exclusive e27 offer

So, for those eager to take home fresh ideas on securing the latest technology while immersed in a participative conference environment, go over to SINCON 2021’s website at https://www.infosec-city.com/ to access all the tickets and details. 

To get our exclusive e27 offer, use the coupon codes below for the respective tickets:

Open – “E27OPEN”

Standard – “E27STANDARD”

Patron – “E27PATRON”

Future attendees can also follow SINCON 2021’s social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to get the latest updates.

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This article was sponsored by the Centre for Cybersecurity (CFC) in support of Infosec In the City: SINCON 2021. CFC will be hosting 2 talks at the BizComm track for “How to enter cybersecurity as a career” and “What companies actually need in cybersecurity” at SINCON 2021.

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Five years ago, Dorothy and I left our jobs as Regional Senior Management at reputable global research and consulting firm to start EngageRocket. EngageRocket started as an answer to our frustration over how employee engagement surveys were being conducted across companies.

Now, the platform has evolved beyond what we could have imagined at first, with over 10 million survey answers collected from more than 200,000 users to date. 

We recently celebrated our startup’s fifth anniversary and this milestone made us reflect on our journey not just on the business side of things but also on our partnership.

Finding a co-founder that shares your vision is a big challenge, but making the relationship work in the long run is a bigger one. Even if you’re one of the lucky few, who have found a co-founder that shares your vision and ambitions, sustaining this partnership for 1, 5, and 20 years down the road will pose a new set of dynamics to navigate.

Nowadays, breakdowns in communications between co-founders have become a public secret within startup communities.

In his book The Founder’s Dilemma, Professor Noah Wasserman even stated that 65 per cent of failures in high-potential startups are due to interpersonal relationship problems, especially between co-founders.

Putting things into perspective made us realise how lucky we are to be partners that truly bring the best out of each other.

Also Read: A new approach to hybrid working: Let the employees decide when, how and where to work

Before EngageRocket, Dorothy and I had worked together for many years in our consulting job. Growing a regional business before together gave us insight into our common values, complementary strengths, and a foundation of trust.

We imported a high degree of commitment and accountability to each other into EngageRocket, which has infused our company values from Day 1. Now, we’re proud to say that we’ve found the right balance that works even as EngageRocket scales up its operations.

Here are some of the things we did to secure our partnership’s future.

Dropping C-suite titles

Looking at our contributions over the past five years, we have decided that holding ‘CEO’ and ‘COO’ titles are quite meaningless. The reality is to play to our strengths where we are most needed and cover for each other seamlessly when required.

We know the importance of maintaining swim lanes for decision-making clarity and speed. Within EngageRocket, Dorothy handles product decisions broadly while I deal with the go-to-market, and we respect each others’ decisions in both domains.

Other key business areas such as fundraising, key hires, and strategy are tabled for joint alignment. So far, we have found this to be a unique feature of EngageRocket that optimises decision-making, made possible by 10 years of collaboration prior.

Maintain utmost respect for each other and build a mechanism for check-ins

Conflict is unavoidable in any form of relationship, and our partnership was no exception. With 10 years of collaboration, we have faced many challenges that sometimes led to heated situations over differing opinions.

The frequency of conflicts was higher during the early days of EngageRocket as we made crucial decisions for the business. 

This is the true nature of any business relationship, but just like any other setback, there is a way to navigate it healthily. What we have learnt is to always return to our common values and never waiver on our trust and respect for each other.

This aspect of our partnership also influences how we lead our team; we always listen and understand the other first. This has served us well to this day as we ensure that all voices are heard.

The other thing we did was to build a mechanism for check-ins. Our schedules fill up fast, and while we prioritise responsiveness to each other in day-to-day operations, we’ve built ways to keep aligned in a scalable way.

Also Read: Some things to consider when finding your cofounders

Dorothy and I have a recurring 30-min weekly Monday morning operational sync, a one-hour monthly strategic alignment review, and a three-hour quarterly long-term planning in our calendars.

These check-ins keep us constantly aligned and leading with one voice at all times.

Balancing our friendship outside work

We are both founders and good friends– and we found it important to nurture both aspects of the relationship as they are mutually reinforcing.

Work and personal matters are separated by platform (we chat on work matters on Slack and personal matters on WhatsApp). We regularly show a genuine interest and concern for personal lives outside work.

We were there for each other through major personal events, and we make an effort to include our spouses when we connect outside work.

Even as we run our independent families, we find opportunities to check-in and build relationships with each other’s personal support network and feel joy in celebrating each other’s personal wins.

Moving forward

Of course, this is far from the end (or even the middle) of our journey with EngageRocket. Just a few weeks ago, Dorothy and I sat down for hours discussing our goals, ambitions, and aspirations for the next five years down the line. As we expand our team, we’re eyeing a larger scale expansion across APAC, followed by global expansion afterwards.

To fulfil this, we know clearly what needs to be done; strengthen EngageRocket’s product capabilities to answer the challenges that businesses in different regions face.

We also have one significant non-revenue related ambition in mind: to grow as founders while we empower our team to grow and become leaders themselves.

After all, EngageRocket’s vision is to create a world where people thrive, and organisations succeed and the best place to start realising this is in our own backyard.

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Image credit: EngageRocket

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Singapore-based Coda Payments, a provider of cross-border payments and distribution solutions for digital content, has acquired mobile e-sports tournament platform BAASH.

The transaction details remain undisclosed.

Upon the acquisition, Coda will extend its existing gaming goods and solutions range. They include Codashop, a marketplace for digital game content, and Codashop Global Series (CGS), a free-for-all community e-sports tournament.

With the BAASH deal, Coda aims to grow and better serve players who want to compete in CGS e-sports tournaments. CGS is present in 17 global markets and has gained over 100,000 participants in the past 12 months.

Coda also intends to optimise the BAASH platform and incorporate the service into Coda’s product line, with details to be announced later.

“This acquisition is an expression of our commitment to offering the best value, experience, and entertainment to our customers, every day, without fail,” Philippe Limes, CEO, Coda Payments.

Also read: Mobile, e-sports, live streaming shaping SEA’s gaming startup landscape in 2021

Launched in 2011, Coda has assisted gaming and entertainment digital content producers in monetising their goods and services in more than 45 markets. It is backed by London-based private equity asset manager Apis Partners and Southeast Asia and payment-focused investment fund GMO Global Payment Fund.

Codapay (a cross-border payments engine) and xShop (a gaming content distribution network) are also among the company’s offerings.

According to a press statement, publishers of games like Moonton (Mobile Legends: Bang Bang), Garena (Free Fire), and Tencent (PUBG Mobile), streaming platforms such as beIN and Bigo Live, apps like Tinder, and video-on-demand platforms, have integrated with Coda to attract customers and accept payments.

Coda claims Codashop is trusted as a source of games and in-game currencies, providing customers over 250 safe payment options and having clocked more than 90 million visits per month. 

The platform also boasts of enabling a “seamless purchase experience” with no required registration or log-in and instantly adding game credits or in-game currencies to gamers’ accounts.

Founded in 2016 and owned by Hong Kong-based CAPSL Entertainment, BAASH allows users to create e-sports events, compete in contests, and discover a community of like-minded gaming fans.

According to the “Asia Esports Market Report 2021” research, despite the COVID-19 crisis, e-sports in Asia generated US$543.8 million in revenue in 2020, a 4.9 per cent increase compared to that of 2019, and is slated to grow more robust this year.

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Image credit: Coda Payments

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If you are attuned to the engineering world or the evolution of Tesla, you might have heard of this story — how Elon Musk personally hired two interns who impressed him by solving a problem with Telsa’s Model 3 in the summer of 2018. It was a story destined for the movie theatres and a beacon of inspiration for students hoping to carve out a career in innovation.

Gone are the days when interns would be satisfied with merely serving as an extra pair of hands or being in charge of coffee runs. Today, they expect employers to give them the opportunity to problem-solve real work issues, take part in high-growth projects, and contribute actively to the growth of the company.

Zachary Zou, a second-year business student at Singapore Management University (SMU) who had recently completed his summer internship through the University’s Global Immersion Innovation (GII) programme at Mask Network shared: “I advised my juniors who are embarking on their internships to think like a founder and not as an employee. By voicing out your opinions or thought-process at the right moments, not only displays your critical thinking ability but also shows that you’re truly part of the company, thinking in its best interest.”

Zachary’s motivation and sentiments to contribute meaningfully are not uncommon amongst his peers.

While it may be a challenge for startups to hire interns, the benefits certainly outweigh any stumbling block. It could even create more value than you can imagine.

Fresh perspectives and innovative solutions to old problems

The effort needed to create a learning module, guide, and train interns on the various aspects of the business can be time-consuming. On the flip side, this may be an opportunity for startup founders and even established companies to gain unbiased feedback, fresh ideas, and discover new alternatives to internal processes that can help improve efficiencies.

Mr Tan Yuan Pin, co-founder of MyKaki, a new age freight forwarding startup, shared how impressed he was with both Ms Clarisa Lim, a third-year student, and Ms Danawa Roslee, a final year student at SMU.

Also read: Explore cutting-edge cybersecurity tech at SINCON 2021

“After explaining our sales cycle to attain new leads, Clarisa took the initiative to improve our leads generation and sales call process by using digital tools to automate and optimise the number of leads or sales calls I can attain within a day,” said Yuan Pin.

“Danawa helped to create our online brand persona and simplify our communication materials to new customers in a more relatable manner that eluded us.”

Yuan Pin commented, “their initiative and willingness to contribute not only helped us improve our efficiency as a team but also helped the company to better analyse the quality of the sales leads gathered. We would still be doing some of these things manually or traditionally if not for their creative ideas and know-how in technological tools.”

Promoting your company to a young community of talents and potential customers

The truth is a three-month summer internship is not a long time. But here is a long-term perspective — an internship is a life experience that is going to stick with that person forever. By providing rewarding and positive work experiences for interns, you are potentially making them your company’s ambassadors when they share their memories and learnings with their community.

Being young digital natives, interns can be your best sales or advertising channel. The impact of word-of-mouth is immense. That is why some of the world’s most valuable brands like Facebook, Google, Coca-Cola, and L’Oreal invest in elaborate internship and onboarding programmes. If they are not going to be your employees, make them your customers or advocates of your brand.

Union Bank, a digital bank based in the Philippines and corporate partner of GII, inducts more than 100 local and international interns annually as one example. They gamified parts of their internship programme by incorporating an ideation bootcamp for interns to work together on FinTech challenges and providing an experiential learning journey that connects with the company’s product team and senior management directly.

Also read: How startups can foster resilience and break barriers

Ms Abeegail Caberte, Talent Acquisition Head of Union Bank said: “Through an interactive programme that allows interns to work on specific projects autonomously, we are able to talent-spot future leaders and simultaneously deepen our engagement level with the younger, highly mobile, and tech-savvy generation.”

The benefits are win-win. Union Bank said that they inculcate their brand values as part of the interns’ learning journey while interns gained a stimulating and fulfilling real work experience that they can be proud of.

Abeegail added: “We relied a lot on digital marketing for recruitment when we first started out. But after the first few years of this programme, job applications and referrals to our company increased tremendously.”

Developing your own capability as a leader or grooming your senior management

The demands of being a business mentor are much like parenting. A good mentor is able to demonstrate effective communication skills, has the confidence to provide guidance as well as being encouraging, supportive, and honest.

There is no better opportunity for startup founders to hone their leadership skills or companies to groom potential employees in management roles than through an internship programme. The learning experience can be both ways if the intention is set out in the right way from the beginning.

“You never know how good you are until you teach and try to nurture someone else,” Yuan Pin reflected candidly.

Also read: PETRONAS FutureTech 2.0 to catalyse tech startup innovation in the energy sector

“Even as an employer or mentor, I learned from the interns too — like how to condense crucial information and communicate constructive feedback to help them achieve their goals. I’ve also gained a better perspective of how to guide people to improve their work. In fact, through this exercise, I’ve started the company culture of encouraging our team including us founders to give feedback constantly in a positive manner.”

Yuan Pin concluded, “as employers, we have a responsibility to bring the best out of these young talents and it stems from us maintaining an open mindset, understanding from their perspective, and being willing to accept new ideas.”

To sum up, you will not be investing in just an internship programme but the future of your company and the interns’. Make it a meaningful relationship that is beneficial for both parties.

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In case you are on the lookout for proficient interns, the Global Innovation Immersion (GII) internship programme organised by Singapore Management University Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (IIE) offers pre-screened young talents who possess an entrepreneurial mindset and are highly driven with inclination towards innovation and digital transformation.

Simply contact IIE at iie-gii@smu.edu.sg to find out how you can leverage on GII to build your talent recruitment programme!

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by SMU IIE

We can share your story at e27, too. Engage the Southeast Asian tech ecosystem by bringing your story to the world. Visit us at e27.co/advertise to get started.

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Starting out in 2018 as a coworking space operator, Singapore-based Greenhouse has gone through changes in the different stages of its journey as a startup.

A year after its debut as a coworking space in Jakarta, after winning several awards and becoming home to high-growth companies in the region, the company noticed a new opportunity that led to its pivot. Its clients who were entering the Indonesian market from abroad often struggled to source service providers to help them launch, operate, and commercialise their business in the country.

This led the company to become a business matchmaker for entrepreneurs, startups, and SMBs with service providers to help them scale. They started to qualify and contract service providers into their network, and launched the first version of the Greenhouse Marketplace in December 2019.

This year, the company introduced the latest addition to its business line: Revenew.

Revenew is a curated marketplace that offers startups a platform to source and hire outbound sales agencies to grow leads and revenues in new markets. The platform operates on a margin-based business where Greenhouse gains a commission for each deal that the suppliers close from the network.

As COVID-19 forced businesses to digitise operations, yet expanding into new markets as quickly as possible, Greenhouse builds the platform to help businesses to achieve that goal.

“We launched with 40 suppliers across 31 countries [by early September], now have more than 65 suppliers across more than 40 countries. We have helped at least 200 startups expand internationally, since starting this venture. Our ambition is to service 300 by EoY, and close with more than 100 suppliers across 50 countries,” explains Drew Calin, CEO at Greenhouse.

Also Read: ‘There’s no one-size-fits-all for corporate innovation, experimentation is key’: Sunway Group’s innovation chief

Connecting to the future

Throughout its short journey, Greenhouse has gone through changes from a pivot, layoff, restructuring, and two fundraises. The company, which was named in the e27 Luminaries list earlier this year for surviving the challenges of the time, is currently at a stage where they aim to become a platform that helps businesses scale through a curated marketplace of go-to-market (GTM) services).

“Our plan is to become the Business Services version of UpWork, through the marketplace and SaaS solutions,” Calin writes in an email interview with e27.

“With the limitations of COVID-19, travel is harder than ever but scaling businesses still require access to new markets. Revenew is our solution to help founders grow leads and revenue in new markets, remotely. In all likelihood, Greenhouse services (corporate services) will roll into Revenew.ai in time, and the entire platform will become a GTM marketplace, offering startups access to business development, corporate, operational, and growth services – covering every stage of growth for every startup,” he further explains.

After undergoing this process, there are several lessons that Calin can share as a founder.

The first part is related to building a team that is resilient enough to go through challenges. Apart from living the philosophy of running the company as a team –instead of a family– Calin also believes in the philosophy of hire slow and fire fast, a principle that is commonly implemented in the business world.

“Over hiring may feel great at the time, but it will kill your business,” he says. “Better to pay well for one great hire, than three or four mediocre ones.”

Also Read: How Warung Pintar builds tech solutions to help warung owners embrace the future

This careful and value-oriented approach is also implemented in the company’s fundraising process, where Calin puts emphasis on raising capital only from “investors who can offer value beyond the monetary sense.”

Another lesson that the company has learned is related to the process of product development itself.

“Test and iterate weekly,” Calin stresses. “User testing is the most valuable part of your product development process.”

The company also believes in being efficient in its product development process. For example, by knowing when to invest more in this process.

“Don’t build tech when you can stitch the solution together through low or no-code tools,” Calin says. “Spend as if you’re bootstrapping until you reach product-market fit.”

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Image Credit: Greenhouse

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