The first edition of “Microsoft Startup Days” was held on 29th September at BASH (LaunchPad, 79 Ayer Rajah Crescent), featuring the founders of Cafebond, Keyis Ng and Eugene Chen. During the one-hour session, they shared their entrepreneurial journey to build the world’s leading e-commerce portal for coffee lovers everywhere and how they are leveraging on Microsoft BizSpark Program and Microsoft Azure Platform to propel and accelerate their growth.
The session was well received by the community as it welcomed over 40 attendees comprising of a mixture of startup founders, students, developers and industry professionals. The audience was highly engaged with the wealth of experience and knowledge shared by Keyis and Eugene, starting from the incubation of their ideas and engagement of industry partners from Australia to launching their platform and tackling issues such as customer service and logistics.
Some of the key lessons shared included:
- Conducting sufficient research to understand the problem that you are trying to solve, identifying who your customers are, and why they will be willing to use your solution.
- Understanding and experimenting the technology solutions in order to find a suitable fit with your team and your solution.
- Recruiting individuals that are aligned with your goals, and have something unique to offer to your team.
- Planning for all potential business and technology scenarios that might occur when your system goes “live”.
When quizzed about their decision to enroll in the Microsoft BizSpark Program and adopt Microsoft Azure Platform as their technology platform, Keyis and Eugene shared that they have evaluated all available technologies in the platform and they have decided to partner with Microsoft as they felt that the Microsoft BizSpark team were committed in their business and were always available to offer a helping hand. Beside offering free software, Azure credits, and co-working space, Keyis and Eugene appreciated the hands-on approach of the Microsoft BizSpark team, and offered on-site technical guidance at every step of the journey, from initial setup and deployment to scaling and researching technologies. Keyis also highlighted the business assistance provided by Microsoft BizSpark, from introducing partners to showcasing Cafebond in community blogs and events such as “Microsoft Startup Days”.
I learnt a lot of new startup lessons during the session, and it was an honor to have Keyis and Eugene take time off from their busy schedules to share their entrepreneurial experiences with the community. It is only the start of their amazing startup journey, and I wish Keyis and Eugene all the best in their mission to revolutionize the way we enjoy our cup of coffee.
Follow their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/cafebond/ for all the latest news, events and product releases!
Special thanks to BASH and TAG.PASS for being our supporting partners for “Microsoft Startup Days”.
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