Here’s how to keep distractions at bay

Whenever you search online for ways to increase productivity at work, you get millions of results. That’s because it’s the core issue for leaders and managers worldwide.

It doesn’t help that a lot the writers covering the topic seem to repeat the same generic advice. So, we’ll take a different approach and view productivity from the perspective of performance and engagement. Here are the 7 ways to increase productivity at work.

You cannot multitask

According to neuroscientist and MIT professor, Earl Miller’s report named “Multitasking. Why Your Brain Can’t Do It and What You Should Do About It“, people can’t multitask very well and whoever believes they can “are deluding themselves”. His research has shown that our brain is highly capable at tricking itself into believing what it wants.

Also Read: The real reasons why startups fail: no, it’s not the idea

Also, according to Miller, people shift their focus at tremendous speed from one task to another but it doesn’t mean that they pay attention to multiple things at the same time. He also shows that similar tasks which involve using the same skill, such as communication, compete at sharing the same portion of the brain. So, for example, because of task interference and conflict between writing an email and talking on the phone, you can’t properly focus on either at the same time.

Split long-term goals into independent goals

Long-term goals often seem overwhelming and leads to fatigue and risk of quitting or being proactive. So, by breaking them down into smaller and independent goals, you can bypass that risk and feel a sense of achievement.

As underlined by Ryder Caroll who is a best-selling author and creator of the Bullet Journal, when you divide your long-term goal into Sprints rather than phases you get a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction which motivates you to keep going.

Olenski’s 2-Minute Rule

Entrepreneur Steve Olenski recommends implementing the 2-minute rule to take advantage of short open-windows of time.

So, whenever you have free time and you identify a task which you can get done in less than 2-minutes you should do it on the spot. Olenski emphasizes that it will take less time than reverting to it later. Also, thanks to this rule he’s become one of the top online content strategists.

Draft your To-Do list the night before

Your to-do list can make or break your productivity for the day, it keeps you organized and helps you focus. Whenever you’ve checked off one of the items on your list you immediately feel satisfaction for the accomplishment.

However, it’s important that you prepare your next day to do list on the night before so you don’t waste precious time at the beginning of your workday. You can also increase your productivity by simply talking through your to-do-list with someone. According to Leo Wildrich, author of What Multitasking Does to Your Brain, this technique forces you to think about each task and you’ll feel like you have done half the work already.

Turn off any distractions

Your phone can easily become your number one productivity killer. It only takes one second to shift your attention when your phone lights up notifications from social media or WhatsApp. It’s best to completely shut off your phone and any email notifications so you can maintain 100% focus on the task which you’re working on.

Nobody can resist checking an email or text notification, so by switching your phone off you eliminate the risk of being interrupted. It also helps you remain proactive on your work rather than reactive to external stimuli.

Get the right office tools

Automation is the name of the game these days and having the proper tools in your office helps you stop wasting time. Whenever small tasks can be done with office equipment, your best approach is to purchase the right tools. But, before you buy office equipment make a comparison between brands which have a good reputation. Look for increased reliability, high levels of efficiency and low maintenance costs. After-sales support is also important to ensure that your business runs smoothly.

A positive attitude does wonders for productivity

According to studies carried out at the University of Warwick, happy employees have a 12 per cent higher productivity level than those who aren’t. Also the Maastricht University studied the link between performance and optimism to discover that in call centres, optimists had a higher level of sales.

Also Read: What makes your readers click: Writing tips to improve conversions

So, negative and stressful conditions at work will only yield in low productivity. When employees work under constant pressure they’re less engaged and they lose motivation. But, if you show appreciation and gratitude for their achievements, they’ll do their best at work.
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Also, Ohmyhome opens proptech innovations centre, and B Capital invests in Indian scooter rental startups Bounce

Stripe partners with small business platform Xero for payment options [Press Release]

Xero, the small business platform, today announced a partnership with Stripe to develop payment options that help small businesses get paid faster, in more ways, and gain more visibility over their business performance.

The partnership announced at Xerocon San Diego 2019, will see Xero and Stripe building new tools to invoice customers more efficiently, bring additional insights on their business performance, and get paid, in spite of how or where they do business.

The first two options being developed under the new partnership include:

• A new Stripe feed, designed to bring comprehensive transaction data for all Stripe payments into Xero for easy reconciliation and insights using a cloud accounting platform, whether a small business invoices from the Xero platform or an e-Commerce site, and
• Auto pay, allowing small businesses to set up and receive recurring payments for repeat billing customers directly through Xero

Craig Walker, Founding CTO & Executive General Manager Platform Business Technologies at Xero said, “We built the Xero platform to help small businesses grow with better tools, smarter insights and comprehensive connections to the information they need to run their business.”

e-Commerce platform SHOPLINE launches in Malaysia [Press Release]

Hong Kong-based SHOPLINE, an e-Commerce platform, announced the expansion of its operations to Malaysia. The news follows the closure of a US$2 million funding round earlier this year, led by CDIB Capital Group and Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund.

Also Read: Accelerating Asia launches seed-stage accelerator cohort

The startup enables merchants to set-up online stores and offers a wide selection of shop designs, payment gateways, and shipping carriers tailored to the needs of local and cross-border merchants. In 2018, six-year-old SHOPLINE’s merchants reportedly reached over 200 million customers.

SHOPLINE claimed to already have a strong following in its native Hong Kong, along with offices in Taiwan, Ho Chi Minh City, and Shenzhen. The expansion to Kuala Lumpur further ​expand its footprint across the region, offering to include its range of online to offline (O2O) solutions, which enable merchants to connect across channels and optimise the customer’s shopping experience within the coming months

Services will include the SHOPLINE Kiosk, a CRM tool that allows users to sign up for membership with a mobile number or email; the SHOPLINE Broadcast Center, a marketing automation tool enabling merchants to reach customers via Facebook’s chatbot, SMS and email; and Shoplytics, a proprietary analytics dashboard that allows merchants to visualise and analyse data related to their store’s web traffic, revenue, product performance, customers, marketing and promotion campaign performance.

Singapore’s B Capital Group leads investment to scooter rental startup Bounce [The Economic Times]

Singapore-based VC firm B Capital and New York-based hedge fund Falcon Edge Capital, have led Series C investment for US$72 million to Bounce, a scooter rental startups from India. The investment will be used to fund the expansion plan beyond Bengaluru into ten new cities over the coming months.

The Series C investment brings the total equity raised by Bounce to US$92 million so far. Participating in the round were existing investors Accel Partners India, Chiratae Ventures, Omidyar Network, Sequoia Capital, and Qualcomm Ventures, along with Accel Partners US and Mavericks Ventures.

“We plan on adding as many as 100,000 scooters in the next 12-18 months as our focus will be on electric scooters,” said Vivekananda H R, co-founder and CEO of Bounce.

Currently, all of Bounces’ scooters are funded by debt, raised from InnoVen Capital, Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal’s firm BAC, and a number of banks. Going forward, Bounce wants to switch over to electric scooters and is looking at a battery-as-a-service model.

Ohmyhome opens proptech innovations centre [Press Release]

Singapore’s property tech startup Ohmyhome announced the opening of the country’s first-ever PropTech (property technology) Innovation Centre today. The 11,000-square-foot facility will be used to accelerate innovation and productivity, as the company expands into other markets in the region.

Also Read: How Malaysia is taking relevant steps to regulate digital assets exchanges

The centre is in Toa Payoh will also double up as the company’s regional headquarters and will have a data and research facility, desks for in-house agents, and a public seminar chamber, where property literacy programmes will be conducted. There are nine zones that include three mains spaces – a Moonshot Room, a Grass Room, and a Happiness Room, catered for different purposes.

Race Wong, COO, and co-founder of Ohmyhome shared, “We hope this center could be a comfortable space for our community of innovators, to execute ideas that will transform the world of real estate.”
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The fascinating world of angel investing in Southeast Asia, from picking the right founders to investing in ICOs

How are valuations justified? Why do different angels have different investment pedagogies? How many portfolio companies should an angel aim to have? How should angels manage risk and make investments?

On the 19th of May, the Business Angel Network of Southeast Asia (BANSEA), organised a half day academy for angel investors. Leading figures in the angel investment community, including James Tan, Managing Partner of Quest Ventures and the newly elected Chairman of BANSEA, Michael Blakey, Managing Partner of Cocoon Capital, and “UK Angel Investor of the Year 2015” (UK Business Angel Association), and Dr. Rex Yeap, Partner at Invention Capital and Vice-Chairman of BANSEA, shared their insights during the session.

What do early-stage investors mean when they say “we invest in people?”

One of the key takeaways is that early-stage investing is an art, rather than a science. A common thread across all three speakers was the emphasis on the ‘quality of the founder’. Investing in people does not mean investing in the most charismatic founders, or the most ‘people friendly ones’. It means investing in entrepreneurs who have are driven and tenacious, critical thinkers that understand the market and the problem, and innovators that are not afraid of breaking the rules once in a while.

Commitment

James emphasised that founders should be focussed on their startup and only their startup, and that ‘all other bridges should be closed off’. The sentiment was also echoed by Michael. Founders should not be startup enthusiasts, and focus is pertinent to a startup’s success. Rather than running five different startups at the same time — which is a cardinal sin — founders should be able to identify ideas and industries that they are most passionate about.

References

Michael mentioned that he would typically rely on references by other angel investors or industry experts when making an investment decision. When attempting to understand a founder, the best way to identify if he/she would make a good founder would be to reach out to individuals that he/she has worked with before. James mentioned that he typically invests in founders that have been referred by other successful entrepreneurs.

Also read: Need an angel to back your early stage startup? Here are 5 types of investors you should look for

A hint of insanity

Entrepreneurs with the most disruptive ideas tend to have a refreshing perspective on the world. Michael remarked that he is looking for founders that are not afraid to challenge the norms and industry expectations. That said, Michael also mentioned that entrepreneurs must be grounded, and the science or technology behind the product must be feasible. If angels or VCs don’t have specific domain expertise, they would typically attempt to understand the viability of a founder’s breakthrough idea by interacting with domain experts and connecting with potential referees.

Diversification is key, and risk management through syndication is a good strategy

During James’ sharing on his Investment Pedagogy, he mentioned that angel investors place no more than 10% of their wealth into early-stage investing, and should attempt to have 20 to 25 investments to maximise their returns and diversify their risk. This is because every 9 out of 10 startups fail, and

What do angel investors think about ICOs?

With the recent boom of initial coin offerings (ICOs) in Singapore, Dr. Rex Yeap decided to share his insights on investing in the ICO space. Surprisingly, sophisticated angel investors view ICOs no differently from startups. They discount the irrational exuberance and ‘Fear of Missing Out’ (otherwise known as FOMO), and perform due diligence on ICOs extensively.

One of the examples that Dr. Yeap gave was the investment that BANSEA made into Tokenize.exchange. When making the investment, Dr. Yeap and other angels from BANSEA met the founders of Tokenize personally to understand the motivations behind the founding of Tokenize by the founders. Dr. Yeap also mentioned his disgust over the sheer number of scams in the ICO market, and mentioned that angel investors looking to invest in ICOs must do so with a heightened sense of acuity. He elucidated the numerous ways that angels can work with other investors and industry experts to identify potential ‘winners, losers, and scammers’ in the ICO market.

Are valuations sought by founders over-inflated?

One of the key contentions at the academy was the value that investors should place on startups. Clearly, different angels at the academy valued startups differently. James, however, summarised the situation aptly. He mentioned that it is ‘difficult to nail early-stage valuations’ and that investing at an early stage is typically an ‘art’. However, he also mentioned that there are several cases whereby founders are requesting for valuations at an overly rich price point. For example, he is seeing an influx of pre-product and pre-revenue startups attempting to raise series A valuations, though unsuccessfully.

Also read: I met with some of the biggest angel investors in Southeast Asia, and here are some insights I learned

In general, unless the startup is operating in the hardware space, biotechnology space, or requires extensive amounts of funding for regulatory structures, seed-stage startups from Singapore should be valued at around S$1 million, and Series A startups would typically be valued at S$3 to S$5 million.

Is angel investing for everyone?

One of the key insights that Michael shared was that angel investing is a long-term play and that angels need to be patient with their investments. With typical exit timeframes of 7 to 10 years in Southeast Asia, angels should only deploy funds that they are able to set aside for extended periods of time.

James added that the risk involved in angel investing is difficult to stomach for some, and that risk averse individuals would be better off finding other types of alternative investments, or working with experienced professional investors to invest their funds. He recommends that angels ‘take their first year slow’, and take that time learning from other angels and understanding the ecosystem. If after a year, they find that angel investing is not for them, ‘there is no shame in leaving the ecosystem’.

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The mobile tyre-fitting startup provides tyres, batteries, engine oil, and service at customers’ preferred location — be it home, work, condo, or even a shopping mall

(Editor’s note: Here is an article from our archives which we think is still relevant)

At times, your car can kill your weekends.

Most of us use the weekends as an opportunity to have our car serviced. This often jeopardises our plans to spend quality time with family and kids, however. In some cases, it takes an entire day to queue up and to have the desired maintenance service done.

And then there is the issue of trust. How sure are you that you can trust the service advisor or mechanic. Worse,  some service centres often charge exorbitant rates from uninformed customers, which could easily burn a hole in our pockets.

But that is now a thing of the past, thanks to MisterTyre. A mobile tyre-fitting startup, the Kuala Lumpur-based company allows customers to buy tyres, batteries and engine oil online, and customers can also schedule a fitting or service at any suitable location of their choice — be it their home, work, condo, or even a shopping mall.

“Our mobile fitting units (typically, Ford Transit vans) make sitting-around in a cold garage a thing of the past,” says Dennis Melka, Founder and CEO of MisterTyre, which currently operates only in Klang Valley. “Now, you can be at home or at work getting on with the things that are important to you, while our expert technicians deal with your tyre fitting or other services.”

Also Read: Row over rental payments leads to fallout between Marvelstone and Hong Leong

Melka, a Czech by birth, came to Singapore in 2000 while working for Credit Suisse. The global financial services giant transferred him from Prague to Singapore to take care of its Malaysian business.

In Malaysia, Melka also got opportunity to work for companies like AirAsia, Celcom and Unisem. He also learned about many other industries such as travel, aviation, and palm oil plantations, and founded/co-founded several companies, including TuneTalk, Asian Plantations, and NIDA Rooms.

“I am a small investor in UK-based mobile tyre-fitting company Tyres-On-The-Drive. I’ve seen how the business  grew from something very small to massive in a few years. I realised this was the future of automotive repair, and Malaysia makes lots of sense to build a business serving car owners,” Melka explains the motive behind the company.

MisterTyre on the wheel

MisterTyre seeks to transform automotive aftermarket services in ASEAN through low prices and doorstep delivery of services. According to Melka, MisterTyre is the first company in the region to offer mobile tyre services through a mobile app.

The booking process is simple. One can download the app (available on Android and iOS), select the car type, insert tyre details (which can be taken from the tyres’ sidewall), make the payments, and place the order online.

“We’re the only mobile tyre fitter to offer dedicated one-hour time slots, meaning you don’t need to be sitting in all day waiting for us. We make the entire buying, scheduling and co-ordinating the service easy just like Grab/Uber. Our team of trained technicians is primed and ready to fit tyres, align your wheel, change your battery or even replace your engine oil in a location near you at a time that suits you, seven days a week, no matter the weather,” he explains.

The van is equipped with state-of-the-art tyre changing machines that incorporate a pneumatic arm and bead raiser, tyre balancing machines and a compressor to inflate tyres. All of the equipment is similar to the equipment one would expect to see in a traditional tyre shop, Melka says.

Melka is of a view that since MisterTyre doesn’t have the huge overhead costs of a high-street tyre shop, it can pass the savings directly on to the customer. “We believe in straightforward pricing — you no longer need to shop around between tyre shops for pricing,” he said. “Additionally, we capture all other information on your car, so we can keep innovating towards making your car maintenance easy in future. This helps us know, say, when your car battery will die down or when the brake pads will wear out. Accordingly, we send notifications to the customer on his mobile. This way we are able to get future works from the customer.”

Currently, MisterTyre deals only in SUVs and passenger cars.

The startup, however, does not offer breakdown/rescue services.

So far, MisterTyre has partnered with 23 brands to directly source tyres, and has on-boarded eight more brands in engine oil and battery.

MisterTyre makes money from battery sales, engine oil change, rotation and front wheel alignment. “We will add a fifth and sixth product line — brakes and rim sales –next year. Each of our current product line is already profitable for us,” Melka goes on.

As of now, the company operates only one van, which undertakes up to six jobs a day. The startup now has plans to operate two more vans in January.

MisterTyre is looking to expand business to Singapore in 2018.

MisterTyre is also working on a corporate programme, wherein its vans will drive to large corporates with 1,000 to 4,000 employees per location. The HR department notifies the staffers that the MisterTyre van will come to the office park on a particular date.

“Almost like a “staff benefit” and we give them a promo code. This lowers our customer acquisition costs, and the staff can have their car serviced whilst at the office, so they don’t waste valuable time after work or during weekend. We have several dozen such corporate promo programmes starting this month.”

As per an estimate, Malaysia is a US$1 billion annual market for replacement tyres, batteries and oil change. There is effectively zero e-commerce.

“We want to change this as fast as possible,” he concludes.

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The inaugural Infineon LG </> Make Hackathon aims to empower Asia Pacific’s tech ecosystem in creating IoT solutions

Infineon Technologies and LG Electronics announced that they have debuted an Internet of Things (IoT) Hackathon in Singapore on Monday, June 17, 2019.

The official statement from the occasion noted that the goal of the hackathon is to empower Asia-Pacific’s ecosystem to create IoT solutions that will run on the LG webOS open source platform with Infineon microelectronics capabilities.

Infineon and LG both provided “interested innovators” with technological guidance as well as access to products and software, helping the shortlisted teams develop and showcase proofs-of-concepts to a panel of judges at Infineon Asia Pacific office in Singapore.

“This hackathon is about a shared community of innovators that seek to use technologies to build a better future. A globally connected ecosystem is the purpose, with easier, safer, and greener life,” said Chua Chee Seong, President and Managing Director, Infineon Asia Pacific.

Sharing the sentiment, I.P. Park, President and CTO of LG Electronics said, “Our goal is to build and grow a global webOS community where developers may lever-age a wide range of webOS functionalities such as AI, connectivity, and IoT in their work to produce solutions and services.”

In the hackathon, GoReMas Enterprise and Wangi Lai PLT were awarded the top and second prize respectively. Both companies are originated from Malaysia.

Also Read: Malaysia’s Kenanga Investors launches fund for investing in unicorns

GoReMas Enterprise’s prototype Floodsensed is an IoT-based flood monitoring system that included social media alert feature, for platforms such as Facebook, Slack, Telegram (with images and location maps), and YouTube Live Stream.

The equipment gathers rain volumes, water levels, temperature, and barometric pressure from device gateways and nodes, then sends the data to Floodsensed IoT platform that comes with dashboard visualisation for users.

Wangi Lai PLT’s BAWA Cane is a clip-on module for existing white canes that helps the visually impaired identify and avoid obstacles with shared insights and foresight through data analytics.

The winners, who won S$5,000 (US$3,648) and SS3,000 (US$2,189) for first and second prizes respectively, were selected from a pool of 14 startups and student entrepreneurs from countries such as China, India, Malaysia, Ukraine, and Singapore.

The winners were determined based on criteria ranging from problem identification, concept development, and innovation, to ease of implementation, stability, and presentation.

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The goal is that by helping founders forge close-knit relationships and become more attuned with the global environment, they can effect transformational change in the world’s economy

Think about the last event you attended that made a deep impression on you: what was it that stood out? Was it the quality of the talks or the networking sessions? Or maybe it was that VR rollercoaster that gave you an adrenaline rush and made your legs wobbly.

For many attendees, it is usually a combination of many such factors. These days, the event experience is no longer confined to just passively listening in to talks; it is about delivering a dynamic and interactive experience that involves the active participation of attendees, thereby establishing a tighter bond between stakeholders that transcends beyond the span of the event.

So what does it mean, and why is it important?

To understand this, we have to take a macro view and first establish why so many conferences, particularly startup events, are held in the first place.

The fundamental thread that binds them, is that they seek to educate stakeholders in the industry through valuable insights from experts, and build and strengthen connections between all participants. This is the key to building a tight-knit,  long-enduring community.

Open Circles, an invite-only entrepreneur community that curate and delivers experiences designed to spark social awareness and innovation in entrepreneurs, is working for higher goal — to effect a transformational change in the world’s economy by helping founders to become more attuned with the environment around them.

To do this, it is going one step further in establishing trust to foster collaborations and strengthen long-enduring relationships between disparate stakeholders in the ecosystem. While it is still a business event, its goal isn’t so much about teaching entrepreneurs the business science of how to build or scale their businesses, but more to help them to really introspect and reconnect with themselves.

Also Read: e27 partners AsiaIOA and iCube Innovation to enhance startups, investor ecosystem

It is a socially-driven, holistic approach that aims to immerse entrepreneurs in an experience that will realign themselves to their true purpose in life and not miss out on other important things along the way that, which, at first glance, may seem peripheral to the business.

To paint you a clearer picture, check out the Open Circles’s Bali agenda, which will run from June 20 — 23 this year.

One of the talks, “Torrid Love Affair: The Secret to Desire in a Long Term Relationship”, conducted by emotional intelligence & transformational coach, Colleen Schell, may seem more suited for a dating seminar than a business conference — but that’s a simplistic dismissal.

All too often, many discount the role of empathy and emotional support from a spouse or long term partner in the success of your business — they can provide valuable guidance and advice; they are also your pillar of support in the good times and times.

Then there is the “Fighting Fyre: Responsible Use of Social Media and Managing Public Failures, from Fyre Festival to Online Scandals” talk, which seeks to address the issue of accountability in the business world. The infamous Fyre Festival held in 2017 not only demonstrated the dangers of social media hype and but also put a spotlight on the lethal relationship between gullible investors and snake oil entrepreneurs — it very clearly showed that there needed to be more checks and balances in the business community.

To cultivate cross-culture exchanges, Open Circles Bali (OC Bali) is featuring a stellar line-up of speakers from the Eastern and Western business communities.

Some of the Western speakers include:

1. Alicia Silverstone, Hollywood actress, entrepreneur and environmental activist;
2. Andreas Ehn, Spotify’s first CTO;
3. Erika Cheung, a key whistleblower who brought down Theranos;
4. Russell Simmons, Co-founder of Def Jam (a famous music record label)

From the East, there are renowned business leaders such as:

1. Melisa Irene, Partner at East Ventures;
2. Hendrik Susanto, CIO at Traveloka;
3. Yusmadi Yusoff, a Senator at Parliament of Malaysia, and the Founder of the RIGHTS Foundation.
4. Audrey Yeo, Founder, Yeo Workshop Art Gallery

Besides talks, attendees will also partake in physical activities designed to heal and take away physical and mental tension. These include massage sessions, Yin yoga and Hatha yoga sessions, and even aqua aerobics!

Adding to that are the Agni Hotra Fire Ceremony, an ancient Hindu fire ceremony that purportedly helps to purify one’s thoughts as well as the environment, and Reiki & Singing Bowl Therapy, an Eastern form of sound meditation therapy.

All in all, events like these demonstrate that there is a growing sense among business leaders that social initiatives, health & wellness activities, and environmental-driven issues are no longer just checkboxes they should tick off to show that they are ‘progressive’.

Entrepreneurs have become aware that such initiatives, which might traditionally be regarded as frivolous, have to shift to the forefront of their business strategies if they want to build sustainable businesses that will survive in the long run.

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Image Credit: Open Circles

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As the company achieved hyper-scale, it had to make critical changes to its management structure

Go-Jek is a growing transportation network that’s come a long way since its start. Established in 2010 as a motorcycle ride-hailing phone service in Indonesia, Go-Jek evolved to provide on-demand transport and lifestyle services in over 50 cities across Southeast Asia. To learn from their journey, I interviewed Diwakar Kaushik, Head of Product, to discover more about how they’ve scaled their product.

What has been Go-Jek’s journey so far?

Go-Jek’s journey has been enriching and fulfilling so far. The most satisfying part is being able to use technology for changing the everyday lives of drivers, small merchants and users who rely on us for the variety of everyday use cases that we offer.

That keeps everyone at Go-Jek going even in the ever-challenging environment. The large scale reflects the validation of how technology can touch and change lives in a positive way in the largest countries of the world.

What are the biggest challenges you face as a growing team?

One of the biggest challenges we face is deciding whether to build for scale or to offer more innovative and new products. Over the years, we have built a good sense of judgement on this critical piece for creating a multi-product company by making regular short- and medium-term product development trade-offs.

The second challenge that we have is change management. Go-Jek has grown immensely in business and organization scale and that brings a lot of organizational debt as well as technological debt. Managing these along with dealing the needs of growth is challenging for everyone in the organization and we are learning to cope with this all the time.

Another challenge that we face is that our product scales faster than our teams and hiring becomes a big challenge.

Hiring is one of the top challenges that product leaders face. What is your approach to hiring?

Hiring is a first-class problem for internet and technology companies across the world and we are thoughtful enough to treat it as one. We deal with it in three ways, First, by going really strong on referrals and getting people who the current set of people have worked with in past. This adds the first round of filter and also adds overall accountability in the org about the kind of people we get.

Also Read: Go-Jek acquires Indian recruitment platform developer AirCTO

Second, we stay extremely diligent on our hiring process and even under extreme pressures of increasing teams we don’t compromise on process quality and details. While it helps us make sure that we hire the right people who will thrive in our setup, it also gives the candidates enough time and interactions to understand what kind of people work at Go-Jek, what’s the culture and whether they would be fit in a demanding, transparent and high ownership environment.

Third, we hire for attitude and a culture fit. We focus on more than just the core skills.

What are your tips for ensuring strong communication within your team?

Especially for geographically distributed teams, there is just one big tip – Over-communication never hurt anyone. Also, it’s important to find a process in your communication. Trivial as it may sound: define your cadences and write as much as possible.

At Go-Jek we have clear cadences for different product groups, within teams, between different functions – and all of the decisions are always well documented. The documentation Ninjas make life easier for everyone, and little time is wasted on indexing our minds for what happened when.

Also, try to build a culture of not-so-fancy weekly/monthly updates and don’t put pressure of perceived quality for these updates. The message should pass on. Less experienced team members are generally anxious about the quality of communication and that leads to a lack of communication which hurts.

We set the expectations clear by doing simple yet regular communication to large groups. At Go-Jek, these ways keep us well communicated, and this information symmetry helps execution of complicated cross-functional products smooth.

Is there something that you’ve learned through the process of growing that you wish you knew before?

Many things, but the most important one is to let go. A lot of us in the startup world get too close to an idea or to a feature or to a wish that at times we continue to waste time and be irrational in our decision making. But as we build products in the ever-changing world of user behaviour and technology, we need to be ready to let go of our inhibitions when some significant new information arrives.

Also Read: The essentials of managing your business financials at 4 stages of its lifecycle

The other thing that we are learning every day is finding the right way of choosing what to do and what not to do. The combined aspirations of all the passionate people getting together to do a startup (irrespective of the scale) will always be greater than the amount of code that can be written, products that can be made, and businesses that can be scaled. So, it’s necessary to continuously improve your velocity (where the direction is even more important than speed) and be prepared to break comfort zones whenever required.

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If you found this interview interesting, follow more of the ScaleUp Valley content for further discussions on how others have scaled their companies. For example, the ScaleUp Valley podcast – where we speak with successful scale-ups about their growing process – is a fountain of valuable learnings brought to you directly by the source.

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The automobile rental marketplace has also rebranded to Otomo

Automo, an online automobile marketplace that connects customers directly to rental companies and driver services in Indonesia, has closed its seed round of funding at SGD205,000 (US$145,000).

Investors include an angel from Prestige Corp in Indonesia, owner of Singapore-based Cars and Trips, and another unnamed angel. The round also includes SGD30,000 Startup SG Founder Grant.

Also Read: Indonesian tech startup Automo offers not just bike and car rentals, but private jets and Yacht too

“We are currently in talks with a few VCs from Singapore and Indonesia to raise between up to SGD400,000 (US$300,000) to realise our goal of becoming of automotive lifestyle portal,” Automo Founder Charles Lin told e27.

Additionally, Automo has rebranded itself as Otomo. “We came up with a brand new identity that reflects a more global long term vision that we are planning ahead,” he said.

Otomo is an online platform for tourists to find drivers or automotive rental in Indonesia. It is designed for tourists (locals and foreigners) to help them find drivers or automotive rental, as well as to help local vendors to sell their services digitally to a global market.

The company works with local vendors in Indonesia to provide a wide range of automotive options, from a simple sedan to luxury cars like Rolls Royce and Lamborghini, as well as private jets and yacht. Motorbike rentals are also available.

Otomo’s customers come mostly from Southeast Asia. Major MNCs such as Salim Group used its platform to book big buses for their corporate events, says Lin.

Also Read: Viking Garage puts the brakes on dodgy bikes and rents out trusty roadsters like Harleys

“We started out with SaaS solutions and used two different systems, which ran into issues in terms of fully supporting the business needs and scalability. As a result, customers found it hard to search specific listings. Also, we were not able to make much changes to the user flow and technical upgrades which made it difficult to navigate,” he added. “This is when we decided to invest into building our own custom solution that is scalable. It will also allow us to customise everything from user experience to vendor functionality.”

The company has also expanded its offerings to also include long-term rental options in Indonesia. It is also in the midst of rolling out attractions & tour packages.

The post (Exclusive) Indonesia’s Automo closes seed round; in talks for fresh funding appeared first on e27.

The network, which runs independent startup accelerator program in Singapore, aims to accelerate the growth of the region’s seed-stage startups with the first 10 startups

Accelerating Asia (AA), an Enterprise Singapore-supported startup program focussing on early-stage companies has announced the launch of its initial accelerator cohort. The cohort features 10 startups from the verticals of remittance, transportation, and human resources across Asia.

AA said that the program seeks to identify and accelerate the seed-stage startup’s development in Asia. Along with the launch, AA is close in finalising its pre-seed VC fund in July with up to US$5 million ready to be invested in over 40 regional startups.

Speaking about how Accelerating Asia will fit into the ecosystem, Craig Dixon, Co-Founder, Entrepreneur in Residence and Program Director, Accelerating Asia said,

“There is a profile of more mature startups in the region who are too advanced for existing accelerator programs but are not quite ready for institutional venture funding. These startups are led by incredible founders and have great financial and customer traction, but are still missing some key elements they need to scale to success.”

In its first cohort, AA welcomes startups in verticals such as big data, e-commerce, human resources, logistics, software-as-a-service, transportation, and remittances; hailing from all over Asia including Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Singapore, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

Also Read: Meet the 10 finalists in the 2nd batch of Grab Ventures Velocity

“AA’s program is specifically designed to provide our startups with the necessary funding, mentorship, and support they need to scale their growth,” said Amra Naidoo, Co-Founder, Partnerships & Operations Director, Accelerating Asia.

“As an independent accelerator with various revenue streams that ensure long-term sustainability, we don’t rely on one source of funding and thus can better aligning our outcomes with the startups we work with and ensuring that our founders will always be our priority from day one.”

The program itself has two parts: a three month program period with weekly activities followed by a one-month final period which includes a Startup Mastery Program in San Francisco and Silicon Valley.

It will be followed by a Demo Day where founders will pitch their startups to a private audience of the investors in the region, multinationals, government partners, and other relevant ecosystem players.

Let’s take a look at Accelerating Asia’s 10 participating startups:

• BeamAndGo (Philippines), payment and digital marketplace that empowers migrant workers by giving them control over how their remittances are spent by their families back home, all through the use of SMS text gift certificates.
• Datanest (Indonesia), a Data Science as a Service Startup that helps companies to drive their performance and profitability through an AI and Machine Learning algorithms. By employing AI and ML algorithms, Datanest helps the client forecast issues, identify trends, and abnormal behaviour, ultimately optimising a company’s workflow process.
• DeafTawk (Pakistan), an online sign language interpretation services that empower deaf community across the globe by bridging the communication gap. It provides online sign language interpretation services, audio-video translation services, and sign language training.
• Klaud9 (Singapore), an online platform that matches photographers and brands to create amazing photos for their social media & marketing campaigns. It helps brands to scale their photo shoots across the region within 24 hours and low cost.
• Loop (Bangladesh), a technology-enabled marketplace for full truckload freight by using software that creates a communication, payment, and data infrastructure for shippers and carriers.
• Medlink (Vietnam), a healthtech that connects consumers, pharmacies, and pharmaceutical company in Vietnam by ensuring that customers have access to authentic medication, preventing the circulation of counterfeit and low-quality products.
• Panalyt (Singapore), a startup that puts actionable people analytics in the hands of managers across organisations through user-friendly dashboards and AI-driven insights.
• TalentTribe (Singapore), a millennial recruitment platform that is reimagining recruitment for a new generation of job seekers, and helps employers hire early-career talent that fits. The platform provides job seekers with insights that they deeply care about, in turn connecting them to jobs that they truly resonate with.
• Web2Ship (Malaysia), a booking platform for logistics in Asia that help online sellers to search, compare and book different courier and postal services by identifying the best shipping services.
• Zantrik (Bangladesh), an automotive service and resource platform that ensures seamless and standard maintenance experience for vehicles, by connecting service providers and applying quality assurance standards.

Participating startups will each receive S$100,000 (US$73,150) in funding, office space in Downtown Singapore, and facilities with providers such as Amazon Web Services, Hubspot, and Tribe Theory.

Also Read: e27 partners AsiaIOA and iCube Innovation to enhance startups, investor ecosystem

The announcement of AA’s cohort comes after its launch of the ASEAN Smart Cities Accelerator (ASCA), a joint partnership with the Australian government that will support entrepreneurs with ideas to promote the development of smart cities in the region. Its first Demo Day will take place on October 3rd, 2019 and applications for the next cohort will open in early October.
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The post Accelerating Asia launches seed-stage accelerator cohort appeared first on e27.

The key to sustainable startup growth lies in the judicious management of its financials

“90 per cent of startups eventually end in failure” is a statistic that is often cited in tech blogs; but why do they fail? Well, it can be attributed to various factors, of which some are evitable. One of the determinants that can apply across all stages of companies is financial planning and management.

At our startup business growth consultancy firm BlackStorm Consulting, we have continuously been engaged by clients of different stages to provide them with advisory on structuring, restructuring, and scaling of the businesses.

Poor use of funds and unreasonable company valuation are often the main reasons that hindered them from raising funds to move to the next stage of their business lifecycle.  We often play the devil’s advocate by highlighting potential red flags to our clients that might hinder their businesses’ growth.

This is to ensure that they are aware of the matters and take actions to circumvent them. Financials should be adequately accounted for and presented in a fair and reasonable manner. With the figures in place, businesses can build credibility to interested parties when it comes to fundraising.

Typically, a business will go through the four phases of a lifecycle chronologically:

Comprehending what phase the business is in can make vast differences in financial planning and operations. We have encountered several owners who did not allocate resources well enough to fuel the growth, causing them to miss out on valuable opportunities. The business journey is always arduous. It will be wise to plan financially to defy the odds and stay in the game.

Here are some pointers that may help business owners and managers to consider during each stage of the business in the financial context.

Development stage

It is the beginning of the business lifecycle when the idea will come into existence. The idea will then be put into a trial for business feasibility and be examined whether it will eventually be able to generate profits. If it is of commercial sense, the business owners-to-be can start drafting a business plan, of which the budget will include the related expenses such as setting up of company, office rental, and payroll. It is essential not to disregard the expenses as some of them can be considerably high.

Start-up stage

This is the stage where the business is officially formed and ready to launch the MVP (Minimum Variable Product). The business at this phase will require funding for the operations, gaining market traction and further development. Many times, the actual costs exceed the allocated budget, and some of them are controllable.

Common mistakes made by the startups include hiring too many staff, overcompensating them and overspending on unnecessary expenses. The fast depletion of the fund supply will adversely cause the burn rate to be higher. With minimal sales coming in, the business can suffer significant losses.

Also Read:5 essential traits of a successful entrepreneur

In the face of this, the stakeholders would likely pull out, and the business collapses as a result. At this stage, the business is only as strong as its weakest link as it is at the riskiest and most vulnerable state. Thus, we often educate startups on managing the sales expectation as customers at this stage will be scarce and it requires some time to build up. Therefore, we would suggest startups to maintain their cash reserves that can last for at least six months so that it can survive through them and move on to the next stage.

Growth stage

At this stage, growth can be defined in terms of expansion of the product, capturing more market shares and/or entering more markets.

The business at this stage should be steadily growing new customer bases and generating constant sources of revenue. Presently, the company can be operating at a net loss or maintaining a healthy profit. The recurring revenues can help to pay for the operating expenses, and the net profits can be given out as dividends.

By declaring and paying dividends to the shareholders, it will indicate good health of the company and exude confidence to the stakeholders. However, this action can impact the cash flow, and it is crucial that such an act should be done when the company is not making losses, and cash supply is adequate.

Competition is intense at this stage, but at the same time, many opportunities will be open for the company and it has to act fast. A renowned example will be Airbnb. The company’s co-founder Brian Chesky and his team decided to acquire Accoleo, a German platform that allows students to rent out their flats, extra beds, or couches to other students, in order to fight against a clone competitor. This allowed Airbnb to have a major competitive advantage in the European market. By 2012, bookings had grown ten times, and Airbnb had opened nine international offices over Europe.

Also Read:7 steps to increase the value of your business (before you sell)

The company will fine-tune the processes and products to compete, and decide on venturing out to new markets. Scaling can capture a more extensive base of customers and bring in more revenues. As a result, it will also require expanding the workforce to handle. The company will then need to strike a balance between the high sales volume and increased personnel costs to optimise the rapid growth.

Reversal effect can kick into the business when operating costs overrun the revenue, resulting in negative growth. During this stage, the company may require additional funding to expand. If the company were to choose not to dilute the existing shareholdings, the company will choose to incur debts. As such, liabilities will be escalated, causing a deficit in equity. This can be a big red flag as the company is at risk of bankruptcy if it is not able to make the financial obligations. Therefore, the cash reserves must be planned and managed well before embarking into expansion as the market conditions can change unfavourably at any times.

Companies that choose to expand rapidly without weighing the costs face a decline in their profitability due to the relative rising costs. As companies burn through their cash reserves to scale fast, they may look for external sources of funding such as through debts, issuance of new shares or via newer models of financing such as Security Token Offerings (STOs).

This, however, may bring superfluous stress to the financial positions and may actually have an inverse effect on the companies’ operations as they may be forced to slow down their scaling strategy due to the increased financial obligations.

Maturity stage

After the successful scaling in the business, the company is now at the peak and has matured. The company can be still growing but at a sluggish rate. Based on our experience, the mature companies will then reach the crossroads. The owners will then need to consider further expansions which may require more funding or they choose to exit before the business starts to decline.

If the company is to go for expansion again, it will be back to growth stage. However, most of them will start to find an exit route as the valuation at this point will be reaching its climax. The owners will then use different methodologies to determine the valuation amounts. Some of them may be using estimations, but the common approaches will be DCF (Discounted Cash Flow) Model, Company Comparable Analysis and Precedent Transactions Analysis.

Also Read:5 things I learnt from talking to 50 VCs

It is not surprising to know that even up to this stage, some companies will still be facing net losses and negative cash flows. They are relying on funding sources to sustain the business as they are seen to be of high potential value. However, on the common ground, it is vital for the company to be in a healthy financial position and earning positively to achieve a surpassing valuation figure.

Cash should not be deliberately held on by the company to magnify the valuation figures. Opportunity costs will be created as the surplus cash in the company can be used for distribution to the stakeholders and/or strategic investments to boost the company’s value further.

Correspondingly, when it comes to calculations, figures and metrics can be misused to inflate the valuation,

In case you find this complicated, we have summarised the key ideas into the table below.

All in all, not every business will go through every abovementioned stage. They may not also experience them in chronological order. For instance, some companies may see exponential growth right after the start-up stage, and the founders may decide to cash out right away.

Generally, for most companies, the entrepreneurs will need to anticipate the potential issues ahead and prepare to maximise the success of the businesses, of which financial control will play a significant role. Owners and managers should be aware of their key figures and make the correct financial decisions to drive the businesses towards greater heights in every stage.

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Editor’s note: e27 publishes relevant guest contributions from the community. Share your honest opinions and expert knowledge by submitting your content here.

The post The essentials of managing your business financials at 4 stages of its lifecycle appeared first on e27.