Is There Innovation in Asia?
We often see successful startups coming from the West, more particularly in Silicon Valley and sometimes it raises the question of whether there is innovation in Asia. A panel of young innovators, moderated by Wong Meng Weng from JFDI Asia, took to the stage at Techventure held at Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands:
・Amit Anand, managing partner at Jungle Ventures
・James Chan, principal at Neoteny Labs
・Dennis Goh, founder at HungryGoWhere
・Darius Cheung, founder at tenCube (acquired by McAfee)
・Rameez Ansar, managing partner at Techcube 8
新規事業はしばしば西洋、特にシリコンバレーで生まれていますが、時々、アジアでは革新はないのか、といった質問が浮かび上がってくる。JFDIアジアのウォン・メン・ウェン氏が司会を務めた、若い革新者たちを集めたテクノロジーベンチャーの委員会が、シンガポールのマリーナ・ベイ・サンズで開催された。
・ジャングル・ベンチャーズ 業務執行社員 アミッド・アナンド
・ネオテニー・ラブズ 社長 ジェームズ・チャン
・ハングリー・ゴー・ウェア 設立者 デニス・ゴー
・テン・キューブ(McAfeeが買収) 設立者 ダリウス・チャン
・テクキューブ8 業務執行社員 ラミーズ・アンサー
欧米、もっと厳密にいえばシリコン・バレーから操業開始した企業の成功はよくあるのだが、アジアには革新があるのかという疑問が時々浮かぶ。JFDIアジアのWong Meng Weng氏を司会に迎え、若き革新者たちのパネルディスカッションがTechventure(ハイテクベンチャー)の舞台、シンガポールのマリーナベイサンズで開催される。
・Amit Anand氏:Jungleベンチャーの 業務執行員
・James Chan氏:Neoteny研究所の所長
・Dennis Goh氏:HungryGoWhereの創設者
・Darius Cheung氏:tenCube (McAfeeに買収された)の創設者
・Rameez Ansar,氏: Techcube 8の業務執行員
Where in Asia is the hotbed of innovation?
In all honesty, each city can have its own strength, and it is difficult to pinpoint where exactly is the right place, Amit says. There are different places catered for different stages of growth. There are places where startups can fight unfairly and gain an advantage.
On the topic of whether Asia innovation equates to that of copying Silicon Valley, the panel has a different take on this.
Dennis cites his own startup as an example, and highlighted that ideas are plentiful. Adopting the Darwinism “survival of the fittest” rule, many ideas just happen to be executed extremely well. There are no shortage of good ideas. In fact, most of them are adapted and learned from earlier ideas, and evolved to suit markets. Two sites might look similar, but on the backend, there are features specially tailored to Asian countries.
When Dennis was asked if he felt threatened by the entrance of Yelp into the Singapore market, he explained that in fact, when HungryGoWhere started, there were two to four other similar food review sites. At the end of the day, it is easy to copy at first, but it eventually boils down to how you package your product and sell it to your users. HungryGoWhere prides itself on understanding its audience, and perhaps Yelp will also eventually see why it is thriving well in Singapore.
I particularly liked it when Darius stepped in to defend Asia innovation. He says that as much as cloning issues are raised and talked about, there is in fact a lot of innovation going on in Asia. He cited two examples: Pigeonhole and mig33, where the former addresses issues faced during conferences, and the latter, Steven Goh, founder of mig33 is doing something awesome in Indonesia.
So how do the investors make sure that they don’t miss out on the innovation that is happening before them?
Amit says that it is important to have a dialogue, not a one way conversation, whilst talking to the other party. You need to communicate your ideas well to them. It also boils down to the importance of the team, in Darius’ opinion. He draws parallels between getting investors and finding a wife or a lifelong partner. One needs to have confidence before investing in them.
And of course, life has its ups and downs, and each panelist had a lesson to share with the audience as well.
Amitは、出資しようと思うスタートアップと話す時に、一方的な話をするのではなく、対話を持つことが大切だと語る。自分のアイデアを相手に充分に伝える必要がある。Dariusは、チームの重要性も大事になると言う。同氏は、投資家を見つけるのと、配偶者もしくは生涯のパートナーを見つけることを比較している。投資をする前には、自信を持つ必要がある。
もちろん、人生にはいい時もあれば悪い時もある。各パネリストにも過去に学んだ教訓があり、それを聴衆に語った。
Amitは、他の団体を話をするとき、一方的な会話でなく対話をすることが大事であると述べている。自分のアイデアを上手に相手に伝える必要がある。Dariusの意見では、煎じ詰めれば、チームの重要性に行きつくのでもある。彼は、投資家を獲得することと妻、あるいは人生のパートナーを見つけることの間に平行線を引いている。投資をする前には確信することが必要なのだ。
そしてもちろん、人生は山あり谷ありなので、パネリスト一人一人が観衆に披露する教訓があった。
In Amit’s entrepreneurial journey, he learned to be patient. Sometimes we often jump into decisions, thinking that it is the best and last option available out there. The truth is, there will always be something better out there and one should be patient and wait.
Putting on the investor’s hat, Amit advises investors to spend an appropriate amount of time with entrepreneurs before investing in them. That makes sense. After all, you become part of the company should you eventually decide to invest.
Something perhaps some of us never knew was that the process leading up to the HungryGoWhere exit was not smooth sailing for Dennis. At the start, Dennis assumed that they had the right product for the right audience. However, for the first two years, he could not communicate well with merchants. Despite having a large userbase, they were close to shutting down the site. We often place so much emphasis on the product that we neglect educating stakeholders and their mindsets. Merchants could not understand the HungryGoWhere model and Dennis found the learning curve of that really steep. Through this, he learned the difference between users and customers.
Darius feels that most entrepreneurs lack confidence, shortchanging themselves in their focus and execution. We’re often in the bubble where, “if you do not play the game, then you will not lose.” Truth is, you will never know what the result is, until you step forward.
James also added that many entrepreneurs start off thinking they have great ideas, but having the stamina to sprint and soldier on is an entirely different issue.
Do younger or older people have better stamina?
James feels that the mindset matters. “How you think makes you young or old,” he says.
自分達には素晴らしいアイデアあると思って始める起業家が多いが、全速力で走ったり、辛抱して頑張るスタミナを持つことは全く異なることだ、とJamesも付け加えた。
若者と年輩者、スタミナがあるのはどっち?
大事なのは考え方だと Jamesは感じている。「考え方によって、若くもなれば、老いもする」とJames。
Jamesも、多くの起業家が自分のアイディアはすばらしいと思ってスタートするが、全力で走り、がんばり続けるスタミナがあるかはまったくの別問題だと付け加えた。
では、若い人たちと経験を積んだ人たちのどちらの方がスタミナがあるのだろうか?
Jamesは、それを心の持ち方の問題だと感じており、「若いかどうかは考え方で決まります」と述べている。
ジェームズもまたこう加えている。多くの起業家は彼ら自身、素晴らしいアイディアを持っていると考え、事業をはじめる。しかし、全速力で走り、そして辛抱強く走り続けるためのスタミナを持つことは、まったく異なる問題である。
若年と老年のどっちが、よりいいスタミナを有しているか?
ジェームズは、物の見方こそが大事であると感じている。「どのように考えるか。これがあなたが若いか老いているかを決める」と彼はいう。
I concur. Rameez added that entrepreneurs need to understand why we choose to do certain things. Some of us are driven by passion, whilst some are driven by monetary rewards. But personally, I often find that people driven by passion soldier on better than those driven by the latter.
You may have noticed that most of the panelists are pretty young themselves. They were then asked if they were ever a victim of age discrimination, and if so, how did they handled it.