Startup

For this Start-Up Feature, we will be interviewing Evangeline, Founder of GetKobe. Hello! What’s your current role in your startup, and how did your past experiences take you here? With almost 10 years of experience in embracing digital marketing, I was the Business Director in PurpleClick, driving PurpleClick’s online advertising business from a 3-man startup to a hyper-growth today, a 60-man regional company across Southeast Asia. I have experience in building high performance teams in Sales, Account Management and Operations, spearheading successful business development projects such as UOB-PurpleClick collaboration, Parkway-Google Digital Session, ProClick™ Automation System, Salesforce ERP implementation, Modus Operandi across regional teams and achieved accelerated business performance and strong employee morale simultaneously. I have the honor of working with great organizations such as Redbull, Volvo, Harley Davidson, and businesses from all sectors, and all sizes across all kinds of online advertising products including PPC advertising, SEM, SEO, Display, Remarketing on platforms such as Google, Yahoo, Baidu, YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn. With my multi faced digital marketing experience in precision and performance, I’ve witnessed the huge gap in social content marketing. Social content, or otherwise Social “Word of Mouth” is a highly effective marketing tool that has helped propel businesses success since the beginning of time. Today, with the power of data, tracking and digital - I have come up with my own proprietary algorithm that can deliver performance driven influencer marketing. Kobe is a self-serve social media influencer platform agnostic to social media publishers, which matches influencers’ social posts to respective businesses. More than just a commission earning platform, Kobe has a patented algorithm that allows businesses to pay for real customer impact (not influencers’ popularity) - by deep social data analytics and smart aggregation. Providing full transparency and 100% control to businesses in a simple to use and intuitive platform, Kobe revolutionizes social influence for all businesses, especially the SMEs. Our ecosystem simultaneously allows influencers to keep their freedom and originality on social media as we fiercely defend their interests. Kobe aims to revive the social influence scene with its performance driven foundation, unleashing the full potential of social content. With a deep understanding of the digital, branding, advertising, content and social landscape - coupled with the hustler charisma and extensive experience of building a high performance team using scalable infrastructure, processes and systems - I am confident that my role in Kobe Global Technologies as the CEO will take this startup into rising unicorn in the future years. Which 3 words would describe you best? Magnet - I’m a natural human magnet and the saying goes to describe, “I can charm a bird down from the tree” in an old-school way. I can grasp easily what people think, that makes me a natural sales person without appearing too salesy. From leading a team, to pursuing sales, working with colleagues or trying to hire someone - people are often drawn to my inspiring and magnetic charisma. I’ve got no problems attracting, retaining talent. Grit - I’ve been in PurpleClick when we grew the team from 3 to 20, and within a month dropped to 7 people in a mass exodus due to market conditions and careless expansion. The recovery period took 2 years, with customers complaining and leaving, team morale at the lowest and numbers looking the worse. It takes more than usual ‘passion’ to get through the stage where everyone lost faith. I’ve got a proven track record of grit and ability to undergo high degrees of stress while still retaining unwavering faith in self and in the vision. Hitler - I mean being a Hitler to myself, what were you thinking about? J I have extremely high expectations and slap myself really hard - giving extreme expectations. An example will be - an average deal size someone closed ranged around $5,000 but when I brought in $100k deals - I thought, “How can I do more?” Well, that’s how hard I push myself, and somehow it comes naturally! How did you come up with the idea? And what problem is your startup trying to solve? I identified a huge problem in the social content industry. It was a wonderful industry that billions of SMEs depended on as a means to survival however still relying in outdated processes to deliver fulfillment. The gap resulted in SMEs losing means to this powerful tool and I felt compelled to step out and plug this gap. How long did your startup take to finish development? (Before the product could meet the market) 1 month What are your preferred platforms/tools? Microsoft Cognitive Services Have you gotten any interesting feedback from users of the app/solution? I’ve got a really high hit rate - people always believed in the power of having someone else sell you, rather than constantly selling yourself. Which means - having someone like a social influencer endorsing you rather than having advertisements all the time. Only thing is, advertising can be controlled and tracked. The more you spend, the better results you can get. Influencer marketing however is a great platform, but not so measurable. When I (with a reputation for data-driven performance marketing who never liked fluffy branding) said I was going to make influencer marketing performance-driven, everyone sat up and gave me the strong vote of faith without asking anything else. That drove me further to make this platform an astounding success. Another funny one - a lot of people asked if I was selling beef! Well, company name’s taken from the ancient Chinese way of saying “word of mouth” so I thought it was pretty tongue-in-cheek but it ended up with a funny misunderstanding. Well, it gradually became a nice conversation opener in the end whenever I meet someone new. How do you keep yourself motivated, especially during the low times? I have a secret about my socks. My socks always come in cute cartoons like the minions, mickey-mouse or something close to that. I take off my shoes to let my feet talk to each other when I’m low! Like if I always step on that poor minion but they still feel alright - who am I to be upset? See low is always relative - same as when things are at its peak. There’s never a low too low, and never a high too high. If you could go back in time when you first started, what would you have done differently? I would have slept for 2 years without waking up before I decide to do this - that is, if sleep can be ‘stored’! Haha! What’s next for you? Going into Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Hong Kong. I’ve cut some deals for social content and have secured good interest. What’s one advice you would give to budding entrepreneurs? Please do not start your own startup. If you’re looking for corporate freedom by starting your own startup, do not walk down this path. If you’re starting a startup just because of the glorious fables of million-dollar exits, do not start your own startup. If you are looking for fame and bragging rights, my advice is for you to wake up, head back to that cubicle, and get to work. Start it only if you’re ready for the hours of hard work, grueling pain, insults and setbacks. Knowing that regardless of it all, that you are still going to do it. You need to possess contagious courage and unwavering insanity to walk a route that could potentially land nowhere, or make the world a better place. Find out more about GetKobe!

Register for the ACE Lunchtime Workshop - Microsoft Cognitive Services and Bot Framework! aka.ms/acelunchworkshop

Keen to work with us? The BizSpark Residency programme offers selected startups in Singapore the opportunity to share co-working space at Microsoft Singapore, as well as business and technical support.To qualify, startups need to be: An approved and active BizSpark startup (www.bizspark.com) Have a technical/developer Founder(s) Creating a product on Windows/Windows Phone/Microsoft Azure stack Benefits of the programme include: 3+3* months complimentary co-working space at Microsoft Singapore Technical expertise Facilities support No equity taken To apply, please send the follow documents: Proposed timeline of the 3-6 month project you want to work on with specific deadlines and deliverables (sample attached) Specific support expected from Microsoft (e.g. technical expertise) Any sales/pitch decks that will help us understand your business If successful, we will arrange for a face-to-face meeting for subsequent follow up. Drop us an email at a-saneo@microsoft.com or a-eethen@microsoft.com ...

Introduction to IoT Asia 2016 IoT Asia is an annual event that is held across Asia and it is the region’s leading platform in the Internet of Things (IoT). As for IoT Asia 2016 held from 30-31 March 2016, Singapore was chosen to be the venue host for the event. The theme of the event which was “From Vision To Reality” which reveals new insights on emerging trends, new key technologies and directions for IoT’s proliferation in the region. The goal of the event was also to stimulate in-depth discussions to drive business collaborations in the region and undertake real nuts and bolts of IoT implementation. ...

For this month’s startup feature, we will be interviewing Meng Kuok, CEO of BandLab. BandLab is a cloud platform where musicians and fans create music, collaborate and engage with each other across the globe. Hi Meng, what’s your current role in BandLab, and how did your past experiences take you here? I’m the CEO and Co-Founder of BandLab. Apart from my other job running Swee Lee Music (www.sweelee.com.sg), I think the most relevant experience I had prior to BandLab was actually my own journey in music and understanding first-hand some of the challenges facing musicians and aspiring creators. How did you come up with the idea? And what problem is BandLab trying to solve? The seed was planted during my time working with my other Co-Founder, Steve Skillings, as Swee Lee began representing JamHub, a product he had invented. We connected deeply on his idea of the possibilities of new technology enabling a Cloud DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). The theme of collaboration and enabling the creative process subsequently began a wonderful conversation that has taken us here. We’re excited to see where it will take musicians in the future. In terms of the problem we were trying to solve, we wanted to make things easier for musicians and to simplify the very fragmented process of creating music. I think that’s what BandLab is genuinely capable of doing: breaking down those technological, creative and geographical barriers between musicians and making it easier to collaborate together. How long did Bandlab take to finish development? (before the product could meet the market) Like any software company, it’s very much an ongoing process. There’s always something new to add, improve or change, so hopefully we’ll never actually “finish” development! But it took us about 9 months from first assembling the team to going live with a product that we felt proud to launch and start to receive feedback on. What are your preferred platforms/tools? My weapon of choice is a Fender Stratocaster, but I don’t get to use it much these days. It’s mostly been replaced by Excel, Trello and Slack. Have you gotten any interesting feedback from users of the app? Some of the most meaningful feedback has been from users that have shared what BandLab has done for them outside of music. I was chatting about the app with one of our users, who told me a lovely story about how BandLab has given her a way to reconnect more closely with her older sister. As children, they used to make music together all the time—she would play piano and her sister would sing—but they now live 3000 miles away from each other. The platform has given them a chance to re-engage musically, and was enriching their long-distance relationship dramatically. It’s feedback like this that really drives us on as a team (as well as fixing the bugs that any technology product comes across from time to time!). I think the rate of engagement of our users suggests that we are on to building a thriving and lively community of musicians and music lovers. How do you keep yourself motivated, especially during the low times? So far, the forward momentum has been extremely compelling, so the lows thankfully haven’t been that low or that frequent! But some of the best advice I’ve ever received has been: “Don’t be too happy when things are going well, and don’t be too sad when they’re not.” On a day-to-day basis, I’m particularly energized by being able to work with a team who are all highly motivated by what we’re doing—creating new opportunities and possibilities for music creators. If you could go back in time when you first started, what would you have done differently? While I want to learn from past mistakes, I’m not one to dwell on them too much or regret the decisions I’ve made. I’m a firm believer that every decision is made with the wisdom I have at the time. An important lesson I’ve definitely learnt is that—especially when you’re working with new user behaviour—it’s important to find the balance between what people already understand and know how to use, and how far forward you can go on innovating to solve a problem. What’s next for you? A flight to Hong Kong! What’s one advice you would give to budding entrepreneurs? Live and die by your vision, but never be afraid to question it. What’s it been like working with Musicians as an audience? Tremendously meaningful. It’s a cliche, but it doesn’t matter where you’re from, what background, what age you are—music is a wonderful shared language that brings people together.

Join us for a fun-filled day, pick up essential digital skills or discover the various starts-ups at JTC LaunchPad at We Tech Care 2016! For the 10th year running, Microsoft is participating in the President’s Challenge. The goal is to bring Microsoft employees, non-profit organisations and business partners together to raise funds to empower people and bridge the opportunity divide through what we know best – technology. For this purpose, We Tech Care is returning this year – bigger and better, on March 12th! This fun-filled and meaningful event will also highlight the work and solutions of incubators and startups at the JTC LaunchPad@one-north. To learn more about the communities and charities this event supports, click here.

Working for the past two years helping to manage the Microsoft startup programme BizSpark, I’ve definitely been stuck in meetings where I desperately wished the startup could have presented their businesses in a much better manner. Here are four quick tips I think will help founders who are looking to work closely with corporate incubators/accelerators/programmes in Singapore. 1. Clearly articulate what you do I cannot emphasise how deadly important it is to give a concise introduction of what you do. It seems like a really basic premise, but so often I’ve had to search through jargon-filled websites and rambling speeches telling me that the startup is looking to “change the world”, “provide innovative solutions” or “be the disruptive transformation”. To what, exactly? I find that the best introductions are often short and worded within a single sentence. I’ve also had a meeting where the founder couldn’t decide if he was a startup, incubator or accelerator - he said he was a “mix of all three”, and still couldn’t explain this strange definition after an hour of convoluted presenting. Although not completely implausible, this is still a bit of a red flag. Tip: “We provide a [specific solution] to address [problem] to help [target audience]” is a great opening starter. ...

[caption id=“attachment_21422” align=“alignnone” width=“5184”] Partner Awards 2015 - Partner Start-Up Awardee[/caption] For this month’s startup feature, we will be interviewing Charlotte, CEO of KUMO. KUMO recently won the Partner Start-Up Award 2015 and in this interview, we will be learning more about Charlotte and her experiences at KUMO. Hi Charlotte, what’s your current role in KUMO, and how did your past experiences take you here? CEO. Before KUMO we started Success Outsourcing to enable companies to succeed in Asia by establishing their set ups in Singapore, The Gateway to AsiaTM. We travelled half way across the world to Israel to educate startups about the advantages of getting started in a country with the infrastructure like Singapore. The journey has been a fulfilling and rewarding path. We have matured and grown a lot as an organization over a short period of time. ...

[caption id=“Kickle” align=“alignnone” width=“581”] Cofounder of KICKLE[/caption] KICKLE is the brainchild of French startups Neitiv(technical experts in instantaneous communication) and Wipple(market experts in collaborative technology). This collaboration was inspired by a client who was looking for a simple solution based on Lync (now Skype for Business) technology. KICKLE is located in the Microsoft Technology Center at Paris and is expanding to Singapore and Indonesia. In this startup feature, we speak with Matthieu GIORGINI, cofounder of KICKLE who tells us about his personal experience with KICKLE. ...

IDA Young Tech Fest is an annual 2-day festival featuring exhibitions and social events in celebration of all technological things. With all things technological there, and roughly 7 educational institutes showcasing their technological innovations, it was a sight to behold! [caption id=“attachment_21138” align=“aligncenter” width=“3240”] What awaits us beyond those doors?[/caption] [caption id=“attachment_21139” align=“aligncenter” width=“3240”] The many chairs awaiting their prospective owners[/caption] Over 2000 attendees participated in the Young Tech Fest to learn more about technology and how to shape the future. From tinkering with wearable tech and robotics, to taking a trip down Singapore’s tech evolution, the participants were engaged in all things technological. Microsoft was there on-site to showcase the technologies available and to encourage students to start their very first web blog using Microsoft Azure. I was also there helping out with curious students. [caption id=“attachment_21140” align=“aligncenter” width=“3240”] Our friendly Student helpers helping out with the booth[/caption] Halley, Shi Qin and Ling Hui were on-site to help out with any queries from the general public as well as activating their student benefits. Students can learn more about how to go about activating their benefits at Funpack if they missed it during the event. Within the funpack that Microsoft is offering, I would like to specially highlight the DreamSpark and Azure offerings in which Microsoft offers free software and the cloud platform to students to help with their learning process. To activate your free offerings, first proceed to Step One and log in using your Microsoft email account. After verifying your student status, proceed to Step Two to verify your phone number via OTP. [caption id=“attachment_21143” align=“alignnone” width=“3240”] Chatting with a student regarding Azure[/caption] I had lots of fun discussing and chatting about Azure with like-minded students who were all passionate about IT just like me! [caption id=“attachment_21141” align=“aligncenter” width=“3240”] Shi Qin helping out with our Kodu Workshop[/caption] Microsoft also held workshops teaching students how to code up a simple game using Kodu. Our friendly helpers were also on-site to help out with those who needed guidance. [caption id=“attachment_21142” align=“aligncenter” width=“3240”] Halley teaching students about Kodu Game Lab[/caption] There were also workshops held to teach participants about how to host a simple resume website using Azure. Here, we have Terence, who is our Technological Evangelist, teaching participants how to set up the resume website. Many people were at Microsoft booth to learn more about Azure or were they? :) [caption id=“attachment_21147” align=“aligncenter” width=“3240”] Crowds at the Microsoft booth[/caption] Younger students who were in for something fun found a Xbox One loaded with Halo waiting for them! [caption id=“attachment_21146” align=“aligncenter” width=“3240”] Halo on Xbox One[/caption] Finally we ended the day with a group picture of our entire team who worked hard for these 2 days! [caption id=“attachment_21149” align=“aligncenter” width=“3240”] Group shot[/caption]