Ever since its 2017 launch, blockchain company Binance has quickly established itself to become the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world in terms of trading volume, holding a market value of US$1.3 billion. There is clear competition around the crypto space but Binance has successfully managed to outgrow its competitors.

The company has a decentralized model and no single HQ. Its team members operate from all over the globe.

Last year, the company managed to launch a new platform called Binance Futures, which attracted billions of dollars of daily volume on average. Close to a year since its launch, the platform averaged 35 per cent in market share, making it one of the company’s most successful offerings.

Dive deeper on scaling and building a new product line as Vice President of Binance Futures Aaron Gong shares tips, strategies and lessons learnt from building a new product line to e27.

In this article, you will learn about:

• Who adopts cryptocurrency and why it matters?
• How to build and scale effectively in a market with niche customers
• 6 things to take into account when building and scaling into a new market
• Acquiring new users in a future-forward business

Also Read: Freelancing video platform Eristica partners with Binance to promote charity

Who adopts cryptocurrency and why it matters?

The entire cryptocurrency market is driven mostly by millennials around the age of 18-34 years old. The older population –above 55 years old– are generally not familiar with it. The market is categorised by having a base of niche users with the majority hailing from Asia. While there is plenty of data to back the fact, there are both economics and demographic factors behind this.

One reason behind the mass adoption of the digital currency is due to economic factors: It suggests that the Chinese yuan has been weakened by international trade disputes. Meanwhile, Kunal Barchha, CEO of India-based exchange CoinRecoil, believes that population plays a key role as “even a couple of percentage rise in users can show a boost to the overall crypto market.”

Barchha also predicts that “Europeans and Americans will lead the adoption side of the market, while Asians will act mostly as traders and investors.

While the cryptocurrency bubble was predicted to burst by some sceptics, the recent pandemic has given it an extra boost, with Bitcoin (the most popular crypto) being traded at its highest in comparison to the 2017 and 2018 boom.

The high liquidity of the currency makes it a good investment for someone who is looking for short term gains.

That being said, unarguably there have been a lot of doubts around the technology. One of the most common questions being “How does it have so much value when it is invisible?”

Safety concerns have also been raised as most countries have not issued regulatory laws around it. This is one of the reasons why scaling in such a market could be challenging at times.

Also Read: Binance Singapore partners with Vertex Ventures to set up fiat-to-crypto gateway

How to build and scale effectively

In his own words, Gong shares how Binance Futures managed to establish and scale its product line within just a year.

Start investing in customer feedback to enhance your new product line

Everybody listens to the community and customers. How did you approach customer feedback so that it brings maximum return?

User-centrism is one of our key focus from the beginning and that’s our key differentiation from our key competitors.

When we first announced Binance’s new product line Binance Futures, we also created our communities in Telegram and other social media platforms. And I was personally managing these communities. I was also the one who was personally doing customer support for our users.

As such, I was lucky to get direct feedback from users on what are the issues with our products and suggestions. Getting first-hand information is very important. We also hosted AMAs (ask-me-anything sessions) to get a better understanding of what users really want.

The next that we got is Binance Angels, which is a network of volunteers who are passionate about cryptocurrency and exchanges, and who are already a supporter of Binance.

We have a wide range of Angels working in different countries which act as our eyes and provide feedback to our investors and the Futures team. We work together with them to engage community members in different regions.

We offer these volunteers perks such as access to events as privileged guests, access to members of the Binance team, invitations to meetups and limited edition gifts.

Customer feedback is one of our most important modes of innovation and we invest and engage in it heavily.

Also Read: Today’s top tech news, May 8: Crypto exchange Binance is hacked

How do you organically acquire new users in a new market?

At Binance Futures, we have never used metrics or tools to scale but we never stop trying new strategies and innovations to provide better user experience to communities. Our goal is to increase the adoption of organic users for the new crypto industries and we do it through the following ways:

1. Product Innovation

The first one is product innovation which is something that has been reflected in almost all our strategies widely since day one.

For example, a lot of our users find that options trading is too difficult to understand with all the matrix as such, so we launched a more user-friendly version where they do not need to understand complex ideas such as charts, strike price, time decay.

Through Binance Options, users can simply trade based on views, simply as the prices go up or down.

Another example is when we first launched futures we only had USDT margined, which means that the futures contract was only priced in USDT (US dollars). However, we later observed demand from users who wanted their contracts to be margined in the crypto itself.

When we started, it was just that one product line Bitcoin perpetual futures, margined or priced in USDT. But as we grew, we offered futures margined in the respective cryptocurrencies. Now people can trade using both USDT or crypto.

2. Day-to-day campaigns

The second is to focus on day-to-day campaigns. We, for example, announce a global range of campaigns once every quarter and also every two weeks. We have region and token specific campaigns to engage communities.

We are also organising and planning a campaign next month for our first anniversary, which will be introduced in the next months. So this helped to increase the adoption of the new users, and I think fundamentally, in the long term, we want to get more adoptions from our traditional industries.

Also Read: Crypto exchange Binance hacked, loses US$41 million in bitcoin

That’s actually where I come from and where most of our team members are from. For us, we want to have more similar products as traditional industries to be introduced to the industry.

3. Business model

I would like to highlight that the reason why we managed to get a tremendous success organically is also because of our main foundation –to build on a low taker fee model.

We had the most efficient price point for traders in the market. So we constantly focus and think about what our true strengths are and what we can bring to users.

Focus on creating one successful thing

Most importantly, we have extremely strong foundations as a company. Our philosophy is called The One Thing Philosophy which applies to our work.

Instead of devoting 100 per cent of our efforts to 100 different things, we dedicate 100 per cent of our efforts to only one part at a time, especially during the first few months.

We want to ensure that our first product is successful before we introduce any new products. So, everyone is very hard and devoting 100 per cent resources and efforts to the one thing. Our team is working 14 to 60 hours a day and seven days a week. We got to make sure that we can skill and learn from the experience, learn from the mistakes.

We spend a very, very long time to make sure our system can perform and it is tested many times from the market drawbacks since Binance Futures launched in September.

Also Read: 3 simple and valuable tips for startup productivity

6 things to take into account when building and scaling in a new market

• Listen to customer feedback, create channels to directly get in contact with customers. First-hand information is extremely crucial. don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty
• Be creative about creating new channels for yourself where customers can connect with the company easily
• Use feedback from users to improve your existing product or introduce a new product. Continuous innovation will help to stay ahead of competitors
• Invest in awareness and create day-to-day campaigns and invest in growing awareness for new customers
• Build a strong foundation. Learning should happen before
• Don’t be afraid to experiment with strategies, but focus to create one successful product before you move on to the next

–

Image Credit: Binance

 

 

 

The post How Binance acquired 35 per cent market share in a year with its new crypto derivatives line appeared first on e27.

Plentina is a Techstars startup that focuses on building a digital micro-credit application for everyday purchases; it has started its Philippine operations this year gearing up for the launch. As a co-founder of Plentina, we asked ourselves, who would be the best marketing minds that could help shape our marketing strategy for the Gen Z and millennial segment?

We quickly realised that even with our deep backgrounds in technology, data, and artificial intelligence, there is no substitute for customer empathy, especially coming from the generation that you want your product to serve.

Because of this, my co-founder Kevin and I decided to search for some of the smartest marketing interns in the Philippines to join our startup programme. Not just to do admin tasks, but to actually lead a critical part of our marketing strategies.

We kicked-off Plentina’s Marketing and Product Summer Cohort on June 30 with five starry-eyed interns: Ericka, Franco, Robin, Carlos, and Aby. The interns were put in-charge of three streams: Brand, Product, and Company.

Their internship coincided with the start of the Techstars programme. Starting on July 13, it focussed on financial access. Anyone in our company, including the interns, was welcome to attend any session during the programme –this was a part of the experience.

Six weeks into the internship and four weeks into Techstars, we asked them about their reflections on building a fintech startup and the lessons they have learned during the experience. Here is what they told us:

Also Read: Roundup: Ryde launches cryptocurrency wallet; Techstars-EG partnership to drive more investment into APAC

Lesson 1: Mentors enable your growth

“Compared to established corporations, I believe that startups offer a lot more room for growth as we are given more responsibilities and are constantly challenged to keep up with the fast-paced, action-driven work environment. Additionally, working in a startup usually means working closely with the founders of the company’s core team,” said Ericka Frances Chan, students at the University of the Philippines – Diliman.

“As someone who would want to have her own business in the future, this was the best opportunity for me to get a better grasp of the realities of entrepreneurship and gain a deeper understanding of what it takes to start and scale up a business,” she added.

“I believe that Plentina’s co-founder, Earl Valencia, and general manager, Alexander Capulong, both played key roles in guiding us, interns. They were both very welcoming and valued all our contributions and ideas. Having this open and trusting work environment encouraged us to experiment with new ideas and to just learn from one another.”

Lesson 2: Responsibilities hone your skills

According to Franco Dytianquin, a student at Ateneo de Manila University, Plentina gave him opportunities for growth and to experience how startups work intensively.

“We were given a lot of responsibilities with Plentina’s branding and their product’s marketing. The interns were grouped into different streams according to a specific function in the company, having certain interns lead each stream. We’d have weekly meetings for each stream where we’d present our deliverables and check-up sessions with the entire team to see our progress,” he said.

“Though it seemed difficult, the co-founder, Valencia, ensured that we’d be guided all throughout the internship programme.”

Lesson 3: Your attitude towards work and colleagues matters

Carlos Dimailig of the University of the Philippines – Diliman said, “I learned that kindness and success can exist in a working space.”

“I learned multiple things about starting a business, primarily teamwork. Valuing the team’s opinions, regardless of hierarchy, is one of the best ones I’ve learned. My insights as an intern were given the same attention and value as other people in the team. I also learned that, as an entrepreneur, you must be ready to juggle multiple responsibilities,” he elaborated.

“Because Plentina is still in its grassroots, Earl and Kevin are tasked to juggle multiple responsibilities. We, interns, were tasked to deliver multiple outputs concerning several departments. This just goes to show the extraordinary ability that is required from those working in a startup. But, most importantly, I learned that kindness and success can exist in a working space.”

Also Read: Techstars community leader on how to save yourself from the gloominess of a pandemic

Lesson 4: Everyone compliments each other

“The most impactful thing that I was able to realise is that everyone is different, and it’s this difference that makes us complement one another well,” said Robin Oo from Ateneo de Manila University.

Oo added, “With the time I’ve spent with the interns throughout the programme, I have nothing but love and appreciation towards them. The most impactful thing that I was able to realise is that everyone is different, and it’s this difference that makes us complement one another well.

“An example of this is that we have interns who take more initiative, while others are better exchanging thoughts and ideas. Despite being very quiet, everyone’s gradually opening up through our weekly meetings and team-building initiatives. Moreover, each intern has been very responsive and considerate with one another, trying to align all deliverables to create one cohesive output. I think all of us will keep this internship programme as a fulfilling experience where we make new friendships that can last as we continue to progress into our respective careers.”

Lesson 5: Passion and purpose are important

Abelyn Bunagan from University of the Philippines – Baguio, said, “I am thrilled to design something that generates a type of culture in the corporate space.”

“Unlike the other interns, I am already three years into my career. After a couple of major research projects, a teaching and media job, I felt being back to square one. Figuring out what I want to do for a career and finding my passion. The Plentina internship couldn’t have come at a better time.”

“It has given me a purpose after a few months. What I love about this experience is how much involved we are in building the company, this means that we were given a lot of responsibilities. It is tiring but fulfilling at the same time.”

Also Read: Lessons from a student entrepreneur on building a successful startup

“I am also part of the HR stream for Operations. One of my tasks is to create an employee handbook. The handbook may look insignificant but it is actually the bedrock of company culture. As a Social Anthropology graduate, I am thrilled to design something that generates a type of culture in the corporate space. This is something that I have never done before but I am grateful to have mentors to guide me along the process.”

Despite being interns, their insights and commitment have helped Plentina to rethink and reshape its marketing strategies and have served as key members of the team to contribute towards its product launch.  You can never underestimate the amazing knowledge and potential of this digital generation.

They have all the information at their fingertips because of the internet and can get up to speed much quicker than I might have done at that point in my career.

–

Register for Meet the VC: DTribe Capital

Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. Become a thought leader in the community and share your opinions or ideas and earn a byline by submitting a post.

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

Image Credit: Akson on Unsplash

The post 5 career lessons from remote-only interns during the Techstars Accelerator Program appeared first on e27.

Singapore-based home interiors and renovation platform Livspace announced that it has raised US$90 million in an oversubscribed round led by Kharis Capital, a Switzerland based investment firm, and Venturi Partners, an investment platform in the consumer space in India and Southeast Asia (SEA).

Participating in the funding round are new investors EDBI and Peugeot Group’s holding company FFP. Existing investors Ingka Investments, TPG Growth, Goldman Sachs, UC-RNT, and Bessemer Ventures also participated.

Livspace shared in its official statement that the latest capital infusion will be utilised for further development of the technology platform, fund new market expansion, creation of new market offerings, expansion of supply chain, and private labels in Asia Pacific (APAC).

Livspace said it is eyeing countries such as Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia as well as the Middle East regions.

According to Livspace, the mentioned markets are where the interior and renovation industry is equally fragmented, therefore providing an opportunity for Livspace’s platform-based market entry.

In India, where Livspace is already present in nine metro areas, the company is evaluating dozens of new cities including Kolkata, Lucknow, and Ahmedabad.

Also Read: Home design and renovation platform Livspace raises funding from IKEA

Founded in 2014 by Anuj Srivastava and Ramakant Sharma, the company operated in Bangalore in 2015 before launching its services in Singapore in October 2019. Its three-sided platform brings together homeowners, a curated community of studios as well as vendors, and brands.

Homeowners get access to interiors for all rooms in a home, designed and delivered in a predictable manner.

In 2016, Livspace launched Canvas, its proprietary design-to-installation platform, a first for the interior design industry; which seeks to create unique experiences for homeowners and scales the job of interior designers.

Speaking about the investment, Anuj Srivastava, CEO, and Co-Founder of Livspace, said, “The Livspace model allows us to launch new offerings and expand to new markets rapidly and efficiently. We focus on the ability to digitise the large and complex home improvement industry verticals and integrate thousands of contractors, designers, home improvement professionals, and some of the largest brands and OEMs on our platform.”

Last year, Livspace raised Series C funding led by global investment funds TPG Growth and Goldman Sachs.

–

Image Credit: Livspace

The post Livspace raises US$90M in Series D round led by Kharis Capital, Venturi Partners appeared first on e27.

As we are headed down a path of recession or even depression, societies and governments reflex and protectionism take the lead.

While understandable from a perspective of fear (people losing their jobs and livelihoods) and the need for governments to implement policies that reflect the demands of a society (“locals first”), protectionism is not the solution and never will be.

History has shown us that ‘open’ societies always win from those that are ‘closed’. Protectionism can bring us on a path that is very dangerous and we simply don’t want to go there.

In its most innocent form, protectionism just freezes the problem and doesn’t take us anywhere.

Focus on creation

We need to focus on finding and supporting architects, sunbirds, and integrators. These are the people that can create regardless of the circumstances. They are resilient enough to pivot when everybody else is ducking.

Exceptional entrepreneurs can create job opportunities and prosper regardless of the economical situation.

The categories have been made famous in The Creators Code by Amy Wilkinson:

Architects

Those that see problems (“What’s missing”) and are capable to come up with a solution where others didn’t even know they were missing something.

Examples: Elon Musk and SpaceX. Apple.

Sunbirds

Those that see analogies (“What if I could use this solution for problem X?”). They see a solution in an unrelated field and are able to copy them to a whole new place.

Also Read: The 6 types of entrepreneurs

Example: Starbucks, inspired by the coffee culture in Italy to enrich the ‘third place’ in society.

Integrators

Those that combine existing solutions and create a whole new product or service by smartly combining existing products and services.

Example: Chipotle.

Curiosity

All creators are driven by curiosity and an open mind (typically found with immigrants) and they disregard race, borders, and, to a certain extend, rules.

Creators are very hard to find and the country, ecosystem, or government that is the most welcoming will be the one that ultimately wins. The opposite is also true; creators might leave if they find that their existing surroundings are not ideal.

The solution is clear

We need leaders that don’t give in to fear or populism.

Also Read: What should be the vision of an entrepreneur?

Curiosity and creators are the solutions to any problem, it doesn’t matter where they come from. And honestly, we are looking for a needle in a haystack when it comes to these kinds of entrepreneurs.

So bring them in, embrace them and any society or economy will thrive.

–

Register for Meet the VC: DTribe Capital

Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. Become a thought leader in the community and share your opinions or ideas and earn a byline by submitting a post.

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

The post The architect, the sunbird or the integrator: What kind of entrepreneur are you? appeared first on e27.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating consequences for economies across the globe. On one hand, the pandemic has impacted businesses negatively, on the other hand, it has also pushed organisations to rethink conventional knowledge and open up newer avenues.

More and more companies have adopted remote working, digital infrastructures, and more tech-based solutions to operate their businesses. All these changes have pushed the boundaries of what is possible and have helped companies, especially startups, wade through these turbulent times.

Startups have been the hardest hit during these past few months, while many have been pushed to the brink of survival; others have had an early demise. Hence, now more than ever, startups need to devise strategies that are crisis-proof, and here are a few ways in which this can be achieved.

Financial planning

Due to their nascent presence in the world of business, startups are particularly prone to financial turbulence. And crises like this pandemic can only exacerbate financial crunches.

According to a survey conducted by Startup Genome, a research and policy advisory organisation, the pandemic has led to a shocking 41 per cent of startups globally being in danger of slipping into a “red zone,” defined as having three months or less of cash runway left.

Such scenarios can be better managed, if not avoided when strong and strategic financial plans are put into place. A financial plan usually entails outlining business goals and setting aside enough money to achieve those goals. It also provides a sort of guidebook for expenses and in case of an economic crisis; it can help entrepreneurs come up with financial plans beforehand.

Also Read: Out of the woods: Why the Malaysian startup ecosystem will survive this pandemic

Taking charge of cash flow and cash reserves

This step is an appendage to sound financial planning. Several startup entrepreneurs often lack the appetite for number crunching and understanding financial data. This isn’t a good sign because understanding cash flow and being able to read balance sheets is crucial to the survival of any business.

Making sure the company has enough money to weather financial storms is important because the longer a business can sustain during a crisis, the more likely it is to survive harsher times in the future.

Maintaining investor trust

Investors today don’t just want to see great ideas; they want to understand the plans that entrepreneurs have to sustain their business through crisis situations. Startup leaders, therefore, need to be armed with risk mitigation strategies along with business vision and roadmaps for the future.

A key part of gaining investor confidence is showing them that your turnaround strategy in case of unforeseen situations is going to work and that the business will only emerge stronger. Startup entrepreneurs have to view crisis situations as opportunities to reinvent and reshape and not as a doom and gloom scenario.

Be willing to adapt

Adaptability is the only way for companies to come out on the other side of this pandemic. Companies that cling to old models of operations are only accelerating their demise. A good example here would be that of the fitness industry; at the start of the pandemic, predictions for the fitness world were bleak, with social distancing and hygiene concerns on everyone’s minds, gyms, and fitness trainers were staring into an abyss.

However, this industry has quickly made a turnaround because it adapted and made the best out of a bad situation. Most gyms and fitness brands have adapted to digital fitness and provide more than just boring exercise tutorials to their customers.

Fitness brands have created a whole new digital infrastructure equipped with virtual work-out sessions that are tailor-made for a variety of customers. Fitness trainers around the world are offering sessions via Zoom, Skype, Instagram, Facebook live streaming, and a host of other platforms. All of this has led to several fitness brand apps seeing a spike in customer subscriptions.

Empathetic marketing

Customers are literally the key to any business and they should be any entrepreneur’s number one priority. During a crisis like this pandemic, scores of people have been furloughed, thousands have lost their jobs, and countless others have witnessed their loved ones dying; therefore this isn’t the time for hard-sell marketing. Instead, brands and companies need to focus on communicating empathetically.

Brands have to walk the tightrope of subtle marketing and public service. A lot of brands have successfully done this during the pandemic, automaker Toyota that would usually have high-powered ads selling top-notch cars recently came out with its ‘We Are Here For You’ ad campaign.

Also Read: 3 essential crisis communication strategies every entrepreneur should know

The ad is a great example of empathic marketing attuned to the needs of customers. It reassures people that Toyota stands with people and will support communities through these tough times. It manages to strike the right tone of heartfelt empathy and brand recall.

Customer engagement

Now more than ever, people feel the need to be connected to each other. Just because people are not venturing out of their homes, doesn’t mean that they do not wish to be in sync with what their favourite brands are up to.

Hence, engaging with customers is important; out of sight does not have to mean out of mind. Several fashion startups have managed to harness the true power of social media during this pandemic by asking their customers to come up with style ideas and sketches of outfits. Such engagement activities can help keep the brand alive in audiences’ memories and lead to creating a loyal customer base.

Startups are at a clear advantage in this space because of the young workforce they employ.  Entrepreneurs must be willing to fully exploit the digital medium to their advantage; from putting out the right kind of content to creating brand recall, startups must cement their presence on social media.

Crisis situations are hard on everyone, but it is important to remember that companies who survive through this will be the ones to emerge stronger and more resilient.

–

Register for Meet the VC: DTribe Capital

Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. Become a thought leader in the community and share your opinions or ideas and earn a byline by submitting a post.

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

Image credit: USGS on Unsplash

The post Need of the hour: How can startups be crisis-proof? appeared first on e27.

Drift bots

You might have noticed Drift bots on some of the pages on e27, including our Pro Membership page and our Fundraise Programme page. We are experimenting with different ways to engage our users. Messaging seems to be an interesting way for users to get their questions quickly answered. We might bring this to more parts of e27 in future. For now, we are testing these in the Pro Membership and Fundraise Programme page.

Image uploads for Contributor Programme

We recently updated our Editor widget in our Contributor Programme to the latest version of TinyMCE. This gives users more features and control over the content you create. We pride ourselves over the amazing group of contributors we have and want to make it easy for them to share posts and content. Image uploads allow you to share team photos, profile photos, etc. This can add colour and vibrancy to your content.

Improving data security

We take data security very seriously in e27. We have been working on various initiatives to improve the overall security of our systems and data. You won’t notice anything different on the front and with your usage of the platform. But under the hood, we have been making some amazing changes. Along the way, we might have little glitches here and there, please do bear with us.

Revamped Pro landing page

We have revamped our Pro landing page to better showcase what Pro members can get when they sign up. Since the launch of our Pro Memberships Programme, we’ve added a load of new features including our Perks programmes to save you costs on some of the popular startup packages. We are also continuing to update the list of investors in our Connect Programme. Be sure to check it out.

Keep checking back for more updates as we push monthly updates to e27. Feel free to reach out to us for tweaks and improvements.

The post August Update: Drift bots, revamping our Pro landing page, image uploads for Contributor Programme, and more appeared first on e27.

We all grew up having our imaginations run wild from science fiction movies on what the future would look like. There are myriads to recall but growing up, I remember thinking that flying cars and personal assistant robots would be the future.

It’s 2020, while we are still working to introduce flying cars to the neighbourhoods, we’ve managed to bring in robots to remind us to keep a safe distance – it’s not quite what we imagined but it’s close!

While we have the brightest minds and entrepreneurs working on these groundbreaking inventions, predicting far into the future is hard to get right. As we discovered in recent months, all it takes is one new discovery or world event to change the course of history.

So instead of predicting the future through my imagination and ideals, another way to look at it is through the lens of opportunity. Great problems and opportunities often attract the best minds to work together to solve them.

My firm belief is that when the best of various fields come together to work across disciplines, amazing progress and breakthroughs happen. To answer the question about what our smart cities of tomorrow will look like, here are some of the opportunities that are worth looking at and should be making good progress in the next 10 years:

Better use of data

Millions of data points are being collected daily and it’s continuing to expand as IoT devices proliferate our cities. The data collected will help us to understand patterns and identify behaviours that are changing as well as how they interrelate.

Utilising the data sets collected would help us to make better decisions in our solutions and improve the quality of our lives. Startups that can harness the data and create meaningful innovation stand a good chance to solve or improve our traffic, energy usage, safety, and social challenges.

Also Read: Life after COVID-19: How and why smart cities need to focus on sustainability

Smart home and IoT security

Smart connected homes are growing at an incredible pace as we continue to add on devices to make our lives at home better. Global forecasts put it that the number of smart homes would increase by 2.6 folds, up from 180 million in 2020 to mind-boggling 480 million households in a short span of five years.

With this proliferation, the importance of keeping our home safe and secure is more important than ever, unscrupulous actors would now be able to compromise the integrity of the smart home system and exploit security loopholes without the need to be physically present. Perhaps subscribing to an anti-virus service for our homes in the future is not too far-fetched an idea?

Sharing economy

In the last five years, we’ve had a wave of startups working on ideas revolving around the sharing economy. The trend seemed to have tapered recently, possibly due to the number of challenges and stakeholders involved in the sharing economy ecosystem.

Uber has been one of the leaders in the sharing economy yet they too faced an incredible amount of challenges in their journey to revolutionise the mobility industry. No doubt, we have seen successful cases i.e. Airbnb but the recent COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the company’s plans and is forcing them to adapt to stay relevant to new norms.

Closer to home, we have seen startups attempting to tap into the sharing economy in various industries i.e. bike-sharing, last-mile transportations, and freelance-gigs, but we’ve yet to see much success due to various factors.

Just two years ago, we had six companies offering a total of approximately 200,000 dockless shared bicycles around Singapore, but most of them shut down by 2019. I’m sure all of us recognise that there is much efficiency to be gained from unlocking utilisation of assets through sharing, but the implementation will need to be a win-win for the idea to take off and truly be successful.

While no one seems to have cracked the code of maximising the potential of the sharing economy, the recent resurgence in companies looking at bike-sharing in Singapore seems to indicate that there is a huge potential in this market waiting to be tapped on.

In the next ten years, we should see more startups learning from past mistakes and making a comeback to tackle the sharing economies in better and more innovative means.

Also Read: Life after COVID-19: How and why smart cities need to focus on sustainability

More efficient home cooling

In tropical climates, living without air-conditioning would make many of us miserable. As the planet warms and more of us continue to work from home, usage is definitely on the rise and projected to double in the next 20 years. Did you know that air-conditioning accounts for almost 40 per cent of the total electricity consumed in Singapore homes?

Providing cooling is expensive and demanding on the power grid, and district cooling is among one of the best options to improve efficiency. It works by aggregating demand among multiple buildings that combine different usage patterns.

District cooling works well with solar and other renewable energy sources, which adds on to its appeal. While this is not something entirely new, there may be more focused implementations and hopefully further efficiency breakthrough within the next 10 years.

Last-mile delivery

As the demand for e-commerce and parcel delivery surge, how will this affect last-mile delivery? Our current infrastructure and logistics operations are not built for future projected growth.

With only 20 per cent of all sales happening online, there is much room for e-commerce to grow. Startups will continue to figure out how to deal with this increase at scale. Is there a possibility that drones and robots may very well be the future of delivery services?

Sustainable living

It’s undeniable that humanity has made much progress in the last 10 years, but the advances will mean nothing if we do not leave a better world for our future generations. Our cities today consume more than 60 per cent of the world’s resources, contribute to 70 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions, and account for 70 per cent of global waste which all leads to the devastating impacts on the very place that we live in.

To accommodate this growth sustainably, our smart city will need to address traffic congestion, air pollutants, and waste processing. Over the last 15 years, HDB has been introducing various solutions to drive sustainability efforts in our estates.

We have been harvesting rainwater for non-potable uses like washing of common areas, introduced smart motion sensors that automatically adjust the luminosity of the LED lights depending on the motion detected, and is currently piloting the Pneumatic Waste Conveyance System (PWCS) an automated waste collection system to solve environmental and sanitary issues associated with open refuse collection.

As more of us are aware of the importance of preserving our environments and understand the importance of sustainable growth, more attention will be shined on startups working on sustainability goals and will continue to attract investments. Sustainability would without a doubt be an overarching theme that will shape the future in the next 10 years.

So what do you think future estates will look like? If you visualise a very different smart city from the one we live in now and have some great ideas worth building, join us at the HDB Cool Ideas Hack 2020 to ideate with the best minds, build a prototype and bring those amazing ideas to fruition.

–

Register for Meet the VC: DTribe Capital

Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. Become a thought leader in the community and share your opinions or ideas and earn a byline by submitting a post.

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

Image credit: shade jay on Unsplash

The post Getting smarter with tech: How will smart cities look like 10 years from now?  appeared first on e27.

Even with a global health crisis looming in the background, to expand their business internationally remains on the agenda of many tech entrepreneurs in Southeast Asia (SEA). In the first week of September, SEA-based companies such as PasarPolis and Livspace included international expansion plan with their latest funding announcement.

In fact, Harvard Business Review stated that despite the decline in merchandise trade, foreign direct investment (FDI), and international air travels, these numbers “do not signal a fundamental collapse of international market integration.” This allows companies to remain hopeful about their international expansion plans. But how can they get it right?

Supahands, an end-to-end data labelling partner for AI/ML companies, are basing their operations in Kuala Lumpur, but its clients are based in various countries –from neighbouring Singapore to the US to (even as far as) South Africa. To get to this stage, the company has gone through several steps that include strategy building and execution.

To understand the steps that startups need to take to expand internationally, in this deep dive series, e27 speaks to Greg Meehan, Chief Revenue Officer at Supahands.

He will explain the steps that include:

• Is international expansion right for you?
• Making a move beyond the sea: Market Review, Budgeting, Product-Market Fit, Human Resource, and Review
• International expansion in time of the pandemic

Is international expansion right for you?

Meehan begins the interview by explaining that international expansion is something that a startup should consider ever since its inception. In fact, it should be part of the problem scope that they aim to solve with the solutions that they build.

“Why did you start the company in the first place? Did you start with a global or a local perception to solve a problem?” he asks. “You start to build with that in mind. When we started to build Supahands, we started with a global mindset.”

Also Read: Human-powered training data provider Supahands raises Series A funding

Another set of questions that startups need to answer is related to the reason why international expansion has to be in the picture. Is it because your competitors are doing it? Or is it because there is a market for what you are offering? For Meehan, the key lies in understanding what the market “tries to tell you.”

The answers to those questions will be crucial as companies weigh in the potential risks involved in expanding internationally. According to Meehan, there are two risk factors that need to be considered: Capital expenditure and the process that you will be building on.

If a startup enters a new market too soon, with a shaky foundation and an unoptimised process, they can expect to burn a lot of money –with no guarantee of success.

“We started to receive inbound inquiries that led us to believe that there is a big opportunity for us internationally. Then we need to factor in all the different kinds of costs –and that can be a big risk,” Meehan points out.

“For example, if clients want to buy from us. What would it mean if we had, like, thousands of leads come in overnight? Do we have the processes, people, and systems in place to cope with that? And then we need to start thinking about optimisation … and how we can position people for that. Having [both] the team and the [right] kind of mindset is really, really important,” he stresses.

Making a move beyond the sea

Once the founders are able to answer the questions, they can move towards the next stages of international expansion:

Market Review

Now that the startup has decided to expand internationally, how do they decide which market to start with?

There are two angles that a startup can approach here: They can do it as a company with an existing presence in one market that is aiming to widen its reach there, or as a completely new business launched in a foreign market. If the startup decides to go with the first option, then the first step they can take is to talk to their existing clients.

“Find out what led them to purchase your products in the first place. They are a great source of intel,” Meehan says, adding that from there the startup can see which kind of market they should be aiming for.

Also Read: Human-powered training data provider Supahands raises Series A funding

For startups who are going with the second option, what they can do is start their research online.

“Say you are building a CRM system for salespeople. Find out where these people are hanging out online and you go where they are and engage them,” Meehan suggests.

At this stage, founders do not even need to go for people in a specific market, as a sales VP in the UK will likely face the same challenge as those in other markets.

Budgeting

Budgeting starts with the founders figuring out the go-to-market strategy that they want to use when entering a new market: From opening an office, securing a referral partner, to hiring talents.

“How much budget you can allocate towards that expansion while still maintaining the growth that you’ve got in your current market as well?” Meehan gives the clue.

He also warns against experiencing a “false start” or a situation where a company sees a potential for growth in a market, but then they realise that it is all too soon.

Product-market fit

This is the part where it can get tricky, and Meehan advises startups to “listen to the people on the frontline” or those who interact with clients on a regular basis.

“What we look at here is the collection of this information. We speak to our marketing and product team as well, and feeding them back this information because you can start to see the evolution of your products and services as you grow, as the market matures,” he explains.

“A lot of the times it is like fitting a square peg into a round hole and having to feel your way through it,” he adds.

Meehan also reminds us that the market is changing really fast.

“Market research is a continuous thing and it is not done by just one person in the company … It is your entire business,” he stresses.

What about cases where startups need to localise their product to adjust to the market? Meehan brought forth the example of when Uber tried to enter the Southeast Asian (SEA) market, and their inability to quickly provide a flexible payment infrastructure for a cash-heavy market such as SEA.

“It all comes back to the elements of market research,” he says.

Also Read: Malaysia’s Supahands raises seed round from Axiata, 500 Startups

Human Resource

Regarding their point of how human resource matters during international expansion, Meehan says that the Supahands platform was built to be geography-agnostic. This means the company was built as an international business with the ability to work remotely.

“That is how we have always done our sales, engagement, and marketing,” he explains.

But in the case of its expansion to the US market, there were plenty of offline activities involved. Meehan and Supahands CEO Mark Koh travelled to conventions and meet with potential customers and even competitors in the country to get a first-hand understanding of the market and the strategy that they will need.

“We want to make sure that when we’re bringing people on board, we bring aboard bright people that are going to fit in the culture … that could represent us as a brand and a business externally as well,” Meehan elaborates.

To complete this process, Supahands took at least 12 months, but the company sees that as a necessary process to ensure the right candidate fit.

Review process

Lastly, how does one review the success (or failure) of an international expansion move? Certainly, it all comes down to the metrics, but listening to gut feelings is also important.

” … You’ve got these metrics but what does your gut tell you as well? So, you do a bit of a gut check … Yes, we have these numbers and metrics right in front of me and I will take note and trust the numbers, but I will also verify those numbers,” Meehan says.

But what about the pandemic?

At this stage, we see that there are elements of international expansion that will require founders to travel and be on the ground. But as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage on and affect international travels, this begs the question, will this be the end of our international expansion plan?

Meehan reminds us that there are also elements of international expansion that are being done virtually. For example, market research.

“The global pandemic really levels the playing field for businesses and startups in Southeast Asia that are looking to expand, because everyone is in the same boat now,” he says.

—

Image Credit: Supahands

The post How Supahands works with customer feedback to plan their international expansion appeared first on e27.

Securing investment requires more than a great idea. In essence, beyond a compelling executive summary to tell your story and get you the pitch meeting, you will need to craft a great pitch deck. In my years as an angel investor, I’ve seen hundreds and hundreds of presentations. By the way, without a doubt, the best investor presentations use consistent building blocks. Have the right assembly and the components are arranged in a strategic flow.

You actually need two versions of your deck

Surprise! Generally, you should have two different versions of your deck. Firstly, one that has lots of white space and relatively few words; For instance, to be used as a back-drop to a live presentation. In addition to that, the second one that has enough words that it can stand on its own if you need to email it to someone. By the way, never email the white space one or present from the wordy one. Overall, don’t try to get by on just one version. For instance, both mistakes are going to lead to bad results.

Metadata matters

The single most important data to include in your deck is your contact info. For example, list every single means of getting in touch with you. As an example put it on the very first slide. Sounds like a given, but the stories I could tell you …

Deck building blocks

Hence what does the deck need to have in it? After your contact information, it should cover the following topics in a 10-15 slide decks.

1. Customer Problem: description of customer pain and how you solve it –concept & key elements.

2. Product Overview: what you do, for whom and why it’s compelling

3. Key Players: founders, key team members, and key advisors, with industry backgrounds and expertise

4. Market Opportunity: market size, growth characteristics, segmentation

5. Competitive Landscape: competitors and competitive feature sets, plus your sustainable competitive advantages

6. Go-To-Market Strategy: how you will sell your product

7. Stage of Development: product development, customer acquisition, partner relationships

Also Read: How to create a great investor pitch deck

8. Critical Risks & Challenges: what can go wrong and how you plan to manage it

9. Financial Projections: how much time and money it will take to get to cash flow break-even. Including your five year projections (best to show Yr5 mid-case, worst case and best case with key assumptions)

10. Exit Options: categories of likely buyers, rationales, list of specific likely buyers and comparables with valuation multiples

11. Funding Requirements: how much, what you will use it for, what milestones you can hit

That’s it! For instance, trying to do much more is not going to make your pitch more effective. It is merely going to increase the likelihood that you will not get through it which can be the kiss of death. Details can be drawn out in the Q&A or during subsequent due diligence. Instead, you should focus on covering all of the key elements to ensure you get the next meeting. If you have extra material, stick it in an appendix in case you need to flip to it during Q&A.

Tips on mechanical construction and delivery

Mechanics matter too in successfully presenting your deck. Consider these points:

• Consider avoiding complicated animations or builds in your deck –they make it very hard to go backwards if you need to. Do not build in any videos –it is an AV disaster waiting to happen. Plan ahead to avoid last-minute changes to your deck. Swapping and fumbling while everyone waits for you makes an unprofessional first impression and wastes your presentation time.
• You may want to avoid exotic presentation programmes such as Prezi. Even PowerPoint can be pretty buggy on some machines. So you may convert to PDF. But check the conversion before sending to make sure it didn’t introduce any embarrassing formatting glitches.
• Do not plan to spend time on product demos –just a couple screenshots if necessary.
• Plan for the worst in terms of screen size: no small fonts. And finally, bring multiple memory stick copies, as well as your own remote.
• If it makes more sense to use the remote that is provided. Get familiar with it before starting so you don’t get flustered and make a hash out of your presentation.

Hence with some time upfront and some practice. You will be well on your way to having an effective pitch deck is by learning the Pitch Deck Fundamentals.

—

This article was first published on nfinitiv.

Image Credit: Kaleidico on Unsplash

The post Pitch deck fundamentals: What you need to include to build an effective one appeared first on e27.

Enterprise SG, energy firms launch innovation challenge for SMEs, startups

The story: Enterprise Singapore (ESG) on Thursday launched its inaugural Energy Open Innovation Challenge (EOIC) 2020, in partnership with energy companies Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and Shell, to seek tie-ups with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and startups, according to an SGSME report.

Who all can participate?: The EOIC is calling for innovative solutions from SMEs and startups that address 19 challenge statements spanning asset management, robotics, sustainability and workflow.

Also Read: Meet the Govt: How Enterprise Singapore plans to deep dive into startup talent development, international collaboration

Shortlisted SMEs and startups will have the opportunity to work directly with the four companies to develop, refine and test their solutions both in Singapore and globally.

Up to US$730K grants: ESG will also provide eligible SMEs and startups with up to S$1 million (US$730,000) in grant support to ramp up the development of their solution, so they can build their track record, scale the business and create good jobs.

Rukita launches workpod to curb COVID-19 spread

The story: To curb the COVID-19 spread in office buildings, Indonesian proptech company Rukita (a Sequoia Surge startup ) has launched Rukita Workpod as an alternative that facilitates a more efficient work from home (WFH) by enabling employees to live in a group.

More on the Workpod: At Rukita Workpod, employees can work in communal areas with complete supporting facilities and the utmost comfort as presented in co-working space. Rukita also provides tailored services based on corporate needs.

Also Read: Bobobox raises US$11.5M funding when many of its peers in the hospitality sector are on the brink

For those who wish to have more privacy, available areas can be perfectly transformed into a small office or meeting room with sufficient capacity and good air circulation.

To ensure tenants’ safety and health, Rukita strictly implements health protocols as required by the government. In each unit, hand sanitisers are available and a regular body temperature check is performed for all tenants, on-site staff, and visitors.

On top of that, deep cleaning with disinfectants is conducted periodically in all areas, including communal areas, in which frequently touched surfaces will be cleaned every 20 minutes thus employees can live and work with peace of mind.

ZILHive startup accelerator announces 2020-2021 cohort

The story: Zilliqa, a blockchain platform, has announced its 2020-2021 cohort of selected companies participating in the ZILHive, a 6-month blockchain startup accelerator.

The programme is designed to support early- and late-stage startups that are using or looking to use the Zilliqa protocol to build blockchain solutions.

From digital asset exchanges to stablecoins, this year’s batch of 8 companies have been selected to promote blockchain development within Open Finance (OpFi).

Also Read: The battle between private and public blockchains

The programme will run from August 31 2020 to February 2021.

The startups are:

Propine: A Singapore-based startup that provides compliant end-to-end tokenisation and custody solutions

Notabene: A Y-Combinator-backed firm that enables financial companies to be compliant with the Financial Action Task Force’s “Travel Rule” for any crypto transactions

Rupiah Token: An Indonesian rupiah-backed stablecoin that looks to drive a more inclusive and open financial system within the country

MugglePay: A China-based startup that looks to enable far more cost-efficient cross-border transactions by providing a software development kit (SDK) to merchants that accept crypto payments at a fraction of existing fees

Moonlight: A US-based decentralised self-sovereign identity solution

CommX: A Singapore- and Australia-based startup that tokenises art into tradable digital assets

Moonlet: A Romania-based digital asset wallet that enables users to securely store their crypto assets, spend their tokens, and manage their returns from staking

Lumiere: A Singapore and Hong Kong-based film tokenisation platform that strives to boost liquidity, accessibility, and mitigate risk in the film investment space.

—

Image Credit: Rukita

The post In brief: ESG launches open innovation challenge for startups; Rukita launches workpod to curb COVID-19 spread appeared first on e27.