"Bank tellers will be the telegraph operators of the 21st century when we look back in a 100 years.“ - DAN I. SIAZON, Senior Vice President and Treasurer, Kickstart Ventures. Kickstart, the venture capital firm of Globe Telecom based in Manila, Philippines, shared during Mondato Summit Asia 2015 how risk-seeking approaches inherent to startups can be applied to banking and financial services. Startups are beginning to influence mobile finance and commerce (MFC) by leveraging on the possibilities brought by telecommunications and banking, unhindered by preconceptions of what can or cannot be done. For more key takeaways of Mondato Summit Asia 2016: * View DAY 1 (Oct 20th) here: http://www.mondatosummit.com/blog/2015/10/21/mondato-summit-asia-2015-day-one * View DAY 2 (Oct 21st) here: http://www.mondatosummit.com/blog/2015/10/22/mondato-summit-asia-2015-day-two

1. Startup innovation as a catalyst for
change: taking risk-seeking
approaches to opportunities &
challenges in MFC.

2. When brick & mortar meets the smartphone,
who wins?

3. Nearly
2 billion
financially
unserved
adults
live
in
Africa,
Asia,
La5n
America,
and
the
Middle
East.
h;p://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-­‐release/2015/04/15/massive-­‐drop-­‐in-­‐number-­‐of-­‐unbanked-­‐says-­‐new-­‐report

4. 332
396
56
26
283
45
25
45
0
175
350
525
700
East
Asia
South
Asia
Sub-­‐Saharan
Africa
Middle
East
<
$5/day
>
5$/day
Millions
of
adults
Adults
who
use
formal
or
semiformal
financial
services
h;p://www.mckinsey.com/insights/financial_services/coun5ng_the_worlds_unbanked

5. "Mobile
to
overtake
fixed
Internet
access
by
2014“
-­‐
Mary
Meeker
h;p://www.kpcb.com/blog/2015-­‐internet-­‐trends

9. How your customer sees you.

10. "Bank tellers will be the telegraph operators of the 21st
century when we look back in 100 years”

11. And competition is already here…

12. The evolutionary imperative: change, or die?
♢ “2-4% of modern European DNA can be traced to Neanderthal Man”
♢ Eastman Kodak vs Fujifilm
♢ Traditional telcos vs Over the Top Players
♢ Traditional banking vs Online Players
♢ It is not a zero-sum game, but if you don’t embrace change, it will be.

13. How to adjust to this dynamic ecosystem?

14. Our thesis? Adopt risk-seeking attitudes to
innovation.
♢ Risk-seeking activities within a context of defined boundaries, ie an
experimental approach knowing your future depends on their success;
♢ Attitude implies the requirement for cultural adjustments to change.
Figuratively this time, fresh DNA ie people from outside is needed to
improve the gene pool to prepare for a converged financial market.
♢ Applies to all players in the market, including banks, regulatory agencies
etc.
♢ This is nothing new but actually extremely hard to execute. Perhaps
sharing Kickstart’s own story may encourage others to follow a controlled
risk-seeking path of their own…

15. The Kickstart Story…

16. Everyone knows telcos are huge companies

17. But value is shifting away from traditional telcos
www.telco2.net,
June
2014
Global
mobile
telco
service
revenues
($
billions)
Non-­‐
human
Human
-­‐
data
Human
–
voice,
messaging
Digital
services
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020

18. And winning today requires different skills.
Company
Market
Cap
Company
Origins
Date
Business
DNA
Sobank
$89
B
1981
Computers.
Publishing.
Internet.
Venture
Capital.
NTT
-­‐
Docomo
$70
B
1869
Telegraph.
Government
monopoly.
KDDI
$49
B
1950’s
Fixed
line.
Cellular.
M&A.

19. This shift is playing out in the Philippines

20. The not-so-secret sauce: digital partnerships

21. …and Kickstart Ventures.
♢ The corporate equivalent of Lewis & Clarke: mapping out adjacent
opportunities and beyond;
♢ Can take risks where parent cannot;
♢ Allows parent to focus on its present business;
♢ But has the ear of the CEO;
♢ As an important bridge between big business and agile startups;
♢ A form of corporate R&D via equity investments;
♢ 20% Neanderthal, 80% new DNA…

22. Kickstart Ventures, Inc.
A Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) firm
Funding startups in the Philippines and overseas
Seed to Series “C”
Focus on digital and over-the-top businesses
Training and mentoring
Active mentor pool
Market access
SingTel network: 515 million subscribers in Asia
Ayala Corporation affiliates in the Philippines
Partnerships
Innov8 Sparks
Proudcloud (Launchgarage)
Plug and Play Tech Center (Silicon Valley outpost)
Pollenizer (BuzzRun)

23. Kickstart Ventures, Inc.
A corporate venture investment firm
$50M+ under mgmt
24 portfolio companies.
59 founders.
574 jobs created in PH startups.
796,661 users;
13,168+ paying customers.

24. PORTFOLIOSo@ware
as
a
Service
eCommerce
/
Marketplace
Social
Impact
Digital
Lifestyle
Edutech
Fintech
Healthtech
Enterprise
SoluKons

25. “Frighteningly ambitious startup ideas”

27. Offer tailor-fit financial products, 24 x 7

28. Lessons learned thus far…
♢ The external innovation team should consist of parent and outside DNA
(hire the best you can as it is necessarily a small team but with wide
range of competencies).
♢ Need outside-the-box thinkers. Question everything.
♢ A flexible and highly independent mgmt. structure is essential within
defined boundaries;
♢ Balance act between special ops and court jester: always prodding,
jabbing, challenging the King to see another perspective…
♢ Understand the start up’s risk perspective better and find a way to make it
work: inaction is often the greater risk;
♢ Startups move in Internet time, and live hand to mouth in terms of
months. Corporates think in terms of quarters and fiscal years. We need
to sync with the startups to extract the best value- they won’t stick around
until you get your board approvals…

29. Thank you!