Embrace failure, but don’t think about it

“Startups don’t get killed by competitors, but by their own incompetence”

- Paul Graham in TC Disrupt 2011

After seeing over the years how up and coming entrepreneurs often drag on with a startup that is going nowhere, I realize that failure is not an option they want to think about.

Of course, if you are passionate about an idea and set about making your passion a business, having thoughts about “what if I fail” is a bad idea and definitely something investors don’t want. You’d be expected to put your heart and soul in the startup because it’s not about the founders but also the employees who work with you to build the idea into a sustainable enterprise. Read more

Making every mum’s baby her business

Having a baby can be a major strain on parents both mentally and financially.

Witnessing this, Sheryl Tay launched The Baby Specialist in 2009 to provide Singapore’s only hospital-grade baby equipment rental company. It helps mothers who are caring for newborns and toddlers to save cost since they would not need to purchase expensive equipment which they’d only use for a while. Read more

Wikileaks: S’pore government’s top-down approach to entrepreneurship

Unless you’ve been living in a cave (or too busy working on your app), you would know that Wikileaks has released all its diplomatic cables — 251,287 of them. For Singapore alone, there are 700 cables obtained from the US Embassy.

Those looking for scandalous information that will rock the nation will be disappointed — no heads are set to roll. But one cable is of interest to entrepreneurs: Created in 2007, the document charts the Singapore government’s push towards supporting innovation and entrepreneurship, and the obstacles they face in driving the country towards a knowledge-based economy. Read more

Malaysians in Cambridge’s world first postgrad entrepreneurship diploma

Several Malaysias have made it to the world’s first entrepreneurship diploma by Cambridge University, according to Business Weekly. The one-year course has an enrollment of 38 students from all over the world, including places like India, Australia, Peru, South Africa, and Britain. Read more

Now, even Manchester United loves Mamee

All kids in Singapore and Malaysia know and love Mamee Monster, the famous salty and crunchy noodle snack with a blue monster mascot. The product is certainly ubiquitous with childhood in this part of the world, comparable to Chupa Chups lollipops.

Photo: Mamee Monster (left) and Mister Potato (right).

So I was excited to know that the guests for the Augest 12 session of the Entrepreneurship & Innovation Week would be Datuk Pang Tee Chew, CEO of Mamee Double Decker and his son Vuitton Pang, who is the company’s business development manager. Read more

How Singapore firms can scale for success — and other vids from Dr Tony Tan Q&A

On August 3, SGE organized a Chillin’ With session with presidential candidate Dr Tony Tan where entrepreneurs and investors got to ask him questions relating to doing business in Singapore. Here are some of the videos.

Please share some lessons learned in developing entrepreneurship in Singapore over the past twenty years – Dr Tony Tan from Office of Dr Tony Tan on Vimeo:

Singapore was forged on risk-taking. How can we encourage self belief and self confidence? from Office of Dr Tony Tan on Vimeo:

Read more

Interview with Brad Feld, co-founder of VC firm Foundry Group

Onsuccess interviewed early stage investor and entrepreneur Brad Feld on July 14 regarding entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial ecosystems. Brad shared much from his own experience and gave some insightful comments on entrepreneurship in Asia. Read more

Death by poor execution: How your startup can avoid failure

As a former venture capitalist I’ve been privileged to interact with numerous entrepreneurs in South Asia and play a small role in some start-up ventures. A few of these succeeded and went on to become large companies while many others failed.

Some ended up as lifestyle businesses – the living dead in VC parlance – and continue to chug along never quite realizing their original promise.

Read more

Need a co-founder for your startup? Join Cofoundify

Entrepreneurs in Singapore generally don’t yak enough, so says Jeffrey Paine, entrepreneur and executive director of angel investing and mentorship firm Battle Ventures.

By that, he meant that rookie entrepreneurs can get over-possessive about their own business ideas when they should be going out there and getting constructive feedback from trusted friends, mentors, advisers, and potential customers.

“Nobody is going to steal your stupid idea,” he told SGE in an email interview. Read more

[Video] The Entrepreneurial Spirit

Every company that exists today had to have been a startup before. The Entrepreneurial Spirit documents the journey of four teams as they pitch, build and pitch (again) over a period of 54 hours as part of the global Startup Weekend (SW) movement. Read more