I left my full-time role as a lecturer to be a part-time stay at home mum during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many people thought it was a risky move, as I left a seemingly stable career in the public sector when others were on the brink of losing theirs. It was a few months after my maternity leave ended, and all I wanted to do back then was to spend more time at home with my young children.

I took the time away from the workforce to be a more involved mum at home and somehow started two e-commerce brands related to mummy and children products, Playand and A Mighty Mum, with a baby attached to me at all times.

Failures do not define me

Was I scared to start this entrepreneurship journey again? It was absolutely terrifying.

Many other business ideas were developed halfway before starting Playand and A Mighty Mum. Websites were built halfway, business decks were written that never saw the light of day, and I’m still reminded of my own startup failure many years back. Most importantly, I was afraid that I would end up with less time for my two kids again.

However, as cliché, as it sounds, I knew that if I did not start now, I would probably not start anything. I made a lot of mistakes with my own failed startup years back, and this time around, I am determined not to repeat the same mistakes with my two brands, Playand and A Mighty Mum.

Start with a problem (or problems!)

When I left my full-time role, I was not used to being solely a “stay home” mum, with a baby literally attached to me at all times. I wanted to do something still, so I set out to solve my problems as a mother whose eldest child had severe nosebleed issues, and my second one was a newborn baby who nursed round the clock.

At that time, I thought if I were to face these issues as a mummy, I am sure I won’t be the only one!

How Playand started

Playand, which is modular and multi-functional foam furniture that doubles up as imaginative play objects for children, was started because of my eldest child’s severe nosebleed issues. The nosebleed got so bad and profuse one day that I called an ambulance on her.

Also Read: Share your story: How to find founder fame in just 3 days

That was an extremely traumatic moment, as I sat there, hands and clothes drenched in my daughter’s blood. To not trigger her nosebleed episodes, we had already thrown away our curtains, all soft toys, pillows, mattresses, and movable hard furniture that she could potentially hit her nose on as a slight knock sets her bleeding.

After that incident, I began to think about furniture/toys that she can safely play with, sleep and “knock” into safely without triggering her nosebleeds. When online research did not give me any satisfying products that suit my needs, I set out to design and manufacture my own.

It was not easy to be navigating this prototyping stage amid a circuit breaker, as physical visits to the factories overseas were not permissible. I had to make many prototypes in different shapes, materials, foam thickness and density before finally settling on a reliable factory that could produce what I envisioned.

How A Mighty Mum started

Unknown to many, A Mighty Mum was conceptualised even earlier than Playand, when I began my breastfeeding journey five years ago after giving birth to my eldest child. I had a lot of issues with breastfeeding in public or pumping milk at my workplace.

The perpetually full nursing rooms (or lack thereof) and also the forgetful mum syndrome of forgetting to bring a nursing cover out made me want to design multi-functional clothing that can be used as a nursing cover, allowing mummies to breastfeed or pump anytime, anywhere.

Breastfeeding in public or pumping at the work desk would be made so much easier since an existing piece of clothing on the body can be used.

However, it was a struggle to find the right factory that understood the requirements of such a design and sourcing fabric with the right amount of stretch, thickness, and weight proved to be more difficult than I imagined.

After more than five failed attempts to get the right factories to work with me, I finally found a local factory that was willing to take a chance on me. Because of this long delay, the timeline for launch became closer to that of Playland’s, and I ended up launching two brands simultaneously within months of each other, which was not intentional. It was honestly extremely challenging trying to launch and grow two brands simultaneously.

Being comfortable with change

It’s been an eye-opening eight months so far since I started the two e-commerce brands. Of course, Playand and A Mighty Mum are still work in progress, with a lot of room for expansion and growth in terms of developing new product lines and reaching new markets regionally.

Also Read: Why we need to stop calling them “mumpreneurs”

As a designer by training, I am excited about new product development and conceptualising new and interesting business models to grow the business. A lot of people have asked me about my five-year plans for the two brands, but I think things are a lot more fluid than they are in the current climate.

Some of my plans for the two brands were accelerated by chance or opportunities that came my way unexpectedly, while others were shelved until a better time to launch. I used to be uncomfortable with having plans disrupted, but these short eight months have taught me that being opportunistic is more valuable than uncomfortable.

What’s the worse that could happen?

Despite my initial fears, I’m blessed and glad that I took the gamble to launch Playand and A Mighty Mum. If you never start, you will honestly never know. I have come to realise that the more I let go (titles, money, fame and especially fear), the more I opened up my heart to humbly learn from others.

And as my husband always says, “What’s the worse that could happen?” It’s important to start small, validate the demand, get feedback and reiterate to minimise risks.

If you think long and hard about what’s the worst that could happen after starting something, you will probably reach this conclusion: “Nothing!”.

A look into the future

We currently have some angel investors who are interested in hearing more about our plans and how they could support our growth. However, we are also open to the possibility of pitching to VC firms who have a keen interest, network or experience in growing e-commerce brands. We have always been open to interesting collaborations and partnership opportunities, some of which have helped us grow tremendously during the past eight months.

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Image credit: Playand

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Making direct investments in financial markets is a rewarding experience; however, it is not without its challenges. During periods of heightened volatility, many investors become driven by emotion over logic, which often leads individuals to stray from their long-term strategy.

With geopolitical threats, economic uncertainty and ongoing inflationary pressures causing stress to portfolios, traders and investors must have the correct tools, knowledge and preparation to mitigate the potential risks of a volatile market environment.

During times of low volatility, it is common for investors to favour directional strategies, i.e., buy and hold blue-chip stocks or employ a ‘long risk’ approach, which aims to benefit from a trend of upward price movements, with little thought given to market corrections.

However, market corrections don’t often come with advance warning. Therefore, a clear understanding of these potential risks, and the subsequent utilisation of available tools and strategies, can help traders reduce the extremes of portfolio volatility in times of uncertainty.

Augmenting trading strategy with technology

It’s common knowledge that trading with your emotions can lead to higher-risk, reactive investment behaviour, with little regard to longer-term outcomes. Even the most seasoned trader can fall prey to their emotions in the heat of a risky trade, during a bad day, or when getting caught up in chasing a bull market.

Being aware of these pitfalls is one thing. Still, to truly protect yourself (from yourself), traders should augment their trading strategy with tech tools such as performance analytics to help protect against human error.

Leveraging this sort of technology can allow traders to assess their trading behaviours and the markets. It can offer them the ability to minimise their downside risks by employing sound money management rules, setting reminders to protect themselves from emotional trades, and tracking metrics on open trades in real-time to stay disciplined.

Also Read: The 5 pillars of digital transformation that meet business objectives efficiently

For many traders, the current period of high volatility might be their first experience of these types of markets. The faster price movements are often mirrored by faster trading, less time setting up trades and less confidence in open positions. This is often compounded by traders taking higher risks per trade by not adjusting their size to match the increased intra-day volatility.

Tools that track discipline can provide early warning signals that undisciplined trades have started to creep into a trader’s performance. A nudge that this is happening can help a trader recover more quickly and take back control of their discipline. Even the most successful traders have periods of ill-discipline – they know how to recover more quickly.

From monitoring to responding

The technology and tools available to traders can assist with monitoring one’s portfolio, but let’s take it a step further by introducing specific tools that allow traders to respond in the short term.

Available to traders now is a range of platform add-ons or tools that allow them to receive trading signals at the right time. These can be excellent tools for a wide range of potential users. For example, inexperienced traders who may struggle to find a reason to trade can use these tools to get factual, live trading signals at regular intervals (and with different maturities).

A suggested trading strategy and signal rationale accompany the trading signal, including a suggested stop level and a take profit level. The rationale underpinning this is that risk management around any trade is an essential part of learning to trade effectively.

In addition, more experienced traders who are not “time rich” may find these tools help them uncover potential trading opportunities that negate the need for them to conduct extensive research before deciding to place a trade, or indeed a reinforcement of an idea they had been looking at.

While much trading activity is centred around economic data releases and other events, these signalling tools identify and present potential trading opportunities based on the evolving price action in each market.

They are a useful source of trading ideas when the “fundamentals” environment is more subdued. Even the most experienced traders often find that trading statistically-generated signals alongside their existing self-led trading may provide them with a useful risk diversification strategy.

Also Read: PikoHANA: Helping Singapore startups scale through fractional finance

Whether investors are new or more experienced, one of the main benefits of such tools is that they leave the decision of what, when and how to trade completely with the client – while equipping them with all of the necessary information.

Despite the various economic, geopolitical, and social shocks that we’ve seen over the last 24 months, many global share indices are either at or near all-time highs. High inflation and troubles in Eastern Europe bring either the prospect of higher interest rates or higher uncertainty, neither of which are welcome conditions for a long-term share investor.

By employing a smart trading strategy, augmented by tools and performance analytics, traders can help insulate their portfolios from some of the extreme stresses of market uncertainty and rising volatility.

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1982 Ventures, an early-stage VC firm in Southeast Asia, has announced the final close of its debut seed fund with over US$20 million in committed capital.

As per an official statement, the fund was oversubscribed as 1982 Ventures was targeting to raise a total corpus of US$15 million. It is backed by the family office of an Indonesia conglomerate, Trihill Capital, US fintech unicorn Carta, Genting Group’s venture arm, US fund of funds First Close Partners, and rali_cap.

Also Read: 1982 Ventures hits US$12.5M initial close of Fund I, to back 30 seed-stage startups

The Singapore-based firm’s backers also include unicorn and fintech founders, and senior executives of tech and financial services companies, such as Sheel Mohnot (General Partner of Better Tomorrow Ventures).

1982 Ventures — which has backed 25 startups across Southeast Asia, Pakistan and Bangladesh — expects to make 10-15 new investments and follow-on investments in its existing portfolio.

The VC firm leads pre-seed and seed rounds with an initial investment of US$250,000 and US$500,000.

In December 2021, 1982 Ventures announced the initial close of its first seed-stage fund with US$12.5 million in committed capital. 

It has over US$5 million in early commitments to its soon-to-be-announced Fund II.

Established in early 2020, the fund focuses on seed-stage fintech startups in Southeast Asia. By the end of 2021, the company said that its portfolio firms had made nearly 3x return, with first-round investments in Brick, Infina (YC S21), Homebase (YC W21) Wagely, Go Zayaan, Lista, Bluesheets, and Monit, among others.

Also Read: These 21 Web3 startups prove why Vietnam is world’s most surprising crypto hotspot

“We are accelerating our pace of investments despite current market sentiment. Early-stage Southeast Asia fintech remains the most attractive sector for venture capital,” said Herston Elton Powers, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of 1982 Ventures.

Southeast Asia is experiencing rapid urbanisation and has some of the world’s highest technology adoption and mobile and internet penetration rates. Southeast Asian fintech startups represent more than US$10 billion in unrealised value, with 100 projected fintech exits in the coming years (Dealroom).
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If you have not heard before about it till now, Zepto is an Indian startup that delivers groceries in 10 minutes. You heard it right they claim (attempt or try and do deliver in some SKUs) to deliver groceries in 10 minutes.

To date, the company raised, US$360 million and is valued at US$900 million.

Firstly, I think the 10-minute delivery of most things is unnecessary. The number of things that you need in less than 10 minutes is far and few in between. This is one of those ideas I might don’t ever want to see in fruition because it’s a waste of a lot of resources.

And most importantly this puts the delivery people at risk of getting into accidents and worsens their quality of life further.

In terms of customer experience over the longer-term Zepto like 10-minute delivery ideas won’t work because of the feeling a customer gets of mistreating a delivery person.

Just looking at the effort it takes for a delivery person to get something to you in 10 minutes makes most people question their beliefs and next time they want to order for a 10-minute delivery they will just walk down to the store in their apartment or select the non-10 minute delivery option which they will have overtime or might already be in place (I haven’t checked).

So how will the 10-minute story end? Is there something that we are not seeing? Why did the Venture arm of Kaiser Permanente (KP) invest in Zepto?

And remember KP is not for profit organisation known for running one of the world’s largest hospital networks.

I can see interesting scenarios play out.

Why pursue such an idea?

The justification for about 10 minutes on the outer surface is often talked about as customer experience. But in my opinion, it is business jujitsu. I am not sure if the founders think the way I do, but here is what I think.

Also Read: The future of social and quick commerce for developing countries

The fact that Zepto offers 10 minutes delivery is a good stunt (stunts are not necessarily bad) to acquire new customers, investors including me love a big idea so the money will flow in, you are putting your competition like Swiggy, NinjaCart, BlinkIt and others in an uncomfortable position.

They have to adapt to the new game set by Zepto and they will now be operating from a position of weakness than strength because you are driving the narrative.

So what will the ending be for Zepto?

I think there are a couple of possibilities:

• Zepto in the process of scaling 10 minutes will create one of the largest grocery chains with a significant user base (and losses) and overtime moves to a regular delivery model. In this case, looking back, the 10-minute delivery is the main go-to-market strategy for creating a new grocery delivery business in India. They will continue to execute the business and over time can exist as an individual company.
• Competitors in the space both food and grocery delivery will try the 10 minutes delivery and realise that it is bleeding their cash reserves. Will stumble multiple times. They will realise the best way to solve the 10-minute delivery problem is by acquiring Zepto and then shutting it down (or slowing it down significantly). One of the unicorns in the space will make an acquisition offer with partial cash + stock deal.
• With VC money becoming hard to come by, Zepto might burn through their recently raised US$200M in 36-42 months. Failing to raise further capital because of macro conditions, they might get sold for less than the overall investment they raised.

In either case, the 10-minute mania will end and remain on the back burner model. Most companies will say they will deliver some of their SKUs in 10 minutes but most deliveries will not be in 10 minutes and the status quo will remain in place.

One lesson aspiring entrepreneurs should take away from Zepto is to swing for the fences even if it might end up seeming ridiculous to others.

Even though I don’t like the fact that Zepto as a business is resource-intensive and as a negative side of modern consumerism, I do admire the confidence of the founders to aim for something big and create a narrative that is making bigger players react.

It takes confidence and skill to pull off what they pulled off till now and I admire the gutsy approach!

This post was originally published on the author’s blog here.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic

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

Image credit: Zepto

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Many people forget along the way to think about when, why, and how to sell their business. Even more importantly, they forget to prepare themselves mentally, emotionally, and professionally for what happens AFTER they sell their business.

Jay Myers ran a business for over 20 years before finally selling it, and even though he was prepared in as many ways as possible, he still is learning to deal with what the rest of his life is going to be like.

Myers is currently focused on mentoring, investing, speaking, and publishing books.

In this episode, we specifically discussed:

– How soon should you be thinking about selling your company?
– How to handle acquirers pursuing you when you aren’t interested?
– Did those calls change how you thought about your business?
– What did you do to make your company look sexy?
– How do you determine what your reputation in the market is?
– How do you decrease turnover among employees?
– How do you get yourself onto those fastest-growing lists such as Forbes and Inc?
– What is the most important thing you wish someone had told you about selling a business?
– How did the buyer find you?
– Who from the team knew?
– What kind of legal prep?
– Did they make you an offer, or did you make an ask, and how did the negotiation work?
– Why should you get a personal goodwill audit?
– When should you sell your business?
– What is your plan for the next five years?

If you don’t see the player above, click on the link below to listen directly!

Acast
Apple
Spotify
Stitcher

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This article about managing wealth for entrepreneurs was first published on We Live To Build.

Image Credit: jomkwan7

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