As the dreary funding winter soars, at e27, we are kickstarting a new article series Line of Hire to understand an organisation’s culture and hiring philosophies to empower tech workers with the right growth tools to enable business owners to attract talent.

Latif Sim is Chief Strategy Officer at BeLive Technology, where he oversees its strategic growth and direction. Prior to BeLive Technology, he worked across both private and public sectors, as well as within the startup industry. A strategic thinker, he brings the structured management and approaches of the public sector to the dynamism of a startup.

Sim discusses BeLive’s culture and hiring philosophies in this candid interview.

What personality traits/qualities do you look for in potential employees?

I only have two criteria. First, someone who is willing to learn, unlearn and relearn. Knowledge evolves day to day and there could be situations which require us to unlearn past knowledge and relearn new ones. Second, is work ethics. You can’t teach that. Always strive to be the hardest worker in the room. When talent fails, hard work takes over.

How do they fit into your company culture? Tell us a little more about your company culture.

We are pretty easygoing as a small knitted team. Very transparent in communications and conversations and we have an open-door policy. We treat all colleagues as equals and we sit in the same common area during our day-to-day dealings. If you leave the ego at the door when you enter the office, you are pretty much set to fit in our culture.

How do you foster transparency and encourage achievement at BeLive Technology?

We have an open-door policy here at BeLive Technology. We are always in problem-solving mode and we see the bigger picture rather than who makes a mistake. If we make a mistake, we need to recognise it, find a solution, and move on. Life is too short to harp on past mistakes.

Also Read: No achievement is too small, no individual is too junior to be highlighted: Zelia Leong of PraisePal

Do you have a mental health policy? What does that look like?

Unfortunately, we don’t at the moment. But we recognise this to be a very important aspect of our organisation. We speak to our team members very frequently to check in on how they are doing and whether they need help. Our one-on-ones prove to be useful in that manner to identify issues that might surface.

WFH or WFO, or hybrid?

Hybrid. Nothing beats a f2f brainstorming session. It sparks human connections. But we recognise that tasks/meetings can be executed remotely.

How should a tech worker prepare for the funding winter?

Be conservative. Look at your cash flow, and manage expenses. If there is a need to make difficult decisions, it should be made. Being overly dependent on funding to run a business is not a viable long-term strategy.

How do you measure the performance of your employees?

At BeLive Technology, each of us has our own respective OKRs which we agree on at the start of each year. We review them quarterly to see where we have progressed and make adjustments/run new initiatives if there is a need to. We will do a complete evaluation at the end of the year. So in summary, performance planning, performance monitoring and performance evaluation.

Also Read: Innovation, teamwork, open communication are valued in our culture: Farida Charania of Empauwer

Will you consider a moderately skilled person with great honesty or a highly skilled person with less honesty when hiring?

Definitely the first one. My evaluation is based on these four letters: K-S-A-C. Knowledge, Skills, Attitude, Character. You can teach and learn the first two but the latter two, it is innate/natural.

Do you encourage ‘intrapreneurship’ in your organisation?

At BeLive Technology, we always tell the employees, this mothership is your baby. We are very open about this. Treat it as your own business. We are able to do that because we are a small team and we spend a lot of time with the team. If any ideas, initiatives, or observations that make us better, let’s throw them out and discuss them.

How do you support upskilling for your employees?

They are encouraged to upskill and learn new knowledge. We fund part of their learning courses. Our expectations of the team are very clear here. We learn something new every day.

The post Hard work takes over when talent fails: Latif Sim of BeLive Technology appeared first on e27.

Customer retention is a crucial factor in the success of any business, and it is especially important in the Philippines. In a country where customer service and personal relationships are highly valued, businesses that prioritise customer retention can build strong, loyal customer bases that drive revenue and growth.

Last March 8, a roundtable panel discussion titled “Retention Playbook Philippines: Orchestrating Campaigns for Different Customer Segments” was held in Manila to discuss trends and strategies surrounding customer retention in the Philippines. The program was held by CleverTap in collaboration with e27.

The panel included Victor Lim, Co-Founder of Kraver’s Canteen, Philippines’ leading ghost kitchen network; JC Medina, Head of Innovation at PalawanPay, the newest fintech product of Palawan Pawnshop / Palawan Express Pera Padala Group; Daryll Santillan, Head of Marketing at Booky, a deals and discoveries platform for meals; and Marc-Antoine Hager, SEA Regional VP, Sales at CleverTap.

At the event, different brands catering to different categories — food, dining, marketplace, and eWallets — discussed their playbook for maximising retention in the B2C markets.

Strategies for customer retention in the Philippines

The event further outlined a few case studies of successful customer retention and marketing strategies in the Philippines.

For marketplaces, the approach lies within bringing value to both the users and the merchants. Putting brands at the front and centre is the priority when dealing with retention. Given its double-sided markets, there’s also innovation in utilising the most effective channels in the Philippines. 

According to Santillan, “The top two would be email and SMS. Even though we’ve transitioned to a lot of messaging apps, [there is] a lot of the traffic and other brands in the messaging apps that make it difficult for us to stand out.”

In the case of Kraver’s Canteen, segmentation plays a big role in customer retention especially if you are competing with aggregators like Grab. There is a shift towards prioritising retention in their own platform and through real-time data found from customers, they found unsatisfied needs in each segment.

Also read: Ditch your other plans and Meetup with us in Singapore

For example, on-demand food aggregator services are not able to cater to those looking for affordable and practical healthy subscription meals, and this led to a subscription model that has been widely successful thus far. This goes similarly for other niche markets in food. 

Another thing to note when operating a ghost kitchen is to balance rotating the product to maintain freshness in brand offerings, and optimising the details so that margins would spike. This is where automation plays a role, as there is a lot of sophisticated data that have to be processed in a short amount of time.

PalawanPay has a similar strategy for transitioning customers from offline to online using granular data: “What we’re trying to do is we’re just looking at offline or real-world analogues and trying to apply it in digital, making it more efficient and making it more compelling.” 

Harnessing data to bolster customer retention

One of the key questions asked during the event is to share some techniques to regain previously loyal users of the platform that eventually stopped patronising one’s products and services. Santillan advises extracting these users’ data from the database and creating a targeted campaign based on their past behaviour. Sending targeted messages through SMS is effective in reactivating dormant users.

But what is the ideal number of notifications without annoying the users? Medina of PalawanPay believes from his experience, “When we first launched, the biggest mistake we made was not sending enough messages at this time, because we were too afraid that people might find it intrusive. That in itself is a really dangerous assumption. The best thing to do in retrospect is to sell to as many as you can at the start until you find what hits the sweet spot.”

Also read: Championing disaster tech, meet Prudence Foundation at Echelon!

Santillan further adds, “We run a couple of tests to find the sweet spot, experimenting on both the time of data and the number of users that would get push notifications. To check on the health of our relationships, we look at our click-through rates and whether they are dropping.”

For example, Booky’s team found that there is high traffic right before meals, so they typically send notifications in the morning and evening. “Those are like specific nudges and moments that you can capture to help remind the user that [our] promos exist and there are specials you can enjoy today.”

What factor drives retention aside from promos or savings?

Clear and actionable communication is something that customers appreciate. Relationships go hand in hand with data, therefore it is possible to create personalised experiences despite executing broad campaigns. Treating these as relationships that go beyond being transactional is crucial.

According to Medina, “We actually have to craft the storylines. Around each and every feature in our product roadmap is a story [which] serves as entertainment to the user. That’s actually worked really well for us. We try to entertain with each and every product.”

Also read: TOP100 Partner WebEngage pushes growth for SEA startups

Kraver’s Canteen’s Lim adds, “When we communicate ahead of time regarding a customer’s order, we eliminate the risk of complaints. We provide minute details ahead of time, [which is] something they appreciate.”

Customer retention is a critical factor in the success of businesses in the Philippines

With all this in mind, it is clear that by prioritising customer service, personalised communication, and loyalty programs, businesses can build strong relationships with customers and drive revenue through repeat business. While there are challenges to improving customer retention in the Philippines, the opportunities for growth and success make it an essential strategy for businesses looking to succeed in this dynamic market.

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

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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Signing the first contract for your startup can be an exciting milestone for a first-time founder. But contracts can get complicated, voluminous, and often confusing documents that founders would rather not deal with. 

As a startup lawyer, it is common to find out that the founders may even realise that they may not be in complete agreement on their initial terms.  Rather than taking the time needed to understand the terms or precisely agree on each term of the contract, they rather settle on vague descriptions of each party’s rights and obligations in the contract. 

Startups may also often be tempted to use legal templates, as they’re a cheaper alternative than hiring a startup lawyer and as far as the founder is concerned, it does the job to get the deal going.

This strategy works well in the short term which is to let parties “finalise” now and sign the contract. But when disputes arise, this initial approach to dealing with contracts usually results in time-consuming, expensive, embarrassing, and unpredictable litigation of the contract. 

Let’s take a look at several tips that you should know to avoid contract disputes for your startup.

Not putting things in writing

Relying on a “gentleman’s agreement” or a “handshake deal” is the usual excuse people make not to engage a startup lawyer to draft a contract. Under the law, a verbal or oral contract may be just as enforceable as a written contract.

However, considering that the parties may understand things differently from the meeting, it is often hard for the parties to agree on a default situation if one party ends up with a different view as to what was initially agreed upon. 

Under the law, all intellectual property (IP) created by a founder will not be automatically assigned until an assignment agreement is executed. In our experience, the IP created sometimes never gets transferred to the company at all and the company will be at risk if the founder decides to leave the venture without assigning the IP to the company. 

“Kick the can down the road” approach

In our experience, founders are eager to close off a deal and may rush to enter into a contract. It is easier to ignore and defer the important terms by ‘kicking the can down the road’ by persuading the other party to agree on the terms only in the future. As a founder, you may be delaying crucial discussions with the counterparty. 

Also Read: Going solo: Legal considerations for starting a small business in Singapore

Disputes may arise if the parties cannot agree to new prices in the next six months, or if the parties cannot come to a consensus on the new revised features when the terms are subjected to future review each calendar quarter. 

“Best effort” basis

Instead of agreeing on specific obligations and measurable metrics for objectively determining if a party has met those targets, first-time founders often prefer to use “best efforts”, “commercially reasonable efforts”, “reasonable efforts”, “good faith” or some other vague standards. 

The parties may not even know the differences between these phrases when asked. If the contract ends up in a court, you may be surprised to learn that judges usually may not agree on the meaning of these standards. The meanings will be interpreted differently depending on the court’s approach to interpreting the contract at the time. 

Vague terms

Founders tend to take definitions for granted. Similar to the previous ‘kick the can’ approach, they may instead hope the definition will somehow be mutually agreed upon in the future. For example, words such as “reasonable expenses”, “costs” and “standard quality” can mean differently to different people. 

In reality, it is impossible to agree on what will be the “standard” terms as they are not uniformly defined across the industry.  In the case of a dispute, even among expert witnesses.  

If you want your startup to get paid, your contract needs to have a series of deliverables described in the scope of work (SOW), a milestone table with deliverables, dates, and acceptance criteria (i.e. “When are we done?”), and a payment schedule is a good way to set everything out clearly.

Vague timeline

Rather than agree on a specific time period or date for certain tasks to be carried out, contracts that vaguely specify for tasks to be performed in a “timely manner”, “as soon as possible”, “as soon as practical” or “immediately” will invite problems in the future. It will be a better practice to state the number of days by which each party must get so and so done.

Conflicting terms

Let’s look at the duration clause inside a contract as an example. To avoid agreeing upfront on an agreed duration for the length of a contract, parties may end up entering into agreements specifying a one, two or three-year contract term and may even simultaneously agree that any party may terminate the agreement at any time upon written notice. When a party intends to terminate the contract, it may cause confusion as the terms are conflicted.

Excluding important terms from the contract

If it’s part of the agreement, you need to include it in the contract. A business plan or even a financial forecast spreadsheet can be incorporated into an agreement and is legally binding between you and the other parties (whether among shareholders or with new parties including investors). 

Legally speaking, if there is an agreement entered by the parties, any statement made during initial meetings or negotiations will not be binding as these statements will be presumed to have been superseded (by the new express terms set out in the contract). 

Also Read: All that you need to know about the term sheet for approaching investors

As a founder, you need to make sure that all terms of the deal are included in the contract or incorporate key documents by reference.

 Ambiguous terms 

If you’ve agreed to form a company with another Co-Founder, the founders’ agreement needs to address the agreed allocation for the set of duties and activities between the parties, the required time to get the tasks done, and the method for the work to be carried out and remedies (like forfeiture of the shares if the cofounder fails to perform the agreed set of tasks).

Unenforceable provisions

For a layperson, it may be hard to know if certain terms that you have included are known to be unenforceable under the law. If there is a dispute,  the judge will have to “figure it out” for the parties. The judge may either modify the relevant clause to make it enforceable or even decide that the clause is unenforceable. 

A non-compete clause may or may not be enforceable depending on the choice of governing law for the contract (for example, a non-compete is not enforceable in Malaysia). Even if is enforceable, it may be subject to the degree of reasonableness such as a geographical area or a duration for its enforcement may also need to be considered.

Overreliance on legal templates

When parties rely on a legal template, it can be tempting to just copy and paste or nowadays use the ‘online legal template generator’ by filling in the placeholders with your preferred terms. This ‘one size fits all’ may work a few times but not all the time as deals may end up getting complicated quickly. 

Don’t get me wrong. Legal templates are a huge help to get started but there is no such thing as a “standard” contract. There must be a good reason why every legal template you download will have a big legal disclaimer written in red bold letters.

Conclusion

Aside from the legal expenses, you will have to deal with the opportunity costs involved with the judicial process as there is an ambiguity when it comes to the litigation outcome as there is no way to predict how the court would interpret the contract. 

As a founder, you need to act prudently, don’t rush to close a deal for fear of “losing out’, and take the time needed to understand all the terms before signing a contract.

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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

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Watching this weekend’s news that First Citizens has finally agreed to buy Silicon Valley Bank, I thought this may be a good opportunity to reflect on the past few weeks and add to the conversation that has dominated the fintech world as well as the high-tech companies and financial institutions that we serve.

The series of bank collapses this month starting with SVB had an undeniable ripple effect on our economy, sparking dialogue and debate over how a culture of risk management could have prevented its demise.

What are the options available for businesses to safely store funds in these economically volatile times? How can we ensure the accessibility of money to meet our day-to-day operations whether it’s paying for our suppliers, employees or other obligations?

As we reflect on the implications of this series of events, these are just some of the questions being asked. There is no perfect answer, but it’s clear that diversification of where companies keep their funds is key to ensuring that critical areas of money movement and business operations are not affected by a set of events like the ones this month.

Before I dive into some of the things that allow us at Nium to provide a different option for storing funds outside of the traditional banking system, I should note that SVB has not been a Nium shareholder, nor did we hold funds in their bank.

Also Read: How fintechs can contribute to the world’s sustainability goals

Nium’s B2B payments infrastructure enables seamless money movement around the world so businesses can scale, grow revenue and access new markets. Helping our customers stay focused on their vision, we protect them from the risk of financial volatility in the following ways:

Safeguarded funds in segregated customer accounts

Nium holds customer funds in safeguarded accounts, a segregated customer money account in compliance with regulatory guidelines. These funds held in a separate account cannot be accessed by Nium, creditors, banks, or third parties for any purpose.

Unlike banks that access customer funds and use them to invest in bonds and assets to earn a financial return, we ensure that their money is protected. Nium does not use customer money for investments, nor do we use it to give out loans. With our protection mechanisms and compliance policies in place, you have the peace of mind as a business that your funds are available to you for withdrawal or customer payouts, as per your discretion.

On-demand, real-time money movement

Our modern B2B global payments infrastructure sets businesses up for fast-tracked success. Nium’s expanding payout network supports 100 currencies and spans 190+ countries, 100 of which are in real-time. Funds can be disbursed to accounts, wallets, and cards and collected locally in 35 markets. Also, Nium’s growing card issuance business is already available in 34 countries.

Global payment network and rails

Considering the dangers of relying on a single bank that has come to light, Nium gives its customer access to a wide network of large global banks and payment rails. Helping maintain liquidity and ensure transactions flow smoothly, we modernize payments, within the country and cross-border, for proactive risk mitigation and financial stability of your business.

Also Read: Revolutionising fintech in Southeast Asia: AI and ML empower businesses with data

Multi-currency support and currency hedging

With payments becoming increasingly cross-border, exchange rate volatility can take an expensive toll on businesses pursuing global growth. Nium’s multi-currency support and foreign exchange solution with bulk currency conversion and rate locking feature help businesses manage risk, meanwhile using FX fluctuations to their advantage during dips.

Real-time fraud detection and prevention

Nium detects and blocks fraudulent activities with real-time prevention and payment flow monitoring, further strengthening the risk mitigation strategy for companies. Our global B2B payments infrastructure is tailored to address businesses’ distinct challenges, and we stay on top of the latest technology to safeguard customer funds from payment fraud.

In the end, the traditional bank system and its stability are extremely important both to the macro-economy as well as to Nium’s ability to support our customers through the partnerships that we build together with major banks and institutions around the world.

But diversification of risk means that companies should start looking at options that allow them to place money in a wide range of accounts that safeguard and move money quickly for the critical activities that require that level of speed and safety.

If this is something that could be impactful for you and your company, especially in this environment, we’d love to see if Nium can help!

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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

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If Q1 2023 was the moment to prepare, then Q2 2023 is the moment to execute.

We spent the first three months of the year taking notes of the upcoming trends and changes in the Southeast Asian (SEA) tech startup ecosystem as we are gearing up for our big event of the year: Echelon Asia Summit 2023. As we have a better understanding of what our community members need, and how we can best fulfil them, we come up with a better course of action in April.

This month, we noticed plenty of opportunities to learn.

We strongly believe that experience is the best teacher there is. But the best part is that you do not have to wait until you go through something yourself to learn; you can even learn from others’ experiences. This is why we developed a new series called Failing to Succeed.

Failing to Succeed is meant for founders to share their failure stories with the startup community. Through these stories, we will get to see how these founders picked themselves up from the many failures in their entrepreneurial journey.

We debuted this series with an interview with Hungry Hub CEO Surasit Sachdev who speaks about why the first version of his restaurant reservation system failed.

“I could have validated the problem by creating a phone number and Facebook page and promoting the service. I could have added a tech element later to grow the business. With little to no investment, I could have found very early on that the problem I was trying to solve didn’t actually exist or wasn’t big enough to build a business around it,” he tells us.

Also Read: In March, we celebrated women in tech and returned to Myanmar

If you have failure stories that you would like to share for your fellow entrepreneurs to learn from, please do not hesitate to reach out to us at writers@e27.co.

Other valuable lessons come from those who had done it well.

As we go through back-to-back global crises, startups are facing greater pressure to become financially sustainable. Gone are the days when burning money is the way to go. This time, we are thinking in the long run. We are moving steadily to win the war, not just the battle.

AnyMind Group, who had recently listed their company in the Tokyo Stock Exchange following several delays, have stories to share.

In FY2022, AnyMind Group recorded an operating profit of JPY30 million (US$223,000). According to AnyMind Group Chief Commercial Officer and co-founder Otohiko Kozutsumi, there are factors that contribute to this progress.

“As you can see, all of these business models are B2B in nature … It means we don’t need to invest a lot for the user acquisitions like B2C business. So, the important point is that we have a strict budget control system. We should achieve the target, but at the same time, costs should also be maintained in quite a good way,” he says.

Human resource plays a key role in the company’s performance. To help meet internal KPIs, AnyMind Group invests in training their employees, so that they can increase productivity effectively. According to Kozutsumi, cost efficiency and productivity are the reasons why the company is able to achieve profitability without any layoffs.

Also Read: We tried to save the world in February. These are the 3 things we learned about it

April has come to an end. We see this as the month when we open our mind to learn from others’ mistakes and glories. This is the month when we secure a foundation to grow stronger.

We hit the ground, and we hit it running.

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Echelon Asia Summit 2023 is bringing together APAC’s leading startups, corporates, policymakers, industry leaders, and investors to Singapore this June 14-15. Learn more and get tickets here.

Image Credit: sporlab on Unsplash

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We live in an increasingly complicated and interconnected world where diversity has become the fabric of modern society, all thanks to globalisation and technological advancements. 

The inclusive fabric of modern society aids economic advancements

Success in this international market requires multicultural initiatives and a consistent effort to integrate different demographic and cultural diversity into an inclusive setting that fits into the more expansive vision of the company’s growth and progress. 

This constructs rich prospects for companies to spearhead growth by leveraging their access to a diverse talent pool and untapped consumer base. 

The gold rush to enhance creativity and drive innovation leveraging global diversity of the labour force is good — excellent even, but it also oppugns traditional business assumptions, norms and ideas. 

Companies are being compelled to effect major structural reorganisations spanning all critical areas of business operations – from marketing to talent acquisition and retention functions.

All this sums up for companies worldwide to spend US$9.4 billion on Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)-related efforts in 2022. The number is estimated to more than double to US$24.3 billion by 2030.

Data is still too sparse, but collective and coordinated action is required

But even in this plethora of positive possibilities, one pandemic derailed the advancement and showed that any progress made is easily reversible.

Also Read: How to embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion in DeFi and Web3

Since the start of COVID-19, social and economic inclusion has seen significant setbacks as financial vulnerabilities have been heightened and social and political polarisation has grown. 

The global gender gap closed by 68.1 per cent last year. Up by 32 years at the present rate of progress, the gender gap was set to close within a centennial, according to trends leading up to 2020. 

Despite headway in mainstreaming diversity and inclusion in the corporate environment, racial and ethnic equity efforts stay fragmented. 

Yes, the state of DEI efforts varies by geography, industry, and company, but a growing number of leadership teams have recognised the significance and urgency of driving conversations within their organisations and taking action to push progress.

The affairs of recent years have shown that any progress made is easily reversible. The pandemic has caused a generational loss in gender parity, for example, increasing the projected time to reach global parity from 100 to 132 years. 

Despite progress in mainstreaming diversity and inclusion in the corporate environment, racial and ethnic equity efforts remain fragmented. To bring about faster change, there is a need for clarity on what works — and what does not.

Five actionable initiatives for impact and acceleration of DEI outcomes

The Global Parity Alliance, by the World Economic Forum, was launched to accelerate diversity, equity and inclusion outcomes. The group came up with five success factors shared across the initiatives that yielded the most impact for underrepresented groups:

Root cause analysis — Deep and nuanced

A company-wide survey on employee experience and inclusion and an analysis of its talent pipeline is where an organisation may begin.

Determine the root causes, which will likely include a medley of internal barriers (e.g. organisational policies) and external obstacles (such as cultural sentiments and beliefs).

It is essential that the voices of the target population shape DEI initiatives without burdening those individuals with the work.

Next, by considering impact versus feasibility and urgency versus the importance of the organisation’s core competencies and distinctive positioning, prioritise and line up opportunity areas.

SMART goals of sucess — Meaningful definitions

Setting clear, measurable goals to define success upon identifying the opportunity areas based on impact will keep the stakeholders galvanised.

This can be done by connecting the company’s values, mission, business outcomes and “what’s in it for me” at each level of the organisation. 

Effectively communicate the rationale to serve as a call to action, thereon.

Committed and accountable business leaders

Like any other core business activity, DEI initiatives must be aided based on the capabilities required to execute the plan effectively. This may require a cross-functional team (and not just limited to the Human Resource function) and access to experts, conceivably through external partnerships.

Also Read: Why it’s time to hit ‘refresh’ when it comes to addressing the gender diversity gap in the IT sector

Leadership and management teams tend to hold the most social clout in an organisation. They can use their influence to advance DEI initiatives.

Creating accountability by formally incorporating DEI goals into the stakeholder’s (business leaders’) quarterly and annual planning allows for securing the resources, time and attention needed to drive change.

One size does not fit all — Tailored solution

Each solution should be designed with scalability in mind. To ensure that potential impact will not be hindered by barriers such as cost or operational complexity.

For example, a standalone coaching program will not solve a gender parity problem. The solution set will also need to address systemic bias in hiring, performance management and other policies that add to the target population’s disadvantage.

Abiding in change requires a shift in mindset and behaviour for all employees.

For example, unconscious bias, the key to this lock is addressing relevant elements of the organisation’s systems, processes, and ways of working.

Lastly, it is imperative to encourage and equip employees by setting new expectations, measuring progress, and holding them accountable through performance management.

Rigorous tracking and course correction

With the right metrics and milestones in place, adjustments to the solution can be implemented sooner rather than later to ensure the solution effectively addresses the core issues. 

Scorecards, for example, should track progress toward a high-level aspiration, the resolution of root causes, and granular initiative actions.

Insights from these scorecards and trackers may surface opportunities to adjust or course-correct the initiative to increase impact.

The (Optimistic) road ahead

LGBTQIA+ individuals continue to face stigma and discrimination; only a tiny percentage of businesses are focused on including people with disabilities. There is an acute need to step up collective and coordinated action by private- and public-sector leaders to avoid further backstepping and create organisations and economies that offer opportunities for all. 

This will be a precondition to kindling genuinely inclusive and sustainable growth and fostering greater creativity and economic stability.

The number of pathways for positive change is growing as the scope of DEI action in the private sector broadens from a focus on the workforce to whole-of-business approaches encompassing inclusive design, inclusive supply chains and community impact, among others.

New pathways are also emerging in the public sector as policymakers use an equity and inclusion lens in economic policy-making. For example, recent gender mainstreaming efforts explicitly recognise gender parity as critical to economic growth and stability.

DEI is at a critical inflexion point in today’s companies and institutions. The evolution of how people work, driven in part by the recent global upheavals (such as the pandemic, geo-political tension and global economic slowdown), presents an opportunity to harness the momentum of change toward redefining workplace norms and systems to accelerate progress on DEI.

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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

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This new series provides an opportunity for bootstrapped founders to share their venture-building stories with the audience. If you have a compelling story, please email it to writers@e27.co.

There are only a handful of truly bootstrapped startups or those that have taken no external investments in Southeast Asia. Inmagine Group is the most known among them. Then there are some companies that maintain a low profile or rather they get little media attention, unlike their VC-funded peers.

Indonesian startup 99 Virtual Race’s (99VR) bootstrapped story is one of passion, grit, hard work, and perseverance.

Founded in 2017, 99VR is an innovative platform that makes fitness accessible to everyone. It combines technology with sports to create virtual racing events that can be participated in from anywhere in the world.

Also Read: Validate the problem before building a solution: Surasit Sachdev of Hungry Hub

In this interview, 99VR Co-Founder and CEO Stevie Go takes us through the company’s bootstrapped journey.

What inspired you to start 99VR? What is 99VR and how does it work?

My own personal health inspired me to start 99VR. Since I started running regularly, my health has greatly improved. For example, I used to get the flu easily, and I always kept medication on hand. But since I started running, I hardly ever touch it anymore.

99VR is a platform that encourages everyone to make exercise a healthy lifestyle by participating in various events and challenges that can be done anytime, anywhere.

Who are your co-founders and how did you meet them?

They are David Aryadi and Stanley Adrian. We became closer by running together frequently and sharing the same belief about the importance of health, and finally, the same purpose to invite everyone to experience the benefits of health and they deserve it.

How did you approach the development of 99VR in the absence of external funding?

We started using a template application by maximising the existing features they have and of course, minimising operating expenses, so our profit margin was very large in a short time.

What were some of the biggest challenges/crises you faced while building 99VR, and how did you overcome them?

The first challenge was when the template application could no longer meet the necessary features, so we started building the application from scratch to suit market needs.

The second challenge was during the tech winter when we had to lay off some of the team to extend the company’s life and optimize the remaining team.

Did you ever face a cash crunch while building the product and think of quitting? How did you deal with such extreme situations?

The financial problem never happened in the first four years because our revenue and profit were very good. In addition, health and sports industries like ours have benefited from the COVID-19 crisis. The problem arose in the last year when the transition of community behaviour returned to normal activities.

The way to deal with it is to be efficient with the team and optimise the existing features to continue generating revenue.

Could you share some of the strategies you used to acquire early customers and build a user base for 99VR?

Initially, we joined running communities by roadshows in several cities to introduce 99VR. We believe the strength of the community is a very good foundation for a startup.

How did you manage to sustain your business operations and grow your team without external funding? Are you profitable? If not, when do you plan to achieve profitability?

Since the beginning, our company has been profitable until the fourth year.

How did you prioritise the features and functionalities of 99VR, and what criteria did you use to determine what to include or exclude?

Prioritised features were those that could solve the current situation. For example, we added machine learning features to the data verification system to make the verification results more accurate, which made participants feel that the event was fair and not being cheated in virtual events. To ensure that the feature was necessary, we validated it to the market.

Do you have any competitors in this space? What unique value did you bring to the industry?

Since 99VR was launched, more and more competitors have emerged. This makes us more confident that this industry has great potential with a large market.

Also Read: How to out-position the competition in a downturn

The unique value is the comfort of participants and the maintained sportsmanship, as well as the consistency of making themed events that make participants accustomed to exercising by participating in never-ending events.

Did you get any enquiries from investors/VCs/angels/seed funds? If yes, why did you decide to go against it?

We had angel investor interest in 2018, but we declined because our profits were sufficient for our development.
We’re currently looking for a strategic partner to help expand our product.

What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs who are looking to bootstrap their startups without external funding?

Create a simple product that can be immediately used by the general public and has a direct impact (doesn’t have to be a significant impact at the beginning) so that there is no need to burn through money, but instead can generate profits right away, allowing the startup to sustain for a long time.

What were your biggest learnings from building 99VR?

As the startup grows, prepare the foundation of a proper team so that when it’s ready to scale up, it will be a much easier process.

Given a chance, will you build another startup without taking external funding?

Absolutely, to me, external funding is only to accelerate or enlarge, but it doesn’t mean that we can’t start without external funding. As long as we have the right projection and the roadmap to be profitable sooner than later, it should be ok to take external funding

Currently, we are organising the first hybrid (offline and online) series event in Indonesia which aims to promote tourism and the creatives economy. The event is called Nusantara Marathon and has received support from the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy of Indonesia.

We also provide an opportunity for brands to collaborate in this national event.

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Echelon Asia Summit 2023 brings together APAC’s leading startups, corporates, policymakers, industry leaders, and investors to Singapore this June 14-15. Learn more and get tickets here. Echelon also features the TOP100 stage, where startups can pitch to 5000+ delegates, among other benefits like connecting with investors, visibility through the platform, and other prizes. Join TOP100 here.

The post Bootstrapped: How 99VR raced against the clock to build a profitable business appeared first on e27.

Approximately 2.8 million Web2 natives got onboarded into Web3 through the recent boom of the Reddit NFT launch from June 2021 to November 2022, beating the 2.3 million figure users of Opensea — the OG NFT marketplace launched last December 20, 2017.

In the span of months, Reddit onboarded 2.8 million people in Web3 without them knowing it, and all it took was the ‘rebranding’ of the daunting, technical term “Non-Fungible Tokens” (NFT) to a term all fans of the internet know and love — digital collectibles.

Why NFTs aren’t designed for mass adoption

The term Non-Fungible Token (NFT) has always been problematic for mass Web3 adoption. In order for mass adoption to happen, conversations about Web 3 verticals such as decentralised finance, cryptocurrency, and digital collectibles have to have a “jump-off” point from Web2.

For example, if there’s Paypal in Web2, there’s Metamask in Web3 — though both of them are in essence, wallets, Web 3 is decentralised so Metamask can’t control the funds of an individual or entity, unlike Paypal.

From left to right, Nas Arcayan (CEO of Mothership — a cognitive branding agency), Neil Dimaphilis (Founder of Social Media Marketing Philippines and Digital Marketing Executive of Warner Music Philippines), Brian Corella (Founder and CEO of The Maverick — a hypergrowth men’s product startup), JC Macalintal (CMO of Bitskwela — a Web3 edutech company), and Nel Mozol.

As Nas Arcayan (CEO of Mothership, an award-winning cognitive branding agency) says, “How we label things determines how we think about them because it changes both context and expectations attached to — more importantly, it changes what it’s compared to.”

Also Read: The future of Web3 communities: What’s next after the NFT community craze?

“To specify, the digital collectible rebrand was effective because, for Web2 people, NFTs didn’t make sense, there was no comparison. What was it building off of?” Arcayan specifies. “Digital Collectibles however, sticks in the mind because it has a “jump-off” point. So, the mind of Web 2 people easily “understand” it,” Arcayan adds.

Moreover, the shift of NFTs to the term “digital collectibles” is more in tangent with the term “cryptocurrency.” That is, Web2 natives that hear the term crypto-currency can easily file in their mind that the conversation is about money or a form of currency and that digital collectibles are collectibles, which people already know and love.

The bottom line is, a conversation between a Web3 and a Web2 native is difficult and often full of resistance and “technical” explanations of the conversation about NFTs. Moreover, a discussion about NFTs will often bring in new technical terms like blockchain technology, cryptocurrency, and consensus mechanisms that can be daunting even for people that were curious about the space in the first place. What more people who aren’t even curious at all?

On the other hand, a conversation between a Web 3 and a Web 2 native is more ease-and-flow and relatable than a conversation about digital collectibles. Because everyone is a collector of something, it’s simply just part of consumer behaviour. Collecting and consuming is just what people do.

Collecting and owning are two different things

The magic in the conversation mentioned above then happens when Web2 natives ask the difference between the digital collectibles they know and love, to unique digital collectibles in Web 3 that they can actually own, not just collect. Web2 Digital collectibles are commerce, while Web3 digital collectibles are property.

When I’m asked to introduce Bitskwela, our Web3 edutech company, we introduce ourselves as a “Web3 edutech company that helps Filipinos own a piece of the internet.” We’ve found that reframing our elevator pitch to this from introducing ourselves as a “Web3 edutech company” which has Web3 educational materials has captured the attention of the press, investors, and industry partners easier. Because the next thing that comes out of their mouths is, “You can own a piece of the internet? How?”

This is where the tech infrastructure of Web3 kicks in on the conversation, the blockchain technology that makes ownership and security in the new version of the internet possible. These Web3 digital collectibles are non-fungible — they have a unique digital identifier that cannot be copied, substituted, or subdivided, that is recorded in a blockchain, and that is used to certify authenticity and ownership.

Upcoming evolution in consumer and collector behaviour

Web3 is not reinventing the wheel of the internet. It is simply the next version of the internet catering to the next consumer behavior. Web1 was the first version of the internet, it brought an information economy where users can only read.

Web2 was its second version, the platform economy, where users can now read and write, it was the first time interaction was possible. Facebook, Instagram, and other social media platforms you know currently fall in this category.

Web3 is read, write, and own. Aside from interacting with people, users in Web3 own every bit of content, activity, and property that they produce or acquire in the space.

Also Read: 6 NFT mistakes to avoid for newbies

Simply put, the term digital collectibles is just simply easier to understand. The NFT branding sounds like Web3 people are trying to reinvent the wheel. As Arcayan adds, “The plain reason why it works is that its value (digital collectibles) is clear as day. With the term “NFT” you don’t immediately know what it’s for, but digital collectibles have an immediate jump-off.”

Mass adoption only happens when product conversations become household. Conversely, household conversations can only happen when people can easily understand the new trend in consumer behaviour.

People love to own things. They just don’t know that until now, their social media profiles and everything they’ve published in Web2 are only borrowed. The moment they violate platform guidelines and terms, no matter how much they use in ad spend or promotions, they will be de-platformed within seconds.

“No one wants to progress in a vacuum. We want all of the progress, with none of the risks. If we want people to adopt new information, we must make them feel safe to do shift towards the new way of doing things. This can’t happen by throwing around technical jargon no matter how impressive they are. They can only happen if we work with the mind and give our innovation the correct labels to make it understand and feel safe.” Arcayan adds.

Imagine the conversation when people finally understand that they can own a piece of the internet. This is crucial so the next time you’re asked why you pay so much for a JPEG? Your answer can be simply, “Because it’s a digital collectible I own, and since I own the digital collectible, I get access to features, benefits, and a community of people who also own pieces of the collection.”

Before, NFTs were far-fetched from being a household conversation; but the rebrand to digital collectibles allows people bullish and building in Web3 to have better and easier conversations with Web2 natives that are ‘web-curious’ (curious or open to engaging in internet activity with Web2 and Web3) in the space.

The long-awaited rebrand of NFTs to digital collectibles — as paved by flagship and Fortune 500 Web2 brands such as Reddit and NBA top shot — will remove a lot of resistance to Web3 adoption.

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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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Deep tech ventures are usually built around a novel technology that either solves a fundamental market demand or offers significant advances over existing solutions. More frequently than their digital counterparts, they create new opportunities and markets that did not exist previously.

Taking these technologies from the “lab floor to business” requires substantial human capital and investment, carrying a different degree of risk than the average venture investment, which leads less sophisticated investors to become hesitant and shy away from tremendous opportunities.

In this context, universities play an important role in de-risking, funding and helping the early commercialisation of deep tech companies. Singapore is extremely lucky to see the leadership and strong support of the National Research Foundation (NRF), the research institute A*STAR and the top local universities, notably NUS and NTU, when it comes to local deep tech entrepreneurial endeavours.

Obviously, this support does not prevent local teams of science entrepreneurs from facing regular venture-building complexities, and the usual ‘valley of death’ in the later transfer stages. But it constitutes a welcome differentiator against international competitors and shows how Singapore plants the seeds for tomorrow’s high-tech champions.

While deep tech startups can come out of any university, not all universities have real commercialisation experience and a supportive frontier tech ecosystem. Looking at their very own ecosystems with pragmatism, science entrepreneurs should leverage every advantage that the university environment can provide, such as incubation space and top-notch facilities, and connections to scientific experts who can be leveraged as consultants and advisors.

Also Read: Why Vickers Venture Partners go with deep tech investments to solve world’s biggest problems

Voicing out what should be adapted, or improved, within universities to make the life of science entrepreneurs easier is essential. It goes from sharing best-in-class technology maturation principles from other research ecosystems to challenging conservative intellectual property frameworks, or asking for more contractual creativity and speed.

Find your corporate pathfinders

When it comes to financing deep tech startups, available university grants can help catalyse and do a certain amount to de-risk technology, extending the runway through non-dilutive funding and creating a technology roadmap which validates the science as significant. Many science entrepreneurs feel too comfortable at this stage.

They get easily trapped in the endless loop of grant funding, overlooking the efforts to be put into corporate partnerships. This is a risky strategy. Corporate venture funds and strategic investors have a major impact on early-stage startup developments, alongside non-dilutive funding.

Not only can they be a check, but they can also be a customer, an advisor and a partner in the early prototype to manufacturing stages. The best strategic investors play a fundamental role in helping frontier tech ventures succeed because they need the technology the entrepreneurs are creating. They can be called corporate pathfinders, as they help deep tech founders identify, define and validate market opportunities.

Why are they so important? Let’s face the hard truth: Deep tech startups experience a very different evolution cycle than a traditional B2B company, let alone a B2C company. Go-to-market paths and commercialisation activation keys tend to be more complex. They require science entrepreneurs ready to embrace a steep learning curve.

For instance, a common pitfall is that early-stage teams overestimate the size of their hypothetical markets, which in practice turn out to be much smaller given the complexity of the developed solutions. Very complex does not relate to large market opportunities, it is rather the opposite.

Interrupting or reorienting projects that, over time, prove to be too small of an opportunity, should be much more common. Timing and market maturities are two other key elements to study carefully. Some technologies are just too early to reach and grow on the market, due to multiple structural factors.

Despite all the efforts deployed by the venture team, the market might not be ready for technology even if it is solving a very important problem.

Corporate pathfinders help founders find a way through the pre-industrialisation maze, co-drafting a roadmap to market, and challenging the possible paths. Once a joint market opportunity is validated, they are expected to morph into different players: corporate activators.

Leverage your corporate activators

Deep tech ventures face several challenges that strategic investors can help to address. Firstly, owing to tough global competition (and the inherent noise), it has become increasingly difficult to differentiate B2B offerings on the basis of functional benefits. It is especially the case in the advanced materials fields, in which “wonder materials” are regularly touted to investors and corporations alike.

Also Read: How to build deep tech startups across borders

With a growing number of market players, customers have to choose between many offerings that promise similar levels of quality. In addition, business customers frequently require tailored solutions for which it is more difficult to evaluate the quality before the purchase.

Secondly, the traditional narrative of B2B transactions based on highly rational decision processes in which customers exhaustively survey the available options in the marketplace and select their partners on the basis of objective performance dimensions — such as availability, functionality, and reliability– is far from the reality we face every day.

An alternative point of view to this traditional approach to B2B marketing is the interaction perspective, which emphasises the importance of personal selling and the relationship-building function of go-to-market and sales interactions. Those efforts take time. In terms of recurring revenue, they are a game changer over the medium term.

Finally, deep tech offerings are inherently complex: the product or delivery of a service requires customisation to the specific business needs of customers and the value chains they are embedded in. In such turbulent and fierce competition times, customers do not want to be passive.

They have become active entities willing to contribute to startup development: value co-creation has become the new paradigm in contemporary deep tech marketing. By involving strategic partners in the value creation process, founding teams strive to build stronger relationships and secure over time more loyal and satisfied corporate customers.

It is a win-win situation. Building on mutual trust, corporate activators start showcasing brands and products internally (i.e., spreading the word to business units), and externally with a selected range of existing clients and partners.

In conclusion, we cannot emphasise enough the effectiveness of corporate pathfinders in science-push market discovery, and corporate activators throughout a market penetration journey.

Co-assessment, co-innovation, co-development and co-design have become more pervasive. They emphasise the positive synergistic effects of those science-industry interactions, from building solid business networks to developing collaborative ecosystems, from Singapore to the world.

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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

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The Southeast Asian startup ecosystem witnessed many activities this week. From GoTo’s release of Q1 financial results to Capria’s first close of Fund II and Selex Motors’s US$3 million financing, the ecosystem saw many major deals.

Take a look at the highlights of the week.

GoTo trims Q1 loss by 41%

Indonesian tech giant GoTo Group announced its financial results for the first three months of this year. The firm said it narrowed its net loss by 41 per cent for the quarter ending March 31, 2023, to Rp 3.9 trillion (US$265 million) from US$445 million recorded in the same period last year.

The improvement is mainly attributed to higher revenues and reduced incentives and product marketing spending.

In Q1 2023, GoTo Group continued to optimise monetisation and reduce costs across the organisation. Gross revenue grew 14 per cent YoY to Rp 6 trillion (US$408 million), while incentives and product marketing costs were reduced by Rp 2.6 trillion (US$317 million) or 39 per cent YoY.

ONE, Animoca join hands

Animoca Brands and its game developing and publishing subsidiary Notre Game announced a partnership with leading martial arts organisation ONE Championship to create an NFT-powered mobile game ONE Fight Arena.

The We3 game is being developed by Notre Game and will start player testing in Q4 2023, with a full global launch in Q1 2024.

It will be available as a free-to-play mobile game on Google Play and Apple’s App Store.

Explico secures US$1.4M

Singapore-based edutech startup Explico secured US$1.4 million in pre-Series A financing. The key investors are Astonic Ventures Singapore, Mavis Tutorial Centre, and Singapore Asia Publishers.

Explico will use the money to enhance its learning platform and expand in Southeast Asia, specifically Vietnam and Philippines, and Africa.

Better Bite backs 4 alt-protein firms

Better Bite Ventures, a fund focused on alternative protein startups in Asia Pacific, invested an undisclosed amount in four startups under its early-stage First Bite initiative.

The startups are Singapore-based Allium Bio and Cultivaer, New Zealand-based EatKinda, and India-based Klevermeat.

Capria Fund II hits US$100M first close

Capria Ventures, a ‘global south’ specialist VC firm, announced the first close of its US$100 million Fund II.

The VC firm’s previous institutional investors, including OIP Investment Trust and Gates Ventures, besides individuals and family offices, including Crystal Springs Foundation, Sall Family Foundation, Brakeman Family Trust, and two founders of Pioneer Square Labs, invested.

Fund II will make early-growth (Series A and A+) investments in sectors, including fintech, mobility/logistics, agtech/foodtech, climate, and job tech/HRtech, with an emphasis on Generative AI and climate tech.

Cosmose AI nets funding from NEAR

Singapore-based Cosmose AI, a global platform that predicts and influences how people shop offline, received a strategic financing from NEAR Foundation at a US$500 million valuation.

NEAR Foundation is a Swiss non-profit that supports the ongoing growth and development of the Near Protocol, a carbon-neutral blockchain.

With the new investment, Cosmose will innovate within the Web3 ecosystem to create a “seamless” experience for shoppers and increase sales for retailers. By leveraging Web3, Cosmose AI can ensure that users maintain complete control over their data and benefit from the ecosystem they help create.

VN’s Selex Motors scores US$3M

Selex Motors, a Vietnamese maker of electric two-wheelers and battery packs, netted US$3 million in convertible notes from ADB Ventures, Touchstone Partners, and two foreign investment funds.

The company aims to utilise the funds to expand its two-wheeler production lines and set up battery-swapping systems in key cities in Vietnam, aiming to become the nation’s largest battery-swapping network provider.

“This investment will provide us with a strong foothold in Vietnam and a platform for our expansion into other parts of the region,” said Selex CEO Nguyen Huu Phuoc.

ZEBOX expands into APAC

ZEBOX, a French accelerator connecting entrepreneurs, industry leaders, and ecosystem experts globally, announced the launch of its Asia Pacific hub in Singapore.

The accelerator aims to help tackle pressing business and sustainability issues in multiple sectors, such as supply chains, logistics, transportation, and energy.

With the support of Enterprise Singapore and the Maritime Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), ZEBOX Asia Pacific will identify startups in Asia, notably in Singapore, and match them to corporate partners. Together, they can embark on co-innovation projects locally and across markets in the Asia Pacific.

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Echelon Asia Summit 2023 brings together APAC’s leading startups, corporates, policymakers, industry leaders, and investors to Singapore this June 14-15. Learn more and get tickets here. Echelon also features the TOP100 stage, where startups can pitch to 5000+ delegates, among other benefits like connecting with investors, visibility through the platform, and other prizes. Join TOP100 here.

Copyright: akerstudio

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