Perspectives from Global Business Leaders

A collection of insights from the Arcadier Inspire Summit
Innovation Leadership Startups eCommerce
Perspectives from
Global Business Leaders

A collection of insights from the best global leaders
Arcadier was proud to have hosted the world’s first virtual tech summit and competition in 2018. Running in
parallel to the competition was the Inspire Summit where we had more than 25 thought leaders share their
advice on building startups, scaling businesses, product innovations and leadership skills amongst many other
pertinent business topics.
Arcadier users and Summit participants around the world tuned into the various virtual conference sessions.
We found the sessions to be so insightful and useful that we decided to transcribe all of them into an eBook
collection so that they could be shared with a wider audience.
In this eBook, you will find a host of topics that are relevant not only for the startup entrepreneur, but also
anyone starting their own business or leading a team. Our distinguished speakers are from a spectrum of
industries and experiences, bringing different perspectives to various discussions.
We would like to take this opportunity to express our heartfelt gratitude to all our esteemed speakers for taking
time out from their busy schedules to share their invaluable insights.
We hope you will find this eBook useful and Be Inspired both in your business and personal growth. We encourage
you to share it with your colleagues, friends and anyone you think would benefit.
Happy Reading!
Kenneth Low Evelina Ip
Inspire Conference Sponsor Inspire Conference Chief Organiser
Founder & Chief Commercial Officer New Business Manager
You can reach us at: press@arcadier.com or at www.arcadier.com
Copyright @ 2020 Arcadier. All Rights Reserved.

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Thank You To All Our Inspire Summit
Business Thought Leaders!
You have indeed inspired us!
1 Adam Broadway Founder MarketplacePlatform.com
2 Allan Yip Vice President (former) Artyzen Hospitality Group
3 Anuj Jain Co-Founder & CEO Startup-O
4 Boon Teck Lee Partner Deloitte & Touche LLP
5 Cedric Menager CEO OnePay FX, Banco Santander
6 Chia Ling Koh Managing Director OC Queen Street LLC
7 Christina Teo Chief Builder she1K
8 Clarence Tan Managing Director Intercontinental Hotels Group
9 Dinuke Ranasinghe Co-Founder & CEO Arcadier
10 Edmond Ip Co-founder & Vice Chairman (former) Artyzen Hospitality Group
11 Georgia Beattie CEO Bulla Park
12 Greg Nance Founder & CEO Dyad.com
13 Henry Tano Head of Product Lyte Ventures
14 Hesson Mak Senior Business Development Manager Arcadier
15 Jacek Rolnik Chief of Operations Blueback Global
16 Jim Tan Head of Growth Marketing Pelago
17 June Boo General Manager & Head of Group Strategy Arcadier
18 Kenneth Low Co-Founder & Chief Commercial Officer Arcadier
19 Kerry Wong Managing Director HSBC
20 Marco Torregrossa CEO Euro Freelancers
21 Nick Coster Co-Founder & Head of Training Brainmates
22 Patrick Yeo Partner PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Singapore
23 Rachael Chin Product Manager Arcadier
24 Rupa Ganatra Founding partner FUTR Group
25 Sara Green Brodersen Co-Founder & CEO Canaree
26 Soon Liang Tan Founder & Managing Director TiVentures and Omnibridge
27 Tom Abbott Founder & Director SOCO/ Sales Training
28 Tony Yeoh Industry Fellow Associate Faculty Singapore Institute of Technology

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2.1 Know Your Customer
2.2 Finding the Human Value in Branding
2.3 The Power of Communities For Your Brand
2.4 Foundations of Doing Business Abroad
2.5 Managing and Retaining Top Talent in Your Teams
2.6 Clarifying the Customer Service Conundrum
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3.1 Key Success Factors in Innovation
3.2 Creating and Finding Niches in Already Busy Markets
3.3 How to Launch an MVP
3.4 Product Market Fit and Beyond…
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53
1.1 The 10 Startup Commandments
1.2 Growing Your Startup - Lessons from PayPal’s Experience
1.3 How Startups Survive in the Market and How to Expand
1.4 The Entrepreneur’s Go-To-Market Guide
1.5 The Basics of Funding for Startups
1.6 The Basics of Cashflows and Profits & Loss
1.7 From a Startup’s Beginning to a Successful Exit
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1.0 Startups and Entrepreneurship 6
2.0 Building Your Business 27
3.0 Product Development and Innovation 43
Topics
InspireInspire

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57
59
63
4.1 Collaborative & Innovative Leadership
4.2 15 Lessons from 15 Years of Business
4.3 How Running 250km Across the Gobi Desert Made Me a Better Startup CEO
4.0 Leadership and Personal Development 56
5.1 The Future of E-commerce
5.2 The Rise of Marketplaces and Their Future Models
5.3 All Things Marketplaces
5.4 Complying With the Laws of Marketplaces
5.5 Artificial Intelligence in Marketplaces
5.6 Building Your Own Freelancer’s Marketplace
5.7 Shaping the Sharing Economy
5.8 Empower User Trust in the Sharing Economy
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5.0 Ecommerce, Marketplaces and the Sharing Economy 66
Topics
InspireInspire

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Startups and
Entrepreneurship

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The 10 Startup Commandments
Startup-O is South East Asia’s leading platform for start-up assessments, investments &
venture scaling. It has established a global participation footprint with 2000+ start-ups from
across 40+ countries since its launch in 2017. Global experts assess promising start-ups
while their proprietary data-science frameworks and algorithms curate the opportunities,
with the top-ranked companies - funded by their dedicated fund, Startup O Ventures, and
other associated strategic investors.
Anuj Jain, Co-Founder & CEO of Startup-O, is passionate about enabling deserving founders
and co-building tech-enabled ventures. In his talk, he shared his 10 Commandments that
can help early-stage founder self-audit their startup blueprint, enhancing its probability of
success.
1. Simplify & put your startup blueprint on one page
Approach your startup idea with a lean canvas approach to help structure and give yourself
clarity of thinking. This way, you know exactly what you are trying to do instead of wasting
time and going round in circles trying to explain what you have to do.
2. Validate if the problem is worth solving
Instead of always going to your inner social circle for validation on your startup idea and
how it would solve a current problem in the market, approach second degree connections
to critique and poke holes in your idea so that you can get a sense of how the market would
respond to your idea.
The most important thing is to score your idea by going out and meeting your targeted
customer personas to ensure that they are willing to pay for the idea you are creating.
3. Solving the Problem in a Unique Way
Remember that you may just be a solution out there with multiple alternatives in the market.
Focus on what your unique value proposition is and find an angle to drill down the essence
ANUJ JAIN
Co-Founder & CEO
Startup-O
Always remember that success is
not guaranteed and that running
a startup is not a sprint but a
marathon. A marathon that feels
like a sprint everyday.
Watch the entire
Arcadier Inspire Summit Talk
by Anuj Jain

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of what makes you unique compared to your competitors. This is even more important as you strive to become a serial pitcher since it will
help in angling your elevator pitch or 10-15 minute demo pitch to be even more intriguing and will catch the attention of your audience
with your very first sentence.
4. Unfair is totally fair to beat the odds for your startup
The most underrated sort of asset is not only industry knowhow but also access to certain expertise and networks. Successful companies
have one thing in common: deep domain expertise. With access to these expertise and networks, it provides you leverage or technology
breakthrough over someone with deeper pockets trying to copy your idea.
5. The antidote to any cool-aid - Go meet customers
It is always important to know how to approach bringing your idea or product to market or even commercialising it so that you can bring it
to the next level. Always look to build on your idea and product by getting out of the building, going to networking events, meeting multiple
customers and getting feedback directly from the market.
Your idea cannot be built by just conceptualising in a boardroom or an office. As a founder, you will have to spend lots of time with the
identified customer personas to find out what’s working and what’s not in order to refine your idea based on the market wants and needs.
6. Identify the Cost Drivers & how you’re going to make Money
A business is not just about creating a product, but selling a product at a profit so that the stakeholders involved can benefit. The
importance of having strong financial understanding and projections for your company cannot be understated. Even if your company is
not generating any revenue, there should be at least a financial model of monetization in place.
7. Articulate & show your model makes investment sense
There are namely 4 pillars of investment that you should always build your company around, building the right team, the product’s
unique value proposition, scalability of the targeted market as well as whether or not your product is financially feasible. The first thing to
consider is building the right team consisting of individuals with complementing expertise. The next, would of course be the unique value
proposition that your product is offering that differentiates you from your competitors.
Evaluating the scalability of the market will help you ensure that it is not too niche ad that you have the ability to eventually dominate the
targeted market. This will help you analyse and understand which verticals are worth targeting and which are not. Lastly, it is important

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that you ensure it is financially feasible by doing a feasibility study and understanding certain aspects of the business that you are trying
to monetise.
8. Can you energize people to build a team and traction?
Investors often look for a team of founders that has synergy within a team. Having a synergistic team has a positive correlation in gaining
traction and is definitely a key metric in the early stages. If you are able to show execution capabilities and that you’re gaining early traction,
you can get not only investors enthusiastic about your product but users as well.
9. Stop running after money, Choose your Investors Carefully
The quality of money is priceless. A good Venture Capitalist (VC) contributing beyond money could be the best competitive advantage at
an early stage. Interfering investors with nothing but money to contribute drains energy.
10. Being People Savvy
One startup life recipe is mixing both the (Inter)net and (Hard)work to form a Network. Get out of your comfort zone, learn things that you
have no idea about and most importantly get out there to energise and network for your company!
Final Words of Advice
Some startup founders seek to create something just to escape their bosses and become one themselves. Always remember that success
is not guaranteed and that running a startup is not a sprint but a marathon. A marathon that feels like a sprint everyday.

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Growing Your Startup - Lessons from PayPal’s Experience
Creating a business model based on marketplace technology and leveraging on this
untapped market is something many would not have thought of. However, the advent of
Arcadier and the idea behind its creation was a ‘eureka’ moment says CEO and co-founder
of Arcadier, Dinuke Ranasinghe.
Being in the e-commerce industry for over 20 years and about the advent of online
marketplaces. The former Regional Head of Strategy & Business Development, Asia Pacific
for Paypal Pte Ltd and the Head of Emerging Products & Technology (Australia & New
Zealand) for Visa International further discussed about the tech space and how his past
work experiences guided him in the founding of Arcadier.
Starting his career as an engineer who worked on the construction of the oil rigs in the
Southern part of New South Wales, Dinuke recalls his entry into the tech space when he
joined the implementation team for the ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system in Visa
international.
His work included deploying software all around Australia and New Zealand and it was
a significant shift from construction to consulting. Dinuke then joined PayPal Pte Ltd, a
relatively new company then, and was part of its growth from being an unknown product to
the monster it is today. He shared with us some of his guiding principles from his journey
thus far and on creating opportunities with online marketplaces.
“Until someone says no, push ahead”
PayPal with its humble beginnings became the No. 1 payment company in Australia within
3 years from its launch and it grew from a handful of accounts to 3 million accounts which
was nearly half the adult population in Australia. PayPal then tried to replicate this success
in other countries and expand globally but was not well-received in many countries such as
India.
Gravitating towards what you think
is right takes experience, stupidity
and bravery.
DINUKE RANASINGHE
Co-Founder & CEO
Arcadier
Watch the entire
by Dinuke Ranasinghe

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However, PayPal did not give up and continued pushing ahead. Eventually, many countries adopted PayPal and the secret to the growth
of PayPal was its ability to push ahead persistently and relentlessly and to leave no stone unturned.
“Gravitating towards what you think is right takes experience, stupidity and bravery”
PayPal’s progression from a company with almost no brand equity to a brand which is widely recognised worldwide came with many
challenges. Although there was a real demand in the market for such a technology, regulators were not aware of how to handle a virtual
company and when a new regulation came about, there was a need to get their requirements implemented quickly. The expansion efforts
of PayPal illustrates the idea of always gravitating towards what you think is right regardless of the setbacks faced.
This was no different for Arcadier where they started with 3 founders and learnt more about their products and their capabilities through
the customer response.
Although negative feedback might not be favourable, they are essential in further developing and fine-tuning a product or service. Unlike
Visa, where there was a given set of rules on how to operate, at PayPal and Arcadier, there was no fixed structure and there was a need
to define the rules along the way. When there is no data to begin with, one has to go with their gut feeling and learn along the way with
experience.
“Learn how to pivot from startups and about physical discipline from corporations”
There is something to learn from any company, be it a startup or an MNC. Dinuke shares why it is important for companies to take lessons
from each other. Corporations can emulate the startup mentality by learning how to pivot. Pivoting involves having slight incremental
changes in directions within the organization and its products through feedback channels. This is present in corporations but is not as
pertinent as it is in startups.
Startups, on the other hand, can learn about fiscal discipline from corporations. Startups could learn how to consistently maintain a
state of ideal balance between revenues and expenditure which allows for a healthy company. This fiscal discipline is something which is
relatively easier to attain as a corporation due to the large funds available, but startups can also try to emulate this aspect for a positive
growth in the industry.

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“Take a chance on an outcome”
PayPal taught Dinuke to ‘take a chance on an outcome’ and Arcadier was the fruit of that lesson. When creating new opportunities, failure
is inevitable, and success is not guaranteed. One has to take a chance on the outcome. This is even more relevant for an unexplored
business idea like online marketplaces. Dinuke based his intuition and luck on his background knowledge on marketplaces.
Marketplaces have always been a powerful medium of trade and date back to history where they were the most efficient way to bring buyers
and sellers together. Although the efficiency has evolved over the years and the interface has changed, the principles of marketplaces still
remain the same. This is a tried and tested method and brings together a community of buyers and sellers. This lesson was the guiding
principle behind the founding of Arcadier.

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How Startups Survive in the Market and How to Expand
Kerry Wong currently, MD, Head of PayMe, HSBC, was at the forefront of developing Ebay
and PayPal when they were just startups. With her wealth of experience, she has come
to share her expertise in managing startups, explaining what is necessary for startups to
survive in the current market.
Understand who you Serve
The way a company markets a product depends entirely on the target customers. As such, it
is vital for any company to have a solid understanding of the people they aim to serve. Having
people close to the user experience allows the company to learn from the customer’s point
of view. This is especially important during the design phase of the product.
Assemble the Right Team
Apart from people close to the user experience, various other talents are needed in the
team for a startup to flourish. Resilient workers and creative problem solvers are valuable
team members, and a founder that is committed to the mission and vision is absolutely
indispensable. During the early days of a startup, the company typically is unable to afford
having specialised workers. Instead, it is both more common and easier for the company
to have a few workers, each working on a broad range of tasks. Hence, a team should have
members with complementary strengths and weaknesses. Team members must all share a
drive and passion to see the goal of the company fulfilled. Startups cannot afford to waste
resources on those unmotivated or incapable of helping the company to succeed.
Getting around with Limited Resources
With much fewer resources as compared to traditional industry players, startups will not be
able to conduct market research or usability tests. As such, startups must seek out alternative
methods to gain feedback and information about the market as quickly as possible. One way
to gain feedback and information about the market is through the use of minimum viable
products. These products are actually the first iteration of a product launched, and has the
goal of allowing users to try it out, and give feedback to the company, who will continue
KERRY WONG
Managing Director
Head of PayMe, HSBC
It is normal for the first versions of
a product to fail; What is important
is to learn from the failure quickly,
and adapt strategies or the product
itself based on given feedback.
Watch the entire
by Kerry Wong

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How Startups Survive in the Market and How to Expand
improving the product based on this feedback. The ability to create many iterations of their product quickly is one of the advantages that
startups have, and should definitely be utilised to its fullest potential.
The Importance of Networks
Networks and connections are vital to any startup. By leveraging any existing relationships, a company is able to look for potential
investors, gain advice, and sometimes even form partnerships. Networking can also be a way to generate more resources for the startup.
For startups with experienced founders, especially trying to reach out to past co-workers and companies can generate some professional
advice and allow for feedback to be gained.
The Problem of Trust
As a new business, a startup may find trouble in getting customers to trust them, whether it be in the reliability of their services or quality
products. To avoid this problem, startups can partner with other companies that have already built up trust with customers. Getting
support from these reputable partners allows the startup to not only become more well-known and trustworthy, but also access the
customer base of the partner company.
A Common Factor for the Death of Startups
One of the most common reasons a startup can fail is because they spend all their resources developing their product before knowing
whether or not the market was interested in it. As such, it is vital to test the market’s receptivity to a product before spending tons of
resources developing it. One way to test this would be through the use of minimum viable products, which allow creators to gain feedback
from real users, as well as to see how popular the product can be with the market. Having a good understanding of the demand for a
product will be able to help a startup avoid this mistake that so many others have committed.
Fail fast, but learn fast. It is normal for the first versions of a product to fail. What is important is to learn from the failure quickly, and adapt
strategies or the product itself based on given feedback. Maintain passion for the startup. Passion is the most essential driving force for
startups. This is especially true for the founders and the initial team As such, it is best for a founder to surround himself with like-minded
people who wish for the same goal as himself, to support him during the strenuous process.

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The Entrepreneur’s Go-To-Market Guide
June Boo, Head of Group Strategy & General Manager for the USA at Arcadier, shares about
go-to-market (GTM) strategies. Tapping on her wealth of experience previously as Head of
Strategy at Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG), Asia, Middle East Afria & a consultant at
BCG as well as PWC. June elaborates on the key elements needed to craft your own GTM
strategy.
So first up, what is a GTM?
The GTM strategy is a growth strategy that companies use to expand into a new market, or
to extend their reach into their current market. It is also used to convey a business’s value
proposition to customers and achieve a competitive advantage over competitors in the
market.
Typically, this strategy is only employed after a company has had success for a while, and
is seeking expansion and growth, and is not employed during the initial years of a startup.
How does one start drafting a GTM strategy?
According to June, it is best to start by taking your customers’ views into consideration,
instead of drafting a seller-driven or product driven strategy. While the latter two will lead to
short term success, only a customer-driven strategy will lead to a sustainable business. As
such, start your plan by taking your customers into full consideration.
After you have targeted and fully understood your customers, you must then consider the
context in terms of both the competition and the market.
In terms of the competition, look out for anyone offering something extremely similar to your
product. If there are no such competitors in the market you are targeting, then it becomes
all the more beneficial for you to expand there. However, if there is a similar competitor, you
must be able to learn from your competitors. For example, learn from their pricing strategy
to see who they are targeting as customers and how they are appealing to them. Another
JUNE BOO
General Manager & Head of
Group Strategy
Arcadier
Enjoy the GTM process! It will be a
trying period full of challenges and
changes, but problem solving will
become a task that brings joy to
the team.
Watch the entire
by June Boo

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important thing is to identify your competitor’s competitive advantage. By comparing their competitive advantage against yours, you will
be able to see the differences that you can exploit during the implementation of your GTM strategy.
As for the market, you must understand market trends, to see if the market is receptive to your product. Also, as you will be undertaking
the daunting task of entering an unfamiliar market, it is advisable to learn from other businesses about the factors that allow for success
in that particular market. For example, unfamiliar cultural or traditional factors may stigmatise some products while making others seem
much more desirable.
Understanding the Customer
In this information age, the populace is being constantly bombarded by all sorts of advertisements, most of which have no relevance to
them. This poses a challenge to businesses, as customers are becoming desensitised to advertisements. Hence, you have to find a way
to get your message to stand out from among the thousands and thousands of others. This is why understanding your target customer
is paramount. Think of any key phrases that your particular audience will be attracted by, or a certain method of triggering their interest,
by leveraging on your understanding of their behaviour.
Methods to Understand Consumers
Ever heard of an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)? This is a profiling system used by businesses to breakdown and understand their target
customers, so as to be able to find the best method to reach out to them. Just as a simple example, the ICP looks at the technological
environment and age of the targeted customers (among many other factors), and this may allow you to formulate a hypothesis about
whether digital advertising on social media platforms would be a viable option for reaching out to them.
Another common way of segregating customers to understand them is by geographic, demographic, behavioural, and psychological
factors. Behavioural factors refer to the shopping habits of the customer (online, physically, window shopping for long periods of time
before deciding etc.), and psychological refers to the lifestyle of the customer (environmentalist, minimalist etc) When trying to understand
a certain group of customers, try combining two of these factors.
Know how to Price
Pricing has always been a touchy issue for both businesses and customers. One wants them to be high as the sky, the other wants to
pay as little as possible. As such, there is a need to strike a comfortable middle ground with as little hindrance as possible. You may be

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tempted to lower your prices to beat out the competition, and attract tons of customers, but be careful not to overdo it, or you may end
up stabbing yourself in the foot with insufficient returns from this investment. At other times, you may want to raise prices in order to gain
a profit, but this act may drive away customers. As such, a keen understanding of the market is vital.
There are actually times when you have no need to underprice your products, and can instead price them higher than average. This would
be when the product or service you are offering is unique, and is something that they would want. People are absolutely willing to pay a
premium price for something different, or that they desire.
Use Market Trends to your Advantage
In the case of advertising, look for partnerships that can help complement your business. This not only allows you to build a reputation
by riding on a popular or trending company’s coattails, but you are also able to tap on their customer base.
As such, always keep yourself updated on the current market trends, to see how you should adapt to gain favour with customers.
Sometimes, a startup may create an absolutely new and novel product, and may think that there is no market for them to learn from,
and hence ignore the importance of understanding the market. Never make this mistake! No matter how new a product or service is, it
is nothing more than an alternative solution to a previous problem or challenge. As such, you can still use the market of the old product
as a case study.
Inbound and Outbound Marketing
In the past, marketing used to be a lot more aggressive, using what’s known as outbound marketing strategies. Outbound marketing
refers to techniques that intrude on people, actively reaching out to potential customers. An example of this is cold calling. In modern
times, this style of marketing has fallen out of popularity, although it should not be totally neglected in advertisement campaigns.
Instead of outbound marketing, inbound marketing has seen not only tremendous use, but also tremendous success. Inbound marketing
refers to marketing techniques that are less intrusive, and work by trying to get potential customers interested in your product, letting
them come to you instead of the other way around. This is seen in online advertisements and social media publicity. Inbound marketing
has now become indispensable for any business.

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June advises that a good balance of the two strategies should be used for maximum effect, but if you are hard up for cash and financial
resources, it is more important to focus on inbound marketing.
Final Advice
Before ending off, here are some of June’s other advice she mentioned during her talk at Arcadier Inspire!
Enjoy the GTM process! It will be a trying period full of challenges and changes, but problem solving will become a task that brings joy to
the team.
Have checkpoints throughout the GTM process, to ensure that you do not stray from you goals. June recommends that checkpoints
should be at every quarter of the year.
Find the right people for your team. Accountability during the GTM period is usually lacking. As such, it will be extremely useful to have
team members that are good at reminding everyone else to follow through with the whole plan, instead of being overly enthusiastic at
parts while forgetting to do other aspects.
With June’s advice all relayed to you, it is now up to you to create a stellar go-to-market strategy, and work towards the growth and
expansion of your company!

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The Basics of Funding for Startups
Most startups face the same problem: a lack of cash, and this is one of the top reasons
that cause startups to fail. As such, getting funding and investments seems to be
quintessential for startups to survive. Tan Soon Liang, Founder and Managing Director of
TiVentures and Omnibridge, gives insight into what investors and venture capitalists look
out for in entrepreneurs, the different types of funding, and his valuable words of advice for
entrepreneurs.
What Investors and Venture Capitalists pay particular attention to
One of the most important things investors look at is the founder of the startup. Founders
that have a drive and hunger for success are attractive to investors, while those who lack
passion or a vision are not only disliked by investors, but are actively avoided.
Investors also seek to understand the motivations of the founder. A founder who aims to
succeed for the sake of the company is more likely to get an investor than one who is selfish
and driven by self-interest. Investors love entrepreneurs that have an attitude that treats
money not as a goal, but as a mere byproduct of their determination in their endeavors..
What types of funding are there, and what they are used for
Just to name a few, these are the earliest investments a company will likely try to get, in
chronological order.
Angel Investment / Seed Money: It typically ranges between half a million to two million
dollars. This initial funding is used to hire the first round of staff and to create a minimum
viable product, commonly known as an MVP.
Series A funds: Typically, this is only received after a company has achieved product market
fit and has a dedicated customer base. This money is used to introduce more experienced
staff to the team and to develop new products in order to increase the market channel of
the company.
SOON LIANG TAN
Founder & Managing Director
TiVentures and Omnibridge
Investors love entrepreneurs
that have an attitude that
treats money not as a goal, but
as a mere byproduct of their
determination in their endeavors.
Watch the entire
by Soon Liang Tan

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The Basics of Funding for Startups
Series B funds: Used to further scale the business
Series C funds: The company is trying to bulk up its balance sheet for acquisitions and investment.
What makes a good demo?
People usually feel a sense of pressure to deliver a perfect and informative presentation, but that does not have to be the case. Tan says
that the best demos are short, concise, and clearly illustrate the goals for the product, while long, drawn out presentations only serve to
confuse and bore. During the presentation, entrepreneurs will find that it is to their benefit to demonstrate an understanding of their
target customers.
Be confident
Tan explains that someone seeking investment should always portray themselves as being confident in themselves and in their ideas.
After all, when someone invests in your idea, it is actually you that they are investing in. Someone who seems unsure or insecure of their
product would only turn away potential investors. Also, he shares that from his experience, people who are able to befriend and cultivate
a relationship with investors are more likely to get an investment.
Have a strategy
Companies, even new startups, should have a plan to scale their business, as well as an exit strategy. Do this by identifying potential
investors who would appreciate your product, and structure the company’s business model to work with these potential investors.
Be bold
Anyone who may be passionate about starting their own business should start as soon as possible. Following the stereotype of the “10%
entrepreneur”, Tan suggests that even full-time workers can create an online marketplace as an experiment. And if the online marketplace
kicks off, and there is traction for your business, it is possible to make a career change.

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The Basics of Cashflows and Profits & Loss
One of the biggest problems startups face is a lack of money. This can come about due to a
vast number of reasons, such as having extremely limited initial resources, poor decisions
in spending, or failing to keep track of how and why money is spent. With most startups
facing the challenge of having a limited amount of resources, managing their expenditure is
paramount to avoid the death of the company.
Boon Teck Lee, a Partner at Deloitte and adjunct professor at Singapore Management
University, talks about the differences between using cash flow and profit and loss models
to quantify the movement of funds in a startup. He gives insight on how to prioritise and
when to change the company’s method of viewing their finances, whilst constantly reiterating
the importance of being flexible, and planning early. He further explains and stresses the
importance of reviewing and re-assessing a company’s budget plan in order to avoid any
waste in resources.
What do these have to do with startups
The first question one may have is: What is cash flow? What is profit and loss? And how do
they relate to startups? Well, fret not, Boon Teck has already answered these questions.
The main thing to note is that both of these are really just different perspectives for measuring
how money moves in and out of a company’s hands. Cash flow is simply taking note of how
money moves as each transaction occurs. For example, when a boss buys ten laptops for
his employees to use, from a cash flow perspective, this money is charged immediately from
the company’s reserves. Simple as that.
Profit and loss, on the other hand, does not represent the exact transactions, and hence is
quite different from cash flow. Profit and loss is a measure of business performance over a
period of time. So going back to the earlier example, the ten laptops will not be charged all
at once, but will be charged over the period of time they are expected to be in use. As such,
profit and loss is important to measure business performance over a period of time, but is
not reliable for checking the exact resources gained and lost by the company.
BOON TECK LEE
Partner
Deloitte & Touche LLP
Throughout the journey, the
importance of planning has stayed
the same all through the entirety
of the startup’s maturing process,
and even after the company has
attained success, it should stay that
way.
Watch the entire
by Boon Teck Lee

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So which should be used for startups? According to Boon Teck, the painful truth is that in the early years of a startup, profits are not
expected. As such, he advises that measuring cash flow is more important than measuring profit and loss.
Forecasting and Budgeting
Lee strongly reiterates the need for startups to have a good plan for their budget. Initially, all a startup may have in terms of resources
is their angel investment, and maybe a little bit more from the pockets of the founders. Startups must use their funds wisely to prevent
going bankrupt, which is one of the top 5 reasons startups collapse.
Once a company plans a budget, they can then benchmark their cash flow against it to see how the company is doing. This involves
checking how money is being spent to better the business, for example hiring talents according to the current needs of the company and
checking if that investment pays off. However, this cannot be done just once. Lee stresses on the need for re-forecasting and re-budgeting
again and again. This is due to the dynamic nature of startups and the volatile market. By monitoring cash flow, it may become obvious
that there is a pressing need to change the budgeting plan, and revising the budget would be of the utmost priority.
Boon Teck explains that having a flexible mindset and constantly revising budgets can help startups avoid the 5 most common factors for
the death of startups. They are:
1. Running out of finances
2. A lack of demand for their products and services
3. A poorly skilled workforce
4. Intense competition
5. Inappropriate pricing or strategies
Which of the three is the most important?
With three strategies having to be balanced and worked on simultaneously, one may wish to prioritise themselves in order to be as
efficient as possible.
In the early stages of a startup, profit and loss is not relevant, and is the lowest on the list of priorities. Cash flow would be used instead
to measure the movement of resources. Budgeting and early planning cannot be more important in determining the success of the
business. As such, in the initial years of a startup’s existence, the priorities are Forecasting and Budgeting > Cash Flow > Profit and Loss.

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As some time passes, the startup will begin to grow, with more resources to manage, a larger staff, and hopefully, managing
a profit. The priorities should still stay the same, but with an increasing amount of attention paid to profit and loss.
A little later, shareholders will start to expect payouts and returns from the startup, especially after profit begins to grow. A need to
monitor the revenue generated by the business emerges. Now, forecasting and budgeting are still at the top, but both cash flow and profit
and loss now come in second on the list of priorities.
Throughout the journey, the importance of planning stays same. Through the entirety of the startup’s maturing process toeven after the
company has attained success, it should always be planning.

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From a Startup’s Beginning to a Successful Exit
From managing day-to-day operations to dealing with backend work, directing your own
startup can be stressful. So, it’s no wonder that we sometimes struggle to stick to our overall
desired goals and aspirations. What are the things you can do now to ensure long term
sustainability and success for your business?
Wielding over 15 years of experience in Asset Management and venture related advisory
work, we sit down with Patrick Yeo, Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Singapore and
leader of PwC’s Venture Hub practice.
Patrick readily shares his tips and insights with our readers; leveraging on his past experience
working with various startups and building a sound go-to market strategy. He has seen his
fair share of fundraising and underlines the importance of maintaining an ideal network and
profile.
The Common Mistakes
What are two common mistakes startups make?
1) Failure to pay attention to details during execution proves detrimental in the long run. As
with anything else, how well the execution of an implementation process is done, makes or
breaks the startup. Naturally, if one were to focus on the broader picture for too long and
too much, they would miss out on what needs to be done to reach that stage. It is all about
paying attention to creating and finding details.
2) Startups should not (and cannot) assume that they should be sourcing for financial aid
only when it is absolutely necessary. Rome was not built in a day – and this definitely applies
to startups as well. Having a financial buffer gives you the chance to test out a hunch, revisit
failed ones, or pivot if necessary. The continuous search for financial support should always
remain on every startup’s to-do list. You should be looking for funds 12 to 18 months in
advance and not on a day to day basis.
PATRICK YEO
Partner
PricewaterhouseCoopers
LLP Singapore
You need to be able to identify and
penetrate the markets you want
to enter, and can do so by getting
partnerships strategically, ensuring
a sufficient cash flow, and detailing
your plans for the long term.
Watch the entire
Arcadier Inspire Summit talk
by Patrick Yeo

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How to Resolve Them
After recognising these potential mistakes, the next step would be to resolve them.
The best way in doing so – filling your startup with your “A team”. Before diving into the execution process, you should be seeking out the
right talent and partners you deem fit for your company.
Look into how potential partners would help you, whether they know the market you’re trying to break into or have a complimentary user
base. Merely having a grand idea is of no use if you have no idea how to commercialise it, or how to put your product into your customers
hands. That’s why it’s important to partner up with the right people to help you execute and implement your product. It is the small details
that play into making your product successful.
Aiming for Long-term Success
In order to be successful in the long run, you will require a robust business plan to detail the key milestones. You also need to track your
progress religiously, and employ people to help you; you cannot be doing everything yourself. Delegate certain rules and responsibilities
so that as a team you can execute it properly.
The best business plans are the ones which are well-planned; while they may not necessarily be the best ideas, they are successful in their
implementation. These businesses find strategic partners that help commercialise and broaden their markets, and possibly even aid in
better prospects for you to enter overseas as well.
Additionally, you should create a powerful ecosystem. Network across different markets, find out their unique demands or traits in order
to better scope and define your ideas. Your products need to be scalable as well, and you can do so by looking at the broader market
and by speaking to or connecting with people. Only by discussion of different ideas can you see the bigger picture, pivot if necessary, and
move forward.
The Influence of Venture Capitalists and Strategic Investors
Venture capitalists and strategic investors have a huge influence on the way startups think and execute their products. It is important to
pay heed to their advice, as they enjoy increased access to other markets and connections, as well as having seen a lot of startups across
various markets and sectors. Having these insights are beneficial as you don’t want to be blind-sided. Broaden your horizons, engage and
think of other alternatives together with this pool of talent you have.

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Partnership and the Kinds of Partners
Partnership is crucial to the success of startups, so it’s best you look at the existing players in your industry and in various sectors within
that industry. Even though you are disrupting the industry, they have the relevant contacts, and collaborating with them will be beneficial
to your startup, be it through refining your product or establishing new connections.
While having partners is important, your startup can afford to focus on some types of partners in its later stage. But at the end of the day,
it depends on how you define partners.
• Active Partner: This type of partner is vital in sustaining your business. They would have various forms of input into your startup, be it
their skill set, innovation, all sorts of value-add to your business.
• Sleeping Partner: This type of partner only contributes capital. While you do need this, it might be better to have active partners.
All in all, the type of partnership you should have depends on the stage you are at, the skill set they have, and what kind of value-add can
that partner bring to the table that you require.
At the end of the day, you need to focus on product development, and refining the details, rather than just constantly viewing the bigger
picture. You need to be able to identify and penetrate the markets you want to enter, and can do so by getting partnerships strategically,
ensuring a sufficient cash flow, and detailing your plans for the long term.

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Building
Your Business

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Know Your Customer
As the former Project Manager of Savant Degrees, an innovation studio which specialises in
designing digital products that are attuned to clients’ business goals, Henry Tano is an expert
when it comes to helping clients nail their products’ UI/UX. Savant Degrees’ work traverses
the fields of business, technology and design. The Singapore-based studio considers and
combines the “business requirements, feasibility and usability of the technology through
design” to create a user-friendly product.
Savant Degrees’ business philosophy can be best expressed through former Minister of
Manpower Lim Swee Say’s comments at the SPRING/PayPal/Coastes Launch, a project by
the company. He said, “Technology shouldn’t dominate the customer experience or seek to
replace staff. Rather, it should make the jobs of staff easier and more meaningful.”
Savant Degrees strongly believes in “putting users before technology” and they do so through
embracing design thinking, “a state of thinking and methods used to investigate poorly
structured problems. It also helps greatly in coming up with innovative, human-centred
solutions to overcome these problems.”
Judging by the extensive list of clients Savant Degrees has worked with, such as Nike,
Standard Chartered and MINDEF, their methodology has certainly paid off. In his Arcadier
Inspire Summit talk, Henry gives us an insight on design thinking by sharing the five steps
that the studio walks through with every client to let them know their customers better.
Identify and Create User Personas
Customers are one of the most important stakeholders of any company. According to Henry,
“Knowing your users is important so that you can design and build your product according
to who they are and their needs.” Yet many clients, in particular startups, are clueless about
their target market.
HENRY TANO
Head of Product
Lyte Ventures
As entrepreneurs, you cannot
afford to be shy. You need to talk to
the people you are trying to target.
Watch the entire
by Henry Tano

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Know Your Customer
To rectify this, Henry suggests going for the age-old method of street interviews. Rather than asking your friends and family, look to
strangers for unbiased information. When working on a project for a client which operates a shopping mall, Henry’s gutsy team even
walked around the mall and asked shoppers about their shopping habits unabashedly. Henry says, “As entrepreneurs, you cannot afford
to be shy. You need to talk to the people you are trying to target.”
After getting an idea of who your target customers are, it is time to move on to the next step – crafting personas for them. Henry advises
that you strive to make your personas as specific as possible. Besides their basic traits, namely their name, role, location and key activities,
step into the shoes of your persona and ponder about what makes or breaks their day and what they want to achieve. By making your
persona as realistic as possible, you will be able to empathise with him/her better when you go through the subsequent steps. Additionally,
having a detailed persona makes it easier for you to narrow down and validate your assumptions.
Shortlist Target Personas
During the first stage, you may have crafted numerous personas. However, as a startup with limited resources, you need to understand
that you will only be able to target a particular niche. Select key personas that you want to focus on, especially early adopters, as they are
likely to be the ones most receptive to using your product. Startups need to “define, realise and quickly validate” these early adopters,
who will likely form a significant proportion of your customer base. Henry also reminds marketplace owners to consider both buyers and
sellers when building their personas.
Map out a User Experience Journey
Next, map out a day in the life of your target persona before, during and after using your product. These are the three critical stages in
the user journey map. Jot down plausible actions that the users will take at each stage. Once again, be heavy-handed with the details. The
primary logic behind plotting a user experience map is that it enables the assumptions that your team may have made unconsciously to
arise. When creating a product, we inevitably make assumptions about how the user will interact with it. Nevertheless, Henry warns that
it is imperative to distinguish these assumptions from facts.
Assign Feelings to Mapped Out Tasks
Assigningpositiveornegativefeelingstotheactionsthatyouhaveidentifiedinthepreviousstagewillallowyoutogetclosertounderstanding
your customer. Make sure to be honest and assign feelings based on the persona’s idiosyncrasies. Come up with some adjectives to
describe the feelings that you think they will experience as well. Henry brought up an example of a client who thought of simulating a
treasure hunt experience on his website by having his customers search for discount codes on the site. To the client, his idea seemed

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Know Your Customer
ingenious but to his target persona, a busy career woman juggling both work and two children, having to painstakingly trawl through the
site to locate the discount codes was more of a burden than a joy.
Contrary to the client’s intentions of engineering excitement through the hunt, the task achieved the opposite effect and made the user
immensely frustrated. Though you may love your idea wholeheartedly, keep in mind that “you are not your own customer. Someone has
to love your idea to pay for it.”
Target Peaks and Troughs and Create a Solution
Lastly, upon identifying the positive and negative feelings that a user will potentially experience when interacting with your product, target
those peaks and troughs and formulate your solution. It is useful to draw a graph based on the user journey map to aid you in visualising
the ups and downs.
Pen some challenge statements along with those peaks and troughs but make sure to avoid falling into the trap of asking ambiguous
questions. In Henry’s words, oftentimes “it’s not the solution that is the problem, it’s the poorly asked problem that is the problem.” Your
goal then, is to ask specific questions and create a solution that will resolve user pain points as well as enhance the user’s positive feelings.
While undergoing these steps, you may find that you were mistaken on some points and had to return to previous steps to correct them.
Constructing the best possible user experience is an iterative process. It is only when you constantly find, prove and disprove your as-
sumptions that you can steadily improve on your product and create an even better user experience.

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Finding the Human Value in BrandingALLAN YIP
Vice President (former)
Artyzen Hospitality Group
The worst brand strategy is trying
to be everything to everybody.
You just end up being nothing to
nobody.
Watch the entire
by Allan Yip
Allan Yip has held portfolios as the Director of Brands at Intercontinental Hotels Group and
Chief Marketing Officer at Dorsett Hospitality Group in Hong Kong. Bringing with him the
experiences garnered from these roles, he has assumed the position of Vice President of
Marketing, Distribution and Brands at Artyzen Hospitality Group.
Lessons learnt from his various stints in marketing have given him an acute understanding
of what makes customers tick and how best to unravel the secrets of branding. Allan believes
in simplicity, and approaches branding by simplifying this seemingly abstract idea down to
a few easily comprehensible core values. In his Arcadier Inspire summit talk, Allan speaks at
length of the importance of incorporating the human value in your branding and how you
can utilise it to distinguish your brand from the competition.
Moving Beyond the Functional Value
Allan points out that the world has become very polarised. With social media and echo
chambers, there are increasingly more avenues for people to express their views and find
like-minded others who reinforce them.
What then do brands need to do amid this situation? For one, simply focusing on the
functional value, as brands of old have done, is not viable for converting your adversaries to
your customers.
With the strong opinions that people, and very likely your customers, hold today, you need
to go beyond the functional aspects and find a human value that resonates with them in
order to win them over.
Brand = Human value + Functional value.
Every brand needs to have a purpose to its existence and have the human value proposition.
This is the brand equation. Despite the integral nature of the human value, most brands
still concentrate their efforts on identifying and communicating the functional value of their

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Finding the Human Value in Branding
product or service. Those who have dived deep into the human
value are a minority.
Examples of Brands
Allan brings up Durex and Airbnb as examples of brands which
have successfully capitalised on the human value of their product
or service. Condom advertisements used to convey the functional
value of protection across all brands, be they Trojan or Durex.
As the ads evolved over time, they become more humorous to
attract the audience’s attention but the emphasis on the functional
value remained unchanged.
It was Durex that managed to break away from the competition and distinguish itself by going beyond the functional value. Durex was able
to highlight the human value, which is not merely about protection, but about ensuring that the user is not restrained by future liabilities.
In the case of the hospitality industry, once again hotel brands tended to focus on the functional value through glossy pictures of
luxurious rooms and exquisite dining establishments. Airbnb bucked this trend and zoomed in on the human value of their service.
Airbnb’s branding has kept up with the times and now speaks to people’s innate desire to belong, regardless of their race or ethnicity.
What catapulted Airbnb to success was not a dogged emphasis on the functional value of its service, but rather a shrewd underscoring
of the human value the brand has to offer.
Find the Human Value that is a Right Fit for your Customers
There are countless human values out there. But that doesn’t mean that you should just pick any one. A product can contain a multitude
of plausible human values but the challenge is picking the right value for your brand and customers. The first step is to analyse yourself,
your product, your brand’s mission and your target customers. Allan offers some words of advice, “It is important to understand who
you are before you start talking to who you want to market to.” To find out the true purpose of your brand, Allan suggests partaking in
a simple exercise. Keep asking yourself ‘why’ until you simply can’t ask anymore. By answering these questions, you are pinpointing and

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Finding the Human Value in Branding
digging deeper into your brand’s raison d’etre. Once you have figured this out, communicating your key messages and building your
brand becomes easy. The human value is the thread that connects you and your customers.
Go Back to Your Core Value and Stay Focused
Allan quips, “The worst brand strategy is trying to be everything to everybody. You just end up being nothing to nobody.” Trying to target
everybody is nigh impossible. Instead, Allan advises brands to always go back to their core values and identify the human value that is
most relevant to them. Next, identify the customer segment which your core value speaks to.
Allan says that identifying customers is like making friends. Though many brands look at customers from a commercial perspective, the
human value aspect should not be neglected. If you attract customers who are not a right fit with your company’s culture, you may very
well lose them over time. It is akin to forcing two mismatched puzzle pieces together. Instead of wasting time on these customers, spend
your resources wisely, and look for the perfect key to your lock.

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The Power of Communities For Your Brand
Today on Inspire we have Christina Teo, Chief Builder at she1K, the world’s first global
corporateexecutivewomennetworkthatempowers,fundsandboardsstartups.Additionally,
she is the Chief Community Builder for Startup WomenAsia and Asia Corporate Women-
2 communities built to empower and support women in their different endeavors. As
the former Vice President of Asia for O2 and Chief Marketing Officer at CSL and previous
experience at Yahoo, Christina brings with her a wealth of global experience and expertise
from different communities.
Christina delves deep into the importance and value of setting up communities, and why
community building is a valuable asset for your brand. She also talks about what it takes to
set up and scale a sustainable community, and how we can retain loyalty and engagement
with so many new communities popping up.
How do communities strongly relate to marketplaces and ecommerce?
Startup and the Ecosystem
It is easy to start a startup. The startup ecosystem provides so many resources ranging from
fundraising, to network and mentorship. These resources don’t just help to refine ideas but
provides support as many startups are from young people who may not have enough work
experience.
Importance of Community
Community is not a new thing. When Christina first launched the world’s first window
smartphone, it wasn’t through marketing or advertising that got the product to be successful.
It was in fact the phone enthusiast community who helped to sell the product despite it
being full of bugs.
Christina further elaborates the difference between communities now and before. In the
past, communities were often taken advantage of for personal agendas. Today, communities
is more about people who share common values and cause. Communities today are more
CHRISTINA TEO
Chief Builder
she1K
Sometimes you can’t plan and
design all your outcome. If you
know what you are trying to
achieve, just do it. Start and learn
because the whole process of
creating the journey is a great
learning experience!
Watch the entire
by Christina Teo

35www.arcadier.com
The Power of Communities For Your Brand
participative and collaborative, being more inspirational and aspirational. Given the current social trends, consumers are heavily reliant
on social media for recommendations and deals upon making any form of purchases. There are values communities can bring as brands
can leverage on them to build a strong customer base.
Grow your Community through 3Ps and 1R
Christina went further to elaborate how she grows her community through 3Ps and 1R:
• Purpose - As a leader, it is important to be authentic and walk the talk. Always reinforce your purpose to your members and yet at the
same time, don’t define rules and dictate what the members can/should do. A leader has to find the balance between reinforcing your
purpose and allowing your members to feel like they can be themselves to freely express and contribute.
• Positioning - Whether you position yourself as a leader or positioning your community, it should always be tied to your purpose.
• People - We can’t have a community without people. Interact and use data to analyse what kind of person you want to attract. What
you do and how you do it determines what kind of people you attract to your community
• Reach - Its important to know the various platforms that help to connect and reach out to people. Be it online or offline. It is a good mix
to have both types of channels. At the end of the day, it’s about how the members feel about something that is bigger than themselves.
Traits of a Good Leader in a Community
According to Christina, a leader has to be tenacious. Given the many communities available, creating and sustaining a community requires
a lot of hard work. There has been an increasing trend of people wanting to grow and learn in communities. People in the community
want to believe that the leader knows more than they do so as to open up their horizons. A good leader has to be creative and innovative,
to keep engaging the members with knowledge and activities. Lastly, a leader must be able to bring people together and connect to his/
her members. Being in the know, collaboration and having the ability to inspire others are certain traits to keep people engaged and
connected to the community.
How to set your Community apart from the rest
Christina shared that there is no fixed way to set your community apart. It is very much tailored to each community, but you must always
remember to continuously communicate what you stand for. For startups, the startup ecosystem provides partnerships, sponsorships,
collabs etc which can be helpful for startups to set themselves apart. Most importantly, stick to your purpose and the right formula/
content/partnership will come. Advice for people who want to do both Online and Offline Community: Christina strongly reiterates that
content is key. It is also important to maintain relationships and stimulate conversation. Sometimes you can’t plan and design all your
outcomes. If you know what you are trying to achieve, just do it. Start and learn because the whole process of creating the journey is a
great learning experience!

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Foundations of Doing Business Abroad
Blueback Global is a service provider that aids companies as they expand internationally,
providing support throughout the process to make it as painless and efficient as possible.
Jacek Rolnik, Chief of Operations, shared some key considerations when planning to expand
a company overseas.
Amidst of presenting key considerations, Jacek also gave warnings about what never to do
when trying to take your venture overseas, and reiterates the massive importance of pre-
planning and having a good growth strategy. Here’s 4 lessons from his talk.
Never go at it Alone
No matter if you are a new, small company or if you have been around for a while, never try
to do everything on your own just to cut costs. Instead, seek out professional advice from
experts on the process, and get advice from local experts of the place you want to move to.
Their help is vital to avoid making costly mistakes that are not only hard to undo, but can be
potential setbacks that decimates your already limited resources.
This is especially so for smaller companies or startups. Get advice and help early.
Plan what you want to Achieve Overseas
Do you know what kind of entity you want to send over? A subsidiary that is more costly, but
has greater freedom and no liability extended to the parent company? Or maybe a branch
with a little less freedom, lesser tax benefits but easy to set up? These are questions that
have to be asked, in order to formulate a strategy that you can stick to to benefit from this
venture of expanding overseas.
Also, check with your overall growth strategy to decide how you want to carry out this process.
A solid analysis of your company’s motivations and goals is a necessity for your success.
JACEK ROLNIK
Chief of Operations
Blueback Global
Make sure you go to where there
are people who want what you
are selling, so understanding their
market is paramount.
Watch the entire
by Jacek Rolnik

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Foundations of Doing Business Abroad
Understand the Country
Overseas, the laws are no longer the same ones that you are accustomed to. Make sure to have a proper understanding of how they
differ from your norm, and adapt your plans so that you won’t be committing any infractions of the law. This is one of the most common
mistakes done by American companies when expanding, so be careful.
Make sure that your products are a good fit for the new market as well. Are there any cultural factors or traditions in that country which may
prevent people from using your product? Make sure you go to where there are people who want what you are selling, so understanding
their market is paramount
In addition, look out for the competition landscape in the new country. If there are already competitors saturating the foreign market with
similar products, don’t waste your resources there.
Be Cautious
Especially for the employer obligations to employees. You have to be familiar with the statutory requirements in terms of social benefits,
or insurance, or pension. Again, you must be familiar with these to protect yourself in an unfamiliar environment.
Be wary of independent contractors. They are certainly a quick and easy solution to getting manpower. However, you must make sure that
they are acting as a contractor and nothing else. There have been cases of independent contractors acting outside of the classification
of contractors, then tipping the law off in order to gain benefits and payouts from a company. Of course, not all independent contractors
may do this and they are still a very useful source of manpower, just take caution when hiring them, and ensure they do not do more than
what is expected of a contractor.

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Managing and Retaining Top Talent in Your Teams
Recruiting,letaloneretainingtherightpeopleforyourcompanycanbefraughtwithdifficulties.
With his twenty years of experience managing, developing and leading global teams as the
former Vice President for New Hotels and Development for Asia, the Middle East and Africa
at Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG), Clarence Tan has had his fair share of tough calls
to make when it comes to hiring top talent. Now the Managing Director of Southeast Asia
and Korea at IHG, Clarence has continued to lead teams with diverse backgrounds, all while
keeping an eye out for budding talents. In his Arcadier Inspire summit talk, Clarence speaks
candidly about his experiences and gives advice on managing top talent and embracing
change.
What is Top Talent?
Clarence believes that given a level playing field, everyone is a talent. In order to let a person’s
talents shine through, you need to ensure that he/she is “in the right place at the right time,
at the best fit job that he/she can succeed in regardless of race, educational background or
diversity”. Clarence stresses that everyone has to be given a chance. This is where leadership
comes in.
As a leader, you need to make the right calls to let talents blossom. Sometimes, you may
need to take risks to get the people who are best-suited for the job. At the same time, keep in
mind that no one is irreplaceable, no matter how talented they are. Clarence states bluntly,
“If we don’t start taking risks on young talent, we ourselves face a very vicious spiralling
cycle. We all need to be replaced. Young talent needs to come up. The future belongs to the
young talent and we need to give them the space to learn, grow and make mistakes.”
How do you Engage your Talents?
Don’t underestimate interns, says Clarence. According to him, they can very well be the new
leaders of the future. Engaging them thus becomes paramount. Internship programmes
these days are more structured and include several deliverables which need to be completed
within the internship period. Internship programmes can be as rewarding for the intern as
CLARENCE TAN
Managing Director (SEA & K)
Intercontinental Hotels Group
As a leader, you need to put
yourself out there and talk to
people. Be authentic and embrace
new talent, technology and
diversity.
Watch the entire
by Clarence Tan

39www.arcadier.com
they are for you. To engage your interns, entrust them with tasks that can actually add value to the company. Gone are the days where
all interns did was make coffee and file paperwork. When only trivial tasks are piled on their plates, you can be sure that they won’t have
a high opinion of your company and by extension, the industry.
Humans are social animals, and talents are no exception. When hiring interns, Clarence advises hiring a group from different backgrounds
so that you can rotate them within your company. By doing so, not only will they be able to share their experiences, but you will also be
able to attain feedback on what worked for them and what didn’t. Clarence further points out that it is necessary to have like-minded
people working together to enable the team to perform at its best. Engage these talents, and embrace them because one day, they will
reach the top.
How do you Manage Cross-Country Teams?
Thankfully, social media has made it easier than ever to communicate with people from all over the world. Social media has opened
new channels for you to get to know and communicate with your global teams. Clarence notes that sometimes, it’s the small things
that matter. Something as simple as wishing your team member a happy birthday on Facebook speaks volumes to your sincerity. With
messaging applications such as Whatsapp, chatgroups have also become commonplace and they have become the medium of choice for
disseminating urgent information.
Clarence shares that he manages a crisis by creating a Whatsapp group with all the relevant parties and posting updates in the chat
to keep everyone informed. The group members can also upload real-time data which Clarence can use to determine his next course
of action. Besides maximising his use of social media, Clarence also suggests having regular catch-ups whenever possible with teams
you rarely work with. While we are in the digital age, don’t underestimate the power of traditional face-to-face communication. To be an
effective communicator, you should harness the strengths of both social media and traditional forms of communication.
How do you Retain Talent?
The reality is, retaining talent is hard and Clarence admits that despite your best efforts, you are bound to lose some talents along the
way. It doesn’t help that the workforce of today tends to be fixated on the industry of their choice and are less open to dabbling in new
fields. In the real world, everything is a variable. Furthermore, “technology continues to disrupt the way we work, and the way we think,
eat, behave and live,’’ says Clarence. In this volatile environment, it is highly likely that you will lose talent along the way.

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The company may change, the individual may have a change of heart or he/she may have different aspirations. Nevertheless, to retain
talent, it comes back to engaging them. As a leader, you need to put yourself out there and talk to people. Be authentic and embrace
new talent, technology and diversity. If you build a conducive and pleasant working environment for your talents, even if they leave your
company for a while, they will come back in the future and assume senior positions. It’s all about creating that positive experience. As
Clarence quips, “life is about gaining new experiences, about letting that talent go elsewhere to gain new experiences and become better
professionals to come back to your company.’’

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Clarifying the Customer Service Conundrum
Arcadier’s very own Business Development Manager and Customer Support Specialist
Hesson Mak sheds some light on the customer support system in startups. Users of ours
may have realised a need to have a customer service system for their own marketplaces,
and this talk will be a huge help in suggesting some considerations before doing so.
Role of the Founder in Customer Support
In the early years of a startup, it is typical that the founder takes on the double role of the
customer service officer in addition to his duties as a founder. This is because the founder
has the greatest understanding of the product, and would thus be well-equipped to answer
queries about it. Taking on this role also allows the founder to get valuable direct feedback
from early users.
That being said, customer support should not be the only focus of the founder. There must
be a good balance of priorities, between customer support and strategising the company’s
business. As such, during the time when the founder is taking on both roles, one may
consider limiting the time for customer support to a crunch time when the bulk of the users
are likely to call. Once the business grows, the founder should get ready to train other team
members to act as customer support.
Importance of a Customer Service Team
One may think that since there are alternative methods to aid users, such as a FAQ section,
a help page, or even chatbots, an actual customer service team may not be necessary.
However this view cannot be more wrong. There is invariably a need for a personal, human
touch when dealing with customers, especially those that are feeling frustrated at the
product already. These customers may feel neglected and ignored if at the end of the day
if all they had was an automated answer, with no real person paying attention to them and
actively trying to solve their problem.
HESSON MAK
Senior Business
Development Manager
Arcadier
There can be a lot to gain from
investing in a customer service
team. Providing a human touch
and personal care for customers
can keep them satisfied with the
product, and better the reputation
of the company.
Watch the entire
by Hesson Mak

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Clarifying the Customer Service Conundrum
Remember that a chatbot is never the answer. Humans always want the attention and assurance of a real person that their problem is
being solved, so provide them this peace of mind by having a customer support team that is open and willing to help.
When Hiring a Customer Service Team
While in its earlier years, a startup may only need a small customer service team. Small teams are especially good when a platform’s value
proposition might change rapidly. Also, keep the team locally based, and in close contact with other departments in the company. This
ensures that any feedback they receive can be passed on quickly to be addressed by the other departments, and helps the customer
service team stay in the loop of any changes to the product.
It is best to start forming a customer service team with members from the initial team, especially if the product requires deep understanding
of its technical features or requires technical knowledge. This will help to cut down on the amount of training needed, as the initial team
members would already have much more knowledge about the product than a new employee.
Criteria for a Good Customer Service Team
The customer support team members are probably the only members of a company that will be able to individually interact with the
public. As such, everytime they pick up the phone or respond to a query, they are acting as advocates that represent the entire company.
Customer service officers must be able to uphold the company values even when dealing with demanding clients, to maintain the desired
image of the company. The ability to empathise and understand the client’s frustration will also bolster the company’s image as a partner
that is willing and actively trying to help. And, most importantly, customer service staff must be able to quickly sieve out the root cause
of any problem described by the clients, so as to be able to discern the actions to take in order to solve the issue as quickly as possible.
Not all problems are caused by bugs or technical issues. If the problem is one of user errors, the customer service staff must be able to
discern its nature quickly in order to guide the client to correct the problem.
There is no need to be afraid of customers. Most of the time, they want nothing more than to be able to use the product successfully, and
wish to enlist help in order to do so. Any frustration they have should be understandable, and not aggravated by chatbots or difficult to
maneuver customer support systems. There can be a lot to gain from investing in a customer service team. Providing a human touch and
personal care for customers can keep them satisfied with the product, and better the reputation of the company.

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Product Development
and Innovation

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Key Success Factors in Innovation
Cedric Menager with many years of startup mentorship under his belt, elaborated on how
startups can achieve success. As an experienced entrepreneur, Cedric shared on the three
key factors of success, and dived deep into the factor of innovation. In his talk, Cedric zoomed
in on the customer-centric perspective of innovation, and how entrepreneurs can create a
product that best solves customers’ problems and brings them success.
Startup Must Have a Vision
Cedric spoke of three imperative factors that startups need to address. First of all, startups
must have a vision. Without vision, you won’t go far. Many startups are aware that building a
business requires strategy. Startups should also remember that strategy comes after vision.
The vision is the foundation upon which decisions for matters like hiring and investments
for the future are made.
Startup Need to Ensure Operational Excellence
Secondly, startups need to ensure operational excellence from the onset. Cedric emphasized
that operational excellence is what differentiates successful startups from those that fail.
To achieve and maintain operational excellence, entrepreneurs need to have focus and
discipline. There are lots of tempting opportunities along the way, but it is important to stick
to the ones that are relevant to the startup vision and strategy. Similar to large corporations,
startups also need to put processes in place to measure progress and remind them to stay
focused.
Customer Driven Innovation
1. Find an important problem to solve
2. Ensure that you have the right team to solve the problem
3. Build a solution with a durable competitive advantage
Thirdly, Cedric spoke about innovation in detail. Specifically, he spoke about innovation
based on customers. It is not enough to have ideas. Many people have ideas, but the ideas
that truly revolutionize the world are those that are the most well received by customers.
CEDRIC MENAGER
CEO
OnePay FX, Banco Santander
It is not enough to have ideas,
many people have ideas, but the
ideas that are truly revolutionary
are those that are well received by
the customers.
Watch the entire
by Cedric Menager

45www.arcadier.com
Diving deeper into the topic, Cedric spoke of customer driven innovation and how deep customer empathy is a powerful drive for growth.
Cedric emphasised that it’s beneficial to always refer to the customer driven innovation cycle as a guide when it comes to innovation.
There are 3 processes in the customer driven innovation cycle.
Find an Important Problem to Solve
Not only do you want to find a problem to solve, you should seek out the most painful problem. The best scenario would be to stumble
upon something painful that does not have a solution yet. This would be a good start for your team.
Ensure That You Have The Right Team to Solve The Problem
Be sure that you are able to solve the problem. This means that you need to build a team that has the skills and capabilities to solve it.
Cedric shared that in startups, human resources is often more important than material resources.
Build a Solution With a Durable Competitive Advantage
The moment you go into the ecosystem with a viable solution, competition arises. To survive and thrive in the long term, you need to
build a durable competitive advantage so that other parties cannot easily enter the market and outdo your company’s performance.
When done right, these principles will be able to keep your company going. They may seem difficult, but Cedric’s solution is to apply the
concept of design for delight. Design for delight is an innovation cycle and process that enables you to quickly identify problems, potential
solutions and test them with the customers to find out whether they really solve the problem, or discover new solutions through the
testing phase. Specifically, there are three phases:
Deep Customer Empathy
To be empathic and fully understand the customer, Cedric recommended the “follow me home” technique. Most businesses conduct
surveys, interviews and market studies. These may be tried and tested methods, but more often than not, when people speak, they often
don’t tell the truth. They may not be forthcoming or they may not be aware of the truth. It is as Steve Jobs said: “A lot of times, people don’t
know what they want.” However, when you follow customers in their workplace, home or other activities, you are able to identify the right
issue and problem from their experiences. The pain, expressions and experiences of people can inspire ideas to solve problems that no
one has ever discovered before. Through this method, you will be able to tell customers what they truly want.
Go from Broad to Narrow
Find the best solutions to what you have identified. Having identified problems and big issues that people face, you are ready for the

46www.arcadier.com
second phase - go from broad to narrow and identify specific solutions. In addition to what most companies do (such as brainstorming
for ideas), the most successful companies pick out solutions that have the craziest and biggest impact. These two traits help in identifying
what’s missing in the market. Your team can then move on to test your solutions.
Rapid Experimentation
Many entrepreneurs focus on the power of their solutions without considering the notion that their ideas may not be suitable. Cedric
advises that we take a humble stance and assume that we are wrong. Rapid experimentation helps you save and gain time and money.
It makes you move away from wrong solutions that don’t fit user expectations. In rapid experimentation, entrepreneurs aim to quickly
generate evidence and new learning with fast and cheap experiments through the use of prototypes. Prototypes can then be adjusted
through rounds of experimentation before arriving at a minimally viable product to be pushed onto the market.
Additional Tips for Startups
Admit Errors
There are many pitfalls that startups should be aware of. One of the most difficult challenges is to admit errors. It is difficult to give up
something that you think is amazing, especially if you have put in a lot of resources in it. For that, Cedric suggested having a strategic board
that is able to identify problems and call you out for errors that you may be blind to.
Embrace Differences
Another tip is to embrace differences. Innovation comes from working with people with different backgrounds, mindset and skills. Cedric
warned against hiring people who think similarly. This could result in ideas that may appeal to the team, but may not be popular with
others.
Never Too Late to Learn Something New/Different
Finally, for fledgling entrepreneurs, Cedric highlighted that it is never too late to learn something new or different. Entrepreneurship is a
journey of discovery. Just as entrepreneurs strive to bring new and better solutions to the world, their efforts bring them experiences and
new ideas to refine their startups. Stay open to learning and you will be able to become more successful.

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Creating and Finding Niches in Already Busy Markets
Edmond Ip, former Co-founder and Vice Chairman of Artyzen Hospitality Group, a hotel
management company that creates hotels around the philosophy of respecting each
locations local culture and traditions, discusses the importance of observations and life
experiences in being an important source of ideas and inspiration.
How to Observe Trends
There is no hard and fast rule to observe trends in the industry or the world. The important
thing is that everything helps, and there are no fixed rules to what you should or should
not read. By reading everything and anything, you will start picking up trend. Do not just
concentrate on a few topics, you are limiting the knowledge you can have.
Accessingandlookingatdifferenttopicsanddifferentfieldswillgiveyouallsortsofknowledge
to better prime yourself for your business aspirations. While some of that knowledge may
not be relevant now, stay curious, as they may come in handy in the future, and you can tap
into that knowledge.
How well you are able to observe trends does not stem from your years of experience with
different circles. Experience only tells you what mistakes not to make. Past experiences do
not allow you to predict the future. You do not need to have decades of experience with an
industry; everybody can observe trends.
Product Development and Appeal
No matter what industry you wish to penetrate, you cannot make your business such that
you cover everything and appeal to everyone. If you do so, not a single person will be fully
satisfied. Instead, focus and build a business that you are good at. There is no point in
investing a large amount of effort into developing a small and weak part of your market or
your strength. Develop your product to target a large part of what you are good at, refine it
to its very best - only then can you corner that market and prosper in it.
EDMOND IP
Co-founder & Vice Chairman
(former)
Artyzen Hospitality Group
At the end of the day, observation
is always the key. It is not always
about knowledge you have
beforehand. It is about observing
what you want to do, and
developing a product based on
your belief.
Watch the entire
by Edmond Ip

48www.arcadier.com
Finding the Strengths
You can evaluate what you are good at by observing and understanding the customers within your industry; at the end of the day, the
customer pays the bill and feeds your business. You cannot just do something and tell the world to take it or leave it. No one will be willing
to accept such a mentality behind a product. You need to observe the customer trends, closely track what they want to have or want to
buy. Cater to what they need and want; when they like it, and if they are willing to pay a premium for it. You should never dismiss your
customers’ wants without understanding them.
However, keep in mind that whatever you do, go back to your passions. If you are passionate enough about what you do, you will come
up with an idea. You will be able to determine that you can do something better because you are passionate enough about it.
Passion is a factor to success; it is a form of energy and driving source for you to be successful. In order to fully succeed, you need to have
passion and observation. See and understand what the people want for the next phase of life within that area or aspect. If there is a thing
that you want to do, do it well; do not go about doing things or developing them half-heartedly, as you will get nowhere like that.
Survival and Your Target Group
You should not find a cookie cutter target group and develop your product around them. Think about the survival of your product; will it
survive, how will it do so, and under what circumstances will it appeal to people, or which groups of people will enjoy it? If there is a trend
in the elements which people enjoy, and appeal to a substantial amount of people, and such features are seen in your product, then it
is viable. But you need to constantly improve it to survive, and do so via feedback. You cannot just rely on feedback forms. You need to
constantly observe their behaviour; observe the trends and see what the people need.
Look at your customers, their habits, behavioural change, preference, how they think they want to spend their time; understand your
market trends through observation. Trends constantly change, and if you do not follow the trend, your business will face a big challenge
in surviving. Change and development in the world is always there, thus you need to adapt to the change to best serve your customers,
instead of staying stagnant and stubborn in product development.
Disrupting Markets
Markets will always be crowded: when there is money to be made, people will go there. But change is inevitable; as such, there will always
be changes in the market’s demands, and somewhere along the way, the market will open up and give you an opportunity. Disruptors
are a form of change, all you need to do to cause a change or flow with that change is to observe the trends. There is always a different

49www.arcadier.com
thing that you can develop to cater to different people. That’s why you always need to have the integration of customer feedback and
observation into your service to better cater to them.
Any market can be disrupted by you; it just depends on the depth you dive into it. Don’t just scratch the surface with the product you
deliver: dive deep. At the end of the day, observation is always the key. It is not always about knowledge you have beforehand. It is about
observing what you need to do, and developing a product based on your belief. You just need to think through and work out what you
want to do: no one will invest in ‘trial and error’.

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How to Launch an MVP
The importance of knowing your market and your customers is undeniable in the business
world. Launching a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is one of the best ways to gain feedback
from your target users, so you can continue to perfect your product.
Rachael Chin, our very own Product Manager here at Arcadier has given some advice about
how to use minimum viable products to enrich your understanding of your intended market.
What is a Minimum Viable Product?
Simply put, it is a new product or website developed with sufficient features to attract and
satisfy early adopters.
MVPs have 3 key characteristics:
1. They have only enough value for people who are willing to buy and use it.
2. They demonstrate enough future benefit to retain early adopters.
3. They provide a feedback loop to guide future development of the product.
The goal of launching MVPs is to interact with your market, gaining feedback from the initial
users (also known as innovators or early adopters), and also checking whether people are
actually interested in your product.
It is absolutely essential to know how receptive people are to your product before you sink
your resources investing in it. One very common mistake that startups make is creating a
product and spending all their resources on it, before realising that there was no one who
wanted it. They were wrong in their most basic assumption that someone was interested in
their product in the first place. That is why it is important to launch your MVP, and launch
early, before you start spending more resources on your product.
However, that being said, don’t be too discouraged if your MVP launch comes back with low
receptivity and negative feedback. During product development, you will have to make many
RACHAEL CHIN
Product Manager
Arcadier
After all, the goal of launching
MVPs is not to take the world by
storm, but to gain feedback for you
to improve.
Watch the entire
by Rachael Chin

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assumptions about what your customer wants out of your product, and develop features to satisfy those assumptions. MVP are used to
check if those assumptions are correct, and if the assumptions were wrong, it’s up to you to be adaptable and try again with a different
set of assumptions. The majority of the time spent during product development is really just a repetitive process of trial and error.
Here are some important things to consider when planning to launch a MVP
1. Figure out what you are solving and who you are solving it for
Remember that every product should be a solution that is a problem that people want solved. That’s what makes a product attractive.
So before making an awesome, creative, new product, make sure to understand the problem from your customers’ point of view. Put
yourself in their shoes and think: “Why would I want this product?”. Afterall, if even you don’t want it, why would anyone else?
2. Define the User Flow
The user flow is a chronological list of the steps a person needs to take when using your product. When designing your MVP, make sure
it has all the features that are necessary for the user flow to work. Features that add value but are not necessary for the product to work
are of lower priority, and can be added later when you have more time and resources. By starting your MVP with just the bare minimum
features, you will be able to add new features based off of the initial users’ feedback, to make it more specifically catered to your target
customers.
3. Know your Competitors
Always be aware of the market, because there are definitely competitors to anything you put out. There are two main types of competitors:
direct competitors who do the exact same things as you but in a different geographical location, such as Grab and Uber, and non-direct
competitors, who solve the same problem as you, but in a different way.
Research into what your competitors are doing. Look out for their weaknesses and target those to create a product that solves part of
the problem that the competitor’s product cannot. For example, Facebook had almost everything, allowing you to play games, write, post
pictures and videos and more. Instagram, a new social media platform, didn’t have as many features as Facebook did, but its picture filters,
it completely overtook Facebook. Aim to learn from your competitors, and exploit the weaknesses.

52www.arcadier.com
MVPs can be extremely simple, and don’t have to be products at all! They just have to be able to test for market demand, and gain feedback.
For example, Dropbox’s MVP was just a tutorial video explaining its functions, and that was enough to get it hundreds of thousands of
potential customers overnight.
Go for cheaper option!
Always go for the cheaper option! MVPs should cost as little as possible, so that you can keep changing and adapting it. Sometimes
features that you added to an MVP may be totally unused or straight-up unwanted by the users. Don’t waste money on features until you
know for sure that it’s what people want
Launch early!
Launch as early as possible! As Reid Hoffman says, “ If you aren’t embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too
late. It is absolutely fine for your MVP to be imperfect. After all, the goal of launching MVPs is not to take the world by storm, but to gain
feedback for you to improve.

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Product Market Fit and Beyond...
By training project managers, Brainmate has aided in the creation of various products
customers absolutely love. In our interview with Nick Coster, Co-Founder and Head of
Training at Brainmates, he shares the secret to being able to create successful products:
achieving product market fit.
What is Product Market Fit?
Nick defines product market fit as when a sizeable group of people have found enough
value in your product to exchange something for it. That essentially means that the product
has a committed group of customers. When you achieve product market fit, what follows is
the accelerated growth in popularity and sale of your product. However, one of the biggest
issues that any startup faces is the failure to achieve product market fit early on.
Source: http://www.assignmentpoint.com/business/marketing-business/product-life-cycle.html
If you apply this concept to the product life cycle curve, product market fit occurs right at
the end of the Introduction stage, and kick-starts the Growth stage. Quite clearly, you’ll see
that the failure to achieve product market fit early would not allow for sales to increase.
NICK COSTER
Co-Founer & Head of Training
Brainmates
It’s absolutely vital to understand
their desires in order to create
a product that people want and
need, and understanding their
behaviour is key when trying
to spread the influence of your
product.
Watch the entire
by Nick Coster

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