6 Key Takeaways from Startup Asia 2013

I visited the Startup Asia 2013 event (organised by TechInAsia) recently in Singapore, which ran from the evening of 3 April (pre-event) to the night of 5 April (after-event dinner). Chock-full of market data from the neighbouring markets, marketplace of big ideas from startups, valuable lessons and advice from successful entrepreneurs, luminary quips (albeit at times with wry humour), it was a jam-packed startup event spread over 3 storeys of panel discussions, interviews, demo booths, startup pitches and countless networking opportunities. Bringing together VCs, incubators, social media marketeers, entrepreneurs, startups and more from all over the region in Southeast Asia and beyond, while everyone recognised that Southeast Asia is evolving to be a hotbed for mobile internet innovation, this wave is not coming without its hosts of challenges like payment, logistics, ecosystem support.

Here are the 6 key takeaways I put together from my experiences in the Startup Asia event 2013.

1. Develop Vertical Communities to build Commerce opportunities

• Lots of Buttons from Hong Kong, won the $10,000 first prize during the startup pitch competition at the Startup Asia event - "Lots of Butttons is a Hong Kong ecommerce that sells craft materials at 50% of retail price. #startupAsia via @xescx"
• Puddding which through its relevant social discovery platform for ladies looking to buy jeans online through recommendations from other similar sized ladies, offers sizing insurance.
• Windphony is a global self-publishing platform which allows composers, of varying professional levels to submit and market their own music (scores) works.
• The trend in the growing number of vertical communities into commerce has been highlighted during the SparxUp Indonesia 2012 event.

2. Enriching Your Communication Experience

• It is little wonder that with social being an essential layer to bring about engagement, community and commerce, the Social Messaging market is hotting up globally and especially now in Southeast Asia.
• In the business to business (B2B) space, Chatwork seeks to simplify business communications amongst employees.
• In the business to consumer (B2C) space - Hoozin tries to bring the real-world experience in face to face group chat conversations into its "round-table user interface".
• Watch out for the evolution of the Social Messaging market in 2013. 

3. Consolidating and Sharing Media Quickly

• Caught in today's hyper-connected mobile world, consumers are constantly being inundated with an avalanche of media, information and tasks to be completed. Startups are constantly sprouting up with solutions to address these perennial pains.
• In the Business to Business or B2B space, mmixr looks to offer professionals a cloud-based solution to better manage, edit and share their rich media presentation materials.
• In the Business to Consumer or B2C space, yet another photo app, Seconds comes forth with a pitch on their 1-2-3 quick to shoot and share to private albums, whilst PixBento is differentiating with their offer to bridge photo sharing amongst buddies by allowing photos to be pooled and shared across the smartphones and PCs of specific buddies.

4. B2B and B2C Loyalty is trending

• From 2012 and into 2013, an increasing number of business to consumer (B2C) loyalty program players who cater to retailer consumer loyalty benefits, and business to employee (B2E) loyalty program players who cater to corporate staff benefits are entering and developing these markets in Southeast Asia.
• Retailers and enterprises alike have been or will be looking into the trend of loyalty programs for their customers (business to consumer, B2C) or for their employees (business to employee or B2E).
• Some examples of B2C loyalty program players include Malaysia based Pofers.com and Gimmie.
• Examples of B2E loyalty program players include Singapore-based Pyrks.com and Malaysia-based PerkPool. And by the way, there is another player in Singapore, Patontheback.org which was not at the event.

5. Utility tools over Cloud as a service to drive SME productivity

• In view of the service labour crunch in Singapore, Kwix is looking to help restaurants relieve their labour shortage in waiting staff by allowing customers to order from their smartphones at their tables, instead of having to wait for the restaurant staff to attend to them.
• Ticktok looks at alleviating the frustrations of consumers who are waiting in line for their table by getting real-time notifications to them when their tables are ready. Restaurant owners are able to better manage their yield in seat allocation and not lose frustrated customers.

6. "Keep the fire in your belly"

• With every new business that one ventures into, there will never be any certainty in the product development, take up and performance. The important thing is that entrepreneurs need to stay bright-eyed in their outlook.
• Chua Kee Lock, Group President and CEO of Vertex Venture Holdings, offered the following golden gems:
• "Are you trying to win, or not to lose?"
• "An entrepreneur needs to be arrogant, but also willing to listen."
• Last but not least, Loo Cheng Chuan from Local L!fe, SingTel Digital Life Group rounded up his presentation about the 9 shocking truths about Silicon Valley with the following quip "Keep the fire in your belly".

Whilst the Startup Asia 2013 event in Singapore was a great platform and meeting of minds for the startup community in the region and beyond, it would only serve as a precursor for more exciting things to come for the business ideas and performances of many of the bright minds I have had seen and had conversations with.

In closing, to all startups and entrepreneurs out there, Keep on going ... Don't lost hope. You never know what tomorrow will bring.

Reading references:

1. Tech and cultural trends from Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia
2. Innovation from the East: takeaways from Startup Asia 2013
3. #startupasia Twitter conversations (chockful of information here! 
4. Startup Management: Tips for Prioritizing and Scaling (with Chua Kee Lock)
5. 9 shocking truths about Silicon Valley - Lessons from 100 Startup Founders
6. Newly added, Startup Asia 2013 as an infographic