What is a good business idea? Before answering the question, What is a good business idea? Let me ask you this question, do you need a good business idea to start your business? A long time back, my MBA professor once told me that...
Budgeting for Cradle pre-seed grant I’ve been meaning to write more about the entrepreneur scene in Malaysia, but I just can’t seems to find the time to do that. But I would like to share with any budding entrepreneurs that wants to...
Budgeting for Cradle pre-seed grant I’ve been meaning to write more about the entrepreneur scene in Malaysia, but I just can’t seems to find the time to do that. But I would like to share with any budding entrepreneurs that wants to...
Is Friendster better off with MOL?
In the last post, i had talked about losing mind share in US. However, Friendster is still very strong in Asia, especially in Malaysia and Philippines. Friendster is the #11 site in Malaysia and #6...
Friendster is losing mind share in the US – Try searching...
Friendster is now Malaysian. Malaysia’s MOL has just bought Friendster a couple of weeks back for an undisclosed sum. It was rumored to be at the region of USD 26 million, a large sum of money considering...
I have been in the tech circle and the entrepreneurship circle for a number of years in Malaysia. I have always regard Silicon Valley as a very special place, some sort of Mecca for entrepreneurs. My visit there was a mind boggling experience and it is a place where i would like to stay longer. Maybe to do a start-up of my own
After being there, talking to VCs, angel investors and visiting the tech giants around. I came into one conclusion. IMHO, Malaysia with its plans to emulate Silicon Valley has still a long way to go. Silicon Valley is special because of the soft aspect – people. Not its infrastructure, it is something that more Government officials need to realise.
While I like to take credit for the insights I have presented, but really, I got most of my material and insights from this great book “Presentation Zen”. This book will change the way you think about making presentations with PowerPoint. It has help me along the path to simpler, more effective presentations.I’m sure you will find it useful too.
These days whenever I have free time, I will browse through all the interesting TED talk to get some inspiration. I have seen this video before but it still does inspire me. While Bono did not talk about entrepreneurship per say, but his changing the world attitude is one that any individual can learn from.
I am particular intrigue with one particular quote in the video.
Idealism detached from action is just a dream.
Don’t wait for the ideal business plan to come out. Don’t want for the the ideal partners to start. Entrepreneurs wannabe should start taking small little steps to kick start their venture (Writing business plans do not count). Go talk to prospective customers, start building the site. Do something purposeful. Because, when everything is certain, someone has already made their millions. NOT you.
I was browsing through TED’s video and found this video of Malcolm Gladwell’s talk. Being a fan of Malcolm Gladwell writings (I have all his books), I want to see what insights he has to share.
He did not disappoint. His talk was titled “What can we learn from spaghetti sauce”. It tells a tale of how the food industry was obsessed in finding the “perfect” sauce and how a man came to change the industry’s view.
I find his delivery to be engaging and funny at times. but more importantly within his speech there are underlying insights that every entrepreneurs can learn from:
Making complex things simple to understand
This lesson was not in the content of his talk but on how they way he delivers the talk. He manage to explain what can be a boring academic research into something easy to understand. His usage of analogies and his story telling style of presenting kept me captivated. This skill is very important especially to entrepreneurs who wants to pitch for funding.
I’ve been into many pitching sessions where entrepreneurs either bore the judges to death or confusing the judges with too many jargons. What they should do is to relate the product offerings to something that the audiences can relate to. Telling a story the problems a consumer/user face and how your product can solve it is a better pitch.
Ask the right questions
No matter how efficient a person digs, there is no way he will find treasure if he’s digging at the wrong place. Asking the right questions is akin to providing the right solution. In the talk, the food industry was asking the wrong question all along, wasting millions of dollars in producing products that does not fulfill people’s need. Having a rebel attitude that challenges the core belief and status quo might just create the right solution to an underlying problem.
Consumers do not know what they want
Revolutionary product that creates new market do not come from market research and focus groups. Consumer just do not know what they want. Think of the IPhone. What do you think the answer would be , if a consumer was asked whether he/she would like to buy a phone that has no multi-tasking, no copy & paste for a premium price?
If people were to survey on whether I would want to buy a tablet that acts almost like the IPhone, I would say no. But now I’m happily proven wrong as I can’t keep my hands off my IPad.
If anyone were to ask me a couple of years back whether I’ll become an author, I will most probably laugh until my stomach ache. But, things really work unexpectedly, in early 2010 I was actually working on a book on Social Media.
When I was tapping Oon Yeoh’s brains on social media for my MBA dissertation, he asked me whether I would like to write a book about Facebook and Twitter with him. Even though I don’t see myself as an author and have no experience doing it, I jumped at the opportunity as it seems to be a fun thing to do.
So that’s the start of an exciting and hectic journey especially with Facebook ever changing features and user interface. Finally on July 2010, the book “Like Me, Follow Me” was in MPH stores.
I learnt a lot from the experience and even got an interview slot in BFM with Oon Yeoh. Check out the podcast attached. If I sound nervous in the podcast, it is because I really am.
P.S: I was hysterical when the book was in the 2nd place of local best sellers (non-fiction, Aug 2010).
I was at echelon 2010 in Singapore and attended the Dave McClure’s keynote presentation where Dave McClure shared his thoughts on the future of internet start-ups (which is getting better and better) and why large VCs are not suitable for internet start-ups. Here are his slides.
The most intriguing points about his presentation are what an entrepreneur should avoid and focus on in his/her venture. Here are good points that I’ve picked up:
Design and marketing skills are often lacking – Hire someone if your team do not have the skills.
Focus on user experience and distributing your product/services
Less is more – Focus on what your customer wants and use that as a basis to get feedback.
Early market validation – don’t wait for a year before you introduce your product to your customer.
Frequent customer feedback – have short development cycle to get frequent customer feedback
The detailed summary of the presentation is published here.
A friend of mine, Bugs Tan has a great way for inventors and entrepreneurs to evaluate good business ideas. Bugs Tan is an award winning inventor who is very passionate in the field of innovation and entrepreneurship.
Based on his experience, he came out with a practical series of questions to help entrepreneurs and inventors to evaluate their ideas. I like these questions as it provides a very good perspective on how an entrepreneur should review the viability of their idea.
An effort by Microsoft to promote Office 2010 movie style. So far so good, its the top 5 viral video for the past 24 hours (as at 10 July 09 by Unruly Media) with 66,000 views and 112 blog post.
Read a insightful survey that I found on the net about a study about Malaysian’s Gen Y(millennials) workforce by PwC. This reports summarize the “turn-ons” and “turn-offs” of a Malaysian Gen-Y worker. This report provides some clues on how a manager especially from the Gen-X and Baby Boomer era should manage a Gen-Y worker.
After reading it, I find that this report is also very useful for any marketer who wants to sell to Gen-Ys. Like it or not, Gen-Ys are going to contribute the bulk of consumer spending in the near future. Understanding what they turn them on is key for any marketer.
I compile some of the highlights of the report but to read more click here to Download survey
Highlights of a Global Gen-Y Worker
Consistency gets stale. They want mobility throughout their career lifetime, preferably involving overseas stints.
Job-hopping is overrated. Debunking the portfolio careers myth, our Gen Y will remain loyal to their employer – as long as they feel fulfilled in their role, that is.
Green is in. Issues of sustainability and climate change are of major concern, and will affect their career choices.
Can’t live without gadgets. They’ve grown up with technology – it is part and parcel of their lives, which includes the work they do for a living.
The term work-life balance is passe. Employers can’t just encourage a balance but should provide the means for this balance through more flexible work hours.
Respect my space, please. The Gen Y maintain clear separation between their work and personal lives, and are unwilling to share too much personal information with their employers.
Coaching welcomed here. They prefer on-the-job development rather than formalised training, especially working with strong coaches and mentors.
Cash is king. When it comes to benefits, cash bonuses are valued higher than training and development.
We are all made the same. They believe in gender equality, where they and their partners will contribute an equal amount of financial support for their households.
I rely on me. They will take personal responsibility for funding their retirement
The key findings reflect the views and opinions of our Malaysian Gen-Y worker, which for the most part mirror that of their global counterparts:
The majority hope to experience work life overseas – 88% expressed the desire to work abroad.
Corporate responsibility (CR) plays a big role for millennials in their choice of employer with 86% choosing employers with similar corporate responsibility values and 77% stating they would leave an employer whose values no longer matched their expectations.
Strong coaches and mentors are key to development – 98% of the respondents stated working with strong coaches and mentors was important to their personal development.
65% indicated that they plan to self-fund their retirement while only 22% expected their retirement to be funded by their employers’ retirement scheme.
68% of millennials believe that by 2020, China, Russia and India will have more economic influence than Europe and the USA.
Job hopping in a portfolio working arrangement is not likely. 86% of millennials believe they will only have between two and five employers and only 3% believe they will have 10 or more employers
Our millennials are hoping for a shift from traditional Asian work practices. 58% expect to work traditional work hours with some flexible hours and 57% selected flexi-hours as the most highly valued employee benefit.
Our millennials value privacy – only 29% are willing to share more personal information with their employers.
Cash is king for millennials – 49% value cash bonuses as one of the most preferred employee benefits.
Our millennials are on the fence on the current Malaysian economic health. However, almost three-quarters (72%) feel that the global economy is worse off.
They believe in gender equality. Two-thirds (66%) believe that they and their partners will contribute an equal amount of financial support to support the household.
