Startup Ecosystem Done Right.
TweetIn 2 weeks time, we will be celebrating one of the biggest web tech events to reach the shores of KL. The sea.openwebasia.com conference will draw to Kuala Lumpur startups, investors, developers, evangelists and a whole lot more from all over the world.
So i was thinking right. What have we done so far? What kind of message will they bring back with them? Guy Kawasaki made a visit 2 years back. He talked about visiting Batu Caves and chicken wings in Jln Alor. haha As a Malaysian, I’m really proud of these things, but heres my question, when do people start talking about the companies and startups of Malaysia?
How do we compare against our neighbours to the South? I attended Unconference in 2009, and Echelon in 2010, and story is consistent. That Singapore produces startups of quality, with innovative ideas, refined products & potential for scalability. Wait a minute, so do we. BUT – They support this (and this part is really important) – with a network of human relationships stretching from Singapore to Shanghai to Silicon Valley and back .
This network provides Singapore with a not so obvious but huge advantage.
1) The ability to bring their startups global in the shortest time possible
2) bring investors to their shores, and not have their startups move away.
3) exposure to the world and vice versa, in terms of how they execute startups, following the lessons and learning from mistakes of not just Singaporeans but global level startups.
This didnt happen overnight, Singapore made investments years ago planting young interns in Silicon Valley (the folks at E27.sg remembers this, and Echelon happened 6 years later)
Now theres alot more that makes up a startup ecosystem but for the purpose of this post, i wanted to draw attention to this.
The last couple of years, Malaysia has been investing in the tangible. Financing via Preseed and Cradle, training and workshops via the same entities. I don’t think we pay enough attention to human relationships. Just because there is no obvious ROI to it, doesn’t mean its not part of the ecosystem, which I suspect is the way we operate today.
This is a call to action, that when Open Web Asia happens, we make an effort to build relationship with our international guests, to work on simple projects together, collaborate, co-invest, and etc. To be honest I dont exactly know what to do, but i do know something has to be done, and the timing is right. hence tagging all of you guys, whom I consider leaders and visionaries here and elsewhere.
Read More11th June – Team/Bursa Malaysia Seminar
TweetThe recent changes introduced by the Securities Commission and Bursa Malaysia to make the Malaysian Exchange, Bursa Malaysia, a more vibrant and active market for listings and fund raising has provided technology and growth companies with an excellent opportunity to list in Malaysia.
The changes are wide-ranging and equivalent to the top markets around the world. The new ACE Market is particularly exciting and provides Technopreneurs and Investors with an alternative means for fund raising or exits.
This is a “Not to be missed” seminar and briefing for TeAM members and Technopreneurs brought to you courtesy of Bursa Malaysia and TeAM.
This event is by registration only.
Email thamkengyew@gmail.com if you have any queries. Thank you
Here are the event details:-
TEDxKualaLumpur – June 3rd, PNP Gardens
TweetUpdate: The second TEDxKL will be on 27 March. visit www.tedxkl.com for details.
TEDxKualaLumpur is closed for registration. Notification via email for the 1st 100.
TEDxKualaLumpur has confirmed its venue at Plug and Play on the 3rd
June from 3pm-6pm
This independent TEDx event is operated under license from TED
For those who do not know what TED is visit http://www.TED.com and be
awed with some of the most inspiring talks in the world.
We are looking for a few remarkable speakers to fill in 4 slots for
the First TEDxKualaLumpur
As with each TED talk the max time permit is 18 minutes.
Do let me know as soon as possible if you are available and spread the word.
Email to thamkengyew[at]gmail.com
Updates
Info on TEDxKualaLumpur
Location : Plug and Play Technology Garden
Time :3pm-6pm
Fee : FREE
Format: 6 talks by invited speakers and 3 video presentation of TED
TeAM 6th AGM in Bukit Kiara Equestrian Club
Next Tuesday, 28th of April, Technopreneurs Association of Malaysia will be holding their TeAM 6th AGM in Bukit Kiara Equestrian Club, Mont Kiara. TeAM has been formed by a group of Malaysian Technopreneurs to further the interests of Technopreneurs and to assist in the development of the Digital Economy in Malaysia.
Bob Chua of Pulse Group who was “Ernst & Young Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2008″ will also be there to share abit of his experience in Entrepreneurship.
Ureka Weekend!
100 people. 2.5 Days (Friday Evening – Sunday Evening). Business/product/prototype created.
In the words of the organizers, “UrekaWeekend is an intense event bringing brilliant minds together to create companies, projects and great communities! Participants come from diverse profiles and skill sets such as entrepreneurs, geeks, technical developers, artistic and creative designers, marketing experts, project managers, legal hawks, public relations and many more.”
Recently we spoke to Hakim Albasrawy of UrekaWeekend to find out exactly what the UrekaWeekend can do for you!
Q. Hakim, can you tell us more about the weekend?
UrekaWeekend is an event that we are putting together to give people a chance to explore ideas and what can be done with them. We are inviting 100 of the most interesting people we know (and some that we don’t) from a variety of backgrounds and with a multitude of skill sets, all to join us and discover the joy of creating.
Each participant will have the chance to share ideas that they are passionate about and what to see come to life, the more ideas that people share, the more interesting the event becomes as there are more things to do and try. We encourage the open sharing of ideas, but given the nature of the event, and the fact that it will be live twittered/blogged/streamed etc., trade secrets will be difficult to enforce. We suggest that if you have an idea that you don’t want taken, then don’t share/present them.
Once the ideas are shared participants get a chance to view the pool of ideas and add their views on what would help the idea grow and evolve. They do they do this by commenting and voting for ideas that they think have great potential. Needless to say the more votes an idea gets, the more people will gravitate towards it.
All of the above happens before the event – check out http://urekaweekend.com (you have to sign up to contribute and rate ideas)
The event proper starts on the 17th or April (Friday evening). Where we get all the participants together to sit down face-to-face and further discuss the ideas that they have selected, form teams to execute the ideas and above all plan what they are going to be doing over the course of the next 48 hours.
The objective of this event is to nurture the spirit of sharing, and learning through experiencing.
Participants will be given a free hand to develop their ideas in any fashion that they see fit. If you are a programmer than go ahead and come up with a prototype of that “selling tempe online” website that everyone always draws reference to. If you’re a business minded person a business plan to commercialize this product would probably right up your alley. For those with a creative flair, flex your artistic muscles and come up with a corporate identity or product packaging.
Don’t worry however; we won’t be leaving you wholly on your own. If participants need help there will always be a friendly facilitator around to point you in the right direction if you get lost. Once you have your masterpiece completed you have to then present it to your peers, everyone then gets to vote for ideas that they thought turned out the best. Should people decide to start up businesses with this idea and what they have worked out during the course of the event – they are welcomed to.
Q. Ok that was really lengthy. Now who should come?
We hope to see participants come from diverse profiles and skill sets such
Developer – Back End: You’re the person who lays the solid foundation upon which everything else depends. Everyone else will be trying to get you to code up their brilliant idea after the weekend; and with a budget, you could.
Developer – Architect: You’re the person that comes up with the overarching vision for the project. You fit tab A into slot B.
Developer – Front End: You make things look good, working directly with the User Experience team to make everything rock for the user. CSS is your friend, and IE bugs are the enemy in which you destroy. User rebellion will be directed toward you.
PR (Blogger Extraordinaire): You like telling the story of The UrekaWeekend (your project) and you’re awesome at keeping the message alive. Craft buzzword packed blog posts, dazzle them with brilliance or baffle them with bull.
User Experience: You know that all your friends are going to be using what you just helped create. You know that unless it’s user-friendly, your friends won’t talk to you. You fear losing your friends.
Designer: Someone has to add the drop shadow and gradient to that interface design, you will do it for the site design, banners, business cards and logo.
Legal: You make certain that all the i’s are dotted and all the t’s are crossed and help your project move forward after the weekend.
Marketing and Business Development: You have a knack for finding ways to sell and how to make money. You can easily come up with a plan to sell ice (even if it’s shredded!!) to Eskimo’s.
Cook/Court Jester: Don’t know where you fit in but want to experience the weekend? The cook/joker position might just be your ticket. You make sure the food shows up, the drinks are cold, participants are entertained and the most random tasks are completed. You could also slot into any of the roles above should there be a need.
At the moment we are looking for mobile programmers, web programmers and start up entrepreneurs, anyone that has the interest to embark on the journey of entrepreneurship should consider coming over and check out what the weekend is about.
Q. Can you tell us a little about what kind of activities will the participants be doing over the weekend?
The event is designed as such that what the participants experiences is heavily dependent on the dynamic of the team that they choose. Each team will experience the event in their very own special way. Added to that, the ideas that they chose to develop will play a big part in determining how they develop it. Take for example there are 2 teams – one with football shoes at the core of the idea and the other with new age farming techniques (using web based software to automate day to day operations on said far)
Each would have to some basic things such
- research into the
- planning execution of the idea (which would be worlds
- devising how to show a scale
- planning the pitch (as teams have only 5 minutes to tell the story on their idea)
For this reason we recommend that participants network and form teams with new people they just meet, especially if their proficiencies are different (or even complimenting)
There are very few rules that participants have to observe.
- A Team must be made up of no less than 3 people
- A person can only join one team at a time.
- You can only develop based on ideas that are available in the pool of ideas
- Any idea can be worked on by any number of teams
Q. Sounds like an amazing learning experience. How do you think the UrekaWeekend will benefit the entrepreneurial community?
Through joining this event participants will learn the following
Forming a group
- Pitching an idea
- Innovating
- Working in a team
- Working under pressure
- Developing a business plan
- Implementation
- Prototyping
- Networking
- Think for yourself
Q. Everything sounds good so far. What are the costs for attending UrekaWeekend?
Registration cost RM80. What do you get? The chance to live and breathe ideas and innovation for 54 hours, food, great line in your resume, learn something new, make new friends, be part of a community, and an exciting and very fulfilling weekend time spent that you will never get anywhere else.
Q. What should I bring to The UrekaWeekend? Do I need to prepare anything?
Just bring your enthusiasm, commitment and willingness to work in a team and be part of something exciting. If you have ideas, don’t forget your elevator pitch for Friday.
Other important items that are needed:
- Laptops (You need definitely need this to “work” on your project, blog, tweet, play games, surf the web etc…)
- Camera’s (take as much photo’s as you can and don’t forget to tag it The UrekaWeekend when you upload them to flickr, twitter, etc..)
- Sleeping Bags & pillows (If you’re sleeping over)
Q. Lastly, Is there a discount for MYE Readers? Hehe. Where do we sign up?
Register yourself at the UrekaWeekend.com registration site. Choose from the different types of roles you want to be. These represents what role you’d like to contribute and what you’d like to spend the weekend doing. This does not necessarily have to be what you do for your day job.
For MYE readers just sign up below to enjoy the event for RM 50.00 instead of the walk in rate of RM 80.00
Ureka Weekend is a Malaysia Entrepreneurs supported event.
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