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.

I saw this great video from my friend’s blog – Sybreon Ones Nought. I find it very true and want to share it.

There are some things success is not.
Its not fame.
Its not money or power.
Success is waking up in the morning so excited about what you have to do that you literally fly out the door.
Its getting to work with people you love.
Success is connecting with the world and making people feel. Its finding a way to bind together people who have nothing in common but a dream.
Its falling asleep at night knowing you did the best job you could.
Success is joy and freedom and friendship.
And success is Love.

This are all important points for you to consider when you want to venture to business. Many entrepreneurs are successful because they love what they do. They are fulfilled and enjoy all the work that comes along with the business.

Are you excited with what you are doing?

Quite some time back, I wrote about some resources that Malaysian entrepreneur can check out to get their idea started. Cradle Funds had just launched its new commercialisation grant (RM 500k) to assist entrepreneurs in their ventures. Cradle has 2 grants, one for product development and one for commercialisation. With these 2 funds, Cradle had helped fill some of the gap in the funding ecosystem in Malaysia.

From what i understand, Cradle is keen to fund ideas/business that has technological innovation + potential to make money.So entrepreneurs “want-to-be”, check out the Cradle website to see how you can tap into it to kick start your ideas

Product Development Grants (CIP 150)

Commercialisation Grant (CIP500)

I did not realized that there is a National IP day in Malaysia. Pardon my ignorance ya. Here’s some information about the event.

Each year, 26 April marks the day we celebrate National Intellectual Property Day. The IP Day offers an ideal opportunity to inform, educate and promote the importance of intellectual property (IP) as a tool for economic, social and cultural development.

IP represents the product of our mind or intellect. However, without encouragement, many great innovations might have remained merely ideas.

Therefore, join us in strengthening our IP awareness efforts by participating in all our events

There is also an invention competition for students. Check it out, you might stand a chance to win RM5k for your efforts

Check out the National IP day Invention Competition