FIT Seminar Singapore presentation

transcript

Flanders Investment & Trade seminar: Singapore — Bruno Lowagie @bruno19701

Award winning company

Why Asia?

Use of our software in 2014

Distribution of our revenue in 2014

North America (63.57%)

Europe (29.47%)

Asia - Pacific (5.75%)Middle-East and Africa (0.61%) South America (0.59%)

World Regions

North America (63.57%) Europe (29.47%) Asia - Pacific (5.75%) Middle-East and Africa (0.61%) South America (0.59%)

What about the competition?

Reference: SEC filings of Adobehttp://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?company=&match=&CIK=adbe&filenum=&State=&Country=&SIC=&owner=exclude&Find=Find+Companies&action=getcompany

APAC region: three tiers Tier 1: Japan, Australia, Singapore

Highly developed countries with good level of respect towards software IP

Tier 1 represents 65% of 2014 APAC business Tier 2: India, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan

Developed or developing countries with acceptable to decent level of respect towards software IP

Tier 2 represents 30% of 2014 APAC business Tier 3: China, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia

Developing economies with poor level of respect towards software IP

Tier 3 represents 5% of 2014 APAC business

First steps

iMinds / FIT: “try before you buy office”iMinds: Go Global

1 year officeTravel voucher32 hours consultancy (*)

FIT:Support at eventsAdvice! Introductions!Subsidies for Asia trips Starting up ISA / real office

Princely Mission

First partner

iText Software Pte. Ltd.

Incorporated April 20151 local hire: April 20151 Belgian expat: July 2015

New office location

CommunicAsia

Revenue 2014 vs revenue 2015

• APAC region responsible for 9.46% of total revenue 2015 (was 5.75%)• If we look at the last 6 months, it’s even 11%

• Constant currency: 79% growth in 2015 (YTD) compared to 2014 (full year)

Distribution of our revenue in 2015

North America (60.97%)

Europe (27.93%)

Asia - Pacific (9.46%)

Middle-East and Africa (1.25%) South America (0.39%)World Regions

North America (60.97%) Europe (27.93%) Asia - Pacific (9.46%) Middle-East and Africa (1.25%) South America (0.39%)

North America: 63.57% => 60.97%Europe: 29.47% => 27.93%APAC: 5.75% => 9.46%MEA: 0.61% => 1.25%South America: 0.59% => 0.39%

Lessons learned (part 1)Local office, cultural embedding works!

Time zone differences no longer a problemSmaller cultural gap (ISA speaks Mandarin and Cantonese)Inbound sales: conversion from lead to sale improved because of better communication

We’re still too dependent on inbound salesWe need to attend more events in the regionWe need to visit more customersWe need to extend our partner network

Building partner network: slower than expectedSales volume still too low to convince distributors/resellers to investMore education about the product and its market needed

Lessons learned (part 2)Tier 1 countries: Oceania dominates; Singapore, Japan confirmTier 2 countries: South-Korea, Hong Kong surprise

20142015

T1 T1 T2 T2 T2 T1 T2 T3 T3 T3

(to date)

Lessons learned (part 3)Do we regret the decision to start a company in Singapore? No!

The results are there, and the average deal size is higherSingapore is an international hub: everyone speaks English; today’s “place-to-be”Singapore is a very safe place for expats; it’s at the very center of our market

If we were to start all over again, would we still choose Singapore? Maybe…The cost of living is highThe cost of doing business is high (accountants, auditor,…)Too much bureaucracy (>2 months to open a local bank account, rules & regulations)

If you could start all over again, which places would you consider?Hong Kong: business opportunities + very internationalPangyo Techno Valley (South-Korea): tomorrow’s “place-to-be”?

Thank you!