Just sharing my thoughts…
Jun 9th, 2009 | By Ridz | Category: Work
A couple of weeks ago, at unConference 2009, MDA’s presentation was given some relatively bad press. It’s not the first time that government efforts are being slammed. Heck, I’ve got my gripes about them too. But it got me thinking…Why is it that only MDA is representing this eco-system that they’re trying to create? I mean, this enterprise ecosystem is made up of more than just MDA. It also has the capital firms and the startups itself. Few from these categories are sharing their experiences. So I figure I’ll try to do that from time to time –starting from today. If I don’t do it often enough, just drop me a note, email me, call me, facebook me…contact me. I’m usually nice enough to hold a conversation(unless you’re trying to sell me insurance and become persistant after I say ‘no’). But let me introduce myself first. I’m Ridzuan and I’m involved in a startup project known as Widgeous. We’re a communications API company(currently in the midst of pushing out a flagship product) and we’re receiving the iJam funds through Thymos Capital. You can click the links to know more about them. We incorporated in January 2008 and we’ve not received any additional funds. We’re still pushing hard although we’re keeping our visibility to the minimum for now(at least when you compare It to last year). So what’s the experience like taking someone else’s money? Today I just want to share with you what we got beyond the money…
Introductions
I think it’s one of the most unique experience I’ve had. Firstly, the money is only the tip of the iceberg(because let’s face it, it’s not much anyway). Working with Thymos Capital and MDA has certainly opened doors to many other places. Unlike the sentiment that they’re not doing a good job match making startups to bigger players, I think otherwise. Sure, they can always do better but as an insider, I realized that their approach has been “If you know what you want and you ask for help, we’ll help build the bridges and open the doors, but you gotta take it from there.” And this is an approach I totally agree with because I believe that a startup has to take the initiative to think and to seek help. It’s just not right to expect the investors to keep coming in to hand-hold the startups. I think this becomes more obvious when you look at the more successful companies like Tyler and iHipo who work hard and keep building their systems. They’re startups that have people not just building the product, but also building the business. On a personal note, I’ve also had the luxury of being introduced to people/organisations with whom negotiations took place and everything looked good before the deal fell through. It essentially shows that while all the forces in the world can help you, the final stamp on any deal is still made between the startup and it’s potential partner/investor/client. There was also a time when they organized tea sessions for startups and investors to come together to provide a platform for sharing what everyone did and perhaps find some kind of common ground for collaboration/partnerships/investments. But after a while, that died down(it’s still happening, just not as frequently as before). That worked for a while but I’ve learnt that synergy between startups is really hard to achieve because what we really need is revenue. And when two poor parties come together, neither has the resources to commit to integrating with the other(unless the offerings by both are really complementary and have a clear way of boosting each other’s interests)
F11– Beyond just a workspace.
Then comes the most exciting thing that I’ve discovered – the workspace MDA has created for their affiliated companies on the 11th Floor of the Fusionopolis. For almost no cost(other than a deposit for the access card), we get to use a workspace big enough for about 50 people or so. It’s got meeting rooms and wifi too. But what’s really good is that it’s an open area where everyone there can mingle as well as work. Sometimes, you might even bump into bigger companies who are there for meetings. And if there’s availability, you even get a small locker for you to keep stuff. I dare to say that although all this doesn’t improve the startup’s bottomline, in many ways it helps to get rid of the little naggy stuff(like “where do I work from?”, “how much would an office cost?”, “where can I have a meeting?”) and allows us to focus on building the business.
Oh, and if you didn’t know…on the 21st floor of the fusionopolis, is a really nice sky garden. I’ll take pictures and show it off some time. ;p
*Disclaimer: The mentions of companies above may be biased towards Thymos because, well, I’m more connected to their portfolio companies since Widgeous is funded by them.
