Program Details

530pm: Networking Coffee
550pm: Welcome
6pm – 730pm: Workshop Talks and Q&A Panel Session
730pm – 8pm: Presentations by start-ups/early stage projects
8pm – 10pm: Networking Dinner and Drinks

Event Details

When: Tuesday, 6th December 2011
Time: 530pm-10pm
Where: National University of Singapore – University Hall Auditorium
Please RSVP by sending an email to daniel@nus.edu.sg

If you’re a big fan of shows like Dragon’s Den and Shark Tank where venture capitalists gobble up clueless entrepreneurs on TV, then you’ll love this one.

Angel’s Gate, Asia’s very own version of such entrepreneur programs, is set to air next Monday (6th February) on Channel NewsAsia at 8pm Singapore time. Ash Singh, founder and CEO of InteractiveSG, which produced the show, revealed that the judges have offered a deal of as much as half-a-million on the program.

No reality show is complete without auditions. For Angel’s Gate, the auditions come in the form of elevator pitches. Quite literally, entrepreneurs enter an elevator where an angel investor stands waiting, and they have only 30 seconds to impress or go home.

One such entrepreneur who passed the test is Chee Yen Lim, CEO of Micropoint Technologies. His product is a drug delivery needle so small that it’s invokes no pain when pressed on a person’s skin. He made the ultimate sacrifice — by demonstrating it on himself.

Chee is appearing on the first episode of the show.

Another entrepreneur that will make an appearance is John Fearon, founder of DropMySite.com (see product feature), the audition was a true Mother-of-God, nerve-wrecking experience. He told me that his mind was a total blank when he went into the elevator, and he had to rely on his countless rehearsals to get the pitch done.

“The cameras in the elevator made it a different experience,” he said.

The Angel’s Gate judges are not half-past six investors who are just out to make a quick buck — they’re the real deal.

They include the likes of William Klippgen, founder of Tigris Capital; Patrick Grove, ranked one of Asia’s best young entrepreneurs; branding and marketing guru Ken Mandel; and Karan Singh Thakral, a veteran entrepreneur in consumer electronics.

They’re all decked in spiffy white suits — in keeping with the show’s name, but don’t be fooled into thinking that they’ll always be nice and smiley. This is a reality show after all, and the judges are there not just to dispense wisdom, but also to entertain and provoke.

And see which entrepreneur has guts and resolve.

Philippa Lett, the British-accented host of the show, promised that we can expect “more than one Simon Cowell on the program.”

I’m hoping for some fireworks.

From the looks of it, there’s no rehearsed bullshit on the show (aside from the entrepreneur’s pitches) — the investors came in with their eyes wide open and learnt how to judge on the fly.

“We never sat down together before… we just came into the studio and started shooting. Which makes even better reality TV,” said Grove.

While the show’s format is familiar, there are some important innovations too. Ash said that Angel’s Gate is taking a 360 degrees approach. Besides television, the show will come to life on both the web and mobile.

Viewers can expect a total of eight TV episodes, as well as 30 webisodes, which will be made available on YouTube.

Another innovation was that entrepreneurs had to sign up on the website, which was launched last October, to canvass for votes and source for crowd-funding, which works on an all-or-nothing system. They can even seek team members online.

The most popular entries then appear on the show, where they’ll to pitch to the Angels, who’ll decide on the spot if they should receive an investment from the AngelFund, which is contributed by a mix of high net-worth individuals and venture capitalists. One of the firms involved is Crystal Horse Investments.

Entrepreneurs that got rejected could refine their business idea and resubmit it through the website.

Investment decisions were made on a majority basis. Meaning, if three of the judges like the business idea but one investor strongly hates it, that one judge is overruled.

So far, about 30 percent of participants are Singaporeans, another 30 percent are PRs and expats in Singapore, with the remaining coming from the rest of the world.

“There’s even one guy from Dallas, Texas,” said Ash at the launch event last year.

Where ever the participants are from, I’m sure the judges and viewers are looking forward to brilliant pitches that will set the screen on fire.

This Singapore-made show, perhaps, signals how perceptions towards entrepreneurship has changed in the last decade in the island state.

Said Grove: “As an entrepreneur who started out in Singapore 12 years ago, back then, being an entrepreneur is a taboo subject, it was not a career option that your parents would be proud to say that you have chosen. But today, it’s so exciting and people are mobilizing to support the show and I’m really proud to be a part of it.”

Catch the trailer for Angel’s Gate here.

In their words,

“Kidlander’s wiki-style features allow users to be the critic, the journalist, the explorer or the tour guide to their peers. With complete freedom to upload and modify reviews and information, users are guaranteed a current and complete perspective on all events and places posted on the site. Kids can also share their views and add their voices to the pool of reviewers. Furthermore, every review or comment earns you points in the system.”

Kidlander.sg is the first in a planned series of launches across Southeast Asia and India and is the result of a collaboration with a site from Norway, Barnesteder.no, that recently moved its headquarters to Singapore under the name of Nichilizer Pte Ltd.

Kenneth Solberg, CEO of Nichilizer had started Barnesteder.no as he realized that as a working parent, it was difficult for him to keep track of interesting activities for his kids to attend – typically discovering the best events only after they had already taken place. He then went on to start Barnesteder.no with co-founder Gunnar Nilsson shortly after to “list all activities for children in Norway”.

“The Southeast Asian market is booming in the consumer internet space. The next 5 years will see Southeast Asian users coming online and we will see an aggressive consolidation. Tickled Media will venture into an aggressive roll-out across the region to take advantage of this opportunity”, said William Klippgen, Executive Director of Tickled Media. Klippgen was the co-founder of European internet success Kelkoo.com sold to Yahoo! In 2004 for €475m.

The Exposure That Entrepreneurs Can Look Forward To

TV – Funding from The Angels Gate Fund, Advice from Industry Giants

Web – Crowd Funding for Start Ups, Advice from Industry Professionals

Mobile – Real time updates and interaction

Who Are The Judges

Dr. Finian Tan, Chairman of Vickers Venture Fund, Key Investor in Baidu.com

Mr. William Klippgen, Executive Director of BAF Spectrum, Key Investor in PropertyGuru.com

Mr. Sat Pal Khattar, Chairman of Khattar Holdings, Founder of Khattar Wong & Partners

Mr. Patrick Grove, Founder and CEO of Catcha Group, Deputy Chairman IPGA

How To Take Part

Interested entrepreneurs can download the application form and email it to contact@angelsgate.tv.

This is the first financing since PropertyGuru’s Series A funding from Steven Diggle, the manager of ArtTradis, one of Asia’s largest hedge funds; Upstream Ventures’ Hellmut, Pierre and Carmelo; Tigris Capital; and Finn Evdemon Capital Partners almost 3 years ago.

The last year has seen PropertyGuru’s parent company, AllProperty Media expand and is now operating across 7 countries: Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, India, Australia and Macau. This was done via new operations, acquisitions and strategic partnerships.

In Singapore last August, PropertyGuru also went into the commercial real estate space with CommercialGuru.

ProperyGuru’s paying agent subscriber base has also increased by 85% over the last 12 months to 13,000 and traffic has more than doubled to approximately 4 million users viewing 48 million pages every month.

Anafore’s referral marketing solution plugs into a merchant’s existing e-commerce platform such that after a purchase has been completed, the buyer receives a coupon from the merchant with a discount that can be used at the online store. The buyer then shares this coupon with her friends to give them a time-limited opportunity to purchase the merchant’s products at a discount.

Merchants can then track the referrals made using Anafore’s solution online:

Ecommerce platforms currently being supported include Amazon, bigcartel, Etsy, Magento, Shopify and Volusion.

Started in 2009 by principal founder and CEO Dinesh Raju, Anafore had previously raised a pre-seed round under the iJAM programme by the Interactive Digital Media programme office (IDMPO) with the incubator SiTF (Singapore Infocomm Technology Federation).

Dinesh says, “The rise of social networking gives us an unprecedented ability to connect merchants and buyers more efficiently and make irrelevant ads a thing of the past. We’re excited about this partnership with BAF Spectrum which gives us an incredible opportunity to realize this vision.”

As part of the investment round, BAF Spectrum’s William Klippgen (Executive Director) and Sanjeev Shah (Managing Director) have joined Anafore’s Board of Directors.

“Anafore is on the cutting edge of smart, online marketing solutions. They provide a compelling value to any online merchant by instantly increasing sales. We plan to work with the strong founding team to develop a suite of next-generation social network-powered tools to improve further the way buyers and sellers interact online”, said William Klippgen, Executive Director of BAF Spectrum. Mr. Klippgen is one of the co-founders of European shopping mega-portal Kelkoo (acquired by Yahoo!) and is leading BAF Spectrum’s investment portfolio in digital media start-ups.

Founded back in 2004, Attentio can claim to be the oldest of the lot and possibly with the most global traction. In their company write-up, clients listed include big firms like Microsoft, Skype, Toyota, Club Med, Johnson & Johnson, Nokia, Intel, Hewlett Packard, and Buenavista International/Disney.

Located along East Coast road, the Singapore office will be a sales and support hub and will also be staffed with multi-lingual social media analysts to support global customers.

Along with this Asia headquarters, Attentio also just brought on Vincent De Gennaro to be Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Most recently Vice President of EMEA at Actuate Inc., a leading CRM software maker, De Gennaro was responsible for managing European operations. Bringing over 30 years of valuable international sales and management expertise to Attentio, De Gennaro will report to CEO Amaia Lasa and will be responsible for Attentio’s global go-to-market strategy and business development.

One of the partners of Singapore-based fund, BAF Spectrum, William Klippgen, is currently the Executive Chairman at Attentio.

William Klippgen, Executive Director of BAF Spectrum and Margus Uudam, Managing Director of Ambient Sound Investments, will both join Progeniq’s board of directors.

Progeniq will use part of the investment proceeds to increase its global marketing footprint and to start production of its revolutionary RenderBoost card to be launched for general availability in Q3 2010. The RenderBoost hardware card fits into standard x86-based rack servers and cuts time for rendering high-definition frames by as much as 80%.

Progeniq does seem to be in good hands, as Klippgen was the co-founder of Kelkoo, which was eventually bought by Yahoo!, while Toivo Annus, lead partner of ASI was the former co-founding engineer of Skype.

In the current global recession, risk capital has suddenly become scarce. Working with start-up companies in Asia in the last three months, I have seen boards adopting a mix of the remedies suggested below. Hopefully, they can be useful for others as well.

Ten ways to survive the crunch:

1. Keep a buffer of three to six months of net cash burn by continuously adjusting your burn rate: The difficulty trying to adjust the net cash burn is when to reduce it and by how much. We suggest simply agreeing on a buffer in terms of time until cash runs out. It is easy for both management and the board to relate to this number. We have asked CEOs to adjust burn at the end of every month, so as to always keep enough cash and short-term receivables to last at least three more months. In that way, there is no need to keep discussing specifics, it is up to management to cut spending and staff and the board can focus on the revenue side.

2. Be transparent with your team: We ask CEOs to be completely open about the state of their companies in weekly, all-hands meetings. Start-up teams are usually small and closely nit; facts are far better than rumors in difficult times. Since many companies give stock options to employees, it is only fair to let them be part of the hard decisions that have to be made. And, staff members that are most likely to appreciate this openness are also the ones you are most interested in keeping for the long term.

3. Ask everyone to take a progressive pay cut: Higher paid staff can usually take a higher pay cut, but be sure to understand the financial situation of each member on your team. If everyone agrees to a substantial cut for e.g. 6 months, we believe the team has a good chance of remaining motivated and productive. In particular, we even see some founders take no salary for an extended period of time, sending a strong signal of commitment.

4. Let go of staff, but offer them to hang around: Keeping enough cash for survival often means letting good people go. Be creative and offer them to stay to e.g. consult or do other business from an environment they know and enjoy. Do not charge them anything for this. Given that this works out, it can also boost morale of the employees still on your payroll and the team remains intact. To make up for reduced staff, use online outsourcing sites such as www.elance.com or www.99designs.com to provide cheap services at competitive rates.

5. Free up office space and rent it out: Letting people go and compressing the space you use, can free up significant space. Perhaps you planned on growing further and already use more than you need. Get another company on your premises, ideally a possible partner or customer or one that will add creativity and fun.

6. Make board and advisory board members join the sales team: This is the time to use the network and experience of your extended team. Many board members actually want to get their hands dirty, but are usually held back by management. This is the time to let them loose and let them sell for you.

7. Revamp your web site: The last thing where would like to cut spending, is your website. A strong, online presence with easy access for potential customers to contact you or even buy your products, is nothing but the most cost-effective marketing tool around. Check the cost of customer acquisition through Internet marketing as compared to traditional channels and adopt the best price/performance mix.

8. Invite your closest competitor for coffee, it’s time to talk: Your competitor might be your best future partner. Given mutual respect, a merger might be the best option for both of you if it gives easier market access and reduces costs.

9. Monetize your existing customer base in new ways: Often, your customer base is a demographic subset that is interesting for other products or services than your own. As long as your customers find the new offerings relevant, it will be well received also by them.

10. Barter equity for marketing: A recent trend in Asia is for some media companies to exchange advertising against an equity stake. In the absence of cash, and with companies spending dramatically less on marketing, this is a wonderful way to get relatively high media visibility with only a limited dilution for your existing shareholders.

At last, keep the option of hibernation open if cash simply runs out. There is nothing better than putting your company on hold for a limited period and keep your main clients somewhat happy. Former employees might be willing to work part-time and on a project basis. As soon as your target markets recover, you can hire back employees and gradually start spending again as investments and revenues find their way back to support your dream.

Article photo courtesy of Onohoku

William Klippgen is co-founder and executive director of the Singapore seed investment fund BAF Spectrum Pte Ltd. He was the co-founder of European comparison shopping site Kelkoo.com and advises and invests in start-up companies in Asia, Australia, and Europe. He can be contacted at william.klippgen@bafspectrum.com

Finally in Singapore, an easy, one-stop property search website.

PropertyGuru officially launched www.propertyguru.com.sg to help consumers find properties easier and faster. With 20,000 Singapore properties to choose from and powerful tools, PropertyGuru takes the frustration out of property search.

For the first time in Singapore a property website takes the pain out of searching multiple sites and puts the power in the hands of the consumer.

- PropertyGuru’s unrivaled database has access to 20,000 properties in one place. It is the easiest way to find new projects, private condos, landed property and HDB units available for rent or sale.
- PropertyGuru’s “Ask Guru” tool allows consumers unique online to get questions answered online by Singapore’s real estate experts.
- PropertyGuru’s instant property valuation tool lets owners find the latest market rate and historic trend for their home or property investments.
- PropertyGuru’s automatic alerts via SMS and email notify consumers about properties that match their own personal criteria.
- PropertyGuru has powerful map tool and colour photos make it easier to find the right available properties in specific areas and satellite images show the surrounding region.
- PropertyGuru offers prizes including an iPod Touch and tickets to Singapore’s first every Formula 1 Grand Prix race later this year

PropertyGuru designed its new service exclusively for Singapore real estate. This vertical approach means a better service, more information and features for consumers and real estate professionals.

In a recent study by e-consult, 53% of media and internet professionals said that “faster access to desired information and more relevance” were a major benefit of this approach.

Many of Singapore’s premier property developers, and agents from top real estate agencies (including C & H Group, Dennis Wee Group, DTZ, ERA, HSR International and Propnex) have already signed-up to promote their properties via PropertyGuru.

“Dennis Wee Group believes in the power of the Internet for property advertising, and supports initiatives such as PropertyGuru in Singapore,” stated Dr Dennis Wee, Chairman of Dennis Wee Group.

Deborah Law, General Manager of Expat Rentals said, “As Expat Rentals visibly sees results from online advertising we are enthusiastic about new portals being opened by such companies as PropertyGuru.”

PropertyGuru also provides advertisers with the unique ability to pinpoint a highly-targeted audience that is focused on Singapore’s real estate market, and with many consumers close to making a property decision. Santa Fe, one of Asia’s leading relocation and moving experts was the first such advertiser to take this opportunity.

“Santa Fe selected PropertyGuru to advertise its services, due to PropertyGuru’s sole focus on Singapore’s property market and fit with our target audience” stated Richard Hooker, Relocation Manager for Santa Fe Relocation Services.

PropertyGuru enables searching for property simply at the click of a mouse, saving consumers hours of searching time.

“The response to PropertyGuru by Singapore’s real estate developers, agents and advertisers has completely exceeded our expectations. We look forward to an exciting year for PropertyGuru and Singapore’s property sector,” said Jani Rautiainen and Steve Melhuish, co-directors of AllProperty Media and PropertyGuru’s creators.

Online real estate portals transformed the property search process in Europe, US and Australia during 2005 and 2006. In the UK, Right Move became the market leader, IPO-ed and is now valued in excess of S$1.5 billion. Right Move estimates that 75% of successful home movers in UK use the Internet to search for property.

The same is now set to happen in Singapore – underpinned by:

- Robust economy – The Monetary Authority of Singapore economists expect GDP growth to be at 6.3 percent for 2008 (source: MAS)
- Buoyant real estate market – Private residential property grew 31 per cent last year (source: Urban Land Authority Singapore) and 15 to 20 percent increases are expected in 2008 (source: Propnex)
- Increasing consumer Internet adoption – Broadband household penetration grew to 77% last year (source: IDA Singapore), with a growing number of consumers turning to the Internet for banking, shopping and job search.
- Property marketing moving online – Frost and Sullivan forecasts Internet property advertising to double year on year from 1 per cent in 2006 to 8 per cent of total property advertising by 2010.
With its innovative new features, consumer benefits and Singapore’s property market and Internet growth trends, PropertyGuru is in prime position to become the leading property portal in Singapore.

About PropertyGuru:
PropertyGuru aims to make it easier and faster for Singaporeans to find the property they want. PropertyGuru is designed purely for real estate and will work to continually enhance the service, boost marketing and bolster its solid real estate industry relationships. PropertyGuru helps leading property developers and agents (including representatives from C and H Group, Dennis Wee, DTZ, ERA, HSR International and Propnex today) to promote their properties, brand, websites and agents online to a wider audience in Singapore and outside.

The PropertyGuru service was created, and is managed, by AllProperty Media Pte. AllProperty Media Pte Ltd is headquartered in Singapore and was founded by 2 entrepreneurs: Jani Rautiainen and Steve Melhuish. Together they jointly have 36 years combined experience of building Internet and IT businesses in Europe and Asia. They have recruited an experienced team of real estate, Internet, media & marketing professionals to help them build PropertyGuru into the leading property portal in Singapore.

For more details, please contact:
Steve Melhuish on (+65) 97 356 956 or steve@allproperty.com.sg
Jani Rautiainen on (+65) 97 584 975 or jani@allproperty.com.sg
Or visit www.propertyguru.com.sg

NOTE: Image files for the PropertyGuru.com.sg logo and website screen-shots can be provided on request.

About Dennis Wee Group:
Dennis Wee Group was first set up in January 1993 with the formation of the pioneer company Dennis Wee Realty Pte Ltd in a humble office with just 10 sales associates. The founder and president Dr Dennis Wee is a prominent figure in the real estate agency business with more than 20 years experience and has sold millions of dollars worth of properties.

Today Dennis Wee Group has grown into one of the leading local real estate agencies in Singapore with over 2,500 sales associates. Located in a prestigious 10,000 square feet office in Park Mall at the fringe of Orchard Road shopping belt with another branch office in Toa Payoh and 2 franchise offices in Lavender, the Group is set to expand further in the near future.

For more details, please contact Stephanie Tan on (+65) 6887 6829 or stephanietan@denniswee.com; or visit www.denniswee.com

About Expat Rentals:
Expat Rentals has been serving expatriate-clients’ in Singapore in their short and long term residential requirements since 2003. We understand the specific needs of our clients first hand as our group of specialists are all expatriates themselves. We are able to provide a level of service unmatched by other companies – best advice and service for Expats by Expats.

Service levels within the Singapore home rental business vary dramatically. We see our time together with our clients as a partnership, allowing us to provide the highest level of commitment and service in the industry, all at no cost to the client. At Expat Rentals, as Expats ourselves, we understand the needs of Expats looking for a home.

For more details, please contact Deborah Law (+65) 9171 3392, email deborah@expatrentals.net or visit www.expatrentals.net.

About Santa Fe Relocation Services:
Santa Fe is a leading relocation company operating throughout Asia, providing high quality relocation services to individual and corporate clients. It was established in Hong Kong in 1980, based on an international household goods moving concept. Quickly, Santa Fe became the largest company of its type in Hong Kong and in 1988 was acquired by the East Asiatic Company Ltd. A/S(EAC) www.eac.dk. This provided additional financial strength and development leading to offices in Singapore, Thailand and China. At the end of 2000, Santa Fe acquired the Asian operations of Global Silverhawk, providing it with a solid presence in Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. Today, Santa Fe offers a full range of relocation services in 23 cities throughout Asia.

As a full-scale relocation services provider, Santa Fe provides household goods moving, home and school search, familiarisation programmes, settling-in assistance, cross-cultural training, maid & handyman services, visa & immigration services, furniture rental, and many other related services. Each year, Santa Fe handles in excess of 20,000 relocations throughout the world and it is proud to be a major player in the global relocations industry.

For more details, please contact Grace Swallow (+65) 6398 8530 or grace.swallow@santafe.com.sg; or visit www.santaferelo.com