Much Ado About ACRA Annual Returns For A Startup

Startups usually have a bunch of tech and business people who are usually clueless about accounting, and even if they do, the rules and regulations involving the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority Singapore (ACRA) might baffle them.

Here, co-founder of local company Bloomerang, the team behind bloomerHang® – completely biodegradable and recyclable cardboard clothing hangers with advertising on them – Wong Joon Ian talks about his experiences trying to file his annual returns and provides a case study for other startups. (You can also check out our interview with him.) Read more

“Life Savers” – 5 Web Apps That Increase Productivity

So the new year has come and gone but here we are, still busy lying to rest the ghosts of the naughty Noughties past (too many of them, I say!) – Goodbye Michael Jackson (2009)! Goodbye Bear Stearns (2008)! Hello Youtube (2005)! Hello Facebook (2004)!…

Even so, let’s welcome the Anxious Teenies, a whole new decade of uncertainty and opportunity which has begun opening up for us. The breakthroughs which we have reveled in during the Noughties (so called due to a play on the word Nought which stands for 0 in many English speaking countries) will be topped and improved on, enabling us to become even more connected with the world around us.

And of course, what’s welcoming a new decade with its awkward teen years without indulging in the cliché ritual of creating a list right? With the global economy being brought to its knees in the wake of the recent financial tsunami, it has become even more imperative for startups to run efficient and productive operations in order to enable the David and Goliath story to remain an urbane fixture.

As such, we have listed 5 web apps in order to enable you and your startup to survive the urban jungle out there. Read more

How to write an executive summary in 24 hours

We present the slides for the talk in Start-Up@Singapore on the topic “How to write an executive in 24 hours”. It provides a comprehensive guide with examples to how one can write a 2-5 pages executive summary: (a) introduction, (b) problem/opportunity, (c) technology/service/product, (d) team, (e) route to market, (f) business strategies, (g) financials and (h) exit strategy. Read more

Building Online Communities for Non Profit Organizations

Barcamp Singapore 4 was just over. During the event, I made a presentation on “Building Online Communities for Non-Profit Organizations”, which focus on how non-profit organizations can either leveraging on existing large social networks (for e.g. Facebook Pages for Oxfam GB/US or Causes) or built their own to fulfil their strategic objectives (Kiva.org which focus on micro-lending for entrepreneurs in developing nations), for example, fundraising, creating awareness and canvassing community volunteers. Finally, I end with a local example, Give.SG, where one of the co-founders declared during my talk that their platform will be up soon within a month. One of the most important lessons which is not evident from the slides is that I focus on is that building online communities should be a means that can transition your cause into the offline and it is important to find a way to move offline to gather and canvass for your non-profit social cause. Here are the slides where you can check out the talk: Read more

3 New Social Media Tools that Startups should know about

Recently, we introduced a set of 6 social media tools which start-ups should be tapping on in dealing with PR, marketing and branding issues. One advantage is that a start-up being nimble and quick, can find applications on social media tools that can distribute, share and gather feedback on their products and services in a very quick rate. Given that social media is a ever-changing landscape all over the world, and the buzz that are ongoing from twitter lists, enterprise microblogging via Yammer to google wave, we decide to give you a list of three new social media tools (or feature in existing social media tools) that you should know about. Read more

Facebook and Twitter for Businesses

Recently, together with Wall Street Journal Asia and GoTo Webinar, Ogilvy 360 Digital Influence: Asia Digital Map presented two interesting webinars that focus on helping businesses particularly brands on how to use Facebook and Twitter for business. For start-ups who most likely not have the marketing budgets until they receive proper investments to scale up, this may be a good reference for the founders to think about how to utilize these new social media tools for their own businesses. Read more

Executive Summary – Ideas, Innovation & Purpose

Currently, the Ideas.Inc Business Challenge organized by Nanyang Technopreneurship Centre, NTU and SPRING Singapore is still ongoing before the deadline for executive summary on 27 November 2009. Over the past two months, I have conducted three Executive Summary Workshops in NTC, Civil Service College and National Library Board for about 150 participants. In each of the workshop, I included a short presentation, an ideas generation workshop and an executive summary review with the participants. In this post, I will share with you the Executive Summary presentation which I broke down into four main themes: (1) Identification of a business opportunity, (2) Why and How to write an executive Summary and (3) Resources on sites for people who are setting up businesses should go. Read more

Navigating the Visa Jungle for Foreign Entrepreneurs in Singapore

Singapore is pretty well known by now as an ideal hub to start your own company, ideally in sectors which are of high strategic importance to the government policies, such as new media (web start-ups), biotechnology and the gaming sector. With several government funding schemes in place, an ideal business environment and strong ecosystem, many foreign entrepreneurs aim to set up shop in the city-state. But the first hurdle to master on the way to your successful business launch in Singapore is to identify which type of visa suits your requirements best. Read more

The Chronicles of a Mobile Web Economy

You have probably read the recent article “A Guide for Mobile-Web Developers to Smartphone Apps Stores” which was partly inspired from a talk I presented at 16th Infocomm & Media Horizons, Genexis Theatre, Fusionopolis on 7 Oct. Ever since the launch of the iPhone, the iTunes platform has brought together the mobile and web developers into the same space of development. How does the developer navigate in such a space filled with apps stores: Apple iTunes Store, Nokia Ovi Store, Google Android Market, BlackBerry (RIM) Apps World and Microsoft Windows Marketplace? This talk addresses the trends and observations in the current market (mobile & web penetration, user usage on both mobile and web), and seeks to provide a perspective as to where the roadmap for the mobile-web economy will head towards. It also talks about the three main lessons which developers should learn about the ecosystem.
Read more

SEO Series – Onpage and Offpage Optimization

Second in this special SEO series by SEO consulting firm, Net Minds, this takes a look at the optimization process. You might want to read the author’s introduction to SEO if you have not.

Before you start the optimization process it is always advisable to take a look at the current state of your site (SEO-wise). This is what SEO firms call the “Site Audit”. Read more

Next Page »