This article is published as a part of a partnership with Recruitery. Recruitery is an all-in-one hiring platform that provides headhunt, payroll, taxes, and compliance solutions for remote teams in SEA.

Talents are the determining element in the success or failure of a business; hence every leader wants to recruit them. 

Elon Musk, the millionaire CEO of Tesla, does not depend on credentials and schooling to locate people, as do other leaders. Instead, he thinks that talents are far more essential. 

And most recently, Musk continues to polarise the global HR community with his assertion that a degree, even a PhD, is unimportant!

Why doesn’t the degree matter for Elon Musk?

In a 2014 interview, Elon Musk said, “The selected candidate does not need a college degree or even a high school diploma.” A degree from a prestigious institution indicates that a person can accomplish great things, but that is not all. 

The billionaire also said that getting into Tesla, degrees, and education are not as significant as a tweet, “PhD is not required. I could care less whether you completed high school or not.” 

However, this does not imply that anybody, from interns to directors, may be accepted into his enterprises. Although each application is identical, there are three crucial aspects to consider when applying.

These are the personnel taken by this company: They must show their originality by acts rather than words if they are passionate about improving the world and expressing their personality. 

Elon Musk, a millionaire, developed Tesla to expedite the adoption of sustainable transportation by electric cars and popularise it as quickly as possible. Therefore, applicants must demonstrate their commitment to the purpose to confirm that they are an excellent match for our organisation. 

Also Read: Why Musk’s remote-work policy at Tesla does not apply to tech startups

There are four guiding principles at Tesla: originality, direction, collaboration, and reliability. Therefore, possessing unique abilities will be advantageous when applying to this organisation. Moreover, applicants must have a comprehensive knowledge of artificial intelligence.

The world increasingly requires genuine skill as opposed to degrees

In April, the official jobless rate for Chinese employees aged 16 to 24 reached an all-time high of 18.2 per cent. 

In the first six months of the year, the average unemployment claims in the United States fall below 200,000. However, the average number of jobless claims has grown to 232,500 over the last four weeks. 

As of December 2021, the Centre for Economic Monitoring of India (CMIE) reports that this South Asian nation has around 53 million jobless individuals. Over 10 million individuals lost employment with the second wave of COVID-19 infections alone.

In February 2022, the unemployment rate in India increased to 8.1 per cent, CMIE said. Previously, the unemployment rate in India had fallen to 6.6 per cent in January from 7.9 per cent in December. 

Notably, the majority of jobless people possess degrees. For example, a few days after the government of the state of Madhya Pradesh in central India announced the recruitment of 15 jobs for housekeeper, driver, and security guard posts at the end of last year, 11,000 young people from Madhya Pradesh and nearby states registered. Although most positions need a high school diploma, many candidates possess bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees, and even engineering and legal certificates. 

These are all numbers that speak! 

According to the 2018 Freelancing in America poll, freelancers put more importance on skill development: Among freelancers with a four-year college degree, 93 per cent believe skills training is beneficial, compared to just 79 per cent who think their college education is relevant to the work they do today.

In addition, 70 per cent of full-time freelancers had attended skills training in the last six months, compared to 49 per cent of full-time freelancers. 

Rapid technological progress and growing educational expenditures have rendered the old higher education system obsolete and hazardous in the present day. 

Too often, a degree is still seen as a permanent mark of professional skill. They perpetuate the notion that activity and the information it needs are static. It is impossible. 

For instance, according to a 2016 study by the World Economic Forum, “in many sectors and nations, the most in-demand jobs or majors did not exist ten or even five years ago, and this pace is poised to accelerate.” 

At our company, what workers can accomplish is considerably more significant than where they went to college; therefore, we often question candidates about their years of experience, talents, and managing difficult situations.

In reality, applicants with more excellent experience do better than those without experience. Therefore, we do not exclude people with strong academic credentials but prefer those with job experience.

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Taiwan is a growing powerhouse of startups in the Asia Pacific region, and investors and aspiring entrepreneurs are taking notice. The 2021 Taiwan Startup Ecosystem Survey conducted by PwC and the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research shows that there are high hopes for entrepreneurship in Taiwan, with two-thirds of the survey’s respondents from the startup ecosystem composed of first-time founders. As such, while some have expressed their concerns about language and cultural barriers, the environment is leaning more towards encouraging growth rather than hostility for small to medium businesses, especially for those in tech. 

These concerns and opportunities, among other topics, were discussed in the Taiwan leg of the Market Access Series in partnership with Globalization Partners. Three panellists — Jun Wakabayashi, Associate and Investor at AppWorks; Kuan-Yu Lin, International Business Development Director of NiEA; and Charles Ferguson, Asia Pacific General Manager at Globalization Partners — discussed their takes on the Taiwanese startup ecosystem, its market, and how to get started. 

Site for a Lucrative Business Expansion

Before companies expand to Taiwan, they need to have a solid reason to do so. Kuan-Yu addresses this by noting that Taiwan produces quality engineering talent yearly, which is in line with rapid global deployment. Despite this, what makes the talent in Taiwan truly remarkable is most of its talents’ willingness to take risks in smaller companies. Kuan-Yu connects this with the notion that most talents prefer to see their workplace as their own, and not just function as a cog in a bigger corporation. 

Adding to that, the Taiwanese government has several key policies encouraging work on the Internet of Things, Green Energy, and Artificial Intelligence. The tech manufacturing industry in particular has seen quite some growth despite the COVID-19 pandemic due to the demand to carry forward digital transformation on a larger scale. Because of this, the government has been looking at collaborating with startups in these areas.

Also read: Looking to scale your company? Hong Kong is open for business!

At the same time, blue-chip companies aren’t blindsided by the resources available in Taiwan. On his end, Wakabayashi shared that Taiwan is like the “Wakanda of Asia,” a small and hidden, yet incredibly resource-plenty part of the world. He noted that big conglomerates have also set up their R&D hubs in Taiwan due to Taiwan’s rich technological landscape. Wakabayashi explained that Taiwan is one of the biggest markets with a GDP rivalling that of Indonesia in Southeast Asia. 

Business and fundraising considerations

Given these reasons, one may feel more at ease in placing their bets on Taiwan. Still, certain considerations need to be made, particularly in terms of business and fundraising opportunities for startups. When asked about this, Ferguson outlined a few of the advantages of setting up a company in Taiwan including its strategic location in the entirety of the Asia Pacific region, and its incredible connectivity within its city and provinces, as well as with the rest of the region and the world.

Ferguson also shared that Taiwan’s policies, both through its economic partnerships and agreements and its recent New Southbound policy which has made it more connected to 18 countries, including the 10 ASEAN member-states and 8 other countries in South Asia and Australasia, have made it easier to secure preferential arrangements in terms of trade. 

In terms of fundraising, Wakabayashi gave an honest picture of the situation. Although Taiwan struggled in 2010 back when startups were still finding their way into the mainstream, its startup system has since grown tremendously. Certain paradigm shifts have placed Taiwan in the global limelight, attracting a pool of global investors, especially for industries such as AI and blockchain. 

Scaling quickly and effectively

All three panellists agreed that scaling can be effectively done by teaming up with a local partner. Ferguson takes this a step further by explaining that gaining the trust of a local partner would lessen or even completely remove certain cultural and language barriers that make startups second guess Taiwan as one of their destinations. To do this, startups must be able to foster smart and genuine relationships by offering value from their works to these partners. Kuan-Yu builds on this by noting that as in any expansion, a local partner or team is necessary.

Also read: Here’s why startups should consider South Korea for business expansion

Regarding the anxiety of setting foot in uncharted waters for some startups expanding to Taiwan for the first time, Ferguson added that logistical concerns should be the least of entrepreneurs’ worries. As Taiwan is an extremely business-friendly climate, startups should focus on more practical concerns, such as looking at product-market fit, tapping into the local talent pool, and finding the appropriate entry points for business.

The key is also to focus on areas where one’s business would have the most impact and gain the most traction in a “post-pandemic” world. Ferguson calls this TTV––time to value––and commented on how fast startups can infiltrate their chosen market to make a difference if they were more circumspect. 

Challenges to market access and tech’s role

This doesn’t completely remove a few considerations for investors and entrepreneurs alike. One of the questions that had been raised during the open forum of the panel was regarding the tensions between mainland China and Taiwan. Ferguson responded to this, explaining that putting politics aside, the two are not necessarily on opposite sides of the fence in terms of economic goals. 

Also read: Looking to expand your business? Head down to the Philippines!

Pointing to other apprehensions about going to an unfamiliar market with possibly different demands that may pose a challenge to a new startup in Taiwan, Wakabayashi draws attention to technology as a point of leverage. He explained that technology allows entrepreneurs to probe the market without necessarily setting foot in it first, noting that this has been a strategy of some of the startups they’ve worked with out of Taiwan.

Technology allows remote basic market validation and the conduct of online surveys. Afterwards, startups can get a product-market fit or hire an engineer or a local team there.  

Final words of advice

To cap off the discussion, the panellists shared a few final words of wisdom. While the panellists acknowledged that doing a startup can be a long journey especially if they are expanding to foreign territory, it was also noted that for Taiwan specifically, the government has plenty of resources to assist even foreign startups. There are also mergers and acquisitions in the local landscape, and, as Ferguson explained, if the talent pool in Taiwan is deep enough for blue-chip companies to invest in, startups could also learn a thing or two by looking in that direction.

To learn more, view the webinar here.

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by Globalization Partners

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Singapore-based unicorn Advance Intelligence Group announced the acquisition of Jewel Paymentech, a financial risk technology company specialising in merchant due diligence and fraud and risk management solutions for the financial services and payments industry.

Acquired for an undisclosed sum, the addition of Jewel Paymentech is aimed to strengthen Advance Intelligence Group’s capabilities in the Web3, fraud and risk management space.

Following the acquisition, Jewel’s 30-member team (including its leadership team) will join the group.

In a press statement, the companies stated that Jewel would remain an independent business entity under the group’s enterprise business unit ADVANCE.AI with CEO Sean Lam, co-founders Lee Wooi Siang and Sandra Cheim, and CIO Goh Ser Yoong joining its senior leadership team.

“Being part of the broader Advance Intelligence Group ecosystem will not only serve our current clients better but will allow us to tap on deep investor relationships, capital and technology base. Our staff will also be able to develop their career journey further, so this coming together of our two companies is a win-win for both our existing team and client base,” Jewel Paymentech CEO Sean Lam said.

Also Read: Artificial intelligence has been flourishing incredibly in these 5 Southeast Asia technology hubs

Based in Singapore and Malaysia, Jewel said it has an established track record of onboarding businesses and monitoring fraudulent transactions, specifically in Know Your Business (KYB) and Know Your Transaction (KYT) monitoring.

Founded eight years ago, it also provides automated solutions to large merchants such as marketplaces to identify illegal and counterfeit goods as part of their KYC process. Its technology is used by regional banks, fintech companies, and payment networks.

Advance Intelligence Group was founded in 2016 and considered itself one of the largest independent technology startups headquartered in Singapore.

It has built an ecosystem of AI-powered, credit-enabled products and services, including Asia’s leading Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) platform Atome, SaaS enterprise solutions provider ADVANCE.AI, and omnichannel e-commerce merchant services platform Ginee.

The company raised a US$400 million Series D funding round from SoftBank and Warburg Pincus in September 2021.

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Image Credit: Advance Intelligence Group

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There was a time when startups, especially in the product space looked at community building as just a ‘nice to have’ option for marketing. That time has passed.

Over the past few years, changing dynamics of audience engagement and go-to-market strategy have led to incredible results for product-led businesses that engage actively in community building. Audience and community are two different things, many organisations are realising the difference post-pandemic.

Products evolving from community feedback amidst COVID-19

Since COVID-19 took over the world and physical interactions effectively disappeared, product companies took to various forms of community building to engage in real conversations about their product, find comparisons, and discuss possible new features with an engaged group of developers, creators, and product managers.

Such communities thrived on platforms like Slack, We Work, Telegram and even Clubhouse, which itself is a great example of a product that evolved from community-led feedback. Entrepreneurs are finding that a community-led approach could not only lead to selling their products to a more targeted market but also help develop future products.

Among the investor faction too, a community-led approach has replaced the existing ideas of a ‘lean startup’. Some have even re-defined the lean startups of this age as those who build a community first and develop software afterwards.

Clubhouse is a great example, where the founders took the beta version to their own community of VCs and founders before introducing new features.

In between lockdowns and restricted social interactions, the platform grew like wildfire globally bringing on board creators, business leaders and even developers who actively engaged in open conversations about the features and problems of the platform giving the team real-time insight into user preference.

Social media is cluttered, but dedicated community channels are shedding new light on the effectiveness of having an engaged group.

Co-working spaces have fostered collaboration and built niche communities

Think of co-working spaces and the reason why they became such a popular concept. People from different backgrounds started working under the same roof, and eventually found ways to collaborate with each other to build exciting things.

Graphic designers found brand marketers, technical writers found newfound startups, and product discussions happened over lunch with strangers.

Also Read: For Heartbreak Bear, community is key to the success of their NFT project

Co-working spaces fostered an environment of creative development with industry peers who are not really colleagues or employed by the same company. Niche communities like these have led to superior product feedback and ideation in real-time, from real users.

Investors today also believe that this approach could be a game-changer for the world of startups. According to Jacob Peters of Launch House, a community platform that represents a virtual Silicon Valley, building a successful community depends on two key factors:

• A good reason for people to gather
• A reason for users to re-engage

We believe another important factor that determines the rise of a great community is the quality of content being shared. If these three areas are not carefully monitored and managed, the initiative will fail eventually.

Identifying true influencers is key to developing a smart community

In the app-based world of technology, product development cannot be reverse engineered to fit into a go-to-market strategy. The time has come for businesses to truly identify their influencers; it is no longer the C-suite employees but actual developers whose personal opinions and recommendations of software can make or break the market for a product.

It is not an easy transition from the traditional thinking of sales cycles, product development, feature introduction, processing bug reports and providing customer and user support. Even the employees need to relook at the methods of engaging with a smart community for the best results.

Ultimately, considering the shift in purchase decision dynamics, companies can sell better with an engaged community.

Therefore, the investors are lining up for companies that get their communities right, even before they build new products. Companies must acknowledge this now and start investing time in identifying where their communities lie and tap them at once.

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