Dealing with uncertainty is a huge part of being a startup leader and can be incredibly difficult. It’s been for me. If you are part of a fast-growing company, you deal with daily uncertainty. It’s already a huge part of our lives, and your journey at a startup is no different.

Repeated exposure to high levels of uncertainty can throw entrepreneurs on an emotional rollercoaster, potentially impacting their mental and physical health. Research has shown that uncertainty is constant in entrepreneurship, and as leaders changing the industry, our capacity to tolerate and handle it will significantly contribute to company success. 

This year, company valuations dropped 80 to 90 per cent from their all-time high. Business leaders must manage risks and uncertainties, but risks can be managed with the right mindset and preparation. The silver lining is that, as startups, we get better at handling uncertainty and can come out on the other end stronger warriors.

Capital uncertainty

Uncertainty may create a “no-go” zone around the new market, which allows the startup to create for a while without competition. However, venture funding was down by 53 per cent in Q3, almost US$90 billion. Leaders must aggressively explore and negotiate with different investors, understanding that the conventional venture-backed model is not a one size fits all approach.

This year, leaders we spoke with responded to increased uncertainty by adapting the time and way they raise money and the focus on profitability. Startups frequently operate in a state of financial uncertainty, even if the economy is stable, because they have not solidified their business models. Pandemics are not common; businesses have always had to manage some degree of uncertainty, particularly startups. 

Startups in these examples have taken different approaches to navigate uncertainty, with some focused on maintaining cash flow, some expanding to new markets, and others completely pivoting. Being undeniably fundable (or “default alive”) has been the default in this bearish environment, reducing customer acquisition cost, increasing gross margins, balancing burn multiples, etc.

Product uncertainty

Not reaching product-market fit is perhaps the biggest risk for early-stage companies starting companies at a higher risk. The market size for your product is (mostly) out of your control.

Also Read: Cultivating an honest culture: Why leaders should be transparent

Still, one of the biggest risk-avoidance risks I see teams taking is starting companies with potential markets that are too small to make them economically viable. Instead, business leaders should look into aggressive growth industries, such as Web3, so it gives them a sandbox to keep building.

If you understand where market risks come from, you will be better equipped as a team to make early decisions about whether or not you want to launch your startup in a given market category.

Vietnam’s e-commerce market grew 16 per cent last year from 2020 to US$13 billion, putting them in the top three Southeast Asian countries with the highest online retail sales growth. Startups that will flourish over the coming years will have an unrelenting product focus, both in terms of who they serve and how they serve them.

Customer uncertainty

Many startups learn late that their products have a small to no market. During times of uncertainty, closing the gap between customers’ expectations and your products or services reality can mean the difference between success and failure.

Companies can raise over US$100 million but still be exposed to overnight shutdowns. A core tenet of startups is to confirm the market’s needs before offering a customer-centric product or service to avoid having a business idea with no sustainable path.

Startups may discover new markets or create valuable new products through innovation. Still, if those new markets are ripe for disruption or a new product is likely to be copied by other companies, the chances for success are much lower. 

Final thoughts

Entrepreneurs are at the greatest risk of being broken by the twists and turns of rapidly changing business environments. Because of that, it is only natural that one can become frustrated with the constant failures and complete setbacks that are inevitable parts of an early-stage startup’s journey. 

You should not let that translate into irrational behaviours, as investing time and energy intelligently during your initial startup phase is essential to your startup’s success.

Celebrate risk, celebrate uncertainty, and move forward.

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Singapore-based digital health-science company Aktivolabs has secured US$10 million in a Series A round of investment led by Mitsui & Co, Adaptive Capital Partners, and SEEDS Capital.

HH Investments and Govin Capital also participated.

The funds will be utilised to grow Aktivolabs’s data science capability, strengthen the team and portfolio of products, and broaden its footprint in Southeast Asia, Europe, and the US.

The company will develop the existing algorithm and data-analytics programme to enhance the efficiency and accuracy of predicting, preventing and self-managing chronic disease using digital biomarkers.

“This investment will enable us to deliver an integrated platform to exacting standards, strengthen our customer-servicing capability, and help populations better understand and manage their risk of chronic diseases through individualising digital health journeys,” said Gourab Mukherjee, Co-Founder and CEO of Aktivolabs.

Also Read: How Malaysia is championing regenerative medicine technology

Aktivolabs was co-founded in 2017 by the late Professor David Lai Gourab Mukherjee and Dr Meng-Han Kuok. It provides accessible, affordable, evidence-based, and individualised digital health solutions that help populations understand and manage their risk of chronic diseases.

The platform harnesses real-time digital health data elements in a low-touch, cost-effective manner with measurable actuarial and actionable value to life and health insurers.

It functions as a real-time action decision engine to drive hyper-personalised financial and insurance product development, generates pay-as-you-live insurance products and provides deeper customer experience tailored to client engagement through its proprietary experiential technology.

The current product portfolio includes the Aktivo Score, Aktivo Mind, Glucolife and Goodbiome.

Aktivolabs currently operates in Singapore, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Australia, Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Macau and the UAE and is growing worldwide.

“It’s commonly known that the early onset of chronic diseases compromises our financial and mental well-being, and the fast-rising cost of healthcare poses major challenges for populations, governments, insurers and employers worldwide. At the intersection of healthcare, science and data, Aktivolabs’s evidence-based solution deploys its full suite of accessible, affordable, scalable data-scientific solutions through digital biomarkers and individualised health journeys,” says Takeshi Akutsu, CTO (Wellness Business Unit) at Mitsui.

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You know that blockchain is truly becoming mainstream when Starbucks has embraced Web3 by launching Starbucks Odyssey, which it claims will revolutionise the coffee experience.

“As one of the first companies to integrate Web3 technology and NFTs with an industry-leading loyalty programme at scale and to ground the experience in coffee, connection, and community, Starbucks is entering the Web3 space differently than any other brand. Starbucks Odyssey is an experience surrounded by a digital community where members can come together, interact, and share their love of coffee.

“Starbucks is using meaningful elements of Web3 technology to reward members in innovative ways, including ownable digital collectable Stamps (NFTs) that serve as an access pass to the alluring world of coffee and unique experiences with Starbucks,” Starbucks said on its site.

Starbucks, of course, is not the only major brand to jump on the Web3 bandwagon. Notable companies that have embraced NFTs (which are also increasingly being referred to by brands and mainstream media as digital collectibles) in recent months include Reddit, Meta via its Facebook and Instagram services, and Nike.

This wave of mainstream adoption has resulted in many users being onboarded to the blockchain space for the first time. Professionals and experts from different industries now want to transition to Web3.

Also Read: How Dubai is competing with Singapore in the Web3 race

And, of course, disruption and friction come with mainstream adoption and transition.

One of the debates you might stumble upon if you spend some time on crypto and NFT twitter is quite interesting: Web2 vs Web3 people.

When the internet was ‘just a fad’

As someone old enough to have lived through the days when Bill Gates and other supposed experts thought the internet was just a fad. As one of the pioneering online journalists who spun off the biggest Philippine print newspaper into the most visited Philippine news site, this kind of generational clash is all too familiar. And I’m not even talking about the actual age of the people involved, but rather the mindset. 

The fact is that many people in the status quo will try to resist Web3 or, failing that, attempt to tailor it to their needs. Instead of something revolutionary, they will co-opt it as just incremental change, with no need to replace business models and marketing strategies.

Think Microsoft claiming to “embrace and extend” Java once upon a time, or traditional publications only seeing blogging platforms as just a content management system, and bloggers as inferior to journalists.

The funny thing is that yesterday’s revolutionaries and pioneers might now be the ones trying to resist Web3 and decentralisation. 

Apparently, you either die a digital evangelist, or you live long enough to see yourself become the new dinosaur. 

Web3 is the revolution

As someone who has been a storyteller and digital champion throughout my career, from Web1 to Web2 and now Web3, I have reinvented myself several times. And I’m firmly in the camp of the Web3 revolutionaries. 

All of us are migrating from Web2 to Web3, but it is important to acknowledge the contributions of those who embraced blockchain earlier and made the road easier for those who followed. 

This is why one of the sessions I truly appreciated at the Philippine Web3 Festival was Yield Guild Games Global COO Colin Goltra’s “A Brief History of #CryptoPH“. It was an important reminder of how the pioneers of the crypto community in the Philippines collaborated in those early days and helped spread the word in a world where almost no one had heard of blockchain technology.

It’s a reminder that the spirit of Web3 is decentralisation and collaboration. That in Web3, a community is a grassroots movement built from the ground up rather than top-down by fiat by personalities and experts.

Also Read: In photos: SCB 10X’s 10,000 sqft web3 collaborative space DISTRICTX in Bangkok

Oh, and a reminder that builders don’t wear suits.

Fixing what’s broken

After all, as Ethereum Co-Founder Gavin Wood, who coined the term Web3, puts it: 

“Technology often mirrors its past. It acts in line with the previous paradigm, only faster, harder, better, or stronger than before. As the global economy went online, we replicated the same social structures that we had before. We have the web to thank for the modern divides between rich and poor, powerful and impotent, and enlightened and under-informed.

“The internet today is broken by design. We see wealth, power and influence placed in the hands of the greedy, the megalomaniacs, or the plain malicious. Markets, institutions, and trust relationships have been transposed to this new platform, with the density, power, and incumbents changed but with the same old dynamics.”

Don’t get me wrong. I acknowledge that we can learn from the experience and expertise of people who have succeeded in the Web1 and Web2 eras. But they should embrace Web3 with humility, respect for Web3 culture, and a willingness to listen to and learn from the community.

Because in Web3, no one cares what you did before, your title, or where you worked. What matters is what you’re doing now in Web3 and what you’re contributing to the community.

Dreamers and doers

At the end of the day, the conflict between so-called “Web2 people” and “Web3 people” will be based on two extreme views, both of which are wrong.

On the one hand, it’s the mistaken belief of Web2 people that they can waltz in and succeed in Web3. And on the other hand, it’s the misconception of Web3 people that they have nothing to learn from Web2 people.

I don’t think this conflict can be avoided any more than it was back when the internet was new. But I believe that more people will adopt a Web3 mindset and prepare for a decentralised future.

You might say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.

We are dreamers and doers. Bull or bear, we are builders.

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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.

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The notion that relationships with customers strengthen competitiveness is hardly groundbreaking. According to a CX Network report, winning and retaining customer loyalty is the second-most popular trend in the Asia Pacific, underscoring that businesses are aware of the opportunities resulting from a firm customer base.

High-quality customer engagement is key to maximising customer loyalty. However, realising that requires businesses to be conscious of the diversity of consumer preferences that span the various national markets across the Asia Pacific. This knowledge will help enterprises to adapt their products and experiences to meet the needs of their customers.

Understanding customer engagement models

A customer engagement model creates positive customer experiences to build and retain your customer base in the long run. In Asia Pacific, the rise in usage of cloud computing and information technology (IT) has accelerated the region’s adoption of customer engagement solutions, according to Spherical Insights.

Also Read: Customer retention strategies are getting trickier. Can you keep up?

Customer engagement should not be viewed as a marketing strategy but as part of the broader business growth roadmap. When choosing the right customer engagement model, businesses need to evaluate their business objectives and how much engagement is required to achieve them. 

Types of customer engagement models

Low-touch engagement model

This approach is most suitable for companies selling low-priced solutions that are simple enough to use, such as online delivery services and teleconferencing platforms.

Human-led communication with customers is limited. Instead, engagement is digitally driven with online tutorials and automated emails providing guides and relevant updates about the product or service they are using.

Products can be used as gateways for businesses to invite non-customers and experience their capabilities. This way, businesses can add another avenue to drive sales lead generation to spur growth.

High-touch onboarding model

This engagement model is suitable for businesses selling high-cost enterprise products or services requiring specialised knowledge. These can include productivity suites and security dashboards.

High-touch models are human-led, with dedicated sales reps or Customer Service Managers (CSMs) interacting with one or more customers in a 1:1 manner. Customer engagement is done via phone calls, email, or live chat services.

Sales strategies are a systematic method of targeting customers in high-touch engagements. For example, while companies may not offer free product trials, they can encourage customers to contact them to enquire about their solutions.

Hybrid model 

This model is a combination of both high-touch and low-touch engagement. Most companies adopt a blend of both and switch between high and low engagements based on complexity and cost.

Some may begin high-touch onboarding and follow up with online tutorials or automated email guides. Other businesses adopt the reverse by starting with low-touch communications and offering extra assistance via live chat or phone calls to customers who face difficulties.

How to build positive customer engagement

Show empathy

The cornerstone of good relationships with customers is empathy. And this starts with listening to your customers, addressing their queries at the right time, and aligning operations to focus on their needs. Building empathy is the first step in connecting businesses with each customer’s journey and creating more meaningful engagement in any successful engagement.

Offer conversational support

Once the user signs up for your product, your business should be ready to provide easy and timely support to customers. Live-chat tools are the most effective and holistic channel businesses can use to serve their customers’ conversational needs.

Also Read: Customer frustrations: How and when to respond

Live chat support can be described as an online version of a salesperson. During the selection process, your customers might have questions like which plan is suitable for them, what is the pricing plan for specific features, and how they can access the software. With live chat support, your customer service teams will always be ready to stay in touch and answer any enquiries your customers might have regarding your solutions.

Drive action

There are many types of marketing messages businesses can utilise to get customers to seal the deal. These can include introducing time or feature limitations and outlining product benefits that appeal to the desire to avoid missing out on a good opportunity.

The art of effective customer engagement

An effective customer engagement model can mean the difference between holding onto and winning customers or turning them away.

Businesses need to decide how each customer engagement model fits their goals, looking in the mirror and asking themselves what kinds of engagements they want to create with customers.

By aligning your strategy with your customers, businesses will not only be able to help customers but leave a strong and genuine impression that the brand is always ready to serve their needs. Ultimately, this will be decisive in engendering lasting customer loyalty.

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2022 has been an optimistic year for the events industry, with more in-person events returning alongside a greater integration of technologies.

Augmented reality and virtual reality are slowly becoming the norm and have far exceeded most people’s expectations. Nonetheless, the industry is still witnessing more technological advancements, with conversations around the metaverse and other new technologies arising, building anticipation and excitement surrounding the future landscape of the industry.

In fact, the annual growth rate for events is expected to increase by 11.2 per cent between 2021 and 2028.

However, before integrating and developing newer technologies to improve the event experience for the audience, it is important that event planners understand and improve on the current fundamental infrastructure of their event tech.

One application, multiple functions

As attendees are rushing to attend multiple physical events, this might slowly lead to the creation of a disorganised and fractured event landscape.

Also Read: A new era of events: How the pandemic created a new norm

Whether it is to search for event information, see a map of the venue or even gather information during networking sessions, having multiple apps or pages open to performing various tasks can prevent attendees from remaining organised amidst the chaos.

As such, this calls for the need for the development of a single application that could possibly and seamlessly integrate all the necessary functions required for the event, from registration to customising agenda, event navigation, as well as networking notes and company booth information.

By streamlining the various uses into one main application that helps to organise the event experience, attendees can have more opportunities to explore the event and connect with other attendees.

A single master key for registration

The proliferation of event tech, such as mobile apps for registration and event applications to help attendees with navigating through the event, is now very much part of a typical event experience.

However, as mentioned earlier, the process can be particularly tedious due to attendees needing to download multiple event-specific applications to fulfil different functions.

The need for a master key, or a platform, that simplifies the registration process is then especially crucial. Furthermore, having a singular application for the registration of events allows marketers additional leverage to recommend similar events according to the user’s preference, as they’re more likely to attend events aligned with their interests.

A platform for customised and personalised events

Having experienced a fully remote era, attendees have been spoilt with having more autonomy and choices in what they would like to do. As such, a huge challenge for event organisers now lies in the difficulty of engaging with their attendees.

To cater to the change in attendee demands, it is necessary to have a platform that helps event organisers by offering their attendees the opportunity to make their own decisions and shape their own personal event experiences.

It is no longer a one-size-fits-all industry. Instead, the event organiser that is able to offer a more customised experience will create the best experience for their attendees.

A common practice of events has been the scanning of a QR code sent to an attendee’s email address in order to check into an event. However, to ease the check-in process for their attendees, a large conference in Singapore enabled attendees to simply scan their faces instead of fishing through their emails for the QR code.

Venue navigation at large conventions and tradeshows can often be a common struggle for attendees, especially for those who know which booths they’d like to visit but the number of booths or the big space makes it difficult to navigate. Organisers can look into implementing a virtual map to help attendees reach their booth of destination while also providing an overview and snapshot of some of the other activities happening concurrently throughout the event.

These examples, while a small change or inclusion, can make the attendee experience significantly more pleasant and engaging.

360 events, an event that never ends

Digitalisation has played a huge role in shaping events by allowing attendees to share experiences not just within the physical location but also outside of it, presenting an interesting opportunity for brands and event organisers.

Also Read: Giving digitally transformed event audiences what they need in 2022

Brands and event organisers who are able to grasp the opportunity to continue the attendees’ experience post-event will find themselves creating a better-shared event experience.

360 events allow for an event that never switches off. Conversations can happen outside of the initial experience, with regular touch points available to incentivise future participation and content-on-demand while marketing other opportunities aimed towards a similar audience.

For Web in Travel, they become the pioneers for travel events to go 360. From partnering with us to run their first-ever Virtual Travel Roadshow to an innovative collaboration for their hybrid flagship event WiT 2020, their annual calendar of events consists of a mix of virtual, hybrid and in-person events.

Paving the way for a robust event scene in 2023

As 2023 approaches, the opportunity to improve the current event infrastructure should be at the top of mind for event tech developers. The current ecosystem is fractured, with attendees using multiple mobile apps and QR codes which makes their experience a confusing one.

The development of a proper infrastructure that focuses on event attendees and empowers organisers to create proper experiences will pave the way for smoother betterment of the event landscape.

In spite of the current event technological advancements observed, this is merely the beginning of what event technology will and could look like.

At Gevme, we launched our mobile companion app to help event organisers and marketers elevate event experiences, providing them with the tools to build a cohesive, customisable event application for their attendees.

2023 will be a crucial year to ensure that the event’s infrastructure is en route towards a newer and better landscape, and it is up to event tech developers and planners to stay relevant and competitive in this ever-changing industry.

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