CHALLENGING STARTUP CONVENTIONS

CEZARY PIETRZAK MaGIC Entrepreneurship Center

Cyberjaya, Malaysia October 15, 2014

@cezinho

SELAMAT PAGI!

@cezinho

@cezinho

MY BACKGROUND

2000 - 2004

2005 - 2008

CEZARY & CO

2008 - 2012

2012

2013

2014

@cezinho

WHAT I’LL SHARE TODAY

The story of New York tech

Malaysia and the Challenger approach

Contrarian views on growth

@cezinho

THE STORY OF NEW YORK TECH

@cezinho

@cezinho

IN 2008, NYC WAS NOT AN EXCITING PLACE FOR TECHNOLOGY

Few startups Few co-working spaces

Few accelerators and incubators Few VCs and angel investors

Very little tech culture No external support

@cezinho

BUT THE BANKING CRISIS TURNED INTO A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY

Wall St. developers mixed with non-technical people First-time entrepreneurs became the norm

@cezinho

IN JUST A FEW YEARS, NYC BECAME THE #2 STARTUP HUB IN THE WORLD

Entrepreneurs took charge Startup excitement spread everywhere

VCs, accelerators, co-working spaces followed New York passed Boston and Seattle in funding

Even the local government got involved

@cezinho

WE STOOD OUT THROUGH OUR CONFIDENCE, ATTITUDE AND HARD WORK

We were self-reliant We helped each other out

We succeeded with limited resources and experience We weren’t afraid of starting during a recession “If I can make it here, I can make it anywhere”

@cezinho

WE PLAYED TO OUR STRENGTHS

Diversity in people Diversity in industries Welcoming attitude

Fantastic place to live Geographic proximity

Rise of tech-enabled businesses

@cezinho

AND WE NEVER ASPIRED TO BECOME SILICON VALLEY

Infrastructure is not our core focus We’re OK discussing revenue

We don’t only talk about startups :-)

@cezinho

SIMPLY PUT, WE WEREN’T AFRAID TO BREAK CONVENTIONS

convention (n): a way in which something is usually done,

especially within a particular area or activity

MALAYSIA + THE CHALLENGER APPROACH

@cezinho

@cezinho

MALAYSIA TODAY REMINDS ME OF NEW YORK TECH IN ITS EARLY DAYS

A few big exits A new crop of startups Rising number of VCs

Thriving startup communities + hubs

@cezinho

THE ECOSYSTEM HAS AN EXCELLENT FOUNDATION

Rapid economic growth Central location in Asia

Multilingual and diverse culture High Internet and mobile penetration

Low overhead to start a business Tax breaks for startups and investors

Low advertising costs MaGIC…and Cheryl Yeoh!

@cezinho

BUT DOUBTS AND QUESTIONS REMAIN

Lack of talent Lack of money and resources

Too much competition from Singapore Lack of trust in local companies

Difficulty expanding to Southeast Asia Second-mover disadvantage

Founder disagreements

@cezinho

TO SUCCEED, IT MUST TURN NEGATIVES INTO POSITIVES

Learn the skills you lack Use what you have and always give first Collaborate with other startup hubs Gain local validation via association Use cultural know-how to your advantage Exploit competitor weaknesses Do your homework ahead of time

Lack of talent Lack of money and resources

Too much competition from Singapore Lack of trust in local companies

Difficulty expanding to Southeast Asia Second-mover disadvantage

Founder disagreements

@cezinho

LEAN ON ITS STRENGTHS

Travel

E-commerce

Finance

Automotive

Retail

external validation (Rocket Internet / Zalora), rising stars (Christy Ng)

extremely large shopping malls, rise of BLE / iBeacons

access to foreign capital, top-tier Islamic banking, strong currency

rise of auto tech and car apps, existing industry (Proton, Formula 1)

#1 airline in Asia (AirAsia), growing tourism, world-class destinations

@cezinho

AND EMBRACE THE CHALLENGER MENTALITY

Try harderMake sacrifices

Be nimble and adaptive Become a thought leader

Don’t please everyone Develop a clear identity

@cezinho

CHALLENGERS ARE ALL UNDERDOGS, BUT THEY COME IN DIFFERENT FLAVORS

DemocratizerDavid

& Goliath

People’s Champion

Human Connector

MissionaryInformed

Zagger

Maverick

@cezinho

WHICH CHALLENGER STORY ARE MALAYSIAN STARTUPS TELLING?

“Quiet Success” Strong

Resilient Focused Subtle

Unassuming

CONTRARIAN VIEWS ON GROWTH

@cezinho

@cezinho

MY VIEWS ON GROWTH OFTEN RUN AGAINST STARTUP CONVENTIONS

Peter Thiel, Co-Founder of Paypal

“What important truth do very few people agree with you on?”

@cezinho

PUT PEOPLE AT THE CENTER OF YOUR COMPANY

People ≠ users People define your product

People also have lives outside of your product People are important in both B2B + B2C

!

#1

NOT USERS

@cezinho

ANSWER THE “WHY?” WITH DEEP HUMAN INSIGHTS

Be empathetic Observe your customer’s behaviors Focus on meaning, not information

Use quantitative data to inform, not dictate Develop right-brain skills

NOT DATA

!

#2

@cezinho

INVEST IN RELATIONSHIPS

Relationships require commitment Relationships have multiple layers

Mobile relationships are even more challenging But when nurtured properly, relationships are lasting

NOT SALES

!

#3

@cezinho

FOCUS ON ONE: CUSTOMER, NICHE, MESSAGE

You can’t be everything to everyone Clearly define your customers

Start small, expand later (think: monopoly) Repeat messaging multiple times until it resonates

NOT MANY

!

#4

@cezinho

CELEBRATE GREAT IDEAS

Ideas are grossly undervalued relative to execution VCs are the biggest culprit of this trend

As a result, there is surplus of poorly-built startup clones Great ideas get people excited, execution only gets you money

NOT EXECUTION

!

#5

@cezinho

CREATE A MINIMUM BEAUTIFUL PRODUCT

Mediocre is no longer good enough Build something customers will love

Use each opportunity to “wow” Beautiful ≠ overbuilt

NOT MINIMUM VIABLE

!

#6

@cezinho

THINK FIRST, TEST LATER

“Test it” is the answer to everything today But testing is often a symptom of weak hypotheses

Many people do testing incorrectly Testing tools are imperfect

NOT TEST FIRST

!

#7

@cezinho

CREATE A GROWTH PROCESS

There is no silver bullet for growth Process is an input, tactics (‘hacks’) are an output

Process is scalable, repeatable and industry agnostic Great process is captured in a playbook

NOT A HACK

!

#8

@cezinho

MAKE GROWTH A TEAM SPORT

No one person can grow a startup alone Marketing + design + engineering must all work together

The independence of these functions is only growing Growth must have buy-in at the CEO level

NOT SOLITARY

!

#9

@cezinho

IN SUMMARY, NINE DIFFERENT WAYS TO VIEW GROWTH

People Insights Relationships One Focus Ideas Minimum Beautiful Think First Growth Process Team Growth

Users Data Sales

Many Activities Execution

Minimum Viable Test First

Growth Hack Solitary Growth

@cezinho

WE’LL DISCUSS THESE GROWTH THEMES DURING MY TWO WORKSHOPS

Today Wed Oct 15th

2:00pm - 6:00pm

“Building a foundation for growth”

Tomorrow Thu Oct 16th

2:00pm - 6:00pm

“Creating a repeatable growth process”

MALAYSIA BOLEH!@cezinho

LEARN ABOUT MARKETING + GROWTH + MOBILE AT

CEZARY.CO