MindMeister.com – Sharing Your Mind(Maps)

-

September 29, 2008

Being called a blobber doesn’t sound particularly flattering, but that doesn’t seem to bother the more than 70,000-strong community on Ideablob.com. The small business owners and entrepreneurs on the site are simply glad to find a place where they can share feedback and advice, bounce ideas off each other, and generally encourage one other along. There’s also an added incentive: Every month, the community votes on the best idea and the winner gets to walk away with US$10,000 to help their idea grow.

Started in 2007, Ideablob.com was the brainchild of Advanta Corp‘s Chief Innovation Officer, Ami Kassar. He was at the Kinnernet conference in Israel and chanced upon an animation from a young Israeli artist, Michal Levy. “I was blown away by her work. I thought to myself, if she had a place to bring her ideas and work to the masses, a place where she could find just a little bit of support and some capital, she would take off. That’s when Ideablob really took root,” says Kassar. Today Michal heads the creative marketing team at the Draper, Utah-based Advanta.

Ideablob currently has over 4,000 ideas contributed by small business owners and entrepreneurs from all over the U.S. Each idea gets an average of four comments or other forms of feedback. Its membership is growing at a rate of around 13 per cent every month.

Kassar denies that Ideablob is a commercial tactic to tap on the potentially lucrative small business and youth market, and to position credit as an option for entrepreneurs raising funds for their venture. “Ideablob is about helping entrepreneurs. I’m lucky to work for CEO that sees the value of Ideablob not as a way to tap into the youth market, but as a real tool that entrepreneurs can use,” he insists. “If people become more aware of Advanta through their Ideablob experience that would be fine, but that’s not what drives our efforts.”

Regardless of its intent, the response to Ideablob has been, in Kassar’s own words, ‘awesome’ and ‘remarkably well-received’. The site even won the People’s Choice Award at DEMO in 2007. Advanta has given US$10,000 each to 11 deserving winners to date. One of the most recent winners, Jessica Rauch of Michigan, proposed The Generation Project to revolutionise educational philanthropy by allowing community members to share their personal passions with K-12 students in low-income areas. Rauch is but one of thousands of “blobbers” who thrive on sharing, creating and supporting ideas.

“As I travel the country, it is really satisfying to meet people at conferences or small events that we host. They all have different stories of how they were able to connect and grow their idea through their experience on Ideablob,” says Kassar. “I just learned that a past finalist just sold his idea for $20,000.” Other blobbers talk about gaining more exposure, clients and support.

“It’s very cool to be a part of helping entrepreneurs connect and grow their businesses.” They are continually looking to refine and grow the site, although there are no plans to extend Ideablob worldwide.

“I would like to see small businesses owners more easily achieve their goals. That is really my focus. Starting and running a small business is a tremendously hard and rocky road. At the same time, small businesses are truly the heart of our economy,” muses Kassar. “Ideablob is meant for those people.”

“Only a few will win the contest, but it is so much more than that. It’s about getting feedback, advice and exposure for your business or idea. If ideablob makes it a little easier for entrepreneurs to succeed, I won’t rest on that, but I’ll know we’re moving in the right direction,” Kassar adds.

Kassar spearheads not only Ideablob, but also Advanta‘s KivaB4B project, an initiative which encourages small businesses owners in the U.S. to support entrepreneurs in developing countries through online micro loans lender Kiva.org. He says he is constantly mulling over their next big project.

“Ideablob is just the beginning.”

Claytorial – Turn Your Ideas Into Clay

By

-

September 26, 2008

When newly-launched mobile services startup Tagga.com was looking for a way to explain its text messaging services to customers and investors, it turned to fellow Vancouver-based Invoke Media for advice.

Tagga.com described their concept and used big, scary words like ‘mobile bookmarking’, ‘optimised microsites’ and ‘white label sms campaigns’. The folks from Invoke Media understood them — but the creatives also knew that some consumers would not, and so made them a Claytorial.

clay example

A Claytorial is an animated video that uses colourful clay shapes to tell a story. It’s a simple, visual way to explain complicated ideas and in Tagga.com‘s case, it turned out to be a perfect communications vehicle. Check out Tagga.com’s Claytorial.

“Invoke‘s Claytorial generated a tremendous amount of organic traffic and PR for Tagga.com. Invoke‘s creative team really helped us to distill our message and create a fun and clear method to communicate our business to a broad audience. We use the Claytorial to explain what Tagga.com is all about to new site visitors, potential partners, customers and financiers,” says Tagga.com‘s CEO, Amielle Lake.

“More often than not, we are asked, ‘Who made this for you?’!”

Claytorial is not a free service, however: the duration of the video and the quantity of animations effect the end price of the project. But if you’re looking for a simple yet fun way to communicate your product, idea or service, you could do worse than to turn them into clay.

Singapore Best Place For Starting A Business – Again

By

-

September 23, 2008

The World Bank’s “Doing Business 2008: Comparing Regulations in 178 Economies” ranked Singapore as the No.1 country for doing business for the second year running. Singapore topped the charts for indicators such as “Ease of Doing Business”, “Employing Workers” and “Trading Across Borders”, as well as coming in 2nd for “Dealing With Construction Permits”, “Protecting Investors” and “Closing A Business”.

An interesting fact – In 2008, Singapore had 13 registered businesses per 100 people.

Hibernater Announces Beta Trials

By

-

September 18, 2008

Local startup Hibernater today announced the beta launch of its virtual service which allows users to save and resume work profiles at any computer with just one click.

Those who’d like to try the service can register their interest by emailing invitation at hibernater dot com for invites.

It currently supports IE and Firefox 3 on Windows platforms but not OS X.

LeadVine.com – Sharing Leads Made Easy

By

-

September 16, 2008

Sometimes it pays to talk to your competitors. In Allan Margate’s case, talking to his competitor led to them founding LeadVine.com together.

In 2002, Allan Margate, the founder of WageExchange.com, was tired of cold calling customers without any success for the accounting temp agency he had started. One day his business partner Bobby got a lead through a contact about a company who needed accounting help. They landed the client, and paid their contact a 20 per-cent cut in finders fees. Another contact Bobby met at a barbeque got them even more business. They gave that contact a 10 per-cent fee. Altogether Bobby and Allan gave out more than $25,000 in finders fees to contacts who had the right information on sales leads at the right time. Allan realized they were on to something, but he couldn’t figure out the specifics to facilitate transactions and work out a suitable business model.

Four years later, the emergence of suitable web technologies enabled Allan to put a business model together. “I thought of the idea for LeadVine in 2002 but was not serious about starting the site until 2006,” Allan said. “I contacted several friends and acquaintances to help me build the web site but I could not find anyone who was interested.”

Desperate, he decided to take the unprecedented step of cold emailing a competitor of WageExchange.com for help. Ben Thomas was the founder of SalaryScout.com and someone whom he had never met. “(But) I always liked his site’s user interface.”

Allan and Ben soon learned that they had a lot in common. Both were Sarbanes Oxley auditors, both started a salary website, both loved starting companies, and both enjoyed photography. Ben liked the idea of helping companies easily find qualified sales leads and helping people with information make easy money, and the two competitors quickly became allies.

Of course, since they’ve never met each other it did take them a while to get to know each other and discuss the specifics of the company. After a year of work the site went live. “Our greatest success is being able to work together and execute our business plan. We were complete strangers who never met but due to the love of creating something new and belief in our business plan, we were able to succeed.”

LeadVine lets anyone post a sales lead you are looking for, list a referral fee, and then basically let the community act as an extended sales force. Allan shares how the site help make the sales process more efficient. “Every day there are people who come across sales leads but do nothing with that information. LeadVine changes that by making that information valuable to someone else,” he said.

Allan and Ben plan to grow the site by working on our marketing, increasing its membership, and slowly releasing improvements. “Right now we are thinking about future improvements. Our challenges have been to clearly and concisely explain the concept of our site because it is a relatively new idea, get the word out about LeadVine, and to increase our web traffic.”

For more information, contact Allan at allan at leadvine dot com.

Guest Blogger Finder – Bloggers Finding Bloggers

By

-

September 15, 2008

Tom Schmitz recently dropped me an email to announce his newly launched Guest Blogger Finder, a directory or database that matches bloggers with guest blogging opportunities. Not sure what that means? Essentially it is a free service that matches bloggers with blogging opportunities, and designed to help people find talented bloggers that readers want to read.

There are two aspects to Guest Blogger Finder. If you’re a blogger looking for blogging opportunities, you can sign up as a guest blogger and join the email list of writers. On the other hand if you’re looking for guest bloggers, you sign up with guest blogging opportunities to submit an opportunity to be added to the email blast. Tom emails available opportunities periodically to the guest blogger database.

“I started Guest Blogger Finder after trading a couple emails with Peter Shankman of Help a Reporter Out. Being a social media consultant, I know that lots of people want to include guest blogging on their own sites but are not sure how to reach beyond their personal networks to find experts. I realized that the HARO model could help,” Tom explains.

Personally, I think that Help a Reporter Out is a lot useful than Guest Blogger Finder. Maybe it’s my PR background, but I reckon there are far more reporters and publicists trying to reach one another as opposed to bloggers looking for opportunities (or vice versa). This tedious manual process can also be simplified by some talented code monkey, making the search for guest bloggers or blogging opportunities a lot easier.

However if you’re looking out for bloggers or blogging opportunities, do check it out.

To find out more, do contact Tom at tom at guestbloggerfinder dot com.

When Crowdsourcing Goes Wrong – Stylis? Connexis?

By

-

September 12, 2008

fusionopolis

Fusionopolis

Crowdsourcing, a term first coined by Jeff Howe in a Wired magazine article in June 2006, describes the trend of leveraging the masses to do something that was traditionally done in-house by a business or outsourced to contractors. It’s a favourite if tired buzzword, still often used by journalists and writers when waxing lyrical on how businesses can take advantage of new Web 2.0 technologies to solicit ideas and opinions.

Crowdsourcing can be a tremendously useful way to engage a greater audience. Not only can they help you to define your product or service, in many cases it can even help you drive down business costs. The Wired magazine article gave a great example of how a museum chose to purchase stock photos taken by amateurs instead of going for ones taken by a professional, thereby saving hundreds if not thousands of dollars.

But it can also go horribly wrong.

Recently JTC Corporation ran a nationwide competition to name 10 new buildings in Fusionopolis, a site identified as Singapore’s key science, technology and media hub. Entries would be judged by a panel of six experts from education, media and other industries.

This is the shockingly poor result. A building called Connexis? Stylis? Symbiosis? If these were supposedly the best of the lot, either the judges were drugged out or the quality of entries had been disastrously poor. Ironic, considering all the innovation and creativity that is expected to ooze of out the high-tech hub.

It’s perfectly fine to solicit feedback from the public, and I’m all for competitions. The greater issue here is the impact on branding. These ten buildings are going to last many decades, and unfortunately now they’re saddled with names that are unpronounceable and meaningless to most Singaporeans.

My sympathies for the poor cabbies, and their passengers, headed for Fusionopolis.

Desperately Seeking Sponsorships – A “How-To” Guide

By

-

September 10, 2008

2

I get a lot of sponsorship requests at work.

The ones I receive run the whole gamut from being absolutely atrocious to bloody brilliant, but most of them fall in that big gap called boringly mediocre. Out of every ten requests I get, I tend to forward around three to my marketing colleagues for their consideration. Of those three, I usually recommend only one.

The rest gets ignominiously junked in my trash, both virtual and real, unworthy of the paper and kilobytes they were written on.

The sad thing is many of these proposals come from small businesses, and it can get heart-wrenching to turn them down. While I can’t close an eye at my workplace while assessing these proposals, I can certainly share my five years experience of assessing sponsorships to help entrepreneurs hone their sponsorship proposals so that their ideas stand a chance to see the light of day:

1. Do Your Research, Don’t Embarrass Yourself

This may seem obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people don’t research on the companies they are seeking sponsorships from. Did you bother to find out what my company’s corporate social responsibility programs focus on i.e. sports, music, the fight against cancer? Do you even know what the last few events we sponsored were?

And for goodness sake, understand our business needs and product portfolios. I’ve ever had someone call me and say, “This event will make a fantastic branding platform for your (insert competitor’s product name here)”. You’ve probably guessed my response. She’s never dared to call back since.

2. Be A Sniper, Avoid The Shotgun Approach

Pull the trigger on a target which you have confidence of hitting.

So don’t, don’t, don’t try to shoot everyone by sending your sponsorship proposal to every single marketing contact you have in every company you know, just in the futile hope that they’ll respond. If you’ve done your research right, you should already have a list of brands and companies who may possibly be interested in what you have. If you know what you have won’t interest me, don’t waste my time. You’ll end up on my Blocked Senders list.

Also, if you’re going to shoot, aim for importance. Instead of telling me that “it’s a great platform for your brand”, tell me how your proposal can do wonders for my key, flagship product.

3. It’s Not You, Honey, It’s Me

Don’t fall into the “me” trap. Seriously, I don’t really care about you. Write your proposal from the premise of how it can benefit the sponsor. I don’t care how many visitors you plan to attract – tell me how many of those visitors you can help me convert to my brand or buy my products.

It’s funny how predictable how most proposals are – they start by telling me about their wonderfully great idea, and finally end off with the price tag. The ones that really catch attention, in my opinion, are the ones who present the price tag first and then tell me exactly what I get in return for it. See the difference in the approach?

4. Personalize, Customize, Individualize

Yes, for every different company you approach, you lazy bugger.

Plain vanilla proposals are the bane of every marketer, and ones guaranteed to end up in the trash bin. If all you’re doing is tailoring a template and changing the name of the addressee and company – shame on you. I’ve gotten one where they couldn’t even be bothered to fill in the “Dear _______”.

If you can’t be bothered to tailor your proposal for me, you can’t tell me in my face that you care enough to do right by me, the sponsor.

5. I’m A Marketer, Not An Academic

Great elevator pitches don’t only work for entrepreneurs seeking investment funds. Try it for sponsorships as well.

Sell me your idea in your one-page executive summary. If it doesn’t grab me by then, nothing else in that 256-page document will (because out the window it goes). I’m not obliged to read the rest of it.

So tell me in short, sharp sentences in your executive summary what your idea is, how much it costs and what I’d get in return. Yes, all in one page. And not in size 6 Times New Roman font either. The rest of the document serves only to justify my interest.

6. It’s Not A School Project, Or Is It?

Professional-looking presentation counts for a lot.

Use proper, readable fonts – Comic Sans MS is not proper – and real stock images (not ones ripped off Google Images). If you can afford it, get the proposal professionally printed. At the very least, print it on a color laser printer and have it properly bound. Anything less, and you run the risk of it looking like a school report.

Go on, impress me.

Twinity Announces Public Beta

By

-

September 9, 2008

3D virtual world Twinity has announced its public beta test phase.

During this phase, Internet users can venture out and explore Germany’s capital Berlin, the first city to be rendered in the virtual world. Members can experience the city first-hand and visit sites like Brandenburg Gate to Alexanderplatz and Hackescher Markt, or enjoy virtual galleries, bars, and clubs, go shopping, meet new people, and even move in and furnish their own virtual apartments. Other international metropolises such as Singapore and London are set to follow in the near future.

Those who are interested can sign up at Twinity.

For more information, contact Andrew Peters at andrew at thepacificwest dot come.

Jorbb.com – Employment Goes Casual

By

-

September 8, 2008

Local entrepreneurs must be seeing opportunity in rising unemployment rates during the current economic climate. First it was job-matching service Vawch.com, which we recently featured. Today we look at its similar online service Jorbb.com, officially announced last week.

Unlike other job search portals that focuses on executive positions, Jorbb.com concentrates on non-executive jobs for individuals seeking freelance, contract, part-time and casual employment.

Founder and Managing Director of Jorbb.com, Shen Heng, explains the reason behind the online service. “One day I chanced upon this handwritten notice outside a shop, seeking part-time sales staff. Further along, there was yet another sign looking for casual event promoters. How many ‘relevant hits’ do they get? The online job classifieds market is saturated with executive (jobs), but what about the part time, casual, temporary, freelance and contract job seekers? Where can they make themselves available for hire?” he asked. Jorbb.com was conceived to plug that gap.

The online job portal not only allows posting of resumes, but also photos, slideshows and video profiles. A ‘Tag-A-Friend’ feature allows users to tag friends or employers in their profile page and ‘follow’ their latest successful job application or new jobs posted. Interestingly, Jorbb.com is partnering fellow startup Gothere.sg for the latter’s transport and commuting data, an encouraging sign for the entrepreneurial scene in Singapore.

Restricting to non-executive positions may seem to limit Jorbb.com‘s potential, but Shen believes that there is still opportunity for growth. “In Singapore, over the last 7 years, there has been an increase of 13 per cent in contract/casual workers and NTUC has recently launched re-employment initiatives to bring people back into the workforce. I foresee that this trend will continue to grow, especially in 3 areas – 1. Retirees going back into the workforce, 2. Stay home moms/employed workers looking for multiple streams of income and 3. More students taking up part time work as better opportunities present themselves especially in the service sector,” he says.

Jorbb.com is not Shen’s first startup. He founded H1Studio, which provides design consultancy services in the areas of 3D visualisation and interactive media, back in the early 2000. Shen put that business on hold to take up full-time employment and only recently re-established H1Studio and set up Jorbb.com.

“Some of (these full-time jobs) which were out of my professional training,” reveals Shen, who was trained as an architect. “I believe that it is important to gain experience and to be away from your comfort zone.”

Vawch – Job Recommendation Gets Social

By

-

September 2, 2008

What do you get when you combine social networking and talent search?

If you said LinkedIn, you’re close. But I’m talking about Vawch.com. Founded in Singapore, Vawch is an online recruitment marketplace that combines the concepts of employee referral programs and social networks to help companies source for talent.

The premise is simple. Sign up as a referrer, and you can refer up to three of your friends for each job posting on Vawch by providing their names and email addresses. If a person you refer gets the job, you get a referral fee when that person completes three months into the job. Recruiters can post jobs on the site for free, and pay only upon a successful placement. There’s also a credibility rating for users to ensure the quality of their referrals.

“By offering financial incentives to individuals to vouch for their friends, companies can leverage social networks to take their referral programs externally and fill positions with qualified candidates that they might not have otherwise found,” said Benety Liew, co-founder and director of Vawch. “If there is match, it is a win-win for everyone, the employer finds the right candidate, the referrer gets rewarded and the candidate gets a new job.”

Liew acknowledged that Vawch‘s challenge – and the key to its future success – is to quickly expand its user base. “(The) more referrers, the stronger the value proposition we have to employers since it becomes more likely we’ll be able to fill their positions. From there it’s a positively reinforcing loop,” Liew said.

Since Vawch‘s referral process is non-invasive – there’s no need for users to provide confidential information other than the industry they’re currently working in – there’s a good chance for Vawch to grow. However, Vawch will somehow need to ensure that it gets quality leads from its user base. Users, on the other hand, do have to consider the possibility of a backlash if they over-commoditize the relationships they have with their personal networks.

Entrepreneurs: Think Beyond Product Or Service

By

-

August 29, 2008

motorola razr V3

Remember this? The Razr made Motorola, but could also break it.

I’ve received quite a few questions from readers about their entrepreneurial ideas and I noticed a trend. There seems to be more questions that focus too much on a product instead of making a business work.

Lilis wants to make clay knick knacks for sale and teach children how to make them. Nurhafiz wants to set up a fashion streetwear label. My friend Mark Choon makes fabulous glass engravings. In each example, they may a good product or service offering. The question that I have for them is if they have a plan that makes a plausible business.

A clear business plan is crucial for any business -traditional brick-and-mortar or Internet alike. Take Twitter for example. It’s a great product with a strong following, but most people agree that until it finds a clear revenue model (hoping for acquisition is not a dependable strategy) nobody in their right mind will call it a real business. Even big businesses aren’t exempt – Motorola, for example, banked too much on one product – its wildly successful Razr V3 – and has suffered for it.

Entrepreneurs can learn from this. Ask yourself these two questions:

1. Is my idea scalable? Can it grow, and how? For example, Mark admits that his glass engraving business is hardly scalable i.e. he can only sell as many as he can make.

2. Is my business sustainable? What happens if I lose my key supplier or customer? Will I lose my business if my product suddenly becomes outdated due to new techology?

Having answers to these questions can help you crystallize your ideas for a business.

PS: If you have more questions that entrepreneurs can ask themselves, do share with us here.

Expatriate Search Engine ExpatFinder Officially Launches This Week

By

-

August 26, 2008

Interexpat Pte Ltd this week officially launched ExpatFinder, the world’s search engine for expatriates around the globe.

Incorporating search technology from France’s Exalead and Singapore’s Qweki, ExpatFinder addresses the needs of expatriates who require detailed and relevant information through its search and social community capabilities. It claims to be the first vertical search engine targeted at people intending to relocate or already living abroad.

Interested parties can contact Sebastien Deschamps at seb at expatfinder dot com.

Should I Give Up My Job And Make Clay Knick-knacks?

By

-

August 21, 2008

3

“Hi Daniel,

I’m thinking of starting a pushcart with a friend, but have not done any detailed planning yet.

We are planning to sell some handmade knicknacks from clay, its targeted at kids and youngsters. We can have a small table to teach customers (children) how to make it themselves too. It will be something like those stalls selling colouring plates with coloured sands, or the colouring of gips(?) dolls.

Do you think there is a good business opportunity? And most probably what is the start up cost, like rental and manpower?

Is it possible to juggle the stall and office work? Both of us (are) currently working.” – Lilis

It’s great that you’re looking at starting a small business with a friend, but here are some things you may want to think about:

1. Revenue – You’re looking at two revenue streams – selling finished products and teaching children handicraft. With a pushcart you can do the first, but you’re unlikely to have enough space for the second. How much can you charge to cover the costs of raw materials, rental, your labour and hopefully make enough profit for two? I personally think this is going to be a tall order.

2. Business opportunity – Many people mistake a hobby for a potential business. Do you truly love making clay figurines, or is it just an excuse to get out of the daily grind? A business need to scale – hobbies don’t have to.

3. Juggling the stall and a job – There’s no way you can do this unless you only plan to open the stall on weekends. But doing this will be severely limiting. It also means that you’re not going to have much of a social life!

4. Friendship and business – Be very careful about mixing the two. I’ve heard too many horror stories of best friends turning into enemies over business partnerships.

My advice? Don’t do this unless you’re willing to stop your regular jobs and concentrate wholly on this. I’ve tried to juggle between my job and running a T-shirt business – it failed miserably!

What you can do, however, is this: start small. Take your capital and get raw materials. Create your clay products first. See how many you can create without getting bored so you can judge your production rate – and you can do this on your free time on weekends and during the night.

In the meantime, go around talking to pushcart operators who may be willing to carry your product and sell to them on a consignment basis. See how well it sells, and at what prices. As you refine your skill, judge for yourself how much of a business you can make out of this.

I hope this advice works for you.

Where Should I Locate My Fashion Pushcart Business?

By

-

August 17, 2008

pushcart at bugis junction

“I am keen in starting a business in fashion clothes which caters to young teens and adults. However, I would like to rent a stall/pushcart/flea market space to test out the market first on weekend basis. Could you advise me on the ideal location? My budget for space rental is around S$70 per day.” – Christine

There is no magic location – and it also depends on how you define ideal. I can’t exactly tell you where to place your pushcart business, but I can tell you some general principles when looking for one. Here are some of my thoughts:

1. Branding – The location you pick has to do a lot with your product and how you want to brand your business. In fact, are you looking at having your own brand at all, or are you just going to be a pure retailer? For example, if you plan to create your own higher-end brand, you’re looking at locating your pushcart in a more upscale urban mall instead of a heartland one.

2. Customer targeting – You may already have a target market in mind – young teens and adults – but even within this group there are different segments. A young teen who is 14 wears different things from someone who is 25, and they also go to different places to shop for clothes. You need to look at what kind of clothes you plan to carry and who they target – and then pick your location accordingly to where these people will go. The typical 14 year-old hangs out at Heeren or Bugis Junction, as opposed to Paragon or the upcoming Ion Orchard.

3. Pricing – Price matters. It’s extremely difficult to charge high-end prices if you’re located at Jurong Point or Bishan Junction 8, not even for high-quality merchandise.

4. Budget – What do you expect your S$70 per day to cover? Many people make a crucial mistake when it comes to budgeting for their pushcart businesses. They fail to take into account that other than rental, you have to pay for many other incidental expenses e.g. utility charges that may not fall under the tenancy agreement, insurance, and yes, even packaging costs.

I’ve also previously given some advice on pushcart marketing. I hope this helps!

Ogywawa – Sending A Pint Your Way!

By

-

August 16, 2008

I’ll let you in on the latest idea if you buy me a drink.

Ogywawa, one of the latest startups brewed up in Singapore, lets you order a drink for your friend anywhere around the world. You simply log onto the site, order and pay for a drink for someone you know. The person will receive an SMS and can claim the drink from participating outlets anywhere around the world. What an amazingly simple idea!

ogywawa message

Ogywawa is started by Sunil Coushik and Ray Koh. If their names don’t ring a bell, they also happen to be founders of Bubble Motion – the only Singapore-based company to be funded by US-based venture capital heavyweight Sequoia Capital. Talk about serial entrepreneurs – Ogywawa is Sunil’s third startup.

I think Ogywawa is a fun, social idea that has incredible potential (especially since it revolves around friendship and alcohol!). I can see how people will Ogywawa as an excuse for a pickup line…

OK, you can send me a drink now.

Thanks to Bernard Leong and Preetam Rai for inviting me to the beta launch at Le Noir in Clarke Quay! You can also read about Bernard’s view on Ogywawa.

Where To Get Stock? Think Out Of The Box…

By

-

August 15, 2008

“Hi, I want to start a pushcart business to sell fashion accessories, etc but don’t know where to find a good source of supply in Singapore. Can you give some advice?” – Jasmine

I’ll be upfront and say that there’s no reliable source of supply for cheap fashion accessories in Singapore. Most of the stock you find here are sourced from overseas – like Bangkok and China, for example – so you’ll probably have better luck there. Of course, this is the quick and dirty method.

You can try rounding up some people who do it as a hobby, but quality is unlikely to be consistent and supply can be unreliable.

So why not think out of the box? There are many non-profit organizations and charities that look after the disadvantaged such as the aged, homeless or the disabled. They are always keen to look out for work for their beneficiaries, and craft work like making fashion accessories can be something they’d be keen to do. Try the Society for the Physically Disabled – the list of services they provide is here. They don’t make fashion accessories yet, but why not pitch it to them?

Widgeo.us – Communications ‘R Us

By

-

August 10, 2008

Local startup Widgeo.us has been attracting some attention lately since featuring recently at CommunicAsia 2008, BarCamp Singapore as well as Unconference Singapore 2008. We take the opportunity to speak to co-founder and CEO Ridzuan Ashim in a question-and-answer.

Continue

Advice On Branding And Funding For A Fashion Streetwear Label

By

-

August 4, 2008

Here’s an email I received from a reader:

“What would you suggest to a local entrepreneur like me who lacks connections and financial means to get his clothing label off the ground given the fact that I have managed to create a brand that has been well-received by literally thousands of people from all over the world?

I know my label is unique and hundreds of other people seem to think so too; they like the name, the logo and the concept. And guess what? I have not even launched a collection yet! How many other cash-strapped clothing startup can do the same? It is few and far between. To create a good brand is by no means an easy feat. Mine has the potential to be a cult brand in the likes of Apple Computer and Harley Davidson. If only there are people who have the foresight to see the huge potential of my label. Yes, I know the usual way is to write a business plan and source for investments. I do not know how to write a professional one yet but even if I do get one done most likely the investors would want me to assemble a management team to complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses. The problem is that my limited network puts me at a disadvantage to find the relevant people who would want to join me. The other option is to hire employees but then I need money to do that.

It is a chicken-and-egg situation. I welcome your insightful suggestions.” – Nurhafiz, TheEducatedDropout

Hi Nurhafiz,

You may not realize it, but you’ve already answered most of your own questions! Here are some thoughts I have that may help you move your business along.

Continue

Matchmaking Students And Their Startups

By

-

August 3, 2008

It’s amazing what ideas people can come up with while taking public transport. Harvard students Vivek Ramaswamy and Travis May were sitting on a bus together on a trip in Beijing when they began talking about the obstacles that students faced when trying to start their businesses. Both of them, who were active in the undergraduate entrepreneurship community, were sharing about how particularly difficult it was for students to reach out to partners, service providers and even potential employees who would work with early-stage, student-run companies. And the same time, investors and partners eager to work with the best enterprising undergrads didn’t know how or where to start find them. They believed that, as a result, many great ideas are unable to find the support they need to come to fruition.

Vivek and Travis figured that there should be a way to match them together, and the idea for StudentBusinesses.com was born.

Started in September 2007, StudentBusinesses.com is an online directory that helps matchmake entrepreneurial students and their startups with investors and other interested parties. At this point of time, there are more than 100 student enterprises and over a thousand student entrepreneurs listed in the directory.

StudentBusinesses.com has already seen a number of successful interactions that have occurred through the site to date, including some seed financing deals to help students get their ideas off the ground. David Kosslyn – a co-founder of FrazIt.com – found funding from an incubator through the site. “Financing is but one of the many purposes of the site – there have been many more successful partnerships with other students and service providers formed to date,” said Christopher Hearse from the StudentBusinesses.com team, which today numbers four part-timers in addition to the two founders.

Although the idea may have been conceived in China and first taken root amongst American universities, StudentBusinesses.com actively aspires to create an international directory of top student entrepreneurs from around the world. “We believe that there is substantial benefit to facilitating international connections, so that a student with a business idea in Singapore can develop their site in the United States and commercialize it in India,” Christopher said. It has recently expanded into India with a beta launch of India.StudentBusinesses.com, and co-founder Travis was even recently in Singapore, meeting with the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU) to discuss expansion into Asia.

It will be interesting to see when how its plans to expand here pan out.

Those who wish to find out more about StudentBusinesses.com can email Christopher Hearse at chris dot hearse at studentbusinesses dot com.

Early Stage Venture Funds Get Boost From NRF

By

-

August 3, 2008

The National Research Foundation (NRF) – part of the Prime Minister’s Office – announced this week that it would be distributing some $60 million worth of venture funding to six companies under its Early Stage Venture Funding scheme.

The NRF expects the funds to go towards early-stage investments to cultivate a culture of early venture funding. The six companies selected by the NRF will match the funding dollar-for-dollar and have begun to hunt for worthy startups to invest in. They are: BioVeda Capital II, Nanostart Asia, Raffles Venture Partners, Tamarix Capital, Upstream-Expara and Walden International.

See the official press release here, or coverage in TODAY or Channelnews Asia.

Why I Set Up This Blog…

By

-

July 28, 2008

Robert Scoble said on his Twitter:

“My biggest beef? Startups don’t get covered very well by the mainstream press…”

This is one of the reasons why I blog what I do.

Advice For A Cafe Entrepreneur-Wannabe

By

-

July 23, 2008

2

Here’s an email I received yesterday from a reader:

“My name is Jowel. I am a 30-year old Singaporean lady who has an idea to start up a small-sized – capacity of 40 pax – western cafe in Singapore. I am currently doing research and development on the food menu, and looking for a suitable location at the same time. Also, (I’m) looking for interested investor(s) for the business.
I lack experience as this will be a new start-up for me. I hope to engage with a mentor in the same industry who will be able to advise me. I came across your website and would like to try my luck if you would have any advice or referrals for me?”

Hi Jowel,

First of all let me congratulate you on starting on your entrepreneurial journey! It’s not going to be easy, but with some planning and plenty of passion I’m sure you’ll succeed in this venture.

I’m no expert in F&B businesses, but here’re some of my thoughts:

1. Concept – Even before you consider your menu, you should be looking at creating an incredible concept that will attract and keep customers. Western cafes in Singapore are a dime to a dozen – what is it that will set you apart from the rest? How will it keep people talking about you? Here’s a great BusinessWeek article about how important a restaurant’s concept is. With a great concept, your menu will naturally fall into place.

2. Location, location – It’s a well-used adage, but location is critical. Prime locations with high traffic may seem attractive, but the astronomical rentals demanded in these places can make (or mostly break) businesses. So my view is actually different when it comes to F&B businesses – my personal feel is that if get your concept right, Singaporeans will travel to dine at your cafe. I know of many who drive all the way to Jalan Kayu for roti prata, and even to Malacca just for chicken rice balls.

3. Investors – Money talks, and failure walks. I hate to break it to you, but most investors do not invest in F&B businesses as they are extremely capital intensive and hard to scale. You may want to read my previous post on raising funds – but in short, your best bet is friends and family. If you do find an outside investor, make sure that your goals are aligned and that they can value add to your business in other ways as well (such as providing advice or access to the right network of contacts).

4. Mentors – Likewise, it’s really important to find the right mentors who can guide you. Ideally, it’ll be someone who has experience in starting a similar business (it doesn’t have to be exactly the same kind). They should be able to poke holes in your business plan and bring you another perspective. Unless they are entrepreneurs, avoid having your parents as advisors! They may mean well, but will probably complicate matters.

5. Publicity and Marketing – Many food businesses start out well, but tend to flounder after a few months when the initial hype fades. That’s when they start to panic and spend heaps of money in a marketing blitz, usually too little and too late. Your cafe’s business plan should cover marketing strategy and you should be looking at generating some publicity from the get-go! For example, The Sweet Stone Parad’Ice not only has a great concept, but they had incredible awareness and even a FaceBook group!

I hope the above advice helps – I have some contacts that I can share with you via email.

Anybody who wants to help Jowel out can email her at jowelfoo at yahoo dot com dot sg.

We’d Love To Hear From You…

By

-

July 20, 2008

It seems strange, but sometimes people do say no when I ask to interview them.

Here are some of the reasons they give:

1. “We’re not ready yet”.

Fair enough – some entrepreneurs are at a stage where they are unable to benefit from exposure. Or they rather not alert their competition. Or they really do have nothing to talk about as yet.

2. “I’m too shy”.

Shy? Why are you then running a business? Be bold, and share your story. There’s someone out there who can learn and benefit from you. Entrepreneurs have the ability to change the world, and so they should.

3. “We don’t need publicity”.

Hmmm ok. You don’t need customers?

4. “I have nothing to offer”.

You have more to offer than most people. You have drive, passion for your ideas, and a go-getting attitude.

5. “I need more experience!”.

Of course you do. Don’t we all?

Content And FaceBook Groups

By

-

July 16, 2008

Note to marketers:

Creating a FaceBook group is the easy part.

Inviting people to join the group is not too difficult either (especially if there’s a really good cause behind it).

Keeping people interested, however, is extremely tough. Key to keeping people? Content. Regular, relevant content that incite and maintain conversations.

I was invited to join this FaceBook group. It has a great cause. To my disappointment, it was utterly devoid of content – no images, no discussion topics. Nothing.

Needless to say, there really wasn’t anything for me to join.

Tip: Add some good content that will spark off initial conversations (for the above group, a discussion thread that asks people what are the key reasons they don’t have time to spend with their families), BEFORE you start inviting members. People like to see activity.

Here’s an example, in my opinion, of a great FaceBook group in Singapore.

In The Year 2035

By

-

July 15, 2008

vinton cerf and my colleagues

Posing for a photo with Vinton Cerf, father of the Internet (I’m the bald guy on the left.)

Some weeks ago, Google evangelist Vinton Cerf dropped by Singapore recently and I had the opportunity to listen to him at an invite-only closed-door session organised by The Digital Movement.

Vinton Cerf is best known as the “Father” of the Internet, and he shared his vision of what the world would be like in the year 2035. Some of his observations:

– The Internet will be 52 years old.
– Internet penetration will be more than 70% (world average).
– Device penetration will be 60 billion (which means 10 devices per person). 10 billion of those would be mobiles.
– There will be 5.7 billion Internet users (out of 8.12 billion population).
– Information consumers will be producers.
– There will be innovative interfaces – I/O discovery, voice and haptics.
– Widespread adoption of navigation systems and geo-location based services.
– Internet-enabled wine corks, socks, automobiles, refrigerators and even bathroom scales!
– And many more.

Honestly most of those ideas aren’t exactly new – for example some of the latest mobile phones already incorporate haptics (or tactile feedback) and GPS navigation. But Vinton was extremely charming – his 4-piece suit no doubt reinforced his father-figure look – and smooth in the delivery of his ideas so he had the room lapping up every word.

What would I be doing in the year 2035? How can I make sure I continue to be relevant in such a highly-connected, digital world?

Photos from e27 Unconference Singapore 2008

By

-

July 13, 2008

The auditorium in the Matrix, Biopolis where Unconference Singapore 2008 was held (before the crowds streamed in).

Continue

Singapore Startups at the e27 Unconference Singapore 2008

By

-

July 11, 2008

3

unconference

Here’s a look at the local startups that pitched to the audience at e27 Unconference Singapore 2008:

1. Geo-spatial/contextual location-based service provider with routing and LOI enrichment Gothere.sg.

2. Scratone, a personalised hip-hop voice ringtone making application developed by music technology provider and music label Signature Music.

3. Map-based property search engine Homespace.sg.

4. Cross-platform and integrated communications service Widgeo.us.

5. Photo-sharing site Phlook that can organise photos in a storyboarding fashion.

6. Video podcast network and production house Podfire.sg, which creates shows such as Geek Goddess Show, Small Girl Big Appetite and It’s a Dog’s Life.

7. ZopIM – Interactive communications platform for businesses to communicate with customers.

8. Meta search engine platform Qweki (still in beta development).

9. IP solutions provider PATsnap.

10. Hibernater – Client that captures and resumes applications for between different workstations.

Startups that were also present included:

11. Online social network for scuba-diving enthusiasts Scubuddies.com.

12. Online social network cum dating community site Eteract.com.

13. Small business e-commerce turnkey solutions provider Cart.momo.

14. Mobile social network service myWobile.

SGEntrepreneurs gave a great lowdown of what happened at the conference. Claudia‘s overview of the event is excellent (I get featured in one of her videos asking a question during one of the breakout sessions). Jeffrey from Belikedoerr.com rates their potential.

Friendster Is Out to Make Friends

By

-

July 10, 2008