For half-an-hour, Singapore presidential aspirant Dr Tony Tan sat under the spotlight, his glistening white mane emphasizing his 71 years of age and extensive experience in both the private and public sector.

Displaying the calm and measured demeanor of an elder statesman, he took in a barrage of questions from 30 odd entrepreneurs and investors regarding the state of innovation in Singapore. Held at The Pigeonhole Cafe on August 3, the question and answer session is part of a regular SGE event called Chillin’ With — which gathers innovators in a casual setting to connect with one another. The moderators were SGE chief editor Gwendolyn Regina Tan and lead developer Isaac Timothy Tay.

Photo: This is not the first time Dr Tony Tan (left) has engaged entrepreneurs like Gwendolyn (center) and Isaac, co-founder and lead developer of SGE respectively.

Feedback from the floor was congenial at first, and then became more candid, sincere, and hard-hitting as the evening wore on. It was, after all, a rare opportunity to meet with a former deputy prime minister and potential president.  In Singapore, the president serves a mostly ceremonial and symbolic role with little executive authority, although they wield soft power. The elections are scheduled for August 27.

While many issues were raised, two resonated most with the crowd. One major bugbear was what they perceive as the poor implementation of government funding for startups. Aileen Sim, co-founder and CEO of First Meta, cited her example. While her company has benefited from some government grants, it has also “suffered damages” from others.

“And speaking with at least ten other entrepreneurs I know that have taken government grants, the general consensus is that…they sound very generous and they’re great, and they’re well meaning, well-intentioned. However, a lot of times the execution of it ends up having unforeseen side effects,” she said.

For example, while startups want to spend as little money as possible in their operations and product development, they will receive more reimbursement from the government agency only if they spend more.

Dr Tan acknowledged this as one of the weaknesses of government funding in startups, which sees a clash between the need for civil servants to account for public money and the need for entrepreneurs to have free rein.

“That is where we have to try to move towards an ecosystem where there is eventually more money from private sector, from various funds, so that different people can exercise judgment,” he said.

He did highlight, however, that the Singapore National Research Foundation’s model does mitigate the bureaucratic problem. Through its NRF TIS scheme, the foundation funds a startup on a 50-50 basis together with a venture capitalist. This allows the NRF to piggyback on the VC’s expertise as well as vested interest in seeing his funds generate returns.

“I think this type of arrangement is much more effective than having a group of civil servants sitting around in a committee trying to decide whether startup A or startup B will succeed,” he added.

However, Dr Wong Poh Kam, an angel investor and professor at the National University of Singapore Business School, pointed out that the government still micromanages in their involvement with investors.

“You spend a lot of time trying to convince the bureaucrats that some of these rules do not work,” he added.

Terence Swee, founder and CEO of Muvee, also shared his troubles with government funding. After securing series A funding from the now-defunct Temasek Capital in 2002, he was rejected by another grant simply because he did not meet the requirement that at least 50% of the company was in Singaporean hands.

What was vexing, however, was that the many of the shares were foreign simply because they were held by Temasek Capital through a BVI vehicle.

“You can’t get more Singaporean than that,” he quipped.

Switching gears, Terence highlighted the second major issue — Startups have difficulty attracting talent in Singapore, and the government may have to shoulder some of the blame. Although they are actively encouraging entrepreneurship in the country to “let a thousand flowers bloom”, the government is also working hard to attract the Googles and LinkedIns of the world to set up shop in Singapore by giving them tax breaks.

Here’s the problem: These companies would come to Singapore to hire, say, 200 engineers, but there simply isn’t enough talent to go around. As a result, they poach staff from startups who can’t afford attractive pay packages.

“Maybe you’re 30 plus years old and you’re still working at a startup and you’re kind of underpaid. At some point, if somebody comes and double your salary, you’re like: I’ve got two parents, I’m the only son; It’s a tough choice. You have bills to pay, you want to buy a condo and your Toyota Corolla.”

The audience engaged in earnest conversation with the former Deputy Prime Minister.

“It will be better if you tell Google that if they come in, they must bring in 200 of their guys, and let us poach from them. And then you get your ecosystem. Right now they are emptying out the vessel,” Terence said.

Therefore, despite the displeasure among some Singaporeans towards foreign workers, he believes that more radical steps must be taken by the government to attract them.

In response, Dr Tan echoed his views that labor shortage is a problem the government has to manage. Indiscriminately bringing in MNCs also have the side effect of driving up labor costs since they can offer more attractive renumeration and force other companies to match them. And already, the cost of doing business here is already among the highest in the world, noted Dr Tan. So if the cost goes up too much, doing business in Singapore would not be viable.

“Agencies and ministries like MTI (Ministry of Trade and Industry) and EDB (Economic Development Board) who are responsible for bringing foreign investments here should keep in mind the limited pool of labour which is available,” he said, even as the government is trying hard to train and educate more Singaporean workers. Overall, Dr Tan expressed that while no system is perfect, Singaporeans are already quite fortunate. Unemployment rate is very low, whereas in Spain it could go up to 15 to 20%.

While he certainly got an earful from the audience, some lingering doubt remained over whether feedback collected by the government would amount to anything.

Tay Eu-Yen, co-founder of nightspot The Butter Factory (read our interview with them), has felt let down by the government’s past attempt to gather feedback. She asked Dr Tan if communication channels could be improved, and he replied:

“Well, we’ve got the feedback channel. We’ve got committees set up by the government from time to time. I don’t know how effective this is…”

“Not effective,” interjected an investor in the room. Everyone nodded and laughed. “It’s done to say: ‘we’ve done it.’”

To reinforce the prevailing sentiment, Yen talked about her futile involvement with the Ministry of Manpower’s consultation for a white paper for health and safety rules.

“I think at the end of it unfortunately it wasted a lot of the industry’s time because there were no changes, and the white paper passed without amendment anyway,” she said.

Nonetheless, Dr Tan remained diplomatic and cited this event, which will be put online in video, as an example of a feedback channel.

“I think it will be very good for some of our ministers actually to listen in. I may even go one step further and recommend the Minister for Trade and Industry or Minister of State to come and have a session with you all. This kind of session is helpful to policymakers and they’ve got to make time and effort to come here,” he said to an approving audience.

With just a few minutes to spare, the moderators squeezed in one last question, this time on something more personal: What is your greatest regret?

“Many of them. Maybe a small thing is… my father died very young, well (before) the stage when Singapore was growing, so I think he never saw all of the great things we’ve done, he never got to see his grandchildren, great-grandchildren. I think that’s a pity; my mother was more fortunate, she lived to a ripe old age. At the end of the day, the things that give you the greatest joy, the greatest regret, are always the personal things, nothing else can substitute for that.”

Dr Tan engages with Pierre Hennes (left), investor at Upstream Ventures, just before he leaves.

1) Virtual World Roundup: Hipihi, Novoking and UOneNet

• Distinguish the virtual worlds: (i) worlds with no purposes – 2nd Life vs (ii) gaming worlds like World of Warcraft which coveted 80% of the market.
• Useful facts and statistics for the news: HiPiHi: 48,000 registered users, NovoKing: 10,000 registered users while UOneNet: <1,000. By comparison, Second Life has 13.5 million “residents.” One thing to note is that all three are still in their private beta.
• Talk about the differences in thinking between US and China virtual world creators: for example, Xu Hui sees the virtual worlds as a 3D version of web browser for the future.
• Virtual world for kids – Penguin Club (http://www.penguinclub.com).
• Commerce on virtual worlds – featuring First Meta (http://firstmeta.com).

2) Interview with Daniel Cerventus Lim.

• Co-founder of Ideapreneur (http://ideapreneur.net).
• Supporting orgasnisation of NetBash – a fringe event at the WCIT.

3) Letters

• Are we too China focused in our content?
• Email you comments / feedback to geekgoddessshow@gmail.com

For more info, do visit our website: http://thegeekgoddess.tv

First Meta will continue to provide a full suite of financial services to the virtual world. 28 January 2008. First Meta(TM) will continue to offer both its MetaCard(TM) and MetaSavings(TM) products to customers in Second Life®. Effective today, we will make two changes to our MetaSavings(TM) accounts following our discussions with Linden Lab® regarding their new policy on in-world “banks”.

• 1. We will discontinue L$ interest on MetaSavings(TM) accounts
• 2. We will introduce our MetaPoints Rewards Program(TM) for MetaSavings(TM) customers

Beginning 1 February 2008, MetaSavings(TM) customers will earn MetaPoints(TM) every month based on the level of balances in their account. Customers will be able to use their MetaPoints(TM) to redeem for a wide range of goods and services in Second Life. From 1 March onwards, MetaPoints(TM) can be used to:

• * Redeem for goods and services from our MetaPoints Rewards(TM) catalog
• * Exchange for products at MetaPoints Rewards(TM) redemption stores and outlets
• * Send gifts to friends from MetaPoints Rewards(TM) redemption stores and outlets
• * Receive complimentary gifts
• * Receive special discounts at participating MetaCard(TM) merchant stores
• * Participate in lucky draws and raffles
• * Transfer credit to MetaCardTM accounts

We will be introducing more uses for MetaPoints(TM) over the next few months, including the ability to redeem MetaPoints(TM) for all MetaCard(TM) products at all MetaCard(TM) Stores.

As a token of our appreciation, each First Meta customer in good standing will receive 250 MetaPoints(TM).

MetaPoints(TM) allow MetaSavings(TM) customers to increase their purchasing power in the virtual world through maintaining a virtual currency savings account. The MetaPoints Rewards Program(TM) represents a breakthrough in virtual economies by enabling residents in Second Life to increase their purchasing power in the virtual world while saving L$, without encouraging virtual currency speculation.

Our MetaCard(TM) is not affected by the new regulations. However, we are also announcing today a reduction in interest rates on our MetaCard(TM) Gold and MetaCard(TM) Corporate.

First Meta(TM) fully supports regulation of financial activity in the virtual economy. We are committed to building a strong virtual economy together with our customers.

Sincerely,

Douglas Abrams (JP Mougin)
Chief Executive Officer
First Meta Pte. Ltd.

About First Meta

First Meta is the first company to provide a full suite of real financial services for virtual economies like Second Life®. On 31-July 2007, the company launched the MetaCard™, the first virtual-currency-denominated credit card. First Meta is at the forefront of developing financial services for virtual economies, linking up virtual economies, and integrating real and virtual economies. First Meta Pte. Ltd. was founded in Singapore in 2007 by Douglas Abrams and Aileen Sim.

Contact:

Douglas Abrams
Chief Executive Officer

First Meta Pte. Ltd.
Tel : +65 6435 5295
Email : douglas@firstmeta.com
Web : www.firstmeta.com

SECOND LIFE and LINDEN LAB are registered trademarks of Linden Research Inc. First Meta and Linden Research are not affiliated, and Linden Research does not sponsor, promote or endorse First Meta’s products. No infringement is intended.

Press release – First Meta CEO comments on Linden Lab’s New Policy Regarding In-World “Banks”. You have heard about Second Life’s new policy regarding in-world “banks” on their website. From their site, .. As of January 22, 2008, it will be prohibited to offer interest or any direct return on an investment (whether in L$ or other currency) from any object, such as an ATM, located in Second Life, without proof of an applicable government registration statement or financial institution charter. As a result, First Meta, one of our local start-ups are affected, they have issued a press release to comment on Linden Lab’s new policy.

9 January 2008:

Linden Lab® has posted a New Policy Regarding In-World “Banks” on their website at this URL.

First Meta fully supports regulation of financial services activity in the virtual economy. We agree with the statement by Linden Lab that in-world “banks…offering unsustainably high interest rates…are in most cases doomed to collapse – leaving upset ‘depositors’ with nothing to show for their investments.” We believe that the removal of non-credible players from the financial services sector of Second Life’s economy will benefit all of its participants.

First Meta’s approach differs radically from the “banks” as described by Linden Lab. We offer a full range of financial services focusing on credit products, including MetaCard(TM), backed by a robust real-world system, run by professionals with real-world financial expertise, and focusing on providing customers with transparency and accountability. We are a real-world company, registered in Singapore, one of the financial centers of the world. First Meta’s operations are supported by the Singapore government and we are funded by real-world private investors, not by our customer’s deposits.

We are in discussions with Linden Lab about our MetaSavings(TM) accounts. Our MetaSavings(TM) deposits are more than 100% funded, which means that no First Meta customer will lose any money as a result of the new policy.

Since our MetaCard(TM) does not “offer interest or a rate of return on L$ invested or deposited”, it should not be affected by this new regulation.

As First Meta’s business is not dependent on savings accounts or other investment instruments which are addressed by the new policy, we believe that the new policy will not have any adverse effects on our company. Insofar as the new policy strengthens the virtual economy, we believe this will actually benefit First Meta. As the leading provider of financial services in virtual economies, First Meta will continue to provide a trusted partner for our customers.

Sincerely,
Douglas Abrams (JP Mougin)
Chief Executive Officer
First Meta Pte. Ltd.

About First Meta

First Meta is the first to provide a full suit of real financial services for virtual economies like Second Life®. On 31-July 2007, the company launched the MetaCard™, the first virtual-currency-denominated credit card. First Meta is at the forefront of developing financial services for virtual economies, linking up virtual economies with one another, and integrating real and virtual economies. First Meta Pte. Ltd. was founded in Singapore in 2007 by Douglas Abrams and Aileen Sim.

Note: (TM) – Trademark

Contact:
Douglas Abrams
Chief Executive Officer
First Meta Pte. Ltd.
Tel: +65 6435 5295
Email: douglas@firstmeta.com .

SECOND LIFE is a registered trademark of Linden Research Inc. First Meta and Linden Research are not affiliated, and Linden Research does not sponsor, promote or endorse First Meta’s products.

After winning the Red Herring Asia 100 Award a few months ago, local startup First Meta has just been name a Global Awards 2007 finalist. Congratulations to Douglas and Aileen!

Red Herring Releases List of Finalists for the “Red Herring 100 Global” Awards 2007

The Most Promising Private Technology Ventures in the World to be Celebrated at Event in Seattle, Washington.

San Francisco, CA, November 13, 2007 – Red Herring Magazine announced today that First Meta has been short listed for the Red Herring 100 Global 2007 Awards. First Meta is the first real provider of financial services for virtual economies, and the issuer of the MetaCardTM, the world’s first virtual-currency-denominated credit card.

Red Herring 100 winners and finalists from North America, Europe and Asia of the last three years were eligible for this award. The Red Herring editorial team used a very competitive process to whittle down this pool of 1800 eligible promising companies to the 200 finalists of this first-time award. Evaluations were made on both quantitative and qualitative criteria such as financial performance, innovation, management, global strategy, and ecosystem integration.

The names of the 200 companies short-listed as finalists for the “Red Herring 100 Global 2007″ can be found online at http://www.herringevents.com/global07/index.html.

“The 200 finalists we selected from around the world are all excellent contenders,” said Joel Dreyfuss, Editor-in-Chief of Red Herring. “They are exceptional companies with smart and innovative platforms that attest to the importance of technology in today’s global economy.”

First Meta has made the final group because of its outstanding achievements, and Red Herring Magazine is honored to announce it is one of the most promising technology firms in the world.

“It is a great honor for First Meta to be identified as one of the 200 most promising private technology companies in the world,” said Douglas Abrams, CEO of First Meta. “We have come a long way in a short period of time. We launched MetaCardTM at the end of July, and won the Red Herring 100 Asia Award in August. Since then our business has grown rapidly, with MetaCardTM now widely accepted in Second Life® and cardholder purchases increasing exponentially. Virtual economies are exploding up the S-curve and we are leading the way in providing real financial services to these economies and in integrating the virtual and real economies.”

The finalists companies will be celebrated at the Red Herring Global event in Seattle, WA, on December 3-5. The 100 winners will be announced at the Award Ceremony on December 4.

Red Herring Global is an exclusive event honoring cutting-edge private technology companies from across the world. The event brings together an elite roster of entrepreneurial and global venture investment firms to showcase excellence in innovation. It features keynote discussions, roundtable panels and networking events designed for participants to make connections and learn what it takes to achieve the best worldwide in business and technology.

Distinguished speakers at Red Herring Global include Bruce Jaffe, Corporate VP at Microsoft; Promod Haque at Norwest Venture Partners; David Chao, Cofounder and General Partner, DCM; among others.

Register for Red Herring Global at http://www.herringevents.com/global07/index.html.

About Red Herring
Red Herring is a global media company uniting the world’s best high technology innovators, venture investors and business decision makers in a variety of forums: a leading innovation magazine; an online daily technology news service; technology research, and major events for technology leaders around the globe. Red Herring provides an insider’s access to the global innovation economy, featuring unparalleled insights on the emerging technologies driving the economy. For more information, visit www.redherring.com.

About First Meta

First Meta is the first real provider of financial services for virtual economies like Second Life®. On 31-July 2007, the company launched the MetaCardTM, the first virtual-currency-denominated credit card. First Meta is at the forefront of developing financial services for virtual economies, linking up virtual economies with one another, and integrating real and virtual economies. First Meta Pte. Ltd. was founded in Singapore in 2007 by Douglas Abrams and Aileen Sim.

Contact at Finalist Company:
Aileen Sim
COO, First Meta
Tel: +65 6435 5295
aileen@firstmeta.com

Contact at Red Herring
Jordy Brazier
Senior Manager, Red Herring Global
Tel: +1 650 585 3524
Email: jbrazier@redherring.com

Media Contact Information and Accreditation:
Xenia Von Wedel
Terpin Communication Inc. for Red Herring
Tel: + 1 310 821 6100
Email: xenia@terpin.com

Overhyped or not, virtual worlds are growing in numbers, as are their users. Whether it turns out to be a fad or not remains to be seen, but here Gwen speaks to the lady behind First Meta, a startup offering you financial services in virtual worlds. First Meta has been featured on international sites and news like TechCrunch, WIRED, BBC, BusinessWeek, London Times Online etc. Also, it was was one of four Singapore companies to win a Red Herring 100 Asia award this year! Aileen gives us her story.

Gwen: Congratulations on all your recent accolades! First Meta certainly seems to be doing well. So Aileen, how do you feel about your recent media success?
Aileen: Thank you! =) It feels great! I think it is wonderful that First Meta is receiving recognition at the international level. The company has definitely benefited from our recent press coverage.

Gwen: What is First Meta?
Aileen: First Meta provides real financial services provider tailored to virtual economies. The company is the first to provide a full suite of financial products and services, denominated in virtual currencies, to Second Life® and other virtual economies. The company’s first product, the MetaCardTM a Linden Dollar-denominated credit card was launched on 31-July 2007. First Meta Pte. Ltd. was founded in 2007 by Douglas Abrams and Aileen Sim.

Gwen: What were the initial challenges and difficulties that you faced as an entrepreneur? And specifically, as a female entrepreneur?
Aileen: There were several initial challenges and difficulties (though not specific to being female) that we had to overcome. The first was ironing out a lot of the issues that were present in the old business plan where we targeted game-centric virtual worlds like World of Warcraft, which at that time and still is, the largest virtual economy. Those questions were answered when we decided to shift our focus to socio-economic centric virtual worlds such as Second Life.

The next challenge was in finding good people. We needed people who were not only technically strong but entrepreneurial. They had to build a completely new system from scratch, which usually means a high chance of failure, and also risk not getting paid as the company had not yet secured funding at that time. We were very fortunate to have been able to find such people.

On being young and female, it was challenging initially (even before First Meta, during my undergraduate days) to get people to take me seriously. However, that quickly passed when people started to see that I was actually doing something concrete and producing results.

Gwen: Some predict the death of virtual worlds, what are your thoughts on this?
Aileen: I think that virtual worlds are not going away any time soon. Over the last few decades, people’s lives have shifted more and more onto virtual spaces, be it for socializing, business or entertainment. But virtual spaces such as the web, to date have provided primarily a solitary experience in a flat, 2D space. Interactive, immersive, connected, 3D spaces which are the virtual worlds that we know of today is the next logical progression.

There are several trends that indicate that virtual worlds are here to stay.

- Firstly, the increasing focus on entertainment. When the internet and the web first became popular, they were primarily used for work and communication purposes. In recent years, there has been more and more focus on entertainment, with people using the internet for games, music, movies etc, giving rise to sites like KaZaa, YouTube, Joost etc. Virtual worlds with their rich interface provide the potential for more compelling, engaging forms of entertainment.

- Secondly, the rise of social networking. Virtual worlds are the ultimate social networking tools, allowing for rich, interactive and immersive communication and experiences. Social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook have grown tremendously popular and I believe that that will spill over into virtual worlds.

Gwen: What kind of development in other virtual worlds would interest you in expanding there?
Aileen: The development of open economies and virtual currencies that are freely tradable into real-world currencies. We believe that these virtual worlds will be more sustainable than traditional virtual worlds with closed economies, as can be seen from the parallel in real-world economies. Also, we’re very interested in expanding into virtual worlds that are targeted at Asian countries, such as China and Japan as we believe that is a lot of growth potential in Asia.

Gwen: Where do you see the financial sector in virtual worlds eventually heading?
Aileen: I think that in the long run, the financial sector in virtual worlds will become full fledged economies just like real world economies. I think of each virtual world as a new and developing country with its own economy, and a population that is already financially savvy. Virtual world economies will grow at a much faster rate than real-world economies and eventually catch up with them.

Aileen Sim and her alter ego, Tyra Fierrens in Second Life

Gwen: How sensitive are you of your presence in male-dominated industries and situations? Do you feel that people (men especially) react differently to you than to other men?
Aileen: I wouldn’t say that I’m very sensitive about being female in male-dominated environments, but I definitely do think that men react differently to women than they would to other men, mostly in a good way though. For example, at networking sessions, men would almost always prefer to talk to women than they would to other men. I think that being female has its advantages. One of the things an entrepreneur has to do is stand out from the crowd. Being one of very few female entrepreneurs has helped in that aspect.

Gwen: Do you consider yourself a feminist?
Aileen: No I don’t consider myself a feminist. I am very happy to let the men carry the grocery bags and pay for meals if they offer. =) Jokes aside, I think in the same way that men shouldn’t be considered superior to women, women also shouldn’t be considered superior to men. Both men and women play different roles in society and in most modern societies, men and women are to a large extent given equal opportunities.

Gwen: What motivates you each morning when you wake up?
Aileen: On the micro level, I would say my biggest motivation is my team and my family. Every person in the team has staked a lot in First Meta. Knowing that these people count on me keeps me going. If First Meta succeeds, I’d be able to provide a good life for my family.

On the macro level, it is the realization that I can really make an impact on the world. It has been a while since Singapore has seen a huge success story. It takes only one company to succeed in a big way to convince everyone else that that big dream is not so impossible. This will in turn spur more people to start up companies, drive innovation and create more jobs. On an even larger scale, I believe that virtual worlds have the potential to further flatten the world and First Meta can play a big role in accelerating that. What we bring about is a mindset change that virtual worlds can be a viable business platform. Having credible financial services is essential for any economy to grow, to create more jobs and opportunities for people around the world.

Gwen: Some last words for all budding entrepreneurs out there?
Aileen: Don’t give up if people tell you if yours is the craziest, stupidest idea ever. That’s what people said to me when I first pitched the idea (some still do!) One big factor that determines the success or failure of the company is how long you can hang in there. If you hang around long enough, good things are bound to happen. For those who are still thinking of starting your own business, stop thinking and start doing. Especially for young entrepreneurs, you’ve got nothing to lose.

Links:

- News Flash: First Meta featured on TechCrunch
- News Flash: 4 Singaporean Companies win Red Herring Asia Awards 2007

Congratulations to First Meta, another of our Singaporean based company made it to the TechCrunch with the news, “MetaCard: The World’s First Virtual World Credit Card”. Of course, we look forward to hear more Singapore based web companies. For those who are into 2nd Life, you can check out this virtual world credit card for possible purchase. So far, Velvet Puffin and SharedCopy are the known Singaporean web 2.0 companies who have made it to the roll of honour as well.