Entrepreneurship #12

Start-up industry is booming nowadays; we see new start-ups making headlines on the tech blog almost every week. And the wave has hit Malaysia for quite sometime. What has been supporting the environment is the increasing number of funding organisations and accelerators. I'm always interested to find out how the start-up events look like, how pitching looks like and how talking to investors feels like. The ASEAN Young Entrepreneurs Carnival was the first start-ups alike event that I've attended. Would like to pen down some takeaways from the events:
1. Abundance of opportunity
I always want to find our more about Magic, Cradle, Axiata etc. From what I gathered online, these organisations have been very supportive to new start-ups, in providing mentoring, funding, connections. I finally got to talk to them during the event. Now I'm being more informed with the available resources. There are indeed a lot of platforms to tap on, and thankfully I get to know about these platforms before it's too late.

2. Meeting new faces
The people I met in the event are very passionate about things they do. Many are very pragmatic on the methods of doing things. I met Tripovo, VASE, BEAM and few others. Meeting new faces means gaining more insights on doing things. More brains means more ideas. For instance, BEAM seems to be a very good social network that gathers human resources in start-ups industry. You can look for UI/UX designers, marketing or join their networking event. VASE on the other hand is a start-up that helps you to get survey if you're keen to find out the opinion from public.

3. Exchange idea
There's a question that has been bothering me for quite some time : do we need funding? Glad that I talked to two people there who gave me more insights. The thing is that many start-ups are getting funding and it makes me wonder if we need funding and how will funding help us to grow. Then these two people share with me about their experiences and things to take note. Really didn't expect to get answer from this event!

4. Get challenged
When you're in event like this, you get a lot of questions about your products, services, business plan etc. I was excited to talk about Pott Glasses. But what I've forgotten is that the idea or services we have might not be suitable in the market. So the feedbacks gained are actually very realistic and constructive. With all the feedbacks, I can rethink about the idea before implementing. And if I can answer their questions, it means that we are on the right track. Take feedback with open mind and start doing something on it!

Definitely looking for more event like this!