“The best founding teams are like cockroaches, they get stepped on and go crunch a little but then keep on running,” a quote by William Bao Bean, general partner of SOSV and managing director of Chinaaccelerator best sums up what make a better startup, and perhaps set it on the road to being a unicorn.
Speaking at the panel session on “What makes a better startup” at WIT Bootcamp 2017 in Singapore yesterday Bao Bean used this example to show the resilience of a startup in Shanghai which, despite a few difficult years on surviving on little income, difficulty in finding investors and a host of other factors working against them.
Sharing some light moments at startups panel (L-R) moderator Fritz Demopoulous, , SOSV’s William Bao Bean, Amadeus Asia Pacific’s Simon Akeroyd
The question of timing is also important as this startup was five years too early, he added.
Agreed Melissa Yang, co-founder of China based online platform for vacation rentals Tujia, viewed as the country’s largest domestic rival to online home-rental platform Airbnb.
She said startups must have vision and direction. “The vision must remain consistent but the business model may have to change to meet changes in the market.”
Yang also listed “execution” as playing an important role. “You have to find the correct people for the team who will have the expertise in various areas to meet the need o the business as it grows,”
Monk Hill’s Ventures’ Kuo-Yi Lim looks for people with ideas and action
Kuo-Yi Lim, managing partner at Monk’s Hill Ventures, a tech venture fund investing in early stage startups in Southeast Asia, looks for people with ideas and action
“Have confidence and the ability to do it but not with over excuberance.”
He cited Ninja Van, one of Southeast Asia’s fastest growing last-mile logistics company. The company started making shirts in China but faced problem of delivering the shirts. They solved this problem with forming Ninja Vans.
They didn’t own any vans, but they bought five within six weeks and the rest, they say is history.
For Simon Akeroyd, vice president corporate strategy & business for Amadeus Asia Pacific, it’s pragmatism. Amadeus Next, the technology giant’s Asia programme to nuture, mentor and partner with startups in Asia Pacific.
He said It was a common feeling that when you meet founders with x factor it could be what moderator Fritz Demopoulous of Queen’s Road Capital jokingly termed as ‘”love at first sight”.
Akeroyd said “it’s clarity of communication. If you can’t explain an idea you cant get it out. It’s hard for us to push out.”
Melissa Yang: Have the right motive for it’s a long road for startups
Speaking to WIT on the sideline on the event Tujia’s Yang, who is also the entrepreneur in residence at IDG Venture, a global family of venture funds with approximately US$3.6 billion under management, has these additional advices for founders.
“Founders must have the right motive for it’s a long road for most startups; the right founding team and adaptability. It also depends on space, for example for an Internet company online marketing is important and for business it’s sales.”
Yang also stressed on the important of learning new skills. Citing herself as an example she said that when she co-founded Tujia she did not have online experience, but she learned all about it.
