escape velocity from singapore aws '17
TRANSCRIPT
Escape Velocity from Singapore - possible lah?
This is not a promotion for Singlish!
Michael Smith Jr.SeedPlus.com
Things don’t have to change the world to be important
Steve Jobs 1996
Jobs quotes > Woz quotes
I can be reached:Pro-tip: adding evie to the email won’t help
SeedPlus.comSeedVC.blog
@dreampipe (till twitter dies)michael at SeedPlus.com
My background
coder (bad)enterprise sales (good)
product marketing (okay)product management (better than okay)
restaurant/pub owner (bad)evangelist (good)
biz dev (better than okay)VC (apprentice)
It’s okay not to do a startup
Don’t do it just because the cool kids are
Take a gig first at a cool companyLearn @ what you like - what you are good at
(GDP) Gross Domestic Product(GNP) Gross National Product
(GNH) Gross National Happiness (From Bhutan )
(GDT) Globally Desirous Thing
Nike ShoesRolex Watches
Thai FoodiPhones
American TV Shows
All achieved escape velocity to become a GDT
(hello thingmakers)
Can Singapore build a GDT?
The controversy
“While it might seem like common wisdom to first test (an idea) in Singapore, and then take it regionally and to the world”, he felt
that, “with all due respect to the government, […] it doesn’t make sense in today’s world”.
Why?
“Furthermore, by the time you’re done with test-bedding in Singapore, somebody’s already tested the same (idea) in China, or in
California, reaching out to North America and so forth. You’re better off starting in the US and China from the get-go.”
Food for thought:
Singapore is as capable (even more so than some places) as any other City/State to:
1. Build a tech startup
2. Launch it onto the global stage
3. Kick Ass
There is no one way to do it but let’s discuss this more
Important stuff for your success toolkitPro-tip: Taking notes is not cool
Karma People
DataFocus/SimplicityCustomer Care
Tech HelpStrategy
Karma has everybody’s address
At all times:
Be cognizant of how you treat others
You never know when you will cross paths again
You may eventually work with, be bought by or merge with competition
The world is smaller than you think
Luck is also useful but karma is the precursor
People always make the difference
Look at character as much as tech/business skills
Groom the up and comers for greatness
Despite the hype - it’s usually a marathon and not a sprint - therefore build a culture of longevity
Help people lead themselves (act like a coach)
Empower employees to make decisions
If you are a young/new management team - get help early on how to build the right people culture
Data can no longer be an side project
No matter what your product/service - data is key to your long term success
It is always better to augment decisions with data - this helps to support a gut reaction - or helps you to confirm when your gut was
wrong
Instrument everything even if you can’t deal with analysis now. Some day you will (simply store logs on S3 for later import into
Redshift for example)
Share data internally and externally if possible
Hire people who also care about data
Keep it simple, stupid
Pro-tip: Green is good. Red is bad
Customer delight is the best form of virality - Andy Rachleff (Benchmark & Wealthfront)
Very few startups make it
Very few startups become a runaway success
However, apart from creating a great product one could also focus on amazing customer service
It is imperative to cultivate a process of customer service in everything you do
Takes time to bear fruit but is the best marketing ever
Outsource your tech!
I mean your servers not your coders
Building a product is only the start
It is important to offer superior performance, uptime and to push the envelope
AWS offers the biggest cloud in SEA, the largest on the ground team and lots of help to startups
With AWS you can have global reach (GDT) from Singapore
Pro-Tip: Andrew is your man
The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do - Michael Porter (founder of The Monitor Group)
Pro-Tip: Competitive Strategy is a must read
If you are building a 1 country business then make sure it is the biggest 1 country business ever (gojek) (Massive TAM)
Pro tip: VC’s love massive TAM
If you are going regional - think cities instead of countries since this is where the masses are. (SEA is all about the cities)
Force yourself early to test new cities & determine the playbook city by city
After SEA possibly consider ANZ region as a good entry into the US or North America
Get strategy help from your network, advisors, angle & VC’s
What I asked earlier:
Can Singapore build a GDT?
No time like the present!
Struggle more, hustle less...
Q and A