Professor, consultant and longtime angel investor, Prof Wong Poh Kam is an industry veteran. As an angel investor, he has invested in many high-tech firms and sits on the boards of many. He is also the Director of the NUS Entrepreneurship Centre and holds positions at the various institutions and consults widely for international agencies such as the World Bank as well as many high tech firms in Asia. Prof Wong was recently at OpenWebAsia 2010 (held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) to share his thoughts on cross border angel investing.

Here’s an interview:

Prof Wong tweets and blogs at Connect The Dots@Singapore.

Related posts:

1. Ideas for the Economic Strategies Committee Solicited
2. Convert Your Ideas to Business – Workshop with Wong Poh Kam
3. After CEO Unplugged-Intrapreneurship at NUS Entrepreneurship Week

Not for the faint hearted: Before starting Foound, Danny Tan applied for credits cards from almost all the major banks in Singapore so that he could be ensured of an operating credit of a few tens of thousands if the need ever arose. Luckily for them, there has been no need to draw on this credit line just yet.

Heard much about Foound after their successful outing at Echelon 2010 but are still clueless as to who are the people drivers behind the company? This interview brings to you Danny’s personal narrative of the foound team and his personal entrepreneurial journey thus far.

At The Begining

Foound contracted COMA to do design and branding work, but we had such a great time working together that we decided Aen should join foound full-time.

In starting up foound, did your team obtain seed funding/get angel investors? If so, how did foound approach potential investors?

Foound is funded by SPRING Singapore’s YES! Startups Grant when we first started. It is a S$50,000 one to four matching grant so I put up the requisite S$12,500 myself. I basically emptied my savings for this, and had to borrow money from friends just to get by. We are also immensely indebted to SMU’s Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship for supporting us during our grant application process, and for subsequently providing us with a great incubation space. SMU is a great partner to foound and everyone at the office is genuinely supportive of start-up activities.

Risk taking is a necessary part of entrepreneurship.. the faster you realize that as an entrepreneur, the better your chances of success

One other thing I did just before I started foound was also to apply for credit cards from almost all the major banks in Singapore, so that I knew that if the time ever comes, I had an operating credit of a few tens of thousands I could tap on. While we have been lucky enough not to have needed this credit, I think in general this is a great way to bootstrap, and also keep yourself on your toes when it comes to managing expenses. Some people might think this is crazy, and obviously I won’t recommend everyone to do the same, but then again I feel that risk taking is a necessary part of successful entrepreneurship, and the faster you realise that as an entrepreneur, the better your chances of success.

What are the individual strengths that Aen and yourself feel bring to the team and how do your skill sets complement each other?

Aen is extremely creative and pays lots of attention to details. He has an unmatched intuition as to what looks and feels good to the users, and can translate that into product. I drive the team in terms of product direction and strategy, and also run biz dev and marketing. Besides the 2 of us, there are other members of the team who each play a critical role. I think this is our main strength, that while we are both extremely opinionated, we are willing to trust each other to make decisions. Basically, we believe that if 2 people always agree, one of them is redundant. However as a team, once we make a collective decision, everyone sticks by it and there is no second guessing.

Who are your mentors, if any?

In life, I had the good fortune of getting great advice from many people that I’ve met, so it will be difficult for me to single out any one of them as the definitive “mentor”. As for foound, we had the privilege of being adviced by Umar Akram of youpark.com and Jayesh Parekh who is investor-in-residence at SMU. Both of them played a big part in helping us polish our product and go-to-market strategy.

Learning From Experience

I spent almost 2 years starting a biomedical device company in the US, 1 year in venture capital investing, and another few more months in Stockholm Sweden starting a web 2.0 startup. Each of my previous experiences, while not financially rewarding, were invaluable in educating and preparing me for foound. I learnt many valuable skills like hiring only the best people, managing finances, etc. that can never be learnt in school. I strongly recommend anyone who wants to become an entrepreneur to work with someone more experienced than yourself, regardless of financial rewards, before doing something on your own.

When Simplicity Is The Hardest Language

“We will do everything necessary to achieve these objectives.”

Foound seems to encapsulate the idea of simplicity – this is evident in your pitch as well as the app that your team has designed. To what extent has this “principle” guided your team whilst designing the product?

Simplicity is an easy word to use but difficult concept to execute. Anyone who has gone through a product development process will instantly understand what we are talking about. When foound first started, we had over 20 features, each of which we though was extremely interesting and exciting. However when we tried explaining it to someone else, nobody got it. This taught us that no matter how good your idea is, the most important thing is for people to understand what you are doing, and therefore simplicity is critical. Zaki of Game Ventures once told me, would you rather have a “great” product and no users, or “lousy” product with many users. I didn’t realise this at that time, but this is obviously a trick question as the only measure of how “great” your product is is the number of people who use it. The rest of the “greatness” is just swelling in your head.

Based on our previous conversation, you previously mentioned that foound aims for an international roll out by July and is also working towards attaining 1 million downloads within the first 9 months of its launch. With regards to this, how is your team currently preparing for the large scale launch of your product?

For this, I am very pleased to announce that we have just added a new hire to the team, Lichi Wu, who will oversee our user acquisition strategies. Lichi has over 3 years of experience with Google in the US, and 1 year of experience with AdMob in Singapore. With him joining the team, we will be laser focused on creating the best product for our users, and maximizing the viral distribution of foound through various social media channels.

“Zaki of Game Ventures once told me “Would you rather have a “great” product and no users, or “lousy” product with many users” … the only measure of how “great” your product is is the number of people who use it. The rest of the “greatness” is just swelling in your head.”

On another note, will it be convenient to divulge some of your expansion plans? For instance in which countries are you aiming to launch in the near future? Are there any potential partners you are currently talking to now?

I am afraid I can’t disclose partnership discussions at this point, but rest assured that we have lots of exciting news coming up! In terms of geographic expansion, we are targetting major metropolitan cities around the world, most likely starting from the US.

Finally, what are your hopes for foound in the near future?

Foound’s objective is very simple, “To bring the world closer, one hangout at a time”. The hope is of course to have as many people using foound as possible, and to hear from our users that foound is genuinely making their life easier and more enjoyable. We will do everything necessary to achieve these objectives.

Related posts:

1. Organising Hangouts Made Easy With Foound
2. Foound Out. How To Pitch Right.
3. Latest Startup Jobs – 2 Feb 2010

Within this short span of three years, InMobi has managed to grow so rapidly that they experienced an an 8 times increase in the number of ad impressions from 250million to 2BILLION within a 6 month period. (update: these figures are for their US market only) They are now considered to be one of the largest global independent mobile networks. The network was launched in 2007 by the founding team consisting of Naveen Tewari, Mohit Saxena, Amit K. Gupta, Abhay Singhal.

We caught up with Mr. Emmanuel Allix, VP and MD (APAC) of InMobi at ad:tech held a few weeks ago to find out more about their business strategy.

Cornerstone Of Success

While most mobile networks first established their bases in the developed markets, InMobi is unique in doing the reverse – they first gained a strong presence in the APAC market then looked into penetration of Europe and US. Having said that, this therefore means that InMobi is going up against strong competition in the developed markets which is currently dominated by entrenched players such as AdMob (Google owned) and relative newcomers like Apple’s iAd and Quattro Wireless. As such, how does InMobi plan to differentiate itself from the competition?

When posed with this question, Mr. Allix’s reply was quick and simple: InMobi’s foundation lies in technologically superior products which serve the market needs - therefore there will be a place in the market for InMobi regardless of the competition. A sales force may not even be necessitated since the product is able to speak for itself and serve the market’s needs.

Engaging Developers

If these stats are anything to go by, there are approximately 30,000 Andriod apps in total, doubling the total number of apps within 3 months. And for Apple, the numbers are even more mind blowing. The app store has reached more than three billion downloads from the roughly 100,000 applications at the App Store since its launch in 2008 and following this trajectory, the numbers will keep on increasing.

As such, InMobi has added in-app advertising to their revenue stream and continually engages developers to build on their SDKs. Hesitating between which platform to develop on? Mr. Allix has this to say: Try all the different platforms then settle on the one that offers you the best monetization. Also, create more than one variation to put into the system and then let users decide which which gives the most desirable combination. Customer feedback in this case is easily determined via the clickthrough rate of the ad.

In so saying, Mr. Allix has displayed his confidence in the InMobi platform and its ability to help developers leverage on it. And just this month, reasons Mr. Allix’s confidence were made clear – InMobi just announced the launched of a 2 million developers fund which allows participating developers to keep 100% of the advertising revenue during the duration of the fund.

Of course, this is a seemingly smart move by InMobi to gain further penetration in the developed markets -”The biggest challenge is to get developers to switch from one platform to the other. This will give them a good number of converts and a good percentage of those would be lazy to switch back after the deal is up.”

Additionally, the Google-Apple warfare which prevents Google owed Admob from advertising on the iPhone therefore means that InMobi with its independent network status will stand to benefit greatly from the decreased competition in the iPhone landscape. (Update: New Link Included)

Managing Asia’s Fragmented Market

InMobi’s stronghold is in the APAC region. However, Asia, with its multicultural and multilingual landscape makes for a highly fragmented market. The network therefore has to pay close attention to country specific cultural and religious sensitivities. InMobi relies on both technical help as well as locally based backend operations team to monitor the billions of ads which are launched on their self – serving platform. Aside from screening for sensitive content, the backend team also maintains the quality of ads by ensuring that ads are posted on the relevant networks. This is achieved by closely monitoring what readers are talking about and matching them to key words stated on the ads.

Related posts:

1. TWIA #59: Emmanuel Allix from InMobi
2. InMobi Raises USD $8M To Fund Expansion and Mobile Customer Discovery Technology
3. InMobi Set To Gain From Apple-Google Mobile Warfare

More than 3 years ago, we spoke with Casey Chan, Co-Founder and CEO of WizPatent. Since our last interview with him, the company has released a few other products, one of which we profiled last month. Here we had a chat with Casey again to find out more about the backstory behind WizFolio, his latest product.

It’s been 3.5 years since our first interview with you. Back then, I believe there was only WizPatent Manager (WPM). Since then, you have also launched a lite version of it in WizPatent Express (WPE) as well as ventured into the reference manager industry with WizFolio. How would you describe your journey over the past few years?

The technology particularly the Internet is evolving very rapidly. We have moved from desktop to web based applications. There are pros and cons but mostly pros for web based application. With the launch of iPad and JooJoo (aka CrunchPad) we think web based applications are going to be even more important in the future. We learned a lot about keeping up with technology in the last 2 years.

How are WPE and WPM doing?

WPE and WPM are being sold but because we do not have marketing the uptake has been slow particularly WPE.

Like how WizPatent Manager arose, WizFolio arose out of a personal need I believe? How is WizFolio different from other products out there?

WizFolio is more than a journal reference manager. Window Explorer manages your files on your local hard drive, whereas WizFolio is a “Web Explorer” that manages your information on the cloud. Although it is a desktop application, it has the look and feel of a desktop application.

Congrats on the Scholars Portal trial for WizFolio and also on having Raffles Institution adopt the product. Does this mean that we might be seeing more of WizFolio across the education system here in Singapore?

The sign up at Raffles Institution has been tremendous, students from Victoria Junior College are also signing up and I believe this is by word of mouth.

How did the Scholars Portal trial come about anyway?

Two weeks ago I was in the Toronto area and presented to the librarian of four universities. The reception was exceptionally good. The librarians were very knowledgeable and asked a lot of good questions.

Where do you think are the biggest markets for WizFolio?

US, Europe, Japan, Taiwan and China.

Where do you see WizFolio in one year?

If we execute right, we hope to penetrate the mobile web device market and be the preferred tool to manage your personal and academic information on the cloud.

Any new products in store for the company?

No new product but just want to make WizFolio even better.

What would your advice be to a student or fresh grad who is thinking of starting up instead of working for someone else in a big company first?

If you are thinking of starting a software company, I would advise you to read Paul Graham’s book “Hackers and Painters” first.

About Casey Chan: Casey Chan is the CEO and CTO of WizPatent. Besides being a course instructor with IP Academy, Singapore, where he teaches the structure and analysis of patent claims, he is also an Adjunct Professor at the Department of Orthopedic Surgery and the Division of Bioengineering at the National University of Singapore. He teaches the third year engineering students a course in Bioengineering Design as well. Prof Chan has 15 years experience in product development and in patent filing. He is also an inventor and a consultant to several orthopedic equipment manufacturers in the U.S.. A bone cement mixing system he designed is widely used in joint replacement surgery in the United States. He has 35 U.S. patents in the area of surgical devices and has 10 other patents pending. He is trained as an orthopedic surgeon. He also has a Master degree in aerospace engineering and he was an engineering consultant for the Institute for Aerospace Studies, University of Toronto. He was the former Director of Orthopedic Research at Montreal General Hospital, McGill University. He participates in angel investing and advises a number of biotech start-ups in the U.S.. He is co-founder and former CEO of a successful e-learning company called WizLearn.

Related posts:

1. The Unexpected Customer – RI Adopts WizFolio, Software For Academics

After spending ten years with Levi Strauss Europe, Patrick Turner left Levi’s in order to launch his own jeans marketing company, after which he subsequently acquired and managed another small company, both in Spain. Now, he is Affiliate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Family Enterprise at INSEAD and has been at the institution since 1999, specifically teaching MBA courses on acquisitions, new business creation, and managing growth ventures, on both the Fontainebleau and Singapore campuses.

In addition to the entrepreneurship courses he teaches at INSEAD, Professor Turner is a Visiting Professor at Reykjavik University, Iceland, and has also taught courses in France, Spain, Estonia, and South America.

I have known Professor Turner for several years now so when it turned out that INSEAD was involved in Martell VSOP’s The Ultimate Start-Up Space challenge (TUSS), I took the opportunity to catch up with Prof Turner again and chat with him to find out his thoughts on the TUSS finalists and entrepreneurship in Singapore.

On INSEAD’s Involvement in The Ultimate Startup Space

We started off our chat by talking about how INSEAD got to be involved in the TUSS challenge. While the exact start of the relationship is unclear, Prof Turner spoke about the fit between the TUSS audience and that of the institution: that Martell Cognac consumers are potential INSEAD Executive Ed programme students. Prof Turner describes, “The young, upwardly mobile and ambitious people, as well as the older guys like me.”

So given the similarity of overall interests of both parties, and also because Pernod Ricard (the company behind Martell) have been longstanding consumers of the INSEAD Executive Education programme, INSEAD contributed to the programme by providing four 90-minute training sessions to the top 10 finalists and also an Executive Education course for the winning team!

On The Difference Between INSEAD Students And The TUSS Finalists

I wanted to find out more about the actual teaching experience of Prof Turner with regards to his usual classes at INSEAD vis-à-vis the TUSS finalists and so we got talking about the profiles of the two groups.

While the average age of an MBA student at INSEAD is 28 or 29 with about 80 nationalities amongst the students, the TUSS finalists were a lot younger and have much less professional experience, if at all. And of course, the finalists were quite a homogenous lot in terms of nationality owing to the requirement of the competition to have a Singapore citizen or Permanent Resident.

Thus, before starting classes, Prof Turner admitted to being surprised at how little difference there was between the TUSS finalists compared to his usual INSEAD students. Though much younger and much less experienced, the TUSS finalists picked things up very fast.

“I used material that I used normally. Material that I’ve used here and at universities in Europe.” Prof Turner emphasized that there was no need to simplify the course material for the finalists. And since topics ranged from Idea Generation, Marketing for Startups, Financing & Legal Issues, Team to the Business Plan, participants had a “good typical feel of the curriculum”.

However, one notable difference between the MBA students and TUSS finalists that Prof Turner found “amusing” is that the former seemed to disappear from the classrooms right after it was obvious that class has ended. On the other hand, the finalists “wouldn’t move!”

Everyone was very into the classes and eager to learn, even when it was quarter past 9, no one complained. (Classes were supposed to end at 9pm.)

On Singapore’s Entrepreneurial Culture

On that note, Prof Turner says that people are “absolutely wrong” when people say there is no entrepreneurial culture in Singapore. After all, Singapore today started out with immigrants and these immigrants were entrepreneurs! These first-generation immigrants started companies and these companies are today the backbone of the SME fabric of Singapore. The “proto-Singaporeans” were entrepreneurs!

However, Prof Turner clarifies that this entrepreneurial culture in Singapore as more “dormant”. Elaborating on why he thinks so, he spoke about the makings of Singapore post-independence and how “for very understandable reasons”, we had to attract some big names here as we had no natural resources. We had to have people teach us how to do research.

For example, the Economic Development Board (EDB) encouraged the likes of IBM and HP to set up research facilities in Singapore and over time, that gave rise to big companies from the outside setting up here, which in turn gave rise to the idea that you must study hard in school, get as high an education as you can, and then find yourself a good job in a big company.

(Unless of course, the government spots you and you become a government scholar and have a bond.)

Thus, kids’ attention were focused by school, parents and the government to study hard and get a good job. And in Prof Turner’s words, “the whole entrepreneurship thing went out through the window.”

When the Economic Review committee back in 2002 decided that Singapore needed a greater activity of entrepreneurship, and that’s when the Action Community for Entrepreneurship (ACE) was founded and SPRING became the SPRING of today.

“Getting people interested in entrepreneurship actually wasn’t that difficult….There is as much enthusiasm amongst people in Singapore to do entrepreneurship as I would expect to find anywhere. However, one problem is that even though the raw material is here, there are only so many ideas that can come out of one place.”

Another problem, Prof Turner feels is that funding opportunities here still aren’t right, “I still see a basis of risk aversion on the part of investors and VCs. I don’t really see the funding bit as up to the level of enthusiasm of the entrepreneurs here.”

Placing Hope In The New NRF TIS Initiative

A recent development which Prof Turner is hopeful about is the new Technology Incubation Scheme (TIS) by the National Research Foundation (NRF). He points out that of the seven incubators that were chosen, four were given to non-Singaporeans, specifically a few from Silicon Valley.

Seen one way, with this, we have funding (partially financed by NRF) and ideas (from the incubators), then according to Prof Turner, the last ingredient in this pot that is need is the entrepreneur. It is here that he emphasizes that now, the problem with that is “where do you get the experienced entrepreneurs from?”

To that, Prof Turner does not have a solution but “We’ll wait and see. But this [TIS] initiative is far and away the most imaginative [compared to just matching funds].”

On Changing Mindsets

Bringing us back to the entrepreneurial culture spoken about earlier, Prof Turner talks about the time taken needed to change mindsets, “To affect a mindset we need at least a generation, say about 25 yrs. Singapore can arguably do it much faster, due to all sorts of reasons. But even Singapore can have difficulty doing it in half a generation and that’s 12, 13 years. And we’ve been going at it for 6, 7 years since ACE was born. So there is still a while to go.”

On Singapore’s Small Market And Need To Think International

Another thing is that Singapore’s market is “so desperately small” that companies have to think international right from the word go. Think Ivan Lee of Thai Express and George Quek of Bread Talk.

On Getting Experience

“The best education for a wannabe entrepreneur is to go work for one,” Prof Turner said.

The other way is of course to just start your own company. But that does not mean going into it without a plan.

On The Importance Of Business Plans

There is one camp of people who argue that writing a business plan is a waste of time as it is just a theoretical exercise; time could be better spent on actually executing on the business.

Of this, Prof Turner thinks “it is a fashionable, trendy idea, but it is a dangerous one.”

For him, the business plan is a vital part of the whole business. Even though “the only certainty you have of your business plan is that it is going be wrong”, it is about trying to make you as sure as you possibly can.

Entrepreneurship Is The Management Of Risk

But this does not mean that entrepreneurship itself is always going to be on shaky ground.

Speaking on the common association people make between entrepreneurship and risk, Prof Turner corrects that misconception to clarify that entrepreneurship is actually about the management of risk. Entrepreneurs limit risk as much as they can.

In fact, entrepreneurship is less risky than working for someone else as you can be terminated any minute by your employer while if you are an entrepreneur, you have your future in your own hands.

To sum it up, Prof Turner encourages people to try entrepreneurship if their gut feel is to do it, and if it is not just a passing whim and when this potential entrepreneur knows the risks, “Unless you have deeply religious beliefs that lead you to believe that there is a life after this one, you have only one go at this one. Makes sense to me to try as much as you can to be happy; to do what what you really want to do.”

Check out our interviews with some of the TUSS finalists:

Bon Soir – Dark Dining

All Things Green And Beautiful

The Chupitos Bar

Amnesia

Hemeryx

OliveScreens

YOUnique

The Chocolate Museum

Images courtesy of Tatters:), joka2000 and seanmcgrath.

Related posts:

1. In Conversation with Boon Joo of YOUnique
2. Rise Above and Win The Ultimate Start-Up Space
3. In Conversation With Elaine Pang of ATGAB

Yum. Next up is Stephanie Chia of The Chocolate Museum. As one of the top 10 finalists of the Martell VSOP The Ultimate Start-Up Space competition, she stands to gain a space in Clarke Quay from which she can launch her business. Let us hear her thoughts.

(For a quick overview of the prizes the ultimate winner stands to gain, read this.)

Describe your idea and how you think it stands out from all the finalists.

The Chocolate Museum plans to usher a new line of specialty chocolate brands into the Singapore market from South America, Europe and North America. To redefine the chocolate eating culture in Singapore, we have created a unique dessert concept that pairs chocolates with wonderful things like wine, spirits, coffee, tea and even flowers! Being not just a retail outlet, we also hope to create awareness about the history and culture of chocolate such as the way cocoa beans transform into yummy chocolate bars.

[View her 60-second video submission for TUSS.]

How did you come up with this idea? Did you already have this idea before hearing about this competition?

I have always been a harsh critic of chocolates, despite loving these little gems. I would go in search for a good bar of chocolate during my travels around the world, just to satisfy my craving for something new. I have even been as far as a cocoa plantation in Belize where I was exposed to the chocolate manufacturing process and experienced the sheer amount of effort that went into it.

Stephanie looks at a coffee plant in a cacao plantation in Belize

I was planning to ship some chocolates from South America to Singapore, together with a group of friends, when this competition came along. And I thought, hey, there just might be others like myself who would love to know about these specialty chocolate brands. So The Chocolate Museum was a natural progression of expanding the chocolate network from friends to all chocolate lovers in Singapore.

Why do you think you should win the top prize for The Ultimate Start-Up Space?

Because we’re adding a new element to Clarke Quay! With a colourful mix of themed restaurants, bars, entertainment night spots and a trendy crowd that is always on the look out for something novel, Clarke Quay is the perfect hub to experiment with the bold and innovative. So with a new variety of chocolate brands and an intriguing chocolate-pairing dessert concept, why shouldn’t we win?

Tell us your team’s background and what you are doing now.

Steph and Johnson of The Chocolate Museum team

Like myself, my partner Johnson shares a love for good chocolates. Having done his undergraduate degree at UC Berkeley and post-graduate studies at Yale University, Johnson has a strong finance background and is someone whom I can’t do without on this team. We have worked together on several projects before and our great working relationship has helped to push the Chocolate Museum idea forward.

If you win, tell us your plan moving forward to turn your idea into reality. And would executing on this idea be a full-time commitment on your team’s part?

We are in touch with our suppliers who are just as excited as we are to have these chocolate brands on the Singapore market. I think the main thrust in propelling this plan forward is to convey the idea that it is easy to pair a good quality chocolate with everyday beverages we drink. And when chocolates and beverages are paired in the right way, this could be a heavenly dessert combination! Getting your own start-up going will definitely be a full time commitment.

If you don’t, what are your plans then?

It would be a waste not to get the space at Clarke Quay. But this just means that we’ll have to tweak our plans slightly.

What is our Plan B? We will start a chocolate distribution business via an online chocolate store, before venturing into retail as a next step. Given our large support base of more than half a thousand fans on our Facebook Fanpage (whom we have so much to thank for), we’ve got a good network of interested chocolate lovers who would absolutely love a share of our first shipment of chocolates.

At Hawaii’s most famous Macadamia Nut Chocolate Factory.

Do you think the space offered at Clarke Quay by Martell VSOP is a differentiating factor for your idea’s success? Why or why not?

The success of our business plan depends upon how we can successfully shape the chocolate eating culture in Singapore. But having the space at Clarke Quay is an ABSOLUTE plus that would create visibility for our brand name because of the patron profile at Clarke Quay and the bustling traffic there. And don’t forget, it’ll be great to have Martell VSOP as our partners since cognac pairs darn well with chocolates!

Thanks for your time, Stephanie! All the best.

The Chocolate Museum can be found on Facebook. You can also check out their radio interview.

Read: 8 Tips to Setting Up Your Food and Beverage Business in Singapore

Check out all our interviews with the TUSS finalists:

Bon Soir – Dark Dining

All Things Green And Beautiful

The Chupitos Bar

Amnesia

Hemeryx

OliveScreens

YOUnique

The Chocolate Museum

Related posts:

1. Interview with Jamie and Cherilyn of The Chupitos Bar
2. Interview with Vijay of OliveScreens
3. Interview with Leroy Zhong of Bon Soir – Dark Dining

Next up in our feature of the top 10 finalists of the Martell VSOP The Ultimate Start-Up Space challenge is Boon Joo of YOUnique. Let’s hear what he thinks of his idea and the competition.

(For a quick overview of the prizes the ultimate winner stands to gain, read this.)

Describe your idea and how you think it stands out from all the finalists.

YOUnique provides a professional makeover service for you to doll yourself up with different make-up, hairdo, scents and fashion wear for every function/party! Express makeover services for party goers or premium makeover services for function goers are provided, ensuring a UNIQUE you for every event!

Most of the business ideas from the finalists are involved in the F&B industry. But the F&B industry is already so saturated in the area, this will result in serious competition and a risk of splitting and depleting the market share.

YOUnique enters the market with the aim of targeting the crowd that is attracted to this location. With all the marketing, advertising, promotion and public relation efforts contributed by all the retailers (diners, clubs, bars etc) due to competition, YOUnique can leverage on these efforts by providing a totally different service/product to the crowd.

Rather than sharing the already saturated market share in the F&B industry in Clarke Quay, YOUnique will be able to capture a whole new market segment and being the pioneer in the location, YOUnique will be able to lead and dominate this particular segment with almost zero competiton.

[View his 60-second video submission for TUSS.]

How did you come up with this idea? Did you already have this idea before hearing about this competition?

I did not have this idea before the competition, because I have never considered setting up a business in Clarke Quay before, due to the high rental rates. But upon hearing about this competition from my friend, I thought to myself that this is a great opportunity to start a business in such a premium location!

I started to crack my head and think of something that is not already in the location to minimize competition, a business that targets the crowd of the area and a business which has the ability to grow, not only in Clarke Quay but also in Singapore and the region. YOUnique is the result of all the factors above combined.

Why do you think you should win the top prize for The Ultimate Start-Up Space?

The creativity and innovation of the business idea is one of the main reasons why I should win the competition. The other reason is that the result for being one of the top 10 finalists is not because of team’s effort like some of the finalists. It is the result of creativity and effort from an individual.

The most important reason is that YOUnique is not just another business competition model. YOUnique is a platform to increase the fashion knowledge of Singaporeans and also, a place to show the world that Singapore is also a place filled with fashion people.

Tell us your background and what you are doing now.

I am a normal being like most of the young people in Singapore. I worked in the event industry previously and did my degree at that same time. Currently, I am working as a marketing executive for an International School in Singapore. But with the many ideas and hunger for starting a business of my own, I am very grateful that Martell provides commoners like me, an opportunity to raise above.

If you win, tell us your plan moving forward to turn your idea into reality. And would executing on this idea be a full-time commitment on your part?

If I win, I will definitely put in my full time commitment to executing the idea! This is going to be a chance in a life time, who wouldn’t?

Besides turning the idea into a running business, I will also start to seek collaboration with big fashion players in Singapore so as to create a big announcement to the world that Singapore is becoming big on its fashion side.

If you don’t, what are your plans then?

If I don’t win, I will seek other means in executing the idea as well! Because I truly believe with idea of such, it will definitely succeed. You just need to find people who share the same view. If I don’t win and if anyone here believes in this business plan, do feel free to contact me, we can work something out together!

Do you think the space offered at Clarke Quay by Martell VSOP is a differentiating factor for your idea’s success? Why or why not?

Yes, because the target market perfectly fits to the crowd in Clarke Quay. And also, the initial startup capital will be greatly beneficial to the business because of the free 6 months leasing. Like most great business ideas from young commoners like me, what eventually kills the business idea will be the initial startup capital.

But of cause, this business idea can work in other locations as well, but a brand new set of marketing strategies etc, will be needed for the success of the business in another location.

Thank you, Boon Joo! All the best.

You can also check out his radio interview.

Check out all our interviews with the TUSS finalists:

Bon Soir – Dark Dining

All Things Green And Beautiful

The Chupitos Bar

Amnesia

Hemeryx

OliveScreens

YOUnique

The Chocolate Museum

Related posts:

1. Interview with Jamie and Cherilyn of The Chupitos Bar
2. In Conversation With Elaine Pang of ATGAB
3. Interview with Leroy Zhong of Bon Soir – Dark Dining

Another top 10 finalist of the Martell VSOP The Ultimate Start-Up Space challenge is OliveScreens. Here, we got Vijay to share his thoughts.

(For a quick overview of the prizes the ultimate winner stands to gain, read this.)

Describe your idea and how you think it stands out from all the finalists.

OliveScreens, a unique concept restaurant, combines two best things in life – The Food and The Movies. The food menu and the ambience of the restaurant depend upon the movie that will be screened. For e.g., if we screen a Spanish movie, the food menu and the restaurant culture will be Spanish. Same goes for all the other international movies. With the movie and the theme changing every week, Clarke Quians will have a unique fresh experience.

To keep up with the spirit of Clarke Quay, we focus on two of our core competencies, ‘unique’ experience and customer service. All the top 10 finalists are unique in their own space. In case of olivescreens, I would say, we want people to have an “aha” effect every time they visit our movie restaurant. Eventually, we want Olivescreens to become an attraction for visiting tourists and get melted into the “Uniquely Singapore” Tag.

[View their 60-second video submission for TUSS.]

How did you come up with this idea? Did you already have this idea before hearing about this competition?

Yes, this idea has grown together with me a long way. It’s an interesting story. I have been a movie buff since my school days and as I grew up, I slowly developed my appetite for international movies. When I moved to Singapore in 2004 for my Masters at NTU, this multi-culture environment favored this thought all together and gave me a different experience. Most of the restaurants I tried so far come with good music that suits the food menu.

But, hold on a second, Why not a movie experience? This is when I allowed my thoughts to grow on this crazy idea. It is very matured enough now and ‘I think’ it is still a unique concept which hasn’t been tried anywhere yet. It is so coincidental that I bumped onto the ultimatestartupspace contest being covered in SGE. Rest is history. Long story isn’t it? Some other crazy ideas which I submitted are here.

Why do you think you should win the top prize for The Ultimate Start-Up Space?

This contest tests two aspects -creativity & the business feasibility of the idea. Olivescreens fits very well into both these factors quite nicely. It is innovative in its own way and holds a feasible business model that would fit the Clarke Quay culture. I’m pretty sure, our concept restaurant will not only add spice to Clarke quay but also to Singapore as well. Birth of new trend, I would say. You believe it or not, we have spent lot of time in researching and finding out ‘How to bring the two best things (The food and the movie) together with a unique unforgettable experience’. Also, we believe in execution. Lot said, I ‘hope’ everyone can see us in action soon.

Tell us your team’s background and what you are doing now.

Vijay

But, this experience has given me an opportunity to understand the nuances involved in identifying market opportunities and the need to validate your startup at the quickest possible time. My love for being creative has prompted me to do a lot of different things in my life. You can know more about me here.

Naveen

Pretty easy question!! We would start this right away full time. It’s been a long wait for us. This is a very big opportunity and we are fully committed and excited to execute our dreams in to reality. Also, we have visited our competitors, met up with interior designers, government agencies, caterers etc. We are still in discussion with some of the potential and talented people who likes to be part of our team.

If you don’t, what are your plans then?

The mentoring and network provided by INSEAD had refined our plans and provided the necessary boost to pursue our dreams. If we strike with the right investor we would go ahead and execute it. Our entrepreneurial nature has given us the never give up attitude. So, the obvious answer is, we will continue our Entrepreneurial path at any cost.

Do you think the space offered at Clarke Quay by Martell VSOP is a differentiating factor for your idea’s success? Why or why not?

Clarke Quay is the entertainment channel of Singapore. And it’s one of the very few places in Singapore that has substantial tourist population floating in. So the vibes at Clarke Quay would definitely be a differentiating factor for our business.

Thanks, VJ! Good luck in the competition.

Vijay can be found on Facebook and Twitter. You can also check out his radio interview.

Read: 8 Tips to Setting Up Your Food and Beverage Business in Singapore

Check out all our interviews with the TUSS finalists:

Bon Soir – Dark Dining

All Things Green And Beautiful

The Chupitos Bar

Amnesia

Hemeryx

OliveScreens

YOUnique

The Chocolate Museum

Related posts:

1. Interview with Leroy Zhong of Bon Soir – Dark Dining
2. Interview with Jamie and Cherilyn of The Chupitos Bar
3. Interview with Stephanie Chia of The Chocolate Museum

As part of the Martell VSOP The Ultimate Start-Up Space challenge, 10 finalists were chosen, and only one can be the ultimate winner. We have already interviewed a few other finalists, but here’s Kristabel of Hemeryx.

(For a quick overview of the prizes the ultimate winner stands to gain, read this.)

Describe your idea and how you think it stands out from all the finalists.

Hemeryx is a customer-focused chillout location. It is envisioned to be a place where our customers can hangout with their friends and meet people of similar interest. We want to bring about a revolutionary networking experience with technology.

We place our customer first, and look forward to giving them a personalized experience when they come to Hemeryx. Using RFID technology and our online website, we can understand our customers’ likes. Using algorithm like the one used for Amazon.com, we can recommend them food and beverages based on their order history.

Unlike Facebook where you “send” your friends a digitalized drink made up of pixels, Hemeryx allows you to buy your friends real alcoholic/non-alcoholic drinks through our website and multi-touch table. Personalize a message to go with your drinks offer online at a discounted price, and your lucky friend can make a trip down to Clark Quay to redeem it over our bar counter. Time and place is no longer an issue as your friend residing in New York, London, Shanghai, Sydney, Bangkok, in fact anywhere in the world, can buy you’re a drink through a website anytime they like. Here is the best part; you get to choose your own drinks!

If whatever I just described had made your heart go ‘thump, thump, thump’ and excited to see how Hemeryx is going work out, Hemeryx has stood out from all the other finalists and made you fall in love with us!

Guess what, there is more to Hemeryx than you think.

[View their 60-second video submission for TUSS.]

How did you come up with this idea? Did you already have this idea before hearing about this competition?

Frankly speaking, the idea was born out of boredom and inspiration. For those who are already on Hemeryx’s fanpage, you would have come across the Facebook note on our evolved idea that explains the birth of this baby. In fact, this idea will continue to evolve to ensure its ability to keep our customers excited.

This is where I take the opportunity to drive you, my audience, to our fanpage to find out more for yourself. Do attend BarCamp Singapore on 27th March 2010 at Singapore Polytechnic if you will like to meet me face-to-face to find out more!

Why do you think you should win the top prize for The Ultimate Start-Up Space?

Because… Hemeryx will be the one-and-only in the world. Google, Bing, Yahoo, whatever search engine you use, you will not find any Hemeryx other than us. You will also not be able to find any website or F&B locations that can allow you to meet new friends online and take it offline, or meet new friends offline and bring them online.

For investors who are looking for start-ups to park your cash, we have an interesting and unique business model that consists of multiple revenue streams.

Tell us your team’s background and what you are doing now.

Hemeryx is supported by a team of professionals from diverse background. Five of the team members are currently undergoing training in technology transfer management with the commercializing arm of Singapore’s biggest research organization.

Other than our core team, we have on board an experienced advisor, Mr. Nicholas Aaron Khoo, who co-founded Geek Terminal in Shenton Way.

Anyway, a picture speaks a thousand words. Here you go my seven thousand words to introduce my team to you.

[Editor's Note: Nicholas is also an advisor to SGE.]

If you win, tell us your plan moving forward to turn your idea into reality. And would executing on this idea be a full-time commitment on your team’s part?

Hemeryx will be executed based on the basic concepts in the business plans we proposed. However, a good business plan is a flexible plan. Some tweaking will be involved to ensure smooth execution.

We are currently in contact with Microsoft in both Singapore and United States in hope of bringing in Microsoft Surface to Singapore.

Hemeryx will definitely have the full-time commitment of my team and me.

If you don’t, what are your plans then?

If we don’t win, we plan to search for other investors who may be interested to help us make this idea a reality.

In the course of writing the business plan and approaching many people in the industry, we stir a fair share of interest and excitement. We will also be looking at government grants such as SEEDS funding from SPRING Singapore.

We have a novel, sustainable and scalable business model with multiple revenue streams. With the right strategic partners, we can definitely revolutionize networking experience.

After all, with technology, there are immense possibilities.

Do you think the space offered at Clarke Quay by Martell VSOP is a differentiating factor for your idea’s success? Why or why not?

The location is definitely a differentiating factor for our idea’s success. Hemeryx will not only be a place where people have fun and meet new people. It will also be a place where new technologies can be showcased, tested on and sold.

The space offered at Clarke Quay by Martell VSOP is in the heart of Singapore’s central business district and nightlife. It captures our target market of PMET who are into gadgets and networking.

I cannot possibly put Hemeryx in Boon Lay and beyond. After all, LOCATION is a key in a business like Hemeryx’s.

Thanks, Kristabel! All the best in the competition.

Hemeryx can be found on Facebook and Twitter. You can also check out their radio interview.

Read: 8 Tips to Setting Up Your Food and Beverage Business in Singapore

Check out all our interviews with the TUSS finalists:

Bon Soir – Dark Dining

All Things Green And Beautiful

The Chupitos Bar

Amnesia

Hemeryx

OliveScreens

YOUnique

The Chocolate Museum

Related posts:

1. In Conversation with Boon Joo of YOUnique
2. In Conversation With Elaine Pang of ATGAB
3. The Chupitos Bar Wins Martell VSOP Ultimate Startup Space

Next in the series interviews with a top 10 finalist of the Martell VSOP The Ultimate Start-Up Space challenge, we hear from the team at Amnesia.

(For a quick overview of the prizes the ultimate winner stands to gain, read this.)

Describe your idea and how you think it stands out from all the finalists.

Imagine yourselves in any bar. What you see are the same old boring walls every time you visit. Sooner or later you get bored and go someplace else for a change in environment, where you will face similar boring walls again. It’s a vicious cycle.

Our idea takes care of this problem by incorporating floor to ceiling screens with projections of different places around the world. Every time you visit us you will come in to a totally different experience. Never been to Paris? Always wanted to have a drink al fresco along the quaint streets of Italy? Never seen the Eiffel Tower, or the Pyramids of Giza? In our bar, you can forget where you are and be where you want to be! Hence, the name “Amnesia”.

During the day, the premises can be used as a venue for people or companies/organizations who want to hold their events in a unique environment. We’ve even had requests for children’s parties to be held there because kids would just love dancing with Barney the Purple Dinosaur on the walls. The possibilities are endless!

Amnesia will also feature a self-mix bar, where our valuable customers can have the freedom to make their very own cocktail creations. Think sophisticated Drinks dispenser machine like those you find in some vineyards overseas where the machine allows the customers to dispense a shot of wine into their glass.

We are adopting the same concept but in this case, we are replacing the wine bottles with various types of liquors. We believe that this is the first of its kind in Clarke Quay and Singapore. This concept of self-mixing your drinks with the various liquors available is a unique selling point that is unavailable in other watering holes in Clarke Quay.

[View their 60-second video submission for TUSS.]

How did you come up with this idea? Did you already have this idea before hearing about this competition?

The idea had been floating around for quite awhile actually. We were sitting down one day just brainstorming about ideas for our own business. Plenty of ideas ranging from the bizarre to the totally improbable were suggested furiously and then thrown out with equal vigor. Ajax had this moment of inspiration and came up with the idea of projectors on walls depicting different scenery. The idea grew on us and the more we built on it. Then we heard about this competition and felt it was the perfect opportunity for us to fast track our plans for the idea. So here we are!

Why do you think you should win the top prize for The Ultimate Start-Up Space?

We’ve met the rest of the top 10 finalists and I must say that they are a great bunch of people. We have all worked hard and we all deserve to win but unfortunately, there can only be one. What we feel gives us the edge is that our concept of a bar fits in perfectly with the surrounding area. Yes, we know there are plenty of watering holes in Clark Quay but none have the intimate and unique experience that our bar will provide. Also, the people behind Amnesia are a dynamic, highly motivated and fun bunch with the necessary skills, support and contacts to make this a roaring success!

Tell us your team’s background and what you are doing now.

All of us work in a financial institution, albeit in different fields. Our experiences allow us to be well represented in a range of areas, which include Financial Accounting, Operations, Procurement, Marketing and Customer Management. We also have a panel of Advisors, which includes current pub owners who have and will continue to provide valuable advice to us.

If you win, tell us your plan moving forward to turn your idea into reality. And would executing on this idea be a full-time commitment on your/your team’s part?

It will take a HUGE commitment on all our parts in order for us to realize this idea, especially at the start. We all have our day jobs where we have responsibilities to fulfill and exceed, as is expected of us. It will be hard but definitely not impossible if we plan our resources well.

If we win, we will already have our business plan, resources, suppliers and other necessary details ready. We are all very excited to push the “start” button and to see our dream realized!

If you don’t, what are your plans then?

Winning this competition will be an excellent head start for us but we will still go ahead with our plans if we do not (of course we hope to win ?) because this is our dream. The sponsors have kindly provided us with great training and having gone through that, we feel even more inspired to raise the capital required to go ahead. Besides, the Space is sponsored for 6 months, after which, we would be on our own so we will need the capital anyway.

It would be a disappointing setback of course but it will definitely not be the end of this dream.

Do you think the space offered at Clarke Quay by Martell VSOP is a differentiating factor for your idea’s success? Why or why not?

The Space offered there by Martell VSOP is undeniably a major factor because of the nature of our concept itself. What better place would there be in Singapore to set up a bar and with the backing of such a prestigious brand like Martell, what more could anybody want? We are extremely grateful to the Sponsors for giving us the opportunity to come this far.

However, every idea, no matter how brilliant, will require the right people behind the scenes in order to take off. The team behind Amnesia, as mentioned before, is well-represented in areas that are crucial to the success and sustainability of this idea.

That, we feel, is the differentiating factor.

Thanks, Amnesia. And good luck in the challenge!

Picture of the team from L to R: Wayne Tan, Kong Sai Hong, Ajax Wui, Ezza Benjie. Amnesia can be found on Facebook. You can also check out their radio interview.

Read: 8 Tips to Setting Up Your Food and Beverage Business in Singapore

Check out all our interviews with the TUSS finalists:

Bon Soir – Dark Dining

All Things Green And Beautiful

The Chupitos Bar

Amnesia

Hemeryx

OliveScreens

YOUnique

The Chocolate Museum

Related posts:

1. Interview with Jamie and Cherilyn of The Chupitos Bar
2. Interview with Leroy Zhong of Bon Soir – Dark Dining
3. Interview with Stephanie Chia of The Chocolate Museum