What I Learned From Singapore

transcript

Captain Barbossa… Welcome to Singapore! Welcome to

Singapore!

What I learned in Singapore @benjaminjoffe

Quick Me

•  10 years in Asia (China, Japan, Korea) –  CEO of Digital Strategy & Research company +8* – Angel investor in 2 startups

•  Cmune: “Zynga for Console-‐like Games” •  MyGengo: “Cheap & Fast Human TranslaXons”

•  3 months in SG | Since October 2010 – Mentor at JFDI.Asia, talks at NUS, SMU, events –  ConsulXng & Advisory to local startups –  I might have it all wrong!

•  100+ Talks, +1!

Stereotypes in my Suitcase

(And it’s not a joke…)

Singapore Statute Chapter 57 (1992) Allowed for therapeuXc usage (2004)

(the gun is a joke btw…)

Durians

(Durian trees are said to be intelligent and never drop a fruit on someone)

“English-‐based Creole Language”

“5C’s of Singapore”

There is a Wikipedia entry for it!

CASH CAR

CREDIT CARD CONDOMINIUM

COUNTRY CLUB MEMBERSHIP

Kiasu (scared of losing) Kiasi (scared of dying)

Scared?

Kiabor (scared of wife) Kiaboh (scared of having nothing) Kiachenghu (scared of government)

Beyond Stereotypes?

I found that not so much of the fundamentals had changed since William Gibson’s trip in 1993

(PS: I have seen other dys/utopias)

Photo from the North Korea side of Panmunjeom

Singtopia

1932 1949 1965

Brave New World? Really?

•  CondiXoning trains people to consume and never to enjoy being alone

•  Soma is a hallucinogen that takes users on enjoyable, hangover-‐free "holidays”. What could be Singapore’s Soma?

•  People are bred to do their jobs and cannot desire another

Caste System or Meritocracy?

RANK STUDY PURPOSE

ALPHA Overseas CEOs, Ruling Class

BETA Top local UniversiXes Managers

GAMMA Polytechnics White collars

DELTA No university White & Blue collars

EPSILON “Foreign talent” Mostly Blue collars

Are You Promiscuous Enough!?

•  39,654 babies born in 2009

•  “Have three or more, if you can afford it.”

Source: Gwendolin Regina Tan

“Our current SDNTrust accredited daFng agencies”

Social Development Network Because Love is also Government business

•  1984 | Social Development Unit (SDU) promotes marriages among graduate singles (Beta, Gamma)

•  1985 | Social Development Services (SDS) to promotes marriages among non-‐graduate singles. (Delta)

•  2009 | SDU + SDS = SDN Social Development Network “Provide more opportuniFes for singles to meet”

www.lovebyte.org.sg

1984? Really?

•  Ingsoc (English Socialism) – SingSoc?

•  Newspeak – Guess?

•  Surveillance – No comment.

•  Groupthink – Don’t stay alone, lah!

•  Ministry of Truth, Love, Plenty, Peace

•  Inner party / Outer party / Proles

•  Permanent War (“enemy” outside + within)

How to describe Singapore?

•  1984 with soma?

•  Brave New World with less promiscuity?

•  Socialo-‐Capitalist Dynasty?

•  What North Korea could have been with beqer trade and educaVon policies?

The Social Network

•  Independence: Growing up at parents’ house? –  In France, most move out as soon as they work

•  Surveillance: People are two degrees away! –  (There is sth to like in big anonymous ciXes too …)

•  Inner Struggle: Liberal views + conservaXve acts? – "I am liberal but my parents are not” – “My parents are but my extended family isn't.” – Does anyone really believe in those “tradiXons”?

CreaXve Singapore

Cinema, Shopping, Food… Too much Soma?

“At lunch we think what we’ll have for dinner”

Rank (2008) Country Cinema admissions per capita 2007 2008

1 Iceland 5.1 5.4 2 Ireland 4.3 4.2 2= Singapore 3.8 4.2 4 Australia 4.1 4.1 4= US 4.3 4.1 6 New Zealand 3.6 3.6 7 Canada 3.2 3.2 8 South Korea 3.2 3.1 9 France 2.9 3.0 10 India 3.0 2.9

Source: Cinema Intelligence Service, 2009

First two in bad shape today. Singapore #1?

EducaXon System & KPIs

•  KPIs work within a frame

•  CreaXvity is about doing away with the frame

•  And about asking new quesVons

Why not in Singapore?

•  CreaXvity requires free Vme

•  CreaXvity requires Vme alone

•  CreaXve people live in poverty (incl. startups)

•  CreaXve people do their own thing

Everyone can innovate!

•  Ideas have no naVonality

•  Everyone is creaXve

•  You don’t need permission

•  Talent is overrated

•  More third places!

The Upside

•  Amazing cultural mix

•  Ethnic quotas for housing

•  Religious places next to each other

•  Smart steps toward peaceful coexistence

•  The place is remarkably well managed

Void Deck GeneraXon?

•  Can creaXvity come from HDBs?

•  More freedom from KPIs, but also more soma

•  That’s your job!

Changes From Within Using Plausible Deniability

•  E.g. this talk – SelecXon bias: why me?

– Who is in charge? –  I’m gevng away with it

•  Bring in those you need to support your ideas – Match KPIs – Maintain face with Boss & Alphas

– Bring change!

Singaporean innovaXons

•  ERP ^_^;

•  Thumbdrive

•  Durian Strudel?

Ecosystem Build-‐up

•  HackerSpace •  Founder InsXtute •  Startup Weekend •  BarCamp •  BANSEA (SE Asia Angels) •  Founders Space (soon) •  Flagship conferences (Echelon, Accelerate) •  Early-‐stage VCs

•  Most of it in 1 year?

Issues (you know)

•  Lack of serial entrepreneurs / mentors

•  Gap at mid-‐stage to series A and US VCs

•  KPIs incompaXble with early stage (uncertainty)

•  Business models are required (vs. SV)

Would I startup in Singapore?

•  Cmune: too large for relocaXon

•  Local costs not small, talent scarce

•  Good infra, early-‐stage financing

•  Best posiXoned: foreign & local mixed teams – Navigate bureaucracy – Leverage cheaper geographies

Startups to Watch

“Who to watch? […] We’d put $$$ on Viki, Pivotal Labs Singapore and Mig33 to sustain their posiXon as local heroes, conXnuing to inspire us through 2010.” (Jan 1, 2011)

Top Startups

•  Mig33 | Australian founders, relocated from SV!

•  Viki | US + Korea!

•  BuzzCity | Founded in 1999!

•  Gothere.sg / Hungrygowhere | Hyperlocal

•  Cloudpic | $6M arXst coll. pla~orm (R&D in US!)

Why bother with NaXonality?

•  Idea naXonality?

•  Founder naXonality?

•  Team naXonality?

•  It’s a brand. – Silicon Valley is a brand too! – And it’s money and partners.

(Network, 1976)

“There are no naVons. There are no peoples. There are no Russians. There are no Arabs.

There are no third worlds.

There is no West.”

“There is only one holisXc

system of systems. One vast […], mulVnaVonal

dominion of dollars.”

Example: Cmune

•  Team in Beijing, China

•  Registered in HK

•  Founders from New-‐Zealand and France

•  8 naVonaliVes in team of 12

•  Users worldwide, except China! (FB blocked)

Myths to do away with

•  Startups take much longer than the media says!

•  Check your definiXon of “success”

•  Make money: sell a dream, but build a business

•  Most of your idea is going to change on the way

•  InnovaXon is happening every day you do something different from yesterday

SemanXc Prisons

“There are plenty of semanXc prisons which do not permit us to think straight” Aldous Huxley

The Human SituaXon

Gevng out of SemanXc Prisons

•  CreaXvity •  InnovaXon •  Entrepreneur •  Success •  NaXonality

•  EducaXon •  Intelligence •  Developed •  Developing •  Etc.

Those words are holding you back! May you develop all your life! (cf. Fredrik Haren)

Ideas are everywhere!

•  7 billion people – Someone surely got the same idea, before you

– “I came up with one Internet idea a day!” •  Masayoshi Son, CEO of So�bank

•  Just execute the hell out of it – Don’t let the pride in the idea get in the way

My InnovaXon Epiphanies

•  Peeling off narraVves 1.  Only US innovates (I was spared this one) 2.  Only the West innovates (my iniFal belief) 3.   Asia innovates too (aSer a few years in Asia) 4.   Everyone is an innovator (aSer 10 years abroad)

•  Why Silicon Valley –  It’s all about access to capital – Default business model: adverVsing! – Use it if you need it

Beyond Tech (because innovaXon is everywhere!)

What I found most InnovaXve

•  Service industry

•  Food & Beverage industry

•  39,000 outlets (> McDonalds)

•  1927 | Founded in Dallas, Texas

•  1991 | Ito-‐Yokado (Japan) gains control

•  Did you know it was “Japanese”? –  It is an example that brands it is hard to talk about the “naXonality” of a brand…

BreadTalk

•  Founded in 2000

•  24 retail outlets in Singapore

•  13 countries, 300 bakeries, 5,000 employees

•  80% common product, 20% for local palate

“No more Bush” campaign in 2008

Plans for Friends Thelma & Louise Batman & Robin

Strip – Ministry of Waxing

•  Body waxing concept store

•  Founded in 2002 by Spa Esprit Group in SG

•  27 stores in 7 ciVes –  Singapore, NYC, Jakarta, KL, Bangkok, Manila, London, Shanghai, HK

•  HSQ: Hygiene, Speed, Quality

•  2 million bushes and counXng…

Strip – Ministry of Waxing

Spa Esprit Group

•  Parent company to Strip, founded 1996

•  10 Beauty and Food & Beverage brands – Strip – Browhaus – Spa Esprit, Qi Mantra, House, Barracks, Camp, Beauty Emporium, Skinny Pizza and Tippling Club.

– First Spa Esprit in 1996 in Singapore

Conclusion:

Comments welcome: benjamin@plus8star.com

@benjaminjoffe

What I Learned From Singapore

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