Whether it’s in an interview in the trade magazines, in the college newspaper or on TV, CEOs of successful businesses like to paint a picture that belies the truth.
In some cases, it’s a romantic veneer over how hard they work, or how calculated they go about their management and this exists in part because the public wants an easily-digestible story of how to achieve results, or that it generally makes for a good uplifting reading.
Nobody likes to read a story of a struggle that includes constant repetition, problem-solving, manufacturing defects and late deliveries — it’s just “boring”. Read: Can’t sell newspapers or fill a business school auditorium.
The reality of it is much harsher yet simpler.
Read on for five common myths you’ll come across in interviews from successful CEOs (which you have to take with a generous pinch of salt): Read more
Recently, Flocations, a travel startup in Singapore, ran some tests on targeting women with Facebook ads. Their findings were totally unexpected.
They discovered that in Singapore and Malaysia, the number of “women interested in women” far outnumber those who are “interested in men”. In Singapore, that’s 14,800 to 6,100. The difference is even greater in Malaysia, at 65,160 to 8,480 (with several other parameters added in).
However, the figures in the United States seem pretty normal, with 1.6 million showing an interest in men, while a tenth of that indicating an interest in women: Read more
With three hours left, Shopperholly scrambles to finish their prototype and prepare their presentation. Photo: Startup Weekend Singapore 2012
I dropped by at Startup Weekend Singapore on Sunday for the first time, not knowing what to expect.
But I’m glad to report that my experience was positive. For those who are new to the startup scene, Startup Weekend is a global series of events that brings random people together to develop a startup idea into a minimum viable product within 54 hours.
The event ends with a scintillating (or discombobulating) series of pitches, where the teams get feedback from a panel consisting of investors and established entrepreneurs. Read more
Filed under Featured, Innovation & Technology, Mobile, News Stop, Special Commentary, Technology, WebTags: mystery shopper, shopperholly, snapsell, Startup Weekend, Startup Weekend Singapore, startup weekend singapore 2012, tietheknot, youbetiwill
Adeo (left) with Matt Marshall, founder of VentureBeat.
We managed to catch Adeo Ressi, CEO of The Founder Institute and CEO of TheFunded.com briefly at the sidelines of DEMO Asia 2012 to get his views on the startup scene here in Asia.
Quality of ideas the same?
Although Adeo expressed in earlier interviews that the quality of ideas, whether in Silicon Valley, or Europe, or Asia are the same, he thought that it is more “fine tuned” now as The Founder Institute is operating in 25 cities. Adeo feels that there are some differences in ideas in different markets but on the whole, it’s “more consistent than you would imagine”.
He also believes that some of the most innovative ideas are coming out of Paris and the highest rate of ideas being funded are in Berlin and in Singapore, the latter due to the active involvement of the government. Read more
Exploit Technologies is the commercialization arm of A*STAR, a research agency of the Singapore government. Philip Lim joined Exploit Technologies in August 2009 as its General Manager, and was appointed the Chief Executive Officer in December 2009.
He has engaged extensively with many members of the A*STAR community and has led Exploit Technologies in a comprehensive review of its roles and responsibilities. Read more
From his blog: Simone Brunozzi is a truly passionate technologist. After being an entrepreneur, a professor, a CTO, and after writing two technical books and two novels, he joined Amazon.com in March 2008 in the role of Amazon Web Services Technology Evangelist for Europe, to raise awareness about Cloud Computing and help developers build applications.
In January 2010 he relocated to Singapore, becoming the first AWS Technology Evangelist for the APAC region. In 2010 he received the “2010 Cloud Evangelist of the Year” award. Read more
Filed under Innovation & Technology, Special Commentary, Technology, WebTags: Amazon Web Services, amazon.com, AWS, Cloud, cloud technology, DEMO Asia, DEMO Asia 2012, simone brunozzi, The Digital Movement
From his blog: Adeo Ressi is Founding Member of TheFunded.com, an online community of 12,000 CEOs to research, rate, and review funding sources worldwide. Adeo also runs the Founder Institute, a mentoring program that helps entrepreneurs launch hundreds of world-class companies each year. The Institute is the eighth start-up that Adeo has founded or built, four of which were acquired and three of which are still operating. Read more
Several startups in the cloud and enterprise space presented during Demo Asia 2012 this morning, some of which were memorable. Since this is Oscars season in Hollywood, we’re giving each startup our own awards just for fun.
The No-Brainer Pitch award: Tradesparq
Tradesparq allows merchants and businesses to search through AliBaba suppliers and then ranks them based on the social networks and contacts of the merchant. It is likened to LinkedIn plus AliBaba.
Their presentation of trying to find a kitchen sink supplier in AliBaba showed that AliBaba had no problem returning thousands of results but had a problem in terms of finding a supplier that can be trusted. This filtering is done based on the trust established amongst your existing network.
The panel straight after the pitches was quite unanimous and effusive in their praise of Tradesparq as well for their product-market fit. Read more
Filed under Innovation & Technology, Special Commentary, Technology, WebTags: DEMO Asia, DEMO Asia 2012, dropmyemail, dropmyemail.com, e-xefs, hoiio API, Tradesparq, urbancook
Robert Kim is the director of consumer infocomm at Singapore’s Infocomm Development Authority, where he plays industry development role in the areas of start-ups/entrepreneurship, online gaming and digital media. He will be interviewed by VentureBeat founder and editor-in-chief Matt Marshall. Read more
VentureBeat founder and editor-in-chief Matt Marshall will be having a discussion with Michael Yap, Deputy CEO and Executive Director of Interactive Digital Media Programme Office, Media Development Authority of Singapore. They will be speaking on the nation as an Interactive Digital Media platform. Read more
Filed under Innovation & Technology, Special Commentary, Technology, WebTags: DEMO, DEMO Asia, DEMO Asia 2012, Interactive Digital Media Programme Office, Media Development Authority, Michael Yap, Singapore, Singapore Government
