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 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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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 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.

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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.

Mike Dias is the CEO at startup education firm ScaleUp Valley

If you want to know more about ScaleUp Valley initiatives, calendar and purpose, join our community by subscribing to the ScaleUp Valley newsletter.

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

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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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Writing great content for the web is quite different from writing a novel

For years now, content marketing has been a hot topic in the digital marketing landscape. As a result,  the web today is flooded with content assets that are meant to hook the audience and lead them down a conversion funnel.

When everyone is creating content, how do you make yours stand out?

The short answer, of course, is to create great content that converts.But then again, what’s the big secret behind content that converts?

Whether you’re writing informative blog posts for top of the funnel audience, or writing a script for your next Instagram video, these writing tips will ensure your copy, regardless of the content asset, converts.

Read on.

The beginning needs to be strong

If the copy does not entice the reader/viewer in the first 20-30 seconds, chances are, the user will lose interest. Technology is making humans impatient, and marketing writing needs to adapt to this change.

This doesn’t mean bombarding the user with seemingly relevant statistics in the first two lines will work.

Instead, concentrate on creating a feeling of relevance in the beginning. The two most common ways to achieve this are:

Address the problems of your audience

If your copy starts off by mentioning the most common problems of your audience, talking about how said problems can lead to more problems, chances are, the reader will instantly relate.

Moreover, since you are mentioning their most pressing problems in the beginning, they will be motivated to read further in hopes of finding a solution to their problem.

Think of this as a noise coming out of your car engine. If someone tells you that you need to get the problem fixed otherwise it will lead to more expensive issues with the car, you’ll naturally be interested in knowing about the issue and possibly finding a solution.

Begin by talking about what your reader knows

Mentioning information that your reader already possesses helps build a subtle form of relevance. It makes them feel good about themselves and will motivate them to read the rest of the content with a positive state of mind.

Not to forget, doing so is a great way to ‘convert’ and direct their problem(s) towards its solution(s) — also known as, your product or service

That being said, make sure you are not using long sentences and big chunks of paragraphs without breaks to achieve this purpose. A reader will instantly get repulsed by looking at a big slab of content.

Short, snappy, and relatable introductions work like magic.

Which also brings us to our next point.

Say more with less

Several great writers have said it, almost every article/blog post about writing say it as well, and I am going to say it, cut out the clutter.

As mentioned earlier, users these days don’t have the patience or the time to go through paragraphs and paragraphs of content, no matter how well-written or relevant it is.

Great content, be it a landing page, a blog post, or a video script, is to-the-point. Every sentence adds value to the information being provided. Each sentence serves a purpose.

This doesn’t mean that you cannot produce long-form content. In fact, long-form content has been known to perform better on search engines

So even when you’re writing a 3,000-word guide, the same rules will apply.

Talk to your readers

While the crux of content marketing lies in offering your audience useful and actionable information, since it is marketing, it needs to be more interesting than a school textbook.

The best way to make your content interesting and your reader feel involved is by making your content conversational.

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

While this may sound like vague advice, all you really need to do is use more of ‘you’ and ‘your’. Similarly, don’t be afraid of using the word ‘I’ in your copy.

Sure, everyone knows that there is (usually) one individual that has written the content they are consuming. However, when you use words like “I”, it reinforces the belief and makes them realise that the information they are receiving is the result of someone’s real-life experience (or effort).

The best example of this is the “Cosmos” series that features Neal Degresse Tyson. The series talks about history and scientific concepts that were taught to everyone in grade school. But it does so by creating a gripping narrative, and illustrating it in a conversational manner.

Make it about THEM

Sure, the purpose of a marketing copy is to sell a product/service. For this reason, it makes sense that much of the copy would be dedicated to highlighting the features of your offering. After all, these benefits are supposed to convince your audience to purchase your product/service. Right?

Wrong.

Content marketing is a customer-centric approach to marketing.

Instead of focusing on the Unique Selling Points (USPs) of your own offering, your content should focus on the pain points of your audience, and how your product/service addresses them.

Instead of talking about the salient features of your offering, you copy needs to talk about the benefits your potential consumers will enjoy when they use your product.

For instance, if a startup should approach a corporate law firm to inquire about their services, the firm should talk about how they have eased the legal side of running a startup for their clients, instead of talking about their success rates and experience.

That is not to say mentions of success rates and experience are irrelevant: they do add a lot of credibility to the brand image of a law firm, and should definitely find a place in their content. But should never be the focus of their communication to potential clients.

Get to the point, but don’t give everything away immediately

This one is a bit tricky to understand.

The key to creating interesting content lies in understanding the balance between giving out useful information and creating information gaps.

Let’s understand this with the help of the example of this blog post about improving conversions.

In the beginning, the blog post will give out stats and information about how improving conversions is a challenge.

Also Read: 5 essential traits of a successful entrepreneur

The blog post will go on to talk about different conversion challenges, and at the end of each point, will give out the information needed to overcome said challenges.

This way, the reader will be motivated to keep reading to know about how to overcome the conversion-related challenges they are facing.

Conclusion

In the end, I would like to remind my readers that great marketing, whether it is writing or planning a complete campaign, is always led by an in-depth understanding of your target audience.

Your marketing communication, tone, targeting, and everything in-between, will depend on your understanding of your target audiences’ pain points, web surfing patterns, and purchase decision behaviours.

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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.

Image Credit by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

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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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“My vision is that MaGIC be the anchor that will stitch the parts of the ecosystem from pipelining of talents and companies to funding”

Dzuleira Abu Bakar took on the role of CEO of the Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre (MaGIC), almost five months after Ashran Ghazi stepped down from the post. A seasoned investor with immense experience, Abu Bakar has worked in prominent organisations such as Cradle, Khazanah, and Malaysia Venture Capital Management, among others. She is also a champion of women empowerment and has participated as a panelist in events such as Standard Chartered’s Press For Progress Women Forum.

Abu Bakar is joining MaGIC when the agency is going through a period of restructuring. In this email interview with e27, she talks about her plans for MaGIC and the startup ecosystem in general.

Edited excerpts:

Ashran Ghazi stepped down as the CEO of MaGIC in November. Why did it take almost five months for the agency to appoint a new CEO?

I want to see MaGIC breeding entrepreneurs, who create solutions that fit the world and not just for a specific country

Malaysia saw a change in government in May 2018 after over 60 years, and came with it some major change. MaGIC was moved from the Ministry of Finance to the Ministry of Entrepreneur Development (MED) towards the last quarter of 2018 in line with renewed mandate of the government catalyse entrepreneurship as a driver to the economy. As with any transition, delay is inevitable there as everyone in the system figures things out, which I think is completely understandable.

Also Read: Malaysia has all ingredients to be a startup hub, but lacks ‘Michelin Star Chefs’ to mix them well: Ashran Ghazi

MED did not want to rush the process of getting in the right senior leadership team that would fit in to the broader mandate of the Ministry as well as the organisation, which is essentially the right thing to do.

What are going to be your immediate goals for MaGIC?

Officially I’ve been on board for over one month now, but given my lengthy involvement in Malaysian tech ecosystem in my past roles, I have always believed in the role that MaGIC plays. I believe MaGIC is uniquely positioned within the ecosystem. Being a government agency, we are an extension of the government but with the flexibility of operating very much in a private sector setting, which allows us to effectively play the role of a connector.

My vision is that MaGIC be the anchor that will stitch the parts of the ecosystem from pipelining of talents and companies to funding. MaGIC will serve as a launchpad for local entrepreneurs to gain access to regional and global players and ecosystems to not just learn but to also spread their products, services and capabilities to the world and vice versa. Startups from all over the globe should see MaGIC as a gateway to the ASEAN market.

I see tremendous potential for MaGIC and I want to have more of our Malaysian entrepreneurs and startups on the global map. Not an easy or linear task but we do have what it takes, just about ensuring the right balance of everything.

We plan to do this through several approaches:

• Connecting local entrepreneurs through exposing success stories as well as inspiring the public through various programmes and activities,
• Collaborating with the right partners and agencies to deliver programmes to breed entrepreneurs who are problem solvers and solution-driven,
• Creating new and need-based programmes to ensure ASEAN and global access. We plan to establish education access for qualified entrepreneurs with regional and global exposure.

We want to aid in the nation’s preparation for an innovation-led economy by nurturing a thriving ecosystem that is ready for the future economy. We lead the movement to create a truly united ASEAN entrepreneurship ecosystem.

You have worked in the VC industry in the recent past. How are you going to leverage this experience to take MaGIC to the next level? Going forward, will MaGIC give more emphasis on investments rather than just mentorship?

Coming in from the other side of the value chain, i.e funding companies, the advantage I have is that I have a clear view of what it takes to create fundable companies and what investors look for before the fund a company. Of the vast number of startups that fail each year, nearly half cite lack of funding or working capital as the cause.

Now, at MaGIC, we provide a strong network of mentorship because we deeply understand the need for early entrepreneurs to have a sounding board in growing their business. But we also do know that mentorship is just one of the many components such as product improvement, market access, access to funding and so on to ensure growth and success of a business.

At MaGIC, I envision our role to be a connector as well as facilitating linkages of the various components, piecing the pieces together to provide meaningful and holistic support entrepreneurs and startups.

MaGIC went through some kind of confusion last year when the new PM announced its abolition. How do you look at this overall controversy?

With any change in leadership, which applies to both government administration and institutions, it’s always an opportunity to review what works and what does not. A chance to hit refresh and bring in new thinking and perspective. And to me that’s positive. Many agencies also came under scrutiny in this process, MaGIC included.

There was obviously some noise during the transition period but there wasn’t any form decision. What matters is that the government recognises the unique and integral role that MaGIC plays in the entrepreneurship ecosystem and has continued to support its existence. With the move to the Ministry of Entrepreneur Development which has the important mandate of catapulting entrepreneurship as a key driver to the Malaysian economy, we are confident of stronger years ahead for MaGIC.

You are a champion of gender equality in the workplace. Will you continue to fight for this as the CEO of MaGIC?

Of course, I would continue to promote gender equality. It’s something I believe in. But it’s important that we recognise that it should be on merits. I believe in equality for all, equal access to opportunities for everyone.

Also, I think you’d do a disservice to the equality agenda if women agenda, for example, is forwarded based on gender alone. It’s fighting for equality based on merits for women, who otherwise wouldn’t get opportunity by reason of their gender.

Also Read: MaGIC or no MaGIC, Malaysia’s startup ecosystem is bound to flourish!

Having said this, we must also take cognisance of the huge strides this country has made in this area judging by recent appointments made by the government. I see this as a very positive and huge step to equality for all.

Where do you want to see MaGIC in the next five years?

We can foresee a rise in tech solutions in the next few years.

We see three key industry trends happening:

1. Artificial Intelligence is progressing rapidly, and the race to become a world leader in the space is growing tighter, especially between the US and China. Key gainers of this trend will be the banking, security and security, market intelligence, and possibility education sectors. We also see more and more new technologies coming into the market, from AR and VR to Machine Learning, among other things. These new technologies can help entrepreneurs and startups embrace the industrial revolution better, fine-tune their offerings and accommodate customers’ needs and wants.
2. Growth of deep-tech startups, those who are looking at existing technologies and challenging the status quo. Industries such as life sciences, aerospace, clean energy, robotics, agri-tech, computing, chemistry and biochemistry, and others could be the key beneficiaries of this trend.
3. The ‘categorical blur’ which disrupts conventional business models. Industries such as public governance and education could be the biggest losers from this industry trend.

We at MaGIC want to be a part of this which is why we are already providing capacity building and accelerating startup growth through our various programmes to enable the growth of entrepreneurs who are able to build vital, future-ready solutions with design thinking and exponential technologies. We also provide everyone with an equal access to entrepreneurship education and an avenue to experiment with new ideas and get guidance on how to build a business.

Ultimately, I want to see MaGIC breeding entrepreneurs, who create solutions that fit the world and not just for a specific country. We want to create global champions that start locally, here in Malaysia. We also want entrepreneurs to start thinking of the kind of impact that they are creating by placing a heavy emphasis on the sustainable development goals, which will enable Malaysia to compete in the global marketplace and attract top global talent and innovation capital. We want to stop limiting innovative solutions to just be within a specific country.

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Image Credit: MaGIC

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Having been introduced in Singapore and Thailand, the programme makes its entry to Malaysia last week

On Thursday, June 13, the United Overseas Bank (UOB) introduced its Jom Transform Programme for small- and medium-sized enterprise (SMEs) in Malaysia.

Launched in Kuala Lumpur, the programme is run by the company’s own innovation accelerator programme The FinLab.

Having been previously introduced in Singapore and Thailand, the programme aims to help SMEs in the country to grow their business and improve productivity through digitalisation and innovative tech.

The three-month acceleration programme is inspired by the kind of programmes commonly found among global tech startup communities, The FinLab Co-Head Pauline Sim explains to e27 in an interview.

“We have taken the accelerator format and catered it to help SMEs –that are more of traditional businesses– to help them to grow,” she begins.

Also Read: Meet the 8 startups participating in The FinLab, a Singaporean fintech accelerator programme

In addition to a series of workshops by industry experts, the programme will also match the SMEs with tech solutions that they have sourced and curated, based on the problem statement that they have submitted.

The SMEs can then select the problem statement that they want to prioritise and select the relevant tech solutions to solve it; The FinLab will also facilitate the pilot project for the implementation of the tech solution.

“These facilitation of the pilot is meant to help SMEs overcome the hurdles of adopting a new tech. We do it by the scope of a pilot, so it will be similar to a test to see if the solution delivers the result that they hoped, before going to full deployment,” Sim explains.

The programme aims to secure 15 SMEs in its first year with the criteria as follows: They have to be run by “open-minded, willing, and able” business owners.

“It’s the first thing that we look for when we select the companies into the programme. We want them to be a champion for their respective industries. At the end of the programme, we want them to go on stage together with their partners and talk about their journey … and help their peers embark on the same one,” Sim says.

Also Read: UOB’s The FinLab reveals the future faces of fintech at Echelon Asia Summit 2016

A regional focus

 

UOB names Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam as their five key markets in the Southeast Asian region, and this provides a unique opportunity for SMEs who aim to expand their business regionally.

The opportunities for expansion can also be used by the tech startups.

“For example, for our programme in Thailand, we have called for tech solutions … and we did see quite many Malaysian and Singaporean companies applying to the programme. Eventually, if any of the Malaysian or Singaporean startups is selected, they will get to travel to Bangkok and reach out to potential customers of their solutions. If the SMEs in Thailand select their solutions for a pilot, they will also be able to enter the new market with a ready user,” Sim elaborated.

This is especially important considering Southeast Asia’s position as the sixth largest economy in the world with a combined GDP of US$2.8 trillion. Sim highlights that the region has become more attractive for companies to come and grow their businesses beyond their home market.

“The challenge for companies is the need to work on the fundamentals to improve their core processes, in order to be able to scale and do more with less … Understanding of local regulations can also be a challenge,” Sim stresses.

The programme is run in partnership with the Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry of Kuala Lumpur & Selangor (KLSCCCI), the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA), Maxis, the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), and SME Corporation Malaysia (SME Corp. Malaysia).

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