It is no secret that sales conversion and customer satisfaction are crucial to any business’s growth and success. The more the sales, the more the revenues and the bigger the business, and there cannot be any sales without customer satisfaction.

Today, in the 4.0 era, keeping customers satisfied and happy has become more crucial than ever. With the power of social media and digital platforms, one bad review can kill a brand. In 2018, it took one tweet from Kylie Jenner for Snapchat to lose USD 1.3 billion in stock.

In Singapore, bad customer service cost businesses USD 26 billion in 2016 and over two-thirds of the consumers switched brands. In Japan, according to a 2017 survey with a thousand respondents, 56 per cent of consumers said that after one case of bad customer service, they’ll simply spend their money somewhere else. According to a report, in 2018 alone, poor customer service cost businesses more than USD 75 billion in losses.

Also read: Connect with 10 more verified investors on e27 today

One of the biggest gaps, when it comes to customer satisfaction is that conversations between agents and customers are actually a BlackBox situation- nobody knows why their performance varies depending on each agent. Sales agents and customer support agents have an important role as direct representatives of the company to potential as well as existing customers, and that is why it becomes crucial to be able to analyse their conversations and give them valuable feedback on how to improve.

As such, Tokyo-based RevComm is helping address this BlackBox problem with its B2B SaaS MiiTel that helps analyse and visualise sales and customer satisfaction conversations by leveraging artificial intelligence.

Solving the BlackBox problem for the customer support industry and helping businesses thrive

Founded in July 2017, RevComm focuses on issues in phone sales and customer support as well as success. To address the BlackBox problem faced by this industry, RevComm helps visualise and analyse the “whats” and “hows” of conversations between sales representatives and customers with the help of their flagship product MiiTel. RevComm’s MiiTel is basically a cloud IP-phone, which is powered by a conversation intelligence platform that increases sales conversion and customer satisfaction rates while decreasing education & communication costs.

Also read: AI Communis: The first B2B ASR-based solution provider in SEA with local language adaptation

The IP-phone is directly connected with a CRM where sales representatives can make a call by simply clicking on a customer’s phone number. Once the call is through, the entire conversation is visualised and analysed with details like the operator’s name, date, time, duration of call, customer’s name and result of the call displayed clearly on the interface. The platform also displays a detailed analysis of the result: from speech evaluation with elements like the number of silences, the number of overlaps, speech rate and the number of rallies to voice evaluation with elements like fundamental frequencies for both customer and operator as well as the intonation strength. The platform also gives a summary of the speech rate, ie, characters spoken per second, for both operator and customer. Keyword appearances are also recorded that help clarify the highlight points of the conversation.

These detailed reports not only provide the employers with valuable insights on the performance of different representatives but also empower sales agents with useful feedback that motivates them for self-improvement.

Combining four separate domains of tech, namely IP-phone, cloud, an analysis engine and web as well as a mobile application, RevComm is providing quick, easy-to-use customer satisfaction and sales conversion solutions to businesses in Japan.


Optimising remote work in the new normal

In addition to the core values of helping address the BlackBox challenge and inspiring self-motivated sales agents, RevComm’s third fundamental vision is to optimise remote work in the new normal. With businesses — both big and small — facing different kinds of challenges amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns since early last year, there is no scope for gaps in customer satisfaction or sales conversion. For any business to survive and scale in the new normal, remote work is key to business continuity. This is where RevComm’s MiiTel can step up and help. Due to its cloud IP-phone, the need for physical phones is eliminated, which helps cut the costs and allows an immediate shift to remote work. Additionally, RevComm’s MiiTel costs just USD 59 a month with no minimum lot or initial cost.

Also read: How this Tokyo-based IoT startup seeks to revolutionise healthcare

RevComm has acquired more than 15,000 paid users in a short span of two years. Today, approximately 30 million sales calls are made via MiiTel in Japan. They have customers in a wide range of sectors, including banking, IT, tech startups and large corporations. BizReach, a fast-growing HR company in Japan, used RevComm’s MiiTel and in only four months saw a whopping 62 per cent growth in profits and their net ROI rose by over 538 per cent. Another company, SmartDrive, a hardware and big data solution provider saw a 140 per cent increase in the number of sales calls with MiiTel. RevComm’s MiiTel has helped many SMEs and startups cross an ROI of 500 per cent and for enterprises, it has gone beyond 1000 per cent.

Last year in October they closed a Series A round at USD 14.2 million with support from several Global VCs and CVCs. They are keen on expanding their business to Southeast Asian markets with a keen focus on Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Find out more about RevComm and connect with them here: https://e27.co/startups/revcomm/

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by 
JETRO

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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Indonesian travel giant Traveloka is planning to publicly list in the US this year through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), said a Bloomberg report quoting its CEO Ferry Unardi.

“A SPAC is very efficient and if we can do it faster we can then focus on execution and growing the company,” Unardi noted.

The Jakarta-based startup has reportedly engaged JPMorgan Chase as plans to go public accelerate amid the capital influx into the stock market. Traveloka is said to be valued at close to US$6 billion.

Unardi added the company will continue exploring potential mergers or acquisitions upon completion of its IPO and a public home listing remains on the cards.

The travel company joins a growing list of Indonesian startups seeking to list in the US through SPACs. Ride-hailing giant gojek is reportedly finalising its merger with e-commerce platform Tokopedia before a possible dual listing via the SPAC route in the US and Jakarta.

In an interview with e27, experts commented that the SPAC model that the company is implementing can be “an alternative” way to fundraise for startups in SEA.

“Having seen the more than 100 SPACs emerge in North America earlier this year, we are not surprised to see this new SPAC coming out to focus on Southeast Asia. We welcome this initiative, which will provide an alternative path to liquidity and access to public markets for one or more rising tech, financial services or media company in the region,” said Sanjay Zimmermann, Senior Associate at White Star Capital.

Also Read: Innovate and go: How Traveloka revamps its services to comply with changing travel behaviour 

Despite the pandemic wreaking havoc on the travel industry worldwide, Traveloka President Henry Hendrawan disclosed to the media in October 2020 that he expected the startup to be “potentially” profitable by 2021.

Last July, the company closed a US$250 million funding round from a host of investors including Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC and East Ventures.

Founded in 2012, Traveloka started out as a platform for consumers to book flights and hotels across the region. When the pandemic struck, it pivoted its products towards servicing more resilient sectors such as lifestyle and financial services. As part of efforts to reduce costs, it cut a number of roles, including about 80 jobs in Singapore last April.

“Last year was difficult, we had to assess our organisation, business, we had to make very difficult decisions,” said Unardi.

He added Traveloka’s travel arm is back in the green amid the lifting of travel restrictions. The company is also looking to expand its travel-now-pay-later offerings to further attract potential travellers.

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Image Credit: Traveloka

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In the national budget announced today, Singapore Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat launched a slew of initiatives aimed at catalysing the growth of startups and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the city-state.

Heng, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister, said that Singapore must deepen its position as a global-Asia node to emerge stronger from the COVID-19 crisis.

Here’s a list of the key initiatives announced and how it could impact the startup ecosystem in Southeast Asia.

1- Platforms to spur corporate innovation efforts

Details: The government will invest in three platforms (Corporate Venture Launchpad, Open Innovation Platform and Global Innovation Alliance) to help corporates innovate and collaborate and remain competitive.

Why it matters: The increased support, in terms of capital and resources, will spur more companies to encourage intrapreneurship within the organisation. Corporates will look to work with more accelerators, VCs and startups to source for innovative businesses that can value-add to their organisation, fuelling the growth of the startup ecosystem.

2- Improved intellectual property laws

Details: The Intellectual Property (IP) Strategy 2030 is being developed to strengthen existing IP laws in Singapore, with more details to be announced on World IP Day in April.

Why it matters: Deeptech startups will be the biggest beneficiaries of this move as they can look to better commercialise and protect their innovative ideas, creating a safety net for them to experiment with high-risk technologies and potentially create breakthroughs.

3- Increased support for the deeptech sector

Details: 500 fellowships will be launched under the National Research Foundation to improve deeptech expertise in areas including cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence and healthtech.

Also Read: Uncovering the rise and challenges faced by deep tech startups in Singapore

Why it matters: These fellows will be able to help various stakeholders in the startup ecosystem — from accelerators and VCs to deeptech startups themselves — better understand the different deep tech sectors. With greater awareness of the nascent deep tech sector, investors and ecosystem builders alike will start to pay more attention and support its growth.

4- Enhanced venture debt programme

Details: To ensure high-growth startups have access to the necessary capital, the venture debt programme will be extended and enhanced — with an increase in the cap on loan quantum support from S$5 million (US$3.8 million) to S$8 million (US$6 million).

Under the debt programme, the government also shares up to 70 per cent of the risk on eligible loans with participating financial institutions.

Why it matters: There has been a shortage of capital in Series C and D stages in Southeast Asia, stunting the growth of promising startups in the region. Local high-growth startups are likely to benefit from this initiative and attempt to plug the funding gap with loans from financial institutions.

5- Promoting the use of electrical vehicles (EVs)

Details: Up to S$30 million (US$22.7 million) will be pumped into EV-related initiatives over the next five years, including projects aimed at improving the current charging network and narrowing the difference in cost between conventional and electric cars.

Why it matters: The government has been deliberate in its push to encourage the adoption of EVs in Singapore but still face teething problems such as the lack of a robust charging network within the city-state.

Also Read: ‘Singapore isn’t ready for mass adoption of EVs yet; hybrid may be better for the present’

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Image Credit: Unsplash

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Canada-based geothermal technology company Eavor Technologies has raised US$40 million from a host of investors, including Singapore-based Temasek Holdings and Vickers Venture Partners.

Other investors are bp Ventures, Chevron Technology Ventures, BDC Capital, and Eversource.

This round follows Eavor’s US$8-million fundraise in 2020.

The fresh funds will be used to scale Eavor’s projects and bolster its ongoing R&D to further improve its solution.

Launched in 2017, Eavor claims to be the world’s first scalable form of dispatchable energy. Its solution is Eavor-Loop, a technology that extracts the natural heat of the earth similar to a rechargeable battery in order to provide a consistent energy source for homes.

Eavor-Loop claims to have the potential to directly replace traditional forms of baseload power such as coal and nuclear. It is also designed in a way that is complementary to intermittent power sources like wind and solar.

Also Read: Temasek-backed Reefknot invests into US-based supply chain startup Roambee

In a 2019 interview with ThinkGeoEnergy, the company said it aims to use Eavor-Loop globally to transfer 10 million homes over the next 10 years onto heat or power from Eavor’s distributed green base-load solution.

John Redfern, CEO of Eavor said: “I am delighted that with the funding closed in this round, we can look forward to bringing down the cost of clean, dispatchable power to a universally competitive level – an important milestone for renewable energy.”

Temasek is a global investment company that tends to invest mostly in companies that operate in larger sectors like telecom, energy, and finance.

It has most recently invested in American company Reefknot, China foodtech fund Bits x Bites, and EV Growth’s US$250 million Indonesia-focused fund.

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Image Credit:Frédéric Paulussen

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China’s Huawei willing to transfer 5G technology globally

The story: Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei has said the company is willing to transfer its 5G technology to facilitate global innovation.

More about the story: “We are open to transferring all of our 5G technologies, not just licensing production to others. This will include source programs and source code to all the hardware design secrets as well as the know-how, and the chip design,” Zhengfei said during the opening ceremony of its intelligent mining innovation lab in Taiyuan.

Also Read: IMDA announces US$22M grant to support startups driving mass 5G adoption

Despite countries like the US, the UK and others barring Huawei products due to security issues, Zhengfei feels that countries must work together to develop their economies for the larger good of benefitting societies.

India’s decacorn Byju’s to acquire rival Toppr for US$150M

The story: India’s decacorn Byju’s is looking to acquire Toppr for about US$150 million, according to KrAsia.

Why the acquisition?: Toppr is the only other well-known platform for K-12 students and has a total user base of 13 million. This acquisition will immediately establish Byju’s as the market leader in the education space in India.

More about the story: “The two companies have been in talks for over two months and it has now reached an advanced stage,” Entrackr said. “The deal that would value over US$150 million is likely to be closed and announced soon,”.

“Byju’s sees Toppr as a formidable player in K-12 space and the acquisition will bolster its positioning in the space. The transaction will largely consist of cash along with a little equity,” it added.

Byju’s has also acquired WhiteHat Jr., a Mumbai-based coding platform last year.

About Byju’s: An education-focused platform that offers engaging learning programs for students in LKG, UKG, classes 1 -12 (K-12), and competitive Indian exams like JEE, NEET, and IAS.

WizKlub raises US$825K to help young children build up their cognitive skills

The story: Indian edutech startup WizKlub has raised US$825,212 in a pre-Series A round from Incubate Fund India.

What the funds will be used for?: To accelerate growth and run rate.

About WizKlub: A cognitive development platform for children aged 5-15 years to help them build skills through HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills) and SmartTech programs.

Also Read: Ecosystem Roundup: Traveloka picks JPMorgan for US listing via SPAC; E-commerce to further thrive in Vietnam

The WizKlub SmartTech Program enables children to create tech products by application of coding, robotics, smart devices, and AI. Its latest product is called ‘WizGear’, where a child gets a new product module to code and build, every month.

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Image Credit: Unsplash

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A few years ago, during a trip to China, Trung Hoang Nguyen and his team at Loship — a Vietnamese on-demand delivery app — walked into Haidilao, one of China’s biggest hot pot restaurants.

While waiting for their table, they were allowed to use every service inside the restaurant, such as ice cream, for free. While it looked odd and old-fashioned for them, as customers, they found it impressive.

“We wanted to bring in the model to Loship and were obsessed with offering something new to the table for customers to enjoy while waiting for their order. Then, podcasts turned out to be a perfect thing for us to try,” said Nguyen as he recounted his startup journey for e27.

Also Read: Why is Vietnam going to emerge the strongest post-COVID-19?

Started in 2017 by CEO Nguyen and general manager Son Minh Tran, Loship is an app to deliver food, FMCG, electronics, fashion, cosmetics, laundry, medicine, courier, flower, ride-hailing, and B2B ingredients.

What makes the app stand out from its peers is that it has a feature wherein customers can listen to multiple podcasts while waiting for their delivery.

“For the first time, customers can listen to multiple podcasts while waiting for food delivery. They don’t need to log out and look for new platforms to listen to,” Nguyen shared.

He said that ever since the podcast was rolled out, it attracted over 20,000 listeners a day. In December alone, the number of monthly listeners hit 100,000.

The startup has partnered with several podcast services, including Voiz FM (a Vietnam-based audiobook and podcast platform), and Hamlet Truong Radio (run by Vietnamese songwriter, content creator and best-selling author Hamlet Truong).

Podcasts are just the beginning. Along the way, Loship will look to expand into other forms of audio entertainment — music, audiobooks and audio-only films — to cater to customers’ diverse tastes.

From Lozi to Loship

Loship traces its roots back to Lozi, a food reviews app with a ‘buy & sell’ function. Similar to Carousell, the app allowed consumers to list their products, sell in a snap and buy with a chat.

After 12 months into its inception, Lozi attracted about 200,000 users, with the web traffic reaching over two million. It quickly attracted some initial funding and shortly after, it transformed into a hyperlocal C2C e-commerce platform.

“Yet, this initial success was a relatively small piece of the pie, and the scale of the potential wasn’t obvious. Lozi had in place the buyers and sellers, but lacked delivery men. We didn’t know if the transactions between buyers and sellers were completed, or whether any delivery hiccups were occurring along the way.

The best way to know the exact status of the transaction was to control the delivery. Therefore we started Loship, and it quickly became the biggest part of our business,” Nguyen explained.

Nguyen realised that if it was executed right, there was an opportunity for another 1,000x growth.

Currently, Loship has operations in five cities across Vietnam (two megacities and three lower-tier cities). It boasts a total of 70,000+ drivers and has partnerships with 200,000+ merchants and 2 million+ customers.

Also Read: Understanding the economics of food delivery platforms

“Our long-term goal is to bring one million local merchants online, not only high-end restaurants but also local eateries, pocket-friendly joints and everything in between, as well as create an ecosystem of services that can provide everything customers need,” said Nguyen, who was nominated to ‘Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia’ in 2017.

The ‘local’ advantage

Another key factor that differentiates Loship is “local advantage”. Loship, remarks Nguyen, is the only player that understands the local customers on a deeper level.

“As seen in the failure of Foodpanda in Vietnam, it is clear that local market knowledge and understanding are at the forefront. The inability of Uber and Uber Eats in the ASEAN is partly attributable to Uber’s lack of localisation efforts,” he opined.

Also, Loship is the “only player” that applies the free-shipping strategy on all orders and offers one-hour delivery, which not many in the market are capable of doing.

The app primarily makes money from commissions, delivery fee, advertisement, or supplying ingredients to merchants. Monetisation of the podcast feature is not in the offing.

“When it comes to podcasts, it’s just a pure place for customers to enjoy and be entertained. If you look at other companies, you will see that they spend a hefty amount of money to satisfy and retain customers. And if you look at things like that, our investment in podcasts will be far less than other marketing expenses. Still, it has much more impact on customer retention, pushing our customer services to the next level. For podcasts, we see ourselves more like Netflix — without Advertisement or Halidao — with free add-in services,” he said as he talked about the company’s revenue streams.

Vietnam’s food delivery market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of about 24 per cent in 2021-2026 (according to Expert Market Research). Revenue in Vietnam’s food delivery segment is projected to reach US$377 million in 2021 (according to Statista).

Also Read: COVID-19 accelerates food delivery startups in SEA with Grab responsible for near half of growth: Report

However, compared with other countries in Asia such as India or Japan, the size of this market in Vietnam is still tiny, accounting for only 0.2 per cent market share in the world food delivery market. That said, the market has plenty of room for tremendous growth.

Challenges

“The biggest challenge is fierce competition,” Nguyen admitted.

There are four other major food delivery apps — Grab, gojek, Baemin (Woowa Brothers-backed), and Now (Sea Group-backed). Grab is currently dominating the tier-1 market, such as Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.

While in lower-tier cities with typical Vietnamese features, for example, the Mekong Delta region, Loship is the one to maintain a dominant lead, thanks to its utmost local advantage.

“Vietnam poses many favourable conditions for food delivery, including a vast market, substantial user base and high internet and mobile penetration rates. As such, the market attracts many aggressive players to tap into and dominate the scene,” he said.

“These big players have all the resources required to capture the majority of market share, and therefore, the local food delivery startups are struggling to survive. Also, since customers have a wide variety of options to choose from, they are more likely to switch to other apps offering more generous promotions, which leads to a low level of customer loyalty,” he pointed out.

As a local startup, Loship confronted these challenges, but the startup found a way out. It strategically entered into unexplored and relatively untouched markets like lower-tier cities, grew the customer base, and then took things forward from there.

Over its four years of existence, Loship has raised several equity rounds. In October 2020, Loship secured a bridge round of financing led by Singapore-based Vulpes Investment Management.

Previously, in October 2019, it closed its Series B round with an eight-digit investment from South Korea’s Smilegate Investment, with participation from DTNI, Ascendo Ventures (South Korea), Hana Financial Group (South Korea), and the local accelerator Vietnam Silicon Valley.

Also Read: ‘SEA’s podcast market is ripe for adoption; we just need to educate the public’: Joseph Phua of M17

A few days ago, Skype co-founder Jaan Tallinn, through his investment vehicle MetaPlanet, invested in Loship. According to Nguyen, it is MetaPlanet’s first investment in Southeast Asia.

“The MeraPlanet’s investment will help us build a much stronger image of Loship as a national startup hero. This helps Loship become a default gate for prominent tech figure around the world when they look at Vietnam. Besides, the competition will be much more competitive in the longterm, therefore, via Jaan Tallinn, we can observe more deep tech through their Portfolio companies so we can used for Vietnam market,” he signed off.

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Image Credit: Loship

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As an entrepreneur or a startup founder, if there is only one agreement you can ask from a corporate lawyer for your company, what will that agreement be?

They are many business agreements out there. Let’s do some guessing game. Are you going to choose an employment agreement? Non-disclosure agreement? Non-compete agreement? A purchase order? Licence agreement? Website terms and conditions? Privacy policy? A purchase agreement? Or any other type of agreement?

After being involved as a corporate lawyer for over a decade on a wide range of legal work for bootstrapped startups to venture-backed companies, I believe there is one single most crucial agreement that every business owner, entrepreneur, and a founder should have is an agreement covering the following items below.

These agreements are usually known as a shareholders agreement, stockholder agreement, founders agreement, and also known as a partnership agreement in some places. Although they may be called by different names, entrepreneurs and founders should ensure that they cover the following issues in such an agreement.

By default, if you don’t have a shareholders agreement in place between the shareholders (at the initial early stage of a company, usually only between cofounders), the “fallback” positions for the commercial terms will be based on the existing companies laws. In other words, the default positions under the statutes covering such issues that may or may not be in your favour.

If you don’t have this agreement in place addressing these commercial issues below, you may likely get into a dispute that may you up in a courtroom (that means expensive long legal battle!).

In my experience, I have seen entrepreneurs losing their business because they failed to put any agreement in place. I also know founders like to ignore the importance of discussing these important issues for the sake of trying to avoiding a ‘difficult conversation’ with their team members.

If you don’t want to address these issues upfront before you start the business, you may end up getting into a major disagreement once you start running the company especially in stressful times like fundraising or even scaling a business. If you don’t want to have this difficult conversation for fear of upsetting the other founder, you may be doing yourself a favour and be better off by not starting a venture with the person.

Also Read: Hey angel investors and startups, here are legal templates you can use

The company may not be able to survive a deadlock when there is no way out in a shareholders’ dispute, especially when there is no agreement in place to resolve such conflict.

When drafting a shareholders agreement, make sure you work with a corporate lawyer to address and answer all these important questions.

Setting out and recording different contributions by the founders

Different founders bring in different expertise and skillset to a business. What are the specific contributions that will be made by the respective founders to the business? What if one founder puts in cash? But the other founder only provides his sales skills? How will each of these contributions get treated and be valued in monetary terms?

Putting up a fixed decision making framework on business decisions

In practice, when there are only two founders, both founders tend to agree for their equity ownership to be owned equally 50/50 by the founders (personally, I do not recommend this). How will you both decide if there is a deadlock between both of the founders? In other words, both of you can’t agree on a matter and ended up with a tie vote?

Will the voting deadlock get fixed by a third party independent and trusted person (like a neutral friend) to come up with a final deciding vote? Or even trigger a buy/ sell agreement (usually known as a ‘shotgun agreement’) for a founder to acquire the shares by the other cofounder when both can’t agree on a decision), or mediation, arbitration or another method?

Managing transition of key people in a business

What if an existing founder decides to leave the business after six months after starting a company with you because he decided to accept a different role or leave the country to start a new venture some place else? What will happen to the shares that have been issued upfront to the outgoing founder (usually known as a vesting schedule)?

Will it get forfeited or can it be retained by the outgoing founder? And how will the business handle the departing founder’s exit and his equity interest? And how will the business onboard a new founder?

Clarity on ownership of intellectual property assets

What if a founder develops a new software? Will the founder be required to assign the ownership of the software to the company? How will the founders decide what type of intellectual property assets needs to be assigned to the company? Can a founder merely licences out the platform to the company for a fee?

Minority shareholders protection

What if one of the cofounders only has 30 per cent equity ownership in the company? Or an angel investor that came on board in your company at pre-seed stage only has 5 per cent stake? What are the safeguards in place to ensure that both of them are protected against critical business decisions as a minority shareholder?

Some of the usual critical business decisions include:

• deciding on the salaries of the staff
• hiring new staff or firing of existing staff
• buying new assets or selling assets owned by the company
• changing the business direction
• agreeing on a budget
• on boarding new founders
• taking up loans or issuing loans
• getting the founders to put in additional capital contributions (also known as a ‘capital call’)
• entering into a contract or terminating an existing contract
• investing in other new ventures
• winding up i.e. closing down a business

Board composition and appointment mechanism

How will you decide who gets to be a member of the board of directors? How will the board member be elected? Will certain founders have a right to be on the board or to appoint a number of directors? How will a director get removed from a board seat? Only for certain grounds or for any reason? How will vacancies on the board get filled?

If the board of directors decides to set up new committees like an advisory committee, how will the members of these committees gets selected, removed and replaced?

Confidentiality covenants

Are the founders of the business bound by confidentiality obligations? What amounts to “confidential information” in a business? What type of safeguards in place to protect the business from the cofounders disclosing proprietary information?

Exclusivity arrangements

Are the founders of the business required to dedicate their time exclusively on the business? Or are the founders agree not to undertake any other similar venture that may be in competition with the business?

Funding options for the business

What if the company’s cash runway is depleting in several months? What will be the first preferred mode of funding? Will it be equity funding or debt funding? What if one of the founders fails to contribute to the capital call?

Also Read: How to protect your early stage startup from unnecessary legal hassles

Profits distribution mechanism

Let’s say the business makes profits which allow the company to issue out dividends (i.e. the distribution of the company’s earnings to its shareholders). How will the founders decide how much the company’s dividends will be? Will it be agreed upfront or based on a certain threshold? And how often?

Managing expectations and performance issues

If a founder fails to fulfil his obligations to the company like failing to achieve certain business milestones or deliverables, will the founder be compelled to sell his shares? If so, how is the value of the equity interest will be assessed and determined by the founders? Will the founders agree on an upfront formula?

Or engage a third party valuer (like one of the Big Fours accounting firms)? Or a combination of the two? Also, which party will be responsible to pay for the fees and charges in relation to the equity transfer? Will the final purchase price for the equity be paid in a lump sum? Or can it be paid over a certain timeline?

Restrictions on transfer and disposal of shares

What are the restrictions and conditions in place if a founder wants to transfer his shares in the company? Can the founder transfer the shares to anyone like a competitor, an enemy, an ex-girlfriend, or anyone that may not be beneficial to the company? Will the existing founders or shareholders have the right to match any offer received by another potential buyer seeking to sell his equity interest?

Dispute resolution between shareholders

What if there is a dispute among the cofounders? How will the shareholders resolve their dispute between themselves? Will it be resolved by a judge in a normal court? Mediation? Arbitration?

Dealing with these commercial terms can be overwhelming for many new aspiring entrepreneurs or founders. But look at having a shareholders agreement as a statement or a record of your understanding between your cofounders.

So if there is any dispute, any founder can refer back to their shareholders’ agreement to find out what was the initial agreement in terms of the relevant roles and responsibilities agreed by the cofounders and even the investors in a company.

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The shift to remote work that began during 2020 is set to continue apace, with the technology industry leading the change. As the digital transformation across the economy accelerates, tech companies competing for in-demand talent are embracing remote work.

How they do this will determine whether they make the shift successfully.    

Digital acceleration

The pandemic has seen people  shop, study, and work online  With the technology sector among those least impacted by the economic fallout from the COVID response and with the strongest jobs growth through the second half of 2020, employers will be catering for a growing demand for remote roles in order to secure the skills they need to thrive.  

Indeed data shows sustained interest in remote working on the part of jobseekers. Searches for remote work in Singapore tripled almost overnight in early 2020 and have remained at that heightened level. For technology companies seeking to hire, this presents a clear imperative to implement remote work – and remote hiring policies. 

The market for technology skills is global. For employers in Singapore, that means they are competing for talent with companies in other markets with a much longer history of working and hiring remotely. 

It’s important for employers locally to remain receptive to both changing employee desires and established best practice to make the best possible shift to remote work and remote hiring. 

Restructure the culture

The traditional idea of a 9-to-5, physical office space has evolved to a more flexible, hybrid arrangement. Employee work arrangements should be arranged to balance the genuine requirements of the role and business with both the employees’ preference and safety.

Under Indeed’s recent working policies, employees will either be completely remote, work in the office full-time, or both, depending on their role. 

COVID-19 has challenged technology companies to rethink the work culture in addition to the practical aspects of work. As employees are increasingly comfortable with the flexibility of working from home and telecommuting, remote hiring and work options expand for hiring managers. These arrangements can expand access to quality talent and leverage the cream of the crop for their workforce.

Recent Indeed survey data revealed that the top policies and measures that employers in Singapore are planning to implement for 2021 are improved flexible work options (53 per cent) and increased work from home options (52 per cent).

Also Read: Improving work efficiency and ergonomic conditions for remote work proficiency in 2021

Almost a third (31 per cent) of respondents think that more employers designing jobs with flexible working options built in from the start will be a permanent fixture in the future workplace, in 2021 and beyond.

Our Singaporean job seekers and employers have maintained a strong interest in remote work throughout 2020. Being in sync with jobseekers means moving hiring processes online and using virtual events, networking software and hiring platforms to connect with talent. 

There are digital tools such as automated processes and video-based platforms that can maximise the experience out of the process. Interviews provide insights about candidates that resumes do not, so take advantage of the rare opportunity to interview candidates in a comfortable environment that allows them to really express themselves.

Pay attention to how they interact and how they think on the spot. Consider if they’re a good culture fit and take note on the ways that they can contribute to the team as a whole.

You should also look at how you structure and communicate your employee benefits in light of changed work practices. Some benefits, like on-site gyms and catering, will need to be reconsidered. Others may need to be deployed in a way that makes them able to be enjoyed asynchronously for employees in different time zones. 

You can’t install a ping-pong table in people’s home offices or buffets in their kitchens. Delivering these kinds of on-site experiences in a remote work environment requires a creative and fresh approach. When examining work culture incentives, look to desired outcomes rather than specific initiatives to determine what will be appropriate for a hybrid or remote work future.

Also Read: Why you shouldn’t resist collaboration and remote work

Those that create a shared sense of purpose and community should be prioritised to promote cohesion and combat the inherent isolation in shifting to remote work.

At Indeed, we have instituted wellness days to preserve the capability and productivity of our employees working remotely. We have doubled down on one-on-ones between managers and direct reports to ensure that any issues are identified early and that remote employees know their concerns are being heard and acted on. 

Tech employers should be aware of their leadership role in the shift to remote work as they will be providing the tools and knowledge that companies across the economy use to engage, manage and nurture remote workers. 

Tech companies who ensure that remote hiring, work and management is productive, supportive and mutually beneficial will emerge as both cultural and commercial leaders in the new world of work. 

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TRIVE Ventures, a Singapore-based early-stage VC firm investing in data-driven tech startups in Southeast Asia, announced today it has partnered with an undisclosed family foundation to co-launch a US$2 million venture philanthropy fund.

Termed ‘Tenacious Founders Venture Philanthropy Fund‘, it aims to seek out Singapore-based entrepreneurs who have shown “tenacity” in running their businesses but are struggling to build a successful business due to a shortage of financial resources.

The fund will issue financial support of up to S$100,000 (US$75,000) to each successful applicant, in the form of a redeemable SAFE (simple agreement for future equity) note. It seeks to support up to 10 founders in the next 12 months, with plans to support more should demand increase.

As per a press note, TRIVE will not take equity in the business. Rather, recipients of the fund are encouraged to repay the sum upon being financially positive, with returned funds used to fund the next successful applicant. Recipients also do not need to guarantee the SAFE Note.

Also Read: How to craft your startup’s financial projections

The VC firm is looking for founders with “proof of passion, tenacity and integrity” with plans to scale a profitable business. Applicants are required to nominate a known credible person in the business or startup ecosystem who can vouch for the above values. Besides, startups have to be based in Singapore with at least 2 years of operations.

“Through our past incubator, we understand tenacity is what drives an entrepreneur to success. The fund aims to be the short-term bridge for these founders who are tenacious and have a ‘never-say-die’ attitude. We hope to support such local entrepreneurs to succeed and for them to create a positive economic impact for Singapore,” said Christopher Quek, Managing Partner of TRIVE.

Launched in 2015, TRIVE has invested in 18 startups thus far. Among its notable investees are Agrimax, a Singaporean agritech startup focusing on increasing farm productivity; Park N Parcel, a Singapore-based logistics firm; and Coderschool, a Vietnam-based coding education company.

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Image Credit: TRIVE

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