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Setup small, think big

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Asian startups should look regional and plan
global, event organiser tells delegates at the Techworld Asia
unConference Singapore 2009.
Don’t forget the energy crisis
By Teng Fang Yih
22 May 2009 It hasn’t gone away because
of the economic downturn
By Ross O. Storey | 23 Jun 2009

Orsiso founder Thorben Linneberg responds to judge Tahn Joo Chin during the Startup Print
Pitches session.
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SINGAPORE, 22 MAY 2009 -- The relatively little-known unConference 2009 came and went
over one May weekend with little fanfare, but loads of strong ideas and hopefully much Diggit
venture capital flowing.
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Organised by local events company e27 Singapore, sponsored by government science and
technology agency A*STAR, tech company Cisco and blog advertising community Nuffnang, Delicious
and supported by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) and the Media Reddit
Development Authority of Singapore (MDA), this year’s, the fourth, unConference saw to
about 450 delegates thronging the startup showcase booths area at the show’s beginning. Slashdot
This figure, according to e27 Singapore, is a 50 per cent increase on last year’s delegate
Tools sponsored by
count of 300.
Connecting & Inspiring Indians Worldwide.
A total of 32 startups from Singapore, Sweden, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, Click here to visit IndiaSE
Malaysia, Hong Kong (SAR) and the US were represented at the all-day show on May 16 in
the Matrix@Biopolis complex.
MIS Asia IT Summit & IT Excellence Awards,
“At last year’s unConference, we featured 17 local startups. This time we brought in more than
Singapore - 24 July 2009
30 from 10 countries, and we also managed to arrange a profile of international speakers,” said director of e27 Attend this year's IT Summit on Enterprise IT in 2009:
Singapore Mohan Belani, opening the conference portion of the show. “There are two fundamental ideas that we Caution, Consolidation and Cost Control. Find out who
hope to bring across at this event. First: we strongly believe that the main bulk of Web innovation is going to be will walk away with the 2009 IT Excellence Awards, and
driven by Asian startups. Second: we believe that startups, not just Singapore startups but Asian startups should learn first-hand about their winning projects.
look regional and plan global. They should dream big and dream global from day one. It shouldn’t be a strategy later Find out more here.
on. It should be planned right from the start.”

And to make them think big, regionally, if not globally, Belani and his crew at e27 Singapore made sure the speaker Computerworld Forum: Data Centre 2009 "Mission:
lineup included the likes of: veteran startup founder and CEO of online user analysis firm Lookery, Scott Rafer; Impossible"
partner at online community setup CMUNE, Benjamin Joffe; co-founder of network of premium blogs OpenWeb Asia, Learn ways to take your data centres through the next
Dr Gang Lu; co-founder and CEO of developer of global communities and consumer services Buzzcity, Dr Lai Kok 12 months and beyond.
Fung; founder of local foodies’ site HungryGoWhere.com, Wong Hoong Ann; partner at technology venture capital Kuala Lumpur, 7 July 2009 | Singapore, 10 July 2009
(VC) fund IDG Ventures Vietname, Reza Behnam; VP and GM of Internet communications firm Skype APAC, Dan
Neary; and, former partner at VC company WIIG-TDF Partners LLC, Tahn Joo Chin.
Software AG - Performance-Driven Organisation
High Lights Four ways to become a Performance-Driven
Organisation - Faster! Find out more here.
However, the most stellar highlight of the day was a series of pitches made by the day’s choice startups to Rafer,
Neary, Behnam and Tahn. These startups—their products, services and business models—were so interesting they
inspired the creation of a series on online entrepreneurs by e27 Singapore’s media partner Fairfax Business Media Symantec Storage Software
(FBM) Asia through its three key media outlets: mis-asia.com, Computerworld Singapore and Computerworld Reduce cost and improve utilization. No additional
hardware.
Malaysia.
Find out more here
Among the startups pitching their wares at the unConference 2009 (and so moved the editors at FBM Asia) who will
be progressively featured in the coming months are the Singapore-based: desktop application for consolidating Sponsored Links
social and business networks and information onto a single platform Orsiso (www.orsiso.com); hardware-based
secure global access network solution iTwinn; and, wireless technology for location-oriented devices and Featured Whitepapers
applications Human Network Labs.
Siemon's Z-MAX Structured Cabling Solution
According to Belani, the judges and other venture capitalists in attendance were clearly impressed by all the startups
represented on the day, and for good reason. “Investor feedback was that a number of the start-ups had a strong
technology foundation, with technology that was either patentable or very difficult for competitors to copy,” Belani Siemon-ZMAX
said. “The startups had a compelling competitive differentiator that put them ahead in terms of their technology.
Investors also like that the startups offered unique value propositions, either by reinventing their business models or Siemon's new Z-MAX UTP &
mashing up different user experiences to deliver a more compelling one.” shielded solution is the
culmination of a total &
Belani also expressed high hopes for the young companies who set up shop at the Matrix@Biopolis last month, much-needed overhaul of
citing the success of previous entrepreneurs represented at the unConference. “As organisers, we want to highlight existing modular RJ-style
the best start-ups in unConference and have a stringent selection processes,” he said. “We are proud that the
plug & outlet technology &
unConference has been picking out and showcasing quality startups since 2006. A number of entrepreneurs have
completely revolutionizes the
been named ‘Top 25 Asian Entreprenuers’ by BusinessWeek, including Darius Cheung of TenCube, Aileen Sim of
First Meta, and Cheo Ming Shen of Nuffnang.” category 6A industry.
Source: Siemon
For more on the most exciting startup companies this side of the earth, keep coming back to mis-asia.com. 30 Apr 2009

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