2020 has been a year unlike any other. Because of the global pandemic, customer needs and demands have shifted in ways that few, if any, companies were prepared to handle.

All of this means companies are having to re-examine how they approach consumers to align with these new realities. How well organisations can adapt to this new era of adaptability, will define market winners and losers for years to come.

Where are the customers?

The pandemic has accelerated the need to implement digital transformation programs to create initiatives to better serve the connected consumer. That’s certainly logical and necessary in our app-driven world during a point in time when more and more purchases are made online versus in-store.

But as they’ve gone about it, too many businesses are forgetting a crucial element: the need to engage with customers on a human level.

To be sure, most businesses remain as committed as ever to customer experience as their true north—more so, actually, given that consumers hold unprecedented power in an age when they can learn everything about a company and its products online and switch brand allegiances with a click or a phone tap.

Many restaurants have gone on lockdown during the pandemic but think about how easy it is to order a complete family dinner, have it delivered to your door, and leave a review on HungryGoWhere.

Or think about how easy it is to shop for groceries by having the store select, bag and bring your items to your call for contact-less pick up. The companies have been able to shift to these types of services “get it” because they’re able to put themselves in the customer’s shoes in all their interactions.

Also Read: How to leverage data to build a compelling story

However, as customer interactions have moved out of the physical world and into the digital, some businesses have increasingly come to see their customers through the lens of data instead of as people to be known, understood and empathised with.

Are the digital experiences you’re creating pushing people away?

The big data fascination that has taken off concurrently with the app craze has led businesses to depend on data-driven insights—clicks, email response rates, behavioural actions, etc.—for clues into what customers like or dislike.

While such analytics can be useful in helping companies discern trends in customer behaviour, all of that data isn’t a replacement for real human experience.

Customer experience, after all, is made up of a variety of touch points and interactions that a consumer has with a brand—its products, services, employees, even its cultural values—across multiple channels over the course of the relationship. Almost all of it is driven by emotion and how the customer feels about the experience.

In fact, in a recent Salesforce study, 84 per cent of consumers surveyed said customer experience is now just as important as a company’s products or services. Tellingly, 75 per cent reported that they expect companies to use new technologies to foster extraordinary experiences, yet 54 per cent said it’s harder than ever for businesses to earn their trust.

The main takeaway from those findings is that the digital initiatives companies are relying on to bring themselves closer to customers are too often having the opposite effect and creating more distance between them.

Ironically, while consumers have never been more empowered, they also have never been more helpless, their voice more lost. Too many companies view them as digital exhaust, a trail of 1s and 0s from online interactions to be analysed, with the information used in outreach that, all too often, doesn’t feel authentic or personal. 

There’s no substitute for genuine human insight

The words of Sam Walton, founder of Walmart, still ring true today. “Watching these companies spend millions of dollars, in marketing and advertisement, in order to make me come back to them,” the Walmart founder once said. “When actually I was there already, and all they had to do was a simple, cheap and easy thing: treat me with a little courtesy.”

Companies must realise there are things you simply can’t do with an app and with data analytics. There’s no substitute for genuine human insight to keep a business’s fingers on the pulse of customers’ ever-changing expectations, needs and desires. During the current pandemic, this has never been more important. 

Also Read: Why reciprocity is key to building deep customer relationships

That’s why companies need to make a priority of relying less on data and the generic marketing persona they yield and more on deep, empathetic understanding of what customers do, think and feel.

To be clear, companies are trying to do the right thing when they focus on building good digital experiences. They just get it wrong when they fall in love with data and fail to proactively listen to customers as living, breathing human beings.

If you want to win in the current and post-pandemic world, understand that digital innovation hasn’t changed the need for a business to relate to people as people.

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In Singapore, substantial government support and policies are helping the country gain traction as an entrepreneurial mecca. With an average of 50,000 startups launched each year, the startup scene in Singapore continues to grow. 

Despite the burgeoning startup scene and booming business ecosystem in Singapore and across Southeast Asia, over 70 per cent of the adult population in Southeast Asia is still underbanked. This suggests a substantial market gap in an environment with over 75 million businesses.

This is where innovative financing solutions can step in and help fill the gaps. One such solution is revenue-based financing. At its core, revenue-based financing helps enterprises raise capital through investors who receive a percentage of revenue from ongoing activities.

This means that the royalties that investors earn have a direct relationship with how well the business is doing. 

Essentially, this opens up a channel for non-dilutive funding that is short-term and flexible. In terms of funding, revenue-based financing hasn’t really been accessible for businesses until recently –and this is the gap that we are trying to fill with Jenfi.

Traditional methods unfavourable towards SMEs

First, let us understand why traditional methods do not always work for SMEs and startups. Traditionally, banks fund businesses through conventional financial programmes such as debt-financing, but these processes can be too taxing on small companies who do not want the burden of collateral or personal guarantees.

Old school underwriting, which entails institutions or individuals to take on risk at a fee, also means that businesses might not qualify for enough credit even though they may be well-founded. For instance, digitised businesses may own fewer assets to put up for collateral.

Also Read: The case for alternative lending

There isn’t to say that financing companies have not changed since the old days, but the drive-in fintech has always been geared towards automating manual processes instead of improving the underwriting approach.

Lending from banks seems to be on the side of large corporate clients with years of built-credit, leaving smaller, newer companies to deal with a gruelling and time-consuming process.

Businesses today are built differently – owning less fixed assets and more technology-driven innovation. With that in mind, they may not have enough on paper to secure a loan, or it just does not make financial sense to borrow at high-interest rates.

Therefore, there is a need for innovative disruptions to provide monetary support.

Refining the process of risk management

With the key issue of limited financing in mind,  at Jenfi, we seek to bridge the gap between suitable growth financing and underbanked businesses in Southeast Asia.

We have built the Jenfi model purely from a growth perspective to deliver business-friendly financing to digitally-enabled enterprises. We use tangible metrics to measure our client’s potential using proprietary data to unlock growth opportunities. Instead of taking on financial risk for a fee, we use alternative data to predict business potential.

The assets that we value are directly relevant to the business. Underwriting in this context is based on the “productivity” or “productivity of growth” of qualified businesses that are truly backable and growing.

Businesses that qualify for funding are then issued cash or given a virtual Jenfi Mastercard solely for growth expenses (e.g digital marketing spend). Real-time revenue growth, ongoing activity and ROI are monitored too.

This way, additional capital can also be allocated when businesses are at an inflexion point and primed to take off.

Also Read: Cashflow and financing: what companies need to know

Businesses need to form true partnerships to align values

In an environment with immense competition, it is crucial for companies to form alliances that have a personal interest in their growth and goals to thrive.

Revenue-based financing not only ensures that businesses are allowed to return loans based on what they earn, but investors are also obliged to have a stake in company performance. 

Unlike traditional lenders, the method of financing requires a lot more due diligence on the investor’s part to measure productivity and future plans to assess a company’s potential. The unique variable repayment model essentially ties the weekly repayment to a small percentage of sales instead of charging by interest.

This way, Jenfi is incentivised to ensure that the business continues growing healthily, aligning the success of the business with our success.

Being Asia’s first provider of Growth Capital as a Service, it is necessary for Jenfi to have a direct interest in healthy development. As a result, one of our goals is to keep businesses disciplined and prudent in spending in order to succeed together.

Changing the face of funding for companies across industries

Jenfi’s clients range from different online and offline businesses that are digitally-enabled. Regardless of industry, we want to present a fair stomping ground for SMEs and startups to flourish.

For digitally-enabled companies with stable revenue and active marketing, the Jenfi model is a quick and inexpensive way to fuel your business. Some of our data integration partners include Braintree, Stripe for Payment processors, Shopify for Merchant platforms, Quickbooks Online, Xero for Cloud-based accounting and Facebook advertising and Google Adwords for Digital marketing advertising.

Also Read: How can startups fundraise during a crisis

Since our launch last year, the average Jenfi client has experienced a significant amount of compounded growth over time (+26.5 per cent over three months, +60 per cent over six months and +156 per cent over 12 months). We believe our capital will help companies generate an incremental US$58 million in sales over 12 months, a 156 per cent increase from the aggregate sales now.

At Jenfi, we want to give ethical and eager businesses a fighting chance across industries. The next logical step is to deliver this model to unlock growth capital for tens of millions of underbanked businesses across Southeast Asia. 

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It is unlikely that we will go back to the traditional separation between restaurants, offices, healthcare, industrial, residential and retail.

The lines between work, home, entertainment, sports and education are blurring and the next 10 to 20 years will be all about finding a healthy balance in order to create a sustainable, liveable and smart environment.

Innovation of the real estate industry globally plays a critical role in this development, specifically in urban and suburban areas where a dense and demanding population continues to grow.

With some exceptions for areas that require a dedicated set-up such as industrial, logistics, data centres or high-end and special care residential, it is unlikely that we will go back to the traditional separation between restaurants, offices, healthcare, industrial, residential and retail.

An so, mixed-use real estate is here to stay which is an important conclusion for investors, entrepreneurs and other innovators!

The simplest definition of mixed-use development is a real estate development that contains multiple types of buildings — commercial, office, retail, and residential — all intended to coexist and ideally fill different needs and provide various benefits to the people who live and work therein.

Mixed-use real estate is not new, but COVID-19 is serving as a catalyst

Developers had set their minds on mixed-use real estate for the past decade or so with modest success as both supply and demand weren’t always ready.

However, as most fundamental changes are driven by trends that have been lingering around (most of them in clear sight) for many years. It simply takes a crisis such as a pandemic to speed up those processes of change and (re)match supply and demand.

Also Read: San Francisco’s Onerent to launch in Singapore despite uncertainty in the real estate industry

Over the past several years, industry leaders have been diversifying sources of revenue, pursuing digital strategies, and focusing on tenant experience. The COVID-19 crisis has accelerated the need for those strategic changes — and highlighted that those that haven’t yet made such investments will probably need to catch up quickly.

Key trends

To get the most out of the real estate market, an investor needs to spot trends before they become apparent to everyone.

The need for sustainability and efficient use of space due to population growth

Most of the following trends are driven by the global ongoing growth of our population. Governments and developers are continuously pushed to focus on the efficient use of land where a lot of people can live together in a sustainable way without compromising the quality of life.

Let’s have a look at several trends that will define the next few decades.

The downfall of traditional retail

Retailers and department stores that have failed to establish a successful omnichannel presence with diversified revenue are failing to attract consumers.

E-commerce is eating their revenue as it’s getting more convenient and sometimes cheaper to just stay home and get items delivered. The failing retailers are typically using traditional methods such as discounts and coupons to attract consumers, however, these methods are no longer working and insufficient new innovative concepts have been introduced.

A lot of retailers have been struggling for years where the current pandemic is now pushing them over the edge.

However, malls with mixed-use and strong (actively supporting retail tenants) managers will be able to continue and attract foot traffic as consumers simply have more reasons to visit and spend money.

Ongoing rise of housing prices

In most countries and popular cities, housing has become unaffordable and so unless the government steps in and organises proper public housing, most millennials will look for alternative solutions such as co-living or move to the cheaper suburbs.

Also Read: Has COVID-19 pushed us into the digital future?

The need to combine working from home and the office

Remote work was already growing in popularity before the pandemic. Now COVID-19 causes remote workers to make up an even larger share of the workforce. However, according to most recent research people prefer a balance between home and the office.

This in itself leads to a few trends that push for mixed-use real estate:

Millennials and offices are moving to the suburbs

We’ll see a migration away from major cities to more affordable, spacious hubs like the suburbs for both offices and workers as it’s no longer necessary to live and work in the expensive central areas. Offices can have more satellite locations where colleagues get together.

The demand for shorter commutes

2020 has shown us that much time can be saved by reducing commuting time leading to increased productivity. This again together with the move to suburbs will lead to the need for satellite offices that are close to home. We now live in a world in which we want to live-work-play in one place.

More governments are supporting mixed-use development

Singapore is a great example of a country that is leading the way when it comes to mixed-use development.

This is evident from the Singapore CBD Incentive Scheme that was being announced at the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) Draft Master Plan 2019. This is part of the plan to rejuvenate the city centre by encouraging building owners to convert existing office developments in the Central Business District (CBD) to mixed-use developments.

It is an effort to encompass the philosophy of Live, Work and Play into the lifestyle of hustling office workers.

With regards to residential development, the Singapore government has also been clear: Future residential precincts will continue to be sustainable, green, community-centric and car-lite, with easy access to a wide range of public spaces and amenities to meet residents’ needs.

Also Read: Why a pandemic is a good time to experiment and innovate on behalf of your customers

Co-locating amenities in one-stop hubs such as the upcoming Bukit Canberra and Punggol Town Hub in Singapore makes it easier for residents to shop, dine, and engage in family-bonding activities all under one roof.

Car-lite is becoming more and more popular

Fewer people own a car. Simply because of costs, traffic or the wish to reduce footprint. The result of this is that people are looking to have more facilities in the same place in order to reduce travel time between work, home, entertainment, sports and education.

Above trends are just a few of the driving forces that will cause the real estate market to fundamentally change towards a model where the majority of the (re)developments will focus on mixed-use.

It is safe to conclude that investors should aim to get exposure to well managed mixed-use properties or companies that focus on related innovation.

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After spending a considerable amount of time in China, Benny Chen, managing director of BAce Capital and ex-managing director of Ant Financial India, believes that there are similarities between Southeast Asia (SEA) and the country that can be leveraged upon.

At only 18 months old, as a VC fund that focuses on mobile-first markets in SEA, BAce Capital utilises its network and experience in China to help founders in emerging markets. The reason why this market is so attractive to Chen is because of the size of the opportunity it offers, in terms of innovation and size of the user population.

“Even though mobile phone technology, adoption has been largely prevailing in SEA, its depths and density still need a few more years to mature. There’s a huge opportunity to not just adopt but change customer behaviour,” Chen opines in an interview with e27.

For example, e-commerce’s increasing popularity can be seen in both SEA and China. In China, there is a growing trend of people buying and selling goods via live streaming platforms. Not that there are no live streaming apps in SEA and India, but the transaction amount of e-commerce via the live streaming platforms are much higher in comparison to other regions.

These are some models that, according to Chen, can be replicated in emerging markets.

And he was not alone in believing this. Other industry players such as Koh Tuck Lye, the chief executive of Shunwei Capital of Beijing, also asserts that the firm is “a strong believer that the China experience is much more relevant in India and Southeast Asia than the US experience.”

Also Read:  Blessing in disguise: How coronavirus is helping China’s tech sector

Speaking at the DealStreetAsia’s Private Equity/Venture Capital Summit in Jakarta, he further noted that the concept of a “super app” that is now so popular in Singapore and Indonesia with gojek and Grab was first pioneered by Tencent’s WeChat messenger app in China.

Learning from China

With that belief in mind, BAce helps its portfolio companies in emerging markets build from the success of business models in other successful markets, especially China.

“Thanks to our previous Alibaba backgrounds, we can utilise our network and experience to provide founders a different way of getting more information,” Chen says.

“Last December, we brought the CEO and founders of all 10 of our portfolio companies to China and hosted a big event where they were able to each interact with 200 Chinese companies. And vice versa. We also brought our China founders to Indonesia and India. So, you know, people tend to learn and exchange know-how from very different backgrounds,” he continues.

“As a VC, we are enablers, so we do our best to give them a platform to learn from. We give them a little bit of inside information through our own knowledge. But more importantly, create a platform where founders can see more what’s happening in similar successful markets.”

But Chen also makes sure that founders are not spoonfed. “We don’t mandate or dictate what is the right model. On the analysis side, we give them more information that they generally wouldn’t have access permitted to. And we enable them to communicate with the right people,” he shares.

Also Read: In brief: Temasek invests in China’s US$30M foodtech fund Bits x Bites

Currently, BAce Capital is investing in Singapore, Indonesia and India and has revealed plans to invest in Vietnam soon. Its focus is B2C mobile-first companies but remains largely sector agnostic.

Some of its portfolio companies include adtech startup AdOnMo, online printing platform Printerous, co-living startup RoomMe and female centred social media app Healofy.

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Image Credit: BAce Capital

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The pandemic threw the value of remote working solutions into sharp relief. It also strengthened the earnings of innovative video messaging app Zoom, causing it to be one of the most popular video conferencing solutions in April 2020.

In the last week of March, 3.2 million people downloaded the Zoom app, far outstripping the growth of seasoned players such as Microsoft Teams and Google Meet.

Zoom had arrived on the world stage, and everyone was fascinated. The meteoric rise to fame was impressive. The CEO, Eric Yuan, had a compelling story, but it wasn’t long before security flaws began to show.

Zoom’s 2020 rollercoaster ride had started. “Zoombombing” attacks, where internet trolls hijack a call, may have derailed a lesser player. In our case, Zoom went on to become even stronger.

Despite the potential security concerns, Zoom’s growth carried on unimpeded. As it becomes clear that COVID-19 is here to stay, well-built video chat solutions such as Zoom are useful tools.

According to Eric Yuan, Zoom’s revenue grew by 355 per cent between August of 2019 and July of 2020. Analysts predict a further 454 per cent growth in turnover between August 2020 and July 2021.

Is that a realistic prediction? At first glance, it isn’t, but let’s not count the company out just yet. Instead, let’s analyse how they got to where they are, what we can learn, and if their growth is sustainable. 

Also Read: In brief: Malaysia’s OSK Venture invests in Hubble; Zoom opens data centre in Singapore

How did it become so popular?

Yuan created Zoom as an alternative to lesser messaging apps available on the market. While these apps worked, Yuan felt that clients deserved better service. Thus, he created Zoom.

The app worked well, but convincing paid clients to come on board proved challenging. Here Yuan demonstrated his marketing genius. He reached out to organisations such as universities and offered the service for free. Many of which accepted.

Leading up to 2019, when Zoom issued its IPO, the company had a large client base. Users had the option to remain on the free plan. Many chose to upgrade because they’d seen the value of the service.

Therefore, lesson one is that a “try before you buy” offer might be crucial to a startup’s success.

By doing things this way, Zoom also built goodwill in the community. Consumer consciousness is shifting toward companies that display charitable tendencies. Microsoft and Google both followed Zoom’s example and provided more free features. 

Lesson two is that it’s better to set the trends rather than follow them.

The academic community raised concerns about scalability initially. Yuan created built-in contingencies to ensure that the company could cope with an influx of users. When lockdowns started in China, Yuan realised that significant change was inevitable.

Entering the pandemic

At that stage, no one realised that we were dealing with a pandemic. Zoom’s early response, however, may well have turned into a disaster for the firm. The company’s network is highly scalable and can handle as much as 100 times its regular traffic.

Also Read: Zoom in: 7 ways to make online meetings more interesting

With data centres in several countries on different continents, it’s easier to deal with the effects of a nationwide lockdown.

Lesson three is to plan ahead and put those plans in place early.

In March, it became clear that the contingency measures weren’t quite adequate. Free users had problems connecting, and clients flooded the company’s support desk with requests. This problem was common with many service providers due to the high numbers of users logging on simultaneously.

The Facebook scandal

In March of 2020, the news that Zoom sent user data to Facebook leaked. It didn’t matter if the user had a Facebook account or not; Zoom sent it through.

Yuan stepped forward with an apology and an explanation. The program that linked the two allowed Zoom users to login using their Facebook credentials. He went on to say that the firm did not send any data that might identify you personally.

The metadata that Zoom sent included things such as the type of your device, your time zone, your screen time, and your language. Zoom has since removed the programme.

Lesson four is to own up to mistakes and take concrete steps toward repairing the damage.

Zoom bombing and data security concerns

Zoom bombing is a relatively new phenomenon and might be attributable to mischief rather than an attempt to steal data. With zoom bombing, hackers gain access to a meeting and typically share sexually explicit videos. 

Yuan admits that he fails to see the logic in these attacks. The perpetrators have little, if anything, to gain from their actions. Yuan realised that it was short-sighted not to predict that people might abuse the technology.

In his defence, he developed the app for use by professionals. Businesses typically take better precautions when it comes to security.

Also Read: Zoom in: 7 ways to make online meetings more interesting

Yuan went on to say that Zoom had security features in place. Users can lock screens and request passwords to enter a meeting. He did admit that the company provided little information on how and why to use such features.

Since then, the company has changed its features to ensure better security.

Of more concern was Zoom’s early assertion that the tools were encrypted end-to-end. This claim was later proven untrue. Shortly after this revelation, Time published a piece in which it claimed that agents acting against the US’ interests were using Zoom to spy on other Zoom users.

The company’s share price sharply dropped by 20 per cent.

Lesson five is simple: don’t lie to your users and shareholders.

Yuan once again issued an apology and committed to shelving new feature development until the security measures were in order.

Are security concerns warranted?

Security concerns raised are warranted, but that’s true of any digital medium. To single Zoom out and label them unsafe is an interesting reaction. Particularly when you consider that Facebook has made far more “mistakes.”

Overall, Yuan seems to have the right attitude. He spoke about stripping cookies and tracking from the company’s website, increasing the reward for those who find bugs, requiring password protection for all meetings on the platform, and making the code available as open source software if necessary.

Paid clients using the service agree that the company is on the right track. Many didn’t fall prey to zoom bombers because they used the password protection features.  

Also Read: 10 mistakes that new entrepreneurs tend to make and should avoid in 2020

Zoom is a workable, well-designed application that’s a victim of the hype. Designed as a B2B communication system, Zoom blossomed into an app used by almost everyone due to circumstances.

The brand has made mistakes along the way, but they’ve worked hard to rectify those. They’re willing to acknowledge errors and put forward solutions that show a dedication to customer service.

The result is a company journey that startups can learn from and a ride that is far from over. Is Zoom’s growth sustainable? It certainly seems so. 

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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.

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Singapore’s leading seed-stage VC firm KK Fund has announced a partnership with the Singapore arm of Industrial Growth Platform (IGPI), one of Japan’s largest management consultancy firms.

The partnership is aimed at facilitating the creation of new businesses by large corporations in Southeast Asia by combining the consultancy firm’s expertise in corporate transformation (CX) with the VC firm’s knowledge in growing startups.

As part of this, KK Fund and IGPI will co-launch an accelerator programme, SEA Point, for multinational companies (MNCs) to collaborate with regional startups and conglomerates on creating businesses.

Also Read: The secret is out: The missing piece that will boost your corporate innovation strategy

“There are many accelerator programmes for startups in Southeast Asia, but there are none for bigger companies who want to invest in new businesses or create their own startups for vertical integration purposes, especially in new markets,” said Koichi Saito, General Partner of KK Fund. 

“With SEA Point, we are able to reinvent the idea of the startup ecosystem from being top-down to being more collaborative on multiple levels,” he added.

Southeast Asia, home to some of the world’s fastest-growing economies, is an immense emerging market that has attracted significant investment in the last decade. The region has over 70 million small and medium-sized enterprises and 30 per cent of the world’s top startup ecosystems.

With the Southeast Asian Internet economy expected to hit US$300 billion by 2025, the region is a focal point for international business expansion and provides many cross-industry opportunities for collaboration and growth – specifically in terms of social infrastructure development and SME consolidation.

“We are increasingly seeing enterprises becoming active partners in and even establishing small companies of their own to service new markets — particularly in Southeast Asia, which is a very competitive market. Some may create their own branches while others may look for local partners to set up a joint venture,” said Koki Sakata, CEO of IGPI Singapore.

“Their approach to creating new businesses must be different from typical small, agile startup teams, which is why we are pleased to collaborate with KK Fund in supporting these large corporations and create a more diversified ecosystem,” he remarked.

Also Read: PolicyStreet raises US$1.8M from KK Fund, Spiral Ventures to grow its millennial-centred insurance platform

Since its establishment in 2015, KK Fund has invested in over 20 mobility and internet-related firms in Southeast Asia across a wide range of industries, such as fintech, logistics and healthcare. The names include Infofed, a Thailand e-sports community hub; Med247, a Vietnam-based O2O platform addressing post healthcare treatment; and Policy Street, a Malaysian insurtech startup.

In Q1 2020, the firm collaborated with public and private ecosystem players to launch its Meet Your Match initiative across seven Southeast Asian countries, which saw over 130 investors virtually meeting promising startups in each country. 

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Should startups begin with an exit in mind?

There are different ways of looking at this question. When founders present their companies and have a fully fleshed-out exit strategy, it might spook investors.

At the early stage of your startup, it’s nearly impossible to construct an exit strategy. At a time when you’re still figuring out product-market fit, user retention, product roadmap and other vital parts of the business, considering an exit strategy is premature.

Also Read: Become the entrepreneur you dream to be in 11 sessions

Investors want founders to focus on building their business and adding value with the least distraction possible. The saying goes that any strong company can fundraise (or exit). An exit event is an important milestone for a company. It doesn’t necessarily mean a departure for the founder.  

When and how to exit

The timing and exit strategy are crucial to maximising the returns of the VC firms and founders.

In reality, there’s no definitively optimal time to exit. As the future business circumstances are not set in stone and are extremely difficult to plan out, an exit is more a matter of the reasons to exit and in which circumstances the startup is ready to do so.

The first myth is that startups’ original exit plans come to fruition. There are too many unforeseen situations to predict what an exit will look like five or seven years later.

Also Read: GFC-backed Klikdaily plans to launch IPO in 3 years

The reality of when to exit needs to be supported by how to exit. Founders and shareholders can explore several avenues, but what is more important is to make sure incentives align across all parties.

The technicalities of an exit will differ from case to case, but there are a few similarities.

The most important one is getting the house in order. It doesn’t matter whether you’re preparing for an exit or a late-stage fundraising round — on both occasions, you want to make sure the company’s house is in order. 

(1) Are all the financial reports up-to-date and audited? (Acquirers want to review audited numbers. In the case the numbers are unaudited, the company needs to present clear arguments on why that is the case). 

(2) Are all the company procedures in place and documented? 

(3) What is the financial forecast based on historical financial results? 

(4) What is the outlook for the company, product and market roadmap? 

(5) What are the exit scenarios for all founders, staff and shareholders? In case of an earn-out, are incentives aligned?  

IPOs and Southeast Asia

The holy grail of exits is an IPO, but in Southeast Asia (SEA), acquisitions make up the vast majority of exits. The rise of unicorns explains this.

SEA’s unicorns yield buying power, which has increased the opportunity for smaller startups to be acquired by them.

As many as 28 acquisitions have been made by SEA’s unicorns from 2015 to 2020. This number will increase over the next few years as more capital is coming to the region. 

Also Read: 5 things entrepreneurs need to know about running a business in the new normal

On top of the obvious rise of unicorns in SEA, the most overlooked yet pivotal circumstances that make exits possible are the startup support from stock exchanges and the first SEA funds currently reaching their vintage.

Both the US and local stock exchanges have programmes that establish SEA startups’ impetus to list on the respective exchanges.

For instance, NASDAQ has established a collaborative listings agreement with SGX to help startups eventually list on the former. With the success of Sea Group IPO, it’s clear that US Stock Exchanges offer an exit route.

And what about the local and regional exchanges? Up until now, local exchanges haven’t played a big part in tech IPOs. We do see an opportunity for SEA-based startups to consider Hong Kong and, in some cases, Japan for an IPO. These markets have growing liquidity for tech IPOs. 

An important driver for future exits is Southeast Asian VC funds approaching their maturity. With most major funds incepted in the early 2010s, funds across SEA are looking to generate a return on their investments before closing their first funds.

Also Read: What does Peter Thiel-backed Bridgetown’s IPO mean for SEA’s startup ecosystem?

By nature, they will make an effort to either locate acquirers for portfolio companies or, if appropriate, initiate secondary transactions. No matter how favourable the circumstances to exit are, many startups aren’t ready.

The number of companies in SEA valued over US$100 million is growing each year. We’re bullish on the exit landscape maturing at a fast pace.

Besides regional unicorns, more international companies are looking to increase their SEA exposure through funding and later on acquisitions. 

(Timo Fukar, an investment intern at Golden Gate Ventures, also contributed to this piece)

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Photo by DDPon Unsplash

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Intro

My experience with my brother in Panama was amazing, until my concussion that is. After being fired from my job in China, I was shocked and confused. I had spent 10 months working my ass off to develop the HR management system, teacher training programme, and curated a massive library of thousands of pieces of educational content our teachers could quickly access from a local network I set up. And my thanks for making the private school a better place to work and study was getting the boot without a second thought. The sad part was, the owner (my boss) was an American like myself. So much for Americans sticking together. But I digress, let’s get to the lesson I learned.

The lesson

When the accident happened, I blacked out. During that precious minute, I could have been run over by a car that wasn’t paying attention. I could have broken bones, been paralysed, brain damaged, or even dead.

But, none of that happened. Even though it took me a year and a half, to quote, “fully recover.” I’ve never felt like the same person in that my personality changed. It was almost instantly noticeable, probably due to the hard-hit I sustained. Even my mom remarked on it as soon as I returned to the US a few days after the accident.

Despite all this, I feel like the accident made me a more patient, calm, considerate, and generous person. I was determined to make sure I didn’t waste my second chance at life. From that point in time moving forward, I was going to focus only on how to improve myself so I could do the thing I’ve wanted to do my whole life: help others find their passions.

Also Read: Podcast: Doing these 4 things will immediately make you happy

I feel like Panama completely challenged my understanding of life and the world, and made me become more focused and passionate about the things I love. My accident taught me that life is short, and even if we are enjoying our life, we could die at any time, so we must make sure we not only enjoy life, but plan for our future, and don’t forget to tell others we love them. I now tell friends I love them (if I do), and I am more much affectionate with people because we need love and support in our lives to be happy. I know it’s hard for some people to be so direct with their feelings, but I hope one day you’ll come to realise that love and emotions are a wonderful thing to be shared with others, not something to be hidden and kept to yourself.

Life is long and hard, and mostly unfair, but that doesn’t mean we can’t strive to be better humans and treat others with kindness because we don’t know what they are going through. Think about your parents or your grandparents. Call them, maybe they feel lonely because you’re not living with them anymore. Call that friend, don’t text, CALL! Call them, hear their voices, do a video call, meet them face to face if you can.

I know during this time with the virus, it’s hard to meet people, but do your best to rekindle those connections and allow people to feel your love, because what you’ll get back is their love, too. What I know of humanity is that we all crave to be loved and accepted. And remember, entrepreneurship is a marathon, not a sprint.

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This article was first published on We Live To Build.

Image Credit: Michal Czyz on Unsplash

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Global multi-stage VC firm Lightspeed Venture Partners has announced the launch of the third edition of Extreme Entrepreneurs (EE), a learning programme designed to train budding high potential founders hungry to build market-leading businesses.

Launched in 2018 with a mission to nurture industry-disrupting founders and companies, EE takes neither equity nor does it collect fees for the programme.

The sole selection criteria for the participants is whether the founders will benefit from, and make the most of, the programme.

Also Read: Lightspeed Venture Partners raises maiden India fund of US$135M

EE3.o will see two cohorts participate annually in the six-week-long programme. Expanding on previous editions, the new edition will involve startups across Southeast Asia and India and it will be fully remote.

As part of the programme, the founders can look forward to masterclasses with mentors for insights into building successful businesses. Past mentors include Max Levchin (co-founder of PayPal and Affirm), Alex Chung (co-founder of Giphy) and John Thompson (Chairman of Microsoft).

Additionally, they can anticipate honest but constructive business feedback from Lightspeed investors and clinics to hone their skills across areas such as marketing and product design.

Also Read: Lightspeed opens Singapore office to ramp up investments in SEA

“EE takes your blinkers off; it inspires founders to dream bigger and illuminates new ways of thinking, in addition to opening minds to new possibilities,” said Vaibhav Agrawal, Partner at Lightspeed.

“When founders ‘feel’ and ‘see’ differently, it automatically changes the trajectory of their businesses,  just like how Raghu, Jaya Kishore and Rashid – founders of Yellow Messenger who participated in EE2018 – have executed their business’s growth after joining the programme,” he added.

EE.3.0 will run live every Tuesday and allow founders to learn alongside running their startups. Applications for the programme, which will start in  January 2021, are now open. 

Entries for EE 3.0 are now live at https://ee.lsvp.com. 

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Photo by Proxyclick Visitor Management System on Unsplash

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Ant Group’s much-awaited stock market debut received a huge blow after the Chinese market regulators surprisingly suspended it at the last minute.

The group, which spun out of Alibaba in 2010, was anticipating a record US$34.5 billion debut on the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) and the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (SEHK).

The suspension came as a shock for many as Ant has long been seen as a champion of China’s economy.

Also Read: What Ant Group’s upcoming IPO means for the Southeast Asian startup ecosystem

As per several reports, the plug was pulled on the IPO due to regulatory changes in the fintech space and “possible failure to meet disclosure requirements” by Ant. Its founder Jack Ma’s public criticism last month of financial regulations as stifling innovation could also have acted as a trigger.

e27 spoke to several industry experts in Southeast Asia to know how they look at the overall episode. They all agree that this will send a wrong signal to the investor world out there.

“The suspension demonstrates the depth of complexity of investing in China,” according to Chia Jeng Yang, Principal at Singapore-based VC firm Saison Capital.

“While investors around the world have a lot to learn about the rich Chinese fintech (or techfin) ecosystem, understanding the regulatory and political undercurrents is still an important dimension to being part of the country’s fintech story. As a general lesson, being able to navigate through the developing regulatory frameworks remains an important cornerstone, especially for fintechs in emerging markets,” he says.

For Jasmine Ng, former CEO of Razer Fintech, the decision is a definite blow to investor confidence in Chinese-listed stocks.

“That a regulatory body can allow it to go this far before it pulls the plugs is a huge concern and plays a big impact on investor confidence. I believe moving forward, there needs to be greater transparency to processes before investor confidence can be fully reinstated,” she comments.

The move is unlikely to make an impact on the fintech sector in China, opines Dave Ng, General Partner of Singapore-based new VC firm Altara Ventures. “But what is more important is the potential perception on the Chinese capital market and exchanges instead.”

Also Read: Should you start a business with exit in mind?

When any company plans to go public, there is a lot of preparation and co-ordination required among the different stakeholders, including the management, regulators, relevant authorities, securities exchange and investors. It is a comprehensive process. Hence, when an IPO gets delayed, it will to a certain extent reflect upon the various parties involved.

“In a landmark IPO such as Ant Financials, you can imagine that a lot of work has been done and continues to happen in the backdrop. The temporary setback is such that market participants, especially the international community, will ask if China’s system is ready and comparable to the NYSE or NASDAQ, which I think it is,” he observes. “Even though the Ant IPO is delayed, it could likely take place by Q1 next year.”

“In the meantime, as the various parties work out the kink, it will actually make the eventual process and outcome stronger. That will be the bright spot to look forward to when the IPO does happen,” he concludes.

Ma wanted Ant to be seen as a technology company that closely works with financial institutions and he envisioned less regulations and more freedom under the Chinese laws for the group.

However, as the company grew exponentially, Chinese financial regulators began to feel that its business model of connecting lenders and borrowers should be closely monitored.

Also Read: Koh Boon Hwee-backed US$100M+ VC fund Altara Ventures to invest in 20-25 firms in SEA

“The whole perception of China’s fintech market won’t change because it has never been a free market to begin with,” says Sergei Filippov, Managing Partner, Morphosis Capital Partners. “Fintech is closely regulated and monitored in every leading country, including China. In all these countries, financial services companies want to be seen as technology firms to enjoy less regulatory oversight.”

He further adds that the IPO halting is a warning for high-level entrepreneurs that every private company should follow the rules of the game and it’s not businesses that set rules in China.

“Business and politics have always been deeply intertwined in China. Additionally, President Xi Jinping is extremely concerned about the safety and stability of China’s financial system, and loosening the control over the Ant lending platform would be seen as a direct risk,” Filippov concludes.

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Image Credit: Alipay

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