Investment in deep tech startups has increased by 165 per cent from 2020 to 2022.

But while deep tech startups are enjoying increasing attention from investors, there are still some challenges both for the startups and the investors to address. For example, startups in the deep tech space are generally seen as riskier due to longer gestational periods and higher R&D investment.  

From the perspective of the startups themselves, deep tech startups are also particular about the investors they engage with — and for a reason.

“With the market flush with liquidity, the biggest challenge is finding the right investors with aligned vision, who can understand the industry and more importantly visualise how the technology transforms the industry,” said Alan Lai, founder and CEO of Singapore-based AI-powered food fingerprint platform Profile Print. “We met many financial investors who may not fully comprehend the technology and have little experience in the B2B space.”

Walter H. Gunzburg, founder and CTO of biotech startup Austrianova, echoes this sentiment. “We are a platform technology company with a business to business (b2b) commercial model. This appears to fall outside of the remit of many investors, many of whom still like the classical biotech company model of taking one or more lead products and then burning cash during the R&D, pre-clinical and clinical phases, in the hope that one product will make it to the market.”

Also read: Behind the scenes of oVice: a leading remote work solution

Keith Tan, CEO of robotics company Crown Digital, shared “our biggest challenge was most VCs in this region don’t invest in hardware startups. As a full-stack startup, we design and build the hardware and software, as well as develop a successful business model — challenging tasks for a bootstrap startup during our initial days. We had to get all this done with minimal resources.”

In addition, the development stage for deep tech startups is different from other sectors not just in the length of time but also in the process. This means that deep tech startups need to find other creative ways to get the resources they need.

“[We have moved] to a model in which we generate revenue from day one by working with multiple partners on multiple projects. Our partners pay for our work, as well as the big-ticket items such as clinical trials,” added Gunzburg.

What deep tech startups need, Lai says, is support beyond the money. “[Deep] tech startups cannot afford to bring in investors who are not able to add value beyond pure capital.”

Leave a Nest: funding, expertise, and network

With the vision of “Advancing Science and Technology for Global Happiness”, Leave a Nest aims to support startups that aim to use cutting-edge technology to solve the world’s problems. One way in which is providing funding for startups, particularly in the deep tech space.

Having been founded by and made up of researchers, Leave a Nest adopts a long-term perspective when it comes to supporting startups and developing technologies. This is reflected in how they engage with the startups that they fund, by first understanding the deep technology behind it and taking time to know the founders. 

“What we value working with Leave a Nest is…more importantly the ability to understand our business and provide useful guidance to help us grow,” said Lai.

“The startup ecosystem in Japan is still at its nascent stage and often, Japanese corporates may not fully understand the roles and responsibilities from the corporate’s standpoint when it comes to startup investing. This is where the Leave a Nest team really brings value in supporting and communicating with both parties to find the best solution,” shared Tan.

He further explained, “this requires strong networking, matchmaking capabilities, and staying close to the startup — hearing their challenges and providing solutions. Leave a Nest with its wide network of investors and partners has been really beneficial to Crown’s entry into the Japanese market and the way they have provided support to Crown has been like a family.”

Also read: 5G tech? All eyes on Taiwan

How Leave a Nest supports startups is through a multi-pronged approach. In terms of funding, Leave a Nest — with the help of two investment vehicles — offers check sizes ranging from 1 to 3 million USD (Real Tech Holdings) depending on the startup stage. Leave a Nest envisions having a deep tech investment support system that does not only support at an early seed stage (Through Glocalink Singapore and Leave a Nest Capital), but also nurtures them so that Real Tech Holdings can do follow on investments at a later stage.

Apart from funding is the equally important support they gain from Leave a Nest itself and its network of researchers, innovators, investors, and corporates — aspects that Austrianova found valuable and suited to their needs.

“They were (and are) professional, efficient and friendly. It is always a real pleasure to meet with them and discuss ideas, take part in the events they organise,” said Gunzburg. “They also have provided us with advice, particularly on the Japanese market and have even introduced us to two leading Japanese companies as partners/clients. As a result of their efficiency, the whole investment process was quite fast and extremely well organised.”

Leave a Nest investment vehicles

Leave a Nest funds startups through two investment vehicles: Glocalink Singapore (GLSG) and Real Tech Holdings (RTH).

Glocalink Singapore is an investment company comprised of Leave a Nest Co., Ltd., Euglena Co., Ltd., FTV Labs, and Kobashi Holdings Co., Ltd. that aims to provide seed funding for startups focused on agriculture and food technologies.

Led by a group of seasoned serial entrepreneurs with backgrounds in biotech, agricultural machinery, education, and food and technology, Glocalink Singapore offers early-stage startups much-needed funding as well as additional support via their network of corporations, technologists, and investors.

Their portfolio includes startups with a wide range of solutions like increasing agriculture productivity, decreasing food waste, and developing robotics in food production. 

Real Tech Holdings is a VC fund established jointly by Leave a Nest and biotech company, Euglena, with the aim of providing support for deep tech startups that offer solutions for life science, aerospace, robotics, agriculture, medical devices, marine technology, electronics, energy and new materials.

Also read: Three leading B2B digital disruptors win 2021 Fast Forward with HPE

Because Real Tech Holdings focuses on startups that aim to address some of the world’s most pressing problems, they also work in close cooperation with governments, corporates, and municipalities to be able to accelerate and maximise the implementation of these solutions.

Their portfolio includes startups with solutions such as the development of medical devices, food culture, and drone solutions for infrastructure inspections.

Through Glocalink Singapore and Real Tech Holdings, Leave a Nest is able to offer early-stage deep tech startups both funding and support from development to implementation.

For more information, you can visit the site.

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by Leave a Nest

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In the past few years, the fintech industry has seen exponential growth. The rise of mobile banking, digital payment methods, and the continuing shift toward e-commerce have all contributed to this rise.

Fintech is a broad category that includes various financial services software applications built around the internet and mobile devices.  These services are often referred to as “digital banking” or “financial services software.”

The future of the fintech industry is unpredictable. It’s changing rapidly, and we can’t even begin to imagine the implications of where this is heading. Let’s take a look at the latest trends in the fintech industry.

Blockchain

Blockchain is a technology that was used initially to support cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. Today, this technology has grown far beyond cryptocurrencies and is being applied to many different fields in the fintech industry.

Blockchain is a distributed digital ledger that records transactions and other information securely, verifiable, and permanently. Blockchain has great potential for financial inclusion.

For example, blockchain can allow people who don’t have enough money to open an account at a bank to borrow through mobile devices or online. It also offers greater transparency than traditional banking systems and can help prevent fraud.

Blockchain isn’t going away anytime soon either. It’s expected to grow exponentially as more organisations adopt this technology.

AI and Machine Learning

AI and Machine Learning are the driving force behind fintech innovation today. The ability to automate processes is an important part of this technology and is often viewed as a way to eliminate human error, improve productivity, and increase efficiency. This AI allows companies to automate various aspects of their business.

Also Read: How this homegrown fintech is helping Singaporeans with alternate investing

For example, AI is used in the banking industry to automatically identify trends in spending that may indicate fraud or even identity theft. This can be done by analysing trends in spending patterns over time, looking at specific locations where certain types of transactions occur, or even checking for unusual patterns in credit card transactions. 

Another use for AI is predicting future customer behaviour based on past information. Fintech businesses are building predictive models that help them see how likely a customer will churn or switch providers based on what they’ve observed from social media and other online sources.

The model can then be used to suggest personalised offers and sales campaigns that might entice the customer to stay with your company for a longer time.

The rise of Robotic Process Automation

Robotic process automation (RPA) is the future of fintech. This software helps organisations speed up their business processes by replacing human labour with advanced computer programmes that can complete tasks faster than humans. These software applications are built around the internet and mobile devices and have become increasingly popular in recent years.

The rise of RPA has had a significant impact on the way businesses do business. It’s helping them reduce costs and increase efficiency, staying competitive in the global marketplace without compromising quality or customer service.

RPA is a big win for businesses, but it could also be a big win for fintech, which has seen its share of both chaos and growth over the past few years.

Peer-to-peer finance

Peer-to-peer finance is a type of digital banking that helps people borrow and lend money to other individuals or organisations.

For example, Venmo allows you to transfer money to friends easier than ever before. This method of transferring money has gained popularity because it’s easy and convenient, and it’s integrated directly into the social media platform.

However, this payment method is not limited to just social media outlets. Peer-to-peer finance can also be found on other platforms like eBay or Etsy.

Platforms for fintech startups

One of the most recent trends in the fintech industry is the rise of new platforms for startups. With these platforms, companies can have their products and services easily accessible to users. Platforms like Apple’s App Store, Google Play, and Microsoft’s Windows Store make it easy for entrepreneurs to reach a global audience.

Also Read: How the global growth of fintech defies age and gender

57 per cent of app developers are on-board with this trend and plan on developing their product or service on a platform different from their previous one.  Additionally, major fintech companies like Amazon and Google are also getting into the game. Both Amazon and Google now offer software development kits (SDK) that allow developers to build apps around their respective ecosystems more conveniently.

This is just another example of how platforms are helping startups expand their horizons by providing access to audiences they didn’t have before.

Summing up

The future of the fintech industry is bright. The possibilities are endless in this rapidly changing industry.

From new advances in technology to increasing global demand, the future looks promising for companies within the fintech space. It seems like everyone these days is talking about fintech, so why not launch your own company?

Many opportunities are available, and it’s never too early to start planning. Take a look at our infographic that summarises some of the latest financial services software industry trends and our thoughts on what’s coming next!

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Singapore-based venture capital firm Jungle Ventures today announced a US$600 million close of their Fund IV with US$450 million in the main fund and US$150 million in additional managed commitments, bringing its total Assets Under Management (AUM) to over US$1 billion.

In a press statement, the firm said that the fund was an oversubscribed one with an initial target of US$350 million. This update followed the firs close of the fund that it announced in September 2021.

It included over 50 per cent of commitments from existing investors such as Temasek, IFC, FMO, and DEGto. New investors such as Mizuho Bank and StepStoneGroup also participated in the fund.

With Fund IV, Jungle Ventures said that it aims to strengthen this position while continuing on its ‘concentrated portfolio’ building approach, by making a projected 15-18 key investments across India and Southeast Asia.

Out of this fund, it has made investments in companies such as Vietnam-based digital bank Timo, Singapore-based enterprise solution Sleek, India-based D2C consumer electronics brand Atomberg, Vietnam-based healthcare and insurance platform Medici, Indonesia-based social commerce enablement platform Desty, social-crypto-community platform for women Eveworld, social commerce platform Mio, and SaaS platform inFeedo.

Also Read: David Gowdey of Jungle Ventures: Why we will see an IPO from SEA in the next 12-18 months

e27 has reached out to Jungle Ventures to understand more details about their plan with the fund.

Founded in 2012 by Amit Anand and Anurag Srivastava, Jungle Ventures was launched with a US$10 million debut fund and has since grown its AUM 100 times in 10 years.

With a focus on Southeast Asia and India, the firm implements a strategy that allows it to “pick category winners predictably and consistently”.

Its portfolio included Kredivo, Livspace and Moglix –all three of which were seed to unicorn investments by the firm. Apart from these companies, it has also invested in various categories including vertical e-commerce (Pomelo Fashion, Sociolla, Reddoorz), social commerce (Citymall, Evermos, Mio), fintech/insurtech (LeapFinance, Vayana, Turtlemint), B2B enablement (Kiotviet, Deskera, Waresix), electric vehicles (Datbike), SaaS (Builder.ai, BetterPlace) and brand aggregators/D2C brands (Believe, Hypefast).

Jungle Ventures has recently promoted Yash Sankrityayan, Sandeep Uberoi, and Manpreet Ratia as Managing Partners of the firm to join the firm’s leadership team of David Gowdey and the Founding Partners Amit Anand and Anurag Srivastava.

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Image Credit: Jungle Ventures

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The world and customers are constantly evolving. The pandemic has changed the way service businesses operate. Even as the world started to open up, consumers’ buying behaviour and habits have changed due to being cooped up at home for two years.

Consumers are willing to pay for goods online and are also willing to pay for services before coming down to a physical location. 

Businesses that do not adapt to bringing their products or services online and changing their marketing methods will be left behind. The days of running an advertisement on social media and getting prospects to meet face-to-face to sell them a service are outdated, ineffective, and expensive.

The biggest benefit of marketing and selling services online is working less and making more profits.

The traditional way of marketing and selling services are as follows:

• Step 1: Advertise online to gather leads
• Step 2: Call and capture a prospect’s information
• Step 3: Arrange a face-to-face meet up
• Step 4: Conduct a face-to-face sales presentation to educate and sell the services
• Step 5: Follow up manually to close sales

Each step requires optimising a moving part that bears an additional cost and increased drop-off rate. This process is not efficient.

However, choosing to sell and fulfil services online translates to fewer fulfilment costs, rental costs, and increased ability to serve more customers.

Also Read: 5 video marketing trends that marketers can leverage in 2022

Even traditional service businesses such as spas, facials and wellness centres can benefit from getting customers online.

As they can get customers to pay for their services beforehand, this greatly helps them manage their cash flow and secure sales as early as possible, therefore covering their advertising costs and effectively scaling their advertising campaigns faster. 

Here are two simple key points on how we did it: 

Using education content videos as a filter

Most businesses would educate their customers about their services before selling them their offerings.

For example, a facial parlour educates customers about their unique extraction methods before selling them a complete facial package. Before selling them a personal training package, a fitness company educates its customers about their unique weight loss methods. 

These are usually done during the sales process in a one-on-one setting where it is time-consuming and not the right fit for unqualified prospects.

Instead, we at Ascend Marketing help these businesses educate 100 to 1000 people in 30 to 90 minutes by creating advertisements to promote a free educational video or a free live event using an online sales funnel. This can easily be set up in 30 minutes and done at scale or even automated.

The educational video content will function as a filter to sniff out interesting prospects and encourage them to book a video call.

This will help save time and resources doing outbound calls and increase closing rates as business owners speak to customers who are genuinely interested.

These high-quality prospects are also more willing to make a purchase right after the video call and before physically coming down. 

Also Read: Circles.Life marketing head Delbert Ty shares their viral campaign recipes

We also help business owners seamlessly set up payment pages, issue invoices and collect payments through integration to a payment gateway.

Strong automated follow-up systems

The fortune is in the follow-up. In today’s market, consumers prefer to be contacted on their terms and timings, and some might prefer text messages while others prefer emails. Many dislike outbound phone calls unless they are informed ahead of time.

With this in mind, we strongly recommend having automated nurture sequences such as email marketing and text marketing. The beauty of such sequences is that they are automated. Business owners only need one series of messages and automatically set it up for all prospects. This ensures a consistent sales experience.

The automated sequences we have in place are behavioural-based, meaning different sequences are sent out based on what the lead does.

For example, if a lead did not book a call, they will be sent a reminder sequence to encourage them to book a call. If a lead did not sign up, they will be sent a nurture sequence to educate them on the sales process and eventually sign up for our clients’ services.

As these sequences are automated, new leads are nurtured 24/7 into becoming paying customers. These automated sequences will reduce manpower costs and human errors.

As a result of having done many successful marketing campaigns for varying clients from different niches in the past, Ascend Marketing have created template emails and text sequences for any business owner to use for their own business. They can deploy these templates, clone and have automated follow-up campaigns ready to go.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic.

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You may be familiar with Torrent Systems, a software that allows anyone to download and share their files with a decentralised network free of cost. Torrent works on an honour system; if you download a file, you are expected to share the file with others in the network.

However, many users don’t follow this honour system as they don’t see any economic benefits for doing so, so it defeats Torrents’s very purpose.

The advent of cryptocurrency and blockchain-powered decentralisation has changed this scenario. Now, decentralisation comes with a lot of economic and other benefits for participants.

In the crypto industry, the area that deals with the economic benefits for participants in a decentralised network is called cryptoeconomics. This discipline seeks to solve user coordination problems through economic incentives and game theory.

A crucial element in decentralised networks

In a nutshell, cryptoeconomics is a discipline that studies the protocols that govern the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services in a decentralised digital economy. It combines cryptography with economics, allowing for the coordination of the behaviour of network participants. Cryptoeconomics is crucial while building decentralised networks as it eliminates the need for a trusted third party to align participants’ incentives.

Also Read: Cryptocurrency, money laundering and KYC: Why are regulations important?

Traditionally, decentralised networks rely on cryptography to verify data transactions and provide economic incentives to encourage participants to behave in a certain way. It is achieved through a process called mining, where the miners who successfully validate a block of transactions receive bitcoins in rewards. This approach encourages miners to act honestly, making the network more secure and reliable.

Crypto mining, however, involves solving a complex mathematical problem based on a cryptographic hash algorithm.

What are hashes?

Hashes tie together blocks, creating a timestamped record of approved transactions. They are also used in the computational puzzles that miners compete to solve.

One of the consensus rules governing crypto transactions is that a Bitcoin can only be spent if a valid digital signature is generated from a private key. Bitcoin’s security model is also built around penalties and barriers to entry. These rules were introduced to prevent malicious actors from potentially taking control of the majority hashing power, a process known as a “51% attack“.

Nevertheless, gaining control of the hashing power is not easy and is prohibitively expensive; it costs nearly US$2 billion in hardware and electricity to do so.

These requirements and rules make Bitcoin immensely popular and successful even ten years after its invention by Satoshi Nakamoto. Nakamoto foresaw people’s future thought processes and made assumptions about how they would react to specific incentives.

Nakamoto also made the cryptographic protocol rigid to make it easier to reward miners. There exists a symbiotic relationship between miners and the Bitcoin network. Without miners, there would be no confidence in the blockchain records. This relationship gives us confidence about Bitcoin’s future.

Cryptoeconomic Circle theory

In cryptoeconomic, a theory emerged recently to show how value flows through different participants in a crypto network. This theory, known as cryptoeconomic circle, was published by Joel Monegro, Partner at Placeholder Capital.

The cryptoeconomic circle (see the diagram) represents the three network participants — miners (supply), users (demand), and investors (capital). Each group exchanges the flow of value via a scarce cryptoeconomic resource called tokens.

The relationship between miners and users is relatively straightforward — miners are compensated for their work via tokens used by the users. Creating a network based on a mining setup makes sense as long as the costs of a decentralised system are outweighed by the benefits of having a distributed supply side (low cost of production, higher reliability, etc.).

As per this theory, the third participant — investors — has two vital roles: funding the cost of developing new technology, and 2) supporting the network by supplying financial capital to miners.

Monegro further divides investors into two: traders (short-term investors) and holders (long-term investors). While traders create liquidity for the token so that miners could cover operational costs, holders capitalise on the network for growth by supporting token prices.

Also Read: Cryptocurrency is a notoriously volatile field. Is it possible to generate a stable income?

Traders are a direct form of value transfer. On the other hand, miners sell earned tokens in the open market to cover their costs and reinvest profits. Holders is an indirect transfer of value in miners’ balance sheets rather than their income statements.

The cryptoeconomic circle focuses on understanding how networks operate and exchange or capture value.

Conclusion

As discussed above, cryptoeconomics as a discipline is crucial in decentralisation, especially in times of blockchain rage. It has broad implications, from supporting the first major cryptocurrency to forming the foundation of the next stage of digital currencies.

By educating ourselves on previous cryptoeconomic successes and pitfalls and staying up to date on the latest cryptoeconomic research, we can glimpse what the next major crypto networks may look like. However, we still have a long way to go to achieve ‘cryptoeconomic literacy’.

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Copyright: slonme

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Global venture capital firm Antler has committed to investing US$100 million in early-stage startups in the Southeast Asian region.

The funding is expected to fuel the expansion of more than 300 new companies in Southeast Asia over the next four years.

Antler has invested in over 127 companies in the region to date. Among its investees are XanPool (open financial C2C software), Reebelo (a marketplace for affordable and sustainable tech devices), Appboxo (super-app), Sampingan (a blue-collar workforce platform), Airalo (global eSIM marketplace), and Homebase (a proptech startup).

It will continue to focus on high-growth industries and invest in founders in multiple geographies who are launching the defining companies of tomorrow.

Since its launch in Singapore in 2018, Antler has expanded its global network of offices. It recently established operations in Vietnam and Indonesia.

Also Read: Antler closes over US$300M, to provide follow-on capital for its portfolio startups

Jussi Salovaara, Co-Founder and Managing Partner Asia at Antler, said: “Southeast Asia is a breeding ground for innovative startups, and we want to give exceptional founders the investment, support, and expertise they need to realize their visions from the earliest stages. It is our ambition to help unlock and accelerate technological innovation in the region, and we are excited about the positive impact the founders we enable and invest in will create over the coming decade.”

In October 2021, Antler Singapore announced the close of over US$300 million in funding from Schroders, Vækstfonden, and Phoenix Group. Early that year, Antler said it would invest US$100 million in Indian startups over the next four years. The fund will support exceptional founders from the idea stage all the way to Series A and B.

Southeast Asia’s internet economy is poised to reach approximately US$360 billion by 2025, according to the latest e-Conomy SEA report by Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company. Technology is permeating into the region at an accelerated rate and Southeast Asia’s tech ecosystem is showing signs of maturity as 14 unicorn tech companies reached a US$1 billion valuation in 2021.

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Ready to meet new startups to invest in? We have more than hundreds of startups ready to connect with potential investors on our platform. Create or claim your Investor profile today and turn on e27 Connect to receive requests and fundraising information from them.

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Pakistan startups, the last massive untapped opportunity in the world
After two decades of uncertainty and confusion, Pakistan’s tech startup ecosystem appears to have finally found its feet; In 2021, a record US$352M was raised by 50+ startups, statistics by consulting agency Invest2Innovate shows.

The collapse of UST and LUNA was devastating, but there is still hope for crypto
What exactly happened doesn’t really matter; What really matters is that when something bad happened, Terra couldn’t handle it; What really matters is that an undercollateralised, algorithmic stablecoin will fail no matter how long it succeeds.

Zilingo creditors recall their loan due to unfulfilled obligations
This prompted the firm to hire an independent financial adviser “to explore options for the company,”; This comes at the heels of CEO Ankiti Bose’s suspension amid a probe on an alleged accounting mishap.

Indonesian SaaS firm Mekari bags US$50M in Money Forward-led round
Founded in 2015 by the name of Sleekr, the company rebranded itself as Mekari following successive M&A actions with four SaaS peers, including Talenta, KlikPajak, and Jurnal; It currently has more than 35K clients and 800K active users.

Merah Putih fund secures first close at US$300M
The fundraising milestone comes less than six months after the government launched the vehicle in December last year; Merah Putih was set up by the government in partnership with the VC arms of some state-owned enterprises.

Temasek tops up Amazon, Pinduoduo stake
The investment firm boosted its holding in the two firms by over 15%; It first revealed its purchase of Amazon shares in 2017 and Pinduoduo shares in 2020; Temasek earlier trimmed its interests in Airbnb and Lumen Technologies.

Elon Musk mulls Indonesia visit for investments after talks with Widodo
President Joko Widodo reportedly invited Musk when they met on a Space X site in Texas; The president’s camp said that the Tesla and Space X boss is “hopefully” eyeing November for the trip.

SG
Software security provider GuardRails scores nearly US$4M in funding
Investors include Sequoia’s Surge Ventures, Cocoon Capital, and SingtelInnov8; The GuardRails software runs security scans in the background and provides real-time alerts of important vulnerabilities once it is integrated into a workflow.

B Capital co-leads US$2.8M round of Indonesian personal finance app Finku
Global Founders Capital and Trihill Capital also participated; Finku allows users to track their transactions across several bank and e-wallet accounts and gives them real-time insights into their expense behaviour.

Binance CEO slams Terraform for lacklustre response
Terraform Labs, the company behind plummeting stablecoin TerraUSD, has not responded to Binance’s request to restore the network, burn the additionally minted token Luna, and recover the UST peg.

Elon Musk says US$44B Twitter deal on hold
Twitter, in a filing earlier this month, had estimated that false or spam accounts represented less than 5% of its monetizable daily active users in the first three months of the year.

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Copyright: ivanbabydov

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I was 22 years old when our product was sold for five-digit UK pounds. It was the beginning of everything.

Studying in the UK gave me exposure, and I participated in a start-up competition called the Venture Catalyst Challenge with my classmates. We have used the Internet of Things (IoT) technology to control household items such as TV sets and curtains remotely. It was a great motivation for my interest in exploring entrepreneurship. 

Later, I returned to Hong Kong and worked in a bank to save some capital for a start-up. Three years ago, my two partners and I developed a takeaway mobile app, allowing users to order meals through apps picked up on their own while enjoying a generous discount.

However, our project ended after running for six months because the takeaway market in Hong Kong was already overcrowded. In six months, I burned through six digits’ worth of funds and had to fire seven employees, one of the hardest decisions I had ever made to date.

After that, I twisted the app idea and created an all-in-one communication app tailored for hotels. Yet, I realised that my second idea wouldn’t work towards success after joining an international exhibition named RISE.

I got a chance to talk to the potential customers directly, but there were no inquiries from hotels, only from people in the e-commerce and retail sector.

It seems that I was unlucky, but I don’t think so. I have learned some things from these two experiences, which have driven my success with SleekFlow today.

“There is no such thing as overnight success or easy money. If you fail, do not be discouraged; try again.” – Henry Sy

Keep optimistic but don’t love your product too much

To develop an error-free product that can satisfy the market’s needs, you may experience many trials and failures. Like my previous two start-up experience, I thought my ideas were good at the beginning stage, but later I discovered some bugs.

Also Read: How this founder went from being a tutor to a modern day mompreneur

I tried to make improvements or even twisted to another idea when I found that they may not be possible or unable to fulfil the market’s needs. So, failure always happens when you develop your products, and you have to be optimistic.

Also, you cannot love your products too much. Otherwise, you will not be able to improve them when you discover any problems.

Know your market

Understanding the market size and the market behaviour is vital when you try to create a product or start a new business. You can develop a prototype first and let people try this Beta; you may receive constant feedback.

It’s okay if your first idea isn’t perfect. Find out your niche advantage, leverage it as a starting point, and then keep promoting and expanding.

For example, when we first started with SleekFlow as an omnichannel chat management platform, we only carried a message of “multiple logins” for our customers. Other than constantly assimilating the technical knowledge for our tech start-up, we have had to take the initiative by collecting the opinions of clients and those in the industry.

Even competitors are our source of information and learning. Fast forward to this day, we have expanded with a wide range of functions according to their needs and requests, making it a sales accelerator that generates conversions through conversations.

Use low resources to make a minimum viable product

You won’t know whether your product is suitable for the market or if there are any bugs if you don’t have any viable product. However, developing a small sample of products may require a high cost, and it may not be affordable for start-ups.

No worries! Actually, there are many resources for you to grab for free. You should leverage low resources and make a minimum viable product first to test if it works. There are also some useful podcasts sharing insights from industry experts that could be inspiring for you!

Don’t be afraid to seek advice

Advice brings you surprises sometimes! I found out that my second idea, an all-in-one communication app tailored for hotels, wouldn’t work either after joining an international exhibition.

Also Read: Investor-turned-founder on building SEA’s EV motorbike ecosystem

I heard a lot of opinions from that exhibition and got tangible resources plus industry networking. I used to be afraid to seek advice, but now I know that advice is essential for your future success.

You can get advice from others by simply messaging people on LinkedIn or joining an incubation program like mine. People always share their insights genuinely, and what you have to do is just write a proposal and struggle through a series of interviews.

Make evaluations from time to time

The budget for a start-up is limited, so you have to be careful in making every step. You should not merely spend on increasing the number of users but make evaluations from time to time.

You have to evaluate whether the current customers are worth it for you to spend lots of resources to retent and whether your business model can generate income and be sustainable. By making evaluations frequently, you will be able to find problems and solve them immediately to ensure your business is running smoothly the right way.

Success will follow if you don’t give up

Starting a business is not easy, and I experienced it twice before starting my current business. The best advice that I can offer is not to give up easily. Keep trying and squeeze every last drop of success out from failures. I wish every one of you the best of luck.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic

Join our e27 Telegram group, FB community, or like the e27 Facebook page

Image credit: SleekFlow

The post This founder’s story is the only optimism you need amidst the upcoming tech slowdown appeared first on e27.

Being an entrepreneur is not easy. Whether bootstrapped or raising the next round, the founder experience comes with life lessons. Every founder’s journey is different from the other. Full of challenges, burnouts, small joys, and aptly glorified highs, this roller coaster of a journey deserves to be told.

Even if you have just joined the bandwagon, your story is valuable and inspiring. Building a SaaS product to help small businesses or working on climate change innovation; revolutionising health, education or any other consumer space; the ecosystem wants to know you and what you are building.

At e27, we always strive to serve the ecosystem. This time around, we want to open up our platform and its wide reader base for founders of all ages and backgrounds to share their stories.

Inspire the next generation of founders, share life lessons with your counterparts, attract investor attention, and even present your idea/product/MVP to the ecosystem via the e27 Contributor Programme: Share your story campaign.

What you need

All you need is about three hours on your calendar, a calm space to gather your thoughts, and the will to share your story with the world. We will do the rest of the heavy lifting for you.

Use this magic template and follow the instructions.

Also read: How to use the e27 editor to write great articles

What will founders gain

As a startup, you don’t always have the luxury of hiring a particular PR person to build media relations. Getting your founder story published with e27 will make it easier for you to take it to investors and establish greater credibility.

Investors are looking for founders with a story, and your article can you get your foot in that door. Sharing your motivation and product expertise will build a stronger case for your startup when fundraising in the market. This also shows how passionate you are about making your startup.

We will share your story just like all other e27 articles amply on your social media and send it to our entire newsletter audience. The added validation of your ideas from other founders and professionals in the community will greatly endorse your ideas.

Managing Partner at RHL Ventures, Rachel Lau, says: “The visibility has been great. Like, someone from LinkedIn would occasionally say to me ‘Hey, I read your article on the Vietnam stuff, and I think it’s great”, and it’s nice to get that kind of message. I think the contributor channel has the right exposure from the right target audiences, which also becomes a challenge to me to write to the right target audiences.”

We have groomed a thriving community of two million readers in the tech and startup industry, making it a great place to reflect upon the interests of the startup economy in Asia. The e27 Contributor Programme is your chance to share your thoughts and opinions with this community.

With the anticipated slowdown in the tech space, it may be hard to keep the spirits up, but we need each other even more at times like these. Plus, a little bit of fame never hurts.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic.

Join our e27 Telegram group, FB community, or like the e27 Facebook page

Image credit: Rostislav_Sedlacek

The post Share your story: How to find founder fame in just 3 days appeared first on e27.

Blockchain Fest 2022 is set to be held in Singapore next month with a lineup of speakers that includes Andy Meehan, ex-Captain of Special Investigations who had spent over a decade in Asia as a private litigator and in-house counsel for cryptocurrency and blockchain international institutions. Meehan currently works at Gemini APAC as Chief Compliance Officer and will present his point of view about the state of crypto regulation in Singapore and the region.

In addition to Meehan, the event is also set to bring in Anndy Lian, business strategist and author of the best-seller Blockchain Revolution 2030. With a 15-year of experience in the business field, the Chief Digital Advisor of the Mongolian Productivity Organization will explain how the technology will revolutionise and redefine traditional business.

These two speakers are just two of the industry professionals that you will get to meet at Marina Bay Sands on June 2-3, 2022. As Asia’s largest international B2B event on Blockchain, Exchanges, Cryptocurrencies, DeFi, GameFi and NFTs, Blockchain Fest 2022 covers top-level content from leading brands and speakers.

Also Read: AI enhanced blockchain: Changing the security game

Through a series of formal and informal events, the conference agenda is created to explore the convergence of these technologies in one place: a series of keynotes, interactive panel discussions and speeches from honoured speakers with impressive expertise in blockchain.

Besides Meehan and Lian, it has also confirmed Co-Leader of the Financial Inclusion and CBDC Working Groups at the Global Impact FinTech (GIFT) Forum Dr Oriol Caudevilla and Executive Director of the Inatba Marc Taverner.

Tickets to Blockchain Fest 2022 are available under the online, standard, business, or VIP categories. To purchase these tickets at a discounted price, head over to the event website.

For the latest updates on the conference agenda and speakers, follow Blockchain Fest 2022 on social media: Facebook, LinkedIn, Telegram, and Twitter.

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Image Credit: Blockchain Fest

The post Blockchain experts Andy Meehan, Anndy Lian to speak at Blockchain Fest 2022 in Singapore appeared first on e27.