Musings of an Entrepreneur

Surviving Your First Year As An Entrepreneur

2012-01-03T01:51:00.001+08:00

I was wondering what I would write in a New Year of 2012 that would help to create an impact for the rest of the year. Wouldn’t it be a great idea for a seasoned entrepreneur to give a few tips and tricks on surviving your first year as an entrepreneur? After all, I failed to survive the first year, three to four times over and the lessons learned after the fourth time, is invaluable to my fifth venture. So, here I am, an incubator entrepreneur, offering some handy tips and tricks that hopefully you will refer and use throughout 2012. Thanks God, you have me to tell you what to do in your first-year of being an entrepreneur. Do everything I say below or you’ll probably fail. I am dead serious!

Find a team. It will be difficult to work alone. Find a team to help you in areas of technology, business, sales, marketing and finance. All in all, a team of 5 with different competency is ideal. Usually, in a typical start-up, it will be two or three partners, multi-tasking.

Do not hire anyone. Start with the founding members. Ensure they have the competencies. The founding members should be working to move the venture forward in an organic way. Only hire people when you are absolutely desperate for more hands. That’s when you know your business is growing. If you need extra hands in the beginning, you may want to consider internships. Interns are cost effective. Apart from interns, you could hire freelancers on project basis. Focus on growing sales. If you have sales, you’ll have the cashflow to hire more people. Hire based on needs and quality people who can fit in your organization and be easily trained; not quantity.

Finance your business. Finance your business by acquiring customers first, borrow against your receivables (factoring), self financing, borrowing by mortgage, borrow from friends and families. There are many entrepreneurs that started their businesses by acquiring the customer first. MAD Incubator, for instance, acquired 5 customers before it began operations. By the time, MAD Incubator opened its incubation doors to entrepreneurs, it is already sustainable.

Manage your cashflow. Spend wisely as and when needed. Stretch your money to last as long as possible until a VC invest in you. When stretching your money, prioritise your spending. Increasing sales should be your No. 1 priority. Monies need to be spent to increase sales. Do not indulge in luxury, thinking your big sales will come in a month’s time. All these are make beliefs. Do not do what your ego tells you. Be prudent. Spend where necessary, so long as it is to increase sales, improve productivity, marketing and product development.

Get a customer. Do whatever it takes to get ten paying customers. If you are a content site: get a sponsor or advertiser. If you are a product or a service, get a customer. Say “yes” to everything they want. Do whatever it takes to get them. If you can’t get a customer then that means you have a lousy product that does not meet any market expectations or you’re not passionate enough about it. Go back to the drawing board.

Stay healthy. Many entrepreneurs, as I have observed, tend to ignore their health. If you don’t stay healthy: physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, in your first year, its a guaranteed failure. Your business depends on you to being healthy and if you are not mentally strong in your first year, you’ll make mistakes…big mistakes along the way. I think I have failed enough to tell you what ought not to do.

Sales calls. Make sure you fix the number of sales calls your team will have to make in a day…a week…a month. I’m horrible at sales calls and if you are like me, make sure someone in your team is able to complement you.

Follow up. Someone in your team will have to follow-up. If you have a potential client, move it from the phone to the meeting, to dinner as quickly as possible. Pick up the bill. Build relationship with them. Close the deal.

Network. As a first-time entrepreneur, creating a strong business network is important. Network, network, network. A lot of entrepreneurs undermine the importance of networking. Networking opens up opportunities. Therefore, go to as many networking events as possible.

Form strategic partnerships. Strategic partnerships are important as they will help you to create business opportunities. Make sure partners work for you and to do that, you’ll have to offer a deal that motivates them to work for you, ensure good business support to help them sell your products and incentives to keep them constantly motivated.

Exceed expectations. My strategy, under promise and over deliver. ‘Wow’ the customers and make them feel important. Do favors for your clients. They will appreciate it. After ‘Wow’ing them, they will refer their friends to you.

Solicit references. Solicit customer references once a product is sold. Customer references can work wonders and act as a testimony of good performance about your company.

Make sure your employees understand your corporate mission and vision. You must ensure that your employees and your founding members are focused on the business and corporate mission and vision. It goes a long way if your employees believe in what they are doing for the company.

So, if you follow the above, you’ll have customers, cash flows, a network of contacts, good partners, great employees who will work hard for you, great team and most importantly, staying healthy. This is where BizStart membership program kicks in to help you overcome hurdles in your first year in business. To find out more about BizStart membership program, email us to bizstart@incubator.com.my. Good luck for 2012!

Surviving Your First Year As An Entrepreneur

2012-01-03T01:39:00.001+08:00

Solicit references. Solicit customer references once a product is sold. Customer references can work wonders and act as a testimony of good performance about your company.

Incubators can nurture new businesses

2012-01-02T00:46:00.001+08:00

Startup companies seeking to expand beyond the home office or garage have several options. Some companies will find a good fit in a larger office space, while other innovation-based entrepreneurs may choose to grow through incubator space. Incubators support the start-up process by providing entrepreneurs with affordable rent space, management coaching, business networking, market access, funding facilitation and other specialized support services.

By locating yourself in an incubator, you surrounds yourself with experts who have "been in the trenches" and can mentor/guide you along. Seek out trusted colleagues in your network who can provide honest feedback, and be nimble enough to change direction or seize opportunities as they come along. This is what an incubator is able to do for you.

Incubators provide entrepreneurs with opportunities to work in a collaborative business community to connect them to the right resources. Entrepreneurs can build their businesses through a network of entrepreneurs such as MAD Incubator’s BizStart Membership Program. A vibrant network of entrepreneurs, investors and service professionals will help when entrepreneurs are seeking office space, growth capital or quality management. Furthermore, this network will help to increase the entrepreneur’s startup knowledge and build new relationships. Through the BizStart Membership Program, every members are part of a collaborative business community for only RM100 (USD 35) a year!

MAD is also creating an open co-working space for women entrepreneurs and SOHO/Services based businesses for those who are keen to have a business office with shared facilities while remaining mobile and flexible with their time. Two new open co-working space have been identified at Empire SOHO Business Suite in Subang Jaya and Sunway Mentari in Bandar Sunway. MAD is expected to roll out its first open co-working space in February 2012.

For more information, contact MAD Incubator at andwtf@incubator.com.my

Deciding the right business partner

2011-12-28T00:31:00.001+08:00

A moment ago, someone asked me in my FB wall on how should he choose a good business partner. I think this is a good question which I should share with entrepreneurs since finding a good business partner is mission critical to a business.

Choosing a good business partner can be based on many factors. I have been into many good and bad partnerships over the last 15 years of entrepreneurship that I think I have seen it all. Business partnership is like a marriage. It is easy to form a partnership, simply by just registering with ROC or SSM but it is not easy to maintain and certainly difficult and costly to end a partnership. Imagine all the legal fees and division of assets one will have to go through to end the partnership.

So, over the years, I have accumulated a wealth of experience when it comes to business partnerships. But essentially, for a startup, one may want to consider the following as some of the points you may want to consider before signing on a partnership. They ranges from:

Synergy – does the partner provide some degree of synergy to your business?
Trust – do you trust your partner as if trusting him/her with your life? Remember, a business is akin to your life as you are putting all your life resources – time and whatever money that you have – into a business and partnership.
Value add – does your partner provides any value add to any gaps in the business? Does he/she complements you in the business?
Team player – is your partner a team player? Is he/she a good team player?
Comfortable – are your comfortable with the person that you will be partnering with? This is a key point that I always look into and more often, I rely on how comfortable I am with the person.
Common vision – do both of you share a common vision on the business? Are you both in agreement on the direction of the business?
Ability to listen, be heard and find the best solution – partners at times tend to disagree on certain things. I feel it is really good to disagree because this brings out the best for the business. Question is: can both partners agree to disagree and work out a common solution that incorporates the best ideas and acceptable to both partners?
Understanding – does both partners have a common understanding about the partnership and business? Trash out everything and every expectations that the partners have at the onset so that there will be no misunderstanding among partners. Best of all, agree that if there are anything that needs clarifications, either partners can call for a partners meeting over coffee and discuss on the issues.
Ability to work with you – very essential in a startup because we need all the skills, resources and connections that we can get from our partners
Money – I won’t say this is the most important because we can still manage without much money but sometimes, partners do come out with the money and less of the others. I generally put this last in my priority list because key in making a business successful is to find the right team. You can hire (which cost money) or you can get that in your business partner. A partner with money but could not work with you well, could also be a bad partner. So, the choice is yours.
Integrity – find someone with integrity.

The list can go on and on but generally finding a partner entails looking at some of these points, aside from the money. Over the years, I have relied heavily on my gut feeling, testing them a little and wait for sometime before I decided to suggest a business partnership.

So what happens if they have the skill set and reliability but not the integrity. But the integrity issue is because you hear rumours about them? In this case, I would suggest that you investigate this matter thoroughly. It happened to me before. I got to know this young chap whom people in the industry tend to give me a not so favourable view about this partner. I was definitely distressed about it but I did my own investigation. I discuss this with the guy, got his answers and got the other side of the story as well and then I did my own investigation, calling out those involved in the project and seeking their feedback. The end result was a misunderstanding and a mismatch of expectations. I decided then that there is no harm going into a partnership with him. It went quite well I must say. After sometime, I sold out my shares and made a gain. So, it was a win-win for me. So, seek out the truth, if you think that this potential partner is worth staking for.

I always believe that a partnershipis what we set out to create. It may end up good or bad. Nevertheless, it is part of our journey as entrepreneurs. We can only learn. No one is perfect. It is a journey of discovery. Sometimes things happens for a reason. We just need to find out why. Most importantly, trust yourself and make it work yourself. Just make sure that there is integrity in both partners, be comfortable with yourself, and choose a good team player.

One final piece of advice: in any partnerships – good or bad – make sure you have a partnership agreement. Not to say that we don’t trust each other but it is good to keep the partnership less complicated in case complication sets in. Documentations play a wonderful role when it comes to disagreements. So, it does keep things less complicated.

All the best in business!

Life's A Pitch!

2011-10-24T12:03:00.000+08:00

Life is not a pattern of gradually evolving improvement. It is a series of long, fallow patches punctuated by moments of crucial change. How you handle the long fallow stretches doesn't matter much. How you handle the moments of change is vital.
These big moments are not decided by chance - they are decided by how you handle them. How you pitch your case is what makes the difference. In business as in life, they are all the same.

The pitch moments, those crucial moments which give the opportunity for big change, all have one thing in common. You are trying to get someone else to do what you want them to do.

When you are pitching to someone, you are asking them to judge the future. Since knowing the future is beyond logic, their judgement wont be based on logical factors but on emotional factors: trust, confidence, hope, ambition, desire. And these factors are rational. They are instinctive. Therefore, they must be communicated from the heart. To pitch successfully, you have to understand that it is not about appealing to rationality but also it's about giving them a jolting power surge to their emotional electricity.

A pitch does not take place in the library of the mind. It takes place in the theatre of the heart.

Therefore, think 'playwright' not 'actor'. Good pitch is not about good delivery. It is about good scripting...ie good content. Think about how you can write a good script...write a good story and paint a good picture.

A pitch story must be one of problem and solution. Most pitches contain an unending load of information, but precious little persuasion. Why? Because they are constructed in a business mindset of facts, data, information. You must free yourself from that. Don't concentrate on the data. Concentrate on the problem. Your audience have a problem they want to solve. They are not in the room with you as a favor to you. They are there because they have a problem to solve and you could just be the one solving their problem. So when you construct a pitch, construct it as a story, not just any ordinary story, but a story of problem and resolution.

Don't be shy about dwelling on their problem. Define it, discuss it, deliberate over it.

A good pitch starts with a crystal clear exposition of the problem you are trying to solve. The unspoken response you want in the minds of your audience is: 'He may not have solved it yet, but this guy really knows what our problem is.' That quickly leads to the feeling: 'If he understands the problem well, I trust him on the answer.'

Elaborate. Develop your understanding of that problem. Show some research, stats, anecdotal insights, dramatize the problem. The objective is to make your audience gut-wrenchingly, suicidally miserable about the scale of their problem. The bigger the problem, the more valuable the solution.

Next, show them the answer.

The big point for now is to understand that it is not the originality of the idea which drives most business successes, it is the commitment to making the idea happen.

The key to pitching is to understand that it is the pitcher who is on trial, not the presentation. So the pitcher must inspire confidence in his audience. How? Your audience want to back a winner. You have to look like a winner. How does a winner behave?

Winners have four things in common:
1. They set their sights high; they are ambitious
2. They are pragmatic. Ambitious they may be but they are not dreamers.
3. They concentrate on the big issues. They get others to do the details.
4. They keep it simple.

Winners instinctively know that to make something big happen, they've got to concentrate on the few things that really matter. That is why they keep it simple. The simpler your idea and the simpler your presentation of it, then the more likely you are able to emerge the winner.

Create a cornerstone slide. The cornerstone slide illustrate the powerful idea at its core. This is the central theme of your pitch. Go through your draft presentation and identify the one slide that encapsulate this central idea. Make sure it is as clear, as crisp and as simple as it can be. When you deliver the presentation, linger on that slide and say, "If you forget everything else but remember this slide, you'll still have captured the essence of what we're saying to you."

Demonstrate comprehensiveness and clarity. Summary must come at the end of the pitch.

A good pitch unfolds like a good story. A good pitcher controls his audience as that story unfolds.

"Adapted from the book, "Life's A Pitch!""

DARE BizStart Showcase 2011 - Why I Started It

2011-10-11T22:05:00.000+08:00

D.A.R.E BizStart Showcase 2011 is itself a challenging experience. Creating this event from nothing into something and yet with such a huge magnitude, seems like an impossible task to many entrepreneurs. What I did is to proof to my fellow entrepreneurs that if we DARE to think BIG, we can surely achieve it. I have now done it, and I don't believe why any of you cannot do what I did. All it takes is a little ingenuity, leverage on relationships, self beliefs and the ability to mobilize people to believe in your cause. Now, I believe I have taken my entrepreneurial skill to another level. Now, impossible seems nothing to me and nothing is impossible.

Entrepreneurs are humans too especially seasoned entrepreneurs. Sometimes I do worry. Sometimes I do feel optimistic. It is a roller coaster experience. But that's part and parcel of the job. Sometimes I wonder what happens if no one turns up? Or everything we set out to do right on that day, all turns up wrong? Fears of failure and the list goes on. Nevertheless, I chosed to continue. To lead the team that I have towards a battle where we are outnumbered. And yet we know we are the winners. As the leader, I must exhibit strong leadership. Leading a team of mavericks to do something that we have never dreamt of and yet succeed in pulling it off is indeed an achievement by itself. I must pay tribute to my team. They worked hard and I know they are tired. Yet, they want to do the final push to make sure that everything turns up well and everyone is happy with the show.

So, BizStart Day was a huge success! I must say "Thank you" to the CREWS...those who made it happen. I recall it all started with developing an initial website for the show, I must thank FAITH WONG for putting so much effort into coming with a website. Then ALEXDRINA and YANN HUEY for branding and bringing out the best of the Show's essence; MICHELLE and YEE TZE for the Event Management; ALICE and WINNIE for managing the operations and speaker logistics; ANDREW WONG (BIG) and JACK for constantly updating our website content; MELISSA, MAGDELENE, SANDRIN for helping out in the Events Operations; Scores of VOLUNTEERS and scores of partners for putting in effort to galvanise their communities to attend this GREAT EVENT.

I must also thanks our 30+ speakers who have availed themselves to volunteer their time and knowledge to share with other entrepreneurs. I salute all of you for sharing. I've always believed that knowledge should be shared. And I am glad that there are more than 30+ entrepreneurs who share my vision. I am sure there are many more and we will definitely engage them in future BizStarts.

My thanks to my co-conspirators, supporters and sponsors - ManagePay Bhd, iPay88, Cyberview, Microsoft, Mavcap, MDV, MSC Malaysia, MDEX, SocialWalk, TechAge and the host of media partners and community partners who came out to support this show. Without them, I don't think I could have made this happen.

D.A.R.E BizStart Showcase 2011 featured more than 30 workshops on business, marketing and management knowledge which everyone were spoilt for choice. On top of that, we had 5 Featured Seminars based on "How to Start A Business" series focusing on Franchising, Services/SOHO, ICT, Internet-based Business and Mobile. To top it off, we invited 4 prominent Keynote speakers to share their entrepreneurial thoughts and experiences. They are Datuk Badlisham Ghazali (MDeC), Ms Chok Kwee Bee (Teak Capital), Premesh Chandran (Malaysiakini) and Mr CC Puan (Green Packet). Everyone had some interesting tales to share which even I myself had not known although I have known all of them for many years. To top the cream, we had four coaching sessions that helped to enlighten our entreprenuers' minds and prioritise their priorities.

Glad to say that all our workshops and one-on-one business clinics/advisories were fully subscribed to the point of standing room and we even had to stick the "Full House" sticker on the doors.

All in all, everyone chipped in to contribute. We had wanted all entrepreneurs to benefit from this show. At the end of the day, more than 3000 entrepreneurs benefitted from this Showcase. Imagine with 3000 entrepreneurs, they are your market. 3000 is just a start. It will grow as BizStart goes on a nationwide tour to galvanise entrepreneurs in this country. As we continue to help our fellow entrepreneurs, I am sure we can make entrepreneurship alive and a great success in Malaysia. What started as nothing has become something. I must admit, I do feel emotional about this. I won't be surprised that when all these are over, I will be an emotional wreck. Well, that is the human side of me.

Today, 2 weeks after the event, people are still talking about DARE BizStart Showcase 2011. Our website www.bizstart.com.my is still active. Our work has just begun. Through the BizStart Membership that was launched on BizStart Day, we will start to engage our entrepreneurs to work on their success. We want to showcase them in BizStart 2012. Membership is opened to the first 1000 members only @RM100/year which will end on the next BizStart 2012. We want success stories and we want to make sure that they are well D-Designed; A-Accelerated their business; R-Realised their business potential and E-Empowered to scale higher grounds in their entrepreneurial journey.

Looking forward to BizStart 2012.

5 Ways To Get Your Strategy Right

2011-04-09T11:15:00.000+08:00

1. Play to Win
Play offense and not be defensive. You have to spend money to make more money but spend where it is productive to make money. Play to win!

2. Ask Customers For Ideas
This is what we usually do at MAD Incubator. We make products that customers want. Your customers know best what they need. Spend time to listen to them and start working on products that meet their needs.

3. Know Which to Ignore
Customers may want everything but you must also know which one to ignore and which one to accommodate. The rule of thumb is 80/20. If 80 percent of your customers want the same thing, then you should incorporate it as standard feature into your product. And perhaps...raise your price by 20%? :)

4. Involve Your Key Management
Be a team player. Include your key management staff in your planning sessions so that they are aware of your plans and share your vision. They, in turn, will keep their staff/downline informed of the company's vision. This is a top-down approach to disseminating information. If everyone in the organisation shares your vision, everyone will work towards a single goal.

5. Set Fewer Priorities
Do not be distracted by having so many "to-do" items in your plans. Nobody can focus on everything. So just focus on a few set priorities. An ideal number will be 5. How do you set priorities for this year?

If you haven't got the details right or shaped from a proper perspective, take two days to work on it. Take your whole management team offsite and work on a proper strategy. It is still April. You still have time to polish your strategies to make the most of 2011.

Happy hunting!

Entrepreneurs can change the world

2010-07-04T01:10:00.000+08:00

Fail: 12 Ways To Blow Your Investor Pitch

2010-05-09T23:52:00.001+08:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Fail: 12 Ways To Blow Your Investor Pitch

View more presentations from North Venture Partners.

Options to Commercialize Invention - By Uncle Bugs

2010-05-06T21:54:00.000+08:00

Views from my IP sifu
http://uncle-bugs.blogspot.com/2010/04/options-to-commercialize-your.html

Designing For Social Traction

2010-04-24T00:27:00.001+08:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Designing For Social Traction

View more presentations from Joshua Porter.

Good Marketing Gimmick

2010-04-10T16:42:00.000+08:00

I was shopping at Carrefour this afternoon. Suddenly my daughter told me to head to an aisle where pharmaceutical products are sold. As we were heading towards the aisle, she pointed to me the place where handwash are sold. So, I thought she wanted to buy handwashing liquid since our home ran out of it. I chosed a twin-pack Shokobutsu handwash costing RM6.80 but she kept insisting she wanted another brand and pointed out Dettol! :)

I was curious as to why she wanted Dettol which cost RM8.00 for just a small botol. Then it came across to me that just a few days ago, she got some Dettol stationeries from her kindergarten and I believe the Dettol people must have visited her kindergarten the other day. She can even quote saying "Dettol keeps the germs away" :) I guess the Dettol people must have taught the children how to say it.

Now, this is what I call good marketing gimmick. If you cannot get to the parents, who are simply spoilt for choice, you can get the kids as well. Kids are simple, easily understand a simple message and push you to buy the Brand. They don't know anything about choices and are not exposed to other brands. Kids are really good sales people. I must remember this...

Well, as for the Dettol story...I bought it at RM8.00 although I know it is expensive. See! See how a young kid can become influencers to her parent's buying decision. So, marketers, take note. If you cannot get the parents, get the kid. I believe this gimmick will work for FMCG goods especially toothbrush, toothpaste, cereals, yogurt and not to mention Yakult drinks. My kid went to a Yakult factory during one of her school trips and from then on, she is a Yakult fan. She will say...Yakult keeps the stomach germs away! :)

Parents, beware! :)

Use Technology and Innovation to Move Up the Value Chain

2010-03-19T12:19:00.003+08:00

http://bit.ly/aD6VsS

NINA to launch Malaysia - Shanghai Market Access Centre with Shanghai Incubator

2010-03-16T23:47:00.001+08:00

Great News! I've just negotiated a soft landing zone with a Shanghai incubator to provide a low cost arrangements for Malaysian companies intending to set up business in China. The pilot program is for 5 companies as a start and the program is divided into 3 phases.

1st phase is the Entrepreneur Xchange Working Program which incorporate market study tours and briefing sessions. This is a short 5 days trip to will allow the entrepreneur to explore the China market with the help of the Shanghai incubator.

2nd phase is the Market Exploration Program. This involves a 2 weeks - 1 month program where, following the Entrepreneur Xchange Working Program, companies who are still keen to explore the market in China will be able to do so for a period of up to 1 month. The Shanghai incubator will provide temporary office facilities for free; and market assistance and other assistance for free.

If the companies are interested to pursue the market in China, then they will enroll into the Market Access Centre, which will cover a long term program lasting 6 months to 1 year. The pilot 5 companies will be given office facilities at the lowest cost, coaching/mentoring, legal assistance, business support, marketing assistance, financial access and other services required for our Malaysian companies to succeed in China.

This pilot will allow our Malaysian companies to have access to all services offered by the Shanghai incubator and strengthened their success in the Chinese market.

I am definitely looking forward to start this program and for those who are interested, please contact me at the NINA secretariat at (03) 8994 1750

Target Unveils Scannable Mobile Coupon Campaign - MarketingVOX

2010-03-15T23:06:00.000+08:00

Target Unveils Scannable Mobile Coupon Campaign - MarketingVOX

Mobile Marketing Popularity Rapidly Grows - MarketingVOX

2010-03-15T23:00:00.000+08:00

Mobile Marketing Popularity Rapidly Grows - MarketingVOX

No Money, No Business

2010-03-14T19:04:00.000+08:00

I heard this from a fellow entrepreneur friend of mine and believe it, this has been my guiding force when I started MIRC and MAD Incubator; and of course, this friend puts it succintly in just a few words. I thouhgt I should share this with you.

'No money, no business" is not referring to raising venture capital. One can start a business without much capital, like I did. This is all about getting sales. I started MAD Incubator with sales even before the company was operational. The moral of the story is "If you cannot find where the money is, then there is really no business". This should be the guiding principle.

A lot of our entrepreneurs today tend to think that they need to rely on grants or venture capital to start a business. I don't think this is the right approach. A lot of today's successful entrepreneurs started with no or little capital. Some even started with huge liabilities...like Tony Fernandes (Air Asia).

It all boils down to hard work, understanding where your revenues are coming from and how fast you can drive revenues into your business.

So, for budding entrepreneurs out there, time to think about this. If you cannot drive revenues fast, chances are, you are not going to succeed. An idea will remain an idea if it is not in business. Waiting on grants and venture capital without starting the business, is a waste of time. Chances are, you will not grow or succeed.

Start the business, no matter how small it is. Test out your ideas, market it and see how it works. Fine tune the model and when you have collected enough data; you will be ripe for investment.

MAD Biz Xcelerator Program

2010-03-13T10:03:00.001+08:00

The MAD Biz Xcelerator program was crsytalised to help companies relook at the business models and chart out key action plans to drive their busines growth within the next 2-3 years. Recently, MAD Incubator was looking at some 30+ MSC Malaysia Pre-seed recipients and we have shortlisted 10-12 companies for final shortlisting. MAD and MSC Malaysia is working towards identifying 20 companies for this program and we hope we will be able to find this 20 within the next 2-3 weeks.

The Biz Xcelerator program includes 2 months intensive work on the business model and financial modelling and 6 months of business incubation in which MAD will assist these companies to drive home their action plans, gain traction and market access and eventually obtain angel or venture capital investments. What we hope to achieved is that these companies will be incubated and given the push to grow traction for their business. By the end of the program, we envision that these 20 companies will be in a better position to secure funding for their next growth expansion.

Selected companies will also be invited to the MAD TechVentures50 Conference - a tournament-style launching platform where startups demo their products in front of the audience and panel of experts. Companies will get their 10 minutes of ame to show their stuff and plenty of direct feedback from the audience and panel of experts. The winner will take home a cash prize.

For more information about the Biz Xcelerator program, please contact MAD Incubator at 03-89941750. Ask about the Biz Xcelerator or BizStart Program.

What Investors are looking for?

2010-02-22T13:41:00.002+08:00

Investors care most about your product traction. You must start building your product and start testing it with your market before you start raising money. This is about building traction for your product.

Traction is a measure of your product's engagement with its market. It is demonstrated by profit, revenue, customers, pilot customers, non-paying users and verified hypotheses about customer problems. And their rates of change.

If you don't have a product yet, put your idea on a piece of paper and start testing it with your customers. You can start with your friends. "Does this solve your problem? How much would you pay for it?" This is the kind of data that will sway investors, even if you product is only on a piece of paper.

Remember, investors want to invest in startups that will be successful with or without them. So, start building revenues and traction for your company first before you start looking for investors.

A New Mantra

2010-02-16T08:35:00.001+08:00

If you never try, you'll never know. So, just do it!

A Peek Into the Future

2010-01-03T14:55:00.002+08:00

Something for you guys to see what the future is in store for us.

http://blog.i2fly.com/?p=1025

Happy New Year!

2010-01-03T14:52:00.002+08:00

Dear friends,

Just a short note to wish everyone a Happy New Year! 2010 will be a great year for MAD Incubator. We have a mission to launch 50 startups in 2010. This is the time to change the world!

Understanding Venture Capital

2010-01-03T14:43:00.001+08:00

It pays if entrepreneurs are able to understand the VC mindset and structure their paper/projects based on the VC's needs. This link is about marketing to the VC by understanding the Venture Capital. Enjoy!

http://www.slideshare.net/brisbourne/cass-business-school-lecture-nov-2009

Tips on Fundraising

2009-12-14T00:24:00.002+08:00

I thought that this will be a very interesting topic as I am now on the mission of finding 50 ideas and creating 50 startups in 2010. Many of these startups will, in one way or another, be looking for investors. This will be a good tip for them, having been a VC before. As an ex-VC, I have sat across the table listening to business pitchings. The lessons learned are what I have summarised below. Enjoy and do tell me whether you agree or disagree; or if you have anymore to add to the list, I will be most happy to. Enjoy!!!

1. Do some research on your potential investor. Find out what he/she is interested to invest in. For VCs understand at what stage is their fund maturity. Most VCs have a 5-year fund life and if they are already on a late stage of the fund lifecycle, very likely that they will not be interested in early startup proposals. Find out early. Talk to them.

2. Find out what rings their bells. Part of your research in #1 should be to identify their current priorities, as well as the deeper motivations of the particular investor.

3. Entry into an emerging field is a huge advantage. Investors are attracted to projects of emerging industries as being an early entrants, although risky, but yield higher returns once the investment is realized.

4. Don’t do too much research on your project – get started. Investors are not interested in projects that are still undergoing research. They want projects that can be realized fast.

5. Work on your business plan. Have a compelling business plan. Make sure you plan your business well with a compelling business model and business plan. Nail down the key value proposition and make sure that it makes sense to the investor. Investors are responsible towards their stakeholders and therefore expect a high return on investment. Therefore, make sure that your business model factors in their responsibility.

6. Be persistent. Persistence pays! Even if you are rejected, do continuously update these investors on your project. When they are ready and when you fit into their investment profile, they will look for you first.

7. Visit. As in #1, do pay visits to their office. More often, they will welcome you as they too want to know on any updates about your project. Build relationship with them. Make them your best friends. You’ll never know when they will be ready to look at you and when they do, you will be the first as they prefer to work with those whom they already know.

8. Go to Conferences. This is where you can meet most of them.

9. The 1st minute. The 1st minute of your presentation is most important. It will make or break your potential to secure an investor. Make sure you are prepared for an elevator pitch of a lifetime!

10. Assume nothing. As in #6, when you visit, update them or even be persistent in promoting your project, assume nothing. Concentrate on building relationship with them. When you are invited to present your project, assume nothing. Most likely those that are in the room were roped in at short notice and may have never seen your document before; or may have little knowledge about the subject matter. So, be prepared with multiple copies of your documents as hand-outs. Be sure to get their business cards.

11. Be flexible in early stages. When you talk to your investors, allow some room for definition or modification of your valuation, amount requested, project scope and so on. This will allow them a wider entry point. A lot of times, entrepreneurs tend to ask for hefty valuation or PE ratios when basically, as a startup, they have nothing much to show except for future projected earnings. At most times, when I sit in VC pitching sessions, entrepreneurs tend to ask for hefty valuation when in actual fact, they could not even justify their valuation.

12. The CEO should always be present. I have seen a few times when the CEO was absent during VC pitching. This give the company a very bad image and projects to the investors that the CEO is not interested in their money at all. Investors want to know who is running the company and in most cases, they look to the CEO to understand his leadership style, direction and more importantly, whether they can work with the CEO should they invest in the company.
13. Don’t take “NO” for an answer. More often, we tend to give up when the investor says "no". In fact, take the opportunity to engage with them and find out where you have gone wrong. As in #6 and #7, continue to write and visit them.

14. Never blame the investor for not understanding your business. Many a times, it is the entrepreneur that fails to make them understand their business model. This is why #9 is very important.

15. Develop a thick skin and enjoy yourself. You will get a lot of rejections than acceptances. Don’t take it personally or let it discourage you. In fact, you should learn from their feedback. Each investor that you meet will indicate to you what he/she is looking for. By learning, you will be able to improve your business model and presentation better.

16. Always be available for any Venture Pitching sessions. Inspite of all the rejections, make yourself available for any venture pitching sessions. They are good sounding boards for you to improve your business. Venture Pitching sessions are not a waste of time. You will continue to improve and one day, you will get their attention.

Perak Technopeneur Open Day

2009-12-11T23:09:00.002+08:00

MAD had its Perak Technopreneur Open Day last Saturday (Dec 5) with more than 60 people from Ipoh/Penang attending the half day event. Thanks to friends from KL - LTT Global (Rani and Wemel); Mobile World Magazine publisher (Kashminder); SummerSands (Bernard Hor, Zen, Burger and gang); Max Solutions (Poo and Jen); MCMC, Google (Hanson); MDeC and many others (incl. folks from Ipoh, Steve Tan and Wife from GoBroadband) - they brought the entrepreneur spirit alive in Ipoh. In fact, entrepreneurship is alive in Ipoh.

One particular technopreneur I would like to single out is a young Malay chap who blew me with his passion and entrepreneurial spirit. He has a product that is ready to commercialise. Nothing sexy about his technology - email blasting system but he came to me and say that he needs help to sell. I like this guy. He has good attitude towards entrepreneurship and willing to learn. I promptly invited him to join the MAD Incubator program in Ipoh. This is what I look forward in an entrepreneur. He was upfront to acknowledge his difficiencies and he knows he needed help if he wants to grow.

Fast forward 1 week later, I met him again in Ipoh. This time I had a 3 hr rundown on marketing and sales strategies and it gave him so much hope that he is now convinced that he needs incubation and get his biz running. Entrepreneurship is alive and well in Perak if given the chance!