These vital business tools can serve as guides to improve the processes of starting your business

The business ecosystem has been bustling with new life as more people are increasingly empowered to start their businesses.

With mentoring and funding initiatives rolled out by various institutions, fuelled together by strong global government support, many new start-ups have entered the market in recent years.

However, as any experienced entrepreneur knows, the market is a brutal place that requires strategic thinking and tactical actions for survival.

While many entrepreneurs rely on supportive parties as lifelines for advice and funding, it is simply not sufficient in the long run. Being equipped with the right business tools gives businesses a weapon that can be used to gain clarity and direction for proper decision-making.

There are three business tools, underused by businesses today, that can serve as methods to improve business ideas and to enhance decision-making models.

Project Portfolio Matrix (PPM)

The PPM aims to classify different projects based on their contribution to strategic goals. Various factors are used to compare plans to one another for prioritisation, allowing for capacity management and more efficient resource allocation.

Some common PPM factors include Importance vs Feasibility, Value vs Cost, Net Present Value vs Technical Success.

By classifying projects based on two important factors, businesses can make better decisions on which projects they should take up, together with the required resources to be allocated.

A meaningful PPM is constructed through intentional steps of planning, organising, leading and controlling.

Also Read: 10 must have online tools for small business owners

Using PPM effectively can help a business in three ways:

Capacity Management: Prioritising important projects to achieve strategic goals

Resource Waste: Preventing excessive resource allocation to projects

Project Cannibalisation: Removing projects that do not align with strategic goals

This increases the effectiveness and efficiency of operations in achieving organisational goals.

Morphological box

The Morphological Box is a tool for generating creative solutions to existing products or problems. It breaks down a problem into different attributes, creating multiple options for each attribute to derive a large number of whole solutions for evaluation.

Understanding the different options for each attribute allows for more opportunities for solutions, making brainstorming more effective. It is instrumental when tackling complex problems that are too big for typical brainstorming tools.

Despite its simplicity, this is a tedious process meant to expand the number of solutions available for selection. Cross-functional teams with specialised expertise should be included in the process to give their expert opinions on relevant attributes to ensure the feasibility of the final solution.

However, it can be rewarding with alternative solutions being generated simultaneously to save resources in the future. When brainstorming for product solutions, it may also provide options for new products and variants.

Scamper

In this increasingly competitive economy, where intellectual property (IP) rights are being challenged every day and new solutions are created to supersede the old. Businesses must constantly reinvent to even maintain their market share.

Scamper tackles seven aspects of a product or service to challenge the usefulness of existing characteristics. Regularly questioning existing solutions pushes businesses to keep their solutions relevant to target customers, preventing competitors from swooping away customers.

Entrepreneurs seeking to keep their products competitive in the market must look and rethink how their solution can be continuously improved and built upon.

Using data gathered from customers and employees through feedback channels can serve as valuable input into the scamper model to create a product that satisfies customers. Scamper can also be used by new businesses looking to enter a market to relook at their Go-To-Market (GTM) strategy.

Also Read: From top trends to new tools, here are five articles to help improve your product

Conclusion

Entrepreneurs and management teams are often focused on bringing their product to the market, without focusing sufficiently on how.

The fundamental objectives of business operations are to maximise efficiency and effectiveness when bringing solutions to the market.

These can serve as guides to improve processes and products to reduce costs, increase customer satisfaction and promote organisational creativity. 

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It is essential that companies adopt new performance appraisal strategies to meet their business requirements in the current scenario

Employee performance appraisals are very integral to organisations to increase employee productivity and business results.

Although employee performance appraisals are very crucial, they are rarely done the right way. It is essential that companies adopt new performance appraisal strategies to meet their business requirements in the current scenario.

At times, performance appraisals do not give the strategic outcome of the business. 

This is because they are often very past-oriented and do the minimal towards improving employee competencies. In addition to that, performance appraisals are confined to a standard procedure to evaluate employee competencies.

Let us begin by defining performance appraisals. Performance appraisals are usually an annual process that mostly seeks to evaluate an employee’s performance against a set of objectives.  

Also Read: How to be an effective manager in 2019

Performance appraisals help in evaluating an employee’s skills and competencies and determine salary revisions and promotions.

However, conventional methods of conducting appraisals have limitations in terms of following an operational framework evaluating an employee’s performance in the past rather than discussing what is needed in the future. In this article, let us discuss some of the ways in which we can improve the way performance appraisals are conducted: 

Set clear goals and objectives 

One of the reasons why performance appraisals don’t work sometimes is because they are contingent upon goals that are not set.

When you are conducting performance appraisals, including SMART goals can do wonders because they serve as guidelines for employees so that they know what is expected out of them. Employees will be able to prioritise their tasks accordingly and can make their own decisions based on the requirements. 

Moreover, setting SMART goals ensures the smooth flow of performance appraisals. This is because clear goals set the groundwork for managers and employees, and they will be able to work based on mutual understanding and review performance objectively.

Lastly, it is always beneficial when you tie your employee goals with business objectives because then employees will have something to strive for. The focus here is not just performance reviews but achieving the strategic outcome of the business. 

Continuous feedback 

Feedback is vital to every business. Feedback needs to be continuous and ongoing because that way, managers will be able to handle the team properly.

Constant feedback is pivotal because it motivates the employee to do his best to achieve the strategic outcomes of the business. Constant feedback is essential because it helps the employee understanding if he is proceeding on the right track. With continuous feedback, it is easier for managers to give constructive feedback. 

In addition to that, employees will be able to analyse their strengths and weaknesses and enhance themselves to suit the needs of the business.

Also Read: How technology can make the HR department more productive

But this will work only if the organisation has a positive culture where continuous feedback is given significant weight. It is always better to train your employees on how to give and receive feedback so that it eliminates the biases and fears that accompany performance appraisals.  

Not only that, including continuous feedback in performance appraisals will minimise the gaps and inaccuracies in employee performance. 

Automated performance reviews 

Isn’t it tiresome when your employees have worked tirelessly, and at the end of the year, they feel like they have not been evaluated properly? Moreover, performance appraisals that are conducted once a year tend to create anxiety among employees because they are not prepared for it.

Therefore, to eliminate that fear and anxiety, it is only better if performance reviews are conducted in a periodic fashion, let’s say on a monthly or a quarterly basis. Well then at least, your employees can view their progress and prepare themselves for the next appraisal cycle. 

This is only possible if you partner your performance appraisals with technology that can automate the process for you. Companies can invest in performance management software, that will help automate performance appraisals for them.

This is a good option because then companies will be able to nurture the performance of the employees with continuous development. Not only that, it saves a lot of time and money and minimises the administrative burdens of HR. So, no more excel sheets…YAYY… 

Employee self-development 

Performance appraisals are meaningful only when there is scope for employees to develop themselves and grow. There was a time when managers would go over the past performance records of the employees and send out appraisal letters.

But little do they realise that performance appraisals are not just meant to look at the performance of the employee objectively, but is tied to the strategic intention of the business. To fulfil this strategic outcome, it is essential that employees are improving themselves continually. 

We must realise that employee development is tied to the growth of the organisation. Your employee performance appraisals are meaningful only when you incorporate employee developmental plans.

This results in better employee productivity. What you could do is in terms of understanding the needs of the employee after the appraisal cycle. Managers can create developmental plans according to the specific professional requirements of the employees. 

Rewards and recognition 

Appraisals need to provide the opportunity for managers to recognise the employees for the work that they do. Managers must ensure that employees feel valued for their contributions.

Also Read: How OKR training for managers can create a more realistic approach to learning

After an appraisal, managers can offer rewards in terms of bonuses and salary hikes to the employees who have performed well. Managers can always show their recognition of employee’s work by sending them notes of appreciation and expressing gratitude.  

Now, this form of appreciation does not have to be necessarily financial, but if managers give their sincere acknowledgement of an employee’s work, then it becomes a huge step towards maintaining employee engagement.  

Conclusion 

When it comes to performance appraisals, obviously there is no one size that fits all, but you can use some of the above-mentioned strategies to effectively conduct performance appraisals and actively engage your employees.

The key here is to build that trust and transparency with your employees. So, what kind of strategies do you have in mind? 

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Up until last week, these fintech startups have made some of the biggest funding rounds in 2019

Within the Southeast Asian region, Singapore has always been seen as the hotbed of fintech innovation due to the opportunities it has and the support that is given by its government. For example, the government has recently announced a Sandbox Express initiative that supports faster market testing for financial firms’ products and services.

It is not surprising to see many fintech startups thriving in the country. In fact, the e27 startup database revealed that there are at least 400 companies listed that are working in the finance sector.

Many of these startups have also raised more than US$10 million early- and growth-stage funding. We have gone through more than half of the year and discovered four of the most notable funding rounds in fintech in Singapore.

The following is a list of those funding rounds:

Bambu
Funding: US$10M Series B (July 2019)
Investor(s): Franklin Templ​eton, PEAK6 Strategic Capital

Bambu, a Singapore-based startup providing digital wealth technology for B2B businesses across the globe, plans to use the new funding to reach a wider B2B audience.

StashAway
Funding: US$12M Series B (July 2019)
Investor(s): Eight Roads Ventures, Asia Capital & Advisors

StashAway, a robo-advisor for both retail and accredited investors, wants to use the new funding to support product development and Asia Pacific expansion plan.

Also Read: All women-led fintech startup VESL wins She Loves Tech Philippines 2019

YouTrip
Funding: US$25.5M Pre-Series A (May 2019)
Investor(s): “major Asian family offices”, Insignia Venture Partners

Singapore’s first multi-currency mobile wallet YouTrip will use the funding to drive the development of YouTrip’s technical payment infrastructure, to launch of new product features, and proceed with its regional expansion plans in Southeast Asia.

Credit Culture
Funding: US$29.5 million
Investor(s): RCE Capital Berhad

Credit Culture is a Singapore-based fintech startup that is among the six entities selected for a pilot by the Ministry of Law. This funding is meant to build its operational capability.

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The e27 Startup Database connects the community to the hottest internet companies in Asia. We encourage startups to visit their profile and regularly update their information.

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The fintech firm is also expanding into the Philippines and currently in the process of obtaining a lending licence from the country’s regulators

Indonesia’s online P2P lending startup UangTeman today announced that it has closed the first tranche of its Series B round of financing led by Draper Associates, the VC firm owned by well-known American investor Tim Draper.

New and existing investors, including KDDI Open Innovation Fund (corporate VC arm of telco KDDI) and Japan’s Global Brain, also participated.

The company plans to make the final close of the Series B round at US$10 million, with the second and last tranche targetted for the end of October 2019. This part will be anchored by Spiral Ventures.

According to a press release, UangTeman is also concurrently raising debt capital financing.

Also Read: 10 keys to a startup surviving the first five years

The startup recently obtained its permanent online lending licence from the Indonesian Financial Service Authority, OJK.

“We will begin the Series B2 round as a fintech company that has officially obtained the permanent licence from OJK. This effectively removes any regulatory risk involved in investing in this sector as we are now one of the key forerunners of a socially responsible online lending in Indonesia,” said Co-founder and CEO Aidil Zulkifli.

The firm plans to double down on growth within Indonesia. It will be diversifying its lending book into productive micro-business lending through an acquisition of an existing registered P2P lending platform whose core business is in invoice financing and payroll lending. That acquisition transaction is set to close in September 2019.

The company has also set its eyes on geographic expansion into the Philippines and is currently in the process of obtaining a lending licence from the country’s financial services regulators.

The fintech firm also intends to commence its Series C financing round in mid-2020 in order to fuel its further growth across Southeast Asia.

Operated by PT Digital Alpha Indonesia, a subsidiary of Digital Alpha Group, UangTeman uses Machine Learning credit algorithms to provide short-term microloans for consumers and MSMEs.

“UangTeman is transforming credit in Indonesia. We were ready to fund their Series B before they were granted the permanent license from OJK. This approval only solidified our thesis that UangTeman is poised to dominate the online lending industry in Indonesia, and eventually, globally,”  Tim Draper, Founder of Draper Associates.

“In Indonesia, the online loan industry is definitely becoming a social infrastructure, but by following the growth of UangTeman, we hope to learn more deeply and contribute to the social infrastructure that is really necessary for small business owners in Indonesia,” Yuji Horiguchi, CEO of Spiral Ventures.

In 2017, UangTeman had raised US$12 million Series A funding round in debt and equity, led by K2 Venture Capital.

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Understanding the demand of the market is key for innovation hubs to attract talents and cultivate successful companies

The model that was proven – Silicon Valley

The success of Silicon Valley in San Francisco is famous globally. With tech giants like Google and Facebook carrying its banner, Silicon Valley continues to prove its strength, building 32 new unicorns in 2018.

Ranking 1^st in the 2019 Global Startup Ecosystem Ranking by Startup Genome, Silicon Valley boasts excellent scores in almost every area that matters – performance, funding, research, connectedness, talent, knowledge, experience.

It is clearly a giant in this field with an ecosystem value of USD 312 billion, nearly 5x of USD 64 billion for New York City to secure its place as a second.

Looking at its success, every other major city around the world has started to compete in this race to establish its tech hub.

Also Read: The benefits of coworking based on business size

As such, it can attract talents, foreign investments, technological (human and machine) growths, completed with a global reputation that creates a cycle to cause exponential growth in all three areas.

For governments, it reeks of development opportunities for the economy and its people.

The struggle of Silicon Valley

Despite this image of a self-sustaining growth model, the Valley has started to face some headwinds in continuing its pace.

While the local share of Venture Capital (VC) flowing into Silicon Valley continues to rise, albeit arguably losing the global share, its share in the number of VC deals has dropped. VCs are starting to source for other investment opportunities.

Pressure points

Costs

The cost of living in San Francisco has skyrocketed, likely due to the success of tech companies, with the overall cost of living nearly three times the average U.S. cost of living. The cost of housing is almost thrice that of the national median and twice that of New York.

With such high costs, companies would face much higher operating expenses for office spaces and employee compensations.

Keeping low costs is a goal of almost every startup, be it funded or not. Investors will rather spend on costs that can increase returns such as research and development, assets and inventory.

It is no wonder that both founders and VCs are looking at other cities where funds can be put to more productive use than high rental fees and inflated employee salaries.

Talents

One of the biggest draws from Silicon Valley used to be its pool of talents – tech talents in specific.

With its connections with top institutions such as Stamford and a global reputation, it has been wildly successful in attracting talents.

However, times are changing, and the definition of talent is shifting away from pure academics to other factors, reducing the attractiveness of Silicon Valley.

The rising costs in San Francisco have not been helpful in the situation as equivalent salaries are worth much more in other cities, pushing talents further out of reach. One of the fastest-growing towns in Seattle, USA.

It has an average software engineer salary of USD 180,000 after adjusting for cost of living. This is 34.3 per cent higher than the fixed salary of USD 134,000 in San Francisco. A LinkedIn report even shows that San Francisco contributed the most significant number of workers moving to Seattle in 2017 at a rate of 9.71 per 10,000 members.

Culture

Another constraint on talents is one of the hottest topics regarding employment today – culture. 86 per cent of millennials (aged 22-37) who dominate the younger workforce, and technology talent pool will instead work at a company with goals and values they can identify with than of higher pay.

The infamously low retention rates of these tech giants are evident. The median employee tenure at Apple was 2.0, which seemed high compared to the 1.1 at Google, with millennial median employee ages of 31 and 29, respectively.

Data privacy and security

As the home for the giant unicorns, many are successful from artificial intelligence (AI) and data – Google and Facebook.

The idea of monetising data has seeped into the DNA of Silicon Valley. The ethics regarding the use of data is being challenged daily, with consumers becoming increasingly aware of how much personal data these companies have.

A tweet by Netflix backfired and creeped many netizens out as the company tried to flex its data capabilities.

Also Read: 5 ways coworking can give your business a much-needed boost

The famous, or infamous Facebook has also been under strong political fire as U.S. lawmakers question them heavily on how data is collected and used. Even Google is unable to shy away from the ongoing pressure.

Such culture and reputation of mistreating and monetising user data as much as possible is likely to be disconcerting and may drive talents away to new startups that are coming up with solutions to help users protect more data instead.

Workforce diversity

Another highly voiced issue is the lack of diversity in Silicon Valley, be it educational, racial or gender diversity. Diversity is a widely propagated concept today, and it is necessary to provide equal opportunities to everyone.

It is essential for companies to prevent overlooking talents and to attract talents that value the incorporation in a company.

Silicon Valley has built an influential culture among itself, but not necessarily that is attractive to the current generation of the workforce. That can be its weakest link.

Will Silicon Valley be superseded?

Just as Apple is positioning itself as a high-end tech brand and Indian Creek Island Road is known for its expensive houses. Silicon Valley has established its brand as a high-end innovation hub.

The current problems do not signal the end for Silicon Valley, but a niche market of companies and investors it can attract.

Companies are continually looking for large funding rounds and of course, investors with deep pockets. They may even shift from alluring startups to attracting small, medium enterprises (SMEs) who have gone through several rounds of funding and are looking to scale up rather than exit through acquisitions.

However, its biggest threat is competition for talents. Money and fame are no longer the recipes for the best employees. There will have to be changed to the culture in Silicon Valley as to how companies are groomed to treat consumers and employees well, or it may spell disaster.

Global innovation scene

North America is losing its shareholding in the VC industry quickly, even though it remains strong. Capital is diversifying itself geographically in a globalised economy.

The factors previously mentioned are all contributors to the growing success of tech hubs around the world. China, for example, is performing well with two cities in the top 10 within 5 years.

Globalisation effect:

• Education: Increasingly available with talents blooming in every other city.
• Infrastructure & Policy Development: Funding and supports are extending its global reach rapidly.
• Purchasing Power: As developing countries grow their middle-income population, untapped populations like those in Southeast Asia are gaining attractiveness.

Silicon Valley and by extension, USA, is no longer the best option for founders to build their businesses nor the sole birthplace for unicorns.

Will this be the same inevitably?

Following the model of Silicon Valley may result in similar problems in the future. Rising costs are already a real concern with ballooned housing prices and talent costs.

Like any other business, these hubs need to have an intended brand and messages to attract VCs and startups. It is not a matter of which is right, but which to choose.

Also Read: Silicon Valley evolution: Sand Hill Road is the new Wall Street

If strong attractiveness is the focus, ensure that it is incorporated in the culture. Make decisions based on long-term social impact, rather than short-term economic gains.

This may include limiting employee sizes of a certain number to prevent overcrowding and inflated real estate prices. It can also mean diversifying the size of startups to attract VCs with smaller funds.

Ultimately, the rules of demand and supply continue to shape the markets – labour, economic and financial. Silicon Valley answered the call for a more connected, more efficient way of handling technology, attributing to its great success today.

A culture to adapt rather than to defend must be present to continue creating feasible solutions, especially in a space where the competition is growing aggressively.

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Only when the customers are willing to pay for the solution can the idea be said to be validated

A startup exists to solve a problem or a pain point.

Upon coming up with the idea for a startup, the founders may choose to invest time and capital immediately into developing a product to solve a pain point.

Also Read: 3 ways startups should assess different financing options

Alternatively, they may choose to test whether this pain point exists before spending more time and capital in the product.

This is to avoid the situation where time is spent developing a product or solution that nobody wants or where demand is weak.

The smarter option is to first establish the intensity of the painpoint on the customer.

It could be that the pain exists only to a moderate degree. A solution may be nice to have but may not be needed asap.

In such a scenario, the customer is able to live without a solution or with an alternative despite it being imperfect.

It is where the pain point is serious enough and where a good proportion of customers are willing to pay for the solution can the idea be said to be ‘validated’.

The founder can then pour in more capital and effort, developing the product with good confidence that it is something the customers need.

This concept was famously set in various books, including ‘The Lean Startup by’ Eric Ries.

One simple example of a process to validate an idea would be:

Reach out to a sample of intended users or customers and take them through a description of the proposed product or solution. This can be done through –

1.A landing page on the web describing the solution. Advertise digitally to pull visitors to the page. Track the level of favourable response from the visitors to the page.

2. Face to face conversations with intended users – approach them in a public space, attend relevant events, etc. Document the response and feedback from the users.

3. Reaching out to users via direct email/calls, social media or via third party agents. Track the level of favourable response and feedback.

Before reaching out to the users set a benchmark for what would constitute a successful level of response. If the response received achieves or exceeds this benchmark, then indications are that there is a serious enough pain point.

If not, listen to the feedback and change the idea accordingly. It may be that the idea can be tweaked or ‘pivoted’ to address a different but related pain point or a diverse customer group. Subsequently, test out the pivoted idea using the same process.

With this process, a founder can find out objectively the right product or solution to focus on instead of developing something where demand is weak.

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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.

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Companies looking to enter this treasure trove must devise a feasible plan that tackles the differences in the region

Treasure trove

Southeast Asia (SEA) has over 600 million people in its population, which is nearly twice that of the United States (US).

Looking at how the US built its economy primarily through domestic consumption from its large population, there is vast potential waiting to be captured in SEA.

With rapid globalisation, evident from the phenomenal growth of China in the past two decades, why does this market remain untapped?

The answer lies in the complexity of the cultures filled by a myriad of languages, ethnicities and beliefs that even make difficult for locals to penetrate the neighbouring countries. Foreigners will then find the journey much more arduous.

In recent times, political landscapes are starting to stabilise, and governments are focusing efforts on economic growth rather than internal power struggles.

Southeast Asia is opening up to foreign investments and pushing for more infrastructure developments to foster long-term growth.

With the ongoing US-China trade dispute, SEA countries are reaping the benefits as investment sights set upon SEA alternatives like Vietnam and Thailand. This could be the time for the region’s expansion boom.

How can businesses then tackle the complexities that revolve around the region and succeed?

Also Read: 4 key points to consider when scaling in Southeast Asia

Key factors

1.Timing

Timing is arguably an essential factor in creating a successful business, as well as the most significant reason why some companies fail.

While local governments continue to debate on economic development plans, it is essential to be patient for favourable conditions before jumping into SEA.

Indonesia, for example, has a cap on foreign holdings of companies at 40 per cent. Some may be willing to take the risk of having a local partner in name, but it may not work-wise if the business is thriving.

Many governments like Thailand are also concerned with local employment and have strict local-foreign employment ratios of 4:1 to promote local employment.

However, local talent is a significant concern in many of these countries, with demand outweighing the supply.

While measures are being taken by both the public and private sectors to address these issues, companies should continue monitoring the landscape to determine the optimal time to enter and be aware of the risks it will take.

Gaining favour from the local governments will also serve as a huge advantage as it implies faster processing in almost every application.

2. Talent

As addressed earlier, talent is a pressing concern for the private sectors in many SEA countries. Singapore has done well in attracting various foreign companies into its shores to hire local talent, allowing the locals to learn and grow from them.

Technology transfer is a point of contention between foreign companies and governments.

Foreign businesses want to prevent their knowledge from being used against them by locals, whereas the governments want their locals to absorb the knowledge to push for a more developed economy.

Talent retention will be a means to mitigate such an issue. Companies that can succeed in formulating the strategy to retain talent is highly likely to succeed in the region by killing three birds with one stone.

They would save costs on finding new talent, minimise leakage of trade secrets and gain favour from the local governments. With the shifting focus of jobseekers from salary to other factors (e.g. company culture, values), properly structured strategies can be extremely cost-efficient.

Strong talent development programmes will also provide companies with an edge in entering these markets earlier before a fully developed labour market. This may be costly at the beginning, but it can serve as an unfair advantage if carried out successfully alongside a talent retention strategy.

3. Branding

Branding is another big challenge that companies will face entering the SEA. This fragmented region is known for its diverse and rich cultures, resulting in the business landscape that varies widely across countries.

Achieving a balance between the localisation of the brand and the maintenance of core values is tricky yet imperative.

Also Read: These 5 fintech startups cater to the bottom of the income pyramid in Southeast Asia

One key direction that companies can look at is their media plans to maximise efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

Media planning focuses on the return on investment (ROI) at a channel level and its relevance to the audience. In SEA, each country has its own culture where different media forms and brands are popular.

For example, WhatsApp is more commonly used in Singapore and Indonesia, while the LINE is more prevalent in Thailand. Companies must understand the various stages in the customer journey and which platform is most relevant in reaching out to them at the different phases.

Community building is one of the aspects of branding that the companies should explore. A community allows the customers to be engaged and gives them a voice to be heard, creating brand loyalty that is deeper than the product.

One success contributor of Chinese tech giant Xiaomi is their Mi community that provides a platform for customers to come together and meet the company on a social level. Creating moments for the members to experience and share can become the building blocks of a community.

4. Data

With the rapid technological improvements in our world, data is easily accessible and collected. Data is indispensable when a company wants to enhance customer experience effectively.

Machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) programs utilise data greatly to develop personalised customer profiles, recommending suitable products and services.

However, making use of AI has its difficulties with the most complicated portion being the building of the infrastructure for the AI to work. It takes a lot of work for big data to be connected before it is sent to the different market technologies.

Data collection can be varied across companies to achieve the qualitative and quantitative requirements to validate decision-making models.

Corporations with larger customer bases can collect first-party data for higher accuracy while SMEs should focus on gathering third party data, from Google or Facebook, due to the limited number of customers. For many corporations, it is also more cost-effective to use teams as ROI is much higher when collecting first-party data on a large scale.

Conclusion

The strategy has always been a differentiating factor between winners and losers in business.

This strategy should incorporate specific plans regarding the four key factors – timing, talent, branding and data.

Also Read: These agritech startups will take Southeast Asias emerging market to the next level

Seeking external help can also be a useful tool to gain insights from experienced players, be it from experienced investors, consultancy firms or local partners. However, the strategy will prevail and even determine who to approach when seeking external supports.

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Join our e27 Telegram group here, or our e27 contributor Facebook page here.

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She had her mind set on becoming an astronaut, but eventually pivoted to become an innovator in the manufacturing field

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

As a child, she dreamt to become an astronaut. As she grew up, the intensity of her ambition also grew. So after finished schooling, she went on to attend a graduation programme in Aerospace Engineering at IIT Bombay, one of the prestigious higher education institutes in India.

However, this programme changed her mind — and perhaps her life itself.

“During the graduation programme, I made electric race cars for Formula Student UK, and also worked in the Formula Student team of the college as Project Manager,” Sonam Motwani narrates her story to e27.” This was my first encounter with designing and building a serious hardware product ground up. The experience of building four life-size vehicles with a team of 20 sowed the seeds of passion for hardware inside me.”

Soon after completing graduation in 2013, she joined the consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble in its technology division and developed solutions to speed up packing lines for haircare products, before moving to manufacturing sanitary napkins.

“It was sometime during the later half of 2015 when I seriously began considering starting my own business,” she adds. “When I decided to leave my job and start up in the manufacturing industry, my parents were a little apprehensive. But largely they have been supportive of all my career and life decisions. They tried their best to equip me with the right tools for sound decision making and prefer trusting the decisions I make thereafter.”

P&G was a learning experience for Motwani. She learnt how large companies approach product development, sourcing and deployment. Working closely with vendors in China and India gave her insights into challenges in the manufacturing ecosystem.

Also Read: Being a remote-working tech-writer and father has taught me these things

“With deeper analysis, it became more evident that the world of design and manufacturing was pretty much the same as it was a decade ago; the issues such as difficulty in accessing resources, lack of cost transparency and idle unutilised capacity at manufacturers still exist,” she notes.

“I began to see an opportunity in this unaddressed gap, and spent my weekends meeting hardware startups, design firms and manufacturing suppliers in Mumbai, Bangalore and Pune,” she says.

With a mission to address this gap, sometime in 2016, she put together a framework for an online platform that would simplify manufacturing. “I promised myself that if — during this period — I could establish a handful of businesses/innovators and suppliers who find value in my proposition, I would quit the job and commit full time to doing this. Fortunately, I achieved my goal, held myself to the promise, and put in the papers to kick start Rolling Cube in April 2016.”

Rolling Cube was meant to be a custom manufacturing startup that would enable anyone to build customised personalised products at the ease of their desktop.

Disrupting the manufacturing process

“Manufacturing is an industry where there’s quite a big market for B2C, but the supply chain is poorly understood or appreciated by the average customer. This makes pricing a difficult balance to strike. So more than a year ago, we introduced the concept of pooling, wherein we put orders in waitlist until sufficient volume was achieved for optimum material usage, hence optimising the customer’s price point. As it turned out, patience isn’t the customer’s greatest strength either,” she goes on.

Amidst all this, the bulk of Rolling Cube’s business was coming from its B2B services. The startup got into taking clients through the entire process of new product development — engineering their product design, prototyping various iterations and taking the products into mass production.

“A big challenge though was to scale our approach, where we took on any and every manufacturing project like consultants and then tried to source vendors for them. Moreover, our website looked like a very B2C e-commerce platform. The best way ahead for our team of four at this point seemed to be to completely split the B2C and B2B components. So that’s exactly what we did,” Motwani adds.

In July 2018, Rolling Cube revamped the business, and the team behind the project started Karkhana.io.

Also Read: How the son of a humble watch repairer became the owner of a multi-million dollar realty tech startup

Karkhana is an online manufacturing platform, which interacts with your design, provides manufacturing feedback and pricing based on its inbuilt algorithm. “We have a large network of skilled suppliers. By identifying machines best suited for each job and intelligently routing orders, we offer a far shorter turnaround time than that of traditional manufacturers,” Motwani shares.

How Karkhana.io works

Step 1 – Submit your design inputs (Upload your design file in the supported format. Select the material and manufacturing process of your choice)

Step 2 – Get design consultation (Review manufacturing recommendations and upload revisions directly on your account. Schedule a call or visit by our engineer for design-related help)

Step 3- Receive quotation and timelines (Get a fair estimate of cost and turnaround time through Karkhana.io’s pricing algorithm which accounts for manufacturing complexity and material utilisation)

Step 4- Place order for any quantity (Make one or many, it will make sure each of your product meets the quality requirements)

Step 5 – Track your order (Track exactly where your project is in the production process from your account).

The company provides manufacturing in over 20 materials, including steel alloys, aluminium alloys, copper alloys and plastics. The manufacturing services include CNC machining, sheet metal fabrication, 3D printing, Injection moulding and vacuum casting.

Challenges of building a hardware startup

According to Motwani, India does not have many women working in the manufacturing industry. And most workshops and industrial units are located in far off, not-so-convenient areas.

“When I started out, I’d visit the suppliers quite often and there were times when certain suppliers didn’t seem comfortable interacting with me. Probably, because it was an exception for them talking to a woman about manufacturing. But with time, as I stayed persistent, it became easier to get new suppliers onboard,” she reveals.

Having worked with a number of customers, including some popular household names in India, and developed a wide variety of hardware products, the company is now looking to achieve scalability.

“The next big milestone we are striving towards for achieving scalability is the automation of our pricing engine and online design for manufacturing feedback on our platform,” she says.

“We believe this will be a game changer in the way manufacturing interactions have been happening and accelerate the hardware development cycles for engineering teams. Our bigger ambition is to digitise the manufacturing ecosystem, which will democratise the process and make it accessible to everybody, just like software.”

Motwani is one of the 30 women entrepreneurs selected for Zone Startups India’s third edition of startup accelerator programme, empoWer.

Talking about the Indian startup ecosystem, she says that a lot of startups in the country aren’t able to reach their key milestones for success due to delay in establishing the product market fit. There might be multiple reasons for this: inability to reach critical mass for validation, lack of a network for feedback and learning, delay in acquiring resources for product development, insufficient funds.

Also Read: How a lazy student who caught and sold spiders transformed himself into a successful founder

“In general, the challenge in India seems to be about finding the right resources at the right time, maybe because the startup ecosystem is still young and developing as compared to the more successful examples that we look up to, such as Silicon Valley or Singapore,” she concludes.

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This technology is useful in projecting virtual images onto the physical world with the help of a mobile device

Augmented reality is bringing advancements with new possibilities for businesses to improve users lives.

To stand in the challenging market, augmented reality helps increase retention and understanding complex ideas in interactive layouts.

This is the reason AR holds huge potential to transform both human encounters and business tasks.

Also Read: 5 ways good design can help convert new customers for startups and small businesses

There are many AR applications, support for industries from retail to gaming, from real estate to advertising. In a report, it was stated nearly 70 million people in the United States use AR.

The technology continues to advance rapidly, consistently unlocking new use cases.

Tech giants, Apple and Google, are investing in this technology to create an interactive hybrid environment.

The businesses are giving the users another reason to experience the AR application. Statista stats, the market of augmented and virtual reality is expected to reach the size of US$215 billion in 2021.

Augmented Reality enhancing businesses prospects

With AR there’s a great innovative idea in the pipeline for the different businesses. Augmented reality’s potential is introducing new levels of user engagement to uplift enterprise and consumer markets.

AR experience enables the users to view more intense visualise objects with better processing.

Deeper understanding

AR provides a more interactive and engaging experience with 3D modelling of complex concepts. Virtually interacting with the product help to understand things better.

The virtual elements are helpful for greater retention with added visualise of effects. Businesses can gather a strong in the market and make their pitch with AR-enabled strategies.

Thus, the enterprises can take a 360-degree perspective to get a deeper understanding and gain important insights about the users as the results are a more memorable experience -dimensional presentation. 

Impactful experience

Brands are coming up with the AR empowered commercialisation of new products.

This practice is the best way to offer the impactful experience of the products with virtual elements. The market with the trend of AR is helping businesses understand the complicated situation.

AR is proving a natural fit in solving complex situations for any size of businesses. Augmented reality helps businesses to create a detailed and immersive experience with better engagement.

Brand awareness

AR is the best way to connect the user around the globe. The social platform has an integrated AR feature that can significantly boost engagement with a potential audience. This technology can be tailored to enhance brand awareness.

Also Read: 4 ways agritech and IoT can revoluionise the farming sector

To promote and broadcast the brand’s product and services with AR-enabled strategies. AR with 3D images and videos takes brand awareness to new heights. The targeted audience can be engaged with the immersive experience with the collected data.

Use cases of brands applying AR to their business strategies

Warby Parker’s AR app

Try on eyewear AR App by Warby Parker’s shows how accurately frames will look on your face, with photorealism. This AR solution for eye care with 3D virtual try-on technology is pushing user experience.

Warby Parker’s virtual try-on glasses application offers a virtual catalogue of the different brands and stylish frames. The “try on” option offered helps to take a quick and easy check to discover the next pair of the recommendation of sunglasses, reading glasses or more.

Illusio – Virtual Try on Surgery App

Illusio AR App for plastic surgery can help the user to see what they want after surgery. The use of this App will superimpose the 3D digital simulation image of the desired appearance over the augmented body part before surgery.

The users can view what they will look like with cosmetic breast surgery before going through the surgery.

With this AR technology, the patient can choose the size and shape of their implants virtually.

How AR-enhanced shopping experience

Augmented Reality transports users to a virtual encompassing a unique relationship with the product.

Also Read: 75 per cent of startups fail: ways to increase your chances to be in the 25 per cent

Augmented reality utilises smart gadgets, for example, smartphones to blur the lines between the physical and the virtual world.

Thus, AR improving the shopping experience by fusing virtual items around us in the present reality condition.

• Identify issues with specific items and fix them utilising the stepwise direction of AR overlays.
• AR empowered approaches are applied in various items so that the client can undoubtedly buy the products.
• AR offers a multi-tangible experience that can be more compelling to offer an immersive experience to the customer.

Take away

Augmented reality (AR) has introduced a new trend in the industry. Unique digital strategies enabled with the AR is helping the businesses to broadcast their services globally.

Augmented Reality Companies are helping to resolve tedious challenges in multiple industries like healthcare, e-commerce, architecture, and many others to enhance the user experience.

AR is advancing and analyses the user experience data to find better outcomes.

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Raising funds is just one step. Startups need to think about it affects cashflow and what is the end they are trying to achieve

Life of an entrepreneur is a constant struggle between bliss and misery. Sometimes, startup founders are exuberant about the latest milestones they achieved; other times, they find themselves in a constant state of panic as they are trying to solve another problem that might just end their venture.

One of the most difficult and painful problems to deal with is financing. Here, we discuss the major ways that startups can fund their operations, and what type of funding are appropriate for different situations.

Launching a new company

For budding entrepreneurs who have not yet launched their own companies, funding options are unfortunately quite limited. The most well-known venue is to receive funding from venture capital firms.

To actually raise capital from VCs and angel investors, you have to demonstrate that you have built a credible career, expertise, network and track record to prove that you have what it takes to make your new venture successful.

The key is to prepare a detailed plan of action to showcase why your strategy and product will succeed. Even better, creating a minimally viable product to test the market on your own could help convince VCs that you are serious about this venture and that your idea actually has a decent chance of success.

Getting VC funding is a difficult process that requires an extremely thorough preparation, and an incessant process of pitching and networking.

For most people, however, raising money from VCs simply will be too difficult and likely won’t be an option.

Instead, most will have to resort to using their personal savings as well as asking friends and families for investments.

But, there are also some other options like Kickstarter, where you can raise some amount of money to help your idea get off the ground by getting pre-orders.

Firms that have had a bit more progress should also explore leveraging online crowdfunding platforms like Fundnel and FundedHere that provide a variety of financing options like equity and even revenue sharing.

Also Read: These 4 Southeast Asian co-organisers are making TOP100 2018 a dream

The important step is to get the minimum amount of money you need to at least kick the ball rolling on your project; once you begin to show some progress, investors will be much more like to lend you a hand.

Cash flow and working capital troubles

Finance can be a headache even for startups that are already in operation. The most common of these pain points often has to do with cash flow.

For example, many companies have to first spend the money on rent, staff and material costs to create their products before they receive even a dollar from their customers. To exacerbate the situation, some customers will opt to pay 30 to 90 days after they have been invoiced.

Startups could find themselves with a rapidly declining cash balance even while they are growing just because their immediate cash outlays are growing faster than cash inflows.

In such situations, startups and other SMEs can turn to invoice financing or short-term business loans to fill the gap between when they spend money and when they receive money. For example, platforms like Funding Societies and MoolahSense allows companies to trade in invoices that they’ve issued in exchange for a short-term loan of up to 80% of their receivables.

By doing so, SMEs that have a significant amount of invoices don’t have to wait to get the cash they need immediately. While their interest rates can be a bit costly, their actual total costs in terms of dollar amount are relatively small since they tend to be very short-term (1-6 months).

Major growth initiatives

For relatively established startups that seek capital to fund major growth initiatives, there are couple of different options. First, they could opt to get a long-term loan. Companies can take business loans or corporate bonds to finance any projects that they deem appropriate.

Though these financing vehicles can compress the firm’s profit margins, they allow businesses to accelerate their growth by pulling forward some of their future earnings for a relatively low cost. Both commercial banks and private equity investment firms are known to provide these types of fundings, while there are also some online players that also deal with this types of methods.

For those whose profit margins can’t easily accommodate the added pressure of a loan, they can opt for alternative financing methods like equity financing where they sell a portion of their business ownership to investors.

VCs would be the most obvious source of these financing, but online platforms like Fundnel also provide a venue for equity fund raises, as well as other alternative methods like convertible bond, revenue share and debt.

For specific types of growth projects that require firms to purchase equipments that they don’t currently own, firms can turn to asset financing as a source of capital. Asset financing is a type of loan that is specifically given only to borrowers who already have work orders signed and only need additional equipments to fulfill the order they received.

Due to this nature, these loans are deemed less risky and tend to be cheaper than other loans. While traditional banks are also known to provide these types of financing, smaller firms that do not have easy access to commercial banks can turn to online players like KapitalBoost.

It is all about tradeoffs

Overall, you should assess what type of funding is the most appropriate for your circumstances. Short-term problems tend to be best addressed by short-term debt, and vice versa. While younger companies tend to be limited to equity financing, more mature andand bigger firms should assess whether equity will be cheaper than debt.

In a bubble market where VCs are willing to invest at extremely high valuations, equity could be a cheap source of funding. If the founders have a high confidence in their growth prospects, issuing debt could be more economical.

When it comes to finding capital to help your company stay afloat and develop, it is important to remember that no one type of financing is always the best. For example, turning to famous VCs could help raise the profile of your company and get you valuable connections without reducing your profit margins.

Also Read: Innovation is all about providing better user experience: Alibaba Cloud’s Joey Tan

However, it will also cost you a sizeable portion of your ownership, and also bring on an incredible amount of pressure to grow your company in a very short period of time.

On the other hand, loans could be “cheaper” than equity since you get to maintain all of your profits to yourself, but it’s only available for firms that have predictable level of profit that can satisfy the debt’s stringent repayment schedule.

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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.

Join our e27 Telegram group here or our e27 contributor Facebook page here.

This article originally appeared on ValuePenguin and was first published on e27 on February 20, 2018.

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