Singapore Entrepreneurs

InteresThink is a series of multi-disciplinary conferences that aim to bring people and ideas from different disciplines and industries together. They believe that to solve today’s increasingly complex problems, radical collaboration and innovation is needed. As there is no existing exploratory platform in Singapore that fulfils this need, hence InteresThink was conceived in 2007 to seed such meaningful conversations. InteresThink 3, will be held on 12 December 2008 at the The Pod at the National Library. The theme for this edition is “Causes and Ideas” and it aims to highlight and explore important causes and cutting edge ideas. You can register via Facebook or thru their wiki here.

Our friends at Tech65 start their weekly podcast on the following issues that dominated the tech landscape last week: [1] Windows 7 discussion with Vincent, [2] Software updates galore!, [3] Microsoft Zune to evolve into new “Pink” smartphone?, [4] Intel Core i7s “fly off shelves” here, [5] Starhub launches 3G femtocell service, [6] HTC Touch HD and HTC Touch 3G to be Starhub exclusive for a limited time, [7] Singtel launches Locator service, [8] Rednano launches location based search service for mobile phones and Byte Of The Week: Remember the milk. Do click and check out their podcast.

A couple of incidents for the past year recently made me ponder about the way how entrepreneurs in Singapore, or generally Asians handle their potential investors differently from their western counterparts. Perhaps, in terms of Gladwell’s “Outliers”, the cultural legacy could be the major fact that contributes to their behaviour. Since raising money in such difficult times is so much more challenging, it may also be good to provide some thoughts for those who are optimistic and willing to give it a shot. Sometimes, it’s not their fault to sound that way but they have made it so difficult for the investors to really say yes, for 99% of the time, they really did not know what the other side is thinking. I decide to summarize a few general cases for them so that they don’t make such amateur mistakes. This post is originally published from BL’s personal blog. [ Read More ]

Another one of Singapore’s home grown startups have been featured in international online press, Mashable. Phlook is a photo-sharing site that allows amateur photographers to sell and track their photos through their own websites. (Disclosure: BL and Gwen are investors in Phlook via Thymos Capital.)

Your mobile device is an mp3 player, a web access tool, your camera and game console = your world. But you already knew that – and chances are you’re involved in the design of the next killer mobile application. [ Read More ]

It is time to say goodbye to your traditional physical media in entertainment such as CDs as Gajah Media International (GMI), a media content aggregator and distributor based in Singapore launches an exciting web online service that looks set to blow your minds away. [ Read More ]

Press Release - New type of personalized Christmas ornament is being launched by JuJups using 3D printing technology. JuJups.com, a Singapore based company is launching a 3D printing service this Christmas allowing people to create 3D figurines of themselves and their loved ones as Angels, Santas, and Elves, using the latest in 3D printing technology.

[ Read More ]

Accounting has always been a headache for all businesses, whether for ‘mom and pop’ stores or large enterprises. There are simply no one size fits all solution and existing lame duck programs (from my company) seems focus on making your life more difficult than solving anything.

This is until the introduction of Xero, which was founded in July 2006 by technology entrepreneur Rod Drury and specialist small business accountant Hamish Edwards. Xero is now listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange and it has become a fast growing company.

Xero is an online accounting system designed for small businesses and their advisors and it works! [ Read More ]

The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) announced today that the government is enhancing its business financing schemes to support an additional S$2.3 billion in loans to help local firms gain access to credit in this current economic slowdown. [ Read More ]

Since the last barcamp gathering in Kuala Lumpur, July 2008, both the Singapore and Malaysia teams have decided to bring together people across both causeways together. The result is Barcamp Johor 2008, where it is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos, and interaction from attendees. The event will be held on 6-7 Dec 2008 over a weekend. The event will be held in Menara MSC Cyberport, Level 29, Menara MSC Cyberport, No. 5, Jalan Bukit Meldrum, 80300 Johor Bahr. This is a good time between the developers, investors and entrepreneurs to share their ideas in such challenging times of the financial crisis. For those who are interested to turn up or sign up as a speaker to this event, please register here and also check out the sessions. If you are interested to follow this event, check out their blog and also their twitter feed for the latest news.