Startups sharing ideas and seeking validation from others to progress and gain benefits - final part 10

Start building relationships with investors

ENTREPRENEURS are naturally protective of their ideas. Understandably, they keep their ideas to themselves to avoid having them stolen.

Don't keep it to yourself Tell your idea to as many people as possible and seek their opinions. Talk with people you trust and whose opinion you value.

While it is important to protect proprietary information from being copied, entrepreneurs can also gain valuable insight and perspective from feedback before investing heavily in a product that only looks good conceptually.

A startup’s journey is very much akin to running a series of experiments before it finds a path to sustainable growth. A product or an idea should be subjected to validation before it can be tweaked and scaled up to form a viable company.

And what better way to get some form of early validation than to share your ideas with like-minded people for constructive input.

While entrepreneurs are more willing to share and discuss their ideas these days, this culture of sharing is still new in the local scene.

Seasoned entrepreneurs have found bouncing ideas off other people to be more helpful than harmful. Apart from getting feedback on their ideas, they note that more often than not, sharing connects them with other people who can help fill the gaps and turn ideas into reality.

Additionally, sharing ideas and resources could also help accelerate innovation in a field.

For example, American electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors recently announced that it will be making its patents available to other companies that want to use them.

Tesla chief executive officer Elon Musk explained that the move would help advance electric vehicle technology.


 Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, unveils the dual engine chassis of the new Tesla 'D' model at the Hawthorne Airport October 09, 2014 in Hawthorne, California.

“Our true competition is not the small trickle of non-Tesla electric cars being produced, but rather the enormous flood of gasoline cars pouring out of the world’s factories every day,” Musk had said.

By allowing the use of its patents, industry observers note that Tesla will be clearing the way for more collaboration with other electric car makers to develop new technologies and would enable the company to take a leadership role in developing standards for the industry and its value chain.

Entrepreneurs are increasingly being encouraged to share and collaborate to innovate and build better products.

And a beauty about being in the present time is that there are more ways than ever to tap into a support network that can provide startups with a platform to share and build on ideas and resources.

Some of these platforms include spaces such as incubators, accelerators and co-working spaces. Apart from being just a shared working station, incubators, accelerators and co-working spaces have evolved into collaborative work spaces that provide entrepreneurs with the opportunity to meet and collaborate on ideas with a host of other people to innovate better solutions.

Additionally, there are various forums as well as startup events and programmes that provide a conducive environment for entrepreneurs to network, share ideas and work together. There are also a number of agencies that are targeted at guiding entrepreneurs with developing their ideas.

Most entrepreneurs still worry about letting on too much on their ideas. But if they can overcome that fear, entrepreneurs stand to gain much from collaborating with one another.

Take advantage of the entrepreneurial community brought together by such platforms to innovate and rather than develop your ideas in silos.

■ This is the final article in a 10-part tie-up between Metrobiz and the Malaysian Global Innovation & Creative Centre (MaGIC) to explore startup ecosystems.

By Joy Lee The Star/Asia News Network

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“Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again- this time more intelligently.” — Henry Ford

Startups can learn much when they do not succeed

Success stories have always been a source of great encouragement for struggling entrepreneurs. It seems easy enough to romanticise accomplishments.

After all, there seems to be no shortage of stories on budding entrepreneurs who worked hard to develop great products that were later acquired for hefty price tags.

Perseverance pays: Grove says he learnt the value of persistence when the bursting of the dotcom bubble drastically altered the company’s fortunes in 1999.

In reality, the path of entrepreneurship involves plenty of speed bumps, potholes and dead ends.

Entrepreneurs who have made it often recount how they lacked time for anything other than work, how they had to fumble through everything on their own and how some of their ventures failed before they became successful.

Additionally, entrepreneurs are making a big bet by putting their money into something that has no promise of returns on top of not having a secure income for what can be extended periods.

But serial entrepreneurs persevere through their failures.

Patrick Grove, co-founder and chief executive officer of Catcha Group, understands the importance of picking up the pieces and persisting after a failed attempt.

Grove established Catcha Group, which holds a portfolio of online assets, in 1999 and had plans to list the group on the Singapore Exchange the following year.

But shortly before the exercise, the Nasdaq crashed and brought the end of the dotcom bubble.

Subsequently, Grove and his partners were saddled with debts of US$1.5mil (RM5.2mil).

Teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, he slashed his headcount, diversified the business and persisted.

Grove refers to that period as “the school of hard knocks.”

But in the end, Catcha got its groove back and Grove went on to list four online companies.

“I learnt the value of persistence… because we were humbled early on, we don’t forget that,” Grove said in an interview with an Australian publication, adding that it is alright if entrepreneurs fumble.

MyTeksi technical head Aaron Gill is likewise no stranger to failure. Before joining the Malaysian startup that has grown regionally, Gill had three failed ventures under his belt.

His ventures had started off with ideas good enough to obtain government pre-seed funding from the Multimedia Development Corp and Cradle Fund. But the companies did not survive.

However, Gill says that his failed attempts taught him a lot about running a company and managing a team.

Additionally, he learnt the importance of being focused when running a business and the need for structure in the face of expansion.

Grove and Gill are only two of many more entrepreneurs who have encountered hardships before finding that one successful startup. The road taken by entrepreneurs is often long, winding and certainly stressful.

But fear of failure shouldn’t stop entrepreneurs from taking risks. There are rewards to be reaped from thinking outside the box and pushing boundaries.

The lessons learned from failures can be brutal. But taken the right way, these lessons can bring you one step closer to success.

Entrepreneurs describe themselves as people who hop from one failed business to another until they hit a jackpot. To them, failure is a part of their experiences.

■ This is the ninth article in a 10-part tie-up between Metrobiz and the Malaysian Global Innovation & Creative Centre (MaGIC) to explore startup ecosystems.

By Joy Lee The Star/Asia News Network

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Successful entrepreneurs join forces to fund and support businesses

Malaysia has seen quite a number of successful entrepreneurs coming into the market over the last two decades or so. They have established strong businesses and built up significant wealth and experience.

While any normal person would likely retire and enjoy the fruits of their labour, entrepreneurs have a knack for staying in their jobs.

Not only do they move on to bigger ventures, they also relish the opportunity to invest in other passionate entrepreneurs who have ambitious visions.

Many of these early entrepreneurs have come full circle.

They recall their early days of struggle to get their ideas off the ground, their first successful rounds of funding and remembering how they persevered to grow their startups to become successful companies.

Most of them understand the importance of giving back to the ecosystem.

Angel investors are valuable to the ecosystem not just because they have capital to back startups, but also other experiences that will help to nurture budding entrepreneurs.

Some of these entrepreneurs, including Time dotCom Bhd chief executive officer Afzal Abdul Rahim (left picture), Terato Tech founder Reza Fahmi Razali and JobStreet Corp Bhd founder Mark Chang.

After establishing their businesses, they remain actively involved in investing in other people.

Afzal started his entrepreneurial journey in 2006 after he and his partner successfully raised RM20mil to execute a management buyout of AIMS Group.

In 2008, he took over Time and grew it from a penny stock company to a formidable telco solutions provider.

But Afzal is far from done.

Today, he is an active angel investor and currently leads Endeavour Malaysia, the local affiliate of the global non-profit organisation Endeavour.

Under Endeavour Malaysia, Afzal, along with the other board members and partners, provide funds, mentorship and access to networks to help startups scale up and expand.

“As an entrepreneur, I know how important mentorship can be,” Afzal said at the launch of Endeavour Malaysia.

He added that the mentoring network of Endeavour would provide valuable support to Malaysia’s next generation of high-impact entrepreneurs.

Likewise, UnrealMind Interactive Bhd founder Tan Swee Yong sees much value in providing support to the new wave of up-and-coming entrepreneurs.

“I enjoy a startup environment more than a corporate environment. There are plenty of ideas and talent out there.

“It is all about giving them a helping hand,” Tan had said in an earlier interview.

Tan started UnrealMind, a mobile content company, in 2001 with a personal investment of RM300,000.

The company grew regionally, was listed and subsequently privatised by a British company in 2005.

Not one to sit on his profits, Tan has been actively looking out for other startups to invest in and participated in events such as Echelon Malaysia.

Like other angel investors, Tan believes in investing more than just finances into his investee companies and takes an active role in guiding them as well.

There are many other entrepreneurs who are willing to grow other startups.

And most of them are accessible through various angel investor networks, including Malaysian Business Angels Network (MBAN) and through organisations such as MaGiC.

It takes every party to keep the investment and nurturing cycle going in order to establish a strong startup ecosystem.

And successful entrepreneurs who have come full circle certainly have a lot to offer in terms of guiding new startups to greater heights.

This is the eighth instalment of MetroBiz’s tie-up with Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre (MaGIC) to explore startup ecosystems.

By Joy Lee The Star/Asia News Network

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