It seems that the mentorship department is doing pretty well. At the Roads to Innovation Conference last Saturday - He approached Guerrino De Luca, the CEO of Logitech and managed to fix a 90 min appointment at his office next year for NUSEA members.
Well Done Wee Li!!
I have already made some foray into redesigning the skin of this blog. The design of the blog is far from complete, but I want the colour scheme of our blog to conform to the colours we present. Orange and Blue (or Cyan). It’s part of our branding exercise.
The next question that comes about is the relevance of the old NUSEA logo. I have discussed with the people around me about the idea of changing the NUSEA logo.
The old logo didn’t really fit into the image I want to project about NUSEA - Young, Vibrant, Passionate. Almost everyone I talked to likes Brian’s design of the new NUSEA logo.
David and Valerie brought out a good point. Even though the new logo is aesthetically pleasing, are we showing disrespect for what the alumni has set up for us so far? Something as important as to the logo should not be changed so frivolously by the ascension of a new committee. The point of view I take is - If our existing logo does not bring out the image I want to portray - Does it justify my changing of the NUSEA logo?
Just heard news from Prashant to indicate our interest in being mentored by Garrett Camp from Stumbleupon.com. Well-done Prashant! I remember the days before reddit where my only source of entertainment comes mainly from Stumbleupon. The whole concept of Stumbleupon is just amazing.
The 10th NUSEA committee had dinner with Professor Teo (the director of NOC) last night. The meetup was meant for him to understand the new batch of NUESA committee on a deeper level, and their plans for NUSEA.
It was good that the committee had a meeting among ourselves last Friday and set together a common direction on the direction we want to set for NUSEA. Ultimately, our goal is to involve each and every NUSEA member in our activities and events, and work from a bottom-up approach.
The questions that came through were tough. Prof Teo set us thinking about thr reasons why we were here, and more importantly how he can still account for NUS’s investment into NOC. “Are there any tangible benefits that I can use to continue the NOC program?”
Harville was sharp to point out that it is difficult to measure the tangible benefits of this program. I believe all of us agreed that being immersed into the Valley culture is an amazing process which is hard to describe.
My opinion is that the most rewarding experience being in the Valley here is the process of self-discovery. Entrepreneurship, like what John Nesheim (our entrepreneurship course instructor) mentioned - is a marathon, and not a sprint.
The most rewarding experience here (which some of my friends were able to in Singapore) was that you find what your passion is - What you like and don’t like. And passion is the most important element of young entrepreneurs. All startups begin with a group of passionate founders, and NOC plants the seeds of passion into young minds. Not all the seeds will blossom, since only 1 in 6 million ideas eventually makes it to IPO.
The seeds that the NOC program has nurtured will turn up in different paths. “Not all will become entrepreneurs”, Weichong mentioned. Some of us will work in investment banks; some in VC firms, a selected few start their own startup.
Chin San (9th NUESA President) mentioned his intention to encourage/promote entrepreneurship further when he’s in Singapore. He knows it’s an uphill climb, and that it’s a role where nobody appreciates. He does it not for the recognition he can receive but for the contribution he can give back to Singapore.
“How can I explain to people why NUS would want to spend the money on this program rather than investing into local startups?” Prof Teo asked.
I answered that entrepreneurship is not a one-man show. What the NOC program does is to start the entrepreneurial ecosystem. The beginning is always tough, but even in the short span of 5 years, we have seen a few startups and initiatives to bring the Silicon Valley culture back to Singapore.
Paul Romer shared in Stanford Graduate School of Business that educational institutions are one of 3 important elements in promoting innovations. He quoted Singapore educational institutes as one of the ideal infrastructure platform for promoting innovation. Every NOC student (or Singaporean) would have realized that the platform and infrastructure for entrepreneurship is already set up in Singapore. Even the process of starting a business is available online. The next ingredient in the recipe would be the culture of entrepreneurship.
Changing the culture is more difficult than setting up the infrastructure background. The wise Chinese knew better than everyone else that it is more difficult to change people than to shift mountains. 江山易改，本性难移。
“When in Rome, do as the Romans do”. The strong influence of a society on the behaviour of people cannot be better described by the culture shock that NOC students face when we return.
But even after accounting for this, not everyone will work in fields related to entrepreneurship. Some of us would have realized that entrepreneurship may not be for us, while others would have reveled in it. I believe that 90% of the NOC students will eventually play a role in the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Singapore.
A question for all (especially the NOC alumni and entrepreneurial experts) >> How would you justify the NOC program?
I am surprised when I entered Meebo’s office which is situated along Castro Street in Mountain View. At 7.30pm, the Meebo team is still working in the office. Immediately, I asked myself this question. What motivates the team? Where does all the drive and passion of the people come from? Later, the NUSEA members and Seth Sternberg, the CEO of Meebo, gathered around the room and the mentorship session began. The conversation went on and many of us were so keen in asking Seth questions.
We have learnt the importance of getting a strong team of people which can work well with one another, getting a product ready at the beta level even before we get VC funding. In addition, it seemed like people work late in Meebo because the work in the startup is fun and the team has a strong bonding.
Seth also talked about the importance of hiring based on technical skills and cultural fit. What surprised me is that Meebo was started only with US$6,000, the amount was mainly used to maintain the servers in the company.
The founders of Meebo were really busy during the first 2 months when Meebo was setup. The key to handling such immense pressure would be learning to control what is happening, focusing on what is important and what really doesn’t matter. The mood of “no time for people” is not really a good state of mind to be in. All in all, I have learnt a lot from Seth, both as an entrepreneur and as a normal human being.
Seth spent 2 hours and 20 minutes with us and we left his office at 9.50pm. We were all struck by his humility and his amazing willingness to help the next generation of entrepreneurs. What a guy!
Maxed out by the day’s routine work, some of us are still meeting at Castro Street instead of going back home to rest for the next day. The fact is that we are going to meet Seth (Founder of Meebo) at his office for a mentorship discussion. How cool is that?!?! This seems pretty awesome to us as we had probably never done that before. To us, having a chance to meet up with a successful entrepreneur is as good as getting close to a celebrity (just kidding….). Since most of us have not seen Seth for the first time, we were kind of anxious wondering what he could have looked like –
1) A tired person pressured down by the workload which comes with being an entrepreneur?
2) Solemn person who only talks business?
He turned out to be a jovial young man in his early thirties, and with the smiles on his face, he does seem to enjoy much of what he is currently doing at Meebo. After shaking our hands and each of us saying our fair share of “Nice Meeting You,” we all set down around a table and starting shooting him questions like a batch of ardent interviewers.
From this discussion, we found out that among other things, it is really important to recruit the right people for the company. Other than the requirements of the specific skill sets, it is really vital that these recruited people are a suitable fit in the company’s culture. Why? So that they could at least get along well together and enjoy each other’s company whilst working.
Also, the feeling of doing a startup is absolutely crazy. At Meebo, it means dealing with service providers, struggling to keep the servers “alive” and sending emails to customers which are the norm for many months in its early stage. The founders’ lifestyle also includes sleeping in the wee hours of the morning and wake up before the alarm rings because there are like one million and one things to do.
The overall gist of doing an internet startup - It’s a race to get the product out the door, not to get the money.
After the meeting, we got a chance to have a “tour” around his office. It is basically occupied with a few computers and desks, a meeting table in the center of the room and a projector screening photos of past Meebo events. Overall, it is still spacious and there is still enough room to accommodate another startup company.
All of us will be looking forward to the monthly discussions with Seth. It has been a great enriching experience.
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Based on the book, The New Argonauts: Regional Advantage in a Global Economy by Prof AnnaLee Saxenian, Rainmakers LIVE! – The Argonauts’ Journey will be featuring Prof AnnaLee herself, moderating a panel of prominent Argonauts from India, China, Israel and Singapore. Argonauts are successful immigrant entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley who return to fuel the growth of entrepreneurship in their home countries by influencing government policies, starting businesses, funding new businesses and mentoring other start-ups. This event will highlight the journeys of these exemplary individuals who have contributed to the growth of entrepreneurship in today’s world. |
| The program of the day will be as follows:6:30pm - 7:00pm : Registration and networking 7:00pm - 7:30pm : Keynote speech by Prof. AnnaLee Saxenian 7:30pm - 8:15pm : Panel Discussion 8:15pm - 8:45pm : Question and AnswersLight refreshments will be served.  Event Registration: Individual - $20 Student - $10 SABA Corporate Member - $15 Onsite registration add $5For group discounts, please contact prashantsarkar@gmail.com or weijin.ng@gmail.com |
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Immigrant entrepreneurs from all over the world - Come to learn how you can capture opportunities in your home markets and how you can recreate the Silicon Valley model.
American businesses and entrepreneurs - Learn how businesses coped in the past with returning entrepreneurs and how you can leverage on the rise of these new entrepeneurial hubs. As an example, Intel set up a base in Israel thirty years ago because one of their researchers wanted to go back. Today, Israel is the leading center for IC design and manufacturing.
The Singaporean community in the Bay Area - Aspiring Singapore entrepreneurs can learn from these Argonauts who were positively influenced by Silicon Valley, returned to their home countries, and spurred the growth of entrepreneurship there. Currently Singapore is still facing a huge obstacle in entrepreneurship, while countries like India, Taiwan, regions in China and Israel have taken off as entrepreneurial hubs.
