Just last Monday, on Aug 12, I had the honor of moderating a discussion for a special all-Singaporean panel in the heart of New York ❤️. Co-organized by Supermomos, Singapore Global Network, and Enterprise Singapore, I was able to glean insights from Shang-Wei Chow, Managing Director of Vertex Holdings and Head of the Vertex Exploratory fund, and Ethan Chan, Co-Founder & CEO of Allium, on founding, running, and fundraising for early-stage startups. It was a solid hour packed with lots of nuggets of wisdom and perspectives from different sides of a coin – a startup founder and an investor. I'm sharing some of the key insights I took away:
For startups, as Ethan said, there is no one-size-fits-all formula for finding product-market fit. For Allium, what worked out for him in the early days was focusing on the customers as they built the product, talking to as many as possible, finding out what their real pain points were and pivoting quickly. When it came to fundraising in a not-so-bullish climate, he stayed focused on building a great product and team, which attracted the right investors.
Shang-Wei offered valuable insights into the US and Asian fundraising landscapes, emphasizing Singapore's evolving role as a global tech hub. He highlighted Singapore's strategic position in the BLOCK71 Global initiative, which aims to expand the city-state's entrepreneurial ecosystem worldwide. There are currently more than 400 VC firms based in Singapore.
The panel discussion ended with one common piece of advice to founders: how to rise above the macroeconomic environment and stay resilient, focused, and persist in building out a great company and technology.
🎁 Bonus: Ethan recommended a book that he's currently reading to any founder on the startup journey – "The Mom Test," a strategy for getting insights out of potential users, even when said potential users may be prone to lying to you. Link to the book: https://lnkd.in/exd5vd-M
Thank you again to the panelists for sharing so generously, the organizers for this insightful learning event to connect overseas Singaporeans and friends of Singapore, and last but not least, the audience for your enthusiastic participation! I hope you enjoyed the discussion as much as I did.
Katie Lee Cheryl Lee Darren Lee Cheng Loong Henry Yen Youshen Lim